Alt Avatars and the Community Store

Many people think that the goblin coin store is just S2s way of making additional money from people who have already paid for a full product.  If you visit the official S2 forums at all, or even some non-official Heroes of Newerth or even DOTA forums you'll see the 6800 signatures all over the place.  Obviously people are upset about things, and some even feel betrayed, but I think its important to think about some of the things S2 gaming is doing right here.

- Goblin Coins allow S2 games to give positive reinforcement for good behavior.  This is currently seen from the coins for wards stats, assists, kills (though I'm not sure anyone needs encouragement to get more kills).  S2 even put in coins for smack downs, which leads to funny situations of humiliation and triumph.  Something I think they could improve on this by gauging rewards to encourage behavior appropriately, as many people I know STILL don't care to buy and place wards when playing support or for buying a courier which you currently don't get anything for.

- Goblin Coins allow s2 to afford to continue pushing more interesting art oriented content. (artists aren't cheap... well not good ones anyway)  The new Slither Ms Ivy, unless this is an April fools joke; in which case i will punch someone, has me very excited.  Until such a time as these purchases offer real game balance effects, these coins are purely novelty items, and as such great rewards.

- Premium items allow s2 to afford to sometimes do expensive projects (like say... hiring someone with a famous voice).  As long as premium items are only those that cost quite a bit to finance, then they truly do fulfill the intent of which I think they were created, and enable the player base to get some really cool items!

- All this said, if s2 ever makes premium items that effect in game balance, we're going to enter a world of pay to play.

Overall I think the store is a great idea, that allows s2 to make money from those people who are impatient, and yet enrich the game with great, shiny, new, motivating, content.  Did I say shiny?

[Problem Hero] Update: Bubbles

So a hero I've heard alot of people complaining about recently is Bubbles.
 

I like turtles!

This is a hero I really enjoy playing and is very strong in the current meta game due to his strong CC and AoE silence.  If you want a link to his hero skills:  Bubbles

Picking Phase:  Bubbles is a very strong hero, that requires a good player/pilot to take advantage of his skill set.  Be aware that in high level games, Bubbles could very well be a problem and if you don't think you can handle the silence and other CC Bubbles has to offer, he is a strong candidate for your ban.  If you can't afford to ban Bubbles, and he does get picked, try getting heroes that don't need to cluster up with their team mates.

Early Game:  Bubbles performs well in any lane, though he is scariest with level advantage and will often go mid because of this.  His early game harass, due to Shell Toss, and well timed dodges, with Take Cover, can make Bubbles very hard to deal with in a lane.  Play smart and don't over commit trying to kill him.

Yes, it can be this hard to kill Bubbles

Mid Game:  Like many other problem heroes, Bubbles is a hero you do not want to get clustered up for because he can bring a lot of damage and CC to bear in one spot.  Also, Bubbles tends to gank during the mid game and with shell toss he can cover a lot of ground.  Keep wards up so you are aware of his position!

 Late Game:  Barrier idol is a blessing against this hero for the team, and BKB/shrunken head as a carry really does help keep you from getting locked down.  Keep being aware of positioning and you can generally outplay Bubbles.  If you're a carry hero be aware that popping BKB before he puts down his kelp field will lead to you being snared just like everyone else.  Int heroes should stay spread out just like mid game, to allow you to minimize the impact of Bubbles silence.

As always feel free to let me know if you can think of any other problem heroes and I'll be happy to try and address them.

[Item Mini-Guide] Tablet of Command

Tablet of command is one of those items that people really underestimate but can be amazing in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

 Tablet of Command allows you to push a unit 500 units in the direction that IT is facing (not you're facing, or you want it to go >.> Though we can dream)

So to give you a visual of what range you're talking about:

This doesn't look like much till it saves someones bacon

So from that position, if you aim well, you end up:

Weeeee!

It also can be used to get away during team fights be "hopping up" terrain.  Here we start in the river:

What would yoshi do?

And now we're safely away from any danger:

SPRING HOP!

A lot of people say, why not just get a portal key, you can go further.  Here's a comparison of the 2:

500 Jump vs 1200 Jump (Portal key wins)
4 all stats/10 extra int/10 damage vs nothing (Tablet wins)
Effects any hero vs effects only yourself (Tablet wins)
You can cast tablet while taking damage vs PK you can't (Tablet wins)
Tablet costs 2040 vs PKs 2150

So while if all you care about is self mobility, PK is definitely better, tablet of command wins in every other way.

So if I've officially impressed you this is how you build a tablet of command:

   +    +  500 gold  =

Now this is not to say that tablet is for every hero, but for int support that want to have a good escape option, chase down option, team mobility boosting item, that gives stats, and allows you to place wards in new wonky places; this is definitely for you.  I urge you to give this item a chance to be an all star!

