S2 Diva gives some insight into the upcoming HoN "realignment" patch.
S2 Games - The Fabulous Company
As we've stated previously, the realignment patch will be a large list of minor adjustments aimed to bring everything in the game more in line with each other in terms of balance. This dev blog will reveal how it is we're going about this process, as well as some hints as to what realignment entails.
Step 1: Houston, we have a problem
As with alcoholics and chocolate addicts, the first step of correction is always the acknowledgment that a problem exists. We've always known that a game as deep and expansive as HoN would be extremely difficult to balance, and the realignment process is the result of us listening to the community's input regarding the current state of balance and prioritizing its improvement.
Step 2: Finding the problem child(s)
We realized that if we are to "realign" the game, we needed something to realign to. That is, there needs to be a baseline to which we can bring up the underpowered and nerf down the overpowered. To ascertain the baseline and what lies above and below it, we quizzed our competitive players on the relative power and pick priority of each and every hero. After normalizing and pooling the data we gathered, we were able to come out with a neat little list ordering heroes by power and priority- and establish a baseline with which to proceed.
Step 3: I'm all about solving problems, baby
Having identified the problem areas, we needed to come up with solutions. Once again, we heavily involved our competitive players as we gathered suggestions on how to patch up the problem areas. These suggestions sparked a dialectic process in which we the developers and the competitive players went back and forth until we came up with a list of realignment changes that we're all happy with.
Step 4: Testing, 1 2 3
What looks good on paper doesn't always look good fully fleshed out. Just ask any catalog shopaholic. As with everything else we put into the game, we've immersed our realignment changes in extensive testing by both our beta testers and competitive players. With these tests, we hope to analyze whether our specific changes have had their desired effects and also if said effects do indeed "realign" the game.
We are currently in the testing step, and hope to be ready to release the realignment patch into retail soon- but not before we and the competitors are totally happy with it! To tide you over, though, here are some hints as to what's included in realignment- obviously these are subject to change and not anywhere near comprehensive .
- Plague Rider's ride is getting an upgrade so that it zooms faster
- Hammerstorm will no longer cry every time an enemy buys a Nullfire Blade
- Pandamonium will no longer be a masochist
- Sand Wraith is getting the nerf bat
- Booboo's leash is being extended so he may run more freely in Wildsoul's yard
- Rampage will be more rampant
- Ophelia buffed to Prophelia status
Stay tuned for the big realignment patch, coming soon.
Special thanks to all of our competitive players who have dedicated so much time and effort toward making this possible.
To get HoN Updates regarding the HoN realignment patch via social networks:
-Heroes of Newerth News on Facebook
-Heroes of Newerth News on Twitter
2 discussions:
First! Cool, can't wait!
Interesting... So, Plague's movespeed is getting buffed (or maybe when he uses extinguish, he gets a speed burst... would be good for close chases/getaways), Hammerstorm's ult isn't going to be purgeable, Panda... maybe he won't get debuffed for missing a Cannonball? Booboo can attack farther away from WS, Rampage/ophelia... no fucking clue.
Sandwraith's Deserted is getting replaced with Berf Nat, which gives him a long wooden stick to attack with, and he reduces an enemy's stats by 1 each with each autoattack, amirite?
Care to let on about plans for Fayde? (In as general a sense as necessary). She's honestly the character I'm most interested about as far as the changes go. I'm almost sure stances are getting reworked in some way, but, while I think they were a great idea in theory, in practice almost everyone stays in Shadow Stance the whole time, as the window for physical damage to out perform magic damage is quite brief, and it's only taken at all because she starts in scythe stance. I'm sure y'all have been over this before, just rambling, I love the hero, and want to see her viable-ized.
One other thing, it's been brought up for months on the forums with no real answer, so throw me a bone here. Is is the bug where using Fayde's ult with Hakon's Blade active prevents the DoT/Reduced healing from Shadow Cripple from being applied fixed? (And by extension, is the similar bug with Harkon's and Shroud fixed?) Currently, when I play Fayde, I go Codex 1>Shards 1/2/3>Dex 2/3/4/5. I feel like Harkon's would be even better, though, of course, the tougher buildup would be an issue. Anyway, could I get a yea/nay on whether that's been addressed?
Post a Comment