A little belated–not as cutting edge as we might like–but we now have League of Legends installed on the computers in the LAN. The game itself strives to be better and bolder than DotA with vastly upgraded graphics and a slew of new items and heroes. Like Heroes of Newerth, it is entirely stand-alone and no longer relies of Warcraft 3 for its maps or characters.

The game has several characteristics that distinguish it from Defense of the Ancients. Every player is required to create a free account which then tracks their stats, friends lists, and various other information. Players, known in League of Legends world as Summoners, have a customizable talent tree, the ability to level as themselves (in addition to their Heroes leveling over the course of a match) and customize gameplay with various talents and runes.

In terms of game play, there are obvious similarities between LoL and games like DotA and HoN. It’s a single map with three paths, a.k.a. lanes, that players can take to reach the opponent’s base and eventually victory. What makes League of Legends unique however is the level of customization available to players (both for free and via collectors’ packs) and the matchmaking capabilities of the game.

To speak more of them, one has to address friends. With separate accounts for each player (absolutely free), users can add friends to their friends lists and chat with them through the LoL interface. This same list can be used to create matches where all friends are placed in a match on the same side (up to 5 people) and the matchmaking interface them pairs them up with other players of similar level and player count. In this fashion, friends can play together without the hassles inherent to Warcraft 3’s Battle Net.

So, the game is here and we welcome you to give it a try.