Unlabelled Heroes of the Storm - EU Nexus games - Overview and schedule

11/15/2017 01:15:00 pm
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Heroes of the Storm - EU Nexus games - Overview and schedule

EU Nexus games - Overview and schedule

Posted: 13 Nov 2017 11:49 PM PST

HEROES OF THE STORM EU Nexus games - 2017 - SURVIVAL GUIDE

 

Tonight (15/11/2017) the second four games of the EU Nexus Games will be played. Teams from multiple nations in europe will battle it out on a community selected map pool. 16 teams of the (almost) best national players (excluding HGC pro's) will duke it out in a standard round-robin Group Phase from 14 to 19 november. The top two teams from each group will then qualify for the Playoffs—a single-elimination bracket featuring best-of-five-game matches in the weekend on 25 and 26 november.

 

GENERAL INFO

English Stream

Heroes Esports EU Nexus games page

Heroes Esports YouTube

ESL gaming info website

Liquipedia + teammember overview

 

Date: November 14 - November 26

Prize pool: Total $41,000 USD prize pool

1st - $1.600 per player

2nd to 8th - $600 per player

9th to 16th - $300 per player

 

PARTICIPANTS

Group A Points & Maps Group B Points & Maps Group C Points & Maps Group D Points & Maps
France 3p +2 Germany 3p +1 Poland .-. Sweden .-.
Finland 0p -2 Denmark 0p -2 Spain .-. Russia .-.
Italy 3p +2 Hungary 3p +2 Netherlands .-. Ukraine .-.
United Kingdom 0p -2 Belgium 0p -1 Czech Republic .-. Portugal .-.

 

SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

Date Time CET Group Match Results
Tuesday November 14 18:00 PM Group A Finland vs Italy 0-2
... 19:35 PM Group B Germany vs Belgium 2-1
... 21:10 PM Group B Denmark vs Hungary 0-2
... 22:45 PM Group A France vs United Kingdom 2-0
Wednesday November 15 18:00 PM Group C Poland vs Czech Republic Pending
... 19:35 PM Group D Russia vs Ukraine Pending
... 21:10 PM Group D Sweden vs Portugal Pending
... 22:45 PM Group C Spain vs Netherlands Pending
Thursday November 16 18:00 PM Group A France vs Italy Pending
... 19:35 PM Group B Denmark vs Belgium Pending
... 21:10 PM Group B Germany vs Hungary Pending
... 22:45 PM Group A Finland vs United Kingdom Pending
Friday November 17 18:00 PM Group C Poland vs Netherlands Pending
... 19:35 PM Group C Spain vs Czech Republic Pending
... 21:10 PM Group D Sweden vs Ukraine Pending
... 22:45 PM Group D Russia vs Portugal Pending
Saturday November 18 17:00 PM Group A France vs Finland Pending
... 19:35 PM Group B Hungary vs Belgium Pending
... 20:10 PM Group B Germany vs Denmark Pending
... 21:45 PM Group A Italy vs United Kingdom Pending
Sunday November 19 17:00 PM Group C Poland vs Spain Pending
... 18:35 PM Group C Netherlands vs Czech Republic Pending
... 20:10 PM Group D Sweden vs Russia Pending
... 21:45 PM Group D Ukraine vs Portugal Pending
Playoffs        
Sunday November 25 13:00 PM Playoffs unknown matches Pending
Sunday November 26 13:00 PM Playoffs unknown matches Pending

 

LIVESTREAM DETAILS

English: Blizzheroes Twitch

French: GameWard TV

French: Millenium TV

German: youbetterknowme

German: TazzDingo

Italian: Hots Italia

Polish: TheWilQ

Spanish: Zullhammer

Spanish: Awesome Streamers

Spanish: Sarly21

Russian: Qp3r

Finnish: HotSFinland

Czech: Heroes_Czsk

Hungarian: Westen

Turkish: Akfon

Korean: Hongcono (unofficial)

submitted by /u/Boukev
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Janitor Leoric HYPE!

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 06:31 PM PST

It has been awhile... Can we get the hype going again for Janitor Leoric?!

BLIZZARD PLEASE HELP US "CLEAN UP" THE NEXUS!

http://imgur.com/oBL2fZi

SOURCE: https://weibo.com/3132013861/DC6wvl6YO?ssl_rnd=1510712914.3015&type=comment#_rnd1510712918344

submitted by /u/MightyDiomedes
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Anyone else sick of Portrait Events?

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 10:53 AM PST

I know that Blizzard gives us a lot of stuff for free in Heroes of the Storm and has been good about the number of events/content releases. However, I literally despise all of these portrait award events.

Does anyone legitimately care about these, other than just another thing to collect? We can only ever use 1 at a time and I personally only cared about the ones that were sort of difficult to get (like multiple master heroes or esports event ones). Are there people that actually think, 'You know what I really want? Another portrait that literally everyone else in the game will have.'

I'd literally rather have anything else: skins, mounts, lootboxes, gold, voicelines, diamonds, shards, etc.

submitted by /u/Steel_Reign
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Heroes of The Storm Patch Notes: November 14th 2017

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 08:00 AM PST

"Don't talk to me or my son ever again"

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 05:12 PM PST

Please announce ending time of events properly!

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 09:00 AM PST

Halloween items alread out of EU shop!
Wanted to go for shopping tonight, because patch will be tomorrow!
How could i have known availability of halloween items ends with americas patch, not EU patch?
Please, announce it properly next time! crycry

edit: blizz is actually missing a lot of shards beeing used, when they end events too early without announcment.

submitted by /u/nakno3
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fyi, If you're playing with Alexstrasza, you have to stand in the circle when it finishes to get the healing

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 10:19 AM PST

Alexstrasza's Abundance is a little funky. If you're standing in the circle, it looks like your health is regenerating just like you picked up a globe.

This isn't the case. It's showing the health you will heal... assuming you stay in the circle when it completes (you can tell by the green lines lighting up around it).

I've had a lot of injured teammates stay in the circle for the first part, and then run out of it before it completes and lose out on those delicious heals.

submitted by /u/BreakSage
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Hey Blizzard, can we just keep this Map Rotation?

