Patch 3.2.3: The Staff (of the Master) is back!
Patch 3.2.3 is here and brings some new Staff of the Master effects as well as item and hero balance changes!
For this patch, we took a look at some of the late game and underused items in HoN. With the recent shift toward faster paced gameplay, these items needed to be re-adjusted to become more viable. We also added some new Ultimates to the list of abilities boosted by Staff of the Master. We will be continuing to look at these types of changes for future patches.
You will also notice a few significant hero changes that are in line with our direction previously stated in the blog post for the last patch: to tone down burst damage in the game in order to increase the skill, interaction, and viability of other strategies within HoN without reducing the fast paced, action-packed gameplay that we enjoy so much.
See the patch notes for details on all of the changes, as well as be on the lookout for Circe the Deceiver in our next patch on 9/25/2013!
Patch 3.2.3 is here and brings some new Staff of the Master effects as well as item and hero balance changes!
For this patch, we took a look at some of the late game and underused items in HoN. With the recent shift toward faster paced gameplay, these items needed to be re-adjusted to become more viable. We also added some new Ultimates to the list of abilities boosted by Staff of the Master. We will be continuing to look at these types of changes for future patches.
You will also notice a few significant hero changes that are in line with our direction previously stated in the blog post for the last patch: to tone down burst damage in the game in order to increase the skill, interaction, and viability of other strategies within HoN without reducing the fast paced, action-packed gameplay that we enjoy so much.
See the patch notes for details on all of the changes, as well as be on the lookout for Circe the Deceiver in our next patch on 9/25/2013!
Community Question: MMR Change
The MMR system has been a long-standing hot topic; how would you feel if it were changed?
In our effort to continually improve Heroes of Newerth, we would like to know how you would react to such a change.
1) Resetting all MMR to 1500
2) No longer showing MMR in the lobby
3) Creating a new account progression system and account scoring
The main purpose of this would not be to create a more accurate MMR system, but to use MMR as it should be, a measure to create accurate matches, not as a score or a way to "progress" your account. We should create other systems for that purpose.
Please visit our forums to read the full post, vote, and let us know how it would impact your HoN experience!
The MMR system has been a long-standing hot topic; how would you feel if it were changed?
In our effort to continually improve Heroes of Newerth, we would like to know how you would react to such a change.
1) Resetting all MMR to 1500
2) No longer showing MMR in the lobby
3) Creating a new account progression system and account scoring
The main purpose of this would not be to create a more accurate MMR system, but to use MMR as it should be, a measure to create accurate matches, not as a score or a way to "progress" your account. We should create other systems for that purpose.
Please visit our forums to read the full post, vote, and let us know how it would impact your HoN experience!
3.2.2 Patch Insight
Hey everyone, Buro here! Patch 3.2.2 brings a couple things that I would like to explain a little, one being the courier rework, and another being a new focus on high burst damage heroes and how these changes affect other heroes.
You will all notice a difference in the UI while in-game; this is the new courier UI. It features two things: a courier status indicator as well as a new courier button. The status indicator will display what the courier is doing at all times, from delivering to player X, returning to base, idle, out (or scouting), dead, or private. You will also be able to see who is controlling the courier at all times.
The other change is the courier button. This button will be bindable and when activated will take everything from your stash and place it on the courier, deliver the item(s) to you, gaining speed boost when activated, and then return after the delivery. If the courier is already delivering to someone, the button will queue the action, having the courier do what was just stated directly after it returns from its most recent delivery. Among other benefits, this change will allow players to use the courier without ever de-selecting their hero! And for those of you who would rather use the courier how it has always been, the functionality of the courier has not changed at all.
The second thing this patch introduces is our focus on a certain type of heroes. This philosophy is shown in the nerfs to Monkey King. Patch 3.1 brought a large emphasis on ganking with the changes to hero kills. This effect has caused burst damage heroes to shine more than they already were. While we enjoy the action-packed game of HoN, and we don't wish to deviate from that, we do realize that it's time to tone down the burst damage in the game. Part of this goal is to increase the skill, interaction, and viability of other strategies within HoN. To emphasize this even more, we will be taking a look at the hero pool for heroes with low play numbers that create really good interactions and add a lot of enjoyability to the game, and seek to increase their playtime.
We hope you enjoy patch 3.2.2! Expect to see some exciting new Staff of the Master changes in the next patch on 9/11/2013 and a new hero soon to follow!
