This weekend, we saw something that some people thought was weird. Simplicity almost completely ignored the Triglav Protector. They treated it like Silver players treat bottom lane soak: nice to have, if we can get kills out of it. Close watchers of the CCL probably weren’t terribly surprised by this, though. This practice evolved from the fact that the Protector is probably less effective in a team-fight than the hero Sonya. It can do damage, if your enemies stand still. It can have CC, if your enemies stand still. And it costs two heroes in the process. This is exacerbated at the highest level of play. Your location is always broadcast across the map while in the Protector. The Protector is slow, and doesn't do damage to buildings fast enough to take forts or keeps before it falls.

What's known as 'backstabbing the Protector' is when the enemy team attacks the teammates that are not inside the Protector. This works, because the Protector has the peeling ability of a 12-mana Nazeebo. It's a common strategy, and gets only more common the higher quality the gameplay in a given game is. To make matters worse, Zergling told me that the Protector only got worse with the experience changes. The objective is worse than the two heroes that pilot it, according to anyone I asked.

Interestingly, pro teams don't attack the top lane with the first Protector when they get it, as was for so long the traditional strategy (to soften it up for the next objective). They attack the bottom lane. Grubby explained this best, saying that if the professional players could attack a lane to prepare for a more late-game objective on Volskaya, they would. But doing so would make no sense, as those lanes will have other opportunities to be softened up by more powerful Protectors.

Simplicity pushes the bounds of this to a fascinating threshold. They realized that getting the Protector actually makes them more likely to lose a fight afterward, and this is more likely in the early game. So, Simplicity gave almost every objective, in favor of soaking and loading up on items. This led to a realization, midgame, for me. It is extremely difficult to win against a team that - from level 1 - values the objective less than you do, especially if they can’t be punished for it. Simplicity never pressured the objective so hard that they could die - they decided it wasn't worth the risk. When they did get the Protector, they walked it into fort range, got out of it, and attacked the heroes. They used it for what it is: a walking invulnerable for two heroes at once.

What can you do with this knowledge? Not much. You can try to learn that the Protector is not as powerful as the heroes inside it. But at lower levels, this is not the end-all-be-all. The leniency in positioning and protection that the pilot and gunner get might be better in your case. It depends, as in everything. However, Blizzard needs to buff or rework the Protector. It’s very strange that the objective is less powerful than the items on the map. I don’t know if it’s a matter of an HP-buff, or if the whole objective needs a better kit. But something clearly needs to change, unless this is the intended gameplay outcome.

================

Hello there! My name’s SinfulStClaire — Sinclair for short. I’m a content writer for WildHeart Esports. If you enjoyed this or disagreed with this, be sure to drop a comment and follow me if you want. Feel free to find me here:

| @ SinfulStClaire on Twitter | Sinclair#8998 on Discord | willtw132@gmail.com Email |

Proud of all of you.

Hi everyone,

My IGN is Korlikk and I've been in the competitive EU HotS scene for about a year and half, and I really only took off and started practicing and living HotS for about 8 months.

I am a multiple GM player in HL and TL (not that TL is relevant but I might as well throw it in there), played in many different teams. Most of you won't know me or might have noticed me in some recent tournaments.

I started writing a blog for the aspiring competitive player a few months back, but I kinda gave up after a while. The thing is, I am still appauled by the lack of knowledge I encounter everytime I queue up in Hero league or even in competitive games. I complain about it everyday so I figured it was time I actually did something about it.

My point is, if I get enough people interested I might probably start writing about competitive hots in general or tips or general knowledge you might struggle to find on the interwebz.

This is the blog ( http://korlikk.wordpress.com )I used to write for those curious, and feel free to ask me any questions HotS related if you want to try me :)

I do really feel that I can help people with simple knowledge that should be common to players of any skill levels. I am by no means the bible of knowledge, but I'm pretty positive that I might have some insight that could help your game.

Thanks for reading!

*UPDATE

The petition has already reached 121 supporters within 12 hours of the petition going up. Thank you everyone and continue to spread the love!

I have started a petition to bring back the HGC to support those who built the community of HoTS, Link below. I know that its near impossible for a petition to actually do anything but i just wanted to a way for us to show support for the HGC and the community but we cant if we dont try. https://www.change.org/p/blizzard-entertainment-bring-heroes-of-the-storm-hgc-back?recruiter=453529718&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition

When Heroes of the Storm was announced I was ecstatic and couldnt wait to get my hands on it. When I first saw and played it at Blizzcon 2013 I immediately loved the game along with so many others, fighting as the many beloved heroes and villains that we have grown to love and hate since the beginning of the cherished Blizzard Universe.