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 10:36 AM PST

It's last year's HGC map pool minus Warhead Junction plus Volskaya Foundy, which I think is pretty ideal. The missing maps besides WJ are Garden of Terror, Haunted Mines, and Blackheart's Bay (which I like to collectively label the PvE maps), and while I personally am a fan of the Garden, I understand that these maps are generally disliked by the community.

submitted by /u/riddlmastr
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Shoutout to Blizz for reimagining Alexstrasza!

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 12:26 PM PST

I've heard a lot of complaints about how she looks and her thiccness. Personally I love the new look! It is way more distinguishable and imposing. Her original WoW look just seemed like another same-face blood elf. I saw this picture of Alexstrasza and Sylvanas side by side and it looked like WoW just copied over the Sylvanas model, swapped some colors around, and added some head ornaments. They literally have the same armor minus the shoulders!

Alexstrasza is the dragon queen! While I'm sure her magic can make her look however she wants, she should be imposing. The hots version has a much more mature and motherly appearance. Her high and outstanding cheekbones and wide facial structure actually gives her a distinguishable and memorable face. On the other hand, valla, nova, sylvanas, etc all just have generic female faces with no distinguishable features. I can actually look at her with respect and not just as some sex object (I don't mean to sound like some SJW either - I defended blizzard on a lot of things, including the tracer pose controversy in Overwatch). I'm glad they gave her some pants. Also her smile is so smug and confident - i love it!

Anyways, feel free to participate in this circlejerk, or quit wasting time and go play the game! See you all in the nexus!

submitted by /u/hyperben
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Team Freedom Acquire Lutano & Yoda

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 12:20 PM PST

I am NOT OKAY with this brutal display of gore!

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 05:26 AM PST

God forbid having a playable character that smokes when you can instead get this.

submitted by /u/DSMidna
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Hats off to the HOTS community

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 09:57 AM PST

I just got off of 9 months of active duty in the US Army & didn't play any games during that time. I tried picking up LOL & was immediately shouted out of my first PVP games, called all sorts of names, & just experienced the real toxicity of that community. In my first HOTS game the players on my team were fine explaining some of the hotkey commands to me & complimented my playing even though I was super rusty. I ended up as the exp carry playing Valla that game.

Anyway, just wanted to say it made me really happy to see that not all games have toxic communities, & HOTS really is a step above League there. Thanks guys.

submitted by /u/aayer
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Li Li (Lili) rework: Initial Impressions

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 06:26 PM PST

I've played a bunch of Li Li (lvl 64) and spent some time on the PTR testing out her talents and played 8 QMs with her today.

General thoughts:

Her skill floor (i.e. playing her at a beginner level) has been raised surreptitiously: at first glance it looks the same, but then you notice that the numbers and impact aren't there if you just keyboard face smash. Her skill ceiling has also been raised in the sense that in order to get 100% out of her you need to be the mayor of juke city. In order to work properly many talents require good positioning and timing to a degree that wasn't required before. This means that while she'll still be an easy hero to play for beginners to grasp I'd expect her winrate in ranked play to drop in lower leagues and remain the same in higher leagues. Overall she feels less impactful than her old self, I expect some slight buffs.

Serpent Build

I don't like the feel of it at all, it feels very unimpactful although you can output high healing numbers in the late game. The problem is you feel you have very little agency. This build probably won't work for most comps; for it to make sense you'd need to be trading poke for days with a beefy frontline as it's very sustainy but does nothing against burst. I found myself running out of mana with this build during prolonged periods of fighting. Also, the build works when fighting enemy heroes but does almost nothing for you vs PVE. Disclaimer: I didn't like the serpent build in old Lili either.

Shut-down-autoattackers Build

Old Lili could spec into 3 second blinds at lvl 4 and then 4 seconds of shrink ray at lvl 13 to make autoattacking divers like illidan or butcher cry themselves to sleep. That's no more, with her base blind reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds, and talenting it to 2.5 seconds at lvl 13, with shrink ray gone. So before = 7 seconds of shutdown, after = 2.5 seconds of shutdown. To be honest I think this particular niche build to counter specific heroes was OP, and probably needed a nerf. 2.5 seconds is still decent shutdown time, but comes too late in the game I think.

DPS (blinds or otherwise) build

Gone. Poof. Don't expect Li Li to have any dps in any PVE situation, that versatility is gone. She can output +75% dmg to 3 targets at 13 instead of +50% to 4 targets as she used to, and while the dmg is not bad it requires you to hit all 3 targets and comes later in the game and is only for heroes damaged. This is an instance of requiring the player to master positioning to get her to perform to her old self level.

Healing Build.

Still strong, but as mentioned above requires more juking and use of ability timing to squeeze 100% out of her. She used to be weaker in the early game and spike very hard at 16 and 20, whereas now her healing curved has leveled out, without that godlike-sensation at 20. Feels tamer, more boring. However I do enjoy not having to collect globes anymore as Conjurer's Pursuit was obligatory unless the DPS build was needed. I think her overall healing numbers in games that extend past 20 have gone down tangibly.

Talents

Level 1

Her lvl 1 talent Eager Adventurer gives you practically infinite mana and is a must-pick. I expect this to get nerfed because I see no reason to ever pick the other 2. It's way better than Free drinks, and I don't like Serpent builds.

Lvl 4

Hindering Winds makes more sense than Safety sprint. It's up more often, allows your whole team to catch up to enemies you're chasing, and if you need to get away from more than 2 heroes then your problem to begin with was being in the wrong place, not the talent. Serpent blows.

Lvl 7

Good stuff heals less than before, unless you have smelly feet activated, in which case it heals more. I think it's a nerf overall to the old talent, but still good. The cleanse is great and a must pick if the enemy comp requires it, but its range is woefully short. So short that sometimes cleansing requires you to eat the CC as well, and it makes more sense to just let your ally stay CCed. Also it's harder to provide support for allies who dive the backline; you basically have to become another diver and earn your title of Mayor of Juke City. Serpent can kiss my @ss.

