Due to WC3 limitations, the original DotA had to make each player be a different color, and then be allied with each other. This meant that teams ended up being: Blue, teal, purple, yellow, orange (okay, my bad, yellow and OJ are on the same team) for the "good guys" and pink, grey, light blue, dark green, brown for the "bad guys". In a messy team fight it's tough to determine who's on which team based on the color of people's character models. Imagine you're playing blue, which seems like a more friendly color: light blue or orange? Surely a lighter shade of your color is a friend and the opposite is an enemy? Nope. It's just a legacy thing based on WC3's color palette but S2 copied it in HoN for who know what reason. WC3 and HoN, however, let you toggle unit model colors to all friendly as green and all enemies as red which, imo, is a must. LoL got it right here, take out player colors and make the teams each have a distinct color: blue vs. pink-ish purple. Looks like DOTA2 is doing this as well, no sign of silly player colors. EDIT: I take that back. Looking at the first screen shot, Doombringer's marker on the map is blue, the color of player one on the "good" team. Thankfully the character model seems to be unaffected by player color, though. I love making DotA players mad, particularly in HoN. Sometimes they call items and heroes by their DotA names, it's fun to play dumb and ask what they're talking about, particularly when context clues make it obvious. Even more fun is a buddy of mine who never played DotA but thinks he's being "cool" by using DotA names. Giving him **** about that never gets old.
That was an interesting piece of trivia ! Never knew, nor had i ever noticed it If i ever pick the game up again (lol, chances of this happening) i shall pay attention . You're such a troll And on a side note, beta signups available now: clicky
I'm planning on giving this a go, having picked up the MOBA bug from LoL. The worst that can happen is that I don't enjoy it and I go back to playing LoL. It is likely that more competition means that Riot will have to spend longer fixing niggles in the game/features they've been promising for ages. vdbswong, I can't find a beta signup on that link. I think I'm blind.
Live Streaming going to be up in 10 minutes! Stream was down, and now the whole website is down. Too much traffic XD? EDIT: Working! Wooooot! Here's link for y'all: http://dota2.com/tournaments/international/?q=hd&c=English I like the graphics. Coming from Dota and HoN, I realized how important clean graphics are. HoN is shinier and "nicer", but there are so many effects it can be difficult at times to tell what is going on. Haha true that bro. Watching people rage at a game is hilarious. HoN has really taught me to not take things too seriously.
I guess setting my alarm to this insane hour was worth it... maybe. + It looks like they removed the beta signup link for the livestream.
I plan on pulling an all nighter to watch this XD even though it's 1am here. Lmao 500 people joined the irc channel in less than 10 minutes... and counting.
Funnily enough, i'd have much preferred 1am start. It's 9am here... i've not been up at 9am for... ages .
Okay, these are my personal thoughts and opinion from what i've watched of the game so far: Firstly - Once this game is over, i'm going to head back to sleep. I won't say i regret waking up for it, but i know i won't be waking up this early tomorrow to watch the rest of the matches. I think Valve has put out a very poor showing IMO and have missed an opportunity to bring something new and exciting to the genre. The gameplay from my perspective is practically identical to that of HoN and really i can only see the HoN community being the ones who migrate. I'm not sure whether or not HoN/DotA vets will notice any difference between the two (i've only had a very brief skirmish in HoN) but i feel as if the two are competing for exactly the same space (a more technically update DotA) whereas LoL has tried to change and adapt the genre and make it much more accessible to the public (something i can't see DotA2 being - in fact, you'll just get DotA vets raging at all the newbies who start playing just because it's a Valve game and they might get Hats for it). Maybe this game wasn't the best showcase, i mean i've sat here for over an hour and to be honest, the past 20-25 have been practically worthless. I'm sure i'm missing something here but in LoL, usually after a teamfight you follow it up with a push down lane to maybe take a tower and/or steal their buffs, take dragon or baron etc. However this game just has one side back off until their team mates respawn and then the whole 5 man roam for X min finding nothing of interest starts all over again. Like i said, maybe i'm missing something, maybe the only ones left alive were Supports and they can't do anything (I'm somewhat sure that wasn't the case, but feel free