NovA: We're going to get our fight

posted by Tezzeret, 1 year ago

FnaticRC's was on top of the competitive HoN scene with numerous tournament wins under their belt and collectively won over $60,000. The team has decided a few weeks back to switch over to Dota 2 due to their desire to compete. FnaticRC catches up with their support player NovA for an indepth interview about the switch.

NovA (Third from left) with his team at Dreamhack 2011
Photo by: FnaticRC

You are a so called "moba-gamer". Started out with DotA, then moved on to HoN and now you are playing Dota 2. What is it about the gameplay that attracts you so much?

There must be something to it I actually never really thought about. I like many aspects you could very well find in different games as well: Teamplay and synergy on the battlefield, playing with your enemies’ minds, dodging/juking, calculating, […].

A painter and good friend of mine likes to point out the art aspect of a perfectly executed combo – or a twelve-minute pooled Rapier. Also the genre and its games never stop developing even if not changed or patched at all. And who doesn’t love to be a hero and throw spells around?

When you won DreamHack MSI BEAT IT and the $22,000, what went through your mind? Did you consider the fact that the HoN scene would slowly fade out or did you believe that the game would turn into some kind of evergreen like Counter Strike 1.6?

Honestly I didn’t think of much but Freshpro’s health as he had problems the entire event. I was glad that he would finally be able to rest and recover and it was simply ‘nice’ that we won on top of that. Later on, during HoN’s prolonged downtime after NASL, I was wondering why it took so long for the next tournaments to start. I never considered HoN a dying game (and I still don't) but it's natural to ask if the scene could have been bigger at this point or not.

Arguably the biggest factors coming into play here are to be announced soon so we can only wait and see – personally I believe HoN's competitive scene will never die out entirely.

How have your first days been as a Dota 2 player? For the casual player, the difference between Dota 2 and HoN may not seem to be that big, but for you as a pro player who has been playing both, what's the biggest difference?

There's a lot to learn and I am still bad at the game. Issues like different names, numbers and mechanics are mostly learned very quickly but the pace is different, the gameplay puts emphasis on totally different aspects (considering both games are from the same genre) and I have to change my playstyle drastically. That's my take.

The biggest difference? Courier costs 150 gold, Flying 220!

Read the full interview here

bomaye wrote at 16.04.2012, 18:36 CEST:

They should drop h4nn1

SuperDuperMorten wrote at 16.04.2012, 18:39 CEST:

Dosen't flying courier cost 250?

Sun_Tzu wrote at 16.04.2012, 18:40 CEST:

bomaye schrieb:
They should drop h4nn1

But I thought h4nn1 was the only person who could save the hontrash!

In all seriousness, if you actually read the article, Nova is as cool a guy as always. He knows where he's at, that he needs to work to improve, and he has confidence in his team.

Best of luck guys. (And Trixi really should join as their 5th).

yoshi- wrote at 16.04.2012, 18:43 CEST:

Did you missed the part where he said that cellphones games will be more competitive than sc2 and dota2

fWorld wrote at 16.04.2012, 18:45 CEST:

bomaye schrieb:
They should drop h4nn1

ahahahahahaha
AHAHAHAHAHAHA

madcuzbad?

Silvermind wrote at 16.04.2012, 18:48 CEST:

You should stop making from H4nn1 best player in da world.He wasnt best player in HoN and he arent carrying Fnatic right now,his past in Dota oldschool is only past and history now.
Just accept it guys.

Q.ex wrote at 16.04.2012, 18:51 CEST:

Sun_Tzu schrieb:
(And Trixi really should join as their 5th).

no.

matthe wrote at 16.04.2012, 19:06 CEST:

I could kil for using the term MOBA.... We dont use it, we dont need it, DotA-Genre = best term.

Sun_Tzu wrote at 16.04.2012, 19:08 CEST:

yoshi- schrieb:
Did you missed the part where he said that cellphones games will be more competitive than sc2 and dota2

Competitive? So the most competitive games are the ones who garner the most attention? Oh wait, no, it's just us nerds who care about e-sports right now. We may take the same path as South Korea, or we may not. As for right now, in the western world games of leisure are far more popular for people to play, and if someone manages to strike up a balance between that and competition, they've got a far more potent e-sports title on their hands than something which is so platform dependent as DotA2 or SC2.

It's not something the e-sports community will be happy to hear, but it's a possibility we need to be aware of. Sticking your head in the sand won't make it go away.