Lvl 10

I love the change to Jugs, it gives you more agency on how you use it depending on your current needs and if you think you'll need it soon again or not. Water dragon is still available and is the only unchanged talent.

Lvl 13

They're all viable choices depending on your needs in the current game. Need to shut down autoattackers? Gale Force. Need more deeps? Mass Vortex. Everything else? Surging winds.

lvl 16

Two for one if you need to heal AOE dmg, Pick me Up if you need to be more bursty for your single target heals. Blessings of Yulon would be decent if the rest of the serpent build didn't suck so hard.

Lvl 20

With Kung Fu hustle gone there's finally a choice to be made at this level. Jugs and water dragon are viable, and Mistweaver seems to get the most bang out of your buck if you go serpent build (which again, blows chunks). Shake it off might make sense if you're eating lots of dmg and need more surviveability come late game, but otherwise I'd stick with the storm talent of whatever ult I picked.

Edits:

Comic_serif said:

I am not a fan of the new healing indicator.

That's something I forgot to mention. Before you could tell who was getting healed with the leaf easily, even in the middle of a fight. Now if there's a bunch of AOE thrown on the ground it's almost impossible to tell. The indicator was a step backwards in visibility.

Waveclear

I've referenced this obliquely further up but it's important to state that if you thought her waveclear (even talented) was bad before, it's nonexistent now. She can't clear a wave to save her life, no matter how you talent her. I think this will affect her viability in double support comps.

submitted by /u/Titanroll
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The Strange and Surprisingly Meaningful Connection Between K-pop and the HGC

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 10:45 AM PST

Myths in the Nexus Episode 3

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 09:01 AM PST

Hotkeys: The Move command’s Quick Cast hotkey is no longer customizable

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 01:56 PM PST

What the hay! I need this change explained to me because it drastically effects my hotkeys. I have force move (on quick cast) on my right mouse, and my attack assigned to a key. That way I can move toward targets without attacking them unless I choose to.

With the quick cast enabled I can hold down the right mouse to guide my hero (like how its done in Diablo) But with the quick cast being removed I have to click every time I want to issue a new move command (which is absolutely brutal) it hurts my finger, and the sound drives my room mates crazy.

Blizzard, please explain and revert this reverse QoL change. I quite honestly don't think I will continue to play Hots if I must right click for every single move command. (too tedious)

submitted by /u/Loomineyes
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Whoever decided to release a support and rework another in the same patch...

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 03:20 PM PST

I love you. Way to make QM exactly the same as professional meta. Playing a Valla has never been so amazing.

submitted by /u/mryauch
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Really sad announcement from FNC SmX

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 07:51 AM PST

Alexstraza comes out tomorrow, but how will she hear all the festivities...

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 12:30 AM PST

...without any ears?

But, in all seriousness, where did her ears go? They were so cute and well animated in the Dragons of the Nexus cinematic, but said feature is nowhere to be seen on Alexstraza's in-game model. Did her file size, what with her dragon form and all, get too big to fit in the polygons needed for her ears? I know that was a problem for Varian, given that his four different animation sets (levels 1-9 where he one-hands Shalamayne, then three different sets of combat animations to facilitate his heroic talent options), and that certain things like Varian's face received less modeling attention to compensate for the swelling in file size his massive animation pool caused. Did something similar happen to Alexstaza? It's probably something as simple as a small modeling oversight, but I can't help but wonder if there's something more to the matter.

For example, just like how Hanzo is a little more buff in the Nexus than he is in Overwatch to make the model look more "correct" from a top-down perspective, I wonder if Alexstraza's in-game ears were left at the chopping block for messing with the silhouette of her horns, which are, admittedly, a much more interesting aspect of Alexstaza's model that are fairly distinct and, more importantly, patently specific to Alexstraza herself. Still, I can't help but be curious about whether or not there's something more to the situation, or if, conversely, I'm simply overthinking things. Regardless, it was a fun thought to entertain and play around with, so I thought I'd post it as a small little joke while I eagerly wait for Alexstraza to go live.

Remember, everyone; be kind to your draconic matriarchs while they're learning the ropes today! Throw 'em a bone and stand in that fancy circle she put on the ground; she made it special, just for you to get healed in! Well, that or everyone can stutter-step their way right out of the helpful mom van circles at the last second while chasing. That one's probably a bit more realistic, but you can't blame a support player for trying!

Edit: Fixed a small error — changed a 'when' to a 'whether'!

submitted by /u/FishSkeleton
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Why did they remove the Halloween skins so early on EU servers?

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 08:42 AM PST

Real reason behind Bakery's retirement: Overwatch

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 09:20 AM PST

He has been playing too much Ana, constantly listening to "Keep it up, and I might actually retire!" planted a subliminal message in his head.

Blizzard, please

submitted by /u/MalucoHS
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EU Dreadnaught is ready

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 04:03 AM PST

Holy S, Alexestraza is mega fun!

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 04:05 PM PST

First game I played her, alright shes ok.

Next few games, ok let me switch the talents a bit and get accustomed.

Now I have the hang of Flame Buffett and I absolutely LOVE her dragon form!!

Speaking of, anyone else feel like her dragon ability is like a mini Dragon knight :0 ? I feel like a badass with it!

Thank you Blizz, you guys did her proud!

submitted by /u/egeek84
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Skins should not be Gem-only forever if you have to buy their bundle.

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 10:02 AM PST

Basically everything about the change to how skins are purchased is extremely anti-consumer and should not remain as is. However the thing that is most upsetting is that the only way to get one of the skin tints you want is to pay 20 bucks to get enough gems for a bundle. That means that if you want a SINGLE tint you're paying 20 dollars for it. Don't just let this issue blow over and don't buy the bundle if you don't want to see this practice start being used for every legendary skin or event in conjunction with the hero releases.

submitted by /u/swishswash93
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BUG?: Auriel Can Blind Forts, Towers And Keeps In New Patch

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 03:07 PM PST

As the title says, Auriel's LV 13 blind talent does this. Other blinds might work as well; this one I saw personally on Grubby's stream just now.

submitted by /u/GTMoney519
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Alexstrasza – Abilities, Quotes, and Skins Lore

Posted: 14 Nov 2017 09:03 AM PST

Hello, all!

