Heroes of Newerth Patch 0.3.0.2

It has been awhile since Heroes-Newerth.com’s last post, this is mainly because there wasn’t much going on
in terms of updates to the game. But now, the patch that the HoN community has been waiting for is here.
UPDATE: For those of you having problems installing the patch, you need to uninstall heroes of newerth including the
user data and download this version http://dl.heroesofnewerth.com/HoNClient-0.3.0.exe.
So, what can i expect to see when i log in and update to this patch?
The first thing you will notice is a shiny new login screen, a much wanted improvement over the previous.
As you log in you may notice 2 unwinding cogs, any guesses as to where the inspiration came from?
OK , so besides the lack of originality (cough), once logged in you will be greeted by a picturesque backdrop.
The contrast between volcano and the full moon with the flock of birds who seem to fly around pointlessly in a
circle, is actually rather easy on the eyes. We like it.

The bottom half of the screen is now focused on the chat window, which by the way is now open by default.
Above the chat window are several game buttons:
Start Tutorial – Match Making – Public games – Create Game – Player Ladder – Match Stats -  Hero Compendium – Options
If you’ve played HoN before do not click on start tutorial. Upon clicking start tutorial a loading bar will appear which can only be canceled after a certain amount of time. Loading the tutorial can take anything up to a minute depending on the speed of your computer.
If somehow you unfortunately load the tutorial, there is no immediate escape, you will be given a bunch of options to choose from. Unless you are familiar with the console you will have to click on one of them.
Then you’ll endure 2 minutes of an overly exaggerated narrator voice telling you about things you figured out from your first game of HoN/DotA.
Once he has said his piece, dodge message boxes that pop up on your screen, then reach for the disconnect button and end this nightmare.
What i liked about HoN was that it stayed true to the community of DotA players who made HoN what it is today, after witnessing the cheesiness of the tutorial i ponder whether s2 games are selling themselves short to the target market of League of Legends players, or maybe I’m getting too old for this.
Match Making: Unfortunately match making is currently limited to solo play, I’m not sure whether s2 developers intend to implement group play or if they are pushing for a divide between pub stomps and people wanting to play with a bunch of randoms. Either way, match making seems to be functioning well, i’d probably play this myself if none of my homeboys were around.
You can also select the region(s) to match with, game mode is Banning Pick.
Player Ladder: Afraid to say another disappointment. When i first saw this button i thought it would be a ladder system like in Warcraft 3. It just seems to be an integrated version of player statistics, extremely useful if you don’t have a browser… or are motivationaly challenged, that was if it actually worked.
Hero Compendium: In this section you can view pictures of all the heroes with minor details about what they do. Not really useful as of yet.
Options: Finally, players don’t have to log out of the game to change sound or graphical issues, what is surprising is that it took the developers this long to figure out the nuisance involved with doing having to  do that.
From this patch we can see S2 games are gearing up for pre release, the addition of “noob” friendly tutorials and hero compendium are a slight giveaway. The players you now know to be noobs are actually pro’s compared to the onslaught of noobs that will be playing in your games once HoN goes retail.
It will be interesting to see how the community will react to new players.
Alongside the new interface were several updates to ingame mechanics i will list the most notable ones, the full changes can be found here > HoN patch notes.
The recipe for Nullstone is now 2/3 of its original price, additionally its mana regeneration has been
increased by 50% and it now grants a passive +10 Damage.
Much to the knowledge of S2 games this item was definitely under-appreciated, with this buff we can
guess more players will be buying it, so watch out spell casters!
Upon being destroyed, Ward of sight gives 50 gold to the attacker who lays the finishing blow.
We like this, it is a good incentive for players to actively seek out and destroy wards, a crucial part of the game overlooked by many.
Blood Hunter: Now reveals stealthed units with Blood Sense…. this is a huge buff, one that will almost certainly be taken advantage of this season.
Chronos: After many complaints from players Chronos has had the so called nerf stick thrown his way. All four of his spells have been nerfed in some way or another.
The Dark Lady: Her turn rate has been allmost trippled ! This means godlike micro, enough said.
Demented Shaman: Stats nerfed quite hard
Legionnaire: Terrify changed to Terrifying Rage allowing Legionnaire to charge towards his enemies and deal instant
damage Terrifying them in the process.  Good buff,  however hope this doesn’t discourage players from buying Portal Key.
Madman: Snare on Stalk removed, it was obvious the previous patch had hit madman  hard with this snare business. Beserk has also been buffed, mana cost effectively halved at all levels. Very nice!
Valkyrie: Turnrate increased to 960! Javelin of light buffed massively ie makes no sound when cast, hit radius decreased, glow removed, reveals 800 units around targets hit by javelin for 3.34 seconds and shows timer on stun.
I will definitely be giving this vixen a test drive sometime soon.
Zephyr: Ultimate nerfed pretty badly, instead of spawning max cyclones instantly, it now spawns one every second for the duration of the spell.