II’m a league player and I’ve played some Dota 2 as well and recently I’ve downloaded HOT just to try something new and because League was getting boring and most players feel that way but it is hard to find a substitute game on the level of league right now so most are stuck with league,however when i’ve played HOT i was surprised the game got potential and with some dedicated work it can easily challenge the likes of league and Dota !, and i have no idea why Blizzard isn’t realizing that yet ? maybe they do but since they have 2 cash cows (WoW and overwatch) they kinda neglecting this game below i will list what i think can be adjusted and developed to make this game at the top of its genre this will be a long read so sorry in advance:
1- the Engine
don’t get me wrong the graphics are decent but the engine lack a lot when it comes to smooth and satisfying animations, most Heroes got poor skill cast animation and movements that can be more smooth easy on the eye and satisfying to click and cast , look at league for example the engine is simple the Graphics and the animations aren’t that high end but it looks beautiful and the animations are clear and satisfying this creates a better User experience which is very important to get new players hooked with the game, I’m not asking for unreal engine but something that captures the real potential of the heroes.
2-ranked mode
it didn’t take me long o realize that the ranked mode is just not there when i saw a bunch of 1000+ lvl accounts that flaming each others over a normal game, and i think i have a few ideas about how to change that ,firstly you got to have a single unique mode for ranked like Dota 2 and summoner Rift at league a map that is only designed for ranked then you will have to delete the rest of the modes and leave like 1 or 2 that can be only played casual not ranked so you can get more players to play ranked and don’t divide your player base so much, this game mode needs to have a few objectives 2 or 3 at most and a well designed map that are unique from other modes.
3-Gameplay
when it comes to successful Moba games you have to have a laning system or phase that allow the game to feel more strategic, in some games like league they can take this too far where laning can last up to 20 min and you just fall asleep farming , that is why league keeps trying to modify the laning phase,my idea for HOTS ranked laning phase is to have 3 lanes which are locked! the heroes can’t move between them pre min 10 , each hero queue up for a role and a lane that he/she must enter at the beginning of the game the bot lane must have 2 heroes, the top lane is the same and one in the middle, during this period last hitting the minions , creeps or champion kills and assists gives you gold that can be used to unlock special talents that can be only unlocked with gold, after the 10 min the map opens and players can move around and no longer the gold drops, what this achieve is more competitive and strategic approach to the game that can get the better players a slight advantage over their opponents, makes the games last longer and allowing 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 play styles to be experienced,this is kind of tricky and can be tweaked to achieve the best laning phase system possible .
4-The banning system
the banning systems and banning bots should be slowed down on until enough players gets hooked with the game and the player base grows big enough to the point you can afford pissing off a player to another game at the start it will be a nightmare of toxicity but this is what Dota 2 had to do at first to keep on level with league.
a good way to start all of this is to launch HOT2 and implement all of this a fresh start to build on the first version name and to improve and introduce a more polished game.
if you did read all of this thanks to having the time and the patience at the end i would like to say that this game is well balanced at least when it comes to balancing champions and damage outputs something that league’s balance team can learn a thing or two from it have so much potential and nothing is mode sad than a wasted potential.
I read your suggestions and imo, those are not the right moves and calls to make this game greater.
The engine. The only legit point your brought up, but changing it would cost more (not just on money but in time as well) than it’s worth, so this won’t happen imho.
Removing gamemodes won’t help the game. Forcing the competitive aspect on casual gamers won’t help. The game currently has 5 real modes:
PvE (vsAI)
Casual PvP (QM)
Casual draft (UD)
Ranked (SL)
Casual chill randomness (Brawl)
Also, removing maps from ranked is also a big no-no.
3. This change would destroy the Ganker subrole and would make the game easier and more boring. This won’t help.
4. Not banning problematic players quick enough would make others quit thanks to them. It’s an “either them or us” situation and your “solution” won’t help at finding the equilibrium. So this probably would also not help.
you won’t be quiet sure about that is you didn’t test and learn those changes ,league of legends was sitting in the same position couple of years ago and what they have done was similar .
first_ they changed the engine and I’m sure it was more of a burden on their company back then than blizzard right now they for sure can afford to change the engine.
secondly_ they introduced more competitive environment with ranked and a one map for it and called summoner Rift copying Dota 1 back then giving their game global identity which is important for E sports and to be successful this doesn’t mean you will force the casual players away you will still have your casual modes up and can be played, 2 or 3 modes available for the casual players, in league they kept Aram and TFT with a mode to be available every a couple of weeks like URF.
these are things that all successful MOBA games have in common and copying form each others i don’t think it will hurt the game as much as not trying to change least as a beta test,league without afraid to copy or change with adding their own touch while at it giving the game a different feel from Dota.
For sure i will stay i liked the game and if i didn’t i wouldn’t have posted this to share my thought i will keep playing and hope it will get better if it gets good enough i may quit league at all.
Well, can happen; but multiple same threads could be interepreted as spam.
It would probably better to ask for one of them to be deleted so that the discussion is concentrated in the remaining of them. I do however no idea how to do that, there is no direct function on these forums.
