DOTA2 or LoL?

[Uszi]

League of Legends is the perfect skinner box [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber], that tricks you into dropping real money at some point. It's not hard to find testimonials of people who have spent like hundreds on that game.

I've been trying to explain that to everyone... But they all just keep using the World of Warcraft mentality! D:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c

One of my friends is like that. His justification was that LoL was his hobby, and he knew guys that spent like, hundreds on Warhammer Figurines or on guns or gym memberships or whatever. Bleh, so much money spent on heroes he only played a few times or skins he only used once. And then he stopped playing altogether.

I did spend real money on LoL at some point: I bought what I thought the fair price of the game was in IP boosts so I could afford to fill the three starter rune pages and unlock a decent number of champions. I'm no where near unlocking all of them, though.

I never got that way with Dota or Dota 2. I mean, every time I've played a DotA game, it was to play the game. But I've definitely played LoL matches only to farm that 6300 IP. It's like you have to play LoL before you can play LoL.

 

[blazearmoru]

Aircross. :| You made me miss when I first started playing DotA on WC3 and getting my ass handed to me every single game. So many heroes. So many items. So many possibilities. The game was fairly new and most people were just as confused as I was. So much variety. I would do things that shocked my opponents. My opponents would do things that shocked me. I played LoL the first time expecting this experience but it didn't come. The game felt like... I was controlling a creep, fighting other creeps as I bought power ups to become a stronger creep.

But now if I look at it from the other perspective, the perspective of the LoL player trying DotA. Instead of being shocked and wowed by an opponent's unique strategy or play, they simply shout out " IMBALANCE! I DIED TOO QUICKLY!". I finally see why LoL players do that. They run in, expecting a fair fight while the opponent is playing smart.

I don't know why everyone is complaining. I actually liked being a DotA noob.
I made plays that shocked my opponents.
My opponents made plays that shocked me.
I stole my opponent's strategies and shocked more opponents.
It was fun. It was a game of look what I have under my sleeve , can you handle it? *-* BAM!

 

[pspman45]

I would say LoL because league is a lot easier to learn imo.
I also much prefer it's visual style, the champions in LoL seem a lot more colorful and varied than in DotA, where most of them seemed like hideous monsters and humans with really defined cheekbones
I also prefer the way league handles it's client, it has a steam like client where you can review your page, buy champions, search for a match, ect. but after you choose your champion, the actual game opens and begins loading. the advantage of this is that in the client form, they can display the hero list as a grid rather than just one row, and with 100 heroes it is a more difficult to find one.
DotA does look amazing in motion, as AoE abilities will smash the trees around the map, and you can use them to clear a path for an escape.
I also really like how in LoL you can press or hold spacebar to focus the camera on your character, while in DotA 2 you have to double tap it, which is really obnoxious, as pressing it one time shifts the camera to the center of the map.
I also found the DotA 2 community severely more hostile than the LoL community, it seems like all of the people who rage like hell in LoL switched to one unhappy place. granted, neither community is actually friendly, as the genre's mechanics are very rage inducing

TLDR: I like League of Legends

 

[blazearmoru]

pspman is right. LoL has more boobs, lolis and pole dancers. To be totally honest, they do have good character design, no joke. I just don't like how the game is completely devoid of depth. Also, you may not know this but you have to pay for those boobs. Pretty good marketing scheme IMO.

DOTA2 - LOL is for children.

Joe, don't be mean for the sake of it. If you have to make a point, back it up with evidence and reasoning. There's plenty of it. You can explain how LoL is like McDonalds of the restaurant business, or coke in the drinks business. Alternatively you can explain how it uses shallow things like boobs, ninjas, and girls to attract players or explain how it's mechanics are for children. There are so much supporting evidence if you go look for it. But, because it's designed for children, it is kinda fun. ^_~

 

[Aircross]

Aircross. :| You made me miss when I first started playing DotA on WC3 and getting my ass handed to me every single game. So many heroes. So many items. So many possibilities. The game was fairly new and most people were just as confused as I was. So much variety. I would do things that shocked my opponents. My opponents would do things that shocked me. I played LoL the first time expecting this experience but it didn't come. The game felt like... I was controlling a creep, fighting other creeps as I bought power ups to become a stronger creep.

But now if I look at it from the other perspective, the perspective of the LoL player trying DotA. Instead of being shocked and wowed by an opponent's unique strategy or play, they simply shout out " IMBALANCE! I DIED TOO QUICKLY!". I finally see why LoL players do that. They run in, expecting a fair fight while the opponent is playing smart.

