Hey y'all, k0nduit here. Today's article covers one of the most important traits that a gamer can possess - a deep, burning desire for value. So join me, as we take a journey across the rolling hills and flowing rivers, through lush forests and over majestic mountains, to a place where dreams themselves can come true... that's right, we're heading to Valuetown. Population? You!

In this piece, I'll define what value is as a concept, offer some general advice on the subject, and present several common situations where a value-oriented mindset will help guide one into building stronger game plans and tighten up one's overall gameplay. Without further ado, let's get into it!





What Is Value? And What is a Value-Oriented Mindset?

To get value, in short, means to acquire an advantage in the game. This is an extremely broad definition, because getting value can take many, many different shapes and forms. For example, a common situation where the word 'value' is used is when you get killed, but you take down two of the opposing heroes as well. That's a 2-for-1 trade, which is pretty good value. Let's say you deny a wave of experience from your lane opponent - you've gotten some value there, too. Or perhaps you simply trade Heroics in a teamfight, using a 60 second cooldown Heroic for your opponent's 80 second cooldown Heroic - that's value! It's as simple as that: gaining any advantage, however big or small, is getting value for your team.

A while back, a League of Legends player known as HotshotGG conveyed a principle that has stuck with me throughout my MOBA gaming experiences over the years. I can't remember his exact words verbatim, but what he said was something to effect of, "If you're not farming something (i.e. killing minions/jungle camps), or are not on your way to farming something, you're not being productive". League of Legends of course has different mechanics from Heroes of the Storm, but the message still rings true. How I've always interpreted this is that you want to always be doing something that is helping your team win the game. That is, you always want to be getting value. Any time spent not getting value, or not working towards something that will yield value in the future, is time wasted. And, even something as simple as securing soak/experience is getting value, as missing that soak would be hurting your team. The thing to remember though, is that almost every decision will yield some amount of value; thus, it becomes less about getting value period, but more about optimizing your decision-making so you can get the maximum value possible! So in essence, while a bit of a tautology, constantly thinking about how to get the most value is the core of a value-oriented mindset.

Below you'll find several common scenarios, analyzed and broken down in-depth, that demonstrate how cultivating a value-oriented mindset can help improve one's performance, game impact, and results.



You've Just Secured a Kill - Now What?

Whether in the 4-member rotation or as an offlaner, let's say that you've outplayed your opponent and nabbed a kill for your team. Bonus experience acquired - sweet, right? Yes, certainly... but why be satisfied with just that kill's worth of experience? Get everything you can off that takedown: nine times out of ten, there's a lot more value to be gained.

When an opposing hero is killed, they're off the map for the duration of their respawn timer. During this time, assuming your team has some reasonable health bars, you hold a numbers advantage, and thus, a strong degree of map control. If you're in the offlane, you can push the minion wave to the opponent's towers so that your minions die, and the enemy team is denied experience. In the 4-member rotation, you are now free to commit resources, i.e. numbers, in a more 'greedy' manner to get more value. You can send a DPS off to go do a mercenary camp without losing lane pressure. You could even secure a neutral camp, confident that if the enemy team comes to contest you'll win the 4v3. A common example of this is a 4v4 skirmish in the bottom lane of Dragon Shire. If you get a kill, then the neutral bruiser camp at the very bottom of the map is yours for the taking. And when you push with the bruiser camp towards the enemy team's gate, you'll be getting a lot of structure damage, which means even more value.

Now, you could just push the lane without getting the bruiser camp. But, oftentimes, taking the bruiser camp will allow you to push harder than if you had just immediately started sieging the gate, as your push will be more resilient to the opponents' waveclear with the assistance of the camp. Additionally, by taking the bruiser camp, you're getting the capture experience and denying the possibility for the enemy team to get that camp for a while.