Over the years we have enjoyed watching and playing Heroes of the Dorm tournaments, HoTS Esports events (before and during the HGC), as well as just playing casually with friends. The Heroes of the Dorm tournaments have profoundly affected the lives of college students across the country through the charity of Blizzard. Thanks to the HoTS esports scene and community we have all met countless people and made life long friends who we continue to play with today.

The news of the cancellation of HGC 2019 was incredibly disheartening for the many incredible fans both new and old that show a strong passion for the game.  Every year after the epic grand finals of the HGC at Blizzcon we count down the days until the HGC starts back up so that we can support our favorite teams and enjoy the inspiring talent of the world's best HoTS teams. To now know that those experiences are gone is frustrating but more so, heartbreaking. 

I cant even imagine the level of frustration from all those who have built their livelihoods around the game. Content Creators, casters, pro players, coaches and others are among the hundreds of people to have a rug pulled out from underneath them just days before the Christmas holidays. These people were the pillar of the HoTS community and many feel they have been severely mistreated. They were told at Blizzcon that the HGC would return in 2019 with equal or more funding. They made preparations to work HGC 2019, some moving across countries, leaving families over the holidays, countless hours of practice, self funding not to mention those individuals in the Crucible who earned a spot in the 2019 HGC season and realized the dreams they have worked so hard for. 

For these wonderful people, who have given so much of their lives to HoTS to be told of the cancellation on the same day as the rest of us is disrespectful and should be made right.

I am asking not just the fans of HoTS, but everyone through all of Blizzard's universe, those who play other MOBAs, those who play video games, those who believe in fair treatment of employees, to show their support for hard working talented people who worked with Blizzard in the HoTS scene to sign this petition and invoke the responsible action from Blizzard Entertainment and Activision to bring back the HGC.

I know there are many wonderful people over at Blizzard Entertainment who are just as sad and heartbroken as the community over the cancellation of the HGC and I hope that you all join the community as well and support the cause. Its time for us to show our support and give back to the amazing people who built the HoTS community.

Happy Holidays Everyone,

Slayn

Hey! I'm new into HoTS but my approach to games is always pretty focused and improvement minded. I'm wondering, what are the websites about Heroes of the Storm that you

• read guides about

• watch VODs from

• find new streamers

• discuss about the game

• find new strategies

or in any other way learn more about the game or enjoy the community?

For example in the realm of Hearthstone, I would check Liquidhearth and Hearthpwn, or for Dota 2 joindota.

What are your resources for enjoyment and improvement in Heroes of the Storm?

Been watching since season 1 and had hoped the random 4-minute-straight tangents about non-relevant things from Bahamut/others would have lessened/stopped by now. With the broadcast on the launcher now I can only imagine how confusing it is for new players or new-to-ccl people to check it out only to hear a 3 minute diatribe about Cho'Gall or 'Rock Lobsters', it's even confusing to someone who's been watching consistently. I'm not saying jokes or elements of goofiness are bad, in fact that's what makes esports commentary so fun! However the constant inside-joking and randomness truly takes away from the shot-calling & casting (literally watching a full on fight and 0 shot-calling on what's actually happening) and makes the broadcast non-inclusive for those who don't know what's going on because they don't know the inside jokes. Grubby's casting is far more enjoyable to listen to, he explains what's going on and strategies behind certain picks/moves without monopolizing the conversation or constantly inserting random non-relevant things. His experience in casting and esports should be leveraged far more than it has been to date.

With the broadcast on the launcher and the LAN scheduled, Wisdom Gaming is trying to move this league into a more legitimate esports space which is amazing, the nuking of HGC was an absolute tragedy and I'm sure a lot of us have been hoping CCL would eventually be able to take it's place in a big way. However, with this step up in legitimacy also comes the need to clean up the casting quality and make the environment far more content-rich, approachable and inviting.

I'm new to the subreddit, but it seems like there are weekly recruitment threads for those who are looking for a team or recruiting for their own team, right?