Hero Roles and Team Composition

Many people feel the strongest thing they can do in any game is play the carry hero; most people even know what the carry hero is.  However, besides the team having a good carry, many players have no idea what they're going to need on their team.  You can be extremely valuable to your team in many different roles, but part of that is recognizing what your hero is supposed to do and capitalizing on it.  Many heroes have more than one role, so don't limit yourself to doing only one thing.

Support:  These heroes are heroes that don't scale very well with items and/or have supportive skills.  They should typically be buying wards/counter wards and the courier.   Good support heroes need to know the ward spots and place the wards as this will give your other heroes (carries and gankers) time to do what they do best.  Something many players are unaware of is that intelligence heroes are not the only supports.  Classic Examples:  Andro, Demented Shaman, Accursed

Ganker:  These heroes typically have slows or stuns, and don't scale super well into the late game.  These heroes should roam the map, looking for small engagements in which they can kill enemy team members without dying.  Classic Examples: Wretched Hag, Deadwood, Gauntlet, Pebbles.

Nuker:  These heroes may also be stunners or gankers, but the thing that distinguishes them is they deal alot of damage with their skills instead of their auto-attacks.  These heroes should save their skills for engagements with multiple people if at all possible, as they have a very large effect on team fights.  Classic examples:  Slither, Bombadier

Carry:  This heroes job is to farm as best they can, carrying a TP scroll so they can respond to favorable team engagements.  The carry is the teams insurance policy, as if you can't end the game before the late game, you'll  be relying on your carry.  Late game, you should be looking at what you need item wise to survive team engagements, deal damage, and counter the enemy carry hero.  Classic Examples:  Chronos, Madman, Maliken.

Initiator:  These heroes will either have a blink, a way to close distance, or will have skills that synergy extremely well with a portal key.  Your job is generally to catch someone unaware, and start team battles (aka initiating them >.>).  Who you lead on is often important, but sometimes when you lead will be more important.  The question often comes down to, "I'd like to lead on _____, but if the enemy starts on us will we be screwed?"  Classic Example:  Pharoah, Moraxus, Gauntlet

Tank:  These heroes are kind of awkward to define because there are 2 kinds of tanks.  Tanks like Armadon and Legionnaire where you're purposely trying to take damage to deal damage, and tanks like Moraxus where you're saying "kill me or die".  Unfortunately many people see Moraxus and think his ultimate is just for nuking.  Classic Examples:  Armadon, Legionare, Moraxus, Accursed

Stunner:   Obviously this hero is going to have a stun.  Often times, you'll be using your stun with other team mates CC in order to lock down an opposing hero as long as possible.  Make sure to communicate with your team about who is CCing whom in what order.

Pusher:  These heroes have abilities that can demolish towers, and/or have minions that make taking towers much easier.  1 or 2 pushers on a team can make defending towers near impossible, especially with the threat of strong initiation behind them.  Be sure to capitalize on your pushers to try and take as many towers or even barracks as possible.


Now that we know what different roles do, what should we typically be looking for.  When I try to craft a team I'm generally looking for

1 Carry
2 Stunners/Gankers
1 Initiator
1 Support Hero

This is just one example build, their are others but I'll continue with this one for now...

So to give you an example

Witch Slayer -  Support, Ganker, Stunner
Demented Shaman - Support
Wretched Hag - Nuker, Ganker, Initiator
Gauntlet - Ganker, Initiator, Stunner
Madman - Carry

Notice how many heroes have more than one roll.  Please be aware that while you may want to play witch player as a ganker, and not go home often, if you don't have other supports, it would be best for your team if you went home and got wards occasionally.  (your team will thank you, even if they don't say it outloud)

Please, when on the pick screen don't be a stubborn ass, if the team really needs a support hero, try playing it once and a while.  If you have a group of friends, take turns playing the "ward bitch"  as no one wants to do that every game.

Edit:  

Nigma, as often is the case has some awesome stuff for us to look at.  Here's a video the different roles.

Valkyrie Hero Spotlight and 2.17 Patchnotes

So first up, I wanted to highlight the valkyrie hero spotlight, because while many people enjoy playing her... not many are good with her.  This video will help improve your play, and show you the role that valkyrie should be taking most games.

That said, the item build they used could still work but isn't going to be as effective because of the 2.17 patchnotes.  Null-fire no longer propagates to illusions now.  So please keep that in mind for your upcoming Valkyrie games.  Thunderclaw and Frost wolf skull is also a popular build that gets you a slow and tons of damage. 

Now onto the patch notes.  I don't want to post all of them just the ones that are going to have a bigger impact:

 - The following items' Attack effects will no longer propagate to illusions
* Icebrand
* Frostburn
* Shieldbreaker
* Frostwolf's Skull
* Nullfire Blade

 Geometer's Bane
- Recipe cost reduced from 1200 to 800

So as I was saying about the Valkyrie spotlight, illusions will no longer take the effects of attack modifiers.  To compensate for this, geometers bane has been lowered in price.  Please be aware the Frostburn build of Flint Beastwood and similar carries is going to be less effective now.  Not totally worthless mind you, just not as good.  I was gonna link Sand Wraith as the obvious nerf target here... but I don't think its limited to just him.

Aluna
- Deja Vu
* Unitwalking & shadow slow moved to regular form
* Boosted Deja Vu will now cause Aluna to slow any units she runs through (in addition to shadow also slowing)
- Emerald Red
* Manacost lowered from 150 to 75/100/125
* Now uses only 1 charge on use instead of all charges
* Added 0.5 sec cd to skill

Just to make this clear, I'm not sure this is a huge buff to Aluna.  That said, it does give the player/pilot more control and that's almost always a good thing =D.  The Deja Vu buff is definately nice for chase down, and while I personally feel there is only one core item build for her still, maybe similar tweaks will help with that problem.

Devourer
- Guttling Hook will no longer grab people on the way back

 This is probably step one of the devourer nerfs.  That said, this saddens me, as devourer is one of my favorite heroes, and I thought this was a meaningful difference between him and other projectile heroes like Valk.

Besides this, there are a bunch of smaller tweaks and alot of server code optimizations (good for us, less lag maybe?)  Also, UNICORN RAMPAGE >.> He's not very colorful =(.  Oh well, time to go drag someone behind a tower to beat out my frustration.

 

[Problem Heroes] How to Deal With Them

When I load into HoN, 90% of the time I end up playing match making with either banning draft (my favorite) or banning pick as my two options.  The reason for this is that bans let me deal with problem heroes the way I would like to... by not dealing with them at all!  Now, while I don't agree with the community on all of the problem heroes, everyone can agree they exist.

First, what we believe a problem hero is obviously is going to vary from person to person.  One of my good friends believes scout should be an auto ban as he causes huge game imbalances in game.  Sand Wraith is considered an auto-ban by many players due to his ultimate and other factors. Others feel problem heroes are just annoying.  I agree with both parties.  Many people have trouble with many heroes, but the ones I hear the most complaints about being "broken" are as follows:

Soul Stealer
Dr Repulsor
Goblin Bombardier
Pebbles
Wretched Hag
Sand Wraith

There are a few points in the game that you need to deal with these heroes

Picking Phase:  Is there some way we can counter this pick or should we ban this hero?

Early Game: Before this hero gets to level 6 or gets an important early game item, is there anytime I can do?

Mid-Game:  This hero is now somewhere  from 6 to 16 and has its important items.  What should I do?

Late Game; After 16, I now have money to potentially deal with the problem, is there a way to counter it?

That said, lets get started!

Soul Stealer -

Picking Phase - Should we ban this hero?  This is one of those heroes that can be a huge problem is left unchecked.  Please do yourself a favor and ban this guy.  If banning him isn't an option, you're going to need to either pick early game gankers and prevent soul stealer from farming or get heroes with stuns in their ultimate so he can't cast his ult while magic immune from BKB.

Early Game -  Soul Stealer will most likely be mid.  Use Ganks to prevent SS from farming and keep him from obtaining a Portal Key or a Black King Bar.

Mid Game - If Soul Stealer has a Portal Key and a BKB, the best way to deal with this is to get some magic resistance or raw HP so you can survive the onslaught.  Otherwise, keep ganking him!

 These guys ignore Soul Stealer, don't make this mistake!

Late Game - A barrier idol will help you and your team with the assault of magical damage from soul stealer late game.  On a personal level a BKB will also make you immune if you can pop it before he finishes channeling.  Pray your carry hero has enough farm to win the day.

Dr Repulsor -

Picking Phase -  I wouldn't consider Dr repulsor a mandatory ban, that said if you're dealing with a weak banning draft pool, he should be thought of for one of your bans.  When counter picking Dr. Repulsor you should think about getting silences or crowd control (CC) [stuns, etc] that you can chain together to keep him locked down.  Vindicator is an excellent pick if he fits your team comp.

Early Game- Dr Repulsor is another hero that will probably end up in the middle lane.  Most people will not gank before level 6, however he is a strong ganker starting as early as 4 or 5.  Ganking him before 6 is in your best interests, as once he is able to use his ultimate, hes almost impossible to kill without denying their wards.

Mid-Game - If you were unable to gank early, the biggest thing you can do at this point to keep wards up so you're aware of when Dr. Repulsor is ganking.  Beyond that, try not to travel alone and gank the Dr. if he tries to farm.

If you don't control Dr Repulsor, he can really mess up your day

Late Game - Urge your support hero (or yourself, if this works for you) to keep wards up, through this phase.  If your support hero has sufficient funds or if another int hero can sustain it, build a hellflower.  Hellflower shits all over Dr Repulsor's day.

