Unlabelled Heroes of the Storm - In Development: Alexstrasza, New Skins, and More!

11/11/2017 12:51:00 pm
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Heroes of the Storm - In Development: Alexstrasza, New Skins, and More!

In Development: Alexstrasza, New Skins, and More!

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 10:01 AM PST

Don't be the silent majority

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 02:07 AM PST

When/If the new voicechat get's introduced into the game please do not be afraid to call out people harrassing teammates and tell them (in a normal way) that their remarks are not normal and not wanted.

I know from experience it is not easy to speak up and make yourself the possible next target but the only way we will make this game inclusive for everyone is if we, the normally silent majority, speak up when someone gets harrassed.

submitted by /u/kromags85
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Anduin follow the path of his father

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 10:22 AM PST

I love this game, but the time that it takes to reconnect is absolutely unacceptable.

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 06:07 PM PST

I've been waiting ten minutes to reconnect. Looking like it's not happening at all. Has there been any discussion on fixing this?

UPDATE: Game ended before I was able to finish reconnecting. About fifteen minutes went by.

submitted by /u/taberif730
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Dear Blizzard, I would really like a Q&A session on upcoming MMR system changes

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 08:58 AM PST

I am sure people want more details and I am as sure people have ten times more questions, but here's what I came up with or gathered already:

  • Any changes also planned for uncertainty?
  • Looks like new system promotes maining a few heroes rather than flexibility, true or not, and how big is the impact if true?
  • Is draft/banning taken into account? Choosing the right hero in draft may be more important than performing better than peers on a certain hero.
  • All in all, do you have some additional insight into what parameters are used? How zoning, peeling, bodyblocking, skillshot blocking is taken into account? How will Force Wall-Tassadar be able to compete with Archon-Tassadar?
  • Also do you plan to add more parameters in the mix?
  • There's some concern about how reliable is data on low played heroes — maybe like Chen, Rexxar, TLV, anything on that? (Though I can't imagine any answer here but "we think our data is reliable enough" :D)
  • Are we right to assume that new MMR calculation would be applied to all game modes? For QM, it looks like a step in the direction of per-hero MMR, do you think we may end up there, or at least do you think it may be viable to maintain?
submitted by /u/localghost
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LoL Preseason update ended up to be the best PR for HOTS

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 08:18 AM PST

So many threads on the LoL reddit that mentions HOTS. LoL

submitted by /u/Olphyon
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Finally hit level 200 Zeratul

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 01:44 PM PST

https://imgur.com/a/vsnGO

After months and months of playing I've finally reached Lv. 200 on my favorite hero! I regretted not sharing my Lv. 100 achievement here, so I figured 200 was twice the fun right?

Still not the best at playing him, I tend to be super aggressive so either the game goes my way and I do well or...it doesn't and I get smashed. Still, glad I picked him up after 2.0 and looking forward to his rework.

submitted by /u/SarmKahel
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Alarak-themed Heroes Icon

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 04:14 AM PST

Infographic: Heroes Global Championship Finals at BlizzCon 2017

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 10:38 AM PST

Nexus Games EU: Rosters, Schedule, Format

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 09:07 AM PST

HOTS is the best MOBA

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 03:41 AM PST

Well done Blizzard. You really know how to design products. The other mobas don't have your simplicity, fairness and creativity. It's so easy to get into HOTS and after you introduced overwatch heroes, I got rid of league and DOTA. Keep up the good work, thank you for a great free-to-play game.

Edit: You can calm down. I'm sorry to have offended anyone. I'm just here to pay some respect to the people who offer this game for free. Perhaps I should change the title to "best MOBA for ME". Are you even from the HOTS sub? I don't see how League or DOTA measure up to HOTS. If we're talking pure game design Blizzard is miles ahead. Not saying the other games aren't fun. I love playing Ahri and Ekko, that being said. The other games feel "incomplete", despite being around for years. Character Balance, UI, Community and Loot-System have many gaps. Blizzard took those gaps and filled them.

Like Dehaka said "They are a rock, a tree, a hill. They will stand against the wind. [...] I am a river, I will flow."

submitted by /u/BK20177
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Lore of Sarah Kerrigan – Character Lore

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 09:01 AM PST

Another massive one (200 characters off the reddit limit woo), this week we'll be looking into the queen of the zerg, most powerful psychic in the StarCraft universe, and lover of cowboys, Sarah Kerrigan. Kerrigan's backstory is both long and tragic, and weaves into most StarCraft fiction through the first two games, so we have a lot of ground to cover. I'll be spitting the lore this week with quotes this Sunday as per usual with these longer threads.

All previous Lore Of episodes

Also just a note, u/Golblin's lore thread on Leoric sadly got buried by a lot of the bundle controversy, but it's a solid thread so people who haven't seen it already check it out. (Slightly unneeded since it got attention with the Warcraft lore thread but I typed this on Monday so I'm keeping it in)

Warning: This thread is massive. I'm sorry. There's a lot of Kerrigan. I can TL;DR in the comments at request.

The Broken Assassin

Sarah Louise Kerrigan was born on the jungle world of TarKossia in the Terran Confederacy, a fringe world of the largest terran power in the Koprulu Sector. While living a relatively normal life initially, that all changed when an emotional outburst awoke her psionic powers at the age of eight. Kerrigan accidentally unleashed a psionic shockwave that burst her mother's head open and mentally damaged her father. This powerful burst was noticed by the Confederate Ghost Program, which captured and sought to turn her into a psioinic ghost spec ops soldier.

Kerrigan was found to be the most powerful psionic the Confederacy had ever encountered, but she refused to use her psionic powers as to not repeat what happened to her parents. One of her instructors, Lieutenant Rumm, attempted to goad her powers out with more and more extreme measures, including injecting a cat when a cancerous chemical and telling her that unless she psionically destroyed the tumors it would die. Kerrigan still refused. Finally, Rumm brought in her brain damaged father, and threatened to do the same thing, but Kerrigan insisted that she would kill herself with her psionics before she used her powers for the Confederacy. Before she could, she was sedated, and reluctantly Rumm authorized the use of a neuro-adjuster to keep her psionic powers in check, and neural processing and memory wipes to make her into a loyal Confederate ghost. This would limit her power, but keep her loyal.

Kerrigan soon proved to be one of the most efficient assassins for the Confederacy, though her treatments left her withdrawn and antisocial. She went on special operations and assassination missions, taking care of domestic terrorists and foreign senators (like in the rival Umojan Protectorate) that proved too much of a threat to the Confederacy. When the planet of Korhal began to stir against the Confederacy, Kerrigan was sent along with ghost team to assassinate the ringleader of the unrest, Senator Angus Mengsk. She killed his wife and daughter, and decapitated Angus. This would lead to the full rebellion of Korhal, which would then cause the Confederacy to nuke the entire planet, spurring the son of Angus, Arcturus Mengsk, to pick up where his father left off and found the rebel group the Sons of Korhal.

