In case you guys didn't know or couldn't come for whatever reasons there was a huge AMA from Frostburn Studios last night. I've compiled the answers to various questions that were asked below under appropriate titles.
I had an amazing time and some of the new Frostburn Studio personalities are super fun.
AceJr on Marketing
In short, we are working diligently on raising the quality of every marketing push we make. Our goal is to make our product/features/promotion so excellent that you want to proudly show them off to your friends. To give you an example of what I mean, here are some recent marketing strategies we've made:
Calamity/Christmas: http://heroesofnewerth.com/calamity
Deadlift: http://heroesofnewerth.com/deadlift
HoN Tour Season 3 World Finals: http://hontour.com/worldfinals/
8-Bit: http://heroesofnewerth.com/8bit
HoNiversary: http://heroesofnewerth.com/honiversary
In addition to raising the quality, we've been adamantly working on pushing newsletters, sending press releases, and keeping a constant stream of social media content in order to keep HoN relevant in the MOBA scene.
In our most recent marketing efforts, we've reached out to many major news outlets for our Frostburn Studios announcement and have seen great results with articles on Yahoo, Massively OP, Polygon, Venturebeat and many more.
wza on Balance
Yes we are well aware of the issues around both of these heroes (wildsoul and hellbringer) and are prepared to make adjustments sooner than later. With the new balance patch coming this year we are going to be taking more risks to bring you more exciting changes. With that said there is always a chance of us to overstep but we will always be quick to fix any issues.
Every hero is currently under watch and we are constantly evaluating their presence and place in HoN. From the talks I have with competitors and other high TMM players they feel that Silhouette, Ravenor and many other heroes are fully capable of being countered and play appropriately. We want to balance the game from the top down and try to make the game as balanced as possible for competitive level of play.
While we still make adjustments for lower level TMM with new items like Merrick's Bounty and Mutli-unit control. We will always try our best to make the game balanced from the higher end of players.
You can expect changes to every hero in HoN in one way or another and whatever necessary tweaks to be made to ensure we have the most balanced enjoyable MOBA experience around.
BreakyCPK on Honcast
Honcast has been a pretty interesting roller coaster ride, from casting in my house living room in the beginning to eventually a green screen studio and to where it is now. It isn't a secret of course we haven't had a studio to work with this last season and trust me, I completely understand how this has had an effect on production / feel when watching it. I will say for not having a studio, things still have been fairly solid from break content (trivia videos) to even instant replay and day ending recaps with highlights. You don't necessarily need a production studio to put on a good production, and I think Honcast has shown that lately.
As far as the main question of will we ever see a return, that isn't something I can say with a confident yes or no right now. I really want to give you an answer better than that, but it really is an unknown, and that unknown really comes down to ultimately how impactful would hosting a studio bring, because believe me it isn't cheap at all. It is very easy to say that it would have a high impact, when it isn't your money on the line and there isn't just enough evidence out there to support in doing so would being 100% benefit. Lets just say things are being felt out over this time, HoN Tour Season 3 was the largest prize pool yet from the season to the World Finals and we did see some great signs from it, as well as announcing DreamHack, no doubt some players are coming back. But there still isn't enough there right now that says that committing both a lot of money and time to bringing back studio production for Honcast would REALLY have the best return, when instead the money could be spend elsewhere.
Trust me, I would like nothing more than Honcast to have a really nice studio, green screen, production team and to put on top tier production coverage every day/week. But in the realistic world right now, NOW isn't the time for that, but the future could very likely be different, lets just say I am very optimistic.
AceJr on Sol's Theatre
The idea on a second Sol's Theatre is up in the air but we are waiting to observe the community's reaction to the current Sol's Theatre map that just hit TMM. Depending on how that goes will dictate whether or not the sequel happens.
As for the other maps in the first Sol's Theatre, there is no plan to implement them in at this moment.
Buro on Capture the Flag
We are actively looking for feedback on CTF so we can make the mode the best it can be, however keep in mind that in a mode like this and Mid-Wars, there are going to be imbalances in heroes more-so than Caldavar. We tested this map quite a bit and went through many iterations, eventually ending up with our current product. Despite some heroes being stronger than others, we believe there are ample counters available. The unique strengths of heroes allows us some diversity within the mode that we were looking for.
MrBenLIVE on Visuals, UI and default Skins
Everything visual is on the table for further improvement. What improvement are made, and when they are made, is going to be dependent on what is best for the game and the community. Riptide and KOTF were the first of the model reworks, as well as a few we've pulled from the China build. They won't be the last.
