Lock Pick Mode

[terryble]

Just after the bloodbath of DreamHoN comes Lock Pick, the official competitive mode for HoN. This cutthroat mode takes the hero pool to the next level. Unlike the traditional pool, Lock Pick features a "Locked Hero Pool" of six heroes. Of the six, four must be picked in the end. Every action during the picking phase will be done by each team’s captain.

The order of actions each captain will take is as follows:



Two blind bans. These function exactly as they do in Mid Wars
"Lock" three Heroes. These six Heroes make up the "Locked Hero Pool" and are unbannable and picked at the conclusion of the Picking Phase
Ban three Heroes
Pick three Heroes
Pick two Heroes from the "Locked Hero Pool". Your team is not limited to picking from the Heroes only your team "Locked", you can freely pick from any of the six. Two heroes from the "Locked Hero Pool" will remain unpicked
Players may not Ready Up until all ten players have a Hero
You may still Swap with teammates at any time


This new style of picking will create a unique battle lineup for every game. Some teams may decide to pick universal heros that they know they can dominate and others may pick heroes that throw a curveball into the game play.

Check out Lock Pick’s introduction video here: http://youtu.be/dnuAb_-SFAo

[Death_Rattle]

It is interesting to say the least. It will be exciting to see how it plays out.

[RiddyDee]

just watched the video. a little too complex for my liking. but prob wont play it much anyways

[BeenGaming]

Seems like a great solution to the "all competitive games are the same" criticism. Nice work.

[haddon]

So you have to pick heroes from a "locked pool" that both teams have a hand in creating?

i'd be interested to see how this turns out.

[SomaZ]

Can someone please explain how can a person be retarded enough to think that it's "just like" Dota's Captain's mode? Or are they just trolling?

Either way, awesome new mode WOOOHOOO!

[WolfWood23]

Good Good Good.... What else... Oh yeah i know, GOOD !!!

[innova3]

looks interesting,a lot more complex than the banning pick.
i liked it a lot.

[Anchovies]

It'll be fun to see heroes like damp, bloodhunter, rampage, blitz get put in the locked pool!

[sixtyyy]

never seen anything so random

[KawaiChan]

Ermm......good job S2. Question: Why took so long to introduce this?

[DutchFlame]

seems bad because the player who picks could be retarded as hell and don't know what he is doing and picking scout and wildsoul for example..

[PeKingDuck]

Expected a balance patch or a mmr compresion/rework but this will also do it :cool:

[The_Karcher]

This... could be very interesting. Can't wait to see how this pans out

[SmashNess]

Hummmm im unsure about this.

There's SO MANY phases. For competitive may be a good option to give it a fresh air, but really for any other public will be a failure. Imagine playing in Matchmaking this mode. You are not blue, and blue gets to decide himself what the team will play and will ignore his allies onto their preferences. Then, after some disencouraging minutes waiting for the start, someome leaves/dc, or you get stomped bc team heroes don't match players expertises. Will you want to endure all those thousand pick phases again and be unsure if it will be worth it anyday? I don't think so.

Will be only something for a 5 man group. If it is, then it's fine. Still, very limited for public.

[lecrash]

seems bad because the player who picks could be retarded as hell and don't know what he is doing and picking scout and wildsoul for example..

This is a bit impossible. Since the only way to get into the Lock Pick mode in TMM, is to have a FULL 5 man team. Therefore, if someone does that, then they meant to do it, or are just trolling their team.

[Nalenthios]

Looks interesting. Wonder how this turns out.

[Vinne]

if this is 5man only, its good but for public it will suck...


also will s2 bribe competetive teams to use this? i think they will stick with good ol' banning pick. if this post gets removed i will consider that as a yes.

[man_guy]

Hon Tour really coming soon.

[embrance]

Thats a good change.No more all carry teams.

[innova3]

its wasnt developed to be famous for public games lol.
thats mid wards just like they said.
thats specifically for the comp scene bros.

[Mentonin]

Hummmm im unsure about this.

There's SO MANY phases. For competitive may be a good option to give it a fresh air, but really for any other public will be a failure. Imagine playing in Matchmaking this mode. You are not blue, and blue gets to decide himself what the team will play and will ignore his allies onto their preferences. Then, after some disencouraging minutes waiting for the start, someome leaves/dc, or you get stomped bc team heroes don't match players expertises. Will you want to endure all those thousand pick phases again and be unsure if it will be worth it anyday? I don't think so.