to correct me). To me it seems that the teams are afraid to teamfight (i mean it is a big tournament and all), but even in League it usually results in a stand-off situation in lane or under a tower, rather than 5 man roams to the top, bottom and then back again. I will say some good things about the game: - Out of this and HoN, i'd probably play this, HoN kept the "WC3" look and was very... dark and gloomy, whereas this game has a much nicer visual style IMO (although i still prefer LoL's). - Pause mode is a nice touch, Riot said they'd implement it at some point, but haven't gotten around to it yet. However, even after all those nasty things i've said, would someone care to elaborate a few things? - What's this "Smoke" that the commentators used (for that ever so brief time they were on), it seems to be shop-bought invisiblity? How long does it last, how is it not OP etc. - Can someone explain exactly what Blink Dagger does? It seems to be a medium range blink on a short CD? - Is Roshan just like Baron, in that it's a team wide buff to stats? - 84min in (yes, it's lasted that long -.-') they got Spectre to roughly 25% HP under their own tower (just from long range poking), but they didn't follow it up and let her back out even though she got stunned/permaslowed... why not? - Why aren't EHome focusing Weaver every teamfight, since i thought he was the main Carry? He's ripping through the team quick enough... same with IG and not focusing Spectre, although he/she/it doesn't seem to have quite the same damage. - What does it mean by "XXX Structures are now fortified"? - Same with "XXX just bought back into the game" - You can pay to instantly revive? - i think i remember hearing about this in HoN, but like i said, i'm not exactly familiar with it. And on a side note, i think it's quite amusing that they seem to have so much trouble with lagging out. I think it puts Riot in a lot better light considering how much QQ there was over lag in Dreamhack and that even Valve isn't immune to it. I think another side effect of watching this match today has made me all the more excited for Dominion (LoL) since it's a another change to the MOBA formula. I also lol'd at the iG team disconnecting once they knew they'd lost the game... i assume that's a holdover from DotA/WC3 but i found it amusing when the referee in /all chat was like "DO NOT DISCONNECT". I'm also disappointed by the lack of GG's after the game, but that's not for everyone. TLDR - Too much like HoN. - Not enough innovation IMO. - Not going to pull in anyone "new" to the genre, only vets. - Match was exceptionally stale from 20-25min onwards to about 60-65min (and even the last 30min was just a turret standoff/dance off). Anyhow, rant and game over. I'm back off to sleep.
Other than intermittent lag, I think they did an good job. EDIT: The second game they're streaming has no problems. I kinda wish you woke up to watch the second match instead. It has much more proactive gameplay. Seeing how HoN mechanics are more or less a clone of DotA, I'm not exactly sure what you were expecting... It's very noticeable. HoN stopped porting DotA heroes a long time ago. Not to mention, DotA has more [unique, interesting, fun] heroes. Furthermore, the maps are different in several areas. Dota, HoN, LoL, and any other moba game are ALL competing for the same space. LoL has no doubt popularized the moba genre to players who have never played DotA or just want to play casually. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "adapt" the genre? Your judging DotA 2 too harshly based on HoN. And to appease your fears, Valve already mentioned a coaching system. Plus I vaguely remember Gabe talking about good behavior being rewarded. Your not to blame. I wouldn't expect non DotA/HoN players to understand what was going on, just like you wouldn't expect me to understand an LoL game either. You really have to know the heroes to understand what was going on :/ I have no clue what a dragon or baron is XD so I can't address that, but I can tell you both teams were playing very defensively -- especially the Radiant team. It's to be expected though seeing how there's a million dollar prize. They were playing it safe. Pushing without your teammates is not a good idea unless the enemy is wiped or outnumbered. Carries can do it, but without support, they're not going to be effective. For instance, when the Dire team outnumbered the Radiant team, instead of pushing, they went to kill the dragon (Roshon) to get the revival token (a safer strategy). If you've never played DotA, you're not going to understand a lot . But, I would be more than happy to explain . The supports were doing quite a bit actually. They were stunning, planting wards, babysitting the carries, stacking creeps, etc. They didn't die because they stayed in the back, while the tanks stood in the front. No doubt, both teams didn't want to initiate. There were a lot