However, soon the Confederacy encountered an alien species named the zerg, capturing their initial scouting creatures and finding they reacted to terran psionics. Kerrigan was used as part of these experiments in a base named the Fujita Facility, and the Confederacy began to realize that the zerg could be drawn to these psionic signals. All other ghosts subjects involved in the experiment were killed, Kerrigan ending up being the last one alive. However, rescue came when the Sons of Korhal raided the base, and an unconscious Kerrigan was rescued by the rebels.

Kerrigan underwent surgery, removing her neural inhibitor but keeping some of her other blocks intact so she wouldn't go insane from the feedback. She was greeted by their leader Arcturus Mengsk and the rebel who saved her Somo Hung (who was smitten with her). Mengsk agreed to let her stay with them as she got her memories back slowly. She began to realize the full extent of the Confederacy's atrocities, and offered to join up. She helped defend their ship, the Hyperion, (Raynor's ult) from a surprise attack by Colonel Edmund Duke, and stole the equipment of a ghost she killed.

Soon she and Hung began to date, though it caused some strain with other members of the rebellion. Later, she would be involved in the raid on the Ghost Academy on the Confederate capitol world of Tarsonis, a nearly suicidal attack. Her and a small team infiltrated the facility and captured a specific ghost Mengsk was looking for. She came across into Rumm, the trainer who had tortured her, and killed him with a psionic burst. Kerrigan escaped, but during their escape Hung was killed. She returned to Mengsk, who personally killed the ghost she had captured. He revealed that the ghost was part of the team that killed his father, and that she was also part of that assassination (though her memory wipes meant she had no recollection of it). However, Mengsk said he had forgiven her, as she would be far more useful to their cause as an ally. Kerrigan agreed to continue to aid him in his fight, and became the second in command of the Sons of Korhal.

The Great War and Great Betrayal

Events took a turn in the Confederacy when the zerg arrived en masse in the sector. Another alien race named the protoss arrived and purified the colony of Chau Sara, sparking chaos amongst the Confederacy. The Sons of Korhal had recently been driven from Chau Sara, so Kerrigan came to its sister world of Mar Sara to investigate the situation there, finding that the Confederacy was covering up the existence of the zerg. She ran into UNN news reporter Michael Liberty who was investigating the situation, and guided him to a base raided by the zerg. Later, she got him in contact with Mengsk, and he joined their revolution. Mengsk had recently allied with the magistrate in charge of the colony and evacuated the colony's survivors, and recruited the colony's marshal Jim Raynor. However, the world was being quickly overrun by the zerg, so the Sons of Korhal stole as much Confederate weapons data as they could and left the system. Executor Tassadar arrived and purified the planet.

With Mar Sara gone, Mengsk moved on the planet Antiga Prime, which was ready to revolt against the Confederacy. Kerrigan worked with Raynor (and she read the rather risqué thoughts he had upon first meeting her, calling him a pig) and the two convinced the Antigans to revolt, fighting back against the forces of General Edmund Duke and his Alpha Squadron. However, soon the zerg arrived in the system, attacking General Duke and crashing his battlecruiser. Mengsk told Raynor to save Duke, much to his and Kerrigan's protests. They succeeded in rescuing and recruiting Duke and his men.

As they operated out of Antiga Prime, Raynor and Kerrigan took part in many operations together around the sector, becoming close comrades, and later lovers as Raynor took her out on a date. However, the relationship became strained as Raynor became more skeptical of Mengsk and his agenda, while Kerrigan was firmly in support of him and his revolution. But even she began to question Mengsk when the Confederacy invaded Antiga and besieged the planet, and Mengsk discovered from the weapons discs he recovered on Mar Sara the Confederacy had been using devices called psi emitters to lure the zerg to planets they saw as on the verge of rebellion. Mengsk then used Kerrigan to deploy a psi emitter (which broadcasted her neural imprint) on the Confederate lines, though she expressed doubts as to whether what she was doing was correct. The zerg swarmed the planet and broke the Confederate lines, allowing the Sons of Korhal to escape just as Tassadar arrived to purify the world.

Finally, after months of planning and several more operations, the Sons of Korhal prepared for their final attack on Tarsonis. General Duke captured the orbital platforms around the planet while Raynor, Kerrigan and Michael Liberty struck some of the ground targets. However, Duke revealed that he deployed a bundle of psi emitters in orbit, on order of Mengsk. Raynor and Kerrigan both expressed shock and anger at Mengsk for using the zerg to slaughter a planet, but Mengsk insisted this was the correct course. Billions of zerg flooded Tarsonis, crushing its defenders and slaughtering its civilians. Tassadar and the protoss fleet arrived to stop the zerg, but instead of purifying the zerg they sent ground forces to allow the terrans time to evacuate. Mengsk saw this as an opportunity for the Confederacy to escape, and sent Kerrigan to stop them. Raynor was furious, but Kerrigan said she would do it. She and her forces drove back the protoss, but the zerg soon swarmed their position. Kerrigan called for evac, but Mengsk ordered the fleet to fall back, stranding her. (SC2 cinematic version of the scene) Kerrigan and her forces were overrun by the zerg.

Infuriated that he killed billions of civilians and left Kerrigan behind, Raynor and Michael Liberty abandoned Mengsk, and Raynor started his own rebellion against him, Raynor's Raiders. He attempted to rescue Kerrigan from the surface, but never found her. Mengsk meanwhile united the scattered terran worlds in the wake of Tarsonis's destruction into a new nation, the Terran Dominion, crowning himself emperor. Yet, what they didn't know is that Kerrigan was not killed by the zerg.

Agent of the Swarm

The Overmind, the central hive mind of the zerg, had long sensed the power of terran psionics, and sought to assimilate one as a weapon both against the protoss and the potential return of its creator, the fallen xel'naga Amon. It finally found what it wanted in Kerrigan, and wrapped her in a chrysalis, creating a cerebrate (a fragment of its hive mind with personality) to watch over her. Helped by the fellow cerebrates Zasz and Daggoth, the cerebrate helped wipe out the last Confederate resistance and break through the remainder of the protoss fleet in orbit, bringing Kerrigan back to the main zerg hive on the lava world of Char. There, the swarm's evolution master Abathur worked on Kerrigan, weaving her terran DNA with the DNA of ancient zerg creatures (and, if the third party semi-canon expansion Retribution is to be believed, possibly a xel'naga relic named the Argus Stone), creating a powerful psionic creature. Yet as she was rebuilt and tortured, she mentally reached out to Raynor and Mengsk in the form of dreams of Char. Mengsk sent General Duke and Alpha Squadron to investigate Char, but he was driven back by the cerebrate.