#10

xotapex wrote at 16.04.2012, 19:17 CEST:

Moba is just for lol and hon players to not feal left out , real people knows that its called dota nothing more

#11

Putcher wrote at 16.04.2012, 19:32 CEST:

Great interview. The whole fnatic team are bunch of talented individuals and i have no doubt they can do great things in dota2.
I think it's fair to say that the HoN competitive scene, and HoN as a game, never really had the place of its own in the gaming world. It has always been in the shadow of dota, and its creators would forever wish to be embraced by that community, which never really happend.
In a complete contrast to LoL, HoN didn't stop at only using the basics of dota of how everything is built ingame, but they went even further and used exact hero types and similar items taken directly from dota1 and implemented them in their game.
Whatever may be the reasons for that decision, it was obvious that once a sequel of the original idea will be lifted to air, the copycat will eventually die.
The fact that HoN still alive is pretty impressive. to me there's no legitimacy for that game. it has no originality what so ever, and its whole foundation is based on someone's else ideas. they didnt even bother to innovate as Riot have, and whatever they did create was criticized as the decisive factor for ruining the game, which is pretty hilarious.
I wish that the fnatic team would've taken the decision alot sooner, but nevertheless it;s good that they have decided on it now.

edited by Putcher at 16.04.2012, 19:51 CEST

#12

yoshi- wrote at 16.04.2012, 19:34 CEST:

Cool that hon fanboy comes to defend his heroes... Idiot

Yea sure we will see a tetris tournament. you know everyone plays that.

#13

FnaticRC.NoVa wrote at 16.04.2012, 19:44 CEST:

Given the shitstorm in the gosugamers comments I'll indicate that the cellphone part is a sarcastic comment towards the WCG move.

#14

yoshi- wrote at 16.04.2012, 19:58 CEST:

Sarcasms is for people that don't fail.

#15

redrYm wrote at 16.04.2012, 20:03 CEST:

#14 so much butthurt

#16

Mystic_man wrote at 16.04.2012, 20:05 CEST:

who the fuck is this hippie HoNTrash and talking bad about DotA 2?

#17

DotA2King wrote at 16.04.2012, 20:13 CEST:

thanks to "honfans". their #1 team is getting more love from dota2 community.

i've just read all the comments from gosugamers. lol dont wanna add tho :D

#18

Nozdormu wrote at 16.04.2012, 20:21 CEST:

Q.ex schrieb:

Sun_Tzu schrieb:
(And Trixi really should join as their 5th).

no.

Why not?

#19

Fyrren wrote at 16.04.2012, 20:29 CEST:

Nozdormu schrieb:

Q.ex schrieb:

Sun_Tzu schrieb:
(And Trixi really should join as their 5th).

no.

Why not?

He's in a pretty good team right now. Unstable, but good. Why would he rejoin Fnatic when he's got a currently top-20 team?

#20

Putcher wrote at 16.04.2012, 20:29 CEST:

Probably only because he and rexi is a package deal.

if trixi was alone i see no reason why not to

#21

pismonger wrote at 16.04.2012, 22:19 CEST:

Putcher schrieb:
Great interview. The whole fnatic team are bunch of talented individuals and i have no doubt they can do great things in dota2.
I think it's fair to say that the HoN competitive scene, and HoN as a game, never really had the place of its own in the gaming world. It has always been in the shadow of dota, and its creators would forever wish to be embraced by that community, which never really happend.
In a complete contrast to LoL, HoN didn't stop at only using the basics of dota of how everything is built ingame, but they went even further and used exact hero types and similar items taken directly from dota1 and implemented them in their game.
Whatever may be the reasons for that decision, it was obvious that once a sequel of the original idea will be lifted to air, the copycat will eventually die.
The fact that HoN still alive is pretty impressive. to me there's no legitimacy for that game. it has no originality what so ever, and its whole foundation is based on someone's else ideas. they didnt even bother to innovate as Riot have, and whatever they did create was criticized as the decisive factor for ruining the game, which is pretty hilarious.
I wish that the fnatic team would've taken the decision alot sooner, but nevertheless it;s good that they have decided on it now.

Have you actually played HoN? Because I get what you are saying about creatibty and such but HoN has a great kinda flow and feel to it. Also when they released the game dota and the wc3 engine was, i my opionon atleast, truly outdated and left a lot to wish for. I think HoN was a great game in it's orignal form, a standalone dota map.

Nova, I remember a few months back when you and fly did some shoutcasting on your stream, if you guys would do that again i would sure as shit watch. Best of luck in dota2.

edited by pismonger at 16.04.2012, 22:30 CEST