of standoffs in the game. Mainly the radiant team just hiding behind towers. Dire tried to push but got wiped early in the game. So they played it smart and pushed the lanes and ended up taking out top and middle barracks. They don't have pause in LoL? Personally, I find that unbelievable seeing how much more popular and financially successful they are... I mean HoN had pause, voip, clan system in beta and even dota 1 had a pause function also -_- Hehe, I wouldn't judge too harshly. The game isn't even in beta yet Hmm I can't answer that since I had commentary disabled :/ Yes, DotA has an purchasable item that provides a medium ranged blink with a 14 second cool down and can only be used if you were not damaged within the last 3 seconds (otherwise one could always escape). Roshan is a neutral Super creep that drops a token, which grants resurrection upon death to the player that picks it up. It's an item that could turn a game around. Normally, games are shorter (~50-65 mins), but both teams were extremely defensive and not to mention pauses + lag. Edit: Second game was 38:25 Weaver is a hard hero to focus down because he has a temporary invisibility that he can use to escape, while Spectre is difficult to kill because the player got survivability items not to mention the passive skills that reflect damage. In normal circumstances you would target the carry first, but in this particular match, it would be better to target the ones that are easier to kill first, then focus down the remaining one. Each side has an ability with a cooldown that can temporarily make their buildings immune to damage for a very short time. Players can buy back upon dying and revive at fountain (starting zone). I haven't played DotA in awhile so I don't know if there is a limit, but it is expensive and iirc there is a cooldown so you have to use it wisely. I'm going to have to disagree here. Based on what you wrote, LoL has lag and no pause yet a game that isn't even in beta has lag, pause, voip, and clan management...? Cognitive dissonance. I don't quite follow. You'd rather stay in game when the game is already over? That was pretty funny Edit: Ah I think I found the reason. The commentator said the winning team had to actually finish killing their base instead of just winning off the other team's leaves. I don't know about you, but I saw both sides GG'ing not to mention one team was even chinese...
Thank you for the individual breakdown/responses! It's rare to see someone do it these days . My friend logged on so i actually went and played a few games of LoL instead... Absolutely destroyed as well so i'm in a good mood . I'll take a look at a few more matches in a minute. I guess i was just expecting the "Valve" touch, turning it into something that appeals to hardcore players, yet is also noob friendly. Maybe introducing new gameplay mechanics or just "changing" some things around. For example, LoL has the concept of "Brush" (champions inside are not visible to those outside) as well as the Summoner system (persistent levelling outside of the game). As someone on the HoN forums put it, HoN has pretty much everything DotA2 has... what incentive is there to switch? (Apart from nostalgia and maybe hate for S2/love for Valve). I'll have to take your word for that since i don't know the HoN map that well. All i see is Runes int he river, a large jungle expanse and the same "slope" down into mid. Although the stairs/bridge on top and bottom were different i think. One thing i noticed is that the map is actually a lot larger than LoL's, there's a much bigger distance between towers on top and bottom and it makes you much more vulnerable to ganking. I'd certainly say that LoL is more noob friendly, however i wouldn't say it's any less... "hardcore" per se. I.E. the difficulty curve of DotA/HoN is much sharper than that of LoL's, but i'd still say they cap out at the same level. As for "adapting" the genre, i meant with the introduction of the "Dominion" mode, which is more like a traditional RTS control point style gameplay with the same RPG/Heroes/Teamfights etc. Whereas Valve/HoN have stuck to the traditional DotA style gameplay. Again, it's a move to encourage more casual players since one complaint of DotA games are that they require a commitment of time and they can last anywhere between 20m - 1h. However, i think HoN's shown if anything, that attracting the "hardcode"/vets etc. alone isn't enough to build a thriving game/community. In fact the majority now just seem to despise LoL for its greater popularity. I probably am, it was early and i woke up just to be disappointed. The coaching system is definitely a nice touch and "good behaviour being rewarded" although we'll have to see exactly how much that affects the uptake/intake of players. I personally don't think the latter is about how "well you're taught" necessarily, but how easy it is to learn the game. For example, i