This short discussion brings a number of concepts to the forefront. First, there's often something more to be gained off of a kill than its upfront experience alone. And second, you have some options on how to proceed when looking to maximize your value. Sometimes it will be correct to just push without getting any camps - it's definitely situational. But whichever way you slice it, posturing around in lane waiting for the next minion wave is rarely the line of play after you've secured a kill! Be more aggressive, assert your numbers advantage somewhere on the map - often by securing mercenaries - and look to get some more value. Whenever you secure a kill, a few questions should immediately come to mind: "How do we get the most value off of this? How do I press this advantage as much as I can?"

Resource Distribution Across The Map



This next one's a dynamic and fun puzzle to think about every match. Suppose you're playing on Alterac Pass, a 3-lane map which will require your team to spread out and, particularly in the early game, not exactly allow you to organize things into a clean 4-member rotation and an offlaner. Distributing your resources, that is, assigning who goes to which lane and does what, isn't straightforward, especially when considering the the Gnoll camp comes up at 1 minute (and you want to basically be doing that camp on cooldown). As the match progresses, things get more and more interesting. In this scenario, it becomes important to make sure you're getting the most value you can by being in the right place on the map.

As we discussed in the prior section, numbers advantages are important. If you commit too many people to one place, you can yield a 'numbers advantage' to the enemy in a particular area of the map! Let's say top boss is up (and bottom boss is on cooldown) on Alterac Pass. If 4 of your team members are showing in the bottom lane, then the enemy team knows top boss is A-Okay to start up and secure, as there's no way your team will get there in time to contest.

Overcommitting resources to a location (not just mercenary camps/bosses) can leave the enemy open to gain value, but it can also make your team lose out on some value. Let's imagine that your team has a talent advantage (16 vs. 14.5) and is securing the objective on Alterac pass. The enemy team, in all likelihood, is going to simply concede the objective and look to farm up to level 16 as quick as they can in order to defend against the upcoming cavalry push. For this reason, you don't need to have all 5 members of your team defending the prison camp. Because the enemy team is unlikely to make any effort to contest, you can leave just 1-2 members on the objective and have the rest soak lanes and match the enemy team as they're soaking. This maximizes the amount of value your team can get while securing the objective. If the opponents decide to collapse on the objective, your teammates who are off the objective can simply collapse along with them.

From this discussion, we now know that there is both tangible and intangible value. Map vision and your location on the map itself are invaluable assets that, when improperly managed, can give away value to the enemy team. Think to yourself, "Where should I be on the map right now? Is there somewhere else where I can get more value for my team?"





Seeking Small, Incremental Value Can Have a Big Game Impact

Thus far, we've discussed lots of overarching macro strategies to get more value. But, having a value-oriented mindset means that we're seeking out advantages at all times, however big or small. There are so many opportunities to gain advantages - you just need to be on the lookout for them!

The first is in cooldown usage and trading with your opponents. If you take a small skirmish, and the opponent is forced to use significant cooldowns (like their Support's Cleanse ability) while you are not, that's acquiring value. If you simply outtrade your opponent and they're left with low healthbars, that's also getting value - now you are favored in the next fight, or you can use your health advantage to force a merc camp, knowing that you'll win any potential fight.

Grind out small advantages wherever you can. If you deny 2 experience globes, that's a win! It may seem trivial, but it's the right play - don't get complacent, as EVERY bit of value is important and can make the difference. Some time ago, I was playing on Sky Temple. We had reached the late game, and our team had just secured level 20. We immediately beelined for the boss pit, and started up the boss, because our opponents were level 19.5. I don't remember our exact composition, but we had some level 20 talents that were game-changing and provided us strong enough control of the boss pit that we didn't have to worry about our opponents... however, if the opponents had level 20, then we would not have been able to make that play as they would have some strong talents of their own that would enable them to contest. They had vision of us while we were doing it, and by the time we secured and captured the boss, they were at level 19.8~ ish. Their capability to contest was lost because of a relatively miniscule amount of experience. You have to wonder if there was just a little bit of value they could have gained elsewhere on the map, catching a little bit more soak, one more merc camp taken, etc. Alternatively, it could've been a minion wave that someone on our team had successfully denied that ended up making the difference. Simply rotating well earlier in the game could have made this boss play happen.

