Yah, I probably should have written, “I see absolutely zero chance of this happening prior to the next Ice Age.”
(j/k – if they ever get their act together and address the core problems the game has right now, a 4th ability isn’t a bad idea for the reasons you stated)
For example, to which hero would you add an ability that fits the kit? and how would you justify that hero having an extra ability whereas the others doesnt? Malene has a mechanic that allows her to have an extra skill, but Glaive? Rona? Fortress? Petal? how would you justify them?
more abilities means more outplays and possibilities , rock paper scissor add more and you going to expand the options , like I said is it worth it to rework a hero or create a new one with the rework stuff , I would say that removing the casual of 3v3 is probably a working towards a 4th ability because they are making 3v3 a brawl mode , so the complication that 4th ability going to add to 3v3 which is designed for 3 abilities is not going to be effective since the main mode is 5v5 and 3v3 is a lowkey brawl mode .
I think a lot of heroes you can give them a 4th ability without ruining the game , like for example petal doesn’t have a perk , glaive ult is weird like almost he has two abilities and a perk , you can take his ult and put it in his perk and still the same , so I think you can add useless abilities to the strong heroes and good abilities to the weak heroes to balance the game , like for example if you think Celeste op you could make the super nova an ability instead of part of her A skill .
I agree that adding abilities to some heroes is not healthy but the idea is making weak heroes stronger and have the ability to outplay , even if you add a useless ability to strong heroes is bad but good for the weak hero to get strong ability and be in a fair position comparing to the other heroes , or you going to have half the heroes not being used over and over .
Im gonna hit a little bit of reality at you. Semcs hero design team is really small compared to other mobas and they’re always on the task of making new heros which isnt easy trying to be somewhat original.
Plus they would need to update the ui again for a new ability slot and update every page in app.
Therefore its .00000009% chance of actually happening.
But I would love the idea of of a fourth ability.
Imagine a fourth ability on kestrel!
Perk: Adrenaline Rush to Skilled Bow which would replace the current name for her perk. But keeping the same concept of 10% off energy cost.
A: Glimmershot: Same
B: Adrenaline Rush: Speeds up basic attacks and Glimmershot reload time by a certain amount
C: Active Camo : Same
Ult: 1Shot1Kill: Same
You could say the same for 5v5 and cross platform and they happened , I would say they already working on the 4th abilities , because someone said they already were working on 5v5 before they officially announce that they working on it .
I like your kestrel example you can do that to all heroes , and you could take note from talents , as an ideas of the 4th abilities.
You can’t have ‘X’ with 4 abilities and ‘Y’ heroes with only 3, that’s the problem. Also: 3v3 has nothing to do with it, the reason why they don’t add the 4 ability is not 3v3, 3v3 is not the reason why they don’t buff ‘X’ heroes, why they don’t add ‘X’ mechanic of whatever you want to say. The problem is that you are asking for inconsistences and, as @RiseChu said, they are not enough to people working on heroes design to add a 4 ability for ALL heroes.