Heroes of Newerth has switched over to a free-to-play model, developer S2 Games announced earlier today.
As typical in games which go free-to-play, there will be some restrictions, based upon what type of account you have. Here’s a breakdown of the three different accounts possible under the free-to-play system for HoN:
Standard: You know, the basic of the basics. You sign up today, without paying a dime, and you get this guy. You’ll get access to a rotating pool of fifteen free heroes, with others available for purchase.
Verified: You’ve shown some level of commitment to HoN, be it through having played a whole ton, or having dropped enough scratch to get upgraded to this status. You’ll also get access to the same rotating pool of fifteen heroes as basic accounts.
Legacy: Didja buy the game before the free-to-play model went active? Then you’re in this boat! You get all of the heroes for free, or you can purchase early access for newly released heroes. If you’re patient, though, you’ll just get the new heroes for free, anyways.
The account breakdown is not only a way of defining prestige, however, as it also will dictate who else you can play with, in order for players to be matched up with or against other players of relatively equal experience levels.
“With the transition to free-to-play we’re opening HoN up to new audiences as our players can now easily introduce the game to their friends,” said the CEO of S2 Games, Marc DeForest, in a statement released this morning. “S2 has a serious level of commitment to our players to continuously improve both the game and their experience. With the new account types and match-making standards in place, both novice and existing players will benefit from the upgraded structure.”
Perhaps this was in response to the announcement that League of Legends, another title in the Defense of the Ancients genre which works on a free-to-play model, had hit fifteen million user accounts, earlier this week? Can’t be certain, even if LoL’s numbers are pretty damned impressive.
