Heroes of Newerth fans are abuzz with excitement over development team S2 Games's recent overhaul, HoN 3.0.
Released this week, 3.0 is packing a punch for veteran and new players alike with completely revamped UI options, social features, and updated heroes whose new lore and HD models really produce a WOW factor.
“HoN is almost three years old now and we are continuing to invest and improve the game,” said Marc DeForest, CEO of S2 Games. “We consider ourselves very fortunate to have such a tremendous player base that’s helped to grow the game to where it is today. The 3.0 update is a serious step forward as we look towards a bright future in 2013.”
What's in store for those logging in post-update?
Hero Changes
S2 has stated again and again that one of the most important things they wanted to convey in 3.0 is that their heroes matter to them. Changes in 3.0 are representative of this sentiment, with sweeping overhauls to the heroes and their stories having been made.
These thirty heroes have had their base models redone with stunning new HD graphics to be paired with the redone maps:
Accursed, Andromeda, Blood Hunter, Deadwood, Defiler, Devourer, Glacius, Keeper of the Forest, Legionnaire, Madman, Magebane, Martyr, Moon Queen, Night Hound, Ophelia, Pebbles, Pharaoh, Puppet Master, Sand Wraith, Scout, Slither, Soulstealer, Succubus, Swiftblade, Tempest, The Dark Lady, Torturer, Valkyrie, War Beast, Wildsoul
In addition, heroes have had lore introduced and bolstered with fleshed-out backstories to go with their fresh new looks.
Learning Experience & New Bots
In addition, some of the stress of learning the game is being lifted with the addition of NPC bots with advanced enough AI for the team to claim that it feels like playing against real people! The first bot game a player will land in will also assist in teaching mechanics, though as more of an immersive walkthrough than a standard tutorial.
The AI-controlled Bots will offer three levels of difficulty: easy, medium, and hard. As an added bonus, the Bots’ AI code has been open sourced, allowing players to mod them to battle against other user-created Bots.
Caldavar
This standard 5v5 map has received a complete textural overhaul, keeping the same layout but getting a much more detailed design with gorgeous new aesthetic upgrades to building, tower, and fountain designs, and more!
Social Features
Social functions have received a complete overhaul, streamlining how chat, friend lists, notificiations, plus reporting works. S2 recognizes how unfriendly the MOBA community can be to a new player in games across the market, and their 3.0 changes certainly reflect concern for this trend.
Report-A-Player
With the community being such a large part of HoN's overall experience, the team thought it extremely important that players have a system to better police themselves and cut out the bad apples - something many games could benefit from. With the new Report-A-Player system all you have to do in 3.0 to report any player, anywhere, is pop up the scoreboard, click the ban icon next to the offending player's name, and select your report options from there.
No coin deposit or specific account status is required to report anymore!
Refer-A-Friend
Players are also being rewarded for introducing their friends to Heroes of Newerth through the new Refer-A-Friend program. Some ridiculous prizes are available, from exclusive alt avatars to e-gift cards, all the way up to a VIP trip to the HoN Tour Grand Finals for the person with the most referrals. The team is even offering double rewards on earned Goblin Coins through February 21st to celebrate 3.0's launch!
3.0 is further building on a solid foundation of several years of hard work by the development team, and the MOBA players among us at Curse are certainly drawn in by the high level of care and detail that has been put into this update. Sign up and play for free at http://www.heroesofnewerth.com.
Full patch notes for 3.0 can be found at this forum post, and be sure to check out the 3.0 screenshot gallery below. We'll see you in-game!
Comments