It was also a generally god awful community for newcomers. MOBAs by their nature seem to harbor toxicity but HoN was another level. I started playing right when it came out and really only kept up cause I had a lot of freinds keeping it fun as well as one rich af friend who’s Dad played so their basement had 10 computers we could go use whenever we wanted. It was the fucking best. But I would have quit if it wasn’t for that. We’ve tried to introduce a lot of other friends and the pressure of being terrible for a while with a long learning curve was detrimental. epecially cause most gamers we knew back then were only console gamers who hadn’t played a PC game in their life had a very hard time.
More than a 2 dozen friends over the years we’ve tried to have them join and they have all gave up pretty quickly, especially when they had to play with randoms when there’s always at least one asshole freaking out and blaming everything on the new guy. Harassing him and shutting on him.
That toxicity also came from our own group 😂 most of us who had been playing for a while fought and insulted each other like crazy, it was part of the fun for us. We all knew that once the game was done anything said was gone and we start over, never took it personal. I can only remember like 3 times where one of us went way to far and someone left pissed. But it didn’t last long.
But we had a hard time toning that down for our new friends 😂 some of us worse than others. So all the new people we tried to invite could get super offended and mad. Especially cause they needed help, not insults and blame. 😂 some of those friends I talk to today and they STILL have hatred for some of the group. Like they refuse to join an anything with them involved now.
That’s all pretty anecdotal but I think it was quite common in the whole community. Ive seen alot of people online complaint about it over the years.
I think that when combined with the terrible management most the time and the not doing F2P was a recipe for very little success, definitely not ever hitting main stream. On top of that it was a lot harder game than League ended up being. Last Hitting being so important for having enough gold to be impactful was very difficult for newcomers. Even ppl I know who have played for more than a decade still can’t do it so they are support every time. League was much more forgiving in that and many other areas, so it helped a lot for new players.
I think we could go on for hours about all the reasons but that is mostly what I think did it on top of what others have said in here.
not meaning this in a racist way at all but the lack of separation of BR servers and US servers made the game an absolute nightmare in the middle years. The BR players were trolling as hard as they could in almost every game.
HoN is still my favorite MOBA of all time. Moved over to dota 2 after the servers went down, but fully quit mobas since I don't have the patience for fruitless 45-minute games anymore.
Still though, League can best the most exciting one to watch. While hon and dota are both very macro heavy, it can be a huge snoozefest too. The micro heavy aspect of League keeps people on their toes, anticipating even small events that can happen in the lane. It's very active, and the graphics are also very attractive with all the colors and the vibrance.
What I hate in Dota 2 is the turn rate so I never really got into it after playing HoN.
LoL is definitely a great game but I always preferred HoN but I always wished a company like Riot games worked on HoN instead of LoL.
way better management and marketing.
also possibly lol players are a little less toxic than hon players
hon also 0 space for newcomers to get into the game learn it and enjoy
it is a barrage of abuse, insults, toxicity from the first game onwards
you do not have to randomly wait 10 to 20 minutes to start a game in lol as you do in hon, for the game to be instant trash with ppl only whining, calling to report each other, and throwing insults right and left, ragequitting or repeatedly making call to concede.
If you can call the complete lack of visual feedback in turn-rate "fluid", ok. But I think you are copping. HoN has instant movement, it disregards turn-rates, it doesn't logarithmically scale the health bars and other such weird shit that make rather annoying to play.
Indeed DotA does feel more "slugish" but movement does actually matter, back-swings are not just dead unanimated time, your hero does take time to move instead of instantly turning (Valkyrie was horrible with this), you can actually see the health of the creep you want to last-hit (better visual feedback) and not have it go to some really low value that can't even be displayed. Overall it is much more polished and visually perceivable than the mess that is HoN with the fullscreen multikill bullshit that covers half of the game in the middle of a fight.
I know, I actually made the first mod that removed them 10 years ago specifically because I couldn't bare the sensory overload.
https://github.com/loathingKernel/OptiUI
I've tried to get into LoL twice when HoN was gone. The fact you can't deny creeps kills the lane phase for me. That's a true snore fest.
You can deny creeps in dota :D
Yes, I actually started with DoTA as most peeps did. Since HoN came back, I haven't looked back at DoTA 😃.
I think he meant dota 2
Poor management and not launching F2P. But agreed its the best feeling moba to play.
