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HoN vs. DotA

The multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game genre began with a 2003 Warcraft 3 map called Defense of the Ancients. Heroes of Newerth, released in 2010, is based on DotA gameplay, but it introduces a number of changes to style and gameplay. Both games focus on building up a single hero character and attempting to destroy an important enemy building. The hero characters advance with computer-controlled minions through one of three lanes. Defensive mechanisms along the lane delay hero advancement, and battles are frequent between player characters on the opposing team.

Gameplay Similarities
- DotA's gameplay and that of HoN are almost identical. HoN provides exact duplicates of many of the items found in the DotA game world, changing only the name and icon. Many of the DotA heroes have exact equivalents in HoN. HoN has expanded the base hero number to provide unique and exclusive characters on top of the heroes that any DotA player can quickly transition to.
User Interface
- Heroes of Newerth did not copy the exact interface DotA uses. The user interface is arranged to make map-viewing and teammate health much easier to see and use. Players can hover over a particular teammate's name on the UI and receive an entire list of skills that the teammate has. If any of the abilities have a cooldown that has not expired yet, this information is also provided. HoN's ability tracking makes it much easier to coordinate team fights. You can tell quickly whether your partner has his ultimate ability off of a cooldown. The ultimate ability may mean the difference between winning or losing a team fight.
Shops
- DotA items are distributed among several shops found throughout your base. You may spend a significant amount of time traveling between stores to buy items your character needs. HoN allows you to buy directly from your item panel instead of going to each of the stores, saving you time that you'll need to move back up your lane and re-enter the fight.
Considerations
- Heroes of Newerth has made many improvements on the basic gameplay that DotA established in the MOBA genre. Some changes are slight, such as the hero and item selections. Others, such as the game's interface and item-purchasing, are more significant. HoN uses an updated game engine designed specifically for this game, while DotA runs off of the Warcraft 3 engine. The HoN game engine allows players to reconnect after disconnecting from a game. When a player disconnects, the other team has a temporary 5 versus 4 number advantage against the opposing team. The disconnected player can reconnect within five minutes to resume playing the game.

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