The Future of DotA: LoL vs HoN
For those of you who rarely wandered into a LAN centre: Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is, without a doubt, the most popular custom map created of all time.
DotA is based upon the Starcraft map ‘Aeon of Strife’ and was recreated by a player known as ‘Eul’ for use with the Warcraft 3 game in 2003. Since then it has traded developers and has been updated countless times (currently at v6.71 last time i checked). Since then, the map’s updates were balanced and managed by Guinsoo from 2003-2005 and Icefrog from 2005 onwards.
DotA offers a simple (yet diabolically game-changing) choice upon joining the custom game: Which side are you going to play on, the Scourge or the Sentinels? This choice typically changes the selection of heroes at your disposal. There are over 100 to choose from in total and each hero has its signature abilities.
Courtney Love? Is that You?
Upon selecting a hero you gain control of it for the remainder of the map and try to turn the tides of the battle in your faction’s favour. Allied and enemy ‘creeps’ (non-player controlled units that grant XP and/or gold if slain) will begin constantly charging across the battlefield, trying to push the lines into the enemy’s fortress and win the engagement. Your task as a hero of your faction is to gain levels, acquire items and tactically eliminate enemy units and structures (including enemy heroes and certain allied minions) in order to succeed in the complete annihilation of the opposing base.
DotA’s deceptively simple gameplay (at least, compared to many methods of RTS combat) could only be described as addictive.
Now that graphics have exceeded the Frozen Throne (WC3′s expansion) engine so dramatically, it’s only natural that many DotA players are looking to move on. Then again, DotA’s gameplay was so popular (especially amongst the LAN circuit) it’s only natural that game companies are salivating at the concept of not only creating these games for the existing fans, but also the prospect of bringing new players into the fold as well.
Cue in LoL (League of Legends: Clash of Fates) and HoN (Heroes of Newerth); two standalone games based heavily upon DotA’s foundation. Never heard of either? This article may just help pique your interest.
In order to try and review the 2 games’ differences from several perspectives, i’ve decided to write it up as a tri-interview. The three interviewees will be myself, Obble and Khriptik. The questions themselves will be democratically reviewed before we each answer in an attempt to be as fair to both games as possible.
BE READY! This article is a fully comprehensive comparison and, as such, it is exceptionally LONG. Stick through it. You will find it informative.
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Q: What would you consider to be the main graphical differences between the two games quality-wise? How do they differ in visual style?
Fuzzwobble: LoL does seem to take itself a bit less seriously when graphics are compared. That being said, you can always clearly see what is happening. The spell effects are obvious and the champions stand out on the map. HoN’s appearance definitely wins out on the fancy-factor, but it does get a little pixel-clunky when movement happens. It makes me think that the abstract-realism [going for realism beyond actuality] ‘white lining’ pioneered in games such as Gears of War would actually do well here.
Obble: HoN has more of a traditional-style fantasy setting when it comes to aesthetics. LoL went for a more “cartoony” sort of style that has gotten some criticism. It seems that they’re going away from that to a more traditional style as well [He is referring to this Source]. HoN tries to replicate as much of the look of WC3:TFT DotA as possible.
Khriptik: The main differences between the two games quality-wise are the textures and styling. HoN allows for much more immersion in the game. The visual stylings also happen at a much faster rate, with concise points between attacks, even at high attack speeds. The difference in visual stylings are that LoL appears to be more ‘cartoonish’ than HoN, even on it’s highest settings.
The graphics of League of Legends. Cartoony, but clear.
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Q: When it comes to utilizing both games’ interfaces (including the size of the maps, models and accessability provided by the game screens’ varying resolutions) how do the games compare?
Fuzzwobble: In this sub-genre of games you can count on one thing; your champion is going to move quickly. The problem that really got to me in HoN was caused by this. Often my hero would zip from one side of the screen and out the other in under a second of movement. They really need to increase HoN’s view area. It still seems zoomed-in even at 1920×1080 resolution. It also doesn’t help that many skillshots in HoN can reach across several screens of distance and move at rather intense travel velocities.
