Hero will be strictly going to have 1 morph ability and then 3 or 6 other abilities. The theme is ambiguous, so I think I'll remove it from the list
Fair enough, though I wasn't (necessarily) calling for it's removal. If
this one's ambiguous, though, I wonder about the next few...
Almia said:
As stated, "Protector" will be either provide a "shield" on others or becomes the "shield" itself. Contestants are going to think how they will protect others.
Summoner are just going to summon, yes, but their summons isn't actually stricted to "cast then make a unit come out" spells. What my intention was to create a hero with unique summonings, just like the Zephyr contest
Sure, sure. Ingenuity of summons or creativity in interpreting "protection" is part of the point, but I think you're missing my point:
"How does one objectively define a "protective"/"summoner" Hero?", since that definition will be of paramount importance in the final Judging, right? (i.e. "hey, that's no protective Hero! 0/20!" "no wait, it really is, see..", etc)
(If we agree that a Hero's "Role" (function/mechanics/style/etc) is essentially based on it's skillset), Is such a Contest Theme (protector/summoner) sufficiently adhered to if the Hero has even just one "protective/summoning" ability? What's the line (and their
needs to be a line)?
(If we accept "one" as the line, then (e.g. for "Morph") necessarily that means all the standard/melee Heroes in my first big post are all "Morph" Heroes & would be appropriate for this Contest; if you agree with the list, no problem. If not, then the definition should be adjusted.
Almia said:
The rework still need to stick on their original heroes. for example, Blood Mage's Phoenix can be actually reworked into an ability just like HotS' Kael'thas' Phoenix
Hm... That doesn't quite answer the whole question(s), but it tells me one thing: that you would expect the users to users to simply incorporate the thematic/visual/conceptual elements of the chosen Hero's abilities into the new abilities (for the same Hero?), rather than being stuck with re-creating it (
(had to look up HotS Kael...) So it would be fine, for example, to take the standard Blood Mage's 'Phoenix' ultimate (a simple "summon" who flies, deals loads of AoE damage, & self-resurrects indefinitely) and turn it into the HotS 'Phoenix' ultimate (basically a Line AoE); maintain the same visual/conceptual bit, but completely changing the mechanics/role/function of the spell). Am I understanding you right?
If that's so, I probably won't be voting for it, since I'm not a huge fan of trying to re-create perfection (lol, I know Blizzard & it's Hero's aren't really perfect, but they're pretty darn good)... Ok, who am I kidding, I love to do that. Still, I prefer my version... But I'd honestly rather have it as it's own entity, it's own Contest. Alright, fine, I'll probably vote for that, too.
Almia said:
Meanwhile, Promotion wants the contestants to promote a unit, while retaining what they are known for. e.g. if your hero is a Spirit Walker, you should either retain the Corporeal form or rework it into an ability that resembles one.
Sounds like we agree on the basics, though I wouldn't mind quibbling the specifics (we'll use your example): I would argue that the user wouldn't necessarily be shackled to including Corporeal/Ethereal Form; perhaps to someone else, Spirit Walkers are more known for their Spirit Link, or Disenchant, or the fact that they are "caster" Tauren. I think that as long as the "Promoted " is built as a Hero that in some way resembles the original Unit (either some thematic/visual/conceptual aspect of it, or some functional/mechanic/ability-based aspect of it, or both), it should not be a problem (and for anyone that diverges too much, well... That's what Criteria & Judging are for. The punishment of "not following Contest Rules precisely enough" should be a natural one of "they don't do well in that part of the Judging", not an artificial "I'm the Contest Host & I decided your entry isn't quite right, so your disqualified", for example. : )
Though I'm sure you'd never do that... 
)
The Spirit Walker is actually a pretty good choice; lots of fertile creative ground there.
Almia said:
This is good tho Hero Contest has always been a spellpack contest (source : Pharaoh_) ...
Pharaoh did an awful lot for this community, providing many, many hours of service. However, I don't think I'll surprise anyone by saying I don't have an awful lot of respect for his opinions, methods & manners in regards to creating/Hosting Contests, especially Hero/Techtree Contests. So I'm not surprised he would say/think that.
No matter who said it, I will quite flatly argue that that is a remarkably incomplete view of Hero design, and a bit sad. Even a simple check of the Criteria in a given Hero Contest will tell you that if you did just that, you might be able to get some good marks on "creativity" and maybe something on "Theme" and "Role"... But for "Balance" and "Fits in the Game" and all that other stuff, insufficient.
Thing is, a Hero isn't just a bundle of disparate spells; ignoring all the crazy Object Editor work that goes into a well-crafted Hero (attributes, names, etc) and the work that goes into providing a testing environment, the spells all have to go together in some very specific & interesting ways. They can't just be "cool" in isolation, they have to be cool in isolation, cool together, and cool together on that Hero (and, potentially, cool together on that Hero in that faction, and in the game as a whole). It's part of what I love about Hero design; a great Hero design tells a story.
Almia said:
...and most of us have different styles of programming.
I don't know if I get how this relates to having a Joint Contest... The Coder can just do their job as normal, whatever language (or not-language) they like, right? The Artist who joins them can (within the guidelines) make whatever art assets (model/icon/texture/sfx/etc) they like, whatever method (digital/physical/etc) they like, also.
Maybe I should post up that draft I had worked up a while back... Though I don't necessarily want to compete with yours. ; )
Almia said:
Thanks for the feedback Kyrbi0
You are welcome; thanks for taking it & responding to it more completely than most do. I always wish people would come to
my topics with a lot of questions & comments, so I try to give to others what I wish to see myself. : )