Since I spent last Tuesday's lore thread discussing Alexstrasza's extensive character lore, today I'll be covering her abilities, talents, quotes, and skins. I ended up not covering any of her announcer quotes, since none of those really had anything interesting to talk about.

Alexstrasza lore thread

All previous "Lore of" episodes

Abilities

  • D: Dragonqueen - In addition to naming her Life-Binder, the titans crowned Alexstrasza as the queen of all dragonkind for her courage and compassion. Warcraft's dragons frequently shapeshift into humanoid forms, usually because it makes it much more convenient to live among and communicate with (or, more maliciously, infiltrate and manipulate) mortals when one looks more like them than like a giant scaly beast. Which race they transform into varies from dragon to dragon and from flight to flight and is often based on preference (for example, the blue dragon Tyrygosa prefers appearing as a high elf as she finds them more aesthetically pleasing than humans). Generally, according to the novel Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, most red dragons (including Alexstrasza) prefer transforming into blood elves, bronze dragons (including Chronormu) prefer gnomes, blue dragons prefer humans, and green dragons prefer night elves. Black dragons seem to mostly use human forms as well. However, plenty of exceptions exist, such as bronze dragons assuming high elf forms or red dragons that transform into humans. For the most part, it seems that dragons tend to stick to one single humanoid form, but they can change this at will: Acridostrasz, Deathwing, and Vaelastrasz all normally use or used the forms of humans but disguised themselves as orcs from the Blackrock clan at one point or another. Similarly, Kairozdormu normally appeared as a high elf, but transformed into a brown-skinned orc when he traveled to an alternate universe's Draenor with Garrosh Hellscream.

  • Q: Gift of Life - Gift of Life is an ability used by Alexstrasza during the Ultraxion boss encounter in Dragon Soul, the final raid of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. During the boss fight, the Aspects and Thrall are busy channeling their powers into the Dragon Soul, but they are each able to bestow a gift on the players while they fight Ultraxion. Alexstrasza's Gift of Life causes her to create a crystal of pure life energy with a single charge; when activated, the crystal imbues one healer with "the essence of life itself", doubling all of their healing done for the duration of the boss battle.

  • W: Abundance - During the BlizzCon 2017 Hero Deep Dive panel, this ability was mentioned to be inspired by Healing Well, an ability used by the Young Storm Dragon mobs from Vortex Pinnacle, a dungeon set in Skywall (the Elemental Plane of Air) in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Immediately upon engaging one of the storm dragons, they create a Healing Well zone on the ground that restores 5% health every second to anyone standing in the area, thus forcing players to move the dragon out of the zone while also allowing players to stand in the well to take advantage of the healing for themselves. The developers thought the latter part of this was particularly interesting, but as they found that it was hard to feel Alexstrasza's impact when she could heal both allies and enemies, that functionality of Abundance was cut.

  • E: Flame Buffet - Flame Buffet is an ability used by a wide variety of mobs and bosses throughout World of Warcraft. It almost always deals a set amount of Fire damage to a player while also increasing all Fire damage that player takes for a certain duration. During the BlizzCon Hero Deep Dive, it was mentioned that Alexstrasza's Flame Buffet was specifically inspired by the ability used by the dragons in the Blackwing Lair raid from Classic World of Warcraft; as far as I'm able to discern, however, the only Blackwing Lair mob that uses Flame Buffet at all is the Firemaw boss.

  • Dragonqueen E: Wing Buffet - Similar to Flame Buffet, Wing Buffet is an ability found in one form or another on a large number of different mobs in WoW. Usually, it deals damage in a cone in front of the caster and knocks enemies back, much like its functionality in Heroes.

  • R1: Life-Binder - "Life-Binder" is one of Alexstrasza's many titles and one that she shares with the titan Eonar, who was the one to empower Alexstrasza and her sister Ysera to become Dragon Aspects. According to the Hero Deep Dive panel, this ability was inspired by Alexstrasza's appearance as a legendary card in Hearthstone, where she can set a hero - either the opponent or the player's own hero - to 15 health (half of the default maximum health, 30).

  • R2: Cleansing Flame - According to the Hero Deep Dive, this ability is based on Mothership, a similar Heroic ability that was cut from Probius during his development. The Heroic featured Probius warping up from the battlefield into a protoss mothership to rain down destruction, but was cut for several reasons: due to having a limited number of shots during a limited amount of time, players would frantically be trying to get off all of the shots before the ability expired, making it hard to think about proper aiming; when the ability expired, Probius was dropped down on the same spot from where he first activated Mothership, often putting him right in the middle of the enemy team; and, most importantly, the Heroic didn't fit with Probius' builder and advanced setup gameplay.

Talents

  • Level 1: Circle of Life - "Circle of life" can refer to a bunch of different things in the real world. In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the Circle of Life is a large ring of flowers found in a small area nestled in the northwestern mountains of the Twilight Highlands, specifically sanctified and prepared by Alexstrasza to lure Deathwing there. During the quest "Enter the Dragon Queen", this plan succeeds and the two Aspects go on to battle one another in the followup quest, "Battle of Life and Death". Also of note is that one of Alexstrasza's poke quotes in WoW is "Life begets life, and so the circle is reborn anew".

  • Level 7: Lifeblossom - This talent causes Gift of Life to spawn Lifeblossoms that are very similar in appearance to the ruby flowers created by Alexstrasza's magical breath in Wrath of the Lich King (specifically at the Wrathgate and when the Breath of Alexstrasza is used in an attempt to heal Crusader Bridenbrad). A similar flower also appears in Alexstrasza's Hearthstone animation. The name of this talent may also be a reference to Alexstrasza's "Take heart, heroes, life will always blossom from the darkest soil!" quote from the Ultraxion boss encounter in Cataclysm.

