Heroes of the Storm patch reins in stunlocking
After gathering feedback from players, Blizzard dialed back the effectiveness of stuns and similar moves.
If you moseyed on over to Heroes of the Storm's public test realm over the weekend, you probably noticed a new balance patch. Blizzard explained in recent patch notes that the patch targets stunlocking, a tactic whereby players unleash a string of moves that prevent opponents from moving and retaliating against them.
Blizzard made the change in response to overwhelming feedback from players complaining that stunlocking moves were too easy to execute, especially for experienced players. "While we want this to be a viable way to play, we feel it’s currently too prominent and powerful at higher levels of play. As a result, we are reducing the duration of many of these effects in the game."
Understanding the domino effect of changes such a modification can bring, Blizzard detailed how it went about balancing characters who, aside from stunlocking, were not in need of tweaking. "In scenarios where this change nerfs a character we don’t otherwise want to nerf, we’re coupling it with a buff to help offset the difference. While this change hasn’t reduced all the effects that might make you lose control of your Hero, we feel these are some of the more egregious ones. As always, we will make further changes if necessary."
Not every change in Heroes of the Storm's patch ties into stunlocking. Tyrael, Leoric, and Chen bot a boost in health regen, for instance.
Read the full patch notes for details on changes big and small.
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replyDavid Craddock posted a new article, Heroes of the Storm patch reins in stunlocking
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But, seriously, I'd been wondering when they'd address stunlock. It's bitten me a few times. Brought back quite a bit of flashbacks to being stunlocked in pvp back in WoW. They did the diminishing returns thing there. Here they're just lowering the individual stun times.
This, though, THIS! Makes me super sad.
Living Bomb (W)
Sun King’s Fury (Talent)
Bonus Basic Attack damage reduced by 20%, from 171 (+4% per level) to 137 (+4% per level).
Just cut him off at the knees why don't you? killing his single target burst dmg. <sniff> We hardly knew you. <sniff>-
KT's downright ridiculous right now. His combo takes Muradin out of a fight and is pathetically easy to pull off. Dude needs to be toned down, and likely more than those nerfs will.
I'm not a fan of diminishing returns on stuns. I'd rather they try to balance stuns themselves (duration & quantity) than add in another wonky mechanic to mentally track. -
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Lowering stun times is a much better approach than diminishing returns. DR would be a nightmare in pubs.
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