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[AbundantChoice]

So I've played through my 30 games, well after the 15 I needed for the Genji skin. I do enjoy the game on some level but I am obviously really bad at it still.

What should I do beyond more play vs AI? Finding matches seems to take a while for me, and I still don't know half the heroes.

Yeah, I'd echo whoever said "level every hero you have to 5 to get some gold and to get familiar with what they do." It's important to know not just what your character is capable of, but you need to be able to predict what your team-mates and opponents are going to do as well. Don't worry too much about the "meta", or which characters are 'better' at top-tier levels of play. Find a few characters that fit with your general playstyle that you can get comfortable with (for example, I found that Zagara fits my playstyle incredibly well, as does Xul, so you'd think I really like lane-focused specialists, but then I also fell in love with Kerrigan and Butcher, who are the opposite).

AI is fine for learning characters, but Quick Match is the way to go to learn the game once you are comfortable with some heroes as well as how all the maps work. I'd also recommend staying off the squishiest characters when you are still learning; over-extending is way more common of a problem than not pushing hard enough when you are new (in general), if you over-extend as a squishy you are going to die hard and fast. (Connected to this is if you are playing a hero with an escape power and you are new, use the escape power to *escape*, not to initiate).

Also, this gets said over and over in here, but especially after level 10 you should probably go along with what your team is doing, even if what they are doing is dumb. Lone-wolfing it doesn't work in this game at all unless you are one of a small set of heroes designed to "lane" for most of the game. So even if you think your team are being a bunch of idiots, go along with what they are doing. Connected to that is realizing when your team has lost an objective, and it's time to disengage, or at the very least don't go running back to the objective solo just to get killed in some X-on-1 bad scene. If your team can't really contest the objective, let it go. Don't give them a bunch of free XP on top of it.

 

[Maledict]

I have to be honest, I would not recommend quick match for new players. It's an inherently unbalanced format that can be extremely frustrating and unfun, and puts you in team comps that would never be viable.

I would suggest unranked draft instead, and stick to 4 heroes only in that draft - a support, tank and two dps. It's a much better learning environment than quick match, and results in better games as well.

 

[brian!]

srey has been churning out pretty good content
on dehaka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcTRC2_-KI
on spider tomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF6yawxzEtA&feature=youtu.be

 

[Alur]

I have to be honest, I would not recommend quick match for new players. It's an inherently unbalanced format that can be extremely frustrating and unfun, and puts you in team comps that would never be viable.

I would suggest unranked draft instead, and stick to 4 heroes only in that draft - a support, tank and two dps. It's a much better learning environment than quick match, and results in better games as well.

I wouldn't recommend jumping straight into draft when you don't even know any heroes, what they do, or even what the hell you are doing on your own in a game. That's a recipe for complete disaster and a little overwhelming for someone trying to learn a MOBA for the first time.

You're approaching Quick Match like someone who knows what they're doing and has been in the game and understands it. Back when we first started, most of us were happy as pigs in shit in Quick Match til we got the self awareness to see how unbalanced it could be and the faults in our own play and our teammates.

As a new player, you aren't noticing that stuff unless you have prior MOBA experience and this guy doesn't seem to. If you're just trying to grind out a hero to 5 to see if you like them and get the gold (and to just plain and simply learn the maps/how they work/what to expect), it doesn't make a lot of sense to play unranked IMO. That's adding unnecessary complication for probably little to no reward/better experience given you're still at starting MMR and it's going to be spotty at best regardless.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

srey has been churning out pretty good content
on dehaka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcTRC2_-KI
on spider tomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF6yawxzEtA&feature=youtu.be

Yup videos are way more helpful than, here's the talents I pick and a random QM game that's so popular among content creators.

 

[brian!]

i actually prefer written guides w/ lil video examples since video guides cant really be edited after the fact (dunno any from hots since I don't look at guides), but I agree w/ what ur saying about mcintyre style guides.

 

[I'm an expert]

the response to that spider tomb video on reddit kind of shows where the majority of the community is in terms of map knowledge. so many people like "wow, why didn't someone tell me!" lol. makes me wonder if all of the map modes are a detriment compared to one map games like LoL. though at this point i'm sure that map's strats are just widely known even to a new player.

 

[Star Falcon]

Season rewards were based from your highesr position, not current right?

 

[scoobs]

Season rewards were based from your highesr position, not current right?

correct

Li Ming is a piece of shit. Just played against Srey on Cho'gall and almost won... unfortunately he brought along his master li ming friend who wiped our entire team like 6 times by himself.