  • Level 7: Fire Within - One of Alexstrasza's poke quotes in both World of Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm is "It is the fires within that burn the brightest.".

  • Level 13: Dragon Scales - Being reptilian creatures, dragons have bodies covered in durable scales. In the World of Warcraft Leatherworking quest "Scales of the Arcane", the night elven leatherworker Celea claims that dragon scale is hard, durable, and is the strongest material she has ever worked with.

  • Level 20: On Ruby Wings - "On Ruby Wings" is the name of a quest in Dragonblight in Wrath of the Lich King. Part of an extensive quest line that later culminates in the climactic Battle of Angrathar the Wrathgate, the quest requires players to ride on the back of a red dragon known as a Wyrmrest Vanquisher and use its abilities to destroy the Scourge forces attempting to excavate the bones of the massive proto-dragon Galakrond from Galakrond's Rest. The specific quest is given by Alexstrasza's majordomo, Torastrasza, but the task is performed on Alexstrasza's request and the quest is turned in to the Dragonqueen after the player has completed the quest objectives.

  • Level 20: Blessing of the Red - Alexstrasza is known as the Red Aspect and is the leader of the red dragonflight, who serve as guardians of all life on Azeroth. It might be noteworthy that Vaelastrasz, a son of Alexstrasza corrupted by the black dragon Nefarian and forced to become a raid boss in Blackwing Lair, uses the similarly named ability "Essence of the Red" at the start of his boss encounter. This spell drastically increases the resource (mana, energy, etc.) regeneration of all players for up to 3 minutes.

Poke quotes

Alexstrasza's World of Warcraft quotes

Yes, champion? - WoW poke quote. Player characters in World of Warcraft are usually referred to in-universe as "adventurers", "champions", or "heroes".

It is the fires within that burn the brightest. - WoW poke quote.

Surely you were not brought into this world solely to bother me. - WoW "pissed" quote; in other words, the poke quote that plays after repeatedly clicking on Alexstrasza a large number of times.

Life... goes on. It goes on and on, and on and on. - After Malygos is killed in the Eye of Eternity raid, Alexstrasza has a rather lengthy monologue that ends with the words "Life... goes on". This quote appears to be a reference to the lyrics of the 1981 song "Don't Stop Believin'" by the American rock band Journey. (Thanks to /u/Kalulosu for pointing this out.)

I know we've been instructing you not to for years, but trust me, this one time, stand in the fire. - Many bosses and hostile creatures in World of Warcraft have abilities that spawn zones of fire, poison, dark magic, or other harmful effects on the ground. Standing in these often inflicts large amounts of damage-over-time that can kill a player very quickly, but can easily be avoided simply by moving one's character out of the affected areas. This has led to the well-known raid tactic and/or mantra "Don't stand in the fire" (alternatively "Stay out of the fire" or "Don't stand in the bad stuff"), as it's rather common for many players to overlook or forget to move out of these negative effects during boss fights. Blizzard have referenced the phrase a number of times, including a loading screen tip in Cataclysm and the achievement "Stood in the Fire", which requires players to get themselves killed by Deathwing. Of course, when fighting alongside Alexstrasza it can actually be desirable to stand in the fire; in World of Warcraft, it's mentioned that she has at times used her fire to rebirth fresh new life, and her breath has been known to cause flowers to sprout from otherwise barren ground. In Heroes of the Storm, she can heal allies with her fiery basic attacks in Dragonqueen form as well as with the fireballs from her Cleansing Flame Heroic.

My brood has told me I can be a real queen sometimes, but it's a mother's right to be at least a little... draconian. - "Draconian" is an adjective referring to something that is very harsh or strict, named after the Ancient Greek legislator Draco, who was known for making harsh and unforgiving laws. The word can also be used to refer to things related to or resembling of dragons (though the similar word "draconic" is used far more often in Warcraft).

I'll let you in on a secret. Ruby dragons don't actually use Hearthstones. We just click our talons together a few times and we're home. - Reference to the ruby slippers, a pair of magical shoes featured in the 1939 musical fantasy film ''The Wizard of Oz'', an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which instead features Silver Shoes). In the film, the slippers are worn by the protagonist Dorothy Gale until, at the end of the movie, she uses them to transport herself home by clicking the slippers together three times and saying "There's no place like home". In World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the Ruby Slippers can drop as a level 70 cloth item from the opera event in Karazhan (Medivh's tower); they can be used to teleport the player character to their Hearthstone location and feature the flavor text "There's no place like home". "Ruby" (along with words such as "Crimson" and "Vermillion") is sometimes used as a prefix for red dragon NPCs in World of Warcraft, and the dragonflight's shrine in Dragonblight and sanctum below Wyrmrest Temple are known as the Ruby Dragonshrine and the Ruby Sanctum, respectively.

You have no idea how hard it is to find jewelry that magically changes size. - A joke about how Alexstrasza wears similar jewelry on her horns and neck in both her elf and dragon form, with the implication that the jewelry automatically scales with her physical size when she transforms.

Of course Chromie arrived in the Nexus before me. Bronze dragons have to be first at everything. And last. And everything in between. - Chronormu (Chromie) is a member of the bronze dragonflight, which is responsible for protecting the timeways. As such, bronze dragons often travel to different points in time to investigate and correct anomalies. Chromie was added to Heroes in May of 2016, more than one and a half years before Alexstrasza.

Sylvanas may have wore it first, but you have to admit I wore it better. - Lampshades the fact that Alexstrasza's humanoid form in WoW shares several elements with the model used by Sylvanas Windrunner from Wrath of the Lich King up until Legion. However, as far as I'm able to discern, Alexstrasza was actually the one to wear it first: she went from using a generic blood elf model to using her current, unique appearance in build 9014 of the Wrath of the Lich King beta, while Sylvanas continued using a generic placeholder model (middle one pictured) throughout the entire beta and only received a model upgrade in patch 3.0.2, when Wrath of the Lich King went live. I may be mistaken on this point, though.