tried to pick up HoN after starting LoL, however i felt as if i was thrown in the deep end with one of the least helpful tutorials ever (it told me the objective, just not the actual "gameplay" per se). If i was to play a match, i'd have a roster of something like 80 characters to choose from, all of which i knew practically nothing about and then when i got in game there were a load of items that i had no clue about either. Couple this with a team i have no clue how to play with and an enemy i have no clue about their skills... it just got very overwhelming, very fast. Compare this to LoL, where there are free champions on a rota basis which limits the Champions you'll usually see at low levels, then as you level up you get introduced to more rotations and see more champions gradually. Then there was also the implementation of practice games against bots so i didn't have to go feed like a noob in a proper game which also gave me a chance to try out all the free heroes and select one i liked (i didn't have to wait for the game to finish and be bored because i didn't like the hero) - same thing goes with trying out builds etc. Dragon is a neutral creep in the river that gives global gold and a nice amount of experience (equal to about 2 kills i think). Baron is the same, however much more difficult (you can solo Dragon, but soloing Baron generally requires you to be very fed, and/or be some very specialised champion ). Upon death it gives a buff to all stats making it very valuable and contested. I agree that pushing alone isn't wise, however i just expected them to push as a team now they had the advantage in numbers. Generally in LoL after winning a teamfight, unless you're all low you can usually take a tower if it's 4v2 or split push etc. I think you'd be surprised at how much you'd understand in a LoL game, the concepts are the same, just the execution has been tweaked. I know what the Support role does/is supposed to do, i was just commenting like above as to why they (the team) wasn't pushing with an advantage in numbers. But as you said, they were playing very safe. Radiant did very nice early on, getting First Blood and quite a few early ganks, however Dire then came back and wiped them a few times (i remember it was 10-4 at one point) with "Tiny" (i think it was) being a monster, crushing everything with his burst. However i think Dire got a bit too cautious after losing one teamfight. Like you said, they did a good job pushing out Top and Middle lane for the barracks, however that came very late it the game (around the last 30min) and the mid-section (30-60min in) just seemed to be them roaming around their own jungle taking their creeps. Nope, no pause system at all. Not in "Normal" games and not even in Tournament mode. Generally it's just and honor system in Tournaments to let the players to farm but not push/get Baron/teamfight etc. The commentary was rather good at introducing players to certain things, although it wasn't quite a "noob's guide". However after the second set of lag it disappeared altogether... i think that also contributed to making the game less enjoyable to watch. How is it not OP for initiating? LoL has a similar thing with the Flash summoner spell, however that's on a long CD (240seconds) but usable at any time (as long as you aren't stunned/feared etc.) It's also been a mass topic of debate since it's been labelled as a contributor to the lazy "farming" meta (you can escape from a gank) and encourages overextending. I personally don't think that's necessarily the case as it adds another skill cap to the game (now it's more about getting opponents to use up their Flash and circling round later before it's back off CD) as well as being able to flash over certain walls/impassable terrain makes it very satisfying after use (or frustrating, depending on perspective). So it's a token for a single player/champion? That does sound like a rather important item to get. I assumed that it wasn't a normal length for a game and the start was actually relatively entertaining with all the ganks. Thanks for that clarification, i assumed it was something like that, just that i wasn't sure since different game/no commentary etc. + Thank you for the other clarifications too. In normal games, there's virtually no lag unless the server is having an off day. What i meant was that during Dreamhack (Season One Finals) some players complained of lag and people just leapt on Riot stating that they were incompetent and weren't putting enough money in etc. etc. Also for Pause, i agree that's a very useful feature to have, but i'd say only exclusively for Tournament play, in normal play i don't find the need for a Pause function since if someone DCs it's just bad luck. VOIP and Clan Management, again not essential for gameplay imo, especially with the advent of Mumble/Teamspeak/Ventrilo. In general at the lower levels of the game, VOIP isn't