what are these "improvements"?

i keep hearing people discuss improvements, but i don't read any/ I understand they recreated the engine and the general interface for finding games and starting games might be easier.... but... what gameplay improvements have been introduced?

Most of the improvements are internal. There are some cosmetic improvements but that's up to opinion. It's all relatively the same as Dota. Still... although it may seem like a recreation it actually plays much better than WC3 ever could and even more so in Dota's case since the coding for the skills and items are clean and direct instead of using the crazy workarounds that they use in Dota that causes choppyness and lag at times (play any DM game in dota for the most dramatic effect). It also handles latency and lag much differently. In a normal situation there is no delay for me even though the ms averages out to 90-180 (which you would see in the games list and then in real time in the lobby before the game starts). Should someone else lag the only indicator I would get is them saying so. If they drop... oh well. We can vote for a rematch or concession. Or we can continue playing and wait for them to reconnect. There is a five minute downtime window before the player is officially kicked and that's plenty of time. A normal player would try to get back in as fast as they can because they do not want a leave on their record (as well as kills, deaths, assists, average creep scores, denies, exp per minute, etc). More improvements include the ability to queue skills and commands (which is why they added a cast speed stat to each hero.. to give small windows for response). You can also rebind your keys and use an ingame voice chat... which is a nice addition to the ui. It is very familiar territory when playing HoN but once you play a few games you will find WC3 inferior in almost every way once you go back.

is anyone else in the League of Legends beta?

i'm finally getting around to playing this. anyone wanna play a game tonight? my username is Ryan_

ALSO how many of you guys are preordering the game?

and could anyone gimme a list of the DotA -> HoN hero counterparts? some are pretty obvious, like keeper of the forest and rooftrellen

i suggest coming onto irc and spamming the people who have the game, like me and leafo and grim.

maybe not leafo, i dont think he's playing anymore... too retard..

okay soon as iget off work. how many gwers are playing?

i'm gonna play my first few HoN games tonight when i get off work but since i'm pretty decent at DotA (relatively speaking) how hard is the transition?

ive only played with grim and leafo so far.

and i have no idea on the dota question as i played dota like twice and am terrible at hon 8)

okay soon as iget off work. how many gwers are playing?

i'm gonna play my first few HoN games tonight when i get off work but since i'm pretty decent at DotA (relatively speaking) how hard is the transition?

The first few to ten games are pretty hard since the graphics are more detailed and the effects more flashy. It takes a few games to get used to the shop system too but once you learn it it's way better than DotA's.

I'd recommend turning off Post-processing and Foliage from the Graphics Settings to keep things cleaner until you get used to the models and such. You also should click the dual-coloured orb on the top-left corner of the mini map for team colouring.

is anyone else in the League of Legends beta?

Well I got an invite today, downloading it as we speak.

is anyone else in the League of Legends beta?

I am, its pretty gross

ALSO how many of you guys are preordering the game?

and could anyone gimme a list of the DotA -> HoN hero counterparts? some are pretty obvious, like keeper of the forest and rooftrellen

I found this on my harddrive after I made it out of boredom while waiting for someone to arrive. Grammar and diction be lackin cuz but you will get the idea.

okay anyone wanna play a game? i don't wanna play my first hon game by myself.. .

sorry for the semihijack but my LoL id is dongbeard if anyone wants to group up sometime

Well, I tried my first practice game against myself and I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing.. it's like an RTS melded with an MMO... I had no idea how to use skills or anything. Is there a manual online anywhere? It seems like this game is geared for people who have already played dota.. as someone how hasn't and doesn't even understand the gameplay I'm very lost!

it is faster more responsive and things like that. the engine is made for dota and not rts gamez (like wc3 is).

By the way, if anyone else needs a HoN key I still have an extra one, and if anyone has an extra LoL key I could use it for a friend of mine.

If anyone is up for teaching me how to play this game I'd appreciate it. I tried playing in a noobs only game only to have people kick me out of the game because I didn't know what I was doing. Talk about a good first experience.