Wait, what do you mean I'm not allowed to do the 'Life, uh, finds a way' joke? I'm a dragon! [snort] Thanks, Dehaka. - "Life, uh, finds a way" is a famous quote spoken by Dr. Ian Malcolm in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park and, more famously, in the 1993 film adaptation of the same name. Given all of Alexstrasza's talk about life, one might think it'd be a fitting quote for her, but the quote is already referenced in one of Dehaka's poke quotes ("Overmind tried to control the zerg. To direct and harness evolution. Life will not be contained. No, life, uh, finds a way.") as well as in one of Lunara's "revived" quotes ("Life finds a way").

It's a Wing Buffet. It's only a Wing Buffet to my enemies. - The English word "buffet" can refer both to a system of laying out food that diners serve themselves to, and to the act of blowing or hitting something with a solid object or the wind. Hence, Alexstrasza is making joke about how the name of her Wing Buffet (and, for that matter, Flame Buffet) ability clearly refers to the second meaning but can be misread as referring to the first meaning.

Life is good, life is beautiful, life is even strange. What it certainly is not, however, is a highway. - "Life Is Good" and "Life Is Beautiful)" can both refer to a variety of different things, so I'm not sure which ones this quote is supposed to be referencing. Life Is Strange is a 2015 video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment, while "Life Is a Highway" is a 1991 song by Canadian musician Tom Cochrane.

Before battle, I always assure my forces that through the fire and the flames, we'll carry on. - Reference to the 2006 song "Through the Fire and Flames" by the English power metal band DragonForce. Because Alexstrasza is a dragon who breathes fire, I guess.

Interaction quotes

Alarak: "Curious... your form is an illusion. What exactly are you?" Alexstrasza: "Do you know not the Dragonqueen?" - The elven appearance used by Alexstrasza most of the time in Heroes of the Storm is only a disguise, with her true form being that of a giant red dragon.

(To angels) Alexstrasza: "I have rarely felt a presence with such holy power." - Angels sort of exist in the Warcraft universe, but they are for the most part only mentioned, and when angel-like beings such as Spirit Healers or Guardians of Ancient Kings do appear, they are rarely referred to directly as "angels". Four angelic women can be seen depicted on the ceiling of the bottom level of Wyrmrest Temple, the sacred center of dragonkind where Alexstrasza can be found throughout Wrath of the Lich King.

(To the Butcher) Alexstrasza: "You live only to consume. Detestable." - The Butcher is a demon obsessed with obtaining "fresh meat" and devouring the flesh of other beings.

(To demons) Alexstrasza: "I loathe to ally with demons, but it cannot be helped." / Alexstrasza: "We are allied for now, but I will not allow your foul magics to pollute this realm when this is over." - The Dragon Aspects have fought against forces of demons at least twice: during the War of the Ancients, and when they helped Aegwynn (future mother of Medivh) combat a pack of demons feeding on the energies of blue dragons. Given their inherently destructive nature and their life-consuming magics, it only follows that any and all demons would be opposed by the Life-Binder.

Alexstrasza: "Chronormu. It is good to see you again, young one." Chromie: "You... you know my name? Oh goodness! I never expected this!" / Chromie: "Oh my... an Aspect! T-this is quite an honor!" Alexstrasza: "The honor is mine, time keeper." - The Dragon Aspects are the revered rulers of their respective dragonflights, whereas Chronormu seems to be a fairly regular member of her bronze flight. It's a bit weird that the Heroes version of Chromie is acting as if they've never met in person, since in Wrath of the Lich King, Chromie served as an ambassador on the Wyrmrest Accord at Wyrmrest Temple alongside Alexstrasza and members of the other dragonflights, and in the Deaths of Chromie storyline in Legion Chromie even refers to the Dragonqueen as "Allie", so perhaps the Heroes version of Chronormu is meant to be from sometime before the events of Wrath, or perhaps she's just confused about the timelines like usual. Also, a note on the fact that Alexstrasza calls Chronormu "young": Chronormu's age seems to vary with each of her appearances in WoW (for example, she uses the form of a juvenile whelp at Sethria's Roost in Cataclysm, an adolescent drake during the legendary questline in Warlords of Draenor, and a full-grown mature dragon in the Culling of Stratholme in Wrath of the Lich King), which seems to be due to her different appearances all being from different points in Chronormu's own timeline.

Alexstrasza: "Neltharion, look at yourself. Misshapen, twisted... wait, you're not Neltharion." D.Va the Destroyer: "Like, follow, subscribe!" - D.Va the Destroyer's appearance is based on the traitorous Dragon Aspect Deathwing, who was once a noble dragon named Neltharion and a close friend of Alexstrasza before being corrupted by the Old Gods and transformed into a creature of immense evil and destruction, with the power of the Dragon Soul - a powerful artifact he created on the Old Gods' behest - nearly ripping his body apart. Alexstrasza's quote here is a reference to the Twilight Highlands quest "Battle of Life and Death", in which Alexstrasza and Deathwing battle each other over Grim Batol. During the battle, the Life-Binder tells her opponent "Neltharion! Look at yourself. Misshapen. Twisted. You're coming apart."

D.Va the Destroyer: "Check out who's guesting on my stream! D.Va exclusive!" Alexstrasza: "And I thought Wrathion had an attitude problem." - Wrathion, the Black Prince, is one of the last surviving members of the black dragonflight and claims to be the son of Deathwing himself (though evidence suggests that he's actually Deathwing's grandson). Wrathion despises the red dragonflight for having experimented on his egg before he was born, and the red flight in turn appears to see him as a threat and apparently attempted to assassinate him during Cataclysm. Wrathion is not affected by the corruption of the Old Gods due to the aforementioned experiments and thus claims to seek what is best for Azeroth, but he is as of the current lore only a few years old (having been born during the events of Cataclysm) and has been known to throw violent temper tantrums when his elaborate schemes go awry (as seen in the finale of the now-removed legendary quest line from Mists of Pandaria).

Alexstrasza: "Gul'dan, I will never forgive you for what you have done to the red dragonflight." Gul'dan: [laughs] - This is kind of a really weird interaction. As far as we know, while Gul'dan certainly committed many atrocities, he didn't actually have anything at all to do with the enslavement of the red dragonflight. That was all on the part of Deathwing, Nekros Skullcrusher, and the Dragonmaw orcs, and the dragon riders actually threw somewhat of a wrench in some of Gul'dan's plans during the Second War.

