Balance- Or: Why your Opinion is Wrong

Balance is and will always be one of the hottest topics in any video game that revolves around winning. In a game like Heroes of Newerth, where there are over 90 Heroes, each with their own unique synergies with one another, Balance can often be somewhat challenging. Adding one new Hero to HoN every two weeks has been a controversial change among many players on the grounds that they don't believe S2 can balance the game fast enough.

As somebody who is very attuned with the Community of Heroes of Newerth, I observe a lot of balance complaints. It seems like there is always one Hero out there that the majority of the Community believes to be overpowered- currently this hero has a name; Emerald Warden. In a HoNCast Interview yesterday, balance guru DOGKaiser was asked what he thinks about the numerous complaints about Emerald Warden being overpowered. His response left a lot of the Community flabbergasted- "95% of Competitors think Emerald Warden could use a buff".

This isn't the first time Competitors and the casual Community have been in disagreement, it happens all the time, and while it is not uncommon to see a Hero that is both viable in Competitive play as well as pubs, a Hero that is viable in one but not the other is somewhat less common.

I'm frequently asked why S2 doesn't nerf such Heroes. It's hard to answer this question without offending somebody. Maybe this graph will help:



Balance in HoN is done the same way it is done in every other (good) RTS (or ARTS) style game- from the top down. To a lot of people, this seems unjust. Is it fair that competitors' opinions are valued more than the average joe? No. Does it make sense? Yes. In today's world of the vocal internet forum, everybody believes to be a beautiful unique snowflake. Designers, not keen on being tarred and feathered, will never be seen uttering these words:

If you aren't the best of the best, your opinion is worth less.

To the majority of HoN players, this will definitely seem unfair. After all, if the majority of HoN players are in the 1500 bracket, shouldn't their opinions be valued more? Shouldn't the game be balanced around their metagame? Why should we balance a game around the smallest percentile of players? The truth is somewhere in this graph:

The problem with balancing a game around the "sweet spot", or the area where the most players play, is that it doesn't work. This is because, depending who you ask, you are always going to get a very inconstant consensus. The further down the MMR ladder you climb, the more erratic the metagame becomes. If you ask somebody in the 1000 MMR bracket who they think the most overpowered hero is and why, they'd probably give you a Hero you almost forgot existed.

Competitors aren't perfect. A competitor is not a designer, he can identify a problem but not provide a solution, much the same way a designer can release a well designed hero without it being completely balanced from the get-go. But when it comes to balance, a competitor will always be held to a higher regard than somebody else, because he is playing in an environment where people will be utilizing their heroes to the highest possible potential, and that's where "sweet spot" balance drops the ball.

So where does this leave the players in the 1500 bracket? Are they doomed to be victims of Emerald Wardens, Trembles, Nomads and (if you can think that far back) Zephyrs? Sources say: No. While it is true that competitors will always be held to a higher regard, that 1500 bracket players are, in fact, not doing everything in their power to counter that Emerald Warden, that Tremble, that Zephyr, balance can often be changed in a way that it nerfs the Hero in such a way that he is less effective in pub play while retaining his skill in the competitive scene. This can be accomplished by making the hero less easy to play while keeping his overall strength intact.

Concluding, let it be said that just because a lot of people think a hero is overpowered, it doesn't necessarily mean he is, because HoN is balanced from the top down. Playing only one hero and getting to 1800 MMR without losing does not, contrary to popular belief, prove anything. Most competitive players could reach 1800 MMR without losing playing pretty much any hero, given the right team and communication. While Tremblerape & Crew are certainly an entertaining sight to see, they don't actually say anything about balance on a competitive level. This doesn't mean the Hero shouldn't be tweaked in such a way that he is less powerful in pubs, but it does mean the Hero probably isn't overpowered.

So, before you cry nerf, take a good long look at yourself. Who are you, and why do you think your opinion matters?

