so... How is Smite?

[Elfgore]

So I'm trying to expand my MOBA horizons and try more than just LoL. I already play a little bit of DOTA and the only other MOBA that people talk about is Smite.

I go to the site and am interested as soon as I see the list of champs. Thor, Fenris, Ares, and all these other awesome gods are the heroes. I then look at the gameplay and am now debating if I should download it.

My question is then, how is the gameplay? Does the third person view actually work well in a MOBA game? Will my experience with LoL be of any use in Smite?

 

[Altorin]

I haven't played it myself, although I've seen it played lots and... it's actually pretty neat, It's a lot more focused on your own movements, with the camera locked into a third person view, but it's varied and interesting enough for sure.

As for your LoL experience traveling over, yes. It should - all mobas kind of use the same sort of character design in terms of mechanics - you'll see lots of moves and archetypes that cross over, although the way the mechanics work with the different vantage point and control scheme will certainly take some getting used to. It supports controllers and I certainly want to try that when I can get around to actually patching the game (I have it prepatched on my laptop)

 

[Launcelot111]

I have a good time with it. The main Smite map is pretty much Summoner's Rift, and Smite uses all the same stats as LoL (abilities scale with AD/AP too), so despite the perspective change, you should get the hang of things pretty quickly. The biggest thing for me to adjust to was doing movement and spells with the same hand (WASD and 1234), but I manage.

I haven't played too terribly much, but it doesn't seem as deep as LoL. I enjoy that though, as it has a more arcadey feel to it that makes it good as a change of pace. The game sort of realizes this, as one of the maps is just a round arena where you just have deathmatch battles. They also have a special game type of the day which changes everyday as well which has a theme like Norse vs Chinese or 5v5 Hercules battles which are pretty fun. There are another 3 (I think) maps aside from the ones I mentioned, so you have plenty of variety.

The heroes don't have tons of personality in-game (they're not particularly chatty), but they are generally fun to play, and balance is pretty good as well (aside from Ao Kuang the Chinese god of bullshit). Aside from 5 always free gods and a rotation of 5 free gods of the week, you have to unlock everyone LoL style, and everyone is sadly pretty expensive.

It's free, so there's no real reason not to try. I don't play with the frequency of LoL or DOTA, but I definitely have fun when I do play. My personal faves if you do give Smite a whirl are Hel, Tyr, and Athena.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well as long as you understand that this is not Action RTS like LoL and Dota, it is a third person brawler form and yes that does mean sneaking up on people becomes a possibility (obviously people can also sneak up on you).
And just generally this is far less complex then the top games, still packs enough for that MOBA feel but expect a more mellow experience overall.