Why play Dota 2 over League of Legends?

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Jaktajj

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Ok, so I'm kind of taking the bull by the horns on this question, but it's something I've been thinking a lot about lately and something i'm having a hard time finding an answer that isn't 'cuz people who play League are gay'.

I'm a League of Legends player with close to 2000 games under my belt, I've gotten to the point where I can confidently win my lane in all positions in most matches and don't really remember the last time I was called a 'noob'. I've put in time, practice and have a pretty good handle on how the MOBA genre works on a micro and meta level. It also, in fairness, makes me incredibly bias to League.

However:

I have a few friends, who haven't played MOBA games before, get into Dota 2 recently and i've tried to join in with them, but I'm having a hard time having any fun in Dota 2. I've played about 20-ish hours so far. I fully accept that the skills don't transfer very well as there are a lot of different mechanics present in Dota 2 that aren't in League and vice-versa but in comparison, the characters movement isn't snappy and the extra mechanics so far, seem archaic and an unnecessary barrier of entry. Is denying really a fun mechanic in practice? Does the lack of free teleports-to-base in Dota 2 really add a necessary layer of strategy? I'd like to point out, however, I think Dota 2 is extremely well made - this isn't me knocking the game.

I'd love to talk to someone who has played a lot of League of Legends and made the switch. I'd love to talk to someone who can give me a convincing argument to stick with this game. So far it seems like the only reason to play Dota 2 is if you had played a lot of Dota Allstars and have the mechanics ingrained to your brain. I played a game the other day that we had clearly lost at 8 minutes and the enemy team dragged it out for 45 minutes. Without League's surrender option. I haven't got a desire to log in again.

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LiquidPenguins

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It's a better game in every aspect. I don't know why you have to ask, the game is free.

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BeachThunder

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Alliteration.

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Cloudenvy

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#4  Edited By Cloudenvy

Because I like the pace more, the heroes, having to use portal scrolls absolutely adds an extra layer of strategy especially when they hard-counter certain heroes (free teleports to base would totally break that), surrendering can be stupid since Dota 2 games can swing really hard and it'd be dull for one team to just give up when they think they've lost and yes, denying can be really fun since it shuts down extremely strong heroes that absolutely need their farm.

Too bad you didn't enjoy it, but there's absolutely reasons for picking Dota 2 over League.

EDIT: Also, saying that you have a pretty good handle on the micro and meta levels of the genre is an insane thing to say in a post questioning why people would ever pick Dota 2 instead of LoL. If anything, that tells me that you do not have a handle on the genre, but you have a handle on LoL.

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BisonHero

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I agree that it could really do with a surrender feature like League, but c'mon, the fact that the whole roster of Dota 2 is 100% free is basically the thing.

If you want to be Brad and buy keys like a crazy person you can, but it's the rare free to play game where literally everything gameplay-relevant is actually free.

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Rayeth

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#6  Edited By Rayeth

The game was purposefully built with slower motion, different attack animations and weird mechanics in order to balance it.

The reason your teleport isn't free is to give a cost to the movement around the map (which matters quite a bit for a support player), denying is "fun" because it gives you a method to control the lane (ie push or pull it) to where you want it to be. If played well you can end up with the lane equilibrium very near to your tower making you very safe while you farm. It isn't about "fun" it's about control.

Character movement isn't ever intended to be "snappy" (except maybe when you get a haste rune). The differing move speeds of various heroes plays deeply into the strategy of ganking and team fights. You need to know if you can chase down a certain hero or if they have boots can you out run them, etc. Small differences in movespeed can be the difference between a kill and a failed gank.

But whatever. It sounds a lot like you don't like the game and are looking for reasons to go back to league. No one is forcing you to play. But I can't fathom why anyone would want to play a game like this without access to the entire hero pool for everyone for every game. I will never understand how league players can consider games fair when some people might not have access to all heroes.