Hey everyone, Buro here! Patch 3.2.2 brings a couple things that I would like to explain a little, one being the courier rework, and another being a new focus on high burst damage heroes and how these changes affect other heroes.
You will all notice a difference in the UI while in-game; this is the new courier UI. It features two things: a courier status indicator as well as a new courier button. The status indicator will display what the courier is doing at all times, from delivering to player X, returning to base, idle, out (or scouting), dead, or private. You will also be able to see who is controlling the courier at all times.
The other change is the courier button. This button will be bindable and when activated will take everything from your stash and place it on the courier, deliver the item(s) to you, gaining speed boost when activated, and then return after the delivery. If the courier is already delivering to someone, the button will queue the action, having the courier do what was just stated directly after it returns from its most recent delivery. Among other benefits, this change will allow players to use the courier without ever de-selecting their hero! And for those of you who would rather use the courier how it has always been, the functionality of the courier has not changed at all.
The second thing this patch introduces is our focus on a certain type of heroes. This philosophy is shown in the nerfs to Monkey King. Patch 3.1 brought a large emphasis on ganking with the changes to hero kills. This effect has caused burst damage heroes to shine more than they already were. While we enjoy the action-packed game of HoN, and we don't wish to deviate from that, we do realize that it's time to tone down the burst damage in the game. Part of this goal is to increase the skill, interaction, and viability of other strategies within HoN. To emphasize this even more, we will be taking a look at the hero pool for heroes with low play numbers that create really good interactions and add a lot of enjoyability to the game, and seek to increase their playtime.
We hope you enjoy patch 3.2.2! Expect to see some exciting new Staff of the Master changes in the next patch on 9/11/2013 and a new hero soon to follow!
Report-A-Player July Statistics and Overview
Hi everyone! I'm back to give you some more Report-A-Player numbers and give helpful insight into the system to help improve the community player by player.
I'm going to start off with another brief review of the system to get everyone on the same page. We have 6 categories in which players can fall into: Chat Abuse, Feeding/Stat Manipulation, Impersonating Staff, Ability/Item Abuse, Bad Nickname/Clan name, and Avoiding AFK Detection.
To report a player, click the ban-hammer next to their name (either in-game or after the match), select the category, enter a small description and select a time. Press the submit button when you are done! As simple as that!
Each player that gets reported can have multiple tickets from different players against them which helps us determine how toxic that player can be and allows up to get to them faster. The more you report, the better the community becomes.
Exciting never-before-talked-about feature!With the latest iteration of the Report-A-Player system, we made the system more automatic, that is, some tickets are already handled before they even reach the GMs! Essentially, the system will look for players who are constantly breaking the rules and send them up to the front of the line. At the same time it looks at the players who actually had not done anything wrong, and dismisses them automatically. This allows for faster processing of tickets and a better turnaround for everyone.
Statistics Time!The RAP system automatically determined that 17% of all tickets coming in needed high priority and we were able to get those toxic players out of the game right away. Because of the automation, we were able to remove over a few thousand players to ensure better quality games for everyone.
As for reports that were forwarded from the system to the GMs - over 30,000 individual Player Reports (or Tickets as well call them) were submitted and completed for the month of July!
Here's the breakdown!Chat Abuse
Guilty: 83%
Innocent: 8%
Warned: 9%
Feeding/Stat Manipulation
Guilty: 72%
Innocent: 24%
Warned: 4%
Impersonating Staff
Guilty: 7%
Innocent: 91%
Warned: 1%
Ability/Item Abuse
Guilty: 85%
Innocent: 11%
Warned: 4%
Bad Nickname/Clan name
Guilty: 10%
Innocent: 90%
Warned: 0%
Avoiding AFK Detection
Guilty: 52%
Innocent: 42%
Warned: 6%
As I've said before, in a perfect world all of the tickets we receive would be 100% guilty, but realistically that won't happen. The more guilty reports we get, the less time we have to spend on the players who did nothing wrong, the innocent group.
I'd like to take this time to bring up some common concerns I see posted regarding the Report-A-Player system and clear up some information.
A banned player can just make a new account, so why does it matter?
We have a very low limit for the number of accounts that can be made by a single person. We use some pretty amazing tools to determine who you are, where you're playing from, and use that information to prevent account creation over our set limit. You can't just keep making accounts after you get banned.
