Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

Developer AMA from August 8, 2019 - Roundup (Text + Video)

Heyhey everybody,
here is the roundup of yesterday's Developer AMA split by topics. There is also a video i made going through the AMA responses, if you prefer the watching instead of reading. Enjoy :)

Additonal video: Developer Reddit AMA Roundup, Aug 8 2019

--> Link to the reddit AMA thread

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General

• They usually shy away from roadmaps, but they want to put some thought into this and maybe provide a middle ground. Also they like their current groove of new content. (source)
  
• They are currently fine with how the movement speed changes worked out. Still gathering data though, especially on Ming and KT. (source)
  
• Updates to AI have been worked hard upon and are planned to be released ASAP. This topic is very important for them. (source)
  
• It is possible that they will expand and evolve the lore of the Nexus in the future. (source)
  
• They are working on an updated observer interface (source)
  
• They are working on a gifting system and are trying get it out as quick as they can. (source)
  
• They use the post game surveys for general feedback and monitorring trends. Maybe the will bring more specific questions soon. (source1)
  
• They are generally fine with how Hanamura battleground works, but they agree that it could need some fine tuning. (source)
  
• They would love to bring the emote wheel back someday. (source) Same goes for missing ping hero quotes. (source)
  
• They like the idea of a taunt showcase button for MVP screen. (source)
  
• Keybind settings bound to heroes instead of profiles is currently not planned, but as a work-around they will check if switiching profiles automatically for specific heroes could work (source)
  
• Mega Hero Bundles are currently not planned to come back. If they come back, that would be for a specific moment, rather than permanently. (source)
  

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MMR & New Storm League Season

• In the new system the MMR is effectivel visible as your rank. MMR value change calculation is connected to a win rate prediction system that is taking a lot of different factors into account. How the MMR is calculated hasn't changed much with the new season. (source) (source2)
  
• The rank distribution at the start of SL season 1 is: 14% Bronze, 25% Silver, 28% Gold, 22% Platinum, 10% Diamond, 1.15% Master+ (source)
  
• There is no cap for ranking after placement anymore, so ranked points are directly mapped into MMR(source)
  
• One factor that modifies your MMR gain/lose is Game Density: The longer you havent played a game, the less confident the matchmaker is about your MMR. (source1) (source2)
  
• They are discussing solo or duo queue only for high ranks in Storm League. Really considering it but still investigating. Suggestions are welcome! (source)
  
• They are currently not sure on changing the requirements for accessing ranked, but they love to revisit the new player experience at some point.(source)
  
• They are aware that Smurfing is a problem and have some tools against it. (source1) (source2)
  
• Loss forgiveness if you have an Disconnect/AFK/Feeder in your game is still worked upon and important to them. (source source2)
  
• The data they gathered for performance based matchmaking is currently not planned to influence MMR. They are actively exploring ways to surface more of this data to players though. (source)
  
• They plan to make improvements to ranked season rewards and quests season per season. Thoughts and ideas from community are welcome. (source)
  
• There are currently no plans for more MMR squishes/clamps/reset in the future or for new seasons. (source)
  
• They are not planning to put raw MMR into replay files, but they could put in total rank points, which could help MMR mapping for external sites or amateur leagues. (source)
  
• Storm League seasons names will not differentiate on the statistics page due to limited space (source)
  

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Heroes (mostly Qhira)

• They are actively discussing how they can improve hero trailers (source)
  
• They will continue teasing new heroes and love seeing discussion, guessing, theories, passion that surround teasers. (source)
  
• The character heads on Qhira's trophy wall might just be a cool artwork, but also "anything is possible in the nexus". (source)
  
• *Qhira's E circling clock-wise only is a thing they are aware of (also for Fenix' Q) and they are fine with it, because making the circle direction controllable wouldn't be easy to implement, brings too much complexity in learning the hero without too much gain. (source)
  
• Qhira's Grappling Hook was a lvl 16 talent first but it felt must-pick so they put it as her trait and merged the passive dmg into her W (source)
  
• They didn't feel that there was another Blizz char that could have really fit Qhira's kit. (source)
  
• They currently don't have any other Nexus-born heroes in in development. (source)
  
• Nova will get her eye color changed to her original green on the next major content release patch. (source)
  
• Though they would like to, there are currently no plans to update Arthas' model, beacause it would take away too much from creating new assets. (source)
  
• They are currently not planning death traits on upcoming heroes (like Junkrat or Tyrael have). (source)
  

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Other

• Honesty in answering AMA questions is extremely important for them. They also want to avoid overpromising and underdelivering. Also they prefer answering more questions even if they cant always really commit to it. (source)
  
• Creating a new skin can take between 2 and 5 weeks for a designer (+more interesting art insights) (source)
  
• Localization takes a lot of time and effort even for skins. For example modelling and texturing all of Janitor Leoric's tints in all languages took 4.5 weeks. Also the recent mecha event was planned for 6 months (source)
  
• They like the changing menu background color they had on some events, but currently have no plans for another background takeover. (source)
  
• Changing the camp locations on Alterac Pass a little bit would be interesting but would also take a lot of work. (source)
  
• There are no current plans for user generated content. They are having an eye on community ideas though. (source)
  
• Pineapple on Pizza? Anything can happen in the Nexus! (source)
  

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Thanks a lot everybody & have a great weekend! :)

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