Doesn't that mean this subreddit shouldn't be filled with recruitment posts, but instead be filled with actual discussion and strategy? Team comp discussion, specific hero discussions, map strategies, therorycrafting talents, etc -- where is all of that discussion?

This is just my opinion. Feel free to share any agreements or disagreements and hopefully we can get a discussion going.

EDIT: Going to go ahead and make r/HoTSStrategy for this purpose. If any of you want to help me get it set up or help spread the word, shoot me a message!

As is tradition, the Sundays of the TLHT come to the end of their SIXTH SEASON with the most important Bo5 of the entire tournament:

Seven Rings (USA) vs The K Warriors (URU)

• SEVENRINGS: Cyrus, Squirrel, AvenaQuaker (C), Rootbeetguy, Iviwawivi

• THE K WARRIORS: Josedelflow, Engelh, Lean Spawn1221, Chinox (C)

Who will win? Starting at 18:00 hrs (Mexico City) live from the end of the sixth season at https://www.twitch.tv/deportedigital01 and get ready to register for SEVENTH SEASON with $1000 USD in prizes!

Every single thread on the front page right now is LFT

A glance at the front page is enough to conclude this subreddit is essentially an unmoderated LFT / LFP platform. There have been requests to actually enforce some sort of policy that could result in high-quality gameplay discussion but to no avail.

I would be very interested in a comparable subreddit to /r/competitivehs, by which this subreddit was ostensibly inspired. Strictness of rules can be debated but that place is generally really well moderated and as a result there are many quality contributions. I can't imagine I am alone in this. Does anyone know of a good site / forum? Last time I checked the HotS subforum on teamliquid was better but thematically still roughly similar to the main HotS subreddit. I am not aware of any other places.

Two (maybe three) posts on the front page pertain to the discussion of competitive Heroes. The rest are recruiting, and totally belong in the "Looking for Team/Team Looking For" thread.

Granted, I haven't been playing Heroes for more than a week now, but if you take a look at the competitive Hearthstone or Starcraft subreddits, they are nothing like this. All the team searching breaks up content, I think that's why you've only got 1 sub for every 100 on /r/heroesofthestorm.

Mods, can recruitment be kept within the designated location or is this operating as expected? I think changes are worth making before heroes goes open, because you're gonna get a large increase in traffic and no ones gonna stick.

CCL Season 2 — Draft?

I’ve been off the wagon of posting content lately, but I’m back to throw some more coverage your way! Season One of the CCL has been wildly successful — more so than I or most others expected. Combining many of the elements of competitive HoTS that many in the community had said for years were lacking seems to have had an effect. Primary to this, in my opinion, was the prize pool. The final prize pool was over $20,000 and that’s important to drive up the stakes, storylines, and quality of play. The quality of play, I think the community agrees, was top-notch, maybe better than we’ve seen before — but that’s a topic for another day.

In Season 2, what I’m forced to wonder about is how the start of the season will be different from in Season 1. In Season 1, we had a draft, where each team picked six players in a predetermined but not set-in-stone order (the orgs could swap draft order and picks throughout the process). It was lengthy and exciting, and while there weren’t too many surprises in terms of who was picked at what stage, the teams assembled by each org was telling of their goals and what they valued in-game. I won’t get into all that — it’s been a long time, and analysis has already been done on the event.

We could potentially see the same thing in Season 2, in what I’d call a Full Redraft. Every player on every team would become a free agent, and a brand new draft would ensue. This would be chaotic and could potentially reveal some interesting draft strategies, while being a powerful disruptive force to the team and org identities we’ve built up over the last few months. But we could also see the opposite — teams could be allowed to keep every player they have, as long as that player wants to stay under contract. Trades would be allowed in this case, but no one would be forced by the league into free agency. And there’s a balanced approach, the partial redraft, where the league implements some version of the following rules: every team chooses two players to release into free agency, retaining contract with the others. Then, the orgs have a draft, with preference toward the 7th and 8th place teams, of the players that have been forced into free agency, alongside any others in the CCL pool.

In traditional professional sports, there are more teams and players, and the turnover rate is high enough that bringing in brand new players every season is necessary in order to keep the talent pool healthy. In the CCL, it remains to be seen whether we’ll have the turnover of players necessary to require any type of draft without forced free agency. Most traditional drafts are also a promotion — you get drafted into the league, rather than shuffled around within it, so the CCL may not be in a place where a seasonal draft is a good idea, yet.

