It seems there’s some confusion around “last-hitting” and exp, and I’d like to clear that up.
Last-hitting has been in the game since its release. If you dealt the killing blow to a minion, you would automagically collect the exp from it, regardless of how far away you were.
This is the way it has always been up until the recent introduction of exp globes, when last-hitting was removed. However, this week’s patch has reintroduced last-hitting.
This seems to be the source of the confusion. Last-hitting is not new. It has always been in the game, it was only removed briefly and then re-added. The sky is not falling, you do not get gold from last-hitting, all exp you and your teammates gather is still shared, and Mages have not become omnipresent powerhouses capable of soaking all exp on the map at once (there does seem to be some people under this impression).
Again, I repeat, last-hitting has always been in the game, and currently functions the same as it always has.
I dont think that is the issue most people talk about.
Before you could soak on 13 (14?) range even when creeps last-hitted the enemy.
Now you need to come close to soak the exp globes.
The last hitting gives the ranged heroes a bit more edge over the melee ones, because if they sre good, they can stay more in the back and dont need to come closer compared to melee heroes.
But yes, last-hitting was there before and they put it back because the lack of it made a lot of heroes and abilities partially worthless, so its not a new mechanics.
Just before the changes people didnt care that much about it…
Not quite sure about that. In the old system, it seems like you got a “grace period” of 1 second or so. During that time, if the minion dies of other course (like, getting killed by your minion), you still get the xp. But as of now, it looks like the minion must die exactly at the monent of impact for it to count.