Hmmm, to start off - these games' histories go back to Aeon of Strife, a custom map for the original Starcraft that established the style of pushing against opponents of similar caliber.
The style is an isometric, top-down RTRPGA (real time RPG arena) commonly coined as MOBA now (Massively Online Battle Arena).
Then Warcraft 3 came with the world-renowned Defense of the Ancients developed by Eul to Guinsoo to Icefrog.
Anywho, so Guinsoo left development of DotA to create League of Legends (a free and innovative MOBA) which I currently dedicate my time to. The game has an out-of-game talent tree (as WoW) and a rune system which when configured correctly will provide the necessary bonuses in-game. It adds depth and levels of customization beyond what DotA and HoN could ever provide.
Then there's HoN which is DotA 2.0. The developers were fans of the original but were pained by the limitations of the War 3 engine so they took initiative and developed their own K2 engine. HoN, as it sits now, carried over many characters from DotA and their own custom, unique, and fun heroes. But it lacks the level of depths and customization LoL has yet retains the familiarity of DotA and the starting on an even playing field.
Ah well, any thoughts about these genre of games? Anyone play them?
Comments
LoL-This game is FUN. Alot of characters, does not require you to use much skill. For example, there is no "denying" of any creeps or you do not lose gold on death or your barracks comes back to life.
LoL branches out into having "special" abilities called summoner spells. There are a variety of them to choose from that can bring an edge to your game.
However as this game is fun, this game needs further balancing. There are about 2-3 summoner spells that people use, there is no BANNING option of champions as some of them are undoubtedly overpowered, and lastly, you have to pay more money to unlock champions. This could mean that if you are a completist, you may have to spend about 45-60 dollars to get everything. This is including champions themselves, and their costumes. If you are not a completist, this game is free, and in order to unlock new champions, you need to play some games.
In terms of competitive play, this game will not reach as far as HoN. There is very little strategy determine the outcome of the game. It mostly comes down to hero picks, and perhaps luck. Nevertheless, this game is fun, even more fun then hon at sometimes.
HoN-This game can be called the "dota remake". This game does have dota similarities, but the gameplay is entirely different. This game is challenging-there is a lot to learn about HoN than meets the eye (Organized ganking[rune ganking] last hitting[denying and ck] di-tri creep stacking, orb walking, survivability). A game is consisted of several heroes that require to outfarm the other opponent. Each player can slow another player down by killing them and interrupting their farm. Some heroes require MASSIVE farming, while others recommend you do not take a single creep kill. Most heroes are generally balanced, but a good thing is that there can be banable heroes in game. This game is flat out 30 bucks to play.
There has been HoN tournaments already starting(minus the scam tournaments -_-)
The problem with this game, is it has a low level of enjoyment. If you lose in a close game, it hurts. In LoL it doesn't really matter because it was fun to play it throughout that game. In HoN, you have to try hard, you have to try to kill every single creep, try to deny all of your own, creep stack and look at the minimap from time to time. It's a lot of work to win.
Also, the community is often bad. They often rage HARD or make fun of you if you are a bad player. There has been attempts to eliminate griefing and ragers which seems to be helping somewhat.
so how much money do you need to spend to play both? just 30. 30 for hon, and free for lol. If you enjoy team games and rts's this game will be enjoyable-just go through the tutorial first/have theoretical knowledge so people don't bitch at you.
TL;DR
LoL
+think less, fun, summoner spells, free game, noob friendly, good community
-needs balancing/more content, can cost more than 30, not competitive gaming
HoN
+dota remake, challenging, balanced(to an extent), seen competitively, variety of spells(vector targeting).
-Low percentage of having fun, bad community, cannot avoid cost, a lot to think about in game.
Also Season 1 just launched where you CAN ban heroes. It's Banpick. 4 heroes, banned.
I love HoN and I think it's far more balanced due to the lack of extra depth of customization. But as you say, it's just not as "fun" and can be highly stressful at times...
I just finished a game and as long as Ice still planning to develop it I'll stick with DOTA. Besides he has been hired by valve which is not uncommon since valve like to work with modders. An awesome valve MOBA to be expected
Even though Guinsoo and Eul got DotA started... Icefrog is the one who took it to the competitive level it's at now. I will probably quit LoL/HoN for Icefrog's game. But in the meantime WC 3 and DotA are just too outdated now...
Source:http://dota-allstars.com/index.html