Now, I have sung the praises of catching experience soak a lot, and certainly, as a general rule, you want to be catching all three lanes of experience. However, it's important to know when to deviate from this. Always ask yourself, "Is it better value for me to continue soaking, or to help my team at the objective?" Check out the below video for a memorable example of when it's a good idea to give up soak:

At the linked time in the video, you can see after watching for about 5-7 seconds that Lockdown on Tempest (playing Greymane) opts to not catch the wave of soak in the mid lane, and instead makes haste towards the top lane map objective with his team. At first glance when watching this clip, it seems like an error - after all, Lockdown could quickly grab that soak and move up, right? But, Lockdown understands that there's more value in being with his team, and puts those few seconds that would be spent soaking towards securing a better position for the upcoming teamfight. It might be a different call if getting that wave gave Tempest level 11, but they were at 10.5; so in effect, that wave's experience was unimportant for the impending fight. I love this particular clip, because it's these kinds of small decisions (and knowing when to deviate from the standard advice) that can truly make the difference.

The broad message here is that small, incremental advantages can add up and end up making a difference. Seek value throughout the game, not just in the big macro decisions.





Salvaging Value from Behind

Thus far, we've spoken about getting value when you're ahead or at parity. But what about when you're behind, or have just lost a fight? As it turns out, even in situations where you're on the back foot, a value-oriented mindset will lead you towards taking the right line of play.

Let's say the opponents have secured a pick on Volskaya Foundry, and they're currently on capture point B in the midgame with the percentage ticking upwards. You could posture around the objective while waiting for your teammate to respawn and rejoin the right. But, stop to consider what's actually being accomplished by this maneuver - you're only putting yourself at risk, with little potential value to be gained. The chance that the opponents will overextend in the current 4v5 situation isn't likely, whereas them forcing that fight in their favor is much more probable. Here, quick decision-making and judgement can really pay dividends. Once the decision is made to not continue to contest while 4v5, you should immediately spring into action to get value elsewhere on the map (or at the very least, get healthy and prepared for the next teamfight). By simply rotating ASAP to the mid and/or bot lanes and getting soak value, you're making productive use of the time when you can't contest the objective. Realizing quickly that you can't contest and instantly making that move yields even greater value, as there's no idle time whatsoever - you're quickly moving towards your next value-laden destination. You can even do your (or the enemy's) turret camp if it's up. Now keep in mind that in the above situation, if your entire team leaves the top lane, the enemy team will see this and make a push on your fort as it's unattended - make sure that you're planning with your team as to who should leave to go soak, and who should stay to defend the fort against an potential enemy push.

As an aside, it's important to posture with purpose. Staying near the enemy team without a clear goal in mind can lead to you getting engaged on. In general, if you're looking for a fight, you can posture, but if you're not looking for a fight, there's little incentive to be near the enemy team. If you want to stall the objective, figure out who on your team can stall and let them do so, but it's important not to overcommit resources to the effort when those resources can be potentially better employed elsewhere on the map.

The core principles behind getting value when the enemy team has an advantage in the match are to move quickly and make the enemy team's decisions as hard as possible. By quickly moving to soak as soon as you see that the enemy has scored a pick, you get much more experience, and can potentially deny experience from the enemy team if they don't react fast enough or overcommit resources to an objective that your team is not actually contesting. Then, they have to decide whether to send someone to match the soak, who to send, whether they need to defend against anything else, whether they should go on the offensive now that your numbers are spread a little thinner, and so on and so forth. It can actually be a bit frustrating to deal with a team who responds efficiently when they're behind. Against these really strong opponents, it'll sometimes be like: "We just won this fight and secured the objective... how did we get behind in experience?"

Be that opponent! Make things as annoying as possible for the enemy team even when they've just won a teamfight!





Maximizing Value After a Won Fight

Of all the areas where a value-oriented mindset can help one grow their HotS skills, I think that choosing a line of play after you've won a teamfight can be the biggest. I'll explain why shortly, but for now let's talk some strategy.