The cerebrate moved Kerrigan to a new location, but found himself besieged by Raynor and his forces who had recently arrived. Yet as they attacked, Kerrigan emerged, now reborn as the Queen of Blades, a terran/zerg fusion. She slaughtered Raynor's men, but when she asked if he would kill him too, she said:

"It is certainly within my power. But you're not a threat to me, Jim. Be smart. Leave here now, and never seek to confront the zerg again."

Raynor then left, stranded on Char. Kerrigan then raided a Terran Dominion science vessel in orbit, seeking to undo the last of the mental blocks installed by the Confederacy. She took some of Daggoth's brood, slaughtered the terrans within, and used the data she found to unlock the full extent of her psionic powers. However, Kerrigan's rebirth had drawn more than the terrans to Char, and Tassadar and his protoss arrived on the planet. Despite Zasz's warnings, she drove headlong into his forces, only finding too late it was a deception. While she was distracted, the Nerazim (exiles of Tassadar's society) Dark Prelate Zeratul used his Void energies to slay Zasz. As these were the same energies the Overmind used, the backlash permanently killed Zasz and stunned the Overmind, forcing Daggoth and Kerrigan's cerebrate to kill the last of Zasz's feral broods. Kerrigan then drove headlong into the Nerazim, trying to stop Zeratul. Yet when the Overmind awoke, it revealed it touched minds the Zeratul and now knew the location of the protoss homeworld of Aiur. It took the majority of its broods to invade, leaving Kerrigan to deal with the protoss remaining on Char.

Yet Raynor, Tassadar and Zeratul managed to band together, fighting a running war with Kerrigan and her zerg. They managed to draw her into the open, and while she was distracted Tassadar, who had been instructed by Zeratul in how to use Void energies, slew the cerebrate that watched over her since birth. With that Zeratul left their company, but Kerrigan kept pursuing him, driving him into a Terran Dominion base and cornering him with her broods. However, the intervention of Tassadar, Raynor and the new Executor Artanis (who had been sent to arrest Tassadar but joined them) rescued Zeratul and went back to Aiur.

On Aiur, the battle did not go as planned for the zerg, and Tassadar sacrificed himself kill the Overmind. The Swarm was shattered, turning in on itself, many broods going feral, and the cerebrates scrambling to reorganize what broods they could. But on Char, Kerrigan was now freed from the Overmind's control, and knew the time of her ascension was close.

The Brood War

Kerrigan briefly maintained control of Char and its broods, and took as her second in command an infested terran named Samir Duran, who had infiltrated the Confederate Resistance Forces (survivors of the Confederate military fighting the Dominion). However, the cerebrates under Daggoth fought her and forced her off Char. The cerebrates needed a new Overmind to survive, as they could not exist without one, but should it reach maturity it would also dominate Kerrigan's free will once again. Daggoth combined a group of cerebrates to make a new infant Overmind, which had limited sentience and control of the broods. To further complicate matters, forces from Earth, the United Earth Directorate (UED), arrived with a fleet that threatened to overwhelm all powers in the sector. The Brood War had begun.

On Aiur, the cerebrates drove their broods to finish off the weakened protoss, and Zeratul, Artanis and Judicator Aldaris guided the survivors to the Nerazim homeworld of Shakuras, but were followed there en masse by Daggoth's swarms. Yet Kerrigan beat them there first, and snuck into the quarters of the Nerazim leader Matriarch Raszagal, psionically dominating her and putting the ancient protoss under her control. When the protoss survivors met with Raszagal and recaptured a xel'naga temple that could purge the planet of the zerg, Kerrigan revealed herself, offering her aid in claiming the two crystals that could activate the temple, the Uraj and Khalis, to destroy their mutual enemy. Though the protoss did not trust her, the urging of Raszagal convinced them to allow her to help.

The group went to the planet Braxis to claim the Uraj, with Kerrigan personally leading the protoss against the Terran Dominion garrison there, taking the crystal. Yet as they left the planet became besieged by UED under Admiral Gerard DuGalle and Vice-Admiral Alexei Stukov. Artanis broke through their fleet, and the group went to Char to reclaim the Khalis. Kerrigan took control of a nearby brood and aided the protoss in breaking the zerg hold on the crystal. With the two crystals, the alliance moved back to Shakuras.

Yet there they found Aldaris in open rebellion against Raszagal, having apparently discovered Kerrigan's control over her. Artanis and Zeratul fought his loyalists and subdued him, but just as he was going to reveal what he knew about Kerrigan she appeared and killed him. Zeratul was infuriated, and banished her from Shakuras, but she said she already had what she wanted. The protoss still managed to use the two crystals on the temple, purging Shakuras of Daggoth's broods.

With one part of her plan done, Kerrigan arrived on Aiur and contacted Raynor and the protoss hero Fenix who had been stranded there, informing them of the new Overmind and the UED. They agreed to help her stop them, but were skeptical of her intentions. Kerrigan got Duran to slip into the UED ranks using his position as a rebel, and tried to manipulate them into destroying a weapon named the psi disrupter (which could disrupt the zerg's hive mind). While Duran convinced DuGalle, Stukov defied direct orders to destroy it and instead rebuilt it on Braxis. The UED overran the Dominion capital of Korhal, cornering Mengsk, but at the last second Raynor and Fenix, at the goading of Kerrigan, rescued the emperor, warping him to Aiur. The UED tracked them and overran Raynor and Fenix's forces, but at the last second Duran let a wave of zerg through that allowed the three to escape. Now convinced Duran was working with the zerg, Stukov left to reactivate the psi disrupter, but Duran convinced DuGalle that Stukov had betrayed them, and Duran assassinated the vice admiral. Yet DuGalle managed to see through the ruse, saved the disruptor and used it to attack Char, using the advanced technologies of the UED to control the infant Overmind and Daggoth's broods. Kerrigan appeared before DuGalle, saying she would break his hold over the sector, and that she would show him what the zerg were truly capable of.

Yet this proved difficult, as the psi disruptor was causing what zerg that were not under the control of the infant Overmind to go feral and attack each other, including most Kerrigan's broods. She enlisted Raynor, Fenix and Mengsk to attack the psi disrupter, making a deal that if Mengsk helped her she'd reclaim Korhal for him. Together they destroyed the psi disruptor, and Fenix helped them gather resources from the planet Moria to support the attack on Korhal. With the resources they could muster, the alliance attacked Korhal, with Kerrigan wading through heavy UED and slave zerg defenses while Raynor and Fenix attacked their outlying outposts. When the dust settled, the UED was driven from Korhal, and Kerrigan gave Mengsk back his planet. But now that she had her broods, Kerrigan's allies were no longer needed. She turned her zerg on Mengsk's and Fenix's forces, killing both Fenix and General Duke. Raynor swore he'd see her dead for her betrayal, and left the planet, and when she killed Duke, Mengsk contacted her, enraged.