No only that, but when you're banned, you now lose access to your valuable account. You've lost access to playing at your MMR bracket, your avatars, bonuses, essentially your identity as a HoN player.
Why don't I get an email anymore?
With the new automation of the RAP system, we don't want players to feel like their reports did nothing. Tickets that come in where the player did nothing wrong becomes automatically closed, we don't want you to feel like you've wasted your time because every report, innocent or guilty, helps the system evolve. If we start sending you an email saying your ticket was deemed innocent as soon as you send it in, you might become a bit discouraged to report in the future.
If we can work on providing higher quality reports, we can be the change in the community that we want see. We have the systems in place, we just need you to keep it up!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the RAP system feel free to head on over to the RAP Feedback Section on the forums and talk about it with Game Masters.
Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone! I'm back to give you some more Report-A-Player numbers and give helpful insight into the system to help improve the community player by player.
I'm going to start off with another brief review of the system to get everyone on the same page. We have 6 categories in which players can fall into: Chat Abuse, Feeding/Stat Manipulation, Impersonating Staff, Ability/Item Abuse, Bad Nickname/Clan name, and Avoiding AFK Detection.
To report a player, click the ban-hammer next to their name (either in-game or after the match), select the category, enter a small description and select a time. Press the submit button when you are done! As simple as that!
Each player that gets reported can have multiple tickets from different players against them which helps us determine how toxic that player can be and allows up to get to them faster. The more you report, the better the community becomes.
Exciting never-before-talked-about feature!With the latest iteration of the Report-A-Player system, we made the system more automatic, that is, some tickets are already handled before they even reach the GMs! Essentially, the system will look for players who are constantly breaking the rules and send them up to the front of the line. At the same time it looks at the players who actually had not done anything wrong, and dismisses them automatically. This allows for faster processing of tickets and a better turnaround for everyone.
Statistics Time!The RAP system automatically determined that 17% of all tickets coming in needed high priority and we were able to get those toxic players out of the game right away. Because of the automation, we were able to remove over a few thousand players to ensure better quality games for everyone.
As for reports that were forwarded from the system to the GMs - over 30,000 individual Player Reports (or Tickets as well call them) were submitted and completed for the month of July!
Here's the breakdown!Chat Abuse
Guilty: 83%
Innocent: 8%
Warned: 9%
Feeding/Stat Manipulation
Guilty: 72%
Innocent: 24%
Warned: 4%
Impersonating Staff
Guilty: 7%
Innocent: 91%
Warned: 1%
Ability/Item Abuse
Guilty: 85%
Innocent: 11%
Warned: 4%
Bad Nickname/Clan name
Guilty: 10%
Innocent: 90%
Warned: 0%
Avoiding AFK Detection
Guilty: 52%
Innocent: 42%
Warned: 6%
As I've said before, in a perfect world all of the tickets we receive would be 100% guilty, but realistically that won't happen. The more guilty reports we get, the less time we have to spend on the players who did nothing wrong, the innocent group.
I'd like to take this time to bring up some common concerns I see posted regarding the Report-A-Player system and clear up some information.
A banned player can just make a new account, so why does it matter?
We have a very low limit for the number of accounts that can be made by a single person. We use some pretty amazing tools to determine who you are, where you're playing from, and use that information to prevent account creation over our set limit. You can't just keep making accounts after you get banned.
No only that, but when you're banned, you now lose access to your valuable account. You've lost access to playing at your MMR bracket, your avatars, bonuses, essentially your identity as a HoN player.
Why don't I get an email anymore?
With the new automation of the RAP system, we don't want players to feel like their reports did nothing. Tickets that come in where the player did nothing wrong becomes automatically closed, we don't want you to feel like you've wasted your time because every report, innocent or guilty, helps the system evolve. If we start sending you an email saying your ticket was deemed innocent as soon as you send it in, you might become a bit discouraged to report in the future.
If we can work on providing higher quality reports, we can be the change in the community that we want see. We have the systems in place, we just need you to keep it up!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the RAP system feel free to head on over to the RAP Feedback Section on the forums and talk about it with Game Masters.
Thanks for reading!
Patch 3.2.1 -- Matchmaking Improvements
Hey everyone, Buro here. In this patch, 3.2.1, we have implemented quite a few changes directed at improving the matchmaking system and reducing queue times.
Persistent Groups
Two very noticeable changes we have made are the addition of persistent groups as well as queue confirmation. Now when you are matched, you will get a confirmation requiring everyone to accept the match before getting into the game; this will stop games where one player remains afk through the whole pick phase.
