So can folks tell me a bit about this thing? I remember trying to get this and HoN working on my computer earlier this year, but one of them didn't work at the time and the other was basically DotA reskinned. I'm actually quite the fan of the Aeon of Strife gameplay type -- and have been since its inception, back with Starcraft -- but DotA itself, while quite polished, was/is entirely too micro-intensive for me to actually enjoy; I could hold my own, occasionally, in a public game, but it wasn't particularly impressive compared to a number of other WC3 AoS maps and the existence a dedicated upper-level gameplay arena (so to speak) had a nasty effect on the general atmosphere of the games. Not to mention the average skill level more or less skyrockted, leaving middling players (or at least those unwilling to actively practice the game -- and I'm sorry, I'm not going to run training sessions for something that's not incredibly impressive and original, which DotA isn't.) like myself in the dust. DotA was a lot more enjoyable back when it first came about, at least for me.
Blurb out of the way, how much does LoL differ from DotA, in terms of gameplay? From HoN (Though there doesn't seem to be terribly much of a difference between the two, when I checked HoN out -- there were heros whose skills were direct rips of DotA characters.)? How much of an advantage does payin' folks get? What's that 'level' thing being mentioned? Anything really important that folks starting out need to know, if they're already mostly familiar with AoS style games?