Considering trying HoN

[tehNihilist]

Umm, I am keen to try this game out for a couple of reasons.

The only real concerns I have is firstly, would I be able to effectively play this with a decent 3G connection?

Then how is the community towards newbie players taking into account I have never played DotA and the likes?

[hideinlight]

A stable 3G connection is fine, each game 30-60 mins will take about 25-35 Meg

game is not very newbie friendly (they'll tear you apart and empty the dictionary on you), I'd suggest reading a few guides and finding some people to play with over here.

Training grounds
http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/forumdisplay.php?f=43

Also make sure to join no stats games in the start and please stay away from EM(easy mode). South Africans normally hang out in the zagamers channel.

[tehNihilist]

Cool thanks for the info hideinlight!

I always do research before hitting up any competitive game, usually get crazy with my preparations. Kind of sucks though that there is no way to practice offline just to test somethings out before "ruining" others experiences for sucking while being a newbie.

Honestly I never get online gaming communities. By scaring off newbies they actually ruin their longterm enjoyment of a game. Getting in new blood is the cornerstone of keeping a game going.

Will download and buy this end of the month and see how it goes. I am keen for something complex I must say. Something I can obsess over.

Hope I am not wasting cash on this. Will be disappointed if something goes awry.

[hideinlight]

Cool thanks for the info hideinlight!

I always do research before hitting up any competitive game, usually get crazy with my preparations. Kind of sucks though that there is no way to practice offline just to test somethings out before "ruining" others experiences for sucking while being a newbie.

Honestly I never get online gaming communities. By scaring off newbies they actually ruin their longterm enjoyment of a game. Getting in new blood is the cornerstone of keeping a game going.

Will download and buy this end of the month and see how it goes. I am keen for something complex I must say. Something I can obsess over.

Hope I am not wasting cash on this. Will be disappointed if something goes awry.

Well there is a tutorial, not the most enlightening, but it's there.
There's also a practise mode, the practise most is perfect for testing stuff and just generally messing around. You can spawn creep waves and heroes, give yourself gold etc. Good for just seeing what heroes can do. Also you can download replays and watch them, HoN has probably the best replay system of any game ever. You can rewind, slow down time or skip to certain parts of the game.

There's more than enough out there to familiarize you with the game, although normally newbies don't bother at all. After you have a basic idea of the game and few "no stats" games behind you do some matchmaking and dive right in.

Here's five basic things you must know before playing:

How to deny your own creeps. (Press A then on a creep with low HP)
Last hitting.
Towers hurt.
Leave mid to the more experienced.

PS. Normally you have to login to create a practise mode, but you can also do this via a console command (ctrl + F8)
StartGame "practice" "Game Name" "map:caldavar allheroes:true"

[Blaze786]

Well there is a tutorial, not the most enlightening, but it's there.
There's also a practise mode, the practise most is perfect for testing stuff and just generally messing around. You can spawn creep waves and heroes, give yourself gold etc. Good for just seeing what heroes can do. Also you can download replays and watch them, HoN has probably the best replay system of any game ever. You can rewind, slow down time or skip to certain parts of the game.

There's more than enough out there to familiarize you with the game, although normally newbies don't bother at all. After you have a basic idea of the game and few "no stats" games behind you do some matchmaking and dive right in.

Here's five basic things you must know before playing:

How to deny your own creeps. (Press A then on a creep with low HP)
Last hitting.
Towers hurt.
Leave mid to the more experienced.

PS. Normally you have to login to create a practise mode, but you can also do this via a console command (ctrl + F8)
StartGame "practice" "Game Name" "map:caldavar allheroes:true"

Well said, Thats about the basics.

Also one more thing ALWAYS watch your map, map awareness is key.

P.S. Most of the SA community are d1cks so if you fail, they will rip you.

[tehNihilist]

Awesome that is more than enough tools to get me to grips with the mechanics. At least this way I will know what is going on before I enter a game.

Downloaded it and will start watching some replays to get an idea of what is going on.

Appreciate the info ^_^

[Subversion]

Try and get semi-decent by playing in unranked/noob only games 1st. You don't want your PSR to get really low - you'll start getting kicked from every game!

[tehNihilist]

If they give me crap well, lets just say I can also get kind of nasty if needed. Still pisses me off no end that a community can get like that. It's one thing to go someone that never learns a god dammed thing, and repeatedly screws things up compared to say someone that is NEW and is LEARNING. But yeah, the plan is to get decent before I go anywhere near proper matches in the unranked games.

Funny thing is I recall from my Warcraft III and Counter Strike days that the SA community are pricks. I think its the insular nature of community. If we had a huge playerbase like say the US then it is less likely to happen. This is why I prefer playing with a large userbase and why often I ignore SA servers, or games that can only be played on them.

Hope this goes well, I am keen for this. And again thanks for the tips!

[Crzwaco]

If they give me crap well, lets just say I can also get kind of nasty if needed. Still pisses me off no end that a community can get like that. It's one thing to go someone that never learns a god dammed thing, and repeatedly screws things up compared to say someone that is NEW and is LEARNING. But yeah, the plan is to get decent before I go anywhere near proper matches in the unranked games.

Funny thing is I recall from my Warcraft III and Counter Strike days that the SA community are pricks. I think its the insular nature of community. If we had a huge playerbase like say the US then it is less likely to happen. This is why I prefer playing with a large userbase and why often I ignore SA servers, or games that can only be played on them.

Hope this goes well, I am keen for this. And again thanks for the tips!

yeah sa gamers still are pricks so better just filter it for the eu severs. Look for newbie games or just create your own server with the people you want to join them the guys that have about 1100 on the prs is maybe those in your class for maybe like a few games after that just play noob games in the unranked you don't have to play rank

[Dragonic]

I also started playing this game without ever playing DotA before. Started playing in the beta already and bought it when it came out coz I'm actually doing fine now... Still suck every now and then but getting much better.
Currently I'm randoming to get used to most heroes.

Guys are really harsh against noobs but just hang in there, ask questions if you dont know some pro players are actually quite nice and helpful. If you know someone thats good in the game, play with him/her so u can learn from him/her.