Gul'dan: "An eternity of darkness awaits those who challenge me." Alexstrasza: "Those who trade life for power are unworthy of such a blessing." - Gul'dan, like all warlocks, uses fel magic, which is fueled by destroying or consuming the life energy of living beings. Naturally, Alexstrasza finds this detestable.

(To Hanzo) Alexstrasza: "It is finally time, archer. Are you ready for the true challenge?" - Reference to BlizzCon 2017's "Dragons of the Nexus" trailer, in which Alexstrasza and Hanzo fight each other.

Lunara: "Now you are just the kind of ally I need." Alexstrasza: "Join me and defend all life, Lunara, beyond just that which you approve of." - Alexstrasza loves all life on Azeroth, whereas Lunara hates mortal civilizations and seeks to punish them for their transgressions against nature.

(To Murky) Alexstrasza: "No, I will not aid your quest for vengeance, young one. You must learn to forgive." - Murky is on a quest for bloody vengeance for the countless murlocs that have been massacred by Azeroth's adventurers over the years.

(To Probius) Alexstrasza: "Interesting. You are a machine, yet I sense a spark of life dancing within you." - As expressed in Probius' hero spotlight, individuality and curiosity are not qualities the protoss normally program into their probes, but Probius "gained a spark of life" upon entering the Nexus and thus has more of an actual personality.

Alexstrasza: "Ah, shaman. I'm always glad to fight beside one with such respect for life." Thrall: "Indeed." / Thrall: "Well met, friend." Alexstrasza: "Well met indeed, shaman." - Thrall played a central role in helping the Dragon Aspects heal and Azeroth and defeat Deathwing with the Dragon Soul during Cataclysm, even temporarily taking the place of the Aspect of Earth, since the Dragon Soul - the only weapon capable of killing Deathwing - could only be wielded by a mortal.

(To undead) Alexstrasza: "As long as you choose to serve death, we can never be true allies." / Alexstrasza: "You shamble around like a gruesome puppet. Your very presence is an affront to life!" / Alexstrasza: "In the end, those who serve death are always consumed by it." - As the Life-Binder, Alexstrasza would naturally view undead beings as vile and unnatural. She and her flight have clashed with undead on numerous occasions, incinerating them to rebirth fresh new life in their place, from battling the "not-living" proto-dragons during Azeroth's primordial era, to red dragons defending the Ruby Dragonshrine from an attack by the Scourge, to the Dragonqueen and her brood incinerating the area in front of the Wrathgate to prevent the plague of undeath from spreading during the Battle of Angrathar.

Alexstrasza: "With a single breath, I can free you from your cursed existence." - This last quote seems to just be a euphemistic way for Alexstrasza to say that she can "free" the unliving by killing them, since it's never even been remotely hinted at in canon that the Life-Binder has the ability to "cure" an undead back into a living being, and during the Crusader Bridenbrad quest chain she directly states that "cleansing the body in favor of life anew is something well within my grasp... removing the plague of undeath without affecting the body, however, is beyond the scope of the powers that I control".

Kill quotes

Generic: "You gave me no alternative." - When the maddened Aspect of Magic, Malygos, is killed by Alexstrasza and the player characters in the Eye of Eternity raid, he yells out: "UNTHINKABLE! The mortals will destroy... everything... my sister... what have you-". The Queen of Dragons replies that "I did what I had to, brother. You gave me no alternative."

Arthas: "I mourn the loss of all life, even one such as you." - As a death knight and later Lich King of the Undead Scourge, Arthas has inflicted untold amounts of death and suffering upon the inhabitants of Azeroth.

Cho'gall: "Another victim of the Old Gods' madness." - Cho'gall is a fanatical servant of the Old Gods - ancient, eldritch beings imprisoned below the world by the armies of the titans eons ago and which constantly seek to influence and enslave Azeroth's inhabitants. The Dragon Aspects were perhaps most directly impacted by the Old Gods' corruption when their noble brother Neltharion fell to the entities' whispers and became Deathwing. During the events of Cataclysm, Alexstrasza and the other dragons fought fervently against the forces of Deathwing and the Old Gods.

Chromie: "A good duel, sister. Nozdormu would be proud." - Nozdormu is the Dragon Aspect of Time and leader of the bronze dragonflight, of which Chromie is a member.

Gul'dan: "Feel the suffering you inflicted upon my children!" - Again, much like the interaction quotes above, this line doesn't really make any sense lore-wise, since Gul'dan had nothing to do with the enslaving of Alexstrasza's brood.

Demon: "Your kind are unwelcome in my domain." - See the interaction quotes above; demons are natural enemies of Alexstrasza's cause, and she has fought against them on several occasions.

Malthael: "Appointing yourself 'Angel of Death' does not make it true." - Malthael was originally the Archangel of Wisdom but later appointed himself Angel of Death in the belief that humanity was an abomination that needed to be destroyed.

Scourge: "Your blight ends here." / Undead: "An appalling mockery of life." - Again, see the interaction section; the Life-Binder is naturally opposed to all undead and has frequently fought against them to allow new life to flourish.

Other quotes

A victory for all who stand against the shadow. (celebrate) - During the Madness of Deathwing ending cinematic, Alexstrasza states that "Today's victory belongs to all who stood against the shadow", referring to Azeroth's mortal heroes.

All life is to be treasured. (shop) / Existence is to be treasured. (move) - One of Alexstrasza's poke quotes in WoW is "All life is to be treasured".

And so I must end you. (attack) / I will put an end to you. (getting a takedown after death) - Upon confronting Deathwing in the Twilight Highlands quest "Enter the Dragon Queen", Alexstrasza tells the Destroyer that "It pains me, Neltharion - but I must end you, as I have ended Malygos."