Obble: Going between the two games HoN feels much more “zoomed-in” in perspective that requires more scrolling. And the minimap, while good in both games, has flaws in both. LoL used portraits for all visible champs and Hon uses the player colors.
Khriptik: HoN’s interface appears to be utilized more, with a select few areas of focus on it. Meaning that you do not need to be scattered everywhere looking at things. The resolutions covered in HoN do not appear to effect the game at all apart from aesthetics. The zoomed in nature of HoN also keeps you immersed heavily in what’s going on in your immediate screen. This also means that team chat/allies calling missing [Often called 'MIA', informing allies that an enemy has moved out from lane and may attempt a gank] is a lot more important.
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Q: Which itemization system do you prefer? Do you prefer the statistical items in LoL or the Str/Agi/Int gear in HoN? In addition, which shop’s interface do you consider more user-friendly?
Fuzzwobble: HoN’s item system suffers from the orb issues DotA had [certain effects didn't stack which had no reason not to, due to limitations in Warcraft 3's engine] seemingly on purpose, but i suppose many players of HoN would expect that similarity. Unfortunately the shop interface is jumbled, many items have no descriptions until you purchase them and there’s no way to filter for a specific statistic. Then there’s the issue of Agility heroes basically dominating late-game due to how their statistic scales while caster heroes can’t even improve their abilities… but then again, there are a lot of ‘dead weight’ and gimmick items in LoL and, while LoL has a greater variety, HoN doesn’t really suffer from that issue.
Obble: I prefer the item interface in LoL. Item building from smaller items feel quicker just from the “this items builds” tab. The difference between the itemization stats isn’t very much, honestly. There’s active items in both games and in both games there are specific way to build certain champs. There are items to make carries hit harder and tanks tankier. The only difference is in LoL there are stats to improve damage of spells and abilities, which is significant considering mage-type champs.
Khriptik: The LoL itemization system reigns in far supreme to HoN. In HoN there are a select few items, with which different strategies can be applied. But in LoL there is a much larger selection and with that, strategies and play styles. In LoL it is typically easier to find the items you are after in regards to a stat. In HoN, there are many other factors to take in to account when buying an item, such as activations, passives and general stacking of orb effects (lifesteal, slow, etc).
HoN’s method of buying items enables you to actively peruse items and combinations while playing the game. In LoL, a large splashscreen pops up which stops you from actively moving and adapting to threats.
HoN is more immersive, but feels rather 'zoomed in'.
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Q: Having somebody ‘feed’ [die to enemies and grant them free gold and experience] on your team can be a frustrating experience, whether it’s intentional or not. Which game do you find most susceptible to a team being dragged down in such a manner and, conversely, which game more effectively allows a skilled team to recover?
Fuzzwobble: For HoN it can really depend on what hero ends up receiving the boon of bonus gold and experience. An Agility carry in HoN can be nearly impossible to deal with once fed; at least not without some significant control and coordination. The issue is not as major if a Strength hero or, more notably, an Intelligence hero is fed. I’d say that it’s harder to feed in the first place in HoN due to the statistics working in this way. On the other hand, it’s alot easier for a champion to become fed in LoL, but it’s also easier to recover from it. LoL’s versatile itemization system allows champions to modify their build to adapt to significant threats.
Obble: I would say HoN, honestly. I think it would be easier to recover in HoN, mainly because late-game abilities do not scale off of damage, while using abilities to deal damage tends to be more important in League of Legends due their effects scaling off of items. Coordination plays a much larger role in HoN when compared to League.
Khriptic: I find both have the same problems and both can be countered. For those who disagree, play a high PSR MMR [Ranked] Match.
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Q: How balanced would you consider the gameplay to be when comparing the capabilities of certain heroes against others? Which game can more effectively be ‘decided at the loading screen’ in your opinion?