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squiDc00kiE

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I put close to 100 hours into League before switching over to Dota 2. For me, Dota is a much more polished and deep game. Plenty of considerations are needed in Dota that aren't in League. Stacking jungle camps, pulling creeps, (I love denying), creeps actually do damage to you in Dota whereas in league I felt like I could be surrounded by 20 and be completely fine. The jungle is much more complex, ie hidden paths, trees are destructible. I also find that more heroes can fill multiple roles in Dota while in league they felt very purpose built for a single role. I could go on for hours here, but there's a reason people say LoL has a learning curve, and Dota has a learning cliff. It's just a much more complex game IMO.

ps. The lack of "snappy" movement is actually on purpose. Heroes dot just have a movement rate they also have a turn rate. A low turn rate results in less snappy movement.

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theodacourt

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I don't think you can say for sure in DOTA 2 that after 8 minutes a game is lost. That would be absolutely insane. Maybe foreseeing what might happen in a match is a skill that doesn't transfer from LoL to DOTA!

And it should never be a question of having one over another. Both games exist and can be played, and they have their variances. Some people will prefer one or the other, but it really doesn't matter. I prefer the more methodical and slower pace of DOTA, as it allows for more nuance. I still enjoy CoD online though from time to time and that's the polar opposite in just about every way imaginable.

You just have to give it more time maybe, or find a group of people you like playing with.

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TobbRobb

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#9  Edited By TobbRobb

Apples and Oranges.

League is a fast paced game focused on hero on hero murder. You go in with whatever strikes your fancy, you outplay the opposition and you win in 20-30 minutes. It's fast and streamlined and you can play kinda whatever you want and make it work. Just focus on the here and now, try to get strong and then beat the other team.

Dota is a methodically paced game, based on resource management and working as a team. You need to really pay attention to what heroes are picked and why, you need good synergy in the team and you need to manage the team gold properly. On top of that there is a lot of busywork keeping the lanes and jungle in check while warding off the other team from fucking you up. All the systems in dota allow for more of a "bigger picture" kind of game, where you work for the end in a multitude of ways and make sure to plan ahead. It's definitely a lot more spreadsheety than league, and for me, that is what makes it different and fun.

2000 games of league made me kind of bored with the minute to minute combat, so these extra layers of macrogame feels amazing. That said, I think if you want the "team deathmatch" vibe with this kind of control and look, then league is the way to go. With it's frankly superior unit control and more satisifying abilities in a pure damage sense. "Though I think the wacky crowd control and other weird shit, (Invoker, Rubick or Meepo) you get in dota is more interesting, but they frankly couldn't live in the environment league has created."

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deactivated-5cc8838532af0

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For me Dota 2 has all the heroes available without having to pay any money. Plain and simple.

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EpicSteve

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I've been told by a lot of folks that have played both Dota has a lot more depth.

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Nefarious_Al

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Dota 2 is to LoL as Street Fighter 2 is to Shaq Fu.

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OmegaPirate

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#13  Edited By OmegaPirate

Better pacing - higher polish level - better overall system intergration (ui etc) - dont have to pay out my arse in order to access 80% more of the game

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theveej

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#14  Edited By theveej

@liquidpenguins said:

It's a better game in every aspect. I don't know why you have to ask, the game is free.

Pretty much what this guy has said, I know a lot of people love LoL but to me its just not as good as Dota 2. Dota is the original (there were a few earlier MOBA's on SC and Warcraft III but Dota was the best and most polished one back in the day). As someone who played a lot of original Dota, LoL felt weird and watered down. Dota 2 is the deeper "traditional" MOBA.

A lot of my friends who play a lot of FPS have compared LoL and Dota 2 to COD and CS. Obviously its not that good of comparison since the basic act of pointing and shooting people in the face translates much easier from game to game than what you do in MOBAs. But you can see the similarities with one being the more traditional "hardcore" game with deeper tactics and the other being more casual game with wider audience and more mass appeal.

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HelicopterSpy

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I've played a ton of League (Not as much as the OP, but still a lot) and only like 50 hours of DOTA, so don't take my word as canon or anything.

Overall, League is much more focussed on individual abilities. Since every champion has their own innate passive, that means that more of them have at least 4 active abilities, some have transformations as ultimates so they have 7 actives. Most of them are on low cooldowns and don't require a ton of mana, so you can just spam all day in the late game. DOTA places a much higher focus on teams. High cooldowns and mana costs means you have to be able to coordinate with other people more. Also, League wants you to be able to zip around the map as quickly as possible. Free recalls, many champs having mobility based abilities, summoner spells like Flash and Ghost, etc. I don't think DOTA has a ton of those, I could be wrong though.