I don't know why everyone is complaining. I actually liked being a DotA noob.
I made plays that shocked my opponents.
My opponents made plays that shocked me.
I stole my opponent's strategies and shocked more opponents.
It was fun. It was a game of look what I have under my sleeve , can you handle it? *-* BAM!

Ha, ha! I also played DotA around its early years, and yeah, nobody knew what they were doing. I remember getting Sheep Stick on Sniper just because I liked turning people into sheep and stacking Butterfly on Clinkz (damn, was he broken back then). XD

DotA\Dota 2 is great because it gives the players DA POWER! Everything in Dota 2 (for me at least) has so much more OOMPH! than in LoL. You have to manage your mana better, but that's because the abilities are ten times more powerful.

Oh, and stealing opponent's strategies? LOVE doing that with Rubick!

I would say LoL because league is a lot easier to learn imo.
I also much prefer it's visual style, the champions in LoL seem a lot more colorful and varied than in DotA, where most of them seemed like hideous monsters and humans with really defined cheekbones
I also prefer the way league handles it's client, it has a steam like client where you can review your page, buy champions, search for a match, ect. but after you choose your champion, the actual game opens and begins loading. the advantage of this is that in the client form, they can display the hero list as a grid rather than just one row, and with 100 heroes it is a more difficult to find one.
DotA does look amazing in motion, as AoE abilities will smash the trees around the map, and you can use them to clear a path for an escape.
I also really like how in LoL you can press or hold spacebar to focus the camera on your character, while in DotA 2 you have to double tap it, which is really obnoxious, as pressing it one time shifts the camera to the center of the map.
I also found the DotA 2 community severely more hostile than the LoL community, it seems like all of the people who rage like hell in LoL switched to one unhappy place. granted, neither community is actually friendly, as the genre's mechanics are very rage inducing

TLDR: I like League of Legends

Just wanna clarify one thing here. If you hit the Control button during hero selection in Dota 2 you'll get the grid instead of the cards (yeah, I don't know why Valve defaulted the selection to cards...)

 

[blazearmoru]

This is off topic but...

So in DotA the other day, my team gave first blood and then continued to get schooled to the point where we were down by more than 15,000 gold. The opponents were on beyond godlike streaks and like none of their towers were down. We on the other hand were not in that good a situation tower-wise... Yet we refused to let our base be burned down and held our ground and made a comeback.

What epic moments did you guys have recently on DotA? Same to you LoL players. Share some! =]

 

[TinmanX]

I'm sorry... DotA arguments seem to have on average more evidence based reasoning and justifications to them than LoL arguments. Both sides have their haters of course but that's not what you're after is it?

I am not after anything. My comment could easily be changed to someone who has played LoL or HoN first. You seem to have taken it to heart though which is amusing but unfortunate as it wasn't directed at anyone in particular.

Ok here's what DotA's matching has to offer ok?
1. Single Draft. Everyone is presented 3 random heroes to choose from. 1 Str, 1 Agi, 1 Int.
2. Reverse captains mode. Your opponents choose your team's heroes for you.
3. Least played mode. You can only pick heroes you've played the LEAST.

Seasonal modes.
1. Diretide -> stealing candy from enemy's bucket. Candy will be dropped on death. Candy can be farmed in lane.
2. Greeviling -> which team can kill steal the best. Camps of super monsters will spawn in the forest and who ever last hits the camp gets 1 point.

These are all done on the same map. They are not new games modes, just interesting initial hero pick options or in-game objectives. You could probably accurately describe them as a mod or mutator. As a programmer I know this would take me only a small amount of time to script. These examples are not the same as designing a completely new level, art/sound assets and the completely different game mechanics that revolve around it.

I've already said Dota 2 is an excellent game, so I'm not here to try and belittle it or other people's opinions. If you like Dota 2 more than LoL, great. Your opinion is as valid as others who think otherwise.

 

[Aircross]

This is off topic but...

So in DotA the other day, my team gave first blood and then continued to get schooled to the point where we were down by more than 15,000 gold. The opponents were on beyond godlike streaks and like none of their towers were down. We on the other hand were not in that good a situation tower-wise... Yet we refused to let our base be burned down and held our ground and made a comeback.

What epic moments did you guys have recently on DotA? Same to you LoL players. Share some! =]

NEVER GIVE UP!

NEVER SURRENDER!!!

https://dotabuff.com/matches/20766528

The Necrolyte was ready to give up 25 minutes in after seeing Windrunner and Dark Seer feed, but I managed to talk him out of it.

