Vilecat Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 It does have some tower defense elements, but I would say the main feature and draw is the team-based combat. I haven't played World of WarCraft, but I hear it's very similar to the PvP in that game. It feels very similar to Strand of the Ancient where if/when you lose one of the elements that helped defend yourself, it's gone for good and you win the game when the other team's relic (Shrine or Sacrificial altar) has been destroyed. Or if they concede. It's more team and skill based though, whereas WoW can end up being more gear-related (resilience) generally. If you enjoy WoW's PvP aspect but wish it could be/feel more balanced, you really should try HoN.
Bahamut Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Defiler has been quite nerfed with the changes to enhanced marchers, behemoth's heart and sacrificial stone, which were all core items on her. She's probably best off soloing mid, and runewhoring like crazy. Her main weakness is that she's slow and weak early on. The lack of escape mechanisms means she's usually a bad choice for a side lane since she's much more vulnerable to getting ganked there and has limited access to runes. In mid, on the other hand, she can rape. Her nuke has a huge range and can be used to harass and last hit at the same time. 2-3 hits with it on the enemy hero can already force him back to heal. Very dependent on runewhoring obviously, but if you actually manage to kill the enemy in mid, you can immediately push down the tower with your ult, after which you're free to roam and set up ganks in other lanes. Considering all this, I wouldn't suggest picking her unless you can ensure a mid position for yourself. He was going to take mid...but then purple (voodoo jester) stole it from him and ruined all of our laning.
zircon Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Unfortunately we just had inferior playing and the other team had Jeraziah. That's really all there was. Eddie didn't play a good Defiler (no hate, though.) As for a scrim, I don't think we would get stomped if we put together a team of our best players and picked proper heroes.
BardicKnowledge Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Tensei Hemo Dots Relyance Bardic imo~ Only if I'm going Valk -- she's the only hero I'm really great with. Edit: Also who is dots? I've seen him online, but don't know his forum/IRC name.
Arcana Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 If you enjoy WoW's PvP aspect but wish it could be/feel more balanced, you really should try HoN. This has me really confused... is it like DOTA, or is it like WoW? Fundamentally the games to me are totally different: one is an RTS, the other is a 3rd person adventure game. I'd normally try out HoN and just see for myself but I'd rather not buy a beta for a game I don't really have good information about you know?
BardicKnowledge Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 it's exactly like DotA, arcana. But if you haven't played it, saying "It's like WoW's Battlegrounds in an RTS engine" is a pretty accurate description.
Dhsu Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Yeah, one of the major characteristics of most RTS games, namely micromanagement, is much less of a factor in DotA/HoN, since 95% of the time you will only ever need to worry about one unit.
Arcana Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 it's exactly like DotA, arcana.But if you haven't played it, saying "It's like WoW's Battlegrounds in an RTS engine" is a pretty accurate description. I haven't played DoTA, no. But your description helps a lot, thanks. I don't know if I'd be any good at this style of game really, and you guys seem really serious
BardicKnowledge Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 We're not _that_ serious, though we do like winning a lot. For those who play currently: Vindicator (Silencer) is fun as hell. I love his curse, as it basically forces someone to burn a spell or die. Ult, then curse = death if they anywhere near low. Oh, and stat-stealing is amazing.
Battousai Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Silencer was my second-favorite DotA int hero, so I'm glad he's going to be available next week. Same with Spiritbreaker (Rhino) only with str.
Tensei Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 I haven't played DoTA, no. But your description helps a lot, thanks. I don't know if I'd be any good at this style of game really, and you guys seem really serious I'm going to be honest with you, I really don't want to discourage you or anything, but this game has one of the steepest learning curves I've ever seen in a game. It's quite hard to initially wrap your head around the entire concept as a whole, as well as many of the counter-intuitive details of 'proper' play. The fact that this game is so dependent on your team makes a lot of the community outright hostile to new players, and I can see newer people trying to join a random public game having a terrible experience, getting verbally abused and such. This is because one bad player on your team can literally lose you the game. Consequently, I don't believe it's possible to really play this game 'casually' like you would most other games. You HAVE to get 'good' or at least proficient at it to keep having fun, unless getting yelled at by your teammates is your definition of having fun. Getting 'good' involves being pro-active in looking up general guides as well as guides for specific heroes. In short, I think you need the right mindset as well as the will to improve, even if it involves 'nerding out' by looking up guides or memorizing each heroes' abilities. That said, this game can be amazingly fun and rewarding. Don't take me TOO seriously though. I'm personally always welcoming of newer players, and I can't think of anyone in the OCR group that would yell at newer players for being bad. As long as you only play inhouse games with OCR people when you're just starting out, it should be fine.
zircon Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Personally I think if he has WoW experience, he will find this not too difficult to get into. It's the same kind of mentality - you are thinking about crowd control, DPS, focus firing, positioning, skill/item builds, etc., just like WoW (and WoW PVP.) In fact, if you've played Alterac Valley, HoN is pretty much exactly that.