 

[Alur]

Oh snap. Druid of the Flame Malfurion is in the shop? Missed that.

Now I will have to play him more.

 

[scoobs]

Yep, bought it immediately. So very dank.

 

[Kioshen]

I'm not sure if they will repeat the same sale they did during the holidays. It's making me reconsider buying the lil rag bundle.

 

[Alur]

Doesn't look like it sadly. I was hoping so. I also passed on the year stim this time out of protest.

 

[scoobs]

From a business perspective, making the 50% off black Friday a yearly deal is real fucking dumb. Then nobody would buy skins throughout the year because "they'll just wait for Black Friday"

Blizzard never said it was coming back, it's not like this is the 4th year and they took it away randomly without telling anyone... they did it once last year, clearly figured out it was dumb financially, and didn't do it again.

 

[Alur]

I don't actually think it was dumb financially. That's the argument Core gave and I get where they are coming from, but I don't exactly buy it. Perhaps it cost them a bit in the end, but in the goodwill they received for it I'm pretty sure they came out okay.

There's plenty of people, like several of us in this thread, who will buy shit regardless of sale or whatever. As long as they regularly release heroes and skins that will be the case.

The sale functions as an entry for people who would not buy anything otherwise. And when they do that one time, they buy a lot. It's hard for me to buy that they didn't make a killing off of that shit last Black Friday/holidays, regardless of how dry or not things were for a bit afterward.

I can see why they wouldn't want to do it, but I think it's a shortsighted move personally. Perhaps their data suggests that they will make the money up throughout the year anyway. One would assume so given that they aren't doing it. It doesn't reward or entice the player base in any way, though, and that was the best part of the sale. The price of entry and price of acquisition of most anything in this game is one of the last few "real" complaints left to have...and the sale took care of that.

There would be no better time to have had that sale than right now as all these Overwatch folks were completing their Genji quests, giving them a cheaper entry into whatever heroes/skins/mounts they wanted instead of the ones Blizzard has handpicked for them.

EDIT: At the very fucking least they need to put all the skins/mounts back in the shop again like last year, even if it's not on sale.

 

[scoobs]

If you've got a good product, and you know it, don't discount it. All you're doing is devaluing your own product. Sure you might sell more skins, but you're selling them for much cheaper (ie, less revenue), and also conditioning your consumer base to not buy skins for full price. It's just stupid all around. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the shit out of it and bought all kinds of stuff last year, but I completely understand why they won't do it again.

Besides, they put all of their skins on sale at some point, just wait your turn if you don't want to pony up for the retail price.

This is how it works for every other good out there, I don't see why it should be any different.

 

[Ketch]

Hmmm. I don't know. I could see how it could not make sense for them financially.... I don't think Black Friday as an idea probably makes much sense with digital goods to begin with. I bet the first time they did it was more about gaining good will from the community and then the math told them that they just didn't need it this year.


Like without physical goods to move, multiple products all right next to each other, and all the prices involved with like maintaining stock I bet the economics behind why Black Friday works for retailers just isn't there for digital.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

the 50% sale isn't necessary but there should have been better deal anyway.

 

[Alur]

That too. What they did give us was pretty shit because it's hand picked. Unlike "all those other products" you can't even pick the product you want. You get the one they give you. There's no other place to go to in order to get a better deal.

If you could have 50% off or whatever they deem on the skin you wanted, maybe. But they were like here's some legendary skins and stuff brehs enjoy. Hope you like Leoric.

 

[scoobs]

Life isn't fair, tough luck. Blizzard owes us nothing. Plus leoric owns, you should want his Vader skin!

 

[brian!]

Stayed outside the whole night for those skins but they ran out

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Life isn't fair, tough luck. Blizzard owes us nothing. Plus leoric owns, you should want his Vader skin!

I don't care for mounts at all and the bundle included 2. I would have loved it otherwise but I'm not paying 20 despite owning most of it. It's also not about owing anything but to provide an incentive to buy again. The last shit I bought with money was before Guldan.

 

[scoobs]

I don't care for mounts at all and the bundle included 2. I would have loved it otherwise but I'm not paying 20 despite owning most of it.

Theres nothing wrong with that, don't buy it. The bundle is clearly not for you. It's for people who want it.

It would be nice if I could go on Amazon right now and choose which items I want for 50% off.

 

[Milly79]

Stayed outside the whole night for those skins but they ran out

Lol

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Theres nothing wrong with that, don't buy it. The bundle is clearly not for you. It's for people who want it.

There is something wrong with that since I've generally been a buying customer but haven't bought anything for months.