Funny enough, my team was more coordinated and thus we won a majority of the team fights.

Part of it because we spread out enough so that the Void and Tide couldn't catch all of us in their ults.

There's nothing more satisfying than Hexing Void while he's trying to kill your ally in his ult.

This was also the first time I saw a successful carry Necrolyte.

These are all done on the same map. They are not new games modes, just interesting initial hero pick options or in-game objectives. You could probably accurately describe them as a mod or mutator. As a programmer I know this would take me only a small amount of time to script. These examples are not the same as designing a completely new level, art/sound assets and the completely different game mechanics that revolve around it.

That's why I'm hoping that Valve will release a Dota 2 map editor for the community to play around with. Can't wait to play Pudge Wars, Meepo Madness, Tinker Tower Defense, Spectre Special Forces, and Sniper Paintball!

 

[Tanakh]

-snip-

- Fortunately it's not a subjective subject where you can agree or disagree. We have win rates for both games, and LoL has a lower cealing and a higher baseline for win percentage having also more heroes. That is more balanced is a math fact, what you are arguing I think are the reasons, which i didn't delved into.

- Yeah, but only at it's most basic level. I would assume anyone who thinks himself decent at dota knows all the heroes, skills, posible roles, has map awarness and the optimal builds and niche builds for his core heroes. LoL i can't comment, because i just play it once in a while with friends, know it well enough but aren't good enough to be insightful.

- Note that i said shit about "players", I said teams. The best DotA players lose on a regular basis when playing pub matches, so? This is all about the team, take the WCG for example, Tong Fu won convincingly over iG and LGD on WCIII DotA because Tong Fu were more focused and up to date in the WCIII DotA mechanics and metagame, but AFAIK they have NEVER win against LGD and iG in DotA2, certanly not a whole torunament over the other two.

- In pubs every carry is op (even if it's ture that Drow and Sven are particulary good at snowballing and stupidly easy to play), the lower you go the worse because they will be left alone to freefarm and the support players are not good enough to shut them down early either. You could also have said for example "Necrolyte, Luna and PL are OP". In the tournament scene Sven is certanly not OP, nor I would think Centaur but he aint in CM so who knows, Drow... might be nerfed not because he can get fat (every carry can) but because her global aura for ranged heroes; I am very doubtful they will be nerfed soon. In the pro scene I would say Wisp, Batrider, Nerubian Assassin and PL are too strong, but after the recent patch PL might drop a little probably replaced by Magnataur.

 

[Ickorus]

LoL no contest, dota2 is basically just plain old dota with better graphics where LoL made an effect to improve the concept. LoL is currently the most played game in the world and thats for a very good reason.

Gotta agree with this statement, I don't actually play either game anymore but LoL felt like an evolution (Not a perfect evolution, mind, it still has it's own issues) where DOTA 2 simply ported the game flaws and all without any attempt to improve gameplay beyond graphical changes.

 

[God's Clown]

I would recommend Heroes of Newerth, but that is probably because I think LoL is stupid and I have never played Dota2.

 

[NathLines]

It comes down to 2 major things. Gameplay and everything else(cash shop, functionality, friend list etc). Try both and if you like the gameplay of one more than the other, well you might want to stick to that one. If you don't mind either, go with Dota. Dota 2 let's you play all the heroes for free, while you have to unlock them all in LoL. Also, you can find cosmetic items from drops in Dota 2, while you can only buy skins in LoL. Just everything surrounding Dota 2 is so much better than LoL. Everything.

This is very annoying, since I prefer the gameplay of LoL over Dota. I wish that everything else about LoL was more like Dota. Oh, yeah. Dota has an action wheel that eliminates the need to type missing all the god damn time. Damn you, Dota.

I would recommend Heroes of Newerth, but that is probably because I think LoL is stupid and I have never played Dota2.

HoN was based pretty much completely based on Dota. The heroes are basically just re-skins of the heroes from Dota. Since Dota 2 already has a bigger player base, gives you all the heroes for free + random loot drops, I really don't see why you'd pick HoN over Dota 2. It's not a bad game, Dota 2 just offers more.

 

[Leoofmoon]

When I played DOTA 2 I really didn't like it but again it was my first match and my laptop is in desperate need of a upgrade, but as for this I would be sitting in League, but I also will scoot over to a game as Monday night combat seeing how I see far more skill then in both of the games and it dos not take it self seriously. the amount of fin I had playing the original was time well spent and once I build my own I'll be spending plenty in SMNC

 

[schtingah]

If you're just starting out I can only recommend Dota 2, just for the simple reason that you start on an equal playing field. In LoL you have to spend a lot of time just getting up to the level of other people in runes, levels and available champions. While in Dota 2 everything is instantly available from the start.