Behold - the power gifted by the titans! (Cleansing Flame) - The titans are a race of world-shaping, planet-sized beings that essentially fill the role of gods in the Warcraft universe. Alexstrasza and the Dragon Aspects became Aspects when they were empowered and blessed by the titans. This quote may also be a bit of a callback to "Enter the Dragon Queen", in which Alexstrasza accuses Deathwing of wasting the precious gift of the titans.

I bring life and hope! (Cleansing Flame) - This is the summoning quote for Alexstrasza's legendary card in Hearthstone.

I will mourn your death. (getting a takedown after death) - Attack quote from Hearthstone.

I will mourn your loss. (unknown) - After helping players kill Malygos in the Eye of Eternity, Alexstrasza has a lengthy speech that includes the line "Regardless of Malygos' recent transgressions, I will mourn his loss."

Let the fire of your heart burn bright. (getting a takedown after death - I think?) - Appears to be a reference to Alexstrasza's quote near the end of the Madness of Deathwing boss encounter: "Excellent work. The fire of my heart glows with a brilliant purity unmatched; every spark of it I will channel into the Dragon Soul."

Life begets life. (move) / Life begets life, and the cycle begins anew. (shop) - One of Alexstrasza's poke quotes in WoW is "Life begets life, and so the circle is reborn anew".

Life goes on. (revived) - Alexstrasza's Eye of Eternity monologue after the death of Malygos and the end of the Nexus War ends with the simple statement "Life... goes on".

My purpose shall be fulfilled. (move) - The Dragon Aspects' purpose, aside from simply protecting Azeroth, was to prevent the Hour of Twilight, the prophesied event when the Old Gods would break free from their prisons and end all life on Azeroth, a moment which Deathwing nearly brought to pass during Cataclysm. Hence, after the defeat of the Madness of Deathwing, the Dragon Aspects lost much of their power and their immortality, with Alexstrasza stating that "We Dragon Aspects have fulfilled our great purpose, and our ancient power is expended", which is what this quote is referencing.

Take heart, heroes, life blossoms from the darkest soil. (shop) - Upon casting Gift of Life during the Ultraxion boss encounter in the Dragon Soul raid, Alexstrasza yells "Take heart, heroes, life will always blossom from the darkest soil!"

Witness the power of the red dragonflight! (Try mode) - Dragonkind is divided into several subraces called dragonflights. Alexstrasza is the leader of the red flight.

You do realize I have no quest to give you, yes? (shop) - In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Alexstrasza mostly passively stands around at Wyrmrest Temple, her only actions being to give out quests to players, much like countless other static quest giver NPCs throughout WoW.

You must be prepared for anything. (getting a takedown after death) - Callback to BlizzCon 2017's "Dragons of the Nexus" trailer, in which Alexstrasza and Hanzo were revealed. In the trailer, Hanzo tells the Dragonqueen that she has no idea what he is capable of, to which she replies "Good, because you must be ready for anything" before dropping off a cliff and taking to the skies in her dragon form.

Skins

Alexstrasza's elven form in her default model is largely similar to her World of Warcraft appearance, but with a few differences. During the BlizzCon 2017 Hero Deep Dive, Senior 3D Artist Andrew Kinabrew discussed how the developers wanted to emphasize Alexstrasza's role as the Queen of Dragons, and thus made her look more regal by adding more ornamentation and jewelry, and they also liked the idea of using her horn aesthetic in her armor. Alexstrasza in Heroes notably wears actual pants instead of just having a metal thong and leg armor; she also now wears small shoulderplates; and her cloak looks significantly different, such as due to having added fur at the top.

Her Dragonqueen form, on the other hand, looks pretty much the same as her WoW incarnation.

  • Saronite - Saronite is a potent, magical metal with several unique though disturbing properties, formed from the blood of the Old God Yogg-Saron and mostly found in Northrend. It is used by the undead Scourge to construct many of its buildings, armor, and weaponry, including the great stronghold of Icecrown Citadel itself, and is mined by undead drudges or by captured Alliance and Horde soldiers - the latter of which are constantly subjected to Yogg-Saron's maddening whispers.

  • Ascendant - The naming of this skin, combined with the coloration, may be a reference to StarCraft's ascendants, high-ranking members of the Tal'darim (Alarak's faction of protoss).

  • Dark Queen - This skin is part of a shared theme of skins depicting various characters as either superheroes or as members of the evil, galactic Eternal Empire. Alexstrasza is depicted as the Dark Queen of the Dragons, an evil being that was imprisoned by the magical Star Princesses (Star Princess Li-Ming) millennia ago.

  • Dragon Aspect - The Dragon Aspects are the immensely powerful leaders of the five main dragonflights, empowered by the titans to protect Azeroth. Alexstrasza is the Dragon Aspect of Life and the leader of the red dragonflight.

    • Death Aspect - Likely intended as a reference to Deathwing, Aspect of Death and leader of the black dragonflight (originally Neltharion, Aspect of Earth), though black dragons generally have a black and red color scheme, rather than the black and pale blue color scheme displayed by this skin.
    • Kaldorei Aspect - This skin depicts Alexstrasza with the typical purple skin and green hair of a night elf, known in their native tongue of Darnassian as kaldorei, or "children of the stars". Many members of the green dragonflight use night elves as their humanoid forms, as does Alexstrasza's son Caelestrasz.
    • Timeless Aspect - Likely a nod to Nozdormu, Aspect of Time and leader of the bronze dragonflight. Chronormu is a bronze dragon.
    • Wild Aspect - May be somewhat of a reference to Alexstrasza's sister Ysera, Aspect of Dreams and leader of the green dragonflight. Aside from being charged with protecting the mystical forest dimension known as the Emerald Dream, the green dragonflight also has responsibility over the natural world on Azeroth, which possibly explains this skin's name.
Miscellaneous

According to animator Lana Bachynski, Alexstrasza's dance animation was not based on anything in particular and was instead simply based around the idea that she's "a bit of a diva". (Source)

And that's all for this week. Next week I'll probably do a relatively short thread in the form of a Stitches entry, but as always I'm open to feedback and suggestions, as I do want to see what people are interested in having me cover.

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