Kerrigan: "Oh come on Arcturus, did you really think I'd allow you to come into power again? You practically fed me to the zerg on Tarsonis. You're directly responsible for the hell I've been through. Did you honestly think I'd let you get away with that?"

Mengsk: "But you said revenge was secondary to defeating the UED!"

Kerrigan: "I lied. I liberated this planet because it was the UED's primary staging point, not because I was under any obligation to you. I used you to destroy the psi disrupter, and now that I've got my broods back you're no longer necessary for my plans. I think I leave you here Arcturus, among the ashes of your precious Dominion. I want you to live to see me rise to power, and I want you to always remember, in your most private moments, that it was you who turned me loose in the first place."

With that, Kerrigan retreated to her staging point on the ruined planet of Tarsonis. But the UED sent their slave broods to attack her, overwhelming her forces until Duran noticed that there were groups of scientists coordinating the attack, and that the UED couldn't fully control the Overmind. Kerrigan attacked the scientists, releasing their control over the slave broods. With her hand forced, Kerrigan set into motion a new plan: she sent Duran and some broods to attack Shakuras, overloading the pylon clusters in their capital of Talematros and using the chaos to steal the dominated Raszagal away. In response, Zeratul pursued her, demanding to know why she stole the Matriarch. Kerrigan made him an offer that if he helped her kill the infant Overmind, she'd allow her to return. At first Zeratul was skeptical she would honor the agreement, but Raszagal convinced him that the Overmind needed to die. Kerrigan and Zeratul unleashed a massive offensive on Char, and in by far the hardest mission in SC1 Zeratul slew the Overmind as Kerrigan drove the UED off Char. As Kerrigan brought the Matriarch forth, she revealed Raszagal was her slave, and that she wanted to stay with her. Zeratul slipped through her defenses and teleported her back to his base, attempting to escape, but Kerrigan caught up to him before he could warp away. In a last-ditch effort, Zeratul killed Raszagal to free her from Kerrigan's control. Kerrigan was shocked, and allowed Zeratul to live, as the pain of killing his leader would be the greatest revenge she could ask for.

Yet all was not well. Duran disappeared from the Swarm after the Raszagal's death, and Char was surrounded by three fleets intent on getting revenge, the Dominion fleet under Arcturus Mengsk, the protoss fleet under Artanis and the UED fleet under Gerard DuGalle. They all engaged her and her loyal cerebrate over Char, and after a brutal battle the zerg overwhelmed all attackers, driving them back. Kerrigan now stood victorious over the ashes of her enemies and was in full control of the zerg, and sent forces to wipe out the last of the UED fleet, not allowing a single ship to make it back to Earth. Yet even though she was now the uncontested power of the sector, Kerrigan and her broods went silent. There was a peace in the sector, but Kerrigan sensed some darker presence coming, knowing the greatest battles had yet to come.

Reign of the Queen

(I'm going to stop bolding Jim Raynor here so it doesn't become a solid wall of Raynor)

While Kerrigan kept the zerg at bay, she was not idle, and continued to improve the Swarm. Using their evolution master Abathur, Kerrigan sent scouting forces through space to find new species to assimilate, adding new broods, ousting obsolete ones and improving the strains they had. She continued to research infested humans, and from either an infested human or adjutant (they haven't said for sure yet) created Izsha, a creature who would store her thoughts and memories.

Yet as time went on, what few cerebrates remained were either hunted down or died off with no Overmind to maintain them, even those loyal to Kerrigan. To replace them, she augmented a support flier strain known as the queen, at first making them into a hive protection creature by mixing terran, possibly protoss and some of her own DNA into them, then augmenting them further into sentient command creatures named Broodmothers. Zagara was the first of these, and was given the directive to keep fighting and become strong even after she fell.

Kerrigan took part in some minor actions, including sending a force to capture Tassadar's preserver (memory storing protoss) trapped in the mind of a human named Jacob Ramsey. She infested a human named Ethan Stewart to pursue them, but in the end, he and the zerg failed to capture them. She also commanded a few offensives to reclaim xel'naga relics and temples. At some point Raynor attempted to get his revenge on her, but the attack failed so hard he gave up his dreams of revenge, focusing on Mengsk.

Yet Kerrigan never forgot the betrayal of Samir Duran, who she discovered was a shapeshifting xel'naga (creators of the protoss and zerg) in service of a fallen xel'naga named Amon, who sought to destroy all of the xel'naga's creation to end all conflict. From the Void, Amon sent visions to her, using his influence on the Swarm to try to push Kerrigan into believing there was no way to defeat him. While the amount of influence he had varies from source to source, it is known that Kerrigan prepared to try and stop his return. She personally lead an attack on the shrine world of Uulan in search of a xel'naga prophecy there, running into Zeratul. She attempted to kill him, overrunning his forces, but he managed to escape with the prophecy. As it would turn out, the prophecy was the manipulations of the xel'naga Ouros, who was calling from beyond time and space to keep Kerrigan alive so that he could uplift her into a xel'naga and defeat Amon.

Soon Kerrigan figured out that Duran had infiltrated the Dominion as Doctor Emil Narud, and was breeding protoss/zerg hybrids to serve as Amon's army. She found he was going to use a xel'naga relic named the Keystone to revive Amon (though she didn't know how), and sought to steal it before Duran could piece it together. Four years after the Brood War, she sent her broods against the Terran Dominion, overrunning world after world to find the relic piecesw. However, Mengsk was working with Duran, and the two manipulated Raynor into fighting the Tal'darim (Alarak's faction) who was guarding the Keystone pieces. Kerrigan tried to stop Duran by attacking his science organization, the Moebius Foundation, on their world of Tyrador VIII, but Raynor destroyed the Moebius data cores before she could get information on their location, and Raynor assembled the artifact.

Arcturus's son Valerian contacted Raynor, telling him that the Keystone could purge Kerrigan of infestation (unbeknownst to him Duran's plan all along), and if he helped him purify her she may have the Kerrigan he loved back. Raynor, still partially in love with Kerrigan and not considering until now that there may be a way to save her (also having been warned by Zeratul that Kerrigan was the only one who could stop Amon), agreed, much to the anger of his crew. Valerian's Dominion forces and Raynor's Raiders attacked Char, surviving a costly landing and destroying her nydus worm tunnels. They then set up the Keystone, and after weathering waves of zerg and attacks by Kerrigan herself, the Keystone activated, wiping much of the zerg off Char and purging Kerrigan of her infestation. Kerrigan was now defenseless, all human except for her zerg hair, and having lost most of her memory from her time as the Queen of Blades. Tychus Findlay, who had been working with Raynor as their contact to Moebius, revealed he had been working for Mengsk and that if he killed Kerrigan, he would go free. Raynor then shot his old friend, and carried his now human love away.