Will be only something for a 5 man group. If it is, then it's fine. Still, very limited for public.


seems bad because the player who picks could be retarded as hell and don't know what he is doing and picking scout and wildsoul for example..

guys, remembering, it is something focused, very very focused actually, into competitive play. You should play it only in 5 man closed teams, so you can agree with blue. S2 does enphasize it is something competitive focused, can't you even watch the video before complaining?

[Sliceofice]

This might turn into something great. I'm just worried that this will lead to some certain heroes getting picked alot, because of the locking phase being before the banning phase.

[Nospheratu]

I don't understand it yet, but it seems quite useful for usage in the competitive scene; hope it will be well received! And GZ on the new game mode, S2^^

[Epidemilk]

Cool, how long you think til we get to watch the first tournament in this mode

[Jeroz]

S2 should do an exhibition match as well like the last time they upgraded the Spec UI

[Gimlyly]

I can't wait
for all of the salty rage.

edit: for when this mode cuts some teams up. "Hey guys lock magmus he's the best" --> then other team picks it. ALL THE RAGE

[Inomares]

Lots of you seem to be missing an important thing: You can only queue lockpick as a group of five!

[man_guy]

Presuming the animation from the video is correct...
Legion|Hellbourne
Blind Ban Phase
1,2|1,2
Lock phase
1|_
_|1,2
2,3|_
_|3
Ban Phase
1|_
_|1
2|_
_|2
3|_
_|3
Pick Phase
1|_
_|1,2
2,3|_
_|3
Lock Picking Phase
4|_
_|4,5
5|_
The thing to take away from it at the moment is first pick gets first pick in all phases and gets last pick, but the last pick is bound by the last 3 remaining from the lock pool. The team without first pick always gets the first two pairs.

[X_Lanthos]

Lock pick looks sick!
Wish I had 5 mates to play with :P

[Rikomi]

I think you might be able to screw Legion over as Hellbourne if you lock 3 really bad heroes, then pick 2 of their heroes they locked, which forces them to pick the last hero from your sabotaged locked hero pool. If that makes any sense... now I just need to find 3 useless heroes.

[Vredezbyrd]

Looks like I'm getting my guys back into HoN. Best mode I've seen yet.

[Alaitoc]

Looks epic S2, good way to revamp the comp. scene in HoN. I can see myself playing this with the Immortals.

[Hsssh]

Cool, how long you think til we get to watch the first tournament in this mode

I think it takes around same time as current BP, might be slightly longer but not by much.

[Draconid]

Guys
the most interesting thing of lock pick mode is that
ALL LOW TIER HERO will suddenly appear in the competitive scene

why?
because I can lock 3 rare/shitty hero and pick your locked good hero

finally forcing you to pick a unknown random hero

or both team doing the same trolling/interesting thing
then both team got at least 2 rare hero

although the usual case should be that 2/6 hero inside are good and 4/6 of them are rare

I can see so much rage are upcoming
And damn
S2 is really such a strong trolling company

and this highly increase the hero shown up in competitive matches

[Skyve]

I think it takes around same time as current BP, might be slightly longer but not by much.

I think you misinterpreted his question. He asked when to expect seeing the mode used in a tournament.

[Draconid]

I think you might be able to screw Legion over as Hellbourne if you lock 3 really bad heroes, then pick 2 of their heroes they locked, which forces them to pick the last hero from your sabotaged locked hero pool. If that makes any sense... now I just need to find 3 useless heroes.

At first i thought this is true
but if you see the lock phase sequence
LHHLLH <- you should understand it
it is not the case

If i am Legion and seeing you lock 2 "bad" hero
i will lock 2 more "bad" hero for you too
and see who have even worse hero
at least i have a good one

finally the usual case should be what i said previously

[Magesunite]

I assume it will not need game tokens?

[nethergate]

Seems very, very good and interesting idea on paper. We'll see if it works out well, gj s2

[raeque]

at least we have now 10 bans. sounds like a good plan

[SomaZ]

Oh man, why make it 5 man only? I'd solo queue for this mode gladly :(

[BloOd`8o8`]

Oh yeah! can't wait to get my first hand on it.

[Sk0ld]

Drafting just became harder than playing the actual game ! JK I don't know anything about picking heroes.