 

[Larcenist]

This is off topic but...

So in DotA the other day, my team gave first blood and then continued to get schooled to the point where we were down by more than 15,000 gold. The opponents were on beyond godlike streaks and like none of their towers were down. We on the other hand were not in that good a situation tower-wise... Yet we refused to let our base be burned down and held our ground and made a comeback.

What epic moments did you guys have recently on DotA? Same to you LoL players. Share some! =]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdN67NuhMW4

This, the series was 1-1 and whoever won that game would take the complete victory. Never seen such a display of nerves of steel where it is really do or die.

HoN was based pretty much completely based on Dota. The heroes are basically just re-skins of the heroes from Dota. Since Dota 2 already has a bigger player base, gives you all the heroes for free + random loot drops, I really don't see why you'd pick HoN over Dota 2. It's not a bad game, Dota 2 just offers more.

HoN is slightly faster than both DotA and LoL which could be both a drawback and an appeal.

Ok here's what DotA's matching has to offer ok?
1. Single Draft. Everyone is presented 3 random heroes to choose from. 1 Str, 1 Agi, 1 Int.
2. Reverse captains mode. Your opponents choose your team's heroes for you.
3. Least played mode. You can only pick heroes you've played the LEAST.

Why wasn't the least played mode around back when I played DotA? This sounds like an amazing game mode.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I much prefer DOTA because it is easier to get into, you don't need to pay for half the heroes or spend years unlocking them and the fights seem more intense.
On of the main differences is DOTA has much better graphics on everything except the heroes which still look a little better in my opinion. Also at the moment Dota has no outstandingly overpowered characters, unlike LoL which is basically first to pick Darius wins.
I can gift you a free Dota invite if you want.

 

[Naeras]

I am surprised no one has mentioned this yet. League of Legends is slowly breaking the mould of traditional MOBA game play, offering different game modes than the traditional 5v5 tri-lane. Some of these are the 3v3 duo lane map, 5v5 large single lane map (usually played as all randomly selected heroes) and the awesomely fun 5v5 Dominion (capture and hold 5 points on a map). You do not see this in Dota 2, which in my opinion is a little limiting and disappointing. There is so much more that you could do with the genre (CTF? Coop survival against waves? King of the Hill?) than just the traditional 5v5 tri-lane everyone seems obsessed with. I am glad Riot Games are taking a different approach and evolving/experimenting with the genre.

I can think of about five different useful lane-setups from the top of my head in addition to trilanes in Dota 2(2-1-2, 1-1-2-jungle, 2-2-1, 1-1-1+roamers, 2+2+jungle, etc). As for LoL, they only have a single one: 1-1-2-jungle. To make it even worse, the roles of each lane is almost completely set in stone.

The other game modes in LoL are fun, though. But nobody ever bothered to really get into them more than a game or two once in a while, it seems, which explains why nobody is mentioning them. Still, more maps is good, and I'd love to see Dota 2 play with more maps than the one that's been used since... 2005?

As of writing this, League of Legends also has some handy tutorials for newbies to get started with, as well as AI support for all 4 game modes. Dota 2 has AI opponents as well, but for a newbie it will all still seem pretty confusing. While LoL's 10 free heroes a week system may seem like a drawback, it is also probably good that a newbie learn the ropes on a limited hero set, facing the same limited hero set instead of encountering new champions every game and getting owned. It is also a free game, so expecting the full hero list from the start is being selfish and entitled.

That last sentence is a load of bull. HoN gets by just fine with having all heroes for free, and instead offers a game mode with a limited amount of heroes. As for Dota 2, the game is still in beta, so we'll have to see how they go when that's finished, but I'm fairly certain they'll just offer everything for free. In terms of that, the two other games flat-out offer a better service. Pointing that out isn't entitlement.

LoL is certainly easier to get into, though, which is a big selling point. However, the fact is that other players can have a distinct advantage over me because they've played the game for longer or spent more money on it, as they'll either have a stat advantage(not usually a big deal), or the ability to draft better than me due to picking orders and, more importantly, counterpicking(has lost me several games. i.e. BIG deal).

League of Legend's Judicial and Honor systems that allow the community to critique the negative/positive acts of players also goes a long way into controlling the vibes that the community exhibits. Dota 2's equivalent doesn't really work the same way.

Agreed.

