Re:Awesome! (Score 1)

So, I've played around 200 games of Heroes of Newerth and many games of DotA before that. While I admittedly play as many games with friends as possible (don't we all?) only about half of my games played fall in that category. That's a solid 100 games in the "community".

Are there internet a-holes? We all know the answer is yes, but I've only had about 5 games out of all those played where it was an issue. I also am not one to rage personally, so maybe that helps. In those rare cases, the game gives you the following tools:
-"/ignore chat"
-Voice Chat MUTE
-and a banlist so you never need to play with that person again.

Did everyone notice that mention of BUILT IN voice chat? This is immensely helpful - if only everyone turned it on...

The other thing worth noting to those who have complained, is that there are numerous opportunities to learn in safer environments.
-A tutorial that will show you the basics
-the ability to host your own games with the requirements you want/need
-game modes that let you pick exactly the hero you want (you can even host a duplicate hero game mode if you only have one hero you're decent with)
-a Practice Mode that lets you well...practice
-no-stats games that lower overall anxiety
-forums that include an entire section devoted to help "Training Grounds" as well as many excellent gameplay guides: general guides, specific hero guides, laning, warding, etc
-clans and people who are specifically dedicated to helping new players, also found through the forums.
I'm not sure why some people fail to utilize these resources...and I do heartily believe that the game would benefit from a Tutorial that guides you to more advanced gameplay as well as a single player AI mode.

The games I've seen where someone becomes a potential target of rage usually go down with them not using in game chat, not talking over voice, voice chat sound off, and completely ignoring their team. This is very much a team game, quite the opposite of the earlier comment that it is possible to "one man Rambo" - this is not the case and when people do that it is natural to be frustrated. (No excuses for some of the silly ways people act when they're frustrated, see above comment on tools built into the game to deal with those scenarios.)

To be fair, the current environment (beta) allows people to create multiple accounts - thereby letting them avoid some of the infractions that might result. For example, e-peenrager2211 gets banned by me and I think I won't ever have to play with him again. He reapplies to the beta and creates account emotionallyunderdeveloped7899 and turns up in one of my games. Annoying but unavoidable until solved by official release.

The thing that really distinguishes this game IS the complexity. No matter if there are other games I play, they get old and tired once the novelty wears off. This game, precisely because of it's complexity, is one that I (and a group of about 15 friends) continue to play over the past 5(!) years (when you include DotA). While it will take a while to learn all the details - I'm STILL learning and happy for that - it is well worth it.