HON - Free2Play FAQ

For Existing Players

Q. How does Free-to-Play affect me?
All existing players will be marked as Legacy accounts. Legacy accounts will no longer be obtainable and will continue to enjoy free access to the general hero pool. You will be able to play in Verified Only games, but can play in Basic games if you choose. Legacy players will continue to receive newly released heroes for free after the hero leaves Early Access.
Q. What is Early Access?
Independent of Free-to-Play is a new feature called Early Access. Players will be able to purchase Early Access to new heroes to play them before they are released for free to the rest of the Legacy players.
While heroes are Early Access, they will not be playable in Tournament Play.
There are many reasons for the introduction of the Early Access system, for a detailed explanation see Maliken's post here: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=305655.
Q. I already paid for HoN! Was my money wasted now that it's Free-to-Play?
Not at all! Legacy accounts are now a rarity, part of our old business model you're getting additional new content (outside of any potential pay for content expansions) for free, which is a perk no longer available to new accounts whom have to unlock new content.
Q. Will Free-to-Play mean my games will be ruined by griefers and trolls?
By requiring players to either play a significant number of games or make a purchase before becoming Verified, players will have made an investment into their account. If a person griefs, they will lose this investment. We will be increasing our efforts to stop griefing through our Report a Player system so Verified players can be confident the matches they play will be good ones. Basic accounts will not have access to the Report A Player function.
Q. What about game modes that require my teammates to have access to the whole hero pool?
We've gone to great lengths to try to ensure that the HoN experience you've come to know and love will be as unchanged by Free-to-Play as possible. Game modes SD, BD, AR, and BP will require that non-legacy accounts have a Token or Game Pass in order to enter the match. The token allows them to play as any hero in the pool for that game if they pick a hero they don't own, the token is spent. This means that you can depend on any of your teammates having access to that crucial counter-pick in these modes, and not have to worry about team strategy being limited by what heroes your teammates have unlocked.
Q. Can I play with a friend I bring to HoN as a new Basic (free to play) account?
Yes you can, you simply not be able to queue into a Verified Only pool.

For New Players

Q. Where can I create an account and download the game?
You can create your account at http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/create_account.php. After making your account, you can download the game at http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/download.php.
Q. Will I need real money to play?
No. You will have access to a Rotating Hero Pool of 15 heroes and will be able to play without paying a cent.
Q. Who has a Basic account?
Anyone who has created an account since HoN went Free-to-Play and has not become Verified.
Q. What are the benefits of being Verified?
Verified players are able to queue into Verified Only Matchmaking, are able to use the Report a Player system, and are given 3 free tokens to use. Verified players can be assured that players they are playing with take their accounts as seriously as they do.
Q. How do I become Verified?
You can become verified by reaching level 5 or by purchasing Gold Goblin Coins. This is to ensure you are serious about your account.
Q. I signed up to play with my friend who is a long time HoN player, will we be able to queue in Match Making together?
Yes! Verified and Basic accounts can play together, but will be unable to queue into a Verified Only game until both players are Verified.
Q. If I only have access to 15 heroes, will I be at a disadvantage in game modes like Single Draft and Banning Pick?
Certain game modes in HoN were designed around having access to the full hero pool. For these modes, we've created Tokens and Passes. Single Draft, All Random, Banning Pick, and Banning Draft require either a Token or a Game Pass to play.
Game Passes let you play these modes for a certain amount of time, as much as you want, playing any hero you want. Tokens allow you to play, and will get spent if you choose a hero you do not normally own. This allows us to guarantee that, in these game modes, all of your teammates are capable of choosing that critical counter-pick hero, instead of having strategy be limited by a restricted hero pool.
You'll get some Tokens for free when you become a Verified account. Aside from that, Tokens and Passes can be purchased via the in-game store.
Q. Can I still get a Legacy account?
No. These accounts are no longer available.
Q. Do I have to purchase heroes with real money if I want a hero not in the Hero Pool?
No. You can earn heroes by simply playing the game. However, if you would like to get a hero quicker, you can buy Gold Goblin Coins at http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/ purchase.
Q. What are HoNs system requirements?
You can find the system requirements at http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/specs_pop.html.

Monkey King - Hero Guide - HON Tutorial - Heroes of Newerth

S2Games provided on their YouTube Channel a really nice Monkey King Hero Spotlight where you have knowledge of what Monkey King can do( for sure he can do a lot!) and how to play him.

In this Monkey King HON Guide you will see what skills this hero has. So if you wonder how to play him or how the skills work, watch this video.

   

The Monkey King excels at close-range combat, "comboing" his abilities in quick succession to keep an opponent disoriented and disabled. In order to truly optimize his early/mid game damage output and mobility, he requires a sizeable mana pool to frequently use his abilities. Buying a Bottle or Blood Chalice will help to ensure he will always have mana for the early game. A Nullstone or Shrunken Head can help you survive against casters if you wish to play more defensively, while a Ghost Marchers and Frostburn combo can launch you past the 500 movement speed mark by the time you are level 16. In general, your luxury items should focus on both keeping you alive and maintaining good damage output. You will want to skill Heavenly Vault primary, as it will be the greatest source of damage output. As your secondary skill, you can either level Illusive Dash or Wan Jin Slam to max, depending on whether you want additional mobility or simply want reliable damage on your disable. Whichever route you go, you should always put at least one point in all three abilities for combo purposes, and pick up Flying Nimbus as soon as possible.

Revenat - Hero Guide and Spotlight - HON Tutorial - Heroes of Newerth

S2Games provided on their YouTube Channel a really nice Revenant Hero Spotlight where you have knowledge of what Revenant can do( for sure he can do a lot!) and how to play him.

In this Revenant Hero Guide you will see what skills this hero has. So if you wonder how to play him or how the skills work, watch this video..

As an intelligence hero, Revenant benefits from any intelligence items that provide mana regen and stats such as Sheepstick, Hellflower, Tablet of Command, Codex (works well with his magic armor reduction), and steamboots for extra attack speed. Even with very few items, Revenant can make full use of the spell bonuses his ultimate provides, and can roam the game supporting his team with very few items. 

Drunken Master - Hero Guide and Spotlight - HON Tutorial - Heroes of Newerth

Update: Drunken Master guide and Spotlight

Drunken Master is only up on the Test Client for now, but there is a great chance it will be the next new Hero to be released by S2.

Here is a text posted by S2 Staff Member Diva.

This section of the Drunken Master blog will focus on his pre-test patch iteration internally here at the S2 office, as well as his test client iteration.


Behind Closed Doors in the Smoke Filled Room:

When we first started the poll for which hero to focus on in this dev blog series, many players expressed concerns about the alternate mana mechanic that was meant to be used on Drunken Master. This outcry grew yet louder when the design doc was unveiled in the first episode of the dev blog, and we took it to heart. We were ourselves initially skeptical of the alternate mana mechanic; I personally was not sure how integral to the hero's design and feel the mechanic was, and whether its benefits outweighed the negatives. So we sat down over several lunches and discussed the merits of the "drunk bar" over a standard mana bar, as well as potential alternatives. The main alternatives that were presented were:

1. Create a third bar on top of mana and health for this hero
2. Make Drink give charges that were expended from and kept in a state
3. Ditch the entire concept of pre-drinking and drink charges impacting the hero
4. Make Drinking restore mana, and mana be the sole resource

After much deliberation, we came to the conclusion that the alternate mana mechanic was not what drove the hero; the hero's defining characteristics that shape his feel come from the abilities themselves, not how they are cast or enhanced. We did, however, want to keep the drinking = getting progressively more drunk = more potential power dealio. We went with option 2, making Drink give charges that are used from and kept in a state. While it injects a tertiary resource for players to manage, and requires maintenance and static periods (whereas the hero's other abilities really encourage unpredictable, mobile play), we feel that it adds depth to the character and really pounds in the feeling that you're playing a true drunken brawler.


Initial Testing and Reception:

When Drunken Master was first put into the test client, his temp art was... bad. I'm not nearly as good with temp art as Nome is, and I couldn't find anything suitable in the modders section. This contributed to an awkward feel for the hero. It's truly amazing how much art contributes to how a hero feels and plays, and for that I am incredibly grateful that we have AMAZING artists on staff here at S2. This didn't stop us from getting some good feedback and data though! People liked the idea of a drunk dude punching enemies. It's supposed to be cool or something.

Out of the gate, Drunken Master did great in lane. We expected this- Lunge is a fast initiation ability from range that both stuns and displaces enemies, and Stagger is an early disjoint and approach tool. Initial test builds ranged from maxing Drink early (1-4-1), which I adopted as my personal favorite, and ignoring Drink entirely to max Lunge and Stagger. All builds picked up Numb to Pain when available, as it provides immunity to all forms of CC. The hero often dominated lanes, hit a lull period in the midgame, and if allowed to peak, peaked high in the late game.


Change through Testing, Prettifying through Blacryu:

Luckily for my artistically handicapped self, Blacryu made a model to serve as temp art for Drunken Master. You guys can find it in the mods section- it's freaking fantastic. This helped HUGELY, as the hero now had the proper feel and look to him. Thanks again Blacryu!

Although Drunken Master dominated his lane, we found through much testing that he had a difficult time farming up and retaining his high effectiveness. The combination of his difficulty and high item dependence made him a tough hero to get through the mid game and to his peak. Many builds were toyed with; straight Insanitarius, tanking with HotBL, straight Frostburn, etc. The hero just needed too much: attack speed, movement speed, extra beefiness, and damage are all crucial to this kind of hero. To remedy some of this, we gave him a series of buffs, as well as toning down his lane dominance with Lunge:

• Stagger now deals minor physical damage in the AoE that he staggers to
• Stagger's drunk damage and move speed enhancement lasts for 4 seconds, up from 2.5 seconds
• Numb to Pain now gives (5/10/15)% Movement Speed
• Drink channels for up to 3 seconds, down from 4, and gives more per second to compensate
• Lunge mana cost from 90 to 120

With these changes, I'd still peg Insanitarius as a great early pickup, but defensive items make him really difficult to bring down. In a recent test game, one of our competitor-level players, JoshP, built Nullstone and HotBL on Drunken, and was nearly impossible to take down. Straight Frostburn still sounds really appealing, as that early strength is very nice and the slow application works with Lunge's double attack. We'll see how the hero shapes up moving forward, as we aim to complete testing on him and get him to a balanced and fun state!

[S2]DivA

S2 Staff Member 

    

 Will be waiting for Drunken Master to be released for all to make a decent guide and introduction to the new Hon Hero Drunken Master.

Emerald Warden - Hero Guide and Spotlight - HON Tutorial - Heroes of Newerth

S2Games provided on their YouTube Channel a really nice Emerald Warden Hero Spotlight where you have knowledge of what Emerald Warden can do( for sure she can do a lot!) and how to play him.

In this Emerald Warden Hero Guide you will see what skills this hero has. So if you wonder how to play her or how her skills work, watch this video.