Resurgence and Vengeance

Kerrigan was taken off Char, but Arcturus Mengsk arrived with his fleet to finish off Kerrigan, fighting Raynor and Valerian's forces as they fled to the safety of Doctor Narud (Duran). Meanwhile, Kerrigan was withdrawn and depressed, unsure of who she even was and with scattered memories of her atrocities as he zerg's ruler. When they did meet with Duran, Kerrigan sensed how familiar he was, and after he took the Keystone from them he revealed he was working with Arcturus, and released the hybrid on them. Raynor, Kerrigan and Valerian managed to escape, but not before Kerrigan's power accidentally killed one of Raynor's soldiers. While uncertain whether she could be trusted, they took her to the Umojan Protectorate to avoid Arcturus's forces.

There, Valerian did tests to see how much zerg was left in Kerrigan, with Kerrigan thwarting his tests time and again. After Raynor told him they had enough, he and Kerrigan sought to leave to start a new life together, but soon the Dominion found them, and a strike force under Nova Terra raided the base. Kerrigan and Raynor attempted to escape, but the two got cut off, and Kerrigan destroyed an Archangel (Braxis Holdout boss) to escape the base. However, Raynor was captured by Nova. When they met aboard the Hyperion, Valerian revealed he had lost contact with Raynor, and Kerrigan choked him, thinking he had abandoned Jim like Arcturus did to her. At the goading of Raynor's second in command Matt Horner Kerrigan stopped and took a dropship to personally meet Raynor at their rendezvous point. Yet she only found the Dominion there, and Kerrigan took control of a nearby zerg brood and wiped them out. But Jim was nowhere to be seen. Later, on the news in Jim's dropship she took, Kerrigan saw that Mengsk reported that he had killed Raynor. Enraged, Kerrigan sought to return to the Swarm and use it to get revenge on Mengsk.

(Before anyone says anything, this is the canon order of the first three mission arcs as shown by the comic Shadow Wars)

Kerrigan returned to Char, to find it under the control of the Dominion General Horace Warfield, who helped Raynor and Valerian deinfest Kerrigan. She reclaimed her leviathan (a large capitol ship zerg) and brought Iszha and Abathur back under her control. On the planet below, she fought Zagara who took control of many of the broods below and refused to acknowledge Kerrigan as the Queen of Blades, but Kerrigan beat her into subjugation. Together, they swarmed General Warfield's forces, overrunning his base. Warfield, impaled by a piece of rubble, insisted she let his men retreat, but when she just remained silent he told her:

"You bitch. You're not even human anymore. You betrayed us all, for what? Petty revenge? How many innocents have you killed? How many more have to die? What if Raynor could see you right now?"

With that, Kerrigan killed him, but in a moment of mercy allowed the Dominion to escape. Char was once again under zerg control. Yet on her leviathan, Kerrigan was met by Zeratul, and at first the two fought, but then he implanted knowledge in her of the zerg birthworld of Zerus, where ancient zerg creatures who were not assimilated into the Swarm remained. Zeratul wished her remade as one of these primal zerg to fulfill the visions given to him by the xel'naga Ouros. There Kerrigan fought the primal zerg, awakening the most ancient primal named Zurvan. Zurvan told her of the first spawning pool, where she could be remade. She stepped into it, being rebuilt as a new zerg creature, while Zagara defended her from waves of primals. Soon Kerrigan emerged, reformed from the base strands up as a new creature, more powerful than ever before (which ended up being "she looks like the Queen of Blades except purple instead of green"). When she returned, she was greeted by a primal zerg named Dehaka, who felt her power and offered his pack to her. As long as he following her got him essence (genetic material) he would be loyal. She agreed, and went out to subjugate the last of the primals, killing the last pack leaders and assimilating them into her. When that was done, Zurvan turned on her and sought to consume her, but Kerrigan killed him too, taking his essence. Zerus and the primal zerg were now under her control, and she was more powerful than ever before.

Returning to the sector, she went to the frozen moon of Kaldir to try to reclaim a Broodmother there named Nafash. However, they found the protoss there had killed her, and now sought to warn Shakuras and bring the protoss fleet to fight Kerrigan. Knowing fighting the protoss would present unnecessary complications, she destroyed the psi-link spires that allowed them to use the Khala (protoss mind link) over long ranges, and destroyed their shuttles going into their warp network. When they tried to escape in their colony ship, Kerrigan implanted a protoss prisoner named Lassara with a larva, and then let the protoss teleport her back to their ship. The larva burst from her, consumed the specimens on board the ship, and evolved into a Broodmother named Niadra. Niadra destroyed the ship and slew the protoss, but lost contact with Kerrigan. Niadra swore she would continue the fight against the protoss.

As this happened, Kerrigan was contacted by Mengsk, who told her Raynor was alive, and that if cared about him she would not attack Dominion space. Kerrigan contacted Matt Horner and Valerian Mengsk, who had kept up the fight, and told them to find Raynor, tracking him to a prison ship named the Morros. Kerrigan raided it, saving Jim, but he was shocked and appalled she was reinfested, accusing her of being the same murderer that killed Fenix. He left, telling her they were done.

Distraught, Kerrigan knew she had to keep up her fight against Mengsk. She was contacted by Stukov, who had been resurrected via infestation (long story) and led her to Duran's lab where he bred the hybrid. The two raided the lab, fighting Dominion, hybrid, and Tal'darim loyal to Duran, with Kerrigan finally cornering the xel'naga shapeshifter. After a brutal fight Kerrigan slew him, banishing him back to his dimension of the Void, but he revealed that the energy absorbed in the Keystone when it was used on her had already been used to resurrect Amon, and he would see her soon. Kerrigan swore that after Mengsk was dead, she would face Amon.

Kerrigan brought the full might of her Swarm to Korhal, telling Valerian that he would need to become leader after Arcturus died. Valerian made her agree to strike outside the city while he evacuated the population, which she reluctantly agreed to, showing Raynor that she may not be the mindless murderess from before. Kerrigan destroyed Korhal's orbital defenses, and with the aid of Dehaka destroyed Mengsk's anti-zerg superweapon, the psi destroyer. Kerrigan then assaulted Mengsk in his palace, and with the help of Raynor and her zerg allies pushed Mengsk's Elite Guard back, cornering the emperor. Kerrigan confronted Mengsk, but he revealed he still had the Keystone, and used it to try and kill her. This was stopped by Raynor, who destroyed his control device, and Kerrigan delivered the final blow to Mengsk, coursing psionic power through his body until he exploded. At long last, Kerrigan had her revenge, but now the fight had to be taken to Amon.