Ranked vs. Unranked
We have also removed basic and verified. These have been replaced with ranked and unranked matchmaking. Similar to the transfer from basic to verified, new accounts will only be able to play in unranked games until level 3, when they will then have the option to play in ranked games where MMR and stats will be tracked.
The implementation of unranked matchmaking creates a less stressful environment for new players and experienced players alike, while not mixing them with the people who are looking for serious competitive matches. This system also changes the base MMR at which accounts are introduced into ranked play. An account playing ranked matchmaking for the first time will no longer be 1500 MMR, but their MMR will be set to a value based on their performance in their first three levels of unranked play.
Reducing Queue Times
The next change that is very noticeable is the removal of a few modes previously offered in matchmaking. The modes that will be removed are: Lockpick, Core Pool, and Grimm's Crossing. These modes were causing very long wait times due to low play numbers. For those of you who enjoyed these modes, they will still be playable in public games. Also, expect Grimm's Crossing to reappear in a new form in the future.
We are also taking a look at the matchmaking algorithm itself to see if any tweaks can be made to allow faster and better matches. You can expect to see the results of this over the course of the next couple of weeks as it is being tweaked.
Balanced Random
We're trying out a replacement for All Random in the Forests of Caldavar. In matchmaking, you will now see a mode called Balanced Random. This mode, while still retaining the enjoyability of the randomness, will generate more balanced teams to play against one another. See the patch notes for more information on how Balanced Random works.
This patch is another part of our continued effort to better Heroes of Newerth. We hope that 3.2.1 will bring you a more streamlined, superior matchmaking experience! Keep looking forward to more improvements, as we have many more in store!
Added new mode to replace all random in matchmaking: Balanced Random
On each team, five different random settings will be used for picking. The slots will work as followed:
Where these slots lie on the team will also be random. (ex. Pink could random a Carry one game, but random a Support the next). If anyone repicks, it will re-random a hero from the whole pool.
Hey everyone, Buro here. In this patch, 3.2.1, we have implemented quite a few changes directed at improving the matchmaking system and reducing queue times.
Persistent Groups
Two very noticeable changes we have made are the addition of persistent groups as well as queue confirmation. Now when you are matched, you will get a confirmation requiring everyone to accept the match before getting into the game; this will stop games where one player remains afk through the whole pick phase.
Ranked vs. Unranked
We have also removed basic and verified. These have been replaced with ranked and unranked matchmaking. Similar to the transfer from basic to verified, new accounts will only be able to play in unranked games until level 3, when they will then have the option to play in ranked games where MMR and stats will be tracked.
The implementation of unranked matchmaking creates a less stressful environment for new players and experienced players alike, while not mixing them with the people who are looking for serious competitive matches. This system also changes the base MMR at which accounts are introduced into ranked play. An account playing ranked matchmaking for the first time will no longer be 1500 MMR, but their MMR will be set to a value based on their performance in their first three levels of unranked play.
Reducing Queue Times
The next change that is very noticeable is the removal of a few modes previously offered in matchmaking. The modes that will be removed are: Lockpick, Core Pool, and Grimm's Crossing. These modes were causing very long wait times due to low play numbers. For those of you who enjoyed these modes, they will still be playable in public games. Also, expect Grimm's Crossing to reappear in a new form in the future.
We are also taking a look at the matchmaking algorithm itself to see if any tweaks can be made to allow faster and better matches. You can expect to see the results of this over the course of the next couple of weeks as it is being tweaked.
Balanced Random
We're trying out a replacement for All Random in the Forests of Caldavar. In matchmaking, you will now see a mode called Balanced Random. This mode, while still retaining the enjoyability of the randomness, will generate more balanced teams to play against one another. See the patch notes for more information on how Balanced Random works.
This patch is another part of our continued effort to better Heroes of Newerth. We hope that 3.2.1 will bring you a more streamlined, superior matchmaking experience! Keep looking forward to more improvements, as we have many more in store!
Added new mode to replace all random in matchmaking: Balanced Random
On each team, five different random settings will be used for picking. The slots will work as followed:
- Random from the pool of Carries
- Random from the pool of Initiators
- Random from the pool of Gankers
- Random from the pool of Supports
- Random from all heroes (this will random from either melee, ranged, or all heroes depending on the makeup of the previous four randoms)
Where these slots lie on the team will also be random. (ex. Pink could random a Carry one game, but random a Support the next). If anyone repicks, it will re-random a hero from the whole pool.