For me, that's why DOTA hasn't really stuck. I usually play solo and I like pushing buttons and watching health bars melt and then quickly getting out of there. I like AP carry champs in League and they just don't exist in DOTA. If you want to carry in DOTA, you had better like right clicking.

That said, there is just a whole lot more to do in DOTA when you're not a carry. In League, playing a support role means you're just trying to lock people down while your carry does damage, place a ton of wards and help sustain your partner. In DOTA, you're worrying about stacking creeps, placing wards, harassing the other team, keeping timers on when you can even buy more wards, etc.

So I'm gonna take a stance that no one else seems to take: They're both great games for different reasons.

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McGhee

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#16  Edited By McGhee

I knew two people in real life that played League of Legends. It was the only game they played. It was the only thing they talked about. It was their whole life. I hated those two fuckers. One of them was a manager and when he was suppose to be working, he was sitting in his office watching streams of matches.

In other words, League of Legends is for horrible, horrible people.

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davidwitten22

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The heroes play differently, roles and lanes aren't nearly as defined as they are in LoL, more strategies and heroes are viable. There is a much higher reward for high level play and mechanics in comparison to LoL (for example, supports in DotA games actually matter thanks to factors such as denying, pulling creep waves, stacking jungle camps, etc). Courier mechanics encourage team coordination and sustainability in lane, while town portal scrolls allow for successful defending of towers and strategy in when to return to base. Because every hero doesn't start with a level one blink dagger (aka Flash), early positioning is much more important as a gank can't be defended by just a flash away. Limited wards makes ward placement much more important and valuable, as well as counterwarding a much more important part of the game.

Outside of gameplay, DotA 2 has a non-scumbag form of F2P. Any time you log in you can play absolutely any hero you want to. You don't have to buy any heroes, and those who spend money don't gain an unfair advantage. Runes in LoL are a terrible mechanic that punishes new players who prioritize using IP to buy heroes instead of saving it all to buy runes at lvl 20. Only having 2 free rune pages means that no matter how much IP you bank and send on runes, you can only properly have rune pages saved for 2 different playstyles (playing Mundo in the jungle and Jarvan in the Jungle require very different rune pages in order to maximize effectiveness).

Back to gameplay, there is a much greater depth of strategy in DotA 2. Active items play a much more prominent role as blink daggers, sheep sticks, black king bars, and mekanisms (to name just a few) play a role in pretty much every game. AP doesn't exist, so magic spells don't become instant creep wave destroyers once you buy an item or two. Support heroes have a much greater depth of play (this is most important aspect for me as I can't play support in LoL anymore due to the sheer boredom I experience) and make more of an impact. In League pretty much every game is a tanky brusier in the top lane, a ranged (almost always) AP carry in the middle lane, someone in the jungle with smite, and a bottom lane featuring an AD carry and a support. Thankfully in pro play recently I've been noticing more lane switching, but typically the formula I stated above applies.

Since switching to DotA 2 I haven't been able to have too much fun playing League of Legends. I feel useless as a support (and bored), jungling is a very limited experience, and the lack of denying experience and creep waves makes 2v1 lanes mostly unviable. Plus towers do so much damage early in the game and practically none past the 20 minute mark. I could go on, but you should get the gist by now. It's just a superior game in every aspect except one; accessibility.

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EXTomar

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#18  Edited By EXTomar

The reason why teleporting isn't free is a classic "economy/cost vs benefit" game mechanism. The longer the hero stays in alive, in lane, and fighting the faster they grow and the more money they gather. Making those items (tangos, clarity, tp) cost slows the game down so you don't get into a "run away/fast game" situation where players are buying 5K items in less than 10 minutes.

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GaspoweR

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#19  Edited By GaspoweR

@el_tajij

: There are so many perspectives to this discussion. I know people who have played DOTA over the years (before DOTA 2) and have transferred over to LoL and are no longer interested in going back or trying DOTA 2. Really it all boils down to personal preference.