Fuzzwobble: I’ve had many LoL games seem intimidating at the loading screen just to become trivial in-game. Again, it all comes down to variety in itemization. [Shop smart, shop S-Mart?] It also helps that many of the champions have tricks to help them put up a decent fight against what would be considered their ‘hard counters’. On the other hand, when you see a one-sided loading screen on HoN you KNOW it’s going to be a hard fight. Luckily it’s mitigated a bit since you can see enemy champion choices at character selection in all HoN games, while LoL only allows this in ranked matches. HoN really forces you to really think about what hero you need to play.
Obble: A balanced team in HoN wins games. It’s not really necessarily that the team wins at the loading screen, but you can very easily LOSE at the loading screen in HoN. Do you have a Pharaoh?
Khriptik: I would say that HoN can be more effectively decided, because there is a certain synergy when you pick your heroes. The ability to see what the enemy picks allows you to counter-pick, hence allowing the game to be decided at the loading screen. There are so many other reasons why as well. Does your team have one too many Intelligence heroes? Beware of Magebane.
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Q: What opinions do you have regarding each game’s player base? Why do you have that impression?
Fuzzwobble: LoL can be a real pain when you first start into the game, due to ‘Low ELO Hell’. A phrase coined on the League forums, it refers to the void between your starting matchmaker rating and around the next 75 ELO up the ladder. It can be hazardous to climb; many players you will end up with on your team will be sub-par, have internet problems or might just generally be douchebags. Then again, if you have problems you can just queue with friends for a few games and push on through. Low ELO Hell isn’t a game-wrecker, but winning is always more enjoyable. If you break through, you’re set, and if you know what you’re doing you should be okay. As for HoN, i’d like more of the player base to speak english. You have no idea…
Obble: First of all. Both games are DotA at their core. The DotA community was never known for being full of cheer and happy to help. Both communities are similar with some subtle differences I suppose. The main difference being that LoL is a free-to-play game. Take from that what you will.
Khriptik: HoN: Oxygen theives and elitists. The reason I have the impression is because you’re either good at HoN or terrible at it. For HoN, most are beaners and non-english speaking people are just hard to play with and the people who upgrade from free trials then proceed to play MMR just drag people down with them. LoL: Ignorant and immature people but at the other end of the spectrum, relaxed people. The problem is that in LoL, unless you find people from each game… you’re going to be stuck with a bunch of idiots and trolls, considering the game is free to play.
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Q: Do you have any opinions regarding either game’s front-end software? [The program or menu screen that lets you chat, prepare for or join games, etc]
Fuzzwobble: Luckily the most stable part of LoL’s frontend is the matchmaking system, but the rest of the frontend’s servers might actually improve with a roll around in a tumble-dryer. Especially their fail chat service provider: PVP.net. At least the worst thing HoN’s menu does is try to convince me to buy it’s freakin’ coins all the time.
Obble: The front-end software for League of Legends is trash. It’s buggy, it locks up, it’s crash prone. Hey there’s a ladybug on my desk. [I don't think that part was related to his answer]
Khriptik: LoL’s front end just purely sucks. I disconnect more times from ‘chat’, etc more then the town bike gets laid. In HoN, it is a very rare issue to have problems with anything.
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Q: League of Legends features a front-end system to customize champions outside of the game, including a Talent Tree system called ‘Masteries’, summoner meta-levels and Rune Pages [A rune page basically lets you build an item out of 'Runes' you purchase using points earned from playing games. You select a page, and you gain the effects passively]. What are your thoughts on this?
Fuzzwobble: I like the customization, but i dislike how some champions are slightly balanced around Runes and Masteries, and more so around certain summoner spells (*cough* flash). Collecting the Runes can take a while, but despite all the flaws associated with the meta-system, i think the fun of modification outweighs the flaws.
Obble: It’s interesting since you can customize your champion in ways that you like. You can support your playstyle or increase on your strength. Unfortunately it also limits the champions you can play effectively since you need to grind to obtain more Runes. Aside from a specific few kinds of them, a lot of Runes are only really good for the early game. Outside of that, they aren’t really worth that much, though the early game is the most important meal of the day…
Khriptik: Provides an advantage that takes the focus away from sheer skill.
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Q: For the competitive players: How effective is each game’s matchmaking system?
Fuzzwobble: LoL’s matchmaking has spoiled me a bit. I used to spend upwards of 30mins preparing to play RTS games (especially during the days of Red Alert 2), but LoL does a great job of streamlining the process. HoN can’t compare in this case.
Obble: I like the speed at which you can begin games in LoL. Want to play 3s? 5s? Solo queue or team queued? Click and go. You’re at champion select in under a minute.
Khriptik: LoL’s matchmaking queues are far superior and faster than HoN’s. However HoN MMR also lets you specify the regions of players you want to play with, making language barriers less of a difficulty.
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Q: What perspective do you have on the inability to deny creeps [kill your own allied minions to limit the gold and xp obtained by enemy heroes] in League of Legends?
Fuzzwobble: Structures have a greater presence in LoL. Tower hugging would be outrageously overdone if denying existed. It would be a polar arms-race!
Obble: Being unable to deny creeps in League of Legends just kind of makes it easier for more than one person to obtain experience and gold in a lane.
Khriptik: It suits the gamestyle of LoL, just like it suits HoN. Different play styles for different games.
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Q: If you could change one thing about each game, what would it be?
Fuzzwobble: I’d have the summoner spell Exhaust removed from LoL, then i’d have it so HoN would let me freakin’ zoom out.
Obble: I’d have a matchmaking queue for normal public HoN games. For League, i’d like it to support voicechat.
Khriptik: The server maintenance and patch downtime. Having a patch every week is irritating.
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Q: Are there any opinions, comments or complains you would like to express regarding the two games? Feel free to go off in a tangent.
Fuzzwobble: It would be nice if both games would pay more attention to the criticism of their associated communities or, damn, even the competing player base. Sometimes i just want to take a plank, slap the word ‘OBVIOUS” on it with neon red paint and then clothesline a developer. They would never overlook the ‘obvious’ again. The forums aren’t just for show, there’s important stuff in there. READ YOUR GAMES’ FORUMS MORE OFTEN.
Obble: Both of the games are fun, though both have flaws. Most of what i’d have said has been covered already.
Khriptik: People who play this game [DotA] for the most part can be counted as immature, annoying and useless. If you have good players on both ends, losing isn’t an issue, however in most games, players are what make or break it. [Brian wished to include various descriptive and colourful insults, but agreed to remove them from his response. Classy.]
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There is something i should mention: League of Legends happens to be free to download and play. HoN has no costs associated with playing, but you do need to purchase the game to play it, just like a standard RTS. I thought i would mention this point last since, in my opinion, you should NOT let the fact that LoL is free taint your opinion. I support the industry that’s given me so much joy and you should too. It’s my mantra that ‘if a game is worth playing it’s worth paying for’, which is why i also purchase ‘Riot Points’ in LoL without any obligation.
The three of us went to great lengths to try and produce a comprehensive and balanced article regarding the debate between these two games. We sat in Ventrilo for HOURS; we were careful not to discuss questions with each other until we had answered them, but would delve into intense debate regarding each answer given. I consider this a good sign. After all, nothing says fair and unbiased like having 3 interviewees in hot discussion (borderline-arguing) with each other all night. Luckily most of it involved what was wrong with, say, [balancing_issue_001] or whether or not [gameplay_issue_004] was intentional or not.
Generally we agree with each other’s answers or, at very least, understand and have accepted the validity of our three varying perspectives. Even if this article came out a bust i would do it again; just to obtain the valuable insight i’ve gained. Debate and constructive conversation can be a powerful thing.
There is one more thing i want to leave you with before i end this article: a recommendation. If you’re considering playing either of these games (or even both of them) it is a wise choice to jump on a video site (YouTube being the most popular) and browse some in-game footage. It’s so much easier to grasp the UI, smoothness and feel of a game from video than it is from still imagery.
The sites for both titles are fairly standard. Visit either if you are interested in their associated game:
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com < HoN | LoL > http://www.leagueoflegends.com
I hope you all enjoyed today’s article. Have a good one, and TTYL!
The Future of DotA: LoL vs HoN