GenHon Amateur Online Tournament Announced
GenHon Amateur Online Tournament Announced
Today, Honcast announced the first ever GenHon online tournament. The 32 team, single elimination tournament will run from Aug 13 to 16 at 3pm EDT, and feature a 15,000 gold coin prize pool. A four-team, double elimination final will take place on Aug 17 at 1pm EDT.
To reserve your spot, assemble your five-man roster and head over to the HoN forums.
Be sure to tune in to Honcast on Aug. 16th to catch all the action!
GenHon Amateur Online Tournament Announced
Today, Honcast announced the first ever GenHon online tournament. The 32 team, single elimination tournament will run from Aug 13 to 16 at 3pm EDT, and feature a 15,000 gold coin prize pool. A four-team, double elimination final will take place on Aug 17 at 1pm EDT.
To reserve your spot, assemble your five-man roster and head over to the HoN forums.
Be sure to tune in to Honcast on Aug. 16th to catch all the action!
Patch 3.2 Bringing Exciting Changes
Patch 3.2 is on its way! In two weeks you can expect to see a significant number of exciting gameplay changes. This patch will feature a few major hero changes that truly show our continuing effort to create diversity within HoN's hero pool. 3.2 will also bring a few Mid-Wars changes that will address some community concerns and add a little more excitement to the mode!
So stay tuned for updates and teasers on the patch as it nears release, and be sure to visit the forums to keep up with the latest discussions.
-Buro
07/12/2013 9:25 AM Topic: Development
Patch 3.2 is on its way! In two weeks you can expect to see a significant number of exciting gameplay changes. This patch will feature a few major hero changes that truly show our continuing effort to create diversity within HoN's hero pool. 3.2 will also bring a few Mid-Wars changes that will address some community concerns and add a little more excitement to the mode!
So stay tuned for updates and teasers on the patch as it nears release, and be sure to visit the forums to keep up with the latest discussions.
-Buro
07/12/2013 9:25 AM Topic: Development
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Community Bot Development moves to GitHub
Hey guys, I'm [S2]malloc. I've been a programmer on HoN for over 2 years now, and I was the one who wrote the majority of HoN's bot code. I'm also the S2 liaison for and manager of the Community Bot Team.
As many of you know, the Community Bot Team is a group of community members who work with developers in the community to create and refine new hero bots, behaviors, and AI fixes into HoN.
So far you've seen much of their and the community's work implemented in HoN; the Amun-Ra, Rhapsody, Soul Reaper, and Engineer bots are all works of community ingenuity! But there's been issues with our submission process, as well as the way we were managing code before. It had created a large hurdle between code being accepted and code being integrated into the game (especially for smaller projects and fixes). That's why we sat down and refined our process, but most importantly decided to move the code to GitHub.
GitHub is an online, open-source code management system that makes it much easier for the Bot Team to work with community developers and their code. It allows them to more easily merge changes from community projects into their code base, which in turn makes it easier for me to work with them to get it into S2's code base. It also makes the whole process much more transparent to everyone, and is very easy to use.
Basically, it makes it easier for your code to get into the game. The easier that is, the more changes and improvements the bots will get (and the more rewards go to the authors).
We've set up some posts to help everyone get set up with GitHub, as well as updated our submission posts to make it as clear as possible how your code gets into the game.
For those that don't want to use GitHub directly, a forum-based review will still be supported; once your forum-review is complete, the reviewer will integrate your code into the GitHub repo.
So let's get started creating awesome AI! Visit the Bot Forum, or join the conversation on IRC.
07/11/2013 4:51 PM Topic: Community
Hey guys, I'm [S2]malloc. I've been a programmer on HoN for over 2 years now, and I was the one who wrote the majority of HoN's bot code. I'm also the S2 liaison for and manager of the Community Bot Team.
As many of you know, the Community Bot Team is a group of community members who work with developers in the community to create and refine new hero bots, behaviors, and AI fixes into HoN.
So far you've seen much of their and the community's work implemented in HoN; the Amun-Ra, Rhapsody, Soul Reaper, and Engineer bots are all works of community ingenuity! But there's been issues with our submission process, as well as the way we were managing code before. It had created a large hurdle between code being accepted and code being integrated into the game (especially for smaller projects and fixes). That's why we sat down and refined our process, but most importantly decided to move the code to GitHub.