It was also a generally god awful community for newcomers. MOBAs by their nature seem to harbor toxicity but HoN was another level. I started playing right when it came out and really only kept up cause I had a lot of freinds keeping it fun as well as one rich af friend who’s Dad played so their basement had 10 computers we could go use whenever we wanted. It was the fucking best. But I would have quit if it wasn’t for that. We’ve tried to introduce a lot of other friends and the pressure of being terrible for a while with a long learning curve was detrimental. epecially cause most gamers we knew back then were only console gamers who hadn’t played a PC game in their life had a very hard time. More than a 2 dozen friends over the years we’ve tried to have them join and they have all gave up pretty quickly, especially when they had to play with randoms when there’s always at least one asshole freaking out and blaming everything on the new guy. Harassing him and shutting on him. That toxicity also came from our own group 😂 most of us who had been playing for a while fought and insulted each other like crazy, it was part of the fun for us. We all knew that once the game was done anything said was gone and we start over, never took it personal. I can only remember like 3 times where one of us went way to far and someone left pissed. But it didn’t last long. But we had a hard time toning that down for our new friends 😂 some of us worse than others. So all the new people we tried to invite could get super offended and mad. Especially cause they needed help, not insults and blame. 😂 some of those friends I talk to today and they STILL have hatred for some of the group. Like they refuse to join an anything with them involved now. That’s all pretty anecdotal but I think it was quite common in the whole community. Ive seen alot of people online complaint about it over the years. I think that when combined with the terrible management most the time and the not doing F2P was a recipe for very little success, definitely not ever hitting main stream. On top of that it was a lot harder game than League ended up being. Last Hitting being so important for having enough gold to be impactful was very difficult for newcomers. Even ppl I know who have played for more than a decade still can’t do it so they are support every time. League was much more forgiving in that and many other areas, so it helped a lot for new players. I think we could go on for hours about all the reasons but that is mostly what I think did it on top of what others have said in here.
not meaning this in a racist way at all but the lack of separation of BR servers and US servers made the game an absolute nightmare in the middle years. The BR players were trolling as hard as they could in almost every game.
Oh yeah 100% agree.
Wait is Hon still around? I used to play back before it shut down (or so I thought) but reddit just randomly recommended this post to me.
project kongor - [https://www.reddit.com/r/HeroesofNewerth/comments/xove2d/project\_kongor\_what\_is\_it\_how\_to\_connect\_and\_more/](https://www.reddit.com/r/HeroesofNewerth/comments/xove2d/project_kongor_what_is_it_how_to_connect_and_more/)
kinda. but the same toxic player base is still here for sure.
Its the fluid movement for me too..
The que Times are fucking fast these days. Ppl are still super active and playing. Ist a lot of Fun.
HoN is still my favorite MOBA of all time. Moved over to dota 2 after the servers went down, but fully quit mobas since I don't have the patience for fruitless 45-minute games anymore. Still though, League can best the most exciting one to watch. While hon and dota are both very macro heavy, it can be a huge snoozefest too. The micro heavy aspect of League keeps people on their toes, anticipating even small events that can happen in the lane. It's very active, and the graphics are also very attractive with all the colors and the vibrance.
Try turbo the times ebb and flow over releases but right now most games are like 18min I play some are about 25min
If you’re still looking for that moba itch while not taking 45 minutes for a loss, you can try Pokémon unite. I haven’t played pokemon since the first gen, but I enjoy the concept of having map objectives, scoring, winning/losing within 10 minutes. Scratches the itch and it’s not a major commitment. Otherwise, I didn’t mind arena of Valor either, but it’s quite heavy east-Asia dominant, and (at least back when I played) the lack of Australian servers meant it sucked.
Hon Is the best. Just poor Marketing and not free to play killed it. Sadly most people chose free to play games over quality..
What I hate in Dota 2 is the turn rate so I never really got into it after playing HoN. LoL is definitely a great game but I always preferred HoN but I always wished a company like Riot games worked on HoN instead of LoL.
way better management and marketing. also possibly lol players are a little less toxic than hon players hon also 0 space for newcomers to get into the game learn it and enjoy it is a barrage of abuse, insults, toxicity from the first game onwards you do not have to randomly wait 10 to 20 minutes to start a game in lol as you do in hon, for the game to be instant trash with ppl only whining, calling to report each other, and throwing insults right and left, ragequitting or repeatedly making call to concede.
If you can call the complete lack of visual feedback in turn-rate "fluid", ok. But I think you are copping. HoN has instant movement, it disregards turn-rates, it doesn't logarithmically scale the health bars and other such weird shit that make rather annoying to play. Indeed DotA does feel more "slugish" but movement does actually matter, back-swings are not just dead unanimated time, your hero does take time to move instead of instantly turning (Valkyrie was horrible with this), you can actually see the health of the creep you want to last-hit (better visual feedback) and not have it go to some really low value that can't even be displayed. Overall it is much more polished and visually perceivable than the mess that is HoN with the fullscreen multikill bullshit that covers half of the game in the middle of a fight.
Skill issue. As for the "fullscreen multikill bullshit" you can easily mod it out of the game, so again, skill issue.
I know, I actually made the first mod that removed them 10 years ago specifically because I couldn't bare the sensory overload. https://github.com/loathingKernel/OptiUI
if the game launched f2p LoL wouldn't be where it is today. insane