The Murky rework was a huge success in creating a more powerful hero, but many players find it exhausting and overwhelming. Should a specialist like Murky be this strong?
With Murky topping the Hotslogs charts with a whopping 57% win rate, we have entered a brave new world. Murky isn't a troll pick, or a fun quick-match distraction-- he is a top tier force that demands banning or first picking:
Tassadar got a huge buff this patch - can't be banned because 2nd pick has to ban murky, wp blizzard
— Orie Guo (@YoDaOrie) February 14, 2017
Even a casual glance at the Heroes sub-Reddit lately reveals a pretty clear trend:
- Murky - it's been fun, now it's getting stupid.
- Murky's 8-second slow
- Murky should reward more XP when he dies
- Murky with 4803 games is at 57.5%
- This murky rework was awfully tuned, it took a designed niche hero and made him meta.
- Picked up murky today, I sometimes feel like I don't need to do anything at all in order to win
Or Psalm puts it, "a Dark era"
nothing to khaydarins but more importantly no changes to mental acuity.. and the fact that 95% of those murky changes went live.. a dark era
— psalm (@psalmHotS) February 14, 2017
So what is the problem?
The thing about Murky is he is inherently frustrating to play against. A hero that doesn't go away and gives no XP when you kill it? A hero that can turn invulnerable at will? A hero that hides his spawn location? You don't want this hero to be a top-tier powerhouse.
He is the Heroes of the Storm equivalent of a Techies or Teemo. By the same logic, player experience can get pretty awful when invisible landmines and suicidal heroes become the standard meta. These mechanics are either loved or loathed by the player base and most people can handle them in small doses.
Niche Murky picks that find a way to be effective can be some of the most exciting moments of competitive heroes, remember Cloud9's Murky at BlizzCon 2015?
@BlizzHeroes PLEASE NERF MURKY, do not let this ptr patch go through please :(
— Shot (@Shot_HOTS) February 13, 2017
Murky has never been stronger but is that a good thing? Some of the most common player feedback is that the XP Murky grants needs to match how difficult he has become to kill. With fake Eggs and tons of powerhouse defensive talents like Fish Tank and Big Tuna Kahuna, it's difficult to kill Murky and we all know what happens when you ignore him. He becomes a split push nightmare while effortlessly diving fragile backline heroes.
Other concerns include how long his Slime slows enemy heroes and how easy it is to get free value out of A Fishy Deal. All in all, the issue with Murky seems to be how easy it is to have a huge impact on the battleground. Until this changes, expect to see a lot more Murky bans in 2017.
Yep, Murky bans.
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