Just wait for DOTA2. Been glancing at my roommate's monitor as he was watching replays, not seeing much reason to stick with HoN. Gameplay wise it's very similar, and in pretty much every other aspect such as graphics it's superior. The interaction between sight and fog of war in particular looks very smooth, a pretty important aspect in those crucial jungle chases. What does HoN have going for it? Some different heroes and a F2P store that tries to suck the life out or your wallet. Hm, not looking so hot.
It'll be quite a wait then... At least for the release, they're aiming for 2012 (Source). No clue when the beta starts though.
I'd heard that it starts after The International, striking while the iron's hot and it's on most people's radar. But then that doesn't come with a source, so who knows.
Yay, not too long before i can play all the characters i've got my eye on (now include Drow Ranger), feed and get raged at by the vets . Oh, and let's not forget me subsequently bitching about how i find LoL more enjoyable (yet probably still carry on playing).
Anyone else watching the International? I just... wow. The skill of the players in that is just amazing...
I briefly went and watched the LoL IEM instead... It's rather embarassing TBH since the stream was terrible quality and kept blacking out on "Best Quality"... had to manually adjust it to 480p to even get a somewhat decent experience (and even then there were occassional spikes in the video feed). Not to mention the two shoutcasters for the particular match weren't Riot staff and were familiar with the game, but not intimately so. As such, they made a lot of errors in the commentating, ranging from mixing up Champion names to even "laughing at a player's mistake" even though they didn't make one (said that they'd forgotten to upgrade to Tier 2 boots and thus had to sell off an item, when in fact the item in question was a component of the T2 boots they'd just bought). Back over to the DotA2 stream ;>.
Hah I enjoyed the part where they were laughing at the AD carries buying Wriggles....derp. Who do you guys think is going to take the cup? I think iG is looking pretty solid
Wow, I just watched MUFC vs OK.Nirvana.Int the latter being down 44-33 not to mention their throne was at 50% hp and yet they still managed to win from behind... just wow... the last 15 minutes the most intense thing I have ever seen. Can't wait until the replays are uploaded to youtube. My monies on Na'Vi. PS - Did anybody else notice the automatic camera movements for non commentary replays? Despite an occasional mishap or two, I'm very impressed!
Na'vi (Ukraine) defeats EHOME (China) 3-1. I missed game one (edit: turns out there was no game 1. since na'vi won winner's bracket they get a 1 game advantage), but game 2 was very special because of the pudge pick (rare pick in competitive matches), which may have contributed to their loss. Na'vi too consistent game 3. Game 4 EHOME got outpicked and outplayed. Lich and SK were essentially dead weight not to mention no real carry on their team. I'm glad Na'vi won and not EHOME whose style is too passive for my liking. Nonetheless both teams deserved to be in the finals and EHOME still gets to take home a hefty sum ($250k). Not bad for a 5 days work !
They've revised their plans as well - originally they were aiming for releasing the game in about a year's time with all the heroes available. Now after seeing how many people just want to play it, they're planning on letting people play early (via beta, or what have you) with the range of heroes available in the international, and then adding more features and heroes over time. I think it's a great move, and will allow them to ride the wave of hype and enthusiasm that the international generated.
Dota 2 is the perfect game for Valve to work on, based on their constant support for TF2 and L4D2. A game like Dota relies heavily on balance and occassionally new heroes to refresh the gameplay, and you don't really get many companies that continue to support their games years after release. Another example would be Blizzard with their Starcraft and Diablo franchise. Since the company has already released other games with some really iconic characters, I won't be surprised if they decide to port them over to Dota 2. Can't wait to play the Demoman on Dota 2 =P
As a dota fan i'm really looking forward to Dota 2. I currently play HoN... I think it's great. If Dota 2 wasn't being made by Valve I'd probably pass But yeah... Valve fan
