This is an opinionated post that reflects only my opinions and not that of any other S2Games member or any one of my Moderator colleagues.
P.S. I haven't edited this post for grammatical/spelling errors so please kindly point them out for me :P
P.P.S. No TL;DR.
Passthechips, the White Knight Moderator, is here, and this time he isn't on the side of S2Games! I have wanted to write a critique post ever since my defense post for a long time. However I had struggled to find a large amount of topics to discuss. This recent patch however has both given me plenty to talk about and actually has me questioning where I stand in my support for S2Games. Coming from a person who has volunteered their own time to this company, I feel like this should mean something (trolls may or may not agree with this statement).
The F2P System
I personally had always thought that the Free2Play system was going to come to HoN sooner or later. The way that HoN has implemented this system is both faulty and what I believe will turn away players from HoN especially when DotA 2 releases. The fact that you can no longer purchase HoN for a flat $30 to receive all heroes makes the system inherently flawed for all players who create accounts past the F2P launch. HoN is a game where your hero choice matters to the rest of the team. By locking out the hero pool and not allowing players to purchase the whole hero pool outright you take away both strategy and skill away from the game. It was also the vast hero selection pool that a player was given outright that differentiated HoN from LoL and gave us that feeling of playing a more skill oriented game. In addition to this any potential customers that were weighing between HoN or DotA now, are COMPLETELY out the window. You basically neutered any chance you had with competing with Valve/Icefrog. Why would any sane person spend money on over 12000 gold coins when they can buy DotA 2 outright for much cheaper and receive their whole hero pool and future heroes? This Basic/Verified model was the wrong way to take it.
In my opinion a much more sane and competitive business model would have been a 4 tier account system,
Legacy Accounts:
- Available only to accounts who purchased before HoN went F2P.
- Gains early access heroes for free.
- Gains all of the general hero pool.
- Has access to Verified MM.
Full Accounts:
- Costs $30-60 upfront.
- Can buy early access heroes before they enter the general hero pool.
- Gains all of the general hero pool.
- Has access to Verified MM.
Verified Accounts:
- Basic accounts that have purchased enough Gold coins or played a specific amount of time.
- Have no chance to play early access heroes.
- Can purchase heroes through silver coins at a flat rate of 250-350 silver.
- Has access to Verified MM.
- Has access to a randomized pool of 25 heroes.
Basic Accounts:
- Basic accounts that have just been created
- Have no chance to play early access heroes.
- Can purchase heroes through silver coins at a flat rate of 250-350 silver.
Informatika és tudomány
