Hey Sheth, I think everyone on TL knows who you are, but tell us a little about your experience in Heroes of the Storm, what teams you've played on, and in general how its been.

Hey there, I've been playing Heroes now for around 2 months. I started off teamless and playing with several teams that were around at the time. I'd subbed for Excellsior and Snowflake quite a bit. Eventually I ended up playing with Snowflake, which has some people you might know on it. Lzgamer and IdrA both play on it. They are absolutely amazing to play with, as well as the rest of the team (Faye and Keylax), but in the end I moved on and right now I'm still looking around. Asking in general how it's been, I'd say it's been a great experience and a game I'm happy to have found (Thanks KadaverBB)..

Snowflake is a really cool team and they're super fun to watch, do you have a prefered role you like to play within a team?

At the moment I prefer to play either a ranged damage hero or the support role. Support is pretty much anything that heals or has a lot of utility. Basically I like anything that can do things from a good range away. I enjoy dodging and trying to guess where I should put skill shots quite a bit. Anyway either of those I really enjoy.

That's interesting, because the argument that the hardest skill to master in heroes is positioning is something that's been discussed often. Is there any hero in particular you enjoy the most? A hero you would maybe call your signature hero?

Um honestly not really. I've had to switch around in roles quite a lot. Many players have 1 or two favorite heroes that they level up to 10, which requires quite a few games, maybe around 70 or so. I have 7 level 10 heroes, so I just try and play a lot and whenever I find a permanent team I'll figure out which of those 7 to focus on and hopefully make it something like a signature hero.

That's a lot of games played. Seguing a little from that topic, do you have a favorite map? A least favorite?

Yeah, I definitely have preferences in maps. I personally enjoy Dragon Shire the most. You can become a dragon and shoot fire which is pretty cool, and there are a lot of objectives to fight over. It just is a map with constant straightforward action. I'm not really sure what my least favorite map would be, but probably either Cursed hollow or Garden of Terror. They can both feel a little bit slower in fights, action and just game play overall.

So it seems you think that overall maps with with lots of different objectives that force the teams into a lot of interesting decisions are the ones you prefer, is that right? Are there map features you would like Blizzard to include in future maps maybe?

Yeah the maps that keep things constantly changing and don't lead to stagnant endgames are the ones I enjoy the most. There are a lot of cool mechanics that I'd like to see in the future. Lava rising like in SC2 campaign games, more interactive maps, where a map is almost similar to a raid in WoW, where you have to do the "safety dance" or something similar. Abilities to strengthen keeps or strengthen allies for a short period of time would also be cool. That's just a few basic ideas, there are so many possibilities with this game, and the fact that a map editor will be released for it just adds to those possibilities.

On the topic of maps, how map dependent do you find team compositions? As of right now there's no way to choose what map will appear when in a scrim so lineups tend to be generic, do you think that being able to choose maps will severely affect the metagame, or are good heroes just good and will always be picked?

Hm, there are plenty of reasons why being able to choose the map will change the way people pick heroes or value heroes. A basic one, is whether the map will have 2 lanes or 3, or how many minion camps there will be to bribe or merc lord.

That seems reasonable, on the topic of picking heroes, what do you feel are the strongest heroes for professional play right now? Is there any reason why you feel they are the strongest?

Tychus, Tassadar, Uther, Tyreal, and probably Arthas. Tychus has two health bars and can do some insane damage. Tassadar also gains an insane amount of health with his ultimate and his escape is pretty great. Uther is just the all-around best healer in the game at the moment I believe (n some situations he won't be the best, but in general). and Tyreal has a long range initiation and several displacements. Arthas can just be really hard to kill and still deal a solid amount of damage.

If those are the strongest, it lends itself that there are weaker heroes, are there any heroes you feel could use attention from Blizzard? The game is in alpha so there's obviously a lot of tweaking going on.

I feel like many heroes are in the second tier of heroes. There aren't that many heroes that I think are considerably weaker. Lili is probably one I'd like to see changed, and I'd like some heroic abilities changed, because some heroes only have one really good viable ultimate. I'm sure they will tweak a lot of things, but I think even in competitive play most of the heroes have some situational play.

One thing that got thrown around a lot early in life of Heroes of the Storm was how "casual" it is and that it might not be competitive enough as an esport. Since you're playing it at the highest level, do you think that it is mechanically challenging and deep enough both to watch and to play at a high level?

Well, to play it is definitely challenging and difficult. You can also tell the difference between someone who is good and someone who is great pretty easily once you spend some time watching. There are a lot of small things that you can do that would make you stand out. Just dodging abilities and aiming yours well can be very tough, and there are plenty of other things you have to be worried about too. Watching is also really entertaining at least for me. It probably takes some knowledge about the game, but once you have it, its a lot of fun.

So its a process of refinement. What would you say is the biggest difference between playing in a pub and in a team?

The single biggest difference is communication, which leads to better preparation for team fights and for getting together for objectives. Timing of ultimates to better coordinate who you can all focus is a huge part of this.

Because a lot of people ask this question, what do you think is the best way to improve at heroes?

If you're brand new to the game, the best way is just to play with someone who is better then you and try and learn from them. Even as you get better, if you can find that person who will help you learn, you should try and play with them as much as possible. Watching streams of players who play the role you are interested in, and who are doing well in competitive leagues would also be great to learn from.

Since you mentioned new players, how do you feel about the business model of Heroes of the Storm , where you pay for heroes and need to play a certain amount of games before unlocking talents?

I think it's a fine business model in general. They have a gate that you must pass (level 4) to unlock all of the talents of a hero. in the past they had it where you just had to have your account at a certain level to unlock all of the talents and I think that was the best way of doing it. The business model could have a little bit more gold per win or per quest, but I don't think it's too bad.

There are two questions that we agreed on as staff we absolutely could not let you go without asking. The first, how's your wrist doing? Its great to see that you're playing competitively again.

Aw thanks for asking. At the moment my hands and wrists are doing better. I can play Heroes for over 8 hours a day without it bothering me much. I've come to grips that there will always be some pain, and I just liken it to having a headache constantly. I will just have to get used to having that headache because I just enjoy playing competitively too much. ^^

The second, do you have any tips for surviving solo queue? We sometimes see you stream solo games, which many of us struggle to play consistently without succumbing to negativity.

The key for me is to play heroes that I can enjoy and challenge myself with, no matter how my team does. Finding heroes that are fun just to play and test your mechanical limits with them, is something I really enjoy.

Well, that's it for questions from us, do you have anything you'd like to add? Any shoutouts?

Just thanks to everyone on TL, and everyone who reads these articles. Come say hi on Heroes sometime and lets play a few games together. : )

Awesome, that's a wrap, thanks a ton for the interview Sheth, we'll all be watching your stream. ^^