Ask S2Games Updated 26/02/12

When's the vindicator rework coming?  by [E]FinalChapter 


Vindicator has been in flux for a long time. His rework was supposed to go into the game a few weeks ago but ended up being changed again at the last second and is still undergoing testing.

The main point of the rework is to make the hero less frustrating to play against while still keeping his relative strength. Sage's Lore is a great example of this. The spell is ridiculous early game and makes laning against Vindicator a chore. Then it becomes almost useless late game. The reworked Vindicator is far better than the old version and will surely make a lot of you happy when it gets released.


Now what items are S2 most looking at?  by [CVT]PzKw 

At the moment, the designers are still looking closely at Helm of the Black Legion. It recently received a major rework and thus they're keeping a close eye on it to see if it requires any more adjustments.

Which heroes does S2 feel need the most balancing atm?
What function does the Balance thread hold considering there have been threads about heroes for ages, but no balance change. Is it just for fun or does actually S2 really check them out?  by [P5F]Mr`Imperator

We did just release a balance patch, so that gives you an idea of what we've been looking at recently. That said, I do have a little bit of interesting info for you:
The next balance patch will focus on newer heroes that haven't received much attention yet.

XanderK,
I had once heard that there was going to be a Deadwood rework around the time that Kraken got remade. I don't remember if this was just a rumor or not, but it was for real, are there plans to make that happen?  by [BPG]Jewwww

Unfortunately, the Deadwood rework has been scrapped.
As stated in the previous update, we were unable to find a good balance for him through our iterations. Unfortunately, that trend continued and he is not being reworked at this time.

As the headline says, does S2 plan to implement more Staff Of The Master amplifications? Both on older and new heroes.
Thanks for a possible answer. by [2h1]iHook
 
We definitely want to add the ability to utilize Staff of the Master to more heroes. So, we will be focusing on adding it to one hero at a time in order to have good solid testing before releasing it. Geomancer was the first hero to recieve this treatment and he now has an excellent Staff of the Master effect. Plus, it gives him another way to build him late game. 


Any status on Tutorial and practice bots? I have friends who want to learn but the most definite roadblock is the lack of such features. by Steve`Nash

As you may have seen, bots are currently under development at S2 Games! Huzzah! We're extremely excited about what adding this feature will do for HoN. It's no secret that there's a lot to take in when you're starting to play our game and it is our hope that bots will provide new players an easy transition into regular games of HoN.

Check out Maliken's post on what we're working on for more information.

SOURCE