Feedback for HoN

diudiuz

Hello,

I've played HoN for about two weeks (team power @100k atm) and here's my thoughts on the game.

- The focus has shifted even further from Card-Collecting game to Card-evolving game, which is not good imo.
- Amount of different materials is huge. It's rather hard to identify the materials needed to upgrade/evolve certain things. I've learned "Rune of the Inert" form the icon but most of the rest are archaic to me. The shortcut to farm certain items is good tho!
- Upgrading and evolving Mares and items. The developing is complex, but not in a good way. Could've simplified it, as now I get the feeling that the amount of items/money/exp cards etc isn't justified. Can't really pen this thing down as I feel it, sorry.
- The amount of skills/stats per disciple is too complex, making it hard to assess the value of a Mare or compare them to each other.
- To be honest, I have no idea which of my seven Mares are good and which are a waste to develop. It's rather hard to come up with a develop strategy, which means there are less concrete goals to strive on, making the playing less addictive.
- I have no idea whether it is possible to collect Mares that support each other in battle aka synergy (like elements in The Gate). Should I just toss in the ones with biggest "power" number? Or to start developing Mares that seem to use Magic Attack if they perform better as a team?
- The Formation thing is unclear to me. Are there certain enemies that are best confronted with Front fighters instead of Middle or Back? Is there a limitation on Team how many Front Mares it can deploy?
- Lack of documentation/tips/guide to support the harsh learning curve is a big minus. I'd love to see a comprehensive, player-driven wiki to support this game, like with Blood Brothers for example.
- Battle is passive, with only skill-triggering in our command. No ability to control who takes the damage or move Mares around in any way. Big bonus is the "purge" option after finishing the stage once, but doesn't that reduce the whole game from it's essence into faceless farming/grinding/clicking game?
- The lack of control is highlighted in PvP.
- Lack of Trading cards/materials/etc. This is so big minus that I can't begin with...
- Oh yeah, Mares? Couldn't you come up with anything better name for my killer minions than a female horse?
- UI could be better, horizontally sliding menu buttons aren't top-notch solutions for example.
- Shards are used both on creating AND evolving a Mare, which is an improvement compared to The Gate (8 cards plus face shards).
- You made Befafes a ranged/magic Mare. OMG....

All in all, I'm not likely to continue playing for long-term or to spend money on the title. I'm currently playing to get the feeling if SH has learned any lessons from The Gate, but it seems that TG was better in some decisive parts that I value high in gameplay. But ultimately, it's the lack of trading that'll push me away from this title. Without it, I see little promise

Sorry for the honest but purely personal points, please feel free to comment and debunk my remarks! I tried to be comprehensive but I'll add if I missed any. Peace out!

FlightTribe

Hi there

Thanks for the feedback.
I'm not gonna try and defend any of your points because honestly, you do make a lot of valid points and in varying degrees, I agree with a bunch of what you say.  But getting honest feedback from players is what will hopefully push us to improve certain aspects and tell us what we tried that worked and what didn't.

What I will do though is send this post to 'the powers that be' for review and who knows, maybe it will lead to improvements for some of the stuff you mention.   

Cheers

diudiuz

Thanks for the reply FT. Do remember that my views are partially biased and my experience from this game is limited. I don't speak for the majority and would like to hear opinions from other, more seasoned players!

Sanz of Time

I'm on the fence with most of your points, but I definitely agree there should be some transparency with how the stats affect the battle (magic damage is useless with a strength mare with no MATK skills?). It'd be practically christmas if we got some idea of a formula on how the main stats (INT, STR, AGI, VIT) affect the lower stats.

Nech

Uhm what about a training ground?
You can fight against a dummy, you can choose which type harmless/physical/magical, with amplied statistics: damage done and received, physical/magical separated. Team normalized to same level/evo, gear same level/evo, skill same level.
This is not the first game that I see with this kind of gameplay, it is surely simplistic compared to TG.
Trading between different players is a good way to ruin the game, it will become a challenge to get as many alts as possible, if I understand what you referred with trading.
I don't mind and agree with a bit of uncertainty about skill and stats. I don't know where are you at or if someone already tried, but checking detail before and after a DB may be what you are looking for. Maybe add some hint: VIT affect (example) phys def and max hp, magical penetration (example) help to ignore part of mag def.

Sanz of Time

One thing I really appreciate about this game is that, when you lose on a level, you don't lose the 20 hope (for example) that the level demanded, but a much smaller amount (10% of the hope I think). It's basically a dummy level at that point.

diudiuz

Nech replied at 2015-12-3 01:25
Uhm what about a training ground?
You can fight against a dummy, you can choose which type harmless/ ...

You mean that there's a playing ground hidden somewhere in the menus, or that SH should implement one in the game?

Trading element in a (card-collecting) game, when planned thoroughly, can be an aspect that appeals to a notable segment of gaming ppl. I belong into that segment, as trading has been my favorite leisure (or business!) in every multiplaying game I've played in the past 15 years or so. Trading can make an industrious and knowledgeable non-paying player rich or give him an access to in-game items/disciples/gear that would be otherwise unattainable. It can also give an excuse to spend in a few bucks or even commit a player to spend big time to ensure the trades one desires.

In Blood Brother (a DeNA card-collecting game I'm accustomed and parallel my views often) has a working system. It's working so well than when they recently decided to stir up the free trade economy embedded in the game (players choose trade prices without interventions from DeNA) by injecting in-game currency called Gjallarhorns (equivalent of Rood in The Gate) to all players who rank above 10k in events, they practically saved a dwindling game as the Bazaar was revived by lots of purchase-powered players. Even I've bought some more GHs to get the trades I desired to upgrade my team.

Alt-account spamming is not a problem, as cards one can get by creating tons of accounts and simply "hanging out" are non-tradeable, with few exceptions. As well as some minor materials/items one can get by placing very low rank in events. Creating tons of alts simply isn't profitable enough, the RoI (return of investment) is negative. I play three accounts there, just to try out different playing strategies and teams. And I trade cards and materials from account to another regularly, just like everyone else. No advantage there afaik.

In short: I'd love to see trading in SH title, but it seems that they design their games with no trading in mind, which results in a system that is impossible to add trading later on, unless it'll be limited to some materials only.

Kthxbye

Nech

Training ground as implementation : )

I'm not an expert of MMO, I learnt mainly on TG and a couple of games years ago.
A TG player is strongly limited by shop availability, where a trading system would kill the shop refresh income for spicy, since i would create alts to plunder the shops and trade to main.
Although in HoN the shop behavious seems better, shards and materials are available from many sources and player is not limited as in TG, but still there is a refresh. Have to understand spicy policy, how a trading system would unbalance some gold aspect of the game.

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And, as i suggested in a past ticket, please for the love of all thats holy TELL US what the Stats *are* what they *do* what effects them. Sure, allot of it should be self explanatory, but having a clear definition of what they are, what they do and what causes their growth would be something that I feel is key information that is sorely lacking.

As much as Rin may kill me for it, it could very easily be added to the Wiki if the Devs can't seem to find a way to add it into the game normally.

And if there *is* a PC port plotted in the future, for the love of the divine learn from the mess that TG is on Steam and make a decent port if you plan to release on Steam again. I tried it and turned it off after a few seconds of seeing the port which was just horrendous.