What is Heroes of Newerth (or League of Legends)?

SpencerForHire

Heroes of Newerth (HoN) and League of Legends (LoL) are both spin-offs of the ever popular Defense of the Ancients (DotA) created way back in the days of pre-expansion Warcraft 3. The idea of the game is to pilot one of several heroes or champions (HoN - 86, LoL - 80) through one of several (depending on map) lanes along with groups of NPC units towards the other team's base. The overall object is to break down the towers on your way, destroy the enemy barracks and through this make your army stronger than your enemies so you may destroy their keep.

The basic map is a three lane map for hosting 5v5 play...



The Free 2 Play model that both games encourporate allows you to play a number of heroes each week. The specific heroes will switch on a weekly basis and allow players to try a new variety of heroes. Using either real money or currency earned from victories and various other accomplishments, you can unlock heroes to play, new skins for heroes and other vanity items (such as different announcer voices).

How do I choose which to try?
Both games offer free to play models that are remarkably similar. Both games offer a variety of like heroes that both originate from their ol' Grandfather DotA. The best way to decide which to play is to give both a shot and see which style is to your liking. There are many intricacies that make the games drastically different and it will end up coming down to personal preference for most players (though I urge both to be tried).

http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/

BobbyDigi

Great writeup. I had no idea what these games were that everyone was playing. I am intrigued enough. I downloaded LoL this morning, downloading HoN now.

Both sound right up my ally.

cola

Digi, would that be top, mid, or bottom? XP

Winfrey

I haven't played HoN since the end of the Beta, and usually DOTA games just make me rage, but I might play some with you guys anyway :P

primesuspect

Don't forget that Nemikan did a huge roundup of these when they were first out:

http://gaming.icrontic.com/reviews/dota-reborn-three-games-inspired-by-the-legendary-wc3-mod

BobbyDigi

It is becoming very clear that I am amazingly late to the game here.

SpencerForHire

primesuspect wrote:

Don't forget that Nemikan did a huge roundup of these when they were first out:

http://gaming.icrontic.com/reviews/dota-reborn-three-games-inspired-by-the-legendary-wc3-mod

Yay HoN! :P I am more than willing to run tutorial games of Icrontians vs Icrontians with me in a ref slot so I can give guidance to members who are looking to try this game for the first time.

MiracleManS

So far I've preferred HoN, but that may change now that they've gone f2p. The ability to limit what people play with is great, I guess, but you run into balancing issues in the picking phase of things. Especially if you want to do a swap.

SpencerForHire

MiracleManS wrote:

So far I've preferred HoN, but that may change now that they've gone f2p. The ability to limit what people play with is great, I guess, but you run into balancing issues in the picking phase of things. Especially if you want to do a swap.

That is exactly identical to LoL. Swapping would make no sense if that was your deciding factor.

BobbyDigi

2 things I have gathered while playing through both the tutorials (and a couple actual games in LoL)

* View following my Hero, Easy in LoL, it's the toggle in the bottom right that looks like an Eye ball. In HoN I figured out if I hold down my mouse on my characters avatar then it will follow him/her. Is there a toggle to just follow them without me having to hold the mouse?

* In LoL, when you die, you wait to respawn. When you die in HoN, you lose gold and then wait to respawn. This is like a downward spiral for a beginning player. Not enough gold to buy upgrades so you continue fighting, other players become more powerful and kill you easier causing you to lose more gold....

SpencerForHire wrote:

Yay HoN! :P I am more than willing to run tutorial games of Icrontians vs Icrontians with me in a ref slot so I can give guidance to members who are looking to try this game for the first time.

Do Want.

MiracleManS

SpencerForHire wrote:

That is exactly identical to LoL. Swapping would make no sense if that was your deciding factor.

The difference being it was always that way in LoL, its something I've not quite had a chance to adjust to with HoN

SpencerForHire

I don't feel that HoN adapting features of LoL means HoN is a worse game. They know what works and are alright with picking up those features.

Winfrey

Ok, I'm installing HoN, there are many new characters since I last played.