Let's imagine that we're in the mid-game on Infernal Shrines and have just won the objective fight in the top lane by securing two kills on the enemy team (and your team has all 5 members up). Unquestionably, your team has control over the map. The most straightforward line of play is to finish the shrine and push with the Punisher as 5. This is an okay line of play, but it's important to think ahead and realize that even if you push as 5, it's unlikely that you'll be able to get the keep, as the enemy team will all have respawned and will be able to defend. From here, you can make a play to just push as 4 (as the fort will be going down almost no matter what) and send your remaining members to go double soak experience from the other two lanes during the Punisher push. In essence, because there's unlikely to be a difference in the result of the push whether you send 4 or 5 people, you can just send 4 and get tons of soak value in the other lanes, while getting roughly the same amount of structure damage done to your opponents in the top lane.

Even when not fighting over the primary map objective, figuring out what to do after you win a fight is critical. I'll often find myself in situations where, after winning a teamfight, I'll have the option to chase down the last couple kills. In order to figure out what to do here, we can dig into the analysis of each choice:

1. I can chase down the last couple fleeing opponents. I think I can secure them, but there's a chance I might not be able to if the opponents play it really well. And, even if I do kill them, I may not have time to accomplish other things on the map, like taking down a structure that provides critical map control.

2. I can secure guaranteed value by pushing a structure, or by getting camps in order to push down said structure. Since the opponents are unable to contest you, this value is completely guaranteed.

If you're confident that you can quickly secure them, chasing down kills is fine to do; but, if you're even a little unsure, think carefully about whether it's better value to lock down guaranteed advantages on the map.

Similarly to if you've scored a takedown, there's often a number of options that are presented to you after a won teamfight. Really try to figure out the best way that you can have your cake and eat it too. Put a stranglehold on the game and squeeze every ounce of value out of that won teamfight that you can. If the opponents don't respond appropriately, you can really swing the game monstrously.

In this clip, we get as much value as we can by tagging the Shaman Camp before the we finish off the objective, which leads to us assembling a massive push with very healthy Immortal and the camp. We do end up getting a very nice teamfight around the fort which leaves the enemy team unable to defend, so truthfully the Shaman camp may or may not have been a big factor in the success of the push. Nevertheless, it's certainly the case that with this was a very difficult siege to defend for the enemy team.



Closing Thoughts

You should always ask, "Is what I'm currently doing the best possible thing I could be doing at this moment?" Put another way, is there anything that you could be doing that would get you more value? By reflecting on and analyzing your current line of play through the lens of wanting to get more value and maximizing your presence on the map, you'll be open to seeing opportunities that may not have been visible to you before. Certainly, you may get greedy sometimes and take an overly-risky line of play. But this is all part of the learning process. I believe that it's easier to tone down a value-oriented mindset that was set dialed up all the way to maximum greed, than to incrementally build one up by intending to start out playing very straightforward or conservative. I'd say to embrace the value, and then tone things down as you get more experience with these new lines of play you're taking.

As a side note, you'll find so many areas of improvement by analyzing your replays. There will be many instances across the course of a match where you could've gotten more value; many of them may be minor (maybe a few XP globes that you could've denied had you played more aggressively, or a seige camp that you could've taken after getting a kill), but these advantages could potentially have made a difference over the course of the game. Even if they didn't, they could be game-defining things in the next match! So, it's always good to figure out where you could've done better, as even if it's unclear if it would've made a difference in the current game, it will help you down the line.

Getting value isn't something you do every now and then - it's a way of life, a lifestyle. Once you've been exposed to the train of thought of "But can we get more off of this...?", there's no going back - your ticket to Valuetown has been punched, and you're now a permanent resident. Welcome - your new (value-filled) journey awaits.





Author's Disclaimer:

I currently work for Blizzard as a Game Master (Player Support). All thoughts/opinions from this article are my own, and not Blizzard's!

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