The Hardest Heroes to Play

5. Soulstealer
Without a doubt, Soulstealer is one of those Heroes where skill (or the lack thereof) really shines through. The difference between somebody who knows what they are doing with Soulstealer and somebody who does not is clearly visible in games, and it's no surprise that in the hands of a skilled player can single handedly win games. A lot of people attribute Soulstealer's difficulty to landing Demon Hands, one of the most fickle abilities in the game. This is only half true, however, as there's a lot more to Soulstealer than meets the immediate eye. In addition to landing his Demon Hands and Soul Bursts, Soulstealer is a Hero who is naturally at a disadvantage towards all other Heroes in terms of HP. To make up for this, Soulstealer has the gift of being able to clear entire creepwaves in less than a second, allowing him to make items quickly. A blessing but also a curse, his above average farming skill must be utilized to it's fullest potential to be truly terrifying.



4. Ophelia
No surprise here, Ophelia is probably one of the most microintensive Heroes in Heroes of Newerth. With the recent addition to Energizer, an item that provides not only her but also her minions with increased speed and unitwalking, it remains to be seen how her ganking potential may be boosted if the item proves viable. Overall, Ophelia has been viewed as an arguably underpowered Hero, able to control only one Minion up until level 5, a severe nerf to the arguably overpowered version of Ophelia that preceded the current version. Nevertheless, some players hold fast that Ophelia's reward is worth the risk, believing that with the proper micromanagement she could be worth her weight in gold.



3. Flux
Flux is a Hero that isn't naturally difficult to play in the traditional sense. His abilities are quite straightforward, even with the push/pull polarity swaping, it isn't that complicated. Even his Q ability, arguably one of the more tricky things to master in terms of split second decision making, can be mastered by a decent player after only a few tries. No, what really sets a good Flux player apart from a bad one is teamwork and communication, one of the hardest things to come by in Heroes of Newerth. Flux is probably the most worthless Hero in Heroes of Newerth if not combined correctly. Even with a proper team, however, Flux is still a risky business. His ultimate, although on a relatively short cooldown, can actually do more harm than good when misused and unlike other initiator Heroes like Magmus, offers no real reliable stun or damage output. It's not surprising, then, that we don't see Flux in many games. The ones you do see him in and used correctly, however, are some of the most entertaining things you will ever see in your Newerth career.



2. Legionnaire
Legionnaire is the forgotten Hero of DotA days. A pub favorite for some reason, Legionnaire seems to make appearances in all the wrong places. Although you might not see the connection at first, Legionnaire actually has a lot in common with Soulstealer. Both are at a massive natural disadvantage, a gap that they must bridge using their above natural farming ability. Legionnaire is one of, if not the best, neutral farming Hero in the game. This is largely due to his ability to deal more damage depending on how many creeps are attacking him, all for no Mana cost. The problem with Legionnaire is his schedule- should Legionnaire spend his time farming, or ganking? Both! But to which degree? Many players feel the need to rush a Portal Key à la Tempest, a strategy that often falls on it's head because Legionnaire often needs a Helm of the Black Legion, boots and a Chalice or other Mana source first, a long list to check before he can move on to his trusty Portal Key. A good Legionnaire player knows what he's doing, and is never wasting time. When he's not farming, he's ganking, and when he's not ganking, he's farming. He knows where he needs to be all the time and is always right on time.



1. Monkey King
The initial release and now the full release of Monkey King had a lot of people complaining. The consensus seems to be "why should I play this Hero when I can play a more reliable melee ganker?"- a question that isn't very easy to answer. DotA and HoN's Metagame has always been about reliability. Reliable stuns, reliable carry, reliable ganker. This is why Heroes like Magmus, Andromeda and Witch Slayer will always be top picks, because there's no chance of failure. Monkey King is the opposite of everything you'd want from a competitive Hero; he's risky and he's difficult. That said, Monkey King might just be one of the most powerful Heroes in the game, and I don't think we've even begun to see his true potential. Monkey King's strongest ability often goes unnoticed by players- his ultimate. No, not the movespeed buff- the cooldown reduction. Every time Monkey King casts a spell, his cooldowns are reduced significantly. Put this on a Hero with 3 activated damage abilities with low cooldowns, and you have a Hero that is capable of almost 0 downtime- Monkey King can effectively spread his abilities out in such a manner that he's almost always casting something, which puts him at a considerable advantage over other carry Heroes. Carry Heroes in HoN are characterized by the fact that most of the time, they would rather be standing still and auto attacking to maximize their damage. Monkey King on the other Hand, maximizes his damage by flying all over the place and completely disorienting his enemy. The difference between Monkey King and other Heroes is that he has to plan out what combination of abilities he's going to use in what order to match the situation he's in, a task not easily accomplished. When will we see Monkey King in higher level play? We can only hope soon.

