HoN a great success

ESL HoN Opening Cup
Tournament details
- Participants: 59 (visit)
- Official news
- Rules
--- Sign UpWith sign ups increased to 64 teams the Heroes of Newerth ESL Opening Cup seems to be receive a great audience and a great success for the start of the game in Europes biggest league. Bot not the amount of teams is the most interesting there are also a few players worth your attention to watch and to listen to. To make the game interesting for readers and those who'd like to follow it over here on crossfire I've added a few statements and expectations on the game and on the cup itself.

A Guy To Be Met

One of the most anitipcated participant is Swedens in Actions. Filled with former DotA players I picked only one to give me a shot on the few questions I had: Former SK Gaming and current fnatic.DotA player loda.

- What do you expect from the ESL HoN cup?

" I don't exactly now what to expect, I'm fairly new to the HoN scene so I don't even know what teams are good :) I just hope some teams will impress me rather than get owned easy!"

- As one of the professionals in DotA, what are the pros and cons between HoN and DotA?

" Too many to count to be honest, I like HoN for sure but the true reason to play it is because of the people from my team who enjoy it for a while already.
For some reason it's much harder to play carry in HoN, at least with so many heroes. I'd take dota over HoN anytime but the online system and all its features are awesome and make it worth playing it."

- Can teams like fnatic, sk or other big brands be interested in a competitive game like HoN which is just a DotA stand-a-lone? Especially since icefrog announced a title in cooperation with valve, is there still potential to reach the long-term success dota had have?

" Well, in the end it's all about the money, if there will be HoN tournaments with high prices it will start to draw players, but future will tell. Of course it's still a Beta, there is no hurry but with the 500€ HoN tournament and this opening cup covered by ESL TV it's going in a good direction.
Icefrog has just announced that he will work together with Valve to create a standalone game. There has been no work on it yet, but with valve I don' think there will be anything for him to not reach the success he had with DotA. This is actually the game I would like to see most of all especially since he is highly experienced with the balancing from dota."

Is It Nice - or - Just A New ET?

Though, stronger than hate founder and cortana player frozz doesn't seem to care, ET fans aren't left out. There are a few teams built on crossfire already supporting your switch from ET to a brand new competitive game. One of those is n1ce.it who are currently recruiting someone to compete in the cup.

Next to n1ce Heroes of NewET are definitely worth to be mentioned with UK's best field op, HoN instructor and talent Baggiez as one of the players in this line up. He was able to give me a short statement on the upcoming cup and his view on the game itself.

- Do you enjoy playing the game and what makes you playing it at all competitive wise?

" I've played DotA since 2005 and was enjoying it more than ever before HoN came out. Now I can play the game I love with a new and improved art style, superior engine and with all the friends I've made in ET! I've only played competitively infrequently so this will be a new experience for me."

- Do you have some tips for ET players who are willing to give it a try
" If you're new to DotA/HoN, then don't neglect reading guides before you play. The game has a very steep learning curve and is not 'noob-friendly'. Ensure you listen to advice that's given to you, as making the same mistakes again and again will not only make enjoy the game less, but will anger your friends a lot too!"

For The Starters

Baggiez has just published his HoN Tutorial to give everyone a good start in to the game:
- Read it

A Raffle For An Invite

Due to the poor attendance in the last post - For those interested in giving HoN a try I will pick one user out of the comments to receive a Beta invite. Just start your comment with "I love HoN" but also add a few words to it.