I've played LoL, and I still prefer DOTA and the reason for that is because I no longer have that time invested to learn LoL as much as I put into DOTA. If LoL was created before DOTA existed and that was the popular game that most people played back when I was still in high school-college, then my answer now would probably be different. In the end, I think for the most people who play those games, it really has to be how much time-investment one is willing to put into the game and having like-minded people to play with who (preferably) know how to play or want to learn the game are two important factors in order enjoy these types of games. TP being an item and not a universal spell, the characters having a turn rate making it seem not as snappy, etc. are all valid complaints but they are all part of the game. If you have the time investment, you'll learn to adapt to these changes and appreciate them but then again if you can't invest that much time to learn the game, that's fine. Since you already invested so much time in a different game though that would be a somewhat difficult proposition. Just keep playing on and keep learning about DOTA with your friends. You'll probably end up enjoying it down the line but if you can't invest the time then for sure it'll be hard for your to be really convinced otherwise and that's understandable.

Also I don't know if this helps but have you consulted guides on how to transfer over to DOTA from League or the other beginner guides such as this one? Once again, it's really up to you to take the time to learn about it but for what its worth, once you get into it, it's really a lot of fun. :D Good luck!

EDIT: Also check this out if you haven't yet, a video series done by some one from the GB community
http://www.giantbomb.com/dota-2/3030-32887/forums/dota-for-dummies-1438367/#31

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geirr

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I dunno.. o_ o

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Sooty

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#21  Edited By Sooty

These games are only as good as the champions/heroes within them, and to me League of Legends has far more fun champions than DOTA 2. I really want to like DOTA 2 but the heroes are making it very difficult.

I'm not scared by the added complexity, but please just add some heroes that are actually fun to play.

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connerthekewlkid

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I love Dota alot also just because of all the dumb team combos you can make that are actually viable.

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GaspoweR

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#23  Edited By GaspoweR

Well, there are enjoyable heroes in DOTA, you just need to learn which ones that fit your play style, same thing as LoL.

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EXTomar

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@sooty:

I have been idly wondering about hero design in Dota 2, mainly along the lines of what else could they do after the original/missing heroes are added. So what are "fun" to play heroes in LoL? What are the characteristics of a fun hero?

Side note, an observation by Rucks from Bastion has some insight: Nobody likes to play support, yet everybody likes to win. :)

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Slag

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DOTA 2 has superior balance, it's designed to be a high skill competitive game. Everything DOTA 2 designers do is in the name of competitive balance, despite some of it seeming non-sensical. That's one there's one map, denies, TPs trhat cost money, slow attack animations that have speed ratings, etc.

LoL may have some slicker UI elements but is more designed for ease of play. Which isn't bad at all just a different mentality.

Personally I Like LoL's aesthetic better, but I do think DOTA 2 is a better game.

It's got much deeper strategy, heroes (and thus strategies) are much more flexible and can adapt mid-game if need be, team play is even more critical than in LoL, and skillful players can come back from a large deficit.

That's not to say LoL is bad, it's great actually. But it's a deliberately more shallow experience than DOTA 2. To be fair most things are.

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TheDudeOfGaming

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#26  Edited By TheDudeOfGaming

Don't ask foolish questions. This is like asking why is Coke better than Pepsi...it just is, even though they're basically the same thing.

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RTSlord

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#27  Edited By RTSlord

Why do people like Dark Souls? Because DOTA 2 is more of a challenge, and even though i'm learning still, theres a heck of a lot more people i know to play DOTA 2 with and THAT is what makes it fun for me (Also i've played about 1500 matches of LOL and have been around since its closed beta, so i've played my fair share of league)

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warchief

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#28  Edited By warchief

I like DOTA 2 over LoL because all the Champions/Lords/Whatevers are open from the start.

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Kazzenn

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I like the stuff surrounding Dota 2 (everyone free, drops every match and the way it looks) way more than I do actually playing it.

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CheapPoison

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It seems like the community has pretty much put up the answers already!

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redbliss

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#31  Edited By redbliss

I think a lot of people are drawn to DOTA 2 because all the champs are free out of the gate, but that is part of the reason I cannot get into the game. There are over 100 champs to learn, and I have no idea who is a good champ to start with. Plus I dont feel like going through the learning process again for a new game. I have a basic understanding of how MOBAs work, but for whatever reason I think DOTA 2 feels terrible to play. After playing LoL for close to twoa nd a half years, