Heroes of Newerth is following in the footsteps of Valve's Team Fortress 2 by going free to play, or F2P. The game will now provide you with a free basic account. After you play it for awhile or purchase Goblin Coins, your account will be upgraded to a verified account which allows you access to 15 free heroes.
Users who have already paid for accounts will have their accounts upgraded to Legacy accounts, which have free lifetime access to every HoN hero, and can only play in Verified Only games ensuring that experts and beginners play on different tiers.
"With the transition to free-to-play we're opening HoN up to new audiences as our players can now easily introduce the game to their friends. S2 has a serious level of commitment to our players to continuously improve both the game and their experience. With the new account types and match-making standards in place, both novice and existing players will benefit from the upgraded structure."
Heroes of Newerth is one of two popular Defense of the Ancients-inspired games. The other is League of Legends. Valve has announced its collaboration with DOTA developer IceFrog to come out with DOTA2 sometime in the near future.
Thanks Kotaku.