Blizzard released a patch to the PTR Tuesday that made some of the biggest changes in a long time to seemingly forgotten mechanics - specifically major changes to regen globes, minions and our favorite ice mage, Jaina.
Tuesday was a big day for Heroes of the Storm as Blizzard released patch notes detailing some very major changes to various different mechanics in the game, potentially having a major impact on the gameplay.
Minor changes that could have a big impact
The patch notes outlined changes to two relatively minor mechanics that could have a massive impact on the game.
- Regen globes, which previously healed 6.24% max health over 4 seconds, now heal nearly double - 12% max health over 5 seconds. Mana regen also went from 32 mana over 4 seconds to 8% max mana over 5 seconds.
The changes to regen globes are big. This will make every globe nearly twice as effective, therefore ramping up the importance of collecting globes. Top tier players were already conscious of globe collection, however denying an enemy a globe in lane now will be a much bigger deal than before. This in itself is going to alter the way players lane, either making them more conscious of picking up globes or trying to deny their enemies from getting them.
The second minor change applies to minion waves.
- All ranged, melee and wizard minions now deal double damage to structures.
This in itself will have a huge impact. Previously, ignoring minions was definitely not a smart idea but also wasn't entirely unforgiving. Now that minions are quite literally twice as effective against structures, it will be very important to clear lanes and make sure lanes aren't being pushed for any reason. Allowing these minions to sit on your structures and do continuous damage will be a costly mistake from now on. Catapults also received a significant change.
- Catapult attack ranged increased by 20%, sight range increased by 17% and will now fixate on structures. Catapults will not switch to a new target until after their first target is dead or the catapult is destroyed.
This is a very interesting change - the range and sight range increase are already a pretty significant change, but now that catapults will fixate on one target they're definitely more of a threat. If a catapult fixates onto a tower or a keep, or even the core, an enemy minion wave won't stop them until they destroy the catapult. This, in turn, will cause catapults to begin doing more damage to structures because they will essentially be kamikaze focus firing that structure. Catapults not switching targets often only reiterates the newfound importance in minion waves, and all together minion waves just got a lot stronger. It'll be far more important to not ignore minion waves from now on.
Return of the Ice Sorceress
Ok, the first major hero change that needs to be addressed is Jaina. For a very long time, Jaina has been without a doubt the worst mage in the game, seeing as Kael'thas and Li-Ming were simply so much more powerful. It's been too long since Jaina was at the top of the meta, and Blizzard set out to change that.
The biggest Jaina change comes to her Blizzard. This patch bumped the number of Blizzard waves from 2 to 3, which might not seem all that significant but it will change her impact on the game. Blizzard is Jaina's main source of damage, and adding another wave will be devastating to heroes who get caught in all three waves. To compensate the damage was reduced from 167 to 142 per wave and the mana cost was increased. Even with this bit of balancing, other changes to her talents and skills have been made in an attempt to bring her back to her former glory. Blizzard's comment on the matter was worth noting.
Jaina's power comes in her ability to control spaces, especially choke points, which is vastly different in the abilities of Kael'thas and Li-Ming. The changes to her kit emphasize that, and hopefully, she will have newfound life in this patch.
Jaina also received talent changes to compliment her kit changes, such as moving Snowstorm (which increases the radius of Blizzard) from level 4 to level 16.
Speculation
Jaina was weak and this is a step in the right direction. While adding another Blizzard wave and changing some of her talents around will definitely have an impact on her overall kit and viability, it's too early to tell if these changes are enough. She's fallen off the grid, more or less because of the rise of Kael'thas and Li-Ming. These two mages are still extremely powerful, but as Blizzard mentioned in their developer comments that Jaina serves a bit of a different purpose than these two mages.
Jaina's power shines in her ability to control spaces especially with the use of Blizzard and adding another wave will only amplify that power. Yes, the damage per wave was decreased but adding a third wave ultimately makes it hit harder if enemies are hit by all three waves. It also makes it an even more powerful zoning tool which will be interesting to observe at higher levels of play. This is definitely the beginning of changes that Jaina needed, however, she might need more in the future to make her more viable.
Community Streams
Interested in seeing some of these changes in action? Here are a few streams where members of the community have been playing them on the PTR.
Keep an eye out for Part 2 tomorrow where we'll break down some more significant hero changes such as Zagara, Kerrigan and Greymane!
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