 

[scoobs]

There is something wrong with that since I've generally been a buying customer but haven't bought anything for months.

Hate to put it so bluntly, but the game does not revolve around your buying habits. That's on you. Plenty of people are buying things. I would know, ive bought all kinds of shit. And I'm seeing new skins all over in my games.

It is OK that you're not finding a need to buy things, plenty of people play the game for free. You put your money where your mouth is and keep holding out, HOTS will continue on without your $5 here or there for skins. Everything is fine. This is how a free market works.

 

[Ketch]

Seems illogical to argue that the game doesn't revolve around one person buying things and then justifying it by saying that one person buys all kinds of stuff.

True facts: Hots' real money shop has always been shit, it's probably not gonna change. The gold economy is pretty good though so it's not that big of a deal.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Hate to put it so bluntly, but the game does not revolve around your buying habits. That's on you. Plenty of people are buying things. I would know, ive bought all kinds of shit. And I'm seeing new skins all over in my games.

It is OK that you're not finding a need to buy things, plenty of people play the game for free. You put your money where your mouth is and keep holding out, HOTS will continue on without your $5 here or there for skins. Everything is fine.

Of course it'll go on and it doesn't mean anything if I stop giving them money but I don't particularly care for other's buying habits just like you're dismissing mine and Blizzard not providing me any value proposition is an issue to me.

 

[scoobs]

Seems illogical to argue that the game doesn't revolve around one person buying things and then justifying it by saying that one person buys all kinds of stuff.

True facts: Hots' real money shop has always been shit, it's probably not gonna change. The gold economy is pretty good though so it's not that big of a deal.

I said I buy all kinds of stuff and I see skins in my games, so clearly there are some people buying skins. I feel like you're being a bit unfair with your quotation of me but alright.

 

[Maledict]

I haven't bought anything because I generally don't like warriors or melee assassins, and that's literally the only character they produce nowadays... ;-). I did buy Karl's new skin because... Kael!

 

[scoobs]

Of course it'll go on and it doesn't mean anything if I stop giving them money but I don't particularly care for other's buying habits just like you're dismissing mine and Blizzard not providing me any value proposition is an issue to me.

Once again, that's totally fine. If they're not providing you value, why is it you are playing? Are the new heroes not valuable to you? How about the new maps? The hero reworks every month? Balance changes? Brawls? None of this is value?

The unbelievable support they're putting behind this game alone should keep at least a majority of the player base happy. God knows this game isn't exactly their biggest earner nor is it nearly as popular as their competitors. They could have just let it slowly die, but instead they hired a bunch of people and release constant updates that have greatly improved the game.

But let's set ALL of that aside because some fucking hero skins aren't drastically discounted on Black Fucking Friday. Cry me a damn river.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

wtf is your problem? I like the game, I love the support they are putting behind it despite the probably less than stellar numbers still but that doesn't mean I have no right to complain when I don't see the value proposition in their bundles.

Cry me a river... how fucking childish.

 

[scoobs]

wtf is your problem? I like the game, I love the support they are putting behind it despite the probably less than stellar numbers still but that doesn't mean I have no right to complain when I don't see the value proposition in their bundles.

Cry me a river... how fucking childish.

Entitled gamers are the worst. It must be maddening working for customer support.

 

[Alur]

I said I buy all kinds of stuff and I see skins in my games, so clearly there are some people buying skins. I feel like you're being a bit unfair with your quotation of me but alright.

There will always be. That was my point for why the sales do not hurt them. As long as they produce, people like us will give them money.

As for the rest, you're talking down to us pretty hard with your "life is not fair" and all that.

It has nothing to do with life being fucking fair breh. It has to do with putting a product out that entices as many customers as possible. Having a Black Friday sale that is not even 1/10th the scope of the previous one, and then also having it focus on a narrow band like 5 heroes and their skins, is simply bad business.

If you're a business, you want to put out things that will encourage the most sales. I'm sure they got plenty out of those legendary skins, but they would have gotten more if they had put something up that wasn't already near auto-buy for their regular customers.

Once again, that's totally fine. If they're not providing you value, why is it you are playing? Are the new heroes not valuable to you? How about the new maps? The hero reworks every month? Balance changes? Brawls? None of this is value?

The unbelievable support they're putting behind this game alone should keep at least a majority of the player base happy. God knows this game isn't exactly their biggest earner nor is it nearly as popular as their competitors. They could have just let it slowly die, but instead they hired a bunch of people and release constant updates that have greatly improved the game.

But let's set ALL of that aside because some fucking hero skins aren't drastically discounted on Black Fucking Friday. Cry me a damn river.