[Millikin]

Oh man, why make it 5 man only? I'd solo queue for this mode gladly :(
Probably because to totaly rely on blue/pink with 2 bans, 3locks and then 3 banns again without consorting with your team sucks. And just because you are blue/pink doesn't mean **** about how good of a drafter you are... only how "skilled" you are on playing your prefered heroes.

[Rkey]

This seems really good, I'm not done thinking yet but I feel like you can force picks to the enemy with this lock picking mode by watching what they lock, locking accordingly and banning accordingly.

[Biffo]

Ok but... why did they remove banning pick mode?

[Jeroz]

they removed Ban Draft, the one with a random smaller pool of heroes

[MrKrane]

Why would they not let cm players use it AND take away a game mode, it's impossible to get a banning pick game in both modes, GREAT choice s2 -.-

[DOGKaiser]

Oh man, why make it 5 man only? I'd solo queue for this mode gladly :(

There were multiple reasons why we chose to remove it from solo queue.
1. There is a large amount of trolling that would happen
2. It is a competitive mode and focuses on the competitive aspects of the game.
3. Gives competitive teams and teams trying to join the competitive scene a good place to scrim
4. Competitive modes generally have less play numbers, by limiting it to only 5 man queue's you encourage more players to create those 5 man team's to keep it surviving as a competitive game mode.
5. And the one that means the most to me: It creates a better atmosphere, players will be encouraged to get along with other members in order to continue to play the mode

[SomaZ]

4. Competitive modes generally have less play numbers, by limiting it to only 5 man queue's you encourage more players to create those 5 man team's to keep it surviving as a competitive game mode.

This is the only point that I don't consider complete bs. All the other points are made up/unimportant (trolling is easily fixable by separating the 5 man teams from others).


So, basically, you're forcing people to create teams which will hopefully improve the competitive scene. Smart I suppose.

[Pwnograhpy]

Won't they ban the heroes they definitely don't want the enemy to possibly first pick or end up second picking then the heroes they don't want to possibly end up getting stuck with as such in the 2 good heroes and 4 bad heroes set up?

[ProtoProtoss]

Won't they ban the heroes they definitely don't want the enemy to possibly first pick or end up second picking then the heroes they don't want to possibly end up getting stuck with as such in the 2 good heroes and 4 bad heroes set up?http://imageshackz.com/images/hon.jpg

Generally, people just look at the top players most played chars and ban them so they can't use them, or they ban annoying heroes that ks or can kill from retarded distances or massive harass.

I do they it was nice the way they introduced Lock Pick though, but it's just annoying long of a process from the looks of it. I'm about to go test it now though, but it looked great in the vids... just slow. Hopefully it has the option to play lock pick or regular, as I won't always feel like going through that process.

[`Beast``]

Looks pretty awesome, alot of mind games before that game actually starts.

[Daaaaaaaark]

There were multiple reasons why we chose to remove it from solo queue.
1. There is a large amount of trolling that would happen
2. It is a competitive mode and focuses on the competitive aspects of the game.
3. Gives competitive teams and teams trying to join the competitive scene a good place to scrim
4. Competitive modes generally have less play numbers, by limiting it to only 5 man queue's you encourage more players to create those 5 man team's to keep it surviving as a competitive game mode.
5. And the one that means the most to me: It creates a better atmosphere, players will be encouraged to get along with other members in order to continue to play the mode

to:
1.: u should know that could be the case if u thumb up the mode - if u dont want to dare it dont just dont play the mode then

2.: ? i dont understand why playing as 5 makes it more competetive. u will win with 5 random 1700ish ppl most likely against 5 friends with 1400 who use skype

3.: yes true but where is the reason not to let solo queuer or 2 man teams experience the same thing? its not like making it possible for soloers to play the mode kills the fun for 5 man teams?

4.: so to play that mode im forced to ask the chat if there are 4 other ppl who want to play lock pick with me (for example late at night when none of my m8s is online)?

5.: im not sure if u consider it being a good atmosphere to play a "competetive" mode with ur FRIENDS - well if i play with my friends i usually dont want to be the tryhard guy who wants to make sure to win - ofc winning is cool but if u play with ur friends the playing itself should be the main aspect why u play - and not to win imo

if u consider all of these ull notice there is nearly no reason not to let for example 4 man groups play lock picking
and if u fear being trolled DONT tick it.

[Abster]

wow this is so amazing.
Whole new level of mind games to be played with this new picking mode

You can prevent heros from being banned, bait picks, force picks and even reveal or fake part of your strat etc etc.

