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The Heroes in Heroes of the Storm makes a better Kha'zix than Kha'zix...

5G8Nri0B54·7/23/2015, 9:23:12 PM·2 votes·1,300 views

First things first, let's begin this thread by saying IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO ENJOY TWO DIFFERENT MOBA'S. AND JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE SUGGESTS SOMETHING FROM A DIFFERENT MOBA, IT IS NOT AN ATTACK ON THE OTHER MOBA. CROSS INSEMINATON IS A HEALTHY THING.

With that out of the way, HotS, despite it's many many flaws, does a lot of things I feel LoL could learn from. I'm not saying LoL should outright switch to those things HotS do, but observe and see if there's anything they can take out of it.

One thing HotS does pretty interestingly is replacing items with Talents. Simply put, leveling a Hero grants "Talents", which are special bonuses to a Hero. Those bonus aren't a simple "+100 hp" or "+1 damage". No, often times they add or even modify how an ability works. For instance, Azmodan has a channeling laser, whose biggest weakness, besides being channeled, is the fact that it roots Azmodan in place. At level 13, he can choose to upgrade it so that he can walk at 75% speed while channeling his laser. But by choosing that, he misses out on the other Talents he could have chosen from.

How does this relate to Khazix? In this case, I often find myself picking talents that suits the map and situation of the game. Kha'zix, on the other hand, is stuck on the same damn evolution path almost every single game, and every time, his evolved wings are part of the path. Yes, there are occasional balance issues in HotS where one Talent is objectively the best choice 99% of the time, but this is no where near as egregious as Khazix's being forced to always evolve his Leap, or how he MUST evolve his Q in order to do his job as an assassin, leaving his only real choice being to evolve his R or his massive racks.

Rather than limiting his evolution to 3 specific levels where you typically level your Ultimate, what if...Khazix has a massive pool of evolutionary possibilities to choose from scattered throughout levels 1-18?

1 Comments

DrCyanide7/23/2015, 9:49:58 PM1 votes

I haven't really played Kha'zix, but I'm going to guess that he has the same problem Viktor does in this regard (one upgrade path 98% of the time, one upgrade path 2% of the time, other options 0% of the time).

The problem is that the choice isn't between multiple good things, where one locks out another (like Heroes of the Storm). What we have are choices that are undeniably better in most situations, that don't exclude or delay equally good options. There's never been a situation as Viktor where I've been remotely compelled to augment my stun first or second. There's been one instance where I thought it would be better for a particular matchup to get my movement speed augment first. But compared to the better waveclear and damage that the Laser augment gives? It might as well automatically pick the Laser augment upgrade for you when you buy your first augment, it's just hands down better.

The Augments/Evolutions/Silver Serpent upgrades (Gangplank's joining this party) have a best option, and a worst option. It's not even close. I'll call it now, Gangplank's Raise Moral upgrade will be the last one he gets every time, since it doesn't help out as much as the other two do. Sure, it will take it a few weeks to get there, but it will.

To have meaningful choices, we need all our augments/evolutions/black market deals to be on the same level. If you can say "I'd pick this one last 99% of the time and first 0% of the time", it's not good enough. That first augment/evolution/swindle of the shopkeeper should be a decision that makes you stop and think about it, and if not that, then at least be such that each player considers something else to be a better option as their go-to.

Honestly, I feel like Ezreal pulls off the "evolution" card better than Kha'zix or Viktor, simply because you can build anything on him. You can start Tear. You can start Sheen. You can start BF Sword. You can start Bilgewater Cutlass. And they're all equally viable! People pick one or the other based on how they want to play or the challenges they're up against. Now why can't our Augmented, Evolving, Pirate Overloards be like that?