In preparation of the start of the first season of the ranked mode coming to the game next week, the Heroes of the Storm team has released a new update to the Public Test Realm ahead of its official release to the live servers on June 13. You can check out the full patch notes here, and I'll go through the biggest changes and fixes below.
First off: Medivh. The Last Guardian of Tirisfal. The prophet warning Thrall and Terenas of the impending demonic invasion. He's now also a ranged specialist in Heroes of the Storm!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDIHAJnrG3M Medivh excels at supporting his team members by giving him the ability to change into a raven and scout the landscape, courtesy of his trait. While he's in this form he is able to fly over terrain easily, and spy on the enemy team without fear of being killed.
- His Q launches an arcane rift that damages anyone in its path. If you manage to hit an enemy hero, the cooldown is dramatically reduced and you get some mana back. His W is Force of Will, which shields an ally from all incoming damage for 1.5 seconds, allowing them to make their escape or help them push that tiny bit further.
- His W is Force of Will, which shields an ally from all incoming damage for 1.5 seconds, allowing them to make their escape or help them push that tiny bit further.
- His E creates 2 portals, one at your position on the map and the other at the target location. Both you and your teammates can use these portals to travel from one place to the other quickly.
- His Heroic R ability is one of 2 choices. The first one launches a Poly Bomb at a target location, turning them into a sheep for 2 seconds. If the polymorphed enemy hero is close to one of his allies when the 2 seconds are up, the spell chains to the other hero. There is no limit to how many times it can chain. The second option is Ley Line Seal, which sends a wave of energy your enemy's way and puts them in stasis for 3 seconds.
In addition to the new hero, the game got some additional tweaks and updates:
- A new tutorial meant specifically for veteran players who are returning to the game. You can find this new tutorial by going to the challenges menu in the options menu.
- The MMR has been normalized to bring people on both ends of the spectrum closer together. This is meant to shorten queue times. More info on MMR Normalization here. Furthermore, players who enter the Hero League ranked mode for the first time in season one will have their quick play MMR be used as a guideline for matchmaking in ranked. This also extends to Team League and Unranked Draft Mode (which is exactly like Hero League but without progression).
This revamped Ranked Mode will get its debut on live servers next week. What this means for you the player is to give you a better indication of how you're doing in relation to all the other players. We've written a little guide to ranked mode here if you want to know what's what.
Further fixes include, but are not limited to, additional tweaks to the cost of Tyrael's abilities, numerous bugfixes for bugged sounds and animations, and some performance upgrades for some events on specific maps. Again, if you want to get the nitty gritty details on all the little tweaks and fixes you can check out the full patch notes!
What do you think of the new hero? Are you looking forward to the first ranked season? Let us know in the comments!