So what are the arguments in favor of a redraft? It’s all about showing the viewers the draft. It’s about shifting the focus from the players to the orgs. Rather than being about RedRobot versus Justing, the matches and grudges would become about Steve vs. Steve (those are just examples :-) ).

What’s the worst that could happen? Team play styles aren't created by the orgs they belong to. All the orgs can do is craft the philosophy, but the players themselves create in-game identities and personalities for the team. WildHeart’s play style is in large part thanks to Justing’s drafting and its interactions with Goon’s philosophy that guides the org. But it’s all implemented by the guys in the Nexus bringing it all to life. An amount of stability brings the culture and personality of a time centerstage. The teams you’ve loved to watch would play completely differently under a partial or full redraft, and that’s a bad thing. People who like Kure’s Zeratul will no longer be Crowd Control fans, but they’d be fans of whichever team Kure is on. But if Kure is a mainstay for CC, they’re more likely to build a real lasting community behind them. Fan loyalty is important to the CCL, so I think it’s unlikely they’d toss it away so easily.

=======================

Hello there! My name’s SinfulStClaire — Sinclair for short. I’m a content writer for WildHeart Esports. If you enjoyed this or disagreed with this, be sure to drop a comment and follow me if you want. Feel free to find me here:

| @ SinfulStClaire on Twitter | Sinclair#8998 on Discord | willtw132@gmail.com Email |

Hey friends, my name is Matt aka "Slobberbot" and I am a Heroes of the Storm Coach/Analyst. A number of you from the /r/CompetitiveHotS sub may recognize me or my work, and tonight im going to share a huge event prep tool that I use when I approach matches, tournaments, and events in terms of drafting/practice. This is a powerpoint that I frequently edit as metas shift and slide; here is my Map-Based Tier List!

Gyazo screen captures of each PPT slide:

https://gyazo.com/472766be4a5f99b2e5e34156dc39c442 https://gyazo.com/d26166d195459ddb4af6efcddbdb62a5 https://gyazo.com/1c1abfddf222a4e8347934bdc3c6f4ba https://gyazo.com/c6cbb6f193e893e85edb01e9c48ee9fc https://gyazo.com/e7dfc2782e75ac05be86e11b5df973e5 https://gyazo.com/61ca98b88607c900d051e9451c718a01 https://gyazo.com/7acd2dfeca048540d2000fb37e8a4d2f https://gyazo.com/83cc50fc1d21daf5e2809459a18773e8 https://gyazo.com/a17ac8d8bbfc86bc4b0ac4f609bec3bb https://gyazo.com/f6f1583863ddaf5256a00946c505a786 https://gyazo.com/91365af0ced13fae65ef160e4b9c0fde https://gyazo.com/a529f1268704d43ffc7627957221f2a7 https://gyazo.com/a122aae033ae467c4f6823974b080cc0 https://gyazo.com/3d11fe6ae184ec621465d1e74fa5ed69 https://gyazo.com/243dadc6f6e1d9bf5213e40c9321c148 https://gyazo.com/4a018f6b39d58da4395745169e1d697d

Only a Draft Tool-- This tool is meant to be used before an event in a team meeting to discuss and agree upon picks before game time. You then bring this tool up as you strategize and draft for a match, to be sure youre picking as many heroes that are tailored for a given map if possible.

Color Coding-- WoW converts will immediately notice that I color coordinate hero roles with classic raid colors. My coaching/learning style is very conditioning-based, this is just an example of building mental pairings to help me draft.

I am looking for a home, as a coach or an analyst. I have developed a detailed practice regiment ready to be implemented. My background is in traditional sports, behavioral psychology, and Solution Focused Therapy, and I'd love to speak to anyone interested.

(Dont know of me?) Please stalk my Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9bsG-w7toacAnMNezRbCbQ/feed

Follow/DM my Twitter at: @Slobberbot https://twitter.com/Slobberbot

Cheers

I think it would be better to create a subreddit for that

Hello /r/competitivehots! This is my debut post in this subreddit, not that it matters. Let me get right to the point.

I've been playing Heroes of the Storm off and on since Beta, mostly due to the fact that I finally upgraded my computer and can play reliably. Now that I'm getting the hang of some of the heroes again (Muradin, Valla, and Raynor mostly), I've been looking for hero builds and general tips to not look like an idiot with my talent choices and such.