What this game needs is a way to make pbmm work accurately and without abuse. This way you maintain the teamwork aspect of the game but ppl won’t feel as bummed when they still lose due to team mates trolling, throwing, or just performing poorly. If pbmm works then ranked may be less frustrating and players can still maybe climb rank slowly even with losses as long as they personally performed at a high level.
Players who want to be more rewarded for their individual impact in a team game are most likely solo queuing. A solo rating in a team game is already fundamentally illogical. it’s only here because people can’t organize themselves into real teams. Somehow they can do it for every other sport in the world. Imagine a solo queue ladder for basketball lol…
The only real ranked mode should be for 5man premade teams and the team gets the rating, not each player. This was in the game a few years ago but it was a dead mode…
If your own performance wasn’t impactful enough to win the match with random players, then i don’t really think that performance was of a high enough level that should make you lose less ranked points. Measuring this “high performance” is pretty close to impossible… Either you were able to carry your team or not.
Also if this pbmm should work, then in the other way around too. Players should lose more points if they performed not well enough, otherwise everyone would end up in GM sooner or later xD
First of, Welcome to the Nexus
I have red your ideas for Hots changes and i think some of them are good, but there are a few ehhs in it as well. Engine
As far i know Hots uses the WC3 engine which is quite old. So yeh, a new engine could bring some “eye candy” but the last game i played (and left after 4y of gameplay) needed years of player complains for a better engine. So i don’t think that would happen anytime soon (nor we need it actually )
Ranked
A few other LoL and Dota2 player before came up with this idea over the years. And my honest opinion, on the same single map ranked game mode is…i would rather find a 2nd job to waste my free time with. no offense
Players on the other hand could use some education on gameplay and mechanics…but thats a personal thing for everyone
Gameplay
I think you haven’t seen what we Hots players call: Lane cancer hero
If the lanes were locked, and noone can help [X] lane, where this hero lands, that lane under 10min would be pushed into the enemy core at minimum
So not a wise idea, unless all PvE aspects of the game is either removed, or changed. Which would upset a lot imo and more would leave.
Neat idea tho: Beside earning Exp, heroes could earn (if not gold) SP (skill points) that they could use to unlock talents from. This way, heroes could multiple talents from a single lvl and not just 1 if they decide to unlock more…This idea im actually down for. It could bring new strategies and unique gameplay for each chaacter.
banning
Banning players could be slowed down…maybe…a bit. But a better idea would to just lock the chat by default, and players have to type in a command to activate chat (like in Battlerite). Most players are getting banned for either good reason, or just cause some took their words a bit harder than they should have.
While i totally disagree with the OP suggestions. I agree for his premise that hots lacks something to be a top MOBA, in fact i have this opinion since early hots alpha.
To be clear i haven’t played lol ever, but i was playing dota since the early warcraft days 6.32b etc and dota 2 for the first 2-3 years after its beta and release.
What i think that the hots is lacking is a way of rewarding good individual performance, in order to not feel the game is decided from which is the worst player between two teams, while being the best has next to no significance.
Dota and LoL reward individual performance by extra levels (xp not shared team) and ofc ITEMS. I think a good way to substitute this in hots gameplay is very very very strong QUEST talents.
EDIT: By the way when butcher first came out i really believed they are on the right direction, all that was needed imho is make these quests more powerful and rework the whole roster, so i understood that it is a process that will take time, years maybe and i was willing to wait for it and slowly see it unravel. Well obviously this wasn’t how things turned up nor will it ever be possible
The only thing that this game needs is a better reconnect system. That’s all. The graphics are in keeping with their blocky, big-armored graphics from WC. No need to change that. Can we have a reconnect system that doesn’t take forever though, that would be awesome!
Part of what never got this game popular is advertising, but going a step further is conveying the neat ideas in the talent system, as well as experience soaking and team EXP versus the tedium of last hitting and joy that there isn’t a Rock, Paper, Scissors problem with the lanes in this game.
It’s hard to go back to LoL after playing a game like this. I can still last hit well, but it was never enjoyable. Ever.
Hmm do you think a company with the size of blizzard would get bankrupted over that i mean a small indie company can probably make HOT2 with a better engine second version is a well know good startegy to launch the game title again if the first version fails look at destiny , the division etc
Graphics: the graphics and physics of the game are already amazing as long as your comp can run it
Ranked: the diversity of the maps, objectives is what makes this game great so just forcing one map is a bad idea.
Yes there’s heaps of modes and that dilutes the population but I think they all have their place. Forcing everyone into rank would kill the game. You gotta think of a way to fix rank, make it less frustrating and demoralising, and so ppl will want to go in there and play and that was where I was proposing pbmm and points system.
Gameplay: definitely do not lock lanes as that makes the game less complex and fun. Rotations and ganking are a fun aspect to this game which must remain. What I will agree on though is finding a way to make the solo lane fights, laning phase, double soaker role, jungler, aspect to be more fun and interactive/rewarding and I know blizzard has tried to improve these things already.
Never ever bring in last hitting, blizzard knew right to avoid it, but if you like that playstyle you can play nazeebo.
Banning: continue to punish the trolls, defeatists, and toxics. But if it’s just abusive chat they are reported for just silence them instead of locking them out of ranked. Afk and intentional feeding will result in bans.
GOD