The Cycle Turns

Kerrigan sent her swarm on a rampage through the remaining labs of the Moebius Foundation, who were breeding the hybrid and had become slaves to Amon. During one assault, she met Zeratul again, who was looking to save protoss prisoners in the lab, but Kerrigan refused to stop her attack. Zeratul saved his comrades, and Kerrigan destroyed the lab. But as expected Amon returned, leading the Tal'darim and hybrid, controlling swaths of feral zerg, and dominating the Moebius Foundation's security and all protoss connected to the Khala. The End War had begun.

Kerrigan was drawn to the hidden xel'naga temple of Ulnar, where the xel'naga slumbered, seeking their aid in the fight against Amon. Yet Amon's forces cornered her there, and forced to fight the hybrid and Amon's servants for days. She was met by Artanis who gathered the last of the protoss not controlled by Amon to fight back, and had also come to Ulnar on his hunt for the xel'naga. Inside, they learned that the zerg and protoss were uplifted by Amon and his followers and not the main body of the xel'naga. When they reached the final chamber, the found Amon had killed all xel'naga within, and sprung a trap on them, opening a portal to the Void which flooded them with energies. Only the defection of Alarak, who lead Artanis's forces to him, saved the two, and Kerrigan's zerg took the brunt of the void energies while Artanis shut down the crystals powering the portal. Her broods were annihilated, and it would take some time for them to recover, and she told Artanis he needed to gather allies to stop Amon.

But Kerrigan did not give up the fight herself. In the non-canon Co-op Missions, Kerrigan lead the attack personally with elite zerg at her back, cleaving through Amon's forces with her vast psionic power.

Artanis was successful at driving Amon from the Khala, pushing him back into the Void and ending his crusade to end life in the material universe. Yet two years later, Kerrigan felt a benevolent voice in the Void calling to her, telling her that Amon still lived, and they had to enter the Void to kill him. Kerrigan called on Artanis and Raynor, who rallied the last of their forces to finish the fight.

They entered the Void, finding a voice in the guide of Tassadar's ghost calling to them, but imprisoned by a now full xel'naga Duran. The three factions fought through to Duran (with Stukov landing the final blow) and freed Tassadar's ghost, which was a disguise of the xel'naga Ouros. Ouros told Kerrigan she was pure of form and essence (being a primal zerg and a psionic human) and thus only she could ascend to xel'naga. Raynor was against the idea, but Kerrigan saw it as the only way she could make up for the billions she killed. Raynor, Artanis and Zagara defended her as she channeled the energy of Ouros while Amon's void shades assaulted them. The defense was successful, and Kerrigan became a full xel'naga, taking the shape of a burning angel (it's implied xel'naga take whatever form they wish or see as god-like). With her ascension, Kerrigan gave control of the Swarm to Zagara. Finally, Kerrigan cornered Amon, and with the aid of the terrans and protoss they destroyed the shield surrounding him. Before he finally killed him, she proclaimed:

"You know nothing about me! I care little for the xel'naga's Infinite Cycle or your twisted lies. No, I choose something different. I choose freedom for all of us."

She delivered one final blow, destroying Amon once and for all.

Kerrigan, now a xel'naga, brought her allies back to the material universe. Before she left, she gave Zagara two gifts, once the "gift of choice" (left unclear, but implied to be more free will) and the second a limited amount of xel'naga essence, which they could use to create life generating creatures. Zagara, seeing peace as the only viable course for the zerg's survival, would use this to attempt to repair the scars of the conflicts.

There was a bloom of life through the sector, though the exact cause was unknown (whether it was Zagara's xel'naga hybrids or Kerrigan). Kerrigan later appeared in a dreamlike haze Jim Raynor on Mar Sara, fully human, and asked him if he was ready to leave. He relied "hell, it's about time," and left his badge at the bar as he walked out. He was never seen again.

So there we have the long, winding, convoluted history of Sarah Kerrigan, from ghost to god. It gets complex, and in my opinion is one of the weaker parts of the series, but it's core to StarCraft and the image of Kerrigan is as iconic zerg as any hydralisk. Now as last xel'naga, it's unclear how much of Kerrigan we'll see again, but I expect she'll have some influence in future stories. This Sunday I'll be doing the quotations, abilities and skins thread, so look forward to that!

submitted by /u/Subsourian
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Daily Alex Reddit plays extend to merc camps now...

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 10:39 AM PST

I have been learning to play Naz lately, just wanted to remind everyone that this exists. Much love to Carbot!

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 11:09 AM PST

Alarak of the Storm - I give you my heart for this <3

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 07:54 AM PST

Theory: The issue with lack of people buying gems isn't loot boxes, it's that the weekly sale is random & lackluster

Posted: 09 Nov 2017 11:45 PM PST

Hear me out... of course many people avoid buying loot boxes for a variety of reasons, and it definitely is a focal point for gem sales. But I believe a reason just as big, if not a bigger issue, for lack of gem sales in the weekly sale.

Currently the weekly sale just seems completely random, with a random few skins on sale with a single tint option, and a mount or 2 with the same issue. With thousands of options between skins, mounts, and tints... the odds of having the exact item and tint someone is interested in is improbable.

Imagine... let's say for this LiLi rework that comes out, Blizzard puts LiLi the hero on sale for that rotation and her ninja skin with all tints on weekly sale with gems! I couldn't imagine this not gaining huge traction, being a relevant skin and hero discount that correlates with the rework, having a huge success with tons of people buying in with gems.

If Blizzard reworked the weekly sale to not be random, and planned around hero reworks and such, and offered ALL tints for the skin and mounts for them for any given week, this would improve gem sales and interest DRAMTICALLY. Blizzard should focus on a weekly sale revamp before they result to gem only skins.

Credit to TBKzord for a great article similar to this concept : https://heroeshearth.com/b/tbkzord/read/the-heroic-bundle-controversy/

submitted by /u/XXLepic
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Dear Blizzard, We've yet to hear from you regarding the changes to the walls!

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 11:45 AM PST

There were 3 large threads one with thousands of upvotes regarding the matter:

Original thread by Spazzo965: https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/7apmr1/revealed_on_the_chu8_blizzcon_stream_when_a_wall/

Follow up thread by Jejeba86: https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/7arrk8/save_our_walls/

Felewin's Thread (Illidan main who plays a lot of Greymane, Kerrigan, Diablo): https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/7asjwu/walls_make_plays_please_save_them_to_preserve/

We really hope the devs could shed some light on the matter and understand the importance of such parts of the map for some heroes to interact with, they're absolutely crucial and a necessity instead of the way it's been seen as an "extra" kit enabler.