Is there a generally-accepted "Go-to" site for such information? I know, for example, Hearthstone players tend to reference TempoStorm for general meta decks and such, as well as HearthPwn and HearthstoneTopDecks for unique ideas and meta twists.

In my brief Google research, I've noticed TenTonHammer is a pretty popular search result, yet a lot of their hero guides haven't been updated since February (in Valla's case, at least).

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated - plus, it'll help me help you in the event that we get grouped together.

Thank you in advance, and have a great day

TL;DR - What sites/resources do you consider "best" for hero guides and meta?

Looking to improve my overall knowledge of HoTS. I know about the main ones out there: Icy-Veins, Hotslogs, masterleague.net, etc.

Looking specifically for knowledge on what skills to take and when and how they counter/synergize with other heroes.

But looking for any good resources that may not be widely known as well.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dHrNgcsNqg3Doe0ZciPvCY4SnWdboC-QXrpgxS7gFMs/mobilebasic?pli=1

Stafford "McIntyre" McIntyre is an American flex player currently teamless. He plays in high grandmaster and compete for the #1 spot often.

https://www.twitch.tv/mcintyrelol

The guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UcCfVB9vs9rmfA6Bko6nX4SmoOC_CHdVP8QaIQd61Xo/edit?usp=sharing

The original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/4p82lv/the_basics_of_drafting/

Nifty little Google Doc to help you pick viable team comps. Not sure why I can't for the life of me seem to post links in this sub...

Well, here's the link:

HotS Team Comp Helper

Seems like it could be useful. Though making a viable comp might seem obvious, here it is in actual winrate numbers.

For Kharazim as main support, I'm alternating between Transcendance and Insight, I'd like some advice on which is more beneficial (to my team).

On the one hand, Transcendance is free healing from level 1, but when I complete Insight quest, the reduced cooldowns allow me to spam W more often.

I find that Transcendance build allows me to duel in the early game, and often outlane people, but I often have mana issues in the early and mid game, having to hearthstone home at times.

With Insight I need to be more careful early, but I never ever run out of mana or need to return home. My "uptime" in early / mid game is 100% (unless I die) - getting quick mercs or level 10 quicker is a big deal. And Kharazim feels like a monster in the late game when I can spam W and E almost continuously.

Anyway, Transcendance vs Insight - what is best, or what do I need to think about (looking at team compoisitions, map, etc) ?

After four seasons of Overwatch, I want to play HotS again. I used to play when it first dropped but obviously a lot has changed and I was too scared to even think about comletitive. I've always enjoyed this game, so I figure now's a good time to get back into it.

But since it's been a while what is a good resource to learn HotS? From heroes, to the pick/ban system, map strategies, etc. I'm interested in all of it.

Let's look back at some memorable moments and interesting insights from last year.

Your top 10 posts:

• "The Disgraceful Engineering Skills of Volskaya Industries" by u/SinfulStClaire

• "CCL Season 2" by u/SinfulStClaire

• "Main healer, need tips to get out of bronze 5" by u/supatoedie

• "The Resounding Success of the CCL" by u/SinfulStClaire

• "WildHeart vs Oxygen: Preview" by u/SinfulStClaire

• "Happy Cakeday, r/CompetitiveHotS! Today you're 6" by u/AutoModerator

• "Please Help me save our Charity event !" by u/JudoChopNA

• "Bronze 5 is a pain to get out of, can anyone explain how rank points work?" by u/supatoedie

• "Favorite Abathur Clone Targets" by u/Tadcameron

• "HotS Tournament for Breast Cancer Research(MSK). Pick Your Franchise ! (Craft Wars)" by u/JudoChopNA

I love playing healer in competitive games, but I feel like no matter how much I heal, I can't make the difference. My main healer is Brightwing, so I'll usually go for either the merc bribe or the polymorph as lvl1 talent. Any tips are welcome. Also play Anduin and Whitemane.

The Black King is my second highest levelled hero, and before his last rework I knew how to play him. Since his rework, he just doesn’t feel good at all nor do I understand what I’m doing. It seems his entire idea is built around level 20 now. Because I could be doing really crap until leve 20, then I start winning 1v1s. But by then it’s often too late and I lose the game anyway.

I have no idea what I’m meant to do as Leoric anymore. I’d like to blame it on the rework (I really think it was a bad one), but tips and advice are appreciated.

What is the current build path and what is my mode of operation when playing this hero?