S2 response to concerns about the camera

S2 response to concerns about the camera

Citizens of Newerth!

We realize that the recent restrictions on camera controls have a number of players upset, and feel it's only fair that we give you guys an explanation as to why things are the way they are. We know this is a controversial change, especially among the non-DotA players, and there are folks here who aren't happy about it. Everyone likes to be able to see more and feel in control - we can certainly understand the desire to have more control over your camera height. It is certainly frustrating to die as a result of not being able to see what was going on (there are other things that may be reducing your ability to tell what's going on, I'll touch on that at the end of this post).

I'm hoping to shed some light here on why we made this decision, and to convince you guys that we're making this decision for the good of the game in the long run. It would certainly be very easy for us to lift camera restrictions right now and avoid a lot of heat, but we do not feel this is the right thing to do.

So, why did we choose to limit the camera? Well, there is no simple answer to that, but I'll try to cover the primary reasons. First and foremost - we want to keep the game fair. We have a duty to the community to deliver a consistent experience and make sure everyone is on an even playing field. If a player who is running a superior PC is able to handle zooming out at greater distances than another player, or has an ultra wide screen monitor and can see more with it, that is unfair. The best way to keep it fair is to ensure everyone operates within the same camera restrictions and has to learn to control their camera in a similar environment.

Additionally, we wanted to emulate DotA faithfully, in a manner that is familiar and comfortable to a DotA player. Just like DotA, the decision to limit camera height in HoN is an intentional design choice. Make no mistake about it - any veteran warcraft III map maker will tell you they can absolutely change the camera's height, yet the decision not to has been made in DotA development. Screen space is an important resource that players have to learn to manage and control. It's one additional element that can separate a veteran from a new player.

Removing this element will cause gameplay deviations which are not immediately noticable to players. For example, more screen space in your immediate area means less reliance on the minimap. People who would previously be susceptible to a gank from not paying attention to the mniimap may find they are able to respond in time to survive now. Another such example is a hero who tries to sneak up from behind in team fights would have less success if those in the team fight were not fully distracted by the fight itself - it'd be easier to see that hero sneaking up. These are pretty specific examples, but they do represent a change from DotA gameplay that we are not aiming to make. Awareness of your surroundings, camera control, and monitoring the minimap are skills we do not want to trivialize.


In regards to being able to tell what's going on in fights - zooming out your camera is a bit of a bandaid fix to this. The real fix is for us to tone down over-the-top effects and tweak the scale of various units that may be too big. If you encounter issues in game where you felt the screen became unreadable, feel free to make a thread and let us know about it. We're very open to this type of feedback and will aim to improve battlefield readability.

It's very easy to make the simple observation that you find the game more enjoyable and easier to play with a zoomed out camera. On a basic level, you're right, and this begs the question: if it's more enjoyable, why not implement it? To a lesser extent, this is comparable to saying it's more enjoyable to play with more gold or more health, why not add those? Taking it a step further, map hackers may find the game more enjoyable and less frustrating for similar reasons, yet the detrimental effects this has on gameplay are much more obvious. This is an extreme comparison, naturally - zooming out your camera is not as impactful as map hacking, yet on a smaller scale the comparison is valid. The main thing to keep in mind here is that the long term negative effects of allowing more advanced camera controls would not be immediately noticable until it's too late.

We can appreciate that this is not a popular change. To people who are not used to the default camera height, we patiently ask you to give it a chance. Try to get used to it, and work around it. DotA's vast popularity spanning millions of players is proof enough that the formula works and that, despite the camera restrictions, it's an awesome game to play. We feel confident you'll come to the same conclusions about HoN if you give yourself the chance to get used to the current camera restrictions.