HoN - Heroes of Newerth

[Komskies]

For those of you who don't know, Heroes of Newerth is a spinoff of DotA or Defense of the Ancients, a custom game in Warcraft 3. DotA is extremely popular, I'm sure some people have even bought WC3 solely for the purpose of playing DotA.

I was looking at some gameplay footage yesterday for HoN and I have to say, I'm really impressed with the way this game looks. They've stayed true to keeping the look and feel similar to DotA, while keeping the graphics and gameplay fresh. There were some recognizable characters in the footage I saw, namely Pudge and Krobelus.

They have also added some important features that DotA is missing. Two of the big ones are a leaver prevention system (not really sure what it is, but it sounds good) and the ability to rejoin a game in progress if you disconnect.

I didn't think I would actually say this, but if they offer this game at a reasonable price, say $30, I would consider buying it. Right now it's in the Beta-test stage of developement.

[MarchHare]

I'm in the beta for HoN.

It really is an exact clone of DOTA, but they've made a ton of little refinements to improve the game. My favourite change is that there's only one vendor now (plus the secret shop), so you don't have to remember which guy sells a particular item. Another nice improvement is that you can click on a completed item from the vendor, and it will open a sub-menu showing the different pieces it takes to make the item, allowing you to buy them directly from there.

The player community is just as awful as DOTA's, though. Even if you join a game set for "Noobs only" people will still yell and be mean to someone who's learning how to play and dying a lot.

[DrJ]

Yah I'm in beta, too. TBQH, I still like DotA better...

Like MarchHare said, the store is much improved and you don't have to memorize specific build orders.

It is also great because if you drop for whatever reason, you have 300 seconds to re-connect to the game. There is also the option to concede (essentially wave the white flag) so the game doesn't drag on.

The leave system works (I think) by allowing to leave 1 out of every 10 games and still have a "good rating". The more games you leave, the more your "leaver status" drops.

My qualm is that I feel it is a lot easier to deny and last hit.

Oops almost forgot, my favourite feature is the new maps. 3v3 map is great!

For now, I'm gonna stick to my DotA. I play on a private server (Garena). It is much better than Battle.Net and the people are not as exclusive lol.

If I get a beta key, do you want me to send it your way OP?