Having played this game for over 6,000 hours, I feel qualified to review this game.
I originally went to Heroes Of Newerth when I first started playing after porting from Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne - Defence Of The Ancients in 2016. My original motivation was the early adoption of cosmetics and gameplay that were basically a copy and paste of the DOTA mod with their own flair of custom heroes, I just connected with it.
It was a nightmare to find a game for Heroes Of Newerth in Australia due to the lack of player base. I soon learned that DOTA 2 was "the game to play" about 6 months after it's release.
This masterpiece has been my game play “rock” through the hard times and good times in my life. I've been married, divorced and re-married with a plethora of career changes, new friends and other real world milestone just to name a few.
Fast forward to June 2023 the official statement and position was the decline of the international compendium was being terminated in favour or improved content, game play improvements and ultimately cost cutting to enable other pipeline projects to boost the game as a whole. This I wasn’t impressed with as I’m very goal driven and think that the compendium provides a great service in a plethora of ways.

Gives feedback directly from the fan base. Gives and professionals a means of income to further invest in the game on a global platform. Adds jazz colour & flavour to the game on a yearly basis and the content collected from contributors is a fresh breath of air every 8 months or so, making the game clean, crisp and enjoyable longer.

Today I’ve been deeply upset by the news of a half baked “compendium” being released for my enjoyment. This compendium not only insultinbg my intelligence but make a mockery of it. The elevator pitch for this goes something like this: Do you like gambling? Do you like a hint of RNG? Do you want to spend money for nothing? Well! This is the thing for you! I could go on and on, but this is already getting long enough.

If you don't want to be treated like a product and want to be treated like a consumer, don't play this game. The best way of holding them accountable is to show how their actions affect their bottom line. It's great that you can play for free! Don't waste your money though.

Yours Truly,

Briarious - Australia