HoN Tour Updates

[[sG]The_Thrill]

Community,

We have seen and heard the many requests from our players for more information on HoN Tour. You must understand we have not been unresponsive in providing said information because it is fun for us. To the contrary, S2 staff and I wish to provide you with as much information as we can! However, when information is given publicly many members may take that information as promises and if that information is to change, the backlash can be more devastating than silence ever would have been. Keeping that in mind, I will attempt to provide you with as much information as possible so that you can discuss amongst yourselves the details I provide; and if you have questions you may ask them in this thread if done so in a calm and professional manner.

This update is current as of 2/2/2012.

HoN Tour is going to be amazing. I'm serious. Envision, thousands of gamers being able to compete on an almost daily basis for cash and
prizes. Teams of five held to a higher standard, competing against one another to move themselves up from event to event where the prizes
grow as well as the competition. Top teams compete against one another while underneath them the foundation of competition grows
more quickly than ever, creating new top teams, new competitive environments, and new drama. A multi-event season stretched over
a period of four months featuring online and offline play. This is the future of competitive HoN. This is the HoN Tour.

Web Development:
We have gotten a dev site up for members of S2 Staff to view and comment on as we continue to work on its front end. Our art and
coding teams have been doing an exceptional job and expect to have more functionality before the week is out. I cannot give a pinpoint
time on when this website will be available for public view, but our main focus right now is getting our teams signup portal finished so
that team captains can register themselves and get their teams going. This will likely be finished in the coming two weeks. We are currently
working on populating our FAQ page to answer as many of the common questions we can think of to avoid additional threads being
created. On the back end, our coders are working with BeyondGaming staff to ensure that the sign up process is as painless as possible.

Format:
During the HoNor II tourney we ran a Swiss format; HoN Tour will be a mix of standard brackets, group play and Swiss tournaments based on
the event you are playing in. There will be an additional points system as well, points for teams who place in the top "x" teams that can go
toward your overall ranking. These will be instrumental in determining things like seeding in higher events as well as potential to be invited
to future offline events. Currently we are determining issues related to international competition as it relates to server selection, match times,
and rescheduling.

Rosters:
Team rosters have also been a hot topic for us and it is very likely that we will enforce roster locks on teams throughout an entire season.
So when your team signs up for its first event, you will be locked with those players throughout the remainder of the season. We will
allow substitute players for each team, with a maximum number of players on each roster. There will be a minimum of 6 players required for
each team. These rules are to protect the integrity of the game (more official subs means less unofficial ringers) and try to make sure each
match starts at its designated time (if Kobe Bryant gets sick the LA Lakers cant just reschedule.) We are going to treat HoN Tour as a
professional organization, and teams/players will be held to many of the same standards professional athletes are held to.

Prizing:
For prizing, we have had many discussions on what exactly to do. Options have ranged from every player receives equal percentages
to doing the math and breaking it up based on matches participated in. But the overall consensus is the best and most efficient way to
disburse funding is to payout the captain of each team and allow them to distribute funds to their teammates. This takes a lot of pressure
off of our payment partners and allows the players to hold their team captains responsible. (Yes, we are aware of the situation that occurred
after DYA in Singapore, but this is a topic still under deliberation.)


I cannot give you guys an exact launch date, because there is a lot that must be considered when you are dealing with online international competitions. However, we will continue to make HoN Tour our focus until it is ready to launch.

I will make updates to this post as we continue to make progress.

Regards,

Phil

[Schirokko]

meh, was looking forward to announcements about rosterrules but pretty much expected this :<

[an`Arche]

Dunno if this will be enough, I just feel that too many teams already left the scene. Just think that u're too late now, though hoping for this to revive the scene.

[BaneElement]

Dunno if this will be enough, I just feel that too many teams already left the scene. Just think that u're too late now, though hoping for this to revive the scene.

Probably won't in season 1 but if it's good word will spread. Anyway I will give it a fair shot after that we will see.

[Mediocre]

Will be intresting to see if HoN-tour will be able to revive the competitive scene.

Its all about bringing the sponsors back too support teams.

which will require some $...

[[S2]Milkfat]

love you pjil

[BaneElement]

Milkfat you need a custom account icon.

[[sG]The_Thrill]

It seems as if you guys are looking at our current competitive players as the future of HoN, which is not the way things should be looked at. I love our current top tier competitors but they are not the only, nor are they the most important, piece of the puzzle when it comes to extending HoN's competitive lifespan.

I keep seeing people say "this team left, that team left" but where did they go? I have yet to see a single competitor who "left" play a legitimate match in any other game with the sole exception of Trixi and his group of players.

HoN Tour has been a long time coming, too long.. no one will disagree that it should've been launched months and months ago. But we're far away from it being too late to make an impact. Anyone who says that, and more-so if they actually believe it, doesn't understand how to think long term about the future of HoN's competitive scene.

[[iG]Sender]

Well bdiz, bleek, pig, myself have played in many dota 2 matches but I am the only one still playing hon too. ( just wanted to give some information :d)

[[EVI]Flow]

Well bdiz, bleek, pig, myself have played in many dota 2 matches but I am the only one still playing hon too. ( just wanted to give some information :d)

How about Fuji? :<

[[GuoP]NitroS]

Well bdiz, bleek, pig, myself have played in many dota 2 matches but I am the only one still playing hon too. ( just wanted to give some information :d)

why do you think anyone would care about pig or bleek they were in the competitive scene for like 2 months 2 years ago.

i will buy everyone a coin pack in this thread if you manage to make a top 10 dota 2 team.

[[BETA]Anghkor]

Sorry Phil, but could you please reformat the OP. It hurts to read.

[BaneElement]

Have they been entering tournaments, btw I thought Sender you went to dota 2 ?

[Fleiva]

But it's only natural, that after 3 years playing a game you want to test new games. I don't think anyone expects the competitive players to keep playing forever, therefore I don't understand the panic it creates when someone leaves.

Competitive scene is like an onion, you get rid of the top layer and a new top layer will surface, will it be as good as the previous top layer? Who cares, as long as there's players online there will be competition.

[[PoWe]zeNap]

How about you guys are just happy that this update was released ? Yes it's a bit late but better late than never, amirite?

[AmNeSioC]

I love HoN, best game ever seen!! u have all my support guys!! waiting for HoN tour !

[[sG]Mynuts]

Am I missing something or did we get absolutely no new information whatsoever?

[[sG]The_Thrill]

Am I missing something or did we get absolutely no new information whatsoever?

This update was meant for the general public. Most of the pro players with access to the competitors forums already have this info.

[[CHUs]uranaibaba]

This update was meant for the general public. Most of the pro players with access to the competitors forums already have this info.

guess now i know why so many pro players switch games or at least stop playing for mousepads in hon ... after so long time of waiting for hontour we get "this" information which to round it up .. is nothing new than that what we already got as information month ago.
i can agree with the players switching away from competitive hon

[OMGfriedbacn]

Am I missing something or did we get absolutely no new information whatsoever?

Thats why nobody likes this cocky pickleface and nobody watches him.

Sounds good phil, make a reputation.

Hopefully some of the said will come true.