Dota 2

[ShiBDiB]

Just played it for the first time.. and coming from LoL I must say that this game feels like the crappy knockoff rather then the other way around

LoL has better character balance imo, which right now seems to be a big problem with dota 2.

Among other little things, towers not doing crap for damage in dota 2, LoL blows this remake out of the water.

[xenocide]

I hope this is some horrible joke, but let me make some things clear as someone who has played nearly every MOBA on the market:

DotA2 is a sequel to DotA: Allstars, the Custom Game Map from Warcraft III developed by a guy named Icefrog. Icefrog was hired by Valve a couple years back to make a MOBA for them (DotA2). An earlier version of DotA was developed by a couple of guys with the alias' Guinsoo and Eul, but it wasn't nearly as popular or refined. These 2 guys helped found Riot Games and develop LoL some years later. So the people at Riot Games developed a version of DotA, and Icefrog took over when they went on to form Riot Games, and with his changes and focus on balance and refinement, the popularity of DotA (and by proxy--MOBA's) exploded. If it weren't for Icefrog and DotA: Allstars, Riot Games would have never gotten funding to really start developing League of Legends.

Now that the History lesson is out of the way, it's important to recognize the difference in the philosophy of each game. LoL focuses more on rewarding people for playing well, but not penalizing them in anyway for playing badly/irresponsibley. DotA2, rewards people for playing well, and punishes them for their mistakes, and their teamates mistakes. In LoL when you die, you aren't really losing anything, but in DotA2 when you die, you lose gold, your opponent gains gold, and you lose tons of time in the lane which they can use to push through a tower and possibly give their team a big edge.

Even more than the dynamics of dying, the way creeps are handled is vastly different. In LoL you can last hit enemy creeps to get extra gold. In DotA2 you can last hit enemy creeps for extra gold, as well as being able to last hit your own creeps to prevent the enemy from getting extra gold (and experience). This almost Meta-Game allows for a lot more depth to the game, and a huge increase in the learning curve of the game, because even if you know how to play every hero flawlessly, you're screwed if your opponent prevents you from last hitting a single creep.

As for character balance, LoL has been out in one form or another for like 5 years at this point, it has had a lot of time to add characters here and there, as well as balancing pre-existing characters. DotA2 is still in Beta, and is in the process of adding more characters from the actual DotA roster (which is at something like 80-100 heroes) to fill in gaps. By the time DotA2 goes live I expect it will have at least 60 heroes, and be very well balanced. One thing that makes balance automatically better than LoL, is that everyone has access to all the heroes in the pool, all the time. There's no advantage to players who spend more money or time on the game, because a lot of the heroes outside of the pool are substantially better than the ones in the pool at any given time.

Overall I think DotA2 is a better game than LoL, but then again, I think HoN is a better game than LoL. Everytime I play LoL I always end up carrying the team with a hero that everyone says is bad and incapable of doing so (Cho'Gath represent). With DotA2 the game is a lot more difficult because of a lot of elements that LoL has just flat out removed over the years, leading to a simpler less dynamic game.

[Wyverex]

I'd also like to point out that Dota2 is not a remake, because it changes NOTHING gameplay-wise from the original DotA.

Dota2 even copies things that were once considered engine bugs - just to make it identical gameplay-wise!


As for LoL vs Dota(2) vs HoN, it is mostly a matter of preference, but I'd pick Dota2 or HoN over LoL any day.

And, please don't comment on balance if you played the game for less than 6 months and/or followed the competitive scene.


PS xenocide, Valve said that Dota2 is not considered to be "beta quality" anymore, but it is still invite-based because "servers are not ready to handle the massive interest". Not very surprisingly, they said that on the day they implemented the cash shop

[Play3r]

LoL reminds me of EM back in the original DotA where you would just end up with alot of money and experience even if you were really bad.

I remember watching a stream where some LoL players or something rather were commentating The International and they had 0 clue on what was taking place in the game. Although DotA and LoL seem very similar they play very very differently. If you coming from playing LoL and have no experience with DotA you are likely to get eaten alive and possibly complain that the game is imbalance or what not but as was said by xenocide DotA 2 has the balance of a near 8 year old game/map so it is definitely not imbalanced, you just need to learn how to play it

[Play3r]

You should have a look at this article

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...f-dota-article

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

yeah.. the rage I feel when I die in Dota / Dota2 really hits the spot compared to LoL.

[DannibusX]

I like Dota2, although I really dislike people quitting quickly. It really makes it hard to learn the game.

[Play3r]

rage quitting and what not have always been part of dota culture. In war3 is was common for some to leave if they were first blooded. And then banlist came along .

[CounterZeus]

Dota 2 is in nearly every aspect better than LoL.
It doesn't suffer from the horrible engine/netcode to begin with and the shit community(not as much anyway). You get to play all the heroes and you don't have to grind your way to have the better heroes like in LoL.

Also, LoL targets a different kind of people. It's a dumbed down version for people who want to play a casual moba game with fixed metas, meanwhile dota 2 offers more complex mechanics that a first timer would not understand (I have played dota 1 for 2 years, then LoL 2 years and now a few months dota 2).

Don't get me wrong. I loved LoL and I was happy to switch from Dota 1, but there is no reason for me to keep on playing LoL. Dota 2 is the higher skilled game, with a better engine and I can play with friends from all over the world, because riot doesn't allow account transfers between different servers (except EUW<>EUNE)

[Fourstaff]

Originally Posted by ShiBDiB

LoL has better character balance imo, which right now seems to be a big problem with dota 2.

Among other little things, towers not doing crap for damage in dota 2, LoL blows this remake out of the water.

I think its based on personal preference. I absolutely detest LoL, since that I played the original DotA for as long as I remember. Now to address some of your concerns:

LoL's character balance is completely different from DotA's, in LoL everyone is semi decent against another, whereas in DotA there are heroes which are absolutely useless in 1v1 situations but is completely retarded strong in teamfights like Dazzle, and they are heroes crazy powerful 1v1 but is almost completely useless in teamfights like Luna. You get punished in DotA if your teammates are not performing, but in LoL you can more or less go 4v5 if the team is sufficiently farmed.

About the tower situation: They tried to make the tower mechanic in such a way people will be forced to make the decision to either tower dive and chase after the kill (sometimes multiple towers), or back off. in LoL you will almost always back off, but in DotA you will almost always chase, and when that happens the running hero can turn the table with a well timed stun and finish you off instead. Also, every good gank will more often than not result in a tower being taken down, and thus able to pile on more pressure. In LoL, every death is not as punishing and quite often in the early stages of the game you will have the opportunity to regroup.

At the end of the day if you are a casual player LoL will most likely be the superior game, and the dedicated player will find DotA (2) much more rewarding.

Ah, another point in DotA 2: Team balance. LoL doesn't punish players as badly as DotA 2, but the team lineup can sometimes determine the winner even before the game starts.