I am: VV1nfr3y

Nemikan

I might do a more up to date comparison on the two... Have a job interview this week + Gencon so when I get some time I'll see what I can do.

Something to note:
HoN does not cater to the newer players. If you haven't played dota before, HoN will be a nightmare if you aren't playing with friends. Every time you die, you lose money, exp (cause your dead and not getting any) and they gain both. Deaths in HoN cause the difference between teams to increase drastically.

LoL has an in game walkthrough teaching you how to play the first time. http://na.leagueoflegends.com/learn/new_user_guide

HoN is also MUCH faster paced than LoL. In both games the time of the game lasts around 20 minutes - 45 on average.

SpencerForHire

My short and dirty review of LoL after playing HoN:

First, the appearance. LoL looks fairly nice, especially in game. The out of game ui as well as the transition from out of a match to in a match is kind of clunky and I don't care for it personally. (LoL also runs significantly slower despite its less beautified ui).

As far as game play is concerned, LoL feels like Diet HoN. Let me explain.
In LoL there are a number of features that they have purposefully left out that really allowed skilled players in HoN to press incremental advantages. Creep collision may seem simple (or the lack there-of in LoL), but the ability to body block creeps to delay their arrival to the front line gives you a better opportunity to fight away from your opponents tower (and possibly under yours). The same goes for creep pulling (the act of pulling units out of the jungle to force your units to fight them and deny your enemies a wave). This act is very difficult but when performed right creates a 3rd dimension to laning where players are forced to do early jungle fights. This adds early excitement to an otherwise very back and forth you-me-me-you lane tug of war.

The ability to Deny is also strangely lacking from LoL. Being good enough to last hit an ally hero or creep or tower to deny the gold from the enemy team (you can only hit allied things in red health) was a very strategic way to negate opponent's plays. This may not seem like a big deal but LoL games seem to feature more players pimping out their characters than you see in HoN. A few items are fine but we see more games coming down to stacked champions in LoL.

Which brings me to my last point: Loss of gold on death. It has a terrible stigma I know, but in actuality, the ability to lose gold is very important. There are a number of possible detrimental events that occur when you allow players to have no way to lose gold. Gold pooling (stocking quickly for a game altering item) can be quite dangerous on the right hero. Similarly, the ability to kill a player who has killed four of your teammates before he can spend his cash is an EXCELLENT play in HoN and will PREVENT the game from tipping over on its face instead of how it is insinuated that losing gold ends the game after the first death or so.

All the criticism asside, LoL has a lot going for it. The Passive/Active abilities are much more interesting than the just passive abilities that you see on many HoN characters. The Summoner spell system is alright, although I can't help feel that Fortify and Teleport should be available through items or a shared cooldown for everyone like they are in HoN. The talent tree system is neat, I am not going to say good or bad as their are pros and cons to that in itself. LoL also seems to take much better care of its casters late game (although they still get outscaled in the end).

LoL is a fine game but I would deem it an excellent step onto the more complex and skill rewarding (though this is NEVER to assert that LoL does not take skill, it just lacks a few dynamics that HoN supports from the original Dota). Fielding a better introduction to new players, a less hostile player record setup and a better queue system for teams less than 5, LoL is a fine game. I just believe it is slightly watered down. I would advise this game to any player picking up this game style for the first time as an introduction and encourage them to play HoN after they have a good idea of the game.

ZenMode

SpencerForHire wrote:

My short and dirty review of LoL after playing HoN:

First, the appearance. LoL looks fairly nice, especially in game. The out of game ui as well as the transition from out of a match to in a match is kind of clunky and I don't care for it personally. (LoL also runs significantly slower despite its less beautified ui).

As far as game play is concerned, LoL feels like Diet HoN. Let me explain.
In LoL there are a number of features that they have purposefully left out that really allowed skilled players in HoN to press incremental advantages. Creep collision may seem simple (or the lack there-of in LoL), but the ability to body block creeps to delay their arrival to the front line gives you a better opportunity to fight away from your opponents tower (and possibly under yours). The same goes for creep pulling (the act of pulling units out of the jungle to force your units to fight them and deny your enemies a wave). This act is very difficult but when performed right creates a 3rd dimension to laning where players are forced to do early jungle fights. This adds early excitement to an otherwise very back and forth you-me-me-you lane tug of war.

