Why pre-purchase Heroes of Newerth?

Citizens of Newerth!
You may Pre Purchase by visiting this page:

https://www.heroesofnewerth.com/purchase_pref.php

I wanted to throw out an update that people are asking a lot about.

1.) What is the relase date for HoN? I honestly can not say because I don't know. Too many variables involved in putting the game to a place we want it to be, before we call it release ready. Why use the term relase ready? Because HoN will be far from "done" at that time. Just because we require people to purchase an account to play (release date) doesn't mean we will be done working on this game. Based upon initial closed beta popularity, we expect we can be working on HoN for a very long time with new maps, heroes, balance tweaks, polishes, and features. We did this with Savage 2 (significantly less popular game) and CONTINUE to do it with Savage 2 now(20 months after relase).

We opened up pre purchasing in an attempt to let us continue to work on the game under this closed beta scenario where we allow in as many players as we are ready to have (no open sign up). Due to the extreme popularity of the game, our operational costs are very significant. We can not continue to pay for the service that is Heroes of Newerth in closed beta with this many players without income.

2.) Why Pre Purchase? I gave you a small prelude to that in the paragraph above. Heroes of Newerth cost a lot to operate. While this is built into the budget of (what we consider to be VERY reasonable) price of $30 USD and operating the service after our initial release date, we need assistance in the interim.

Outside of helping out S2 Games and the game we're all enjoying, there are some very selfish reasons for you to Pre Purchase. Those include:

* Special Colored Nickname: You will have a golden colored nickname on the forums and in game that denotes your support of S2 Games. This will continue after the release of the game.

* Special Shield Icon: You will get a golden shield icon on the forums and in game to signify your support. This will continue after the release of the game.

* Ability To Taunt: Only Pre Ordered accounts (other ways to achieve this post release) will have the ability to taunt in the game. While playing, you may taunt an enemy hero. Only you and that player will hear your heroes pre death voice taunt message. It also puts a state on them for a specified period of time. If you kill that hero during that time a global announcer voice and arcade text "SMACK DOWN" is played as well as you and the other player will hear your post death voice message. In the event you are killed by that hero though, a global announcer voice and arcade text "HUMILIATION" is played and you and that player here their heroes post death voice taunt.

* Secure Your Nickname: Once we release the game all non pre purchased accounts will be deleted. While we will have pre purchasing available until the time we go to release, its always good to just "get it out of the way".

* Closed Beta Invites: You will instantly be given 3 closed beta invites for your friends after pre purchasing. We will still selectively give out invites on our own, they will be a bit rarer than they have in the past (obviously to motivate more pre purchasing).

I'd like to ask all players to pre purchase the game. Help us get some statistics as to the sales potential of this game, help us continue to make the game better before "release", help us continue to operate (what to this point has been expensive to us, free to you) the servers, and get yourself some cool premium benefits for doing so.

Lastly, thank you all who have pre purchased so far and/or plan to do so soon! It sincerely means a lot to us.