Arcana Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Personally I think if he has WoW experience, he will find this not too difficult to get into. It's the same kind of mentality - you are thinking about crowd control, DPS, focus firing, positioning, skill/item builds, etc., just like WoW (and WoW PVP.) In fact, if you've played Alterac Valley, HoN is pretty much exactly that. I associate AV in WoW with generally bad and annoying things, ha ha but I understand your analogy.
Dr. Tran! Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Comparing this to wow pvp is a bad idea. WoW PvP = either duels in a box (lolarena), or people running around ignoring BG objectives for the most part. People in this game, if you're playing with friends, tend to actually work together.
eternal Zero Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Considering all this, I wouldn't suggest picking her unless you can ensure a mid position for yourself. Even then with your vastly reduced movespeed any player that knows Defiler's range well enough to sidestep your nukes as well as harass you will win solo mid making you ineffective. scrim Also I think you guys could easily be a mid-range competitive clan if you guys took your best players. Only issue would be that at worst most of you don't have more than two heroes who I feel you play at your best. If you guys got scouted out at all for your usual strategy and your main power heroes would get banned pretty quick. There was a clan I used to scrim against a lot that would heavily rely on one player getting Pestilence and turning the game onto its head cause he was so good at it. This btw is the same guy that I know can win a solo Behemoth against me when crow bottles wars were in full swing which is hard for me to admit, haha. If we banned that hero they were actually a team we won a majority of the time.
BardicKnowledge Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Silencer is really OP if you let it go late -- if you're against him he needs to be ganked constantly. Also, the idea of permanent stat-draining seems really overpowered if the hero who does it has 18 kills and 15 assists or some such....a free +30 int by the end of the game?
eternal Zero Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Silencer is really OP if you let it go late -- if you're against him he needs to be ganked constantly.Also, the idea of permanent stat-draining seems really overpowered if the hero who does it has 18 kills and 15 assists or some such....a free +30 int by the end of the game? He has no escapes so constant ganking isn't a problem. This is why he isn't overly used in pro DotA. But yes, he is a monster if you let him be one.
Arcana Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Can someone give me a way to try this game out for free through a beta invite or something? I know I can get one by leaving preorder money but.. well, I don't want to pay for a game I don't know I'll enjoy.
Tensei Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Can someone give me a way to try this game out for free through a beta invite or something? I know I can get one by leaving preorder money but.. well, I don't want to pay for a game I don't know I'll enjoy. I'm pretty sure at least SOMEONE here will have some invites left. Maybe zero still has some on one of his many alts? Also, about scrims, people who have been playing with me recently will have noticed my picks vary between a number of competitive high-tier heroes, so I can adapt to the needs of a team, rather than always picking my 'best' hero (Pestilence). I'm quite comfortable with playing Pharaoh, Hellbringer, Demented Shaman and Plague Rider, as well as a number of carries, but I'd still like to see how I'd hold up in a competitive environment. also: OMG YES THE PATCH IS OUT
Battousai Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Played Silencer just now. Feels just as squishy as in DotA. Also, do you not see the debuff for getting charged by the Rhino? That's just insane. In my quest to further understand support heroes I have played a lot of demented shaman today. Wow, why wasn't I picking this hero before?
Tensei Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Also, do you not see the debuff for getting charged by the Rhino? That's just insane. The tooltip says they'll get a warning when Rhino Rider gets within a distance of 2500 from them.
Kwaphy Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Can someone give me a way to try this game out for free through a beta invite or something? I know I can get one by leaving preorder money but.. well, I don't want to pay for a game I don't know I'll enjoy. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dropping off some money for a pre-order soon. If you still need a key by that time I'll throw one your way.
Tensei Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 relyanCe, stop being stupid. It's fine if you don't want to play, but don't join a game and AFK in the middle of it, not only screwing your team over, but preventing other people from playing as well.
TenchuX Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Played Silencer just now. Feels just as squishy as in DotA. Also, do you not see the debuff for getting charged by the Rhino? That's just insane.In my quest to further understand support heroes I have played a lot of demented shaman today. Wow, why wasn't I picking this hero before? Pest + Demented Shaman is really really crazy, especially after the Shaman gets a shield breaker. I love the TMNT references with Rampage though. It's basically a model of Super Shredder riding on a Rhino aka Rocksteady.
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