The potential interactions made by these walls are what in my opinion makes the game great as they make up all these "WOW" moments.

Here is a list of some of these interactions with the walls:

  • Illidan's Q & Sustain, for engages, disengages and escapes & ability resets.

  • Diablo's Q for devastating charge stacks, combos and Q for escape

  • Greymane's E for escape, inner beast stacks, Q for cocktail & stacks

  • Tassadar post 20 Archon duration extension

  • Sonya's Q spear for escape + wrath generation + keeping up wrath of the berserker + sustain in case of being poisoned and needing some regeneration

  • Valla's hatred stacks & possible Q bounce for a kill

  • Kharazim's Insight, Escape Q

  • Kerrigan's Q after diving with her ravage for a kill as an escape route

  • Rehgar can bite wall for gap closure then use totem

  • Artanis can clutch attack wall for shield / gapclosure for escape

  • Auriel can whip into stun using the walls

  • Chen can dive it for escape or to make a play under fort / keep

  • Cassia can use walls to bounce lightning with her Q for a kill

  • Kelthuzad uses walls for chain combos and thus dealing damage

  • Varian uses walls for sustain in case of twin blades / Gapclosure with E using any build

  • Lunara uses walls for leaping strike or to spread her Q with splintered spear thus getting a kill that otherwise would be impossible.

  • Tracer uses walls to charge her pulse bomb using AA and melee

  • Stitches uses walls to corner an enemy after gorge for a kill

  • Sylvanas uses walls as means to spread her shadow dagger, resulting potentially in a kill, also using her haunting wave beyond the walls to create distance thus escaping

  • Thrall can use walls to bounce lightning thus getting a kill, potential sustain with lightning and winfury as well

  • Anubarak can use walls to dive beyond them for an escape, same goes for muradin's E

  • Arthas can use the walls to generate mana with his trait, potentially enabling a usage of a CC for a kill

  • Tyrael can use the wall as an escape route after teleporting with his Q as well, holy ground will also make a good detour for a successful escape in this case

  • Tyrande can heal herself and allies, lowering Q CD and sustaining herself post 16 with the talent choice

  • Zeratul can use the W W combo to teleport to a wall in case of an escape being necessary then use his blink for a more successful escape maximizing distance

  • Last but not least, walls save from triple tap & ana's Eye Of Horus, snipe and hooks, they're safe counters to many abilities that are direct point impact abilities.

Please consider this matter.

I am saddened to see it dying out like this, 3 threads were on the front page for 2 days straight getting all these upvotes with 0 response from anyone...

This change will kill a massive chunk of playmaking potential. some heroes will be almost unplayable after this one.

Blizzard please. Don't let this get to the live server, keep the game tactics, keep the kits relevant, keep the plays alive.

submitted by /u/TheGameOn
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Cris no longer part of Team Diamond Skin

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 06:42 AM PST

@Devs: Please integrate Discord Rich Presence

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 03:18 AM PST

Discord, a software used by a lot of us for many games as you may now has recently implemented a feature which display game stats through Rich Experience right in the discord mini-profile views, from my point of view this is awesome and with the amount of HOTS players that are actually using Discord I believe it should be implemented.

The leagueoflols scrubs/s already have a petition going!!!

submitted by /u/TMBSTruth
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Antihero on esports life

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 03:52 PM PST

Recently pro player Antihero posted on twitter that he'd like to write something about esports/his life related to esports to both share with the community and reflect on himself.

I took the opportunity to ask him about the risks/sacrifices associated with pursuing a life in esports and credit where credit is due, Antihero took the time to hand write his own view/experiences which I've typed up to share with the community.

Risks and sacrifices are tightly connected, but can also lead into one another and get looked at separately. Many individual factors have to be addressed reaching from a physical level, to a psychological level and to interactions with other individuals and their own individual factors (which in this case is important since we are talking about multiplayer game unlike SC2 for example). The before mentioned points are related to the basic components a person must have, to a certain degree, to be able to actively try and pursue something in the environment they want to be in.

Another point is to what extent? Are you gonna be happy about winning minor tournaments and call that a career in esports? Is the big money and potential acknowledgement of many people what you are looking for?

Since we are talking about a career it would mean being able to be a professional. The current tournament structure of HOTS esport simply doesn't allow the first mentioned career path (unlike games like CS:GO, DOTA 2 etc). Since by definition being a pro is related to your work being able to make your living. It is being your PROffession.

So we will go by the definition in the regard of going off to become one of those few talented and big tournament/league attending team players.

Going on from all those pre-set circumstances which might differ from game to game, we can look at what an individual needs to be able to do to achieve all of that.

Starting at the basics, some people might have a disadvantage of their personal fate. For example a person with a disability that is connected to their ability to perform in the game itself will have to either be able to overcome or face the disadvantageous situation in a competitive environment. This point doesn't stop at disabilities, but can be stretch further into the areas of being worse than another person in things like reaction time for example, or ability to adapt or estimate scenarios etc. Here again a person has to find a way to 'better' themselves and to improve their performance to find themselves on the upper hand of their opponent. Of course there can only be 1 person that is able to be the best in a certain category meaning that you don't have to be the best in every point, but better than the average level of where you are currently playing at or aiming for. If you as a silver player have 3 features that you can define better than the people you play with then you should be able to advance. If you are worse in a a category, equal in 1 and better in the other you find yourself in the league where you belong (if all factors are weighted the same). If you are worse than the level you play in you will find yourself slowly losing your place in favour of other players. This can be applied to the highest level of the game and will include many more nuances that you need to be able to achieve and understand in order to get there or if you don't meet those drop out of it. (JUST LIKE ME IN HGC LUL).

Now you get to understand say part of that career, what about the psychology and how it affects you. To begin with you need to understand what you want, do you want to become one of the best? Do you want to invest your time in that? Are you willing to sacrifice? You can apply those questions to yourself and on a smaller scale, but for the sake of keeping this at least a little bit short we will look at at it for the pro level. You need to set yourself goals that are reasonable and achieve them 1 step at a time. You need to achieve a level in which you find yourself good enough in order to compete with your opponents, form a team and try to become better as a team, and then at the end of the day you realise that you suck.

If you want to achieve you're your goals you will need to spend more time each time that you realise you suck.Each time you realise that you suck and decide to become better at what you sucked at you will fix an issue and become close to your goal. This makes an important note on an individual person, whether you are willing to achieve what you want to or not.