While I have only played Dota 2 for a small amount, the learning curve in that game for a complete MOBA rookie would be horrific. It is very complex, but complexity should never be mistaken as difficulty. The skill ceiling in both games is roughly the same. Dota 2 is an excellent game, but my vote for the moment has to land with LoL. It is a game that is better designed for people learning the genre and having different types of fun.

Dota 2 gives you more options in terms of almost anything you do in the game, and is more technically demanding to play. The last one isn't a selling point in itself, but the first one is the main reason why I prefer Dota 2 to LoL, and why I consider that game to have a higher skill-cap than LoL. The higher execution-ceiling also contributes to that, but the first is the most important one.

Finally, the traditionalist "I am a Dota vet and Dota 2 is the best MOBA because its based off the first and best MOBA. Every other MOBA is crap" mentality can be very off-putting for anyone with any sense of rationality, mainly because it speaks volumes of choice-supportive bias. Don't be one of those people.

Those people are dumb.

 

[WoW Killer]

But seriously I hated that game mostly because they took away one of the most strategically important parts of Dota Games: Fog Of War when controlling your character. With SMITE it's just "Oh there he is I can see him from infinity away so he really can't do shit to me unless someone comes from behind AH SHIT!." The 3rd Person Perspective has done nothing to really improve the game, and all it did was make ganks both much more predictable and far harder to counter.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by that, as I've not seen much of the other games (just the odd videos). In SMITE you can't see enemies unless someone on your team, your minions, your towers or your wards have line of sight of them. Is this done differently in LoL/DotA?

The 3rd person view has to be understood along with other changes and design decisions. The basic idea was to simplify the meta-game and overall strategy a bit and then add in more of a skill element to the combat (e.g. no targeting). Ganking wise, you have to consider that someone getting the jump on you doesn't mean you're going to die; they need to actually hit you with their abilities, which isn't guaranteed. Also consider that the minions and towers are especially powerful early on, and if you can retreat a short distance you're normally safe. It's usually only if you're caught out of position that you can get ganked (e.g. someone like Ao Kuang playing mid usually goes for a heavy early push, which makes him susceptible to flanks from left and right). It all just reinforces the need to call missings of course (the VGS from Tribes helps out; incidentally I thought that wheel system they've got in DotA 2 looked fantastic).

A more general point; I dislike the sheer number of heroes these games end up having. SMITEs still young so it's fine right now, but I get the feeling it's going to go the same way as LoL and have a new god every couple of weeks or something. As of right now, there's 28 gods, and I feel like I have a reasonable idea of what they all do and how to deal with them (e.g. dealing with Agni is very different to dealing with He Bo). It's probably fine if you follow a game constantly as you've only got one new tool set to learn at a time. But over time it's just another obstacle stopping new players from learning the game. Unfortunately that's the business model they're working with, and they probably wouldn't be able to fund the game without constant new releases like that.

 

[Naeras]

Also at the moment Dota has no outstandingly overpowered characters, unlike LoL which is basically first to pick Darius wins.

Darius isn't really OP. He's just the perfect pubstomper, provided he doesn't get counterpicked.

..sorry, I just needed to point that out. :<

 

[Larcenist]

Also at the moment Dota has no outstandingly overpowered characters, unlike LoL which is basically first to pick Darius wins.

Darius isn't really OP. He's just the perfect pubstomper, provided he doesn't get counterpicked.

..sorry, I just needed to point that out. :<

This isn't even a very good example of an "overpowered" champion. I've stated in previous posts that I find stealth a stupid mechanic generally (with the exception of that team stealth item in DotA which is an amazing usage of the stealth mechanic) and that since there is no blink dagger in LoL you only have a long cooldown summoner Flash for blinks, which makes teleport/dash champions stand out (generally). LoL has very few champions utilizing stealth, but they do have ONE champion that, in a public match, can kill his jungle without being there while stealing his enemy jungler's buffs. He has a teleport ability that gives him stealth and he can singlehandedly snowball every single lane out of control by just existing. Yeah, if you want an "overpowered" champion (in the public game sense), use Shaco as your model.

Edit:

Except that Shaco falls off immensly, rendering him useless as soon as teamfights start happening.

If you're having trouble with Shaco, ward and don't in the first ten minutes. Congratulations, the game is now 5v4.

Yeah but that is why he is, and I tried to stress this in my post (maybe not enough), a perfect example of a pubstomper. Mid lane will blame the support unconditionally for dying to Shaco because he will not buy wards himself. If you have a semi-decent premade there will be no real pubstompers in the game (Evelynn is the very same thing though I do not know how she is post-patch now which is why I chose Shaco as an example instead).