As others have said, it will be really interesting to see how this pans out.


S2 if your looking for feedback regarding the 5 man only thing - I think if you make it optional for solo queue (as in thumb up or down) i see no reason not to allow it. Forcing (not 'encouraging') the community to create 5 man teams isn't gonna work as people who want to play competitively already do unless they cannot invest enough time...

[Gorb]

This is the only point that I don't consider complete bs. All the other points are made up/unimportant (trolling is easily fixable by separating the 5 man teams from others).

So, basically, you're forcing people to create teams which will hopefully improve the competitive scene. Smart I suppose.
Would you like to explain on how they are "bs", or are you content with a throwaway line of dismissal?

[SomaZ]

Would you like to explain on how they are "bs", or are you content with a throwaway line of dismissal?

I kind of did, but ok.

1. There is a large amount of trolling that would happen
Trolling is fixed by separating 5 man teams from other queuers. Trolling occurs in other modes as well but I don't see AP being disabled for Solo Queue because of that.

2. It is a competitive mode and focuses on the competitive aspects of the game.
It's a competitive mode... Erm... Ok? So what? A really weird reason that has very little to do with disabling it for randoms.

3. Gives competitive teams and teams trying to join the competitive scene a good place to scrim
Again, separate 5 man teams and they will have their "scrims" and "competitive experience", not a good reason to lock other players out.

4. Competitive modes generally have less play numbers, by limiting it to only 5 man queue's you encourage more players to create those 5 man team's to keep it surviving as a competitive game mode.
Good reason to force the creation of teams, like I said. Only "good" point, even though questionable.

5. And the one that means the most to me: It creates a better atmosphere, players will be encouraged to get along with other members in order to continue to play the mode
"Atmosphere". This is pretty much the same as point 2. Very vague and unrelated.


Sorry, I'm just stating my opinion.

Edit: Here's a better way to put this so you understand what I mean:
I can use all 5 of the above "reasons" on any game mode with the same results.
For example for All Pick:
1. Trolling can occur because people can pick what they want (nh, scout) without asking their team.
Reasons 2-5 can be used if I make the mode competitive-only.

[Durandal_]

So like

Why can't you pick any new heroes for people that have them?

[Ryuusan]

So like

Why can't you pick any new heroes for people that have them?

The game is based in tournament mode. This means only heroes that have been added to the mode will be able to be picked. New heroes and items (eg. EA/ grave's locket) cannot be picked. This is the mode that competitions and professional players abide by.

I haven't tried it, but I assume mods don't work either?

[Baer]

Maybe you should do an interview with some competitive players, where they give us their opinion about the new mode.

[londoahv]

2. It is a competitive mode and focuses on the competitive aspects of the game.
It's a competitive mode... Erm... Ok? So what? A really weird reason that has very little to do with disabling it for randoms.


This point imho has a lot to do with allowing only 5-man teams to join it. I will say ahead that I would like to be able to join it solo, but i wholeheartedly understand why it's 5-man only. If it werent 5-man only, you would get more of the people who just play it for fun and just wont put in the effort to win. Odds are you get that 1 mid hero that says "i'm done" right after giving away fb, or you get people who don't ward or, dare I say it, counterward and start calling people who do as tryhards. Making this 5v5 only pretty much forces each team to play tryhard, and a lot of people who would otherwise join it just aren't able to play like that.

Aside from that, the mode seems to encourage thinking of your team composition ahead of time, and you pretty much can't do that with randoms as you won't know their hero role strenghts an weaknesses. Granted, this happens in other modes as well, but as this is labelled as "competitive mode", neither side will really enjoy a game where 1 team has great composition and the other team is composed of 5 melee hardcarrys. The overall match quality drops like that.

[Iceman_mat]

Just after the bloodbath of DreamHoN comes Lock Pick, the official competitive mode for HoN. This cutthroat mode takes the hero pool to the next level. Unlike the traditional pool, Lock Pick features a "Locked Hero Pool" of six heroes. Of the six, four must be picked in the end. Every action during the picking phase will be done by each team’s captain.

The order of actions each captain will take is as follows:



Two blind bans. These function exactly as they do in Mid Wars
"Lock" three Heroes. These six Heroes make up the "Locked Hero Pool" and are unbannable and picked at the conclusion of the Picking Phase
Ban three Heroes
Pick three Heroes
Pick two Heroes from the "Locked Hero Pool". Your team is not limited to picking from the Heroes only your team "Locked", you can freely pick from any of the six. Two heroes from the "Locked Hero Pool" will remain unpicked
Players may not Ready Up until all ten players have a Hero
You may still Swap with teammates at any time


This new style of picking will create a unique battle lineup for every game. Some teams may decide to pick universal heros that they know they can dominate and others may pick heroes that throw a curveball into the game play.

