Tanks and Off-Tanks

Sustain/Burst + Melee/Range/Mage

Healers and Off-Healers

Specialists... Not so special?

It was just a few months ago when the reworked Tyrande had people in a frenzy over the new owl build, allowing the "support" character to 360 no scope poor Abathurs from across the map. Whereas the previous Tyrande had a bit more healing, the newer version... Not so much. I'm sure we've all experienced then this solo healer conundrum; a true misfortune. With all this being said, greater clarity should be provided by the game then the simple labeling system we currently have. So how do we do this?"Solo support btw haHAA" - HL drafterI'm not suggesting we get rid of what we have already (minus Multiclass because apparently Varian is a class of his own,) but we most certainly need to be a bit more clear as to what characters do within their label. Drafting has become too complicated; the two minutes we spend doing it determines just how fun or ungodly miserable the next fifteen to thirty minutes our lives can be. Starting with the Warriors.The Warriors are the easiest to differentiate. You've got main tanks like E.T.C., Muradin, Johanna, and then off-tanks such as Sonya, Artanis, Leoric. One initiates and soaks damage while the other trades some tankiness for damage output. Too many times have I seen Artanis and Leoric become solo tanks merely by awful drafting circumstances. In fact I've had someone tell me that Leoric is a main tank after his rework; I promptly puked in my mouth thereafter.Solo tank Leo into Li-Ming? SeemsGoodAssassins aren't so much of an issue, but when you overload a type of damage source, it can be problematic. Li-Ming and Chromie can seriously limit kill potential, and vice versa. Too many auto attack assassins can leave the enemy within lethal damage, just to have them walk away alive. Adding the type of damage they excel at (sustain/burst) in addition to what they are, mage being spell power and range usually more focused in auto attack damage. To get even spicier, if there were ways to show us which heroes excel in wave clear, like Ragnaros, Gul'dan, and Kael'thas, it would also make drafting better.This guy is an assassin, and I'm not even sure how he would get further categorized... Not my job not my problem.The Supports will be the trickiest group to discuss considering the Order 66 that recently transpired (the nerfs.) A healer in my mind would be Lt. Morales, Stukov, and Auriel. Just about everyone else, however, would be off-healers, capable of providing some healing, but trading greater heal potential for CC, damage, or shielding. The group of main healers I feel is so tiny now, whereas a year ago I'd be able to talk about how any of them is capable of supporting a team completely. The categorization is tough because some could fairly argue that Rehgar and Lucio could be healers, but it's just too difficult for me to judge that with the current state of the game. Order 66 was a success, healing has definitely been reduced, so much in my opinion there are few supports I can say are healers. Support now become utility? I don't know. What they used to be is no longer true.Case and point: This guy. From hero to zero. Once a legend, now getting his Tranquility nerfed. You're better off looking for regen globes on the map vs running into him if he's on your team.Specialists could be reconfigured altogether if everything I've already gone over is put through. The common association with specialist is that they're afk somewhere in the solo lane sieging and controlling the map (the common meme.) To put it more intelligently, we will just put it simply that specialists are mainly siege damage. Other heroes not categorized as specialists also do great siege damage. Remember Ragnaros, Gul'dan and Kael'thas? Sure, it's not as wild like Nazeebo and Azmo, but it's close. The only specialists that are truly special would be The Lost Vikings, Murky, Abathur, and maybe Probius. Mages: Nazeebo, Medivh, Sylvanas, Azmodan. Ranged: Sgt. Hammer, Zagara. Off-tank (in a weird way:) Xul, Gazlowe.Is this the face of a guy who excels at damaging structures? Hello?Ultimately, I feel strongly that this would make drafting a more intelligent process for the game. There will always be people who troll regardless, but for those who are genuinely trying to get better at the game and are trying to figure out more specifically what heroes do, this will prove advantageous. Need an off-tank? Click the off-tank tab. Need more wave clear? Don't worry, that's a tab as well. Need an additional support for the hyper-carry? Off-healers are there. Small changes like this will make the game more appealing over time, small changes that are constructive and progressive. With the hero pool becoming as vast as it is, further clarity is needed more than ever. I truly hope a clearer role system comes to the Nexus sometime soon.If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know. Thank you for reading!