Heroes Designer Mathew Cooper returns with another list of insights on the latest patch changes slated to go live on the 30th
EDIT: The full PTR patch notes were just released.
The Kael'thas patch brought us all a healthy fear of level 16 flamestrikes, Anub'arak beetles, and promote shenanigans. While you will still have to dodge flamestrikes as if your life depends on it (it does) the last two on that list, along with Illidan and the Lost Vikings, will get a lot less scary come June 30th.
Mather Cooper does a good job of justifying the incoming changes, including the nerf to Illidans Metamorphasis that will leave it's initial cast area smaller and doing a "trivial amount of damage". These changes were made to better reflect the decision point between Metamorphosis and The Hunter: the latter is for damage and killing one target, while the other is for survivability and positioning.
Along with this Illidan nerf, Anub'araks beetles will retain their smart AI, but do less damage and move slower. Promote has received a very clever rework that still allows it to retain it's pushing power in PvE scenarios, but is now easily countered by hero damage.
A lot of the changes don't seem very large, but seasoned Heroes players will understand the importance of nuances like the changes to the Daze mechanic and it's separation from the Stun mechanic. Essentially, abilities like Tychus's Frag Grenade and Raynor's Penetrating around that knock enemies back will no longer cancel mobile channeling abilities, like Sonya's Whirlwind or Valla's Strafe heroic.
We reported earlier The Lost Vikings nerf and the Sylvanas Possession, but if you want to read the reasoning behind these changes, you should take a look for your self.
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