Check out Lock Pick’s introduction video here: http://youtu.be/dnuAb_-SFAo


So if I am understanding this correctly

Any new modes will mainly be focused on competive play, which is a low %
The public player base is now just atm's (micro store - buy to win!)
Anything otherwise doesn't matter.

I would say s2'ed but this is pretty much a market trend. Way to keep status quo.


I mean to me it does seem a lot of pointless steps to ban 10 hero's and have 2 people pick randomly from 6 (which they don't have to do). Seems like an attempt to combine Random draft and all pick.

[Popopidopop]

This is a great mixup to play competitive while still getting less popular heroes in the pool ...
Since the captain makes the team pick a solid lineup would be great for pubgames, BUTBUTBUTBUT!!!

U need 4 friends to f**cken play it!@#$!

If u have 4 friends u dont need to force your teammates to play heroes that fit the lineup its when you are playing with pubbie retards u need it so u dont end up with 5 carries or no carries!
Jesus S2 dont u get the point?!

Give smart competitive ppl who might not have too many friends playing the same game (or just friends being currently offline) a chance to play a solid game without getting raped by the retardation of the heard of players who dont think when they are picking their hero.

[Katieeee]

So if I am understanding this correctly

Any new modes will mainly be focused on competive play, which is a low %
The public player base is now just atm's (micro store - buy to win!)
Anything otherwise doesn't matter.

I would say s2'ed but this is pretty much a market trend. Way to keep status quo.


I mean to me it does seem a lot of pointless steps to ban 10 hero's and have 2 people pick randomly from 6 (which they don't have to do). Seems like an attempt to combine Random draft and all pick.

Any new modes? What about Mid Wars? :B

[_Kaiser]

only with a full team! that it's a real team battle

gj s2

ps: i need buy some tokens :S

[MushidoZ]

Seems like a really nice addition to the game.. However, I am also iffy about the forced all 5-man team. I understand entirely why it's made that way, and I somehow have to agree with the points brought up by Kaizer. However, I am also screwed up by the fact I cannot join the game, faulty of not adding "friends", having real life friends that actually like playing this game.

I am not sure how much is listened to from the community (at least don't that don't play competitive), but I would side with one of the recommendations here to allow for a "Check" option where you can choose whether you fight ONLY against 5 man team, or if you don't mind fighting against random loose-bullet teams. That way, the competitive players or those who have a team can still benefit from the mode, while the rest could still enjoy this amazing mode that will make it so the heroes that shine the least are gonna be discovered and played.

ALSO, I have to say I am smiling over the actual fact that when a nerf / buff is proposed to a hero, there is always an army of people crying and saying the hero is fine, as ALL heroes are balanced and fine. Seems we get a lot of "Let them pick bad heroes" comments here. Hypocrisy at its best ^^

[Foerdifuxx]

I like the new mode, its a great addition to the already existing Mode-Pool.

...but why no BD-Mode anymore? :(
because of the missing space in the interface??? :arma:

[Skyve]

I like the new mode, its a great addition to the already existing Mode-Pool.

...but why no BD-Mode anymore? :(
because of the missing space in the interface??? :arma:

I guess it's a little bit of that and the fact that is hardly saw any use.

[Iceman_mat]

Any new modes? What about Mid Wars? :B

Mid wars isn't a new mode, it is a single lane map.

New mode?

Heroes of newearth - capture the flag. Flag captures damage enemy bases. Can be done on mid, 3v3 or 5v5 maps. Flag captures damage buildings respectivly. 10 caps win (or set by players). Just an Idea


-Cheers

[DutchFlame]

This is a bit impossible. Since the only way to get into the Lock Pick mode in TMM, is to have a FULL 5 man team. Therefore, if someone does that, then they meant to do it, or are just trolling their team.

no because sometimes TMM games are made with random people from chat channels.

[BigBadBurger]

Loving lockpick!!!!!!!

[Stitch3s]

Awesome change !

[Iriis]

this is like 5v5 team match like training for comp games so i love the new lockpick mode they got.

[hMY`]

This Mode is More Fun imo..