Ugh...

I really am. The reason I think this is because I think too deeply of what I want to say about myself to transmit a fitting image of who I am and what I do, even on a forum dedicated to a custom-made map in a computergame.

So, I guess I'll start by saying why I thought coming here was a good idea.

Obviously, I like playing Warcraft custom maps, especially hero-centered ones. AOS, DotA, adventures, arenas, survival, everything more or less interesting. What strikes me in CHAO is that it's actually a balanced arena map. That in itself is quite the accomplishment. Also, it's widely diverse with all the different skills, items, game modes and bosses. It makes for a fun time even after you get a grasp of all the tools at hand. The possibilities are vast and I'm generally prone to be sucked into these things. I played on Northrend until some time ago when I started visiting Lordaeron more often. The sad fact is that the Battlenet is virtually barren over here.

Other than that, I enjoy a good show like House or recently QI. Anything with Stephen Fry and/or Hugh Laurie at the moment, really. I watch them in English although I'm German which is because of the fact that I am highly fascinated by language, may it be foreign or my own.
I play the drums and like being creative with photoshop. I don't really know (or care) if I am anywhere near being good. Sure, I don't mind people telling me that I am but those are things I do for myself.

Am I doing this right? I should probably shut up now before it's a wall of... Aw chucks, too late. It already is a wall of text.

Yo, welcome!

Welcome to the forum. Photoshop you say? wink wink, loading screen, wink wink.

Custom Hero Arena can never be completely balanced, though I do try. the biggest problem is the size of games available. The difference between a 1v1 and 6v6 game. Games with all pubs, or games with well though out team strats. In the proper hands, anything can become OP. From experience though, for new players especially.. INT is a good class to learn with; though a good str/agi player can usually beat an int user. Learning to do the basics perfectly will get you a long way.

Any training you need, stop by our channel, clan chao on US-east. Tips and tricks and such are on the forum.

Thanks for the warm welcome. I don't really do drawing, but I will try to come up with something fitting (i.e. something that's not harmful to the eyes).

I absolutely agree on how hard it is to balance a map. Still, you somehow created a (not quite as round as say DotA but decent at the very least) rock-paper-scissors feel. Also, there's a sense of things evening themselves out; for example how the stronger your spells are, the easier it is to counter them.
With that, of course, there comes the need to build a strategy. You have to pick a role and can't just be rambo on autoattack. It's a good thing you're behind teaching people. I found CHAO to be quite beginner-unfriendly, to be honest. There are so many items, so many skills and character models to choose from... to grasp it all, you have to download the map, play in singleplayer where you can pause and come back when you have your build. Because having a random build given to you... sucks. Hard. Maybe have an option to get a prebuilt character who's decent right off the bat and who can only be taken by new players (requires rank 0)?

Oh, but the character selection is going to be rebuilt anyway as far as I understood.

I'd love to hang out and play with you guys. Problem is the time offset: for you, it's UTC -5 (actually -4 due to DST) if I'm right. For me, it's UTC +1 (+2 DST). That's 6 hours you're behind me. I don't know about the other folks in your clan but we've got to have have a perfect point in time if we want to play.

at your 11 PM and on, we usually have a handful of people on. that is when I am on. Weekdends, I am online earlier.

I have offered up the idea of "premade builds" and a lot of more hardcore players think it is the worth thing that could ever happen to the game. I think it wouldnt be bad to make it so if you timeout on picking, you are given, say, 1 of 20 premade builds. the problem with this is... If I am going to make builds for people, they will often be better than what an average pub will create. With that idea, why should a nooby pub be given a better build than someone who is trying to make something on their own?

Oh. That's fine, then. I'll make sure to stick around.

Good point. You could nerf those builds by reducing their effects by a certain amount. Plus, if a player uses the -load command, he will get the usual randomness. It's easy to say 'those newbollocks can't have something I had to waste time for' as a pro. It's just more comforting for a newbie to jump right in instead of having to play alone and look through all the skills to not ruin it for everyone. After all, having a starting aid makes people better, more quickly. And really, aren't opponents that know how to play more fun to fight than ragequitting cannon fodder?
Or (and this is exceptionally easier to say than to do) have a wiki/more elaborate overview. That's what I searched for when I started. I'm not an HTML kinda guy but I think adding images to the 'all skills' thread helps a lot. And yes, I do remind you saying you don't need pretty pictures