needed (teamwork isn't too prevalent) and at higher levels people usually have their own method of communicating. Not to mention, with the DotA community, i'm not sure whether or not i'd want to hear that troll/feeder/rager person on mic either. I agree that Riot have been very slow in implementing a lot of features that people want (we're only just about to get a Spectator Mode and maybe Replays), however people also have to remember that when LoL released, Riot was not some massive games company (and i still would say it isn't) and it was a gradual process moving from Beta to a "release product". Comparing bit-tech's review to the game now there have been massive overhauls and tweaks. Ultimately, Valve is a much larger development company with a lot more money and they have the time and resources to release a "finished" product in one go rather than build it up as you go along. (Even S2 have a much larger gaming history with Savage 1&2). It wasn't so much a case of staying when the game is over, however the game hadn't technically ended then (it ends when the "Ancient" is destroyed). It's more just quitting because the game is lost, rather than quitting because you lost the game (if that makes sense). Personally i think it's good sportsmanship to see the game until the end, rather than quitting because you know you've lost the game. I must have obviously missed that in the endgame screen, or maybe it came before and i was on a different tab (now thinking about it, they could have said it before they dc'd).
Just a couple little things popping to mind, CBA to break it all down to respond to both of you in a point by point basis: -The "Smoke" might (I didn't watch the matches) have been similar to HoN's "Dust of Revelation". It's an item that temporarily reveals stealth in an area and also applies and effect on stealth units in the area granting sight for a little while even if they leave the area. But tbh, the name "Smoke" would seem to imply granting stealth rather than revealing so take with a massive heap of salt. -The Blink Dagger was already explained, but just in case it jogs some memory the HoN equivalent is a Portal Key. It is pretty OP for initation, but there are drawbacks to everything. It's a sizable amount of gold to get one, costs mana to activate (something most initiators lack), can't be used to escape (due to heroes triggering a small cooldown), and more importantly in late game doesn't give any stats. In actual practice its effectiveness is limited by the skill of the user and of the enemies. Squishies don't travel alone for fear of being Blinked in on, teams stay spaced out for fear of people blinking in and AoE'ing, etc. -Roshan/Kongor's token is indeed pretty heavily sought after. The item they drop is a free rez upon death but does have a limited duration meaning that if it doesn't get used it goes away! Typically a carry will get it to help keep them up in team fights, but sometimes tanks grab them since they take so long to die that having two lives is a daunting challenge for the enemies to overcome. -It is a little surprising that Valve didn't really seem to change anything. It's typically in their nature to make each new iteration of things a little more special each time, figured there'd be some sort of new mechanics added. Some of the features LoL added really boost the game, things like the passive 5th ability for each hero or summoner abilities add new levels of depth and strategy to the game. I, personally, don't like how player levels outside the game effect which abilities you get or the little talent trees, every player should be on a level playing field imo (which is also why HoN's F2P and Early Access piss me off) but at least they're trying something new, so that's cool. -Disconneting and conceding must be little community quirks. It's sort of like in chess where the king never actually gets taken, it's just a checkmate. In my experience, most HoN games end by concede votes where the losing team knows they can't win and don't need to stick around to go through the motions. Each victorious team fight or destroyed barracks puts the enemy in "check", if they can't come back against it they're basically in "checkmate" and may as well concede. If there are any GG's to be had they're usually said during the concede vote or once the winning team acknowledges they've checkmated their enemy and are going to win soon (pushing into the base, no hope left). After everyone disconnects theirs a match chat, but that's usually barren except for trash talk. The group of mates I play with usually try win by "checkmating" as early as we can to get 15 minute concedes, if the enemy don't concede soon after 30 minutes (the point where only four players need to vote "yes) we typically end up conceding ourselves simply because that typically means something went wrong early on and we're doomed due to team comps often lacking carries.