GitHub is an online, open-source code management system that makes it much easier for the Bot Team to work with community developers and their code. It allows them to more easily merge changes from community projects into their code base, which in turn makes it easier for me to work with them to get it into S2's code base. It also makes the whole process much more transparent to everyone, and is very easy to use.
Basically, it makes it easier for your code to get into the game. The easier that is, the more changes and improvements the bots will get (and the more rewards go to the authors).
We've set up some posts to help everyone get set up with GitHub, as well as updated our submission posts to make it as clear as possible how your code gets into the game.
For those that don't want to use GitHub directly, a forum-based review will still be supported; once your forum-review is complete, the reviewer will integrate your code into the GitHub repo.
So let's get started creating awesome AI! Visit the Bot Forum, or join the conversation on IRC.
07/11/2013 4:51 PM Topic: Community
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The last of the Sang-La warriors has descended! Join Jeet Kune Dragon in his search for the Jade Scriptures.
This master of hand-to-hand combat studied with the Sang-La Warrior monks and learned to move like water upon the battlefield, smashing faces with a flurry of punches, kicks, and nunchaku!
Available now in the HoN store!
This master of hand-to-hand combat studied with the Sang-La Warrior monks and learned to move like water upon the battlefield, smashing faces with a flurry of punches, kicks, and nunchaku!
Available now in the HoN store!
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Tangseng is a young, naive, and compassionate monk from beyond the Sang-La Mountains, journeying west to collect ancient scriptures that may be the key to defeating the Hellbourne. He'll need help from the Legion, especially once the daemons learn eating Tangseng's flesh could grant immortality.
The newest Martyr Alt Avatar Tangseng is available now in the HoN Store!
The newest Martyr Alt Avatar Tangseng is available now in the HoN Store!
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Are You Ready for HoN Tour Season 2?
S2 Games, in partnership with Garena and Axeso5, is pleased to announce HoN Tour Season 2 with a global prizepool of $360,000. After a 7 month season, teams from around the world will meet in Southeast Asia to compete in the International Grand Finals that boasts a $150,000 prizepool. Stay tuned for more information!
Registration for season two opens on Friday July 12th, 2013 at 5:00 PM EDT(23:00 CEST). The qualifiers begin on Saturday, July 27th, and last until August 8th. Cycle one of HoN Tour Season 2 will begin on August 10th! More information will be available on Friday, July 12th.
Visit www.Hontour.com to stay up to date on all of the HoN Tour news!
07/03/2013 4:07 PM Topic: eSports
S2 Games, in partnership with Garena and Axeso5, is pleased to announce HoN Tour Season 2 with a global prizepool of $360,000. After a 7 month season, teams from around the world will meet in Southeast Asia to compete in the International Grand Finals that boasts a $150,000 prizepool. Stay tuned for more information!
Registration for season two opens on Friday July 12th, 2013 at 5:00 PM EDT(23:00 CEST). The qualifiers begin on Saturday, July 27th, and last until August 8th. Cycle one of HoN Tour Season 2 will begin on August 10th! More information will be available on Friday, July 12th.
Visit www.Hontour.com to stay up to date on all of the HoN Tour news!
07/03/2013 4:07 PM Topic: eSports
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Report-A-Player Statistics and Overview
Hi everyone! Feanux here, looking to bring you the latest Report-A-Player (RAP) statistics and provide some monthly insight.
First off I'd like to give a brief overview of the RAP system so we're all on the same page. We have 6 negative categories in which players can fall into: Chat Abuse, Feeding/Stat Manipulation, Impersonating Staff, Ability/Item Abuse, Bad Nickname/Clan name, and Avoiding AFK Detection.
To report someone, simply click on the ban-hammer next to their name (either in-game or after the match), select the category, enter a small description and select a time. Press the submit button when you are done and you're one step closer to helping improve the community.
Each player reported can have multiple tickets from different players against them, and they should! This helps us to determine who the repeat offenders are and get them out of the game as soon as possible; the more you report the sooner they're gone.
Let's get into some of the statistics to see where we stand for the month of June.
