Okay, I see what you're saying: I absolutely agree that the current version of Unspeakable Horror is a much more straight forward interaction, and doesn't give allies the potential for messing up your desired game plan.
At the moment, I'm weighing Emerald Dreams current gameplay as worth its cost in 'weirdness'. I like that there's agency when you're Rooted as Zul'jin, and get to choose whether to immediately remove the Root or cast a Heroic first. Being a level one talent helps fight against its 'weirdness' by providing opponents many more opportunities to learn what's happening, and let's them choose whether or not they want to learn Root removal talents.
All that said, I think your pitch is a natural solution if Emerald Dreams begins overperforming. Thanks for commenting!
I should have been more clear - Root removal does not prevent the final 3 seconds of Silence from Unspeakable Horror. This occurs when an ally frees you from just its Root, say with Ana's Purifying Darts or Yrel's Hand of Freedom.
Just stepping in to say that our current numbers have Emerald Dreams losing, with even a below 50% winrate for high end Storm League. I would not be surprised if that changed as people continued to improve with it, and will make changes in the future if necessary.
I do think there's a bit of nuance lost when examining the talent as "+.5s Stun". I would keep an eye in your games at how rapidly allies are following up with their own CC on a Rooted->Slept target, and then measuring the Sleep's value from there. Based on my games, I would be surprised if it was .5s.
As far as its interaction with Root removal - I went with matching Mephisto's Unspeakable Horror's implementation. My gut is that I'd prefer to continue letting the 'Root Addon' win, as the 'Root Removal' is still getting some level of value. Happy to hear dissenting opinions on this!
Please don't take this comment as excusing away the complaints of playing against it - its frustration will be something I'll keep an eye on.
The man, the myth, the legend - Rawrjar!
Josh was a professional Heroes player, a Heroes coach, then part of our QA team. He recently joined the dev team as one of our designers - focusing on balance. I have had the pleasure of working with him for many years now and can't say nice enough things about him :)
He is an amazing guy and an incredible asset to the team!
Feel free to send it on over!
Would you be less offended by Erik the Swift if it came online later in the game?
I appreciate the well written writeup on Longboat Raid! This next update includes a very minor 'Bad Solution', but I'll bookmark the thread for later.
I wouldn't say their 0.25 xp is untouchable - I just would be hesitant to put them in a position where TLV players want to exclusively macro.
I agree, Spin to Win will most likely end up needing a nerf after these next changes.
I hear you on the frustration on losing a ban. We will continue to try to move them to a healthier spot.
That seems like a reasonable approach, but on the other hand, I don't mind the talents rewarding players for killing a Viking.
I'll think on it!
Well, my gut reaction is that it sounds like fun!
Do you enjoy playing with Spy Games, and wish you could take it, and it just doesn't feel impactful enough for you?
Our numbers have it in a healthy position in Diamond 3+ Storm League. I'm curious if you're in a region other than NA, where Viking Bribery's pick rate becomes much more dominant.
I see where your head is at re: reducing movespeed, but I would be very hesitant to punish players for playing 'not as we want', and instead try to reward players that are.
I've generally found kiss/curse (or trade off) talents are more fun and interesting to think about than they are to play with. That doesn't mean there isn't room to be clever!
While I'm glad you had a good moment with it, I wouldn't imagine this interaction surviving forever. As our favorite pack leader says: "Stay still and die."
I think how the Vikings are playing now are close to where we want them, and that they're just more effective than they should be. Our next step is going to be pretty bland; we’re just reducing the impact of the buff they received back at the introduction of experience globes.
I do think there is something off that while historically it feels like we asked TLV players to specialize in either split pushing or team fighting (with most players choosing split push), and it now feels they’re quite competitive at both. I’m not certain that specializing between the two is that exciting of a question, so I’m happy to see them more involved, but many of their talents are holdouts of an older philosophy.
I’m curious how y’all feel about specific talents they have, as either the TLV player or when playing against them. Or, if you love the older philosophy, let me know!
For clarity, you're describing the weird interaction when Holy Radiance is on cooldown when Benediction is cast, correct?
If so, you got it.
Small world, I just encountered this internally on Monday.
This will be fixed with the next update!
We are all randomredditposter#8962 on this blessed day.
Merry Christmas!
Despite what randomredditposter#8962 might say, we’re still here and still working on Heroes, reworks, balance patches, skins, etc. We’ve always been tight lipped about our releases and that hasn’t changed. That being said, my fellow blues and I (and a celebrity cameo by Spazzo) have left quite a few tasty breadcrumbs as to what’s coming next. As soon as we’re ready to share this content with you all, we will!
I would also like to remind people that the odds of randomredditposter#8962 having a super-secret insider scoop on our internal processes is basically nil. It’s unfortunate that these types of people spend their time trying to mislead and demoralize their fellow Heroes enthusiasts, but that’s just the reality of internet culture.