The ability to Deny is also strangely lacking from LoL. Being good enough to last hit an ally hero or creep or tower to deny the gold from the enemy team (you can only hit allied things in red health) was a very strategic way to negate opponent's plays. This may not seem like a big deal but LoL games seem to feature more players pimping out their characters than you see in HoN. A few items are fine but we see more games coming down to stacked champions in LoL.

Which brings me to my last point: Loss of gold on death. It has a terrible stigma I know, but in actuality, the ability to lose gold is very important. There are a number of possible detrimental events that occur when you allow players to have no way to lose gold. Gold pooling (stocking quickly for a game altering item) can be quite dangerous on the right hero. Similarly, the ability to kill a player who has killed four of your teammates before he can spend his cash is an EXCELLENT play in HoN and will PREVENT the game from tipping over on its face instead of how it is insinuated that losing gold ends the game after the first death or so.

All the criticism asside, LoL has a lot going for it. The Passive/Active abilities are much more interesting than the just passive abilities that you see on many HoN characters. The Summoner spell system is alright, although I can't help feel that Fortify and Teleport should be available through items or a shared cooldown for everyone like they are in HoN. The talent tree system is neat, I am not going to say good or bad as their are pros and cons to that in itself. LoL also seems to take much better care of its casters late game (although they still get outscaled in the end).

LoL is a fine game but I would deem it an excellent step onto the more complex and skill rewarding (though this is NEVER to assert that LoL does not take skill, it just lacks a few dynamics that HoN supports from the original Dota). Fielding a better introduction to new players, a less hostile player record setup and a better queue system for teams less than 5, LoL is a fine game. I just believe it is slightly watered down. I would advise this game to any player picking up this game style for the first time as an introduction and encourage them to play HoN after they have a good idea of the game.

Couldn't have said it better myself, 100% agree with this assessment of LoL.

I enjoy all the layers present in HoN gameplay, LoL just felt flat. TLDR: This^

cola

From what it sounds like though, as a noob coming in to HoN, I would be at a severe disadvantage mechanically and would probably get flamed for being a baddie. I like LoL simply for the fact that it is more simple game. It makes being a casual player that much funner as the game is less intensive. I don't like the idea of having to excessively control my creeps, and I like how all they really are used for is pushing towers and exp in LoL.

SpencerForHire

I don't disagree that HoN is much less friendly to beginners. That is why I assert that unless specifically starting with an expert, play LoL first, when it becomes too easy, play HoN.

pragtastic

One observation I had about LoL last night was that after pretty much dominating the top lane (0 deaths, 3-4 kills) the opponents I was fighting were still about the same exact level and able to fight back quickly. Didn't seem quite right that we owned the lane but didn't get much reward for it at the end. Ultimately we still won but it felt a little weird to me.

Will still play LoL for a bit if for anything to increase my familiarity w/ the DotA style games and try to be a little less bad

Nemikan

pragtastic wrote:

One observation I had about LoL last night was that after pretty much dominating the top lane (0 deaths, 3-4 kills) the opponents I was fighting were still about the same exact level and able to fight back quickly. Didn't seem quite right that we owned the lane but didn't get much reward for it at the end. Ultimately we still won but it felt a little weird to me.

Will still play LoL for a bit if for anything to increase my familiarity w/ the DotA style games and try to be a little less bad

If your getting that many kills and not needing to go back to base to heal, you should be a higher level. You gain some exp but not a ton for killing people. If your alone in a lane you get exp a lot faster than if your with a teammate.

Overall getting kills makes a big different. The difference from hon is that the kills don't make nearly as huge of a sink in the difference between you and your opponent. The biggest advantage you get from killing someone is the gold bonus, and being able to push while they are down a man.

Killing dragon in LoL is hugely important. Gives your whole team 190g each, and some exp. If you can control dragon the whole game, it generally goes in your favor due to how huge of an advantage you get with gold.