Seibertron
08-05-2009, 06:29 PM
I have been playing HoN for about 10 games now, and one thing that has struck me is that targeting powers on friendly or enemy targets in a large melee is disproportionately difficult. It is exceedingly difficult to target a hero rather than a creep, or even target the correct faction for a power.
This is somewhat of a difficulty for strong single target heroes (Jezeriah, Night Hound, Puppet Master) who rely on being able to reliably hit single entities with their powers (Inner Light, Pounce, pretty much all powers respectively). This puts them at a strong disadvantage when facing fire and forget AoE from enemies such as Tempest, Kronos and Swiftblade, for example.
I think this could be remedied in several ways:
Firstly, a better targeting reticule could be designed for the UI. Since it only lights up when it is over a valid target, it is very easy to lose track of the targeting reticule if there is no valid target in its location.
Secondly, a better sorting algorithm for the target selection of a power could be arranged, giving more leeway to cast single target powers, in terms of picking the closest and best target. For example, Jezeriah's heal, if targeted near but not exactly on an ally in the midst of friendly creeps, it would determine that the ally is the best target for this power, as long as it was within a certain distance tolerance. I often find that I end up hitting a creep with a power intended for a hero in the same neighborhood, and this could mitigate that.
Finally, a macroing system to handle both power and target selection would be nice. I would suggest ASDF for the four heroes that are appropriate to the power (enemies for damage and debuffs, and allies for heals and buffs). These hotkeys would only be available once a power requiring a target was selected. If you hit the hotkey for a hero, your hero would try to get to range to cast the spell in question if the hotkey hero is in a known location (ie not in the fog of war). If the hero is not in a known location, the targeting reticule is kept but no action is performed.
Does anyone else have any comments or suggestions regarding this experience of being unable to properly target single target powers in large groups?
This is somewhat of a difficulty for strong single target heroes (Jezeriah, Night Hound, Puppet Master) who rely on being able to reliably hit single entities with their powers (Inner Light, Pounce, pretty much all powers respectively). This puts them at a strong disadvantage when facing fire and forget AoE from enemies such as Tempest, Kronos and Swiftblade, for example.
I think this could be remedied in several ways:
Firstly, a better targeting reticule could be designed for the UI. Since it only lights up when it is over a valid target, it is very easy to lose track of the targeting reticule if there is no valid target in its location.
Secondly, a better sorting algorithm for the target selection of a power could be arranged, giving more leeway to cast single target powers, in terms of picking the closest and best target. For example, Jezeriah's heal, if targeted near but not exactly on an ally in the midst of friendly creeps, it would determine that the ally is the best target for this power, as long as it was within a certain distance tolerance. I often find that I end up hitting a creep with a power intended for a hero in the same neighborhood, and this could mitigate that.
Finally, a macroing system to handle both power and target selection would be nice. I would suggest ASDF for the four heroes that are appropriate to the power (enemies for damage and debuffs, and allies for heals and buffs). These hotkeys would only be available once a power requiring a target was selected. If you hit the hotkey for a hero, your hero would try to get to range to cast the spell in question if the hotkey hero is in a known location (ie not in the fog of war). If the hero is not in a known location, the targeting reticule is kept but no action is performed.
Does anyone else have any comments or suggestions regarding this experience of being unable to properly target single target powers in large groups?