Well, HoN shows all the currently running games in case someone wants to participate as a spectator.

In Demigod running games are hidden. You can see them here, though. about 50-100 games average is my guess.

I'm quite sure that HoN will experience a rapid decline of players once people are expected to fork over 40-50 bucks for something they get for free right now. As opposed to Demigod, where the sales start prompted a server breakdown due to too many participants.

My personal estimate? Starcraft 2 comes out and everything else will be dust.

Action packed? Apparently you spend 10 minutes camping near creeps to leech experience and are busy getting last hits on enemy creeps and denys on your own to earn gold. In demigod you get into duels from the start.

Sure, the DGs seem to move slower than the Heroes but that's only because:

1. You can't zoom out, which means that your Heroes crosses the screen within a second.
2. The maps in HoN are very large compared to the Heroes' size, giving the illusion of speed while Demigods are in fact moving faster when viewed in relation to the map size.

But it's true - you need more reflexes than in demigod to get last hits or denys ... a game mechanic which Demigod consciously omitted, so you can't compare that. What's left is the duel ... and in reflexes are necessary to interrupt certain skills. Some are easy to counter, some pretty hard. Don't know about HoN ... didn't get so far to recognize enemy spells or figure out which skills interrupt.

Yeah, but to many heroes there isn't much depth either. Point, click, press "e" occasionally. Mix in tactics and reflexes. Some heroes actually only have one active skill, which limits complexity and depth severely for each hero.

Demigod needs more Demigods. Sadly, developing demigods appears to be complex and expensive - mostly due to the awesome graphics. HoN looks like crap in comparison, which is it's strength because that allows S2 to fart out heroes on a regular basis with a minimum of effort and creativity.

 

The 100+ games are open games only.  running HoN games can be thousands but its hidden.

The number of people logged in right now in HoN is 9000+.

 

 

Just installed the beta, joined a noobs game, and hated it. Not being able to zoom out is incredibly frustrating.

Demigod has an arcade quality that I like. And I don't want to have selfish rich kids call me a noob while I'm trying to relax.

That's not true. Find me 1 hero in HoN w/ 1 active skill...

But my first impression was: I can't zoom out (I swear, after playing Demigod I think it's impossible to enjoy RTS games without a God-Eye-Zoom)!

Agree with you. But SC2 is not going to have zoom either, last I heard.

Well, since they're directly ripped off of DotA, I doubt any of them have only 1 skill, but many of them only have 2 or 3.

 

I could be misunderstanding you but I was under the impression that each hero had 4 skills. Unless you mean some of those skills are passive and don't count. If so, do you not count the passive skills of the demigods as skills?

I will say this, after spending weeks (possibly months) with HoN, I really do wish that there was more of a skill tree ala Demigod. Seems like the last few games I've played I hit l've hit lv 25 maxing all of my skills and even tho I haven't played every hero, I would like to play the same hero with a different spec. I guess that's where the items come into play... oh well

Most of them are recreated DotA heroes, but they also have 10 brand new ones with more on the way.

Well the earlier posts clarify that a bit more and speak about active skills. So yes, passive skills are not counted in this regard.
Why not? Because you can't really 'use' them and do not need to take them in consideration much, let alone decide in the heat of battle if you should 'use' spell x or spell y, because if spell y is passive then you, as mentioned before, cannot use it at all. Why is this bad? Because it takes away depth from gameplay. There is quite a big stretch from chosing which skill to use, minding your mana pool and his capabilities and countering them appropriately and just spamming the one active spell you have whenever you can. You very much become a one trick pony.

I played a game of DOTA again after I bought demigod and was very much disappointed by the narrow choices you had once you've picked your hero. You are stuck with the same spells for the rest of the game, which at level 25 you will have all maxed out anyway. It's just a matter of which spell you upgrade first. The biggest downside for me about this is that the enemy also knows which skills you have. When I encounter an enemy demigod I have no idea what skills the enemy has, and even if I find out by getting massacred, his build might have taken a different path later in the game. That, to me, is a lot more fun than "Oh, he picked that hero, so he has skill x and y and he's going to <insert only working strategy for that hero here>"

Thanks, this is exactly what I was trying to say in my 2nd paragraph. I agree 100%. This is something I do miss with Demigod. As stated before, I'm guessing it boils down to which items you buy your hero, but I know this really isn't the same. I don't feel this makes the game shallow entirely, because there really only 3 ways to spec most demigods (Way 1, Way 2 and the Wrong Way) and tbh while you may not know how someone is going to spec in the 1st encounter, you get a sense after a few short levels.

 

...I was being semi facetious with the 3 way spec, don't yall jump down my throat.

 

wait wait..there are tons of active items in HoN/Dota, in demigod yes you get to select new abiltities every level, but most of the time you just rank up the same stuff you already have, so your still just as limited, the bar still has 4 buttons on it just like in dota/hon

demigod really is a noob game in comparison, you have ALOT less to learn, its nowhere near as complex, its slower gameplay, i honestly eat food and watch tv while i play demigod cause of how slow paced it is

you play HoN/Dota, you gotta be on your toes, you gotta know what 60 heroes can do, and what all those items can do as they also add more active skills as well

I guess demigods better for casual fans of this type of gameplay, who want an easier game...i know that all the casual gamers i know dont go near anythin like dota

Perhaps you could explain to me why every other game hosted in HoN is Noobs Only? o0

In the same breath I could fling insults at HoN; that it's a simple stun-stacking game, that the large selection of heroes tends to feature different combinations of the same couple skills, that it has serious balance issues, and rant on and on for a year.

But I won't, because goddamn it, HoN is a good game. Demigod is a good game. They're both GOOD GAMES. Rather than let this debate deteriorate into a "my game can beat up your game" contest, the winner of which happens to only be the person who does not take part in the debate, I want to say this. If you like DotA more than Demigod, play HoN. If you like Demigod over DotA, play Demigod.

that's nowhere near to being correct. dota is muhc more simplier. yes it has far more heros but the gameplay is simplier. if demigod is too slow for you jsut nicrease gamespeed.

Haha true, wise words actually, but I'll just keep discussing it as this thread was made for that.

While the last part is often true, except for hybrid builds, I definately feel that Demigod has more active skills to chose from. The reason for this is probably that in Demigod you can always have 4 active spells (if you chose them), passive skills are not counted on that bar of 4. Also, like I said, hybrid builds are viable, if you have the skill to play them, making your active skill pool even bigger.

First of all calling Demigod a noob game is the pinnacle of what is wrong with the DOTA community. Second, having a lot less to learn does not make something noob, maybe Demigod is just more intuitive to learn. Also, if having a steep learning curve is what you want in a game, then.. well.. go right ahead. I just rather have a fun game to play I agree that Demigod feels slow, but that's just an illusion. If you zoom in all the way and animate characters as if they run 60 mph then Demigod would look fast too, but it doesn't actually make that much of a difference in speed.


The only reason you have to be on your toes is because you can't look more than 4 feet ahead. DOTA and HoN are claustrophobic. 60 heroes sure sounds awesome, but I don't actually get a feeling of more variaty from the game at all. Also, items adding active skills are in Demigod just the same.

True, but remember casual is not the same as noob.