5 Easy Ways to Lose a Game of HoN

If you notice any constellation between this post and my previous one, it may be because I've been spending a lot of time playing HoN with groups of people who are new to the game. In many days of teaching HoN to people, I've found that while it can be productive for new players to observe higher tier players, it's equally important for the teacher to observe the student. Simply put, many veteran HoN players seem to forget that there isn't some magical school that teaches new HoN players important rules that, when ignored, can cost you a game faster than you would believe. To these neglected new players, I present to you my Top 5 ways to lose a game of HoN:




5. Run a Double Melee Lane

For a rule that many people seem is a given, the infamous double melee lane is a phenomenon that is anything but extinct in lower level play. To a veteran player, the implications are clear: not having at least one ranged hero in the lane is a one way ticket to not getting any last hits, any denies, and in many cases, any experience. When sitting in the hero selection screen, it helps to count all melee heroes picked or prepicked. If the number is three, then you must make sure that one of them is headed for the middle lane. If the number is larger than three, something needs to be changed.




4. Play Passively in the Laning Phase

The Laning Phase's importance to the game depends how long the game goes on. In most cases, however, games rarely exceed 60 minutes, making the laning phase extremely important. The error that many players make is that they rely too much on the hero in the middle lane to assist them in ganking. While it is true that the middle hero should collect runes and gank the lanes whenever possible, many heroes that run the middle lane are simply not able to find the time to gank all the time. Often players won't take this into account and expect the player in the middle lane to solve all their problems. In reality, however, much of the blame can be put in the lane that failed. Players who are new to the game will find it difficult to harass and initiate local ganks in the lane. Harassing, pulling, initiating and 'AI-pulling' (right clicking an enemy hero and then running back to pull the creepwave back towards you) are all extremely important things to learn and apply in the laning phase. Learning when to initiate within the lane requires communication and timing, which, while I wish I could sum up in a few sentences, requires practice more than anything to master.




3. Dick Around

Although the term might seem crude, dicking around is a very serious issue which plagues lower level play. It helps to think of every creep in the lane as potential experience and money. When nobody occupies a lane, this experience and money is essentially being thrown into the trash. More times than I can count have I seen lower level players perplexed at how the enemy heroes have accumulated so much experience and so many items. Simply put: they spend more time in the lane and less time between lanes. Of course, depending on what kind of hero you are playing, being between the lanes might work to your advantage. Running between the lanes when it doesn't benefit you, however, is something else. As the famous saying goes, "time is money" and every second you spend treading between lanes is money lost.




2. Have a nonsensical Hero Lineup

Tying into point number 5, the correct hero composition is the key to any game's success. Contrary to popular belief, a good hero composition can make a large difference in any tier of play. When I started playing DotA a long time ago, my friends would often make some sweeping generalizations when trying to define roles and compositions, and I would often hear stuff like "we need more stuns". As time went on, however, I realized that although it's important to get a diverse group of hero roles on your team, "Stuns" are somewhat of a miracle mechanic. Any ability that stuns you also immobilizes, silences, disarms and perplexes you, a mixture of disable which often goes under-appreciated. The point I'm trying to make here is that in addition to getting a diverse mixture of roles (friendly reminder that "Tank" is not a role) and a lineup that doesn't have a double melee lane, one should always count the amount of easy to land/area of effect stuns your team has. Additionally, you should also think about what two heroes will lane together, but that's a story for another time.