Lazy lazy . I'm almost definitely sure that this item applies stealth and it wasn't in a localised area. I thought it could have been a rune, however early game there were two members of a team walking around ganking whilst Stealthed. It seemed to be time based since said duo walked from Top Lane to mid lane. Also, at some point in the game, the entire Dire team stealthed up just above Roshan I didn't realise it was so expensive, i think it was because "Tiny" had one somewhere around 10-15 min in I believe so assumed it was a relatively cheap item. Also didn't realise it didn't give any stats which would definitely be a drawback. I never realised LoL introduced a 5th Passive ability , just assumed that HoN/DotA etc. had it as well. I can see where people come from when they don't like the "Modifiers" you get based on level/play time (i.e. Masteries and Runes) - it's always a pain when you don't have the correct rune set and some Champions are somewhat dependent on them and/or require them to jungle correctly. However at the same time, i love the sheer variety that they give whilst at the same time helping better tailor a champion to your play style. Some people prefer Damage runes because they have a stronger early game or very aggressive play, whereas some people take Defensive runes so they can stay in lane longer and then there are also Utility runes like Movement Speed for certain champs to help them gank. Each rune set you choose gives you a different tradeoff (i.e. a full damage page usually means you're always squishy etc.) I think it's something that only really matters if you're experienced in the genre and try and start a game. It's annoying to see so much stuff you have to "unlock" or customise for when you start playing, however in reality almost all experienced players know that it's not worth buying any runes until Level 20 (where you get access to Tier 3). And even then, i agree with Riot that Runes aren't too much of a factor so long as the level disaparity isn't too great. I personally didn't have any issues playing with my Level 30 friends when i was Levels 22-29. Aye, there's Surrender Vote option in LoL as well now, and once it goes through you get a pan over to the Nexus/"Ancient" self destructing. GGs will usually come in just after the motion is passed. I personally dislike the fact that people DC like that but i'll accept it as a quirk of the community, it's really the same with people surrendering just as you've Ace'd (wiped) their team and you're pushing onto their Nexus and they surrender. Can you really not be bothered to wait that extra 30 seconds for us to take the building? EDIT: Oh, another thing i wouldn't mind clarification on: Are wards (the observer wards i think they're called) Stealthed? And are they passable (i.e. can you move through them). Since i remember one of the teams going to an enemy neutral creep camp and placing 2 wards with the commentators stating that they'd either "blocked access" to the camp, or "blocked it from spawning". Clarifcations? =X
Hm. Did they have a hero which threw a spear or javelin which did a long duration stun on impact? HoN has a hero like that with an ult that stealths the whole team, iirc it was cloned from DotA. Failing that... beats me lol. A lot of people go for it straight away on good ganking characters. Use it to port in, gank, get gold, use that gold to buy other items. It's a really situation/character specific item, on some heroes it's almost a free kill if you find a squishy who's alone, on others it's a waste of gold. I wish HoN had the 5th abilities, they're just the coolest things! Makes all the heroes a little more unique. The complaints about runes and such, I admit, are more a matter of principle. Being able to customize to such an extent is pretty awesome, just that something fundamentally irks me when not everyone has access to the same stuff, even when in reality the effects aren't significant. Yep, stealthed and passable. There are also wards which reveal stealth (often called counter-wards), they are also stealthed themselves and passable. Wards which are revealed by any effect that reveals stealth can then be attacked and destroyed (and reward about as much gold as one creep kill). The process of using stealth sight to see and destroy enemy wards is called "counter-warding". Note that counter wards can then be counter warded themselves in a messy ongoing exchange to deny the enemy sight of rune/jungle. About creeps, neutral creeps only spawn if nothing has sight of them and the corpses of the previous creeps have despawned. Placing a ward which gives sight of the creep spawn spot "blocks" the next spawn. The enemy then has to buy and place a counter wards to get their creeps spawning again, but by then they've likely lost more gold than it cost the other team to buy the ward. Warding has it's own meta behind it and is really important in high level play. Only a limited amount can be bought a time, in fact, due to their potency. When and where to ward has all sorts of little details to it. Certain areas can give sight of Roshan, some give sight of rune, different places in the jungle can give sight of different entrances or block different creep spawns, and them some places are purposefully not in any of the common areas to prevent counter warding. In the end it's basically just another reason for people to whine at the support.