On top of that you will realise that the more time you are sacrificing for your goal you lose out on other things in your life and on top of that the closer you get to your goal ( in this case pro play) of perfection the more time you will need to spend in comparison to the steps before. This effect will often lead to the scenario of you living with an unhealthy life, juggling between social interactions, your monetary situation and your game related goals. At that point you have to make a decision which path you want to go. In my experience you will have a lack in at least one of the things mentioned depending on how you choose to value your life. If you decide in favour of your esports career you will ultimately sacrifice one of those 2 other things. Your daily routine will turn more adjusted for your esports career. On this note we will just say depending on your individuality, brandbuilding and ability to connect with people, you may find yourself in a place to make it your career but for MOST people that is not the case and they will soon find themselves facing the reality.

With that we get to the risks, lets talk about Mr Pontus Sjogren. Most people know he postponed studies for an unknown time in favour of his esports career. The esports nature is very fragile/volatile and even after having a successful career, without a job and and with limited prospects in your life you would have to try to pick up the last pieces of your old life to put them together and start trying to go from there if possible.

Lets talk more general and say that you find yourself in that situation and look at the different aspects that you might have hurt in this process. Going on the aspect of social life, having left your friends behind for a longer time or simply not caring about them results in usually them doing the same with you. You after an undefined period of time cant just assume they are going to be there for you still and shouldn't blame them for doing that either. This is a point that ultimately depends on many people around you and if you rely on too many variables you will find yourself at risk for that certain environment.

Aspects of your other careers, if you find yourself in need to continue what you previously left you might have a tough time continuing that part and getting out of the flow really needs a lot of time to put yourself back into that flow which is not guaranteed to be the case anymore (in the case of studying).

On another note your esports career most definitely is a blank in your CV which might result in people questioning your person or your abilities to fulfil a certain job after being out of it for a longer time, ultimately being a big disadvantage in your chance of getting a job.

What we looked at also only regards you having been able to achieve certain things in esports and might not even be the case for 99.9% of the people. If you read a few of the risks I mentioned and on top of that add a whole bunch of other risks and basically negative results you get to the conclusion that the risks and sacrifices overshadow the positive aspects and when you cant cut the sacrifices and risks as low as possible and at least to the level you can live with the negative outcomes you shouldn't pursue an esports career.

You and the person that you look up to both sucked at many things, the reason why you look up to them is that he overcame those

When asked more specifically around his own experiences he had this to say:

Personally i think that my circle of friends is quite excited to hear of my esports life, they support me and often make some funny inside jokes about me, but will also talk "highly" of me to other people to not downtalk my achievements in that regard. I consider myself to be really lucky and other people might have friends or companions that wont do that as much as my friends did or even tend to just leave you for the sole reason of you pursuing a career path they are not familiar with and/or dont respect. This can be really taxing on your desire to you fulfilling your needs in order to continue on that path.

Overall i would say that my social life in particular became something that i couldn't take as much care of as i would have liked. It sometimes is a tough decision between wanting to spend time with your friends or practising for your next upcoming tournament with your team. In the beginning this wasn't a problem personally since you could just rely on yourself and just go your own path of improving, but at a certain you wont be able to advance without a team and hence are forced to make sacrifices as you would expect your teammates to. For this reason teams often decide to have a day off of there usual "chores" and can spend that day relaxing with whatever activity they want to. This can of course be less true if approaching important events and teams might skip out on that minimizing your freetime.

I feel that you having a degree or in general being advanced enough in your work environment to be able to pick up a job after your esports career has died down is important in the sense of always having a backup plan. Most esports players would want to turn into something like casters, analysts, have a successful stream or in general a good content creating and in the end money making position in esports or closely related businesses just because they are used to how the systems are operating in the world of esports and streaming/content creating work. Their esports career as a player basically forming them to become somewhat able to hold up to what they need to in that environment.

For many people it might still not work out, because they demand of people wanting to get involved is very high, the amount of open positions even though the market is growing is not very high (also due to the growing involvement of companies outside of the esports area into esports itself).

Me personally i would like to be able to get hired by a company related to the things that are mentioned above, but the obvious dangers overweigh the good potential aspects. High risk high reward so to say. Hence i decided to continue studying in university and always to have a backup plan and once i am through the toughest phases in that one i might be able to invest myself 150% into esports instead of the usual 100%

Personally I think the risks for players to try break into the esports scene are huge, but doing it when you're young carries less risk. At 25 years old now I wish I could have tried to do something similar, prospects of any kind of career in esports are not looking so great now! For any pro players/esports professionals reading this, the one thing I definintely can say from experience is you will be surprised how much you can learn and develop from any career, esports is certainly not a 'blank' on your CV. Rising to be playing along the -best- people in the world at something or being involved in the production of content from a company like blizzard is worth its weight in gold, enjoy it and make the most of it!

submitted by /u/buckleli92
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Twin Dragons Wallpaper

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 09:25 AM PST

I couldn't find a high resolution version of this image anywhere, so here it is if people want it for their Desktops.

https://i.imgur.com/lhNmyon.png

submitted by /u/PersistentWorld
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The Art of Heroes, by Samwise Didier

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 07:16 PM PST

This may be old news to some of you here, but I didn't know that Samwise Didier, senior art director at Blizzard, has a DeviantArt page. It includes a lot of concept art for Heroes of the Storm.

https://samwisedidier.deviantart.com/gallery/60565243/The-Art-of-Heroes

submitted by /u/PrimalZed
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Just had a thought about skill differences in HOTS vs other MOBAs.

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 12:43 PM PST

I was just on a thread talking about HoTS being the best MOBA. there were a lot of topics that arose from this. One that caught my attention was the carry aspect of the genre. Several people feel that HoTS lacks the ability to have players carry their team.

I however look at this in a completely different way.

The carry often mentioned is from the same mentality of the other popular MOBAs where carrying is based on mechanical skill, not skill in a broad sense.

Consider the fact that in order to "hard carry" in HoTS you simply cannot just be good mechanics wise, because the game is MORE than just mechanics. its about team. So in order to really carry you must be a good team leader, a shot caller, good at micro, macro, map awareness, map mechanics, and a whole lot more.

So yes hard carry is not common in HoTS. Why? Because its HARDER to do. You must have a higher set of skills in order to carry in HOTS.

Your mechanical skills will probably never solo carry a game in HoTS but if you elevate all of your skills, including communication, and leadership. Then I have no doubt that you can CARRY your team to victory.

It just wont be in the way that other MOBAs define carry.

submitted by /u/Emperor_Vulcan
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Johanna needs a skin based on the Diablo 3 'Seeker of the Light' set!

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 07:32 AM PST

RIP-Tire vs. Void Prison

Posted: 10 Nov 2017 03:37 PM PST

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