1. Don't buy a Courier and Wards at Level 1

The easiest way to lose any HoN game, of course, is to not buy a courier and wards at level one. For any higher level game, this goes without saying, but for lower level play, it remains an issue forever unsolved. Wards and a Courier at level one are, in fact, the most crucial building blocks to winning any game. The chain reaction which ensues when this criteria is not met often goes unnoticed. Without a courier, the middle lane cannot send a Bottle (friendly reminder that you should never buy a Bottle at level one), without Wards the middle lane cannot compete for runes. Without runes, the middle lane cannot fill his bottle, and without a filled bottle the middle lane cannot gank the sidelanes. Without ganks to the sidelanes, the sidelanes are susceptible to failure (not to mention the middle lane which is basically guaranteed to fail). Like the Keel of a boat, without Wards and a Courier straight out of the gate, your ship is destined to sink. The tragic aspect of this is, as already stated, that the connection between the cause and effect often go unnoticed and the hero in mid is often given the blame.




You may notice that most of the things I have listed all stem from decisions made at the beginning of the game. The hard truth about Heroes of Newerth is that you can often (and very easily) dig your own grave before you even kill your first creep. Without the right hero composition, you will lack proper lanes and proper Support. Without proper Support, you will have players who feel no obligation to buy Wards of a Courier and lanes that are destined to fail. Without these things, games simply cannot be won in a game of equally matched skill.

Top 5 Worst Pub Heroes (That you need to stop Picking)

These days, it seems like the only mode you can get away with in Matchmaking is Single Draft, which although I have advocated in the past as a good map for people learning the game, isn't very versatile. In lieu of not being able to see what Heroes your enemies are picking, as well as having a relatively restricted choice of Heroes yourself, playing Solo Matchmaking in Single Draft can always be a chore of trying to persuade your teammates to pick Heroes that actually fit into your team's makeup. For many players, such as myself, this exercise can be tiring to say the least, as players will often be hesitant to abandon their premeditated desires to play Heroes that won't help your team at all (or just ignore you completely).

So without further ado, here is my (not entirely serious) top 5 list of Heroes that you need to stop picking because it's making me sad (excluding Scout, which, honestly, I have not seen a lot of lately). Note that this list has nothing to do with Balance, but is really just Heroes that typical 1500-1600 players can't seem to get to grips with. Here we go!

#5 Pandamonium


Ever since Pandamonium has sprung into existance, a lot of people have been confused to his role. At first glance he almost seems like some sort of Melee-Physical based ganker, similar to Fayde. His small Mana pool and two scaling abilities, however, tell a much different story: that of some sort of carry/disabler hybrid. What's safe to say about Pandamonium is this: You probably don't know what you're doing. For real.

Pandamonium demands an extremely aggressive laning phase, during which he will need to rush Ghost Marchers and synergize with his ranged counterpart. Because it is the nature of most pub players to play passively in the lane and not communicate with their partner, this (ever so important) aggression is often non existent. Pandamonium also requires a (very) good farm, meaning it wouldn't hurt to last hit every single creep in the lane, something most players aren't capable of due to his low base damage. Mix this in with Canonball, a skill that is seemingly impossible to land (based on my observations) and you have a recipe for disaster.


#4 Electrician


Another Strength Hero with a difficult to define role for many people, Electrician's appeal to pub players remains a mystery to me. After all, most pub players thrive on heroes that have high damage nukes and long range spells which allow them to score last hits. It seems, however, that somewhere at the other end of the spectrum, these melee strength heroes with extremely obscure roles are somehow appealing. In any case, Electrician is, at least to me, known as being a hero that is extremely easy to screw up.

First and foremost, playing Electrician in the middle lane requires extensive practice and knowledge of what you are doing. When playing against ranged heroes with high base auto attack damage, it's easy to get shut down quickly. In the side lanes, Electrician must often play aggressively, gripping players at key opportune moments in which they over extend themselves. Since you can often bet your life that an inexperienced player will not be doing these things, Electrician will often come with a one way ticket to being useless later in the game.


#3 Gladiator


Another Melee-strength hero, Gladiator is known as being a difficult hero to play. This, however, does not seem to stop people from wanting to play him. Probably due to videos like this one, Gladiator remains a hot topic in lower level games and will often be picked over that Support character your team actually needs.

Gladiator's Achilles' heel is, of course, the fact that Pitfall, his main source of damage and crowd control, is a skillshot. Despite the fact that Gladiator has a skill (Showdown) which actually remedies this skill into a guaranteed-stun is little comfort to people who believe that this only makes it even harder to land because you have to press more buttons. Mix these faults together with an ultimate that is possibly even easier to miss, and it's not difficult to see why most 1600 games with Gladiator are loosely defined as a 4v5.


#2 Magebane


Second place, of course, has to be awarded to Magebane, or SDBane as I like to call him, for it seems his irresistibility knows no bounds. Magebane is a hero that sees little use in competitive play as is often regarded as an underpowered hero as is. Regardless of what you think of Magebane however, what can be established is that in the hands of incompetent player he is better suited as a paperweight.

What draws players to Magebane is relatively clear: his escape mechanism is almost unparalleled. The only thing more appealing to pub players than huge long range nukes is an easy to use escape mechanism which ensures longevity. This longevity, however, is often cut short when players realize that any competent disabler hero will easily shut them down without a Shrunken Head. Magebane also comes with an inherent inability to farm, automatically crippling any chances a typical pub player will have for accumulating core items.

#1 Flint Beastwood


The winner of this contest, however, has to go to our good pal Flint Beastwood. Since the dawn of Scout, people have been wishing and praying for a hero that could provide the same kill stealing potency coupled with a longer range. Their prayers were answered, unfortunately, in the form of a hero almost designed for overcompensating novice players. Flint is basically a pub player's dream- long range (the longest range in the game, to be exact), only two activated abilities (both of which require little to no aiming skills) and, of course, the ability to steal kills. Flint Beastwood deserves a pat on the back for not only replacing Scout, but officially making him obsolete.

Looking at the hero statistics page, it seems like it would take a lot to dethrone Flint. Of course, there's nothing wrong with Flint, and he's actually one of the most handy and all purpose ranged semi-carries in the game. So how to pubs manage to fail so hard? Well, with Flint, there aren't as many striking faults as there are subtle ones. Firstly, players will always pick Flint and demand mid, regardless of their team's proposed lineup. Secondly, most Flint Beastwood players that arrive fresh into the 1600-1700 bracket will have unrealistic expectations of how their lane will work. Somewhere deep down in MMR hell, Flint Beastwood players must be allowed to farm mid undisturbed for the better portion of 50 minutes, because the Flint Beastwood players I have encountered in my solo Matchmaking games seem to be completely overwhelmed with the idea of an enemy hero who will actually attack them in the lane (a special thank you and pat on the back to all Devourer players out there). Indeed, Flint has become the new staple of low MMR games everywhere, and I don't see this changing in the near future, unless S2 creates a hero with 2000 range and free level 5 Codex.

Carrots, Sticks, and How To Move Horses

When I first signed up for S2, they asked me to write a paper on things I wanted to see. At the top of my list was an in-game currency for players to earn and exchange for skins and other in-game cosmetic items. Today, this system is in-place and working very much the way I imagined it would.

Then when HoN 2.0 was first announced, and players heard about the prospect of earning coins, vivid irrational images of money flashed before their eyes and outrage was generated. As someone who specializes in gaging community reactions this shouldn't have come to any surprise to me, but honestly, at that point I was knee deep in HoN 2.0 anticipation that I would be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat disappointed at the initial community reaction. Even the most rational and constructive communities had initial backlashes, labeling the store as "gimmicks for money".

As someone who plays a lot of PC games, it's no surprise that micro-transactions are becoming more frequent in games- but this article isn't about the fact that the shop has been a financial success- I don't get paid to make money, I get paid to interact with and improve the community. When I first wrote my article about giving players a currency based system, the very last thing on my mind was a way to profit from a currency system- I knew it was going to happen but it didn't interest me as a player.

An aspect of in-game currency that people love to underestimate is it's ability for developers to have leverage on players. As somebody who is beginning to study Economics, I love the concept of incentives. Incentives are exactly what they sound like- a reason for a person to do something. Before HoN 2.0 came out, S2 had no incentives to haggle with- besides maybe a few forum icons.

What you see here is the beginning of something beautiful- a way for S2 to give players incentives to do things. Yes, one of the things S2 can do with this is to incite you to give them your money- and yes, that has obviously happened, but again, that isn't why we're here. The ability to create incentives for players in HoN is a unique opportunity to get the community to do virtually anything- to play more, to play better, to behave nicer.


Arguably counter-productive

While community based initiatives have good intentions to better the community, their rate of return is horrendously bad. With goblin coins, behavior can be directly affected and changed for the better.

A lot of people attribute the increase of players post HoN 2.0 to the new and improved Matchmaking system. While the new Matchmaking system is indeed fantastic, an aspect that people often don't take into account are coin bonuses. It's absolutely no coincidence that there are coins bonuses for consecutive games or for first games of the day- these bonuses are set in place to give players an incentive to begin playing and to keep playing.

So, while players love to oversimplify goblin coins as a quick way for S2 to turn a buck, the truth is that goblin coins are much more than that. Giving players something to work forward to, giving them incentives to change their behavior and to contribute information (in the forms of surveys, guides and videos), goblin coins are going to be the driving force behind a lot of things you will hopefully see soon.

Bringing Sexy Back

Hello guys,

It's been a long time since I last wrote anything here, mostly because once I got hired by S2Games I thought this Blog would essentially become obsoloete (after all, why complain about things on a blog when I can complain directly to the developers now?), but after some thought, and long months of making videos and longer posts on Reddit, I feel as though my input could be helpful.

So, with this prospect, I intend to begin writing articles into this Blog again. As a disclaimer, the opinions posted on this Blog are that of me, not of S2Games. As a concequence, you may often find propositions here for features and ideas that may never see the light of day, and opinions which might not even be shared else at S2Games.

With that, I hope you enjoy my rambling as I know I will.

Markus 'Nigma' Steiner

How much is too little?

As S2 finally pushes out their latest patch containing their own iteration of Storm Spirit this week, people are again, for the time being, happy campers. For a lot of people, however, this patch was something they expected at least a week ago as this patch did mark one of the longest pauses in HoN patch history.

Now, it's no secret that people love patches. Free content and changes are what make the game interesting to hardcore fans. This is a very one sighted opinion, however, as game designers and balance gurus will often be all too glad to hit you over the head with a newspaper when you ask them why a patch doesn't come out every week. According to them, game balance needs time to settle, and changing things too drastically too fast can often result in some very all over the place heroes that are changed too radically too often.

On the other hand... not changing things often enough can lead to some long term glaring imbalances... mysterious shadow women in this article shall remain nameless.


Wanted: Nerfed or Alive

So how much is too much, and more importantly, how much is too little? Were the glaring imbalances created by [mysterious shadow woman] not enough to persuade a nerf? Or was uploading the patch for something as small as that simply not worth spending the Bandwidth?

The concept that "overchanging" a hero within a short period of time can lead to disaster is something I agree with and that should be avoided. However, when you look at some hero change-logs and realize that they A) haven't been played at all for months and B) haven't been changed in months, you have to ask yourself why no helping hand has come yet.

Arguably, some heroes will simply become played more as other, similar heroes are nerfed. This is the case for heroes like The Dark Lady and maybe even Maliken. Perhaps my favorite change in this entire patch was the change to Devourer, a hero who really needed some sort of change.


"Devour slightly reworked."

In closing, I'm not asking S2 to come out with a patch every Friday (although that would be cool, don't get me wrong), I'm simply hoping that come soon, a lot of long term imbalances (both in the form of overpowered as well as underpowered) will finally be addressed.