Smoke is a consumable that grants a limited version of stealth in a large (1200 iirc) radius to all team members, along with a 15% movespeed buff. It makes your team invisible to wards and prevents them from showing up on the minimap to the enemy, however if a stealthed player gets within a certain range to an enemy or tower they are revealed. Basically used to defeat bush wards and to set up ganks. Blink Dagger (The "flash" dagger) is balanced in that it costs a huge lump sum of gold to purchase, it looked cheap in that game because their tiny was having a fantastic early/mid game
No, they weren't Valkyrie (i remember playing her... that Spear was hella fun with its range and stun ). Thank you! Tiny was wrecking early game. I don't think they'd let any hero in LoL two shot a Carry like he did to Weaver. In fact, i remember LeBlanc was nerfed ("hotfixed") about 12 hours after release because she did ridiculous amounts of damage (she's a single target burst assassin mage) - Level 4 pretty much guaranteed a kill on the usual mid squishy mage champs without the ability to fight back (Nuke -> Blink for damage + procs Silence -> Snare -> Ignite -> Dead). I agree that Passives add a nice character to the champions, some are worthless (Evelynn - half damage taken from enemy minions) to the "OP/Strong" (Jax - 3HP gained per AD, 2HP per AP or Irelia - CC Reduction inversely proportional to the number of nearby enemy Champions). Didn't realise that they don't spawn if something has sight on them, LoL removed this mechanic it seems and warding enemy jungle camps (especially the buffs) is an important tactic used for ganking and/or stealing when characters are trying to take them. Not sure if i like the idea or not, as you say it's very strong for denying jungle experience, however at the same time it's a complete pain to counter. The LoL equivalent at the moment is leaving a single minion behind when stealing an enemy camp, since they only respawn after being cleared. This has the upside of denying experience, however unless you subsequently (and pointlessly) ward it, you have no clue when it's cleared and thus, when it'll reappear. --- On a side note, i watched another game (i picked the shortest replay) and my opinion is a lot better (much more ganking, although one side basically just stomped the other) however i think it still looks like HoN gameplay (or traditional DotA if you want, but i never played it so i don't want to use it as a point of reference). Anti-Mage who was the main Carry (and stupidly fed) seemed pretty interesting (and from a LoL standpoint, stupidly OP ) and i'd be rather interested in playing him. Also Puck looks stupid, but i found the abilities very interesting, same with Crystal Maiden (without the looking stupid part). And on a related note, i assume (in fact it's pretty much a given) that Drafting is a very important aspect of the game. So why is it that in this game the picks went like this: Team 2 - Strength (Sven) Team 1 - Strength, Strength (Beast Master, Earthshaker) Team 2 - Intelligence, Intelligence (Leshrac, Enchantress) Team 1 - Agility (Anti-Mage) Team 2 - Intelligence, Intelligence (Nature's Prophet, Dazzle) Team 1 - Intelligence, Intelligence (Puck, Crystal Maiden) So basically Anti-Mage was Team 1's pick after seeing "Str, Int, Int" which is a valid pick... why is it that Team 2 then went "Int, Int" for a full team comp of "Str, Int, Int, Int, Int" and have no Agility carry? Not to mention that with a name like "Anti-Mage" he seems especially designed to counter Mages/Int chars. The picks just didn't make sense to me.
Been looking at the replays. Best match yet: On 1080, the game looks like a painting! Sounds are really distinct and clear just like the graphics are. What a shame they couldn't have shown this as their first stream That might explain the lag during the first stream edit: wow the cameras are automatic :O!
Wasn't as blown away as I thought I would be, but it sounds like the 1080p videos are quite stunning compared to the 480p (which I was catching up on last night). I like the style of the graphics anyway, but the minion attack animations are pretty bawlls.
FML, i knew there was a reason why i didn't want to watch more... it's given me a hankering to try out HoN again -.-'. + I agree the 1080p replays are rather swish.