Entitled gamers are the worst. It must be maddening working for customer support.

Cry me a damn river. Entitled gamers? Damn, I've been roasted on here repeatedly for saying far less.

Why are you so defensive about this Black Friday sale? You getting a cut on the yearly profit or what? Seriously.

Complaining about the narrow scope of a Black Friday sale doesn't equate not being happy with the game. I know that's hard to understand with that look on your avatar's face, but it's true.

 

[kirblar]

I think they tried to use the black friday sale alongside Cho'Gall last year, but the problem w/ that is that it sort of destroys the carrot/stick model they have with the player levels.

 

[Maledict]

I have to be honest, I'm fairly sure I trust blizzards long term overview of their sales and profitability that us discussing what we think might be better on the forum.

I mean, I'd love another massive sale and would definitely buy some stuff - but I assume there's a reason they didn't do it based on some sort of evidence.

 

[Milly79]

I thought it was kind of shitty they didn't do the whole shop again, but I understand both sides of the argument. I had some 4 skins I could've gotten for 9~ and one of them was Mecha Tass. I still didn't, but it was a good deal.

I think they have a good enough user base now to warrant not doing it. Last year was launch year and they were so up and down with how the game was going in terms of patching, balance, etc. Now the game has been out over a year and they've invested way more since then into it.

 

[Kioshen]

What I've done is the equivalent of taking a gentle stroll in the mountain but bumping into a small snowball that rolled all the way the down, ravaging a village down below and seeing the smoldering remains when I start climbing back down. Didn't think it was such a hot topic geez.

 

[Alur]

As I said, I'm sure they have what they believe to be a great reason for not doing it. That's not the point though.

The thing about the sale was the good will. And they just received their largest influx of players and could have hooked them right in (at least with their wallets, even if they don't play for long). Now that effect will be lessened regardless.

Beyond that, however, what they did give us was not all that much more than what we get in a weekly sale. If it's a Black Friday sale, I'd expect something a little bigger. Otherwise, just call them bundles and stick with weekly sales and be done with it. Many games don't have Black Friday sales and that's fine. But if you're gonna have one, at least put some stuff in it that caters to all types instead of just some legendary skins that your regular customers probably already have some/all of.

Didn't think it was such a hot topic geez.

Didn't either, but scoobs on the prowl.

 

[scoobs]

Somebodys gotta stick up for big business! What if I told you scabobos is just my pen name...

But in all seriousness, its more just pent up anger at idiots on the forums/reddit crying about not getting what they want and threatening to quit the game over it. I just want the game to grow and thrive, fucking spend money if you like the game and want it to exist in two years. Or don't, that's your prerogative. Just quit your bitchin' that you aren't getting what you want. That's not how life works.

 

[kirblar]

The problem isn't not doing a repeat of last year, it's that this year's sales sucked.

 

[Kioshen]

At least they did something. Team 5 that handles Hearthstone did jack squat again this year for sales.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

At least they did something. Team 5 that handles Hearthstone did jack squat again this year for sales.

HS sells itself though.

But in all seriousness, its more just pent up anger at idiots on the forums/reddit crying about not getting what they want and threatening to quit the game over it. I just want the game to grow and thrive, fucking spend money if you like the game and want it to exist in two years. Or don't, that's your prerogative. Just quit your bitchin' that you aren't getting what you want. That's not how life works.

you do realize how much corporations have listened to reddit bitching about stuff.

 

[brian!]

What if instead of a sale they just raised all the prices...count ur blessings...ty based black friday jesus

 

[scoobs]

The problem isn't not doing a repeat of last year, it's that this year's sales sucked.

To be fair, any sale is going to look like shit compared to "fuck it, everything is half off, go crazy!" But I don't disagree, the sale was underwhelming overall, but that legendary skin bundle was extremely generous for people who are interested in those.

 

[scoobs]

HS sells itself though.



you do realize how much corporations have listened to reddit bitching about stuff.

Well then I'm sure we'll see Blizz discount all skins by 50% in the next week or two, so nothing to be upset about.

 

[brian!]

W/ the increase in textile costs and inevitable tariffs on imports from trump (check the tag on li ming's tennis outfit...that's right made in china) they will certainly begin to raise prices

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Well then I'm sure we'll see Blizz discount all skins by 50% in the next week or two, so nothing to be upset about.

it's like you're deliberately arguing like a child.

 

[Alur]

Intellectual troll job not quite hitting the mark. Needs more funny, closer/brian!

 

[scoobs]

it's like you're deliberately arguing like a child.

Its the only way I know how.