There will be no levelling or unlocking required to access Heroes of Newerth's great big lineup of champions thanks to today's patch. RPS spotted the news in a statement on the Heroes of Newerth forums , where S2 staffer Konran explained the reasoning behind the change. “We agree with the community that HoN is best played with a full hero pool available to all players and that both the new and the longtime, dedicated players alike can benefit from the change. We want players to have the freedom to invite their friends and to recommend heroes based on playstyle and not a free hero pool."

"Players will no longer be limited by which heroes they can afford, so when a line-up calls for a certain hero, you can answer the call and focus on what's important in each game of HoN.”

Nice. This puts HoN on a par with Dota 2's system, which lets players pay for visual customisations and announcer packs. The other major MOBA, League of Legends, offers a rotating selection of characters for free, but permanent access for has to be bought or unlocked.

“This change is equally important in our mission to revitalize the myriad of game modes in HoN. HoN offers so many other fun twists, options, and strategies outside of All Pick that any passionate fan can attest to. We recognize this and don't want players to be turned away from these modes due to restriction. With all heroes and game modes, players will have the complete HoN experience at their disposal,” Konran adds.

If you'd like to try HoN, you can download the client and sign up for an account on the official Heroes of Newerth site .