And some games, you’re just going to be screwed by luck of the draw. How do you assign lanes when you’ve got three healer supports, one assassin, and one specialist? One of the lanes is going to end up with nothing but a healer with nobody to heal, and then the other two will fall like dominoes.
There is some luck involved, but for the record the software ensures that the two sides are to a great extent equally matched. If one side has three supports*, the other side will as well, for example.
I don’t know all the ins and outs of it but basically there’s just a subset of possible combinations that are allowed to be matched against each other in Quick Match.
*I actually don’t think 3 supports are allowed on a QM team in any matchup, but I could be wrong.
Played some Patches (or was that Stitches?) last night, had a much better time. I can see myself really getting into this if I had the “right” hero.
Any advice on which hero to read up on? I have poor aiming, so I’m not really into skillshots. My thing in TF was playing pyro, taking alternate routes behind people and lighting them up, stickybomb demo, and Engineer. All super low clicking/aiming type classes, that rely more on positioning and awareness.
I don’t mind support either, but I tried Malfurion last night, and I was actually having trouble targetting my own teammates for the heals. That was kind of embarrassing.
If you hate aiming, and want to support, Li-Li is really easy. Three of her four abilities, including her heroic ability, auto-target, and the fourth can target any hero, including herself, with about the same effect. She’s also one of the cheap heroes.
I expect, though, that her usefulness is seriously diminished at higher skill levels.
I’ve heard good things about Lili from The Angry Chicken Podcast (Hearthstone podcast that seems to talk more about HOTS than not). The other one I was thinking of was Brightwing.
I’m not looking to go high level in this game, I think. Don’t have the twitch or the time to do that any more, I’m just looking to have fun, capture the old W+M1 rush for when the slow methodical play of Hearthstone isn’t what I’m looking for.
Both Lili and BW have unaimed heals. Lili heals the ally that needs the most healing in her range, and BW heals all nearby allies every few seconds for less. Both rely heavily on positioning properly. BW isn’t good at healing the front line heroes as Lili, but his offensive options are a little better. I’m not a good support player, but they’re two of my favorite supports.
Of the two, I prefer Lili, but BW does aim-free healing. One of his ultimates is an aimed heal, so it’s not all standing around looking pretty for BW though. BW’s other abilities are targeted (AoE damage, ally buff, enemy CC). I feel that BW has a steeper learning curve because of his teleporting heal and the lag in the AoE. That said, I think he’s more fun to play.
I went and bought Lili last night, she’s only 2000 gold so hey!
I have to say, that game was the most fun I’d had in the game. It really felt like TF2 medic, learning how to position yourself, blocking for the squishies, spamming those heals without aiming. Perfect.
That dragon spirit thing seems rather useless though. Does it actually do any damage worth the mana? I just gave up on that thing after a while. It doesn’t even slow or anything.
Lili is an awesome character. I play her quite a bit.
The dragon spirit is just about worthless UNLESS you focus on it. My go-to Lili build is actually a psuedo-dps setup. I start with the mana regen at level 1, but then focus on the dragon buffs. By level 16, you can cast two dragons that have healing, bouncing attacks. It’s actually a respectable amount of damage and, more importantly, an unexpected amount of damage in teamfights. I also go for the dragon ult rather than the healing one.
This build can piss off teammates when they realize that you aren’t going full-on healbot, but I enjoy it WAY more and I think it’s more effective on the whole.
Even if the dragon is nearly worthless, you might as well cast it anyway, because you probably have the mana to spare even with spamming your other abilities. It’s not a ton of damage, but every little bit helps.
I’m digging Raynor because he’s simple enough that even I can play him well. His abilities basically translate to “shoot stuff,” “shoot one big thing,” “shoot things faster somehow,” and “summon aircraft to shoot things for you.” I also really like the bribery ability, and have had fun (and some success) playing a warlord type. Grab Hyperion if you want to be a weapon of mass destruction, or the Banshees to make one enemy hero’s life miserable.
I’m much, MUCH better with ranged than melee.
Ok, so I just found out that teaming with friends gets you bonus xp. So add me! TabbyNat#1285. I’m a noob, and I’m on the other side of the world, but hey, maybe it’ll work. 
Grabbed LiLi because she’s cheap and I get to be a panda that throws drinks at people to heal them and she’s dirt simple to play. My rough flowchart:
- Grab the Mana Regeneration passive at level 1.
- If Sylvanas is on your team: stick to her like a vinyl car seat on a humid day, hit “q” often, watch her own face.
- Otherwise, stay near your allies, hit “q” often, occasionally attack for shits and giggles.
- If the game runs long enough, grab that talent that doubles your heals.
- Watch your team win and be totally unappreciated for it.
I’m sure there are subtle elements that I’m missing, but that seems to handle the broad outlines very well.
The one thing is quibble with you about is the idea that healers shouldn’t or don’t need to also be attacking. This is to artificially reduce your contribution.
E is actually a LOT of damage mitigation, blind is awesome. I’ve saved many people (including myself!) by timing that E.
That, and Shrink Ray. Good for saving your teammates, good for ganking people trying to run.
I tried making a full cloud dragon build, but it’s still kinda underwhelming to me.
Sorry, I meant most of that post with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Completely agree that supports should be attacking when appropriate, and that the blind ability is a solid addition. After all, damage that doesn’t happen is essentially healing that doesn’t have to happen.
Heh, I’ve had experienced in game like asking malfurion why he didn’t finish someone off and the reply being “I’m a healer you idiot.” Guess your post triggered trauma from that. 
Well, to be fair, that could be parsed as “Well, I tried to finish him off, but being a healer, I have low DPS, and so he was able to get away”.
No, in the case I’m taking about her didn’t try… The guy just strolled right by him…
At least root him if possible.
I’ve always liked game characters who were really “support”, who maybe had some healing but focused on buffs and/or debuffs. Like Radiation Defenders in City of Heroes. Sure, I can heal you, sort of, sometimes. But instead how about if I make sure all our enemies are vomiting up the linings of their digestive tracts? Rehgar looks like a good choice for that, or Brightwing.
If you want non-support support Tassadar is a good pick. He gets the option to take “healing wand,” which kinda sucks, but his focus is giving shields and providing vision. He should really be classified as a “specialist.”