Working for S2 Games owns for a lot of reasons, but getting to work with Samuel L Jackson to record a HoN Announcer Pack is definitely a recent highlight. I'm not typically one to get awestruck, but it's SAMUEL L JACKSON. He could represent lightsabers, tasty burgers, an eyepatch, or snakes on a vehicle of aerial transport to you, but to me Samuel L Jackson represents something beyond an immensely talented actor who's played some pretty awesome roles. To me, Sam Jackson represents a cool persona of pure bad-assery, a wonderful discordance of rough and smooth. Poetic waxing aside, he was basically next to Kate Upton on my want-to-meet list - albeit for vastly different reasons. Not only did I get to meet Sam, but I got to watch and listen to him record lines that we wrote at S2 Games!
Stephen Baker (our sound technician) and I arrived early for our recording session because well, Sam Jackson doesn't seem like the kind of guy you want to keep waiting. What's amazing is that even before we saw Sam, we knew that he had arrived from his voice reverberating through the hallway. His is a voice so iconic that I instantly got giddy with anticipation. Then I saw him stroll in, dressed so casually that even I, flip-flop-wearer-until-it- snows, envied his comfort. All I could think was: What. A. Bad. Ass.
Interacting with Sam was awesome, because he was everything I had hoped he'd be. Bottom line: Samuel L Jackson is what we would call a troll. He totally loves joking around and messing with people, and is really down-to-earth. We shared some laughs over the recent twerking-and-tongue antics of a certain young miss and got down to business. Watching Sam work is eye-opening - you can really easily tell why he is so successful. The way he approached our lines was phenomenal, and he displayed a command of and diversity in his voice that was extremely impressive. For me, meeting and working with Samuel L Jackson was an amazing experience of a lifetime. We hope that the Samuel L Jackson Announcer Pack will translate some of that awesome experience directly to you guys. Enjoy!
10/11/2013 4:01 AM
Topic: Community, Content
33% Off Gold AND Silver, Circe Deceives Merrick for Storewide Sale!
The femme fatale, Circe the Deceiver has ensnared Merrick with her charm and used her doppelganger ability to replicate Merrick, taking control of the HoN store! With the HoN store under new management, "Merrick" has decided to host a blowout sale! From now until October 2nd, everything* in the HoN store will go on sale for 33% off (Gold and, for the first ever, Silver). To make this deal even sweeter, you can puck up a 200 gold coin pack for just $1 (limit one per player)! Be sure to cash in on these saving soon as Merrick will not be hypnotized by the enchantress forever.
Circe the Deceiver is the newest hero to grace Newerth. This free-to-play, ranged, intelligence hero is available now!!!
*Note: sale does not include alt avatars Poison Circe or Iron Maiden Circe
09/26/2013 8:59 AM
Topic: Community
Circe the Deceiver Video Teaser
The moment you've been waiting for is almost here. Check out this sneak peak of Circe the Deceiver, the hero slated to join Newerth on September 25. Also, be sure participate in our Deception contest in the General Discussion section of the forums as we slowly unveil her abilities.
09/19/2013 4:48 AM
Topic: Community
Community Question: MMR Change
The MMR system has been a long-standing hot topic; how would you feel if it were changed? In our effort to continually improve Heroes of Newerth, we would like to know how you would react to such a change.
1) Resetting all MMR to 1500 2) No longer showing MMR in the lobby 3) Creating a new account progression system and account scoring
The main purpose of this would not be to create a more accurate MMR system, but to use MMR as it should be, a measure to create accurate matches, not as a score or a way to "progress" your account. We should create other systems for that purpose.
Please visit our forums to read the full post, vote, and let us know how it would impact your HoN experience!
09/06/2013 10:20 PM
Topic: Community
Report-A-Player July Statistics and Overview
Hi everyone! I'm back to give you some more Report-A-Player numbers and give helpful insight into the system to help improve the community player by player.
I'm going to start off with another brief review of the system to get everyone on the same page. We have 6 categories in which players can fall into: Chat Abuse, Feeding/Stat Manipulation, Impersonating Staff, Ability/Item Abuse, Bad Nickname/Clan name, and Avoiding AFK Detection.
To report a player, click the ban-hammer next to their name (either in-game or after the match), select the category, enter a small description and select a time. Press the submit button when you are done! As simple as that!
Each player that gets reported can have multiple tickets from different players against them which helps us determine how toxic that player can be and allows up to get to them faster. The more you report, the better the community becomes.
Exciting never-before-talked-about feature!
With the latest iteration of the Report-A-Player system, we made the system more automatic, that is, some tickets are already handled before they even reach the GMs! Essentially, the system will look for players who are constantly breaking the rules and send them up to the front of the line. At the same time it looks at the players who actually had not done anything wrong, and dismisses them automatically. This allows for faster processing of tickets and a better turnaround for everyone.
Statistics Time!
The RAP system automatically determined that 17% of all tickets coming in needed high priority and we were able to get those toxic players out of the game right away. Because of the automation, we were able to remove over a few thousand players to ensure better quality games for everyone.
As for reports that were forwarded from the system to the GMs - over 30,000 individual Player Reports (or Tickets as well call them) were submitted and completed for the month of July!
As I've said before, in a perfect world all of the tickets we receive would be 100% guilty, but realistically that won't happen. The more guilty reports we get, the less time we have to spend on the players who did nothing wrong, the innocent group.
I'd like to take this time to bring up some common concerns I see posted regarding the Report-A-Player system and clear up some information.
A banned player can just make a new account, so why does it matter? We have a very low limit for the number of accounts that can be made by a single person. We use some pretty amazing tools to determine who you are, where you're playing from, and use that information to prevent account creation over our set limit. You can't just keep making accounts after you get banned.
No only that, but when you're banned, you now lose access to your valuable account. You've lost access to playing at your MMR bracket, your avatars, bonuses, essentially your identity as a HoN player.
Why don't I get an email anymore? With the new automation of the RAP system, we don't want players to feel like their reports did nothing. Tickets that come in where the player did nothing wrong becomes automatically closed, we don't want you to feel like you've wasted your time because every report, innocent or guilty, helps the system evolve. If we start sending you an email saying your ticket was deemed innocent as soon as you send it in, you might become a bit discouraged to report in the future.
If we can work on providing higher quality reports, we can be the change in the community that we want see. We have the systems in place, we just need you to keep it up!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the RAP system feel free to head on over to the RAP Feedback Section on the forums and talk about it with Game Masters.