Well over 25,000 individual Player Reports (or Tickets as well call them) were submitted and completed for last month. Here's a breakdown of how the categories looked:
Chat Abuse
Guilty: 81%
Innocent: 11%
Warned: 8%
Feeding/Stat Manipulation
Guilty: 75%
Innocent: 23%
Warned: 2%
Impersonating Staff
Guilty: 27%
Innocent: 70%
Warned: 3%
Ability/Item Abuse
Guilty: 73%
Innocent: 19%
Warned: 8%
Bad Nickname/Clan name
Guilty: 16%
Innocent: 84%
Warned: 0%
Avoiding AFK Detection
Guilty: 53%
Innocent: 38%
Warned: 9%
Ideally we would like to see all of the tickets we receive to be 100% guilty, but realistically that won't happen. Why 100% guilty you might ask? Well, the more guilty reports we get, the less time we have to spend on the players who did nothing wrong, the innocent group. The faster we can do reports of other guilty players the sooner they become suspended and learn their lesson.
Let's look at some of the categories with high innocent percentages and see what we can do to make those better.
Impersonating Staff - Remember to report these players who say they are a staff member (or GM) and will ban you (real staff won't say that!). Or maybe their best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who knows Maliken and will get you banned (whew!). Someone saying you're going to get banned for breaking the rules isn't going to be a guilty offence, but them telling you they will ban you is.
Bad Nickname/Clan name - These accounts and clans should be reported if their names are not safe for work and/or are meant to be directly offensive. While I can't give direct examples of what the bad nicknames would be, anything vulgar, racially, or ethnically offensive are not allowed.
If we can work on providing higher quality reports, we can be the change in the community that we want see. We have the systems in place, we just need you to keep it up!
If you have any questions or concerns about the RAP system feel free to head on over to the RAP Feedback Section on the forums and talk about it with Game Masters.
Thanks for reading!
07/02/2013 1:23 PM Topic: Community
Hi everyone! Feanux here, looking to bring you the latest Report-A-Player (RAP) statistics and provide some monthly insight.
First off I'd like to give a brief overview of the RAP system so we're all on the same page. We have 6 negative categories in which players can fall into: Chat Abuse, Feeding/Stat Manipulation, Impersonating Staff, Ability/Item Abuse, Bad Nickname/Clan name, and Avoiding AFK Detection.
To report someone, simply click on the ban-hammer next to their name (either in-game or after the match), select the category, enter a small description and select a time. Press the submit button when you are done and you're one step closer to helping improve the community.
Each player reported can have multiple tickets from different players against them, and they should! This helps us to determine who the repeat offenders are and get them out of the game as soon as possible; the more you report the sooner they're gone.
Let's get into some of the statistics to see where we stand for the month of June.
Well over 25,000 individual Player Reports (or Tickets as well call them) were submitted and completed for last month. Here's a breakdown of how the categories looked:
Chat Abuse
Guilty: 81%
Innocent: 11%
Warned: 8%
Feeding/Stat Manipulation
Guilty: 75%
Innocent: 23%
Warned: 2%
Impersonating Staff
Guilty: 27%
Innocent: 70%
Warned: 3%
Ability/Item Abuse
Guilty: 73%
Innocent: 19%
Warned: 8%
Bad Nickname/Clan name
Guilty: 16%
Innocent: 84%
Warned: 0%
Avoiding AFK Detection
Guilty: 53%
Innocent: 38%
Warned: 9%
Ideally we would like to see all of the tickets we receive to be 100% guilty, but realistically that won't happen. Why 100% guilty you might ask? Well, the more guilty reports we get, the less time we have to spend on the players who did nothing wrong, the innocent group. The faster we can do reports of other guilty players the sooner they become suspended and learn their lesson.
Let's look at some of the categories with high innocent percentages and see what we can do to make those better.
Impersonating Staff - Remember to report these players who say they are a staff member (or GM) and will ban you (real staff won't say that!). Or maybe their best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who knows Maliken and will get you banned (whew!). Someone saying you're going to get banned for breaking the rules isn't going to be a guilty offence, but them telling you they will ban you is.
Bad Nickname/Clan name - These accounts and clans should be reported if their names are not safe for work and/or are meant to be directly offensive. While I can't give direct examples of what the bad nicknames would be, anything vulgar, racially, or ethnically offensive are not allowed.
If we can work on providing higher quality reports, we can be the change in the community that we want see. We have the systems in place, we just need you to keep it up!
If you have any questions or concerns about the RAP system feel free to head on over to the RAP Feedback Section on the forums and talk about it with Game Masters.
Thanks for reading!
07/02/2013 1:23 PM Topic: Community
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