Goblin Bombardier

Picking Phase:  Goblin Bombardier is a very strong nuke hero.  That said, their are other heroes with equivalent damage.  Bombardier has no escape, and his stun isn't very strong.  That said, he synergies extremely well with Keeper of the Forest, Chronos, Tempest, Kraken and other strong CC heroes.  If you feel as though the pool has too much CC to control, and you're afraid of the damage bombardier can deal, he is a good ban choice.  In BP figure out what you need, and make sure that you keep them from picking up both a strong CC team with bombardier.

Early Game -  Bombardier can be found in any lane early.  Often if he's mid, he will be a strong ganker, but be aware of which side-lanes have suitable CC to take advantage of his presence.  He has almost no way to escape ganks, so be sure to take advantage of his vulnerability.

Mid Game-  Getting magic resistance is a good idea if bombardier is presenting as a problem.  Keep being aware of CC

 If you Line up, he doesn't need CC >.>

Late Game-  Don't get clustered up or CC'd in a line if you can prevent it.  Barrier idol is a great idea if you're afraid of the nasty damage bombardier can do.

Pebbles

Picking Phase:  Pebbles is a very strong nuke/Ganking hero.  That said, their are other heroes with equivalent damage, though the cooldown on their burst is generally alot higher.  Pebbles builds a PK early generally, so if he can get some distance, he can escape.  That said, he synergies extremely well with other strong CC heroes or heroes like hellbringer and blacksmith.  While I don't see Pebbles as a mandatory ban, if you plan on getting a team with a few more "squishies" then maybe you should consider banning this guy, because he can really mess you up.

Early Game -  Pebbles will generally be found mid early.  He will be a strong ganker,  He's slow, and has almost no way to escape ganks before his PK, so be sure to take advantage of his vulnerability.  However, if he has 240 mana he can perform his trade mark "toss combo" and probably kill 1 hero if you aren't careful.

 Be Careful... Pebbles can toss combo from 3

Mid Game-  Getting magic resistance or raw HP is a good idea if pebbles is presenting as a problem. Keep wards up so you're aware of when he's ganking and try to initiate team fights before he can start them.

Late Game-  Don't get clustered up.  While pebbles now isn't quite as scary for his blow the hell up factor, be aware that he's still a strong initiate and 1000 raw (post mitigation) damage still hurts.

Wretched Hag

Picking Phase:  Wretched Hag is a very strong nuke hero.  With a skilled player, she can do more damage than most nuke heroes, while being almost impossible to kill or track due to her built in blink.  I personally consider Hag one of my must ban (or pick, muahahaha) heroes, as a skilled player with this can really mess up your day.

Early Game -  Wretched Hag can be found in mid early.  She will be a strong ganker from as early as 4 or 5 but be aware of which side-lanes have suitable CC to take advantage of her presence.  She has a very easy escape mechanic (her built in blink) so make sure you coordinate CC if you're going to gank her.

Mid Game-  Getting magic resistance is a good idea if Wretched Hag is presenting as a problem.  Being aware of positioning is very important to dealing with hag.  If you're clustered up or in a loose line, wretched hag can really take advantage of that and punish your team.

 

Being grouped up is bad Mk?

Late Game-  Don't get clustered up or CC'd in a line if you can prevent it.  Barrier idol is a great idea if you're afraid of the nasty damage Wretched Hag can do.  BKB is also a strong option, if you're afraid resistance isn't enough. 

Sand Wraith

Picking Phase:  Sand-wraith is a very strong carry hero due to his illusions hitting everyone. Illusions deal 40% base damage, and take 200% damage.  He can be managed, but if you pool does not have other strong carries, or you just don't want to deal with him, ban him.  If he is picked, make sure your team has adequate stun to gank him, and a carry capable of dealing with him late game (Chronos is my favorite)

Early Game -  Sand-wraith is extremely weak early game, without farm his ultimate doesn't do much, and he is vulnerable to gank if you have any stun on your team.  Be sure to gank him frequently.

Mid Game- Sand-wraith is likely going to be farming the woods or lanes when he feels he can without pressure.  Be sure to use offensive wards and gank early and often.  Without farm, sand-wraith really is worthless.

Late Game- If you let sand-wraith farm you could be in trouble here, as his ultimate can wreck teams.  However, even now you have an option.  Get a nullstone!  Nullstone prevents sand-wraiths illusions from forming.  Without his illusions sand-wraith's carry potential is greatly reduced!

 Sand Wraith is farmed... I don't believe you!

With these heroes addressed, be aware that this is a pretty cookie cutter way of dealing with the issues, and if soul stealer builds a shroud instead of a bkb, then you're going to have to adapt.  That said, I hope this was informative, and feel free to leave a comment if you think I need to address another problem hero.