The best way to improve art in a game is to have better source content and presentation. While I can't speak to any changes being made to the engine in the future, we are already instituting changes to improve the look of the game. It starts with better concepts, better models, and better made particle effects.
fbmercenary added - I'm focused more towards the technical side of UI development, so I can't necessarily comment on upcoming visual improvements, though I can say that my recent focus has been increased performance, reliability and usage.
AceJr on Changes to monetization and Pay-to-Unlock Hero system
There are no plans to adopt Garena's Pay-to-Unlock Hero system on the NA/EU/LAT client.
As for changing other ways of monetization, we are adamant about maintaining a no pay for power business model in the NA/EU/LAT client. With that said, we are always trying to create new and awesome cosmetics so that you're HoNing experience is as bad ass as possible.
Idejder on reading the Suggestion Forums
While we can't go through all of them, we do read through the suggestion forum often and if there is something that fits well we start to work towards it. You can see that since many people have gotten the forum awards for their suggestions added to the game.
Sadly most suggestions take a lot longer than you would think to implement correctly, polish, iterate on, and then QA before it gets into the game.
undrinkableFB on the number of people on HoN team
Right around 50 in the office currently (46, if you want an exact number). We also have several recurring contractors for various departments.
We've grown quite alot since last year! I was the first person hired after the move and was #35, and we've been adding more and more ever since!
Mr_Jokes on any specific plans for South American players
In an effort to accommodate gold purchases from Latin American players, we are working on implementing transactions through Boa Compra.
Malloc on Matchmaking Algorithm
The matchmaking algorithm will take a group and try to match it with other groups with the same options. If there are several that overlap it will random between the options.
The matchmaking algorithm is something we're taking a look at optimizing and reworking. That kind of feature is pretty popular and has obvious player benefits, and will be something that's considered in this process. As with all development, we'll make a decision based on it's pros and cons.
Woodshed on New Player Retention
New player retention is our primary concern, and we're working on several projects that focus on this, including ways to ease players into the HoN experience and reduce toxicity.
Woodshed on Campaign Modes
We would love to do a campaign mode. It's a feature we've talked about and iterated on for a while, but there aren't any plans to develop a campaign mode at this time.
AceJr on if there are any possible plans on making different regions being playable
There are no plans as of right now to make it possible to play between two different regions.
MrBenLIVE on Future of Heroes of Newerth
Frostburn and Garena have opened a lot of doors for more and better art resources. Our teams have created a lot of great concepts for heroes and avatars, as well as some awesome illustrations. I'm looking forward to getting them to share with you guys, and for it to keep getting better!
undrinkableFB added - It has opened alot of doors for Frostburn, and the game, in general. We've been given an opportunity to build an amazing studio, which has allowed us to invest alot in our team. The game would literally be nothing without the people who work here, so giving back to them starts this cycle of happy people who want to create great things.
Malloc on Custom Maps
There are a number of complications with allowing players to host their own custom maps. Just one of them is that the scripting system we've created is very powerful, and can be used to (intentionally or unintentionally) do malicious things to players and servers. This basically means that we need to do something to ensure that our players aren't subject to that.
Our current options are to work with developers and polish/audit their works to bring quality up to standards and ensure that everything will be A-OK, or do a considerable amount of work to develop or maintain a "safe" version of scripting language for content creators to use.
Presently we're working with content creators through Sol's Theatre! (We've already seen some of the maps from that program debut). In the end we are continuing to iterate on our process and find optimal solutions for everyone.
NthLink on Loosing players with changes that make HoN friendly for casual gamers
There is always a risk when making changes to an established game, but there are ways to certainly enhance the new player experience without compromising HoN's hardcore appeal.
MrBenLIVE on the difference in working under Frostburn Studios than S2
Working at Frostburn is great! Garena cares a lot of the product and is empowering us to make great changes for the good (at least on the art front, since that's the team I am on.
MrBenLIVE on whereabouts of KraQueen
She is in the process of being illustrated and polished. She'll be out when she is completely ready!
There were also a couple of light-hearted fun questions to which the FB staff responded with some very exciting answers. Interesting things to read are the toast-based recipes, favorite heroes, changing reddit usernames to not include 'S2' anymore, Frostburn company logo and who is the sexiest person in the office.
Bonus points go to undrinkablefb for owning a Cassie Calamity sunder plushie and wishing for Nathon Fillion to lend his voice to HoN.
You can read the AMA reddit by clicking here
HAPPY HONIVERSARY!