Heroes of the Storm Update Adds Sylvanas, New Map

[Steven Bogos]

Heroes of the Storm Update Adds Sylvanas, New Map

Tomb of the Spider Queen is a brand-new 3-lane map that revolves around collecting gems to summon the titular Spider Queen.

A new patch just hit Blizzard's Heroes of The Storm [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/heroes%20of%20the%20storm?os=heroes+of+the+storm] today, adding the new hero: Sylvanas Windrunner, a new map: Tomb of the Spider Queen, and a bunch of new goodies.

Slyvanas will function just like she was described in the patch preview [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140041-Heroes-of-the-Storm-Adds-New-Battleground-Hero-Increases-Gold-Gain] Blizzard showed us a little while ago, being a "Specialist" champion that swings into "Ranged Assassin" territory just a little. The new map's objective revolves around collecting gems from spiders, which will summon the Spider Queen to help your team if you get enough.

Other additions in this patch include Team League - which is a team version of the ranked "Hero League" mode introduced in the last patch. n order to participate in Team League, players must be player level 40, own at least 10 champions, and have at least four other teammates on their team.

As promised, most players should log in to a big golden surprise. 2,000 Gold is now awarded at Player Levels 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40, with players who have already acheived these milestones getting the gold instantly.

All players who have reached player level 10 will also be given a free 7-day stimpack.

Source: Battle.net [http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/18375754/new-skins-and-mounts-coming-soon-3-23-2015]

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[laggyteabag]

Sylvanas has some crazy burst damage going on, and is absolutely insane at laning. I haven't had the chance to play against Sylvanas yet, but I feel like going up against her is going to make me want to kill myself.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I'm all for a new map and character but do we really need another "collect X to summon Y" type maps, every time I always get stuck with a team that can do bad at kills but can collect what the map needs and sometimes we can win the game but no matter how much they kill and do not collect what the map needs then we end up losing and getting steamrolled.

I loved that Egyptian themed map a month ago but after a few matches it becomes boring and predictable, as soon as one side gets enough of those laser beams bashing in your base then it's game over and there's no coming back from that, the game needs more maps where you don't have a way to win handed to you on a platter because people will always go for it and the stupid people will ignore it and cost you the game, the way it works like that really fucks with players trying to enjoy and play the game and get better, it certainly puts me off from trying after 10 or so matches a day.

I'll give the new map a shot but It's going to feel and play the same as the Haunted Mines, Garden of terror, hell every map besides Cursed Hollow which seems to have the one decent mechanic from the rest, the other maps are either something that shoots from a range, taking control of a mob or having one mob smash down the doors for you, afaik Haunted mines only has the mob you send at other's bases while Sky temple feels more like Blackheart's bay with a tiny twist but still feels the same.

I just wish every map had more variety and had compeltely different mechanics and goals other than collect X for Y.

 

[Eirreann]

I'm all for a new map and character but do we really need another "collect X to summon Y" type maps, every time I always get stuck with a team that can do bad at kills but can collect what the map needs and sometimes we can win the game but no matter how much they kill and do not collect what the map needs then we end up losing and getting steamrolled.

I loved that Egyptian themed map a month ago but after a few matches it becomes boring and predictable, as soon as one side gets enough of those laser beams bashing in your base then it's game over and there's no coming back from that, the game needs more maps where you don't have a way to win handed to you on a platter because people will always go for it and the stupid people will ignore it and cost you the game, the way it works like that really fucks with players trying to enjoy and play the game and get better, it certainly puts me off from trying after 10 or so matches a day.

I'll give the new map a shot but It's going to feel and play the same as the Haunted Mines, Garden of terror, hell every map besides Cursed Hollow which seems to have the one decent mechanic from the rest, the other maps are either something that shoots from a range, taking control of a mob or having one mob smash down the doors for you, afaik Haunted mines only has the mob you send at other's bases while Sky temple feels more like Blackheart's bay with a tiny twist but still feels the same.

I just wish every map had more variety and had compeltely different mechanics and goals other than collect X for Y.

While I agree for the most part, I would like to comment on the first thing you said about how the objectives make it less important to secure kills. I personally think that is fully intentional, and makes it different from other MOBAs. Kills aren't everything, and for a long-time League of Legends player who gets frustrated by the player base (which puts waay more emphasis on getting kills than I think is necessary) I find that to be an immense relief. It is true that it is kind of obnoxious when new players don't know how to play the objective, or only focus on the objective and not on pushing lane/landing kills, but ultimately I appreciate that HotS is trying to take a different approach to the MOBA genre that may be a bit more inclusive for new players (i.e. "I may not know how to 1v1 against an Illidan with Sgt. Hammer, but I at least know that if I do 'x,' then positive 'y' effect happens, therefore I can still be an asset to this team!") Or at least that's my two pence on the subject.

But yes, some variety in the map design would be very much appreciated.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I bought Sylvanas half a day ago and played her a couple of matches..I really love her (although she is a bit OP at the moment).

The new map is also one of my favorites because the lanes are very close to each other and it's pure chaos gank wise.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Aren't sylvanas food? Or are those silvanas?

 

[shintakie10]

Sylvanas has some crazy burst damage going on, and is absolutely insane at laning. I haven't had the chance to play against Sylvanas yet, but I feel like going up against her is going to make me want to kill myself.

Only against squishies, and even then only if you dont get anything in the way. Against a Jaina, or other specialists, she can do some pretty crazy burst if you take the withering fire refresh on banshee wail. No squishy is gettin away from that. However against almost any assassin or a warrior her burst is pretty meh. Most others can beat her 1v1 at the moment, and outside of Wailing Arrow her team fight presence is sort of average.

She's super freakin squishy too. Banshee Wail is a really bad escape mechanism because the cast time and you have to wait for the banshees to get to someplace safe to teleport and if you get stunned you can't teleport at all.

I do not like the new map. The objective happens almost automatically, because there's 2 spider nests its really hard to even zone your opponents out of them to prevent turn ins, and on top of that you can't even get strong swings from killin someone with a lot of gems. If you kill a person with a lot of gems on them, only a few drop for your team, the rest can only be picked up by your opponents. You can stop them from pickin it up, sure, but you can't do it yourself.

It just feels very straight forward, which I'm not a huge fan of in Heroes. I do enjoy how small the map is though.

 

[Zydrate]

Fantasy maps have been done to death, I'm waiting for something akin to SC2's universe. Have little marines as ranged minions and Firebats/Marauders as the closer melee ones. Or something.

 

[Loverbabe86]

I am in Love with the banshee Queen and as far as the map..I've only done it once. I did think it was fun and I'd like to play it more.

 

[StorkV]

Sylvanas is a fun character, the new map is confusing and they made a mess of the talents!

Overall it's good patch!

 

[shintakie10]

Fantasy maps have been done to death, I'm waiting for something akin to SC2's universe. Have little marines as ranged minions and Firebats/Marauders as the closer melee ones. Or something.

This is only the second Egyptian themed map. We'll probably get 1-2 more before they jump into new art assets for creeps and whatnot.

I do look forward to some Starcraft flavored stuff whenever it hits though. Map objectives would be great. Wraith attacks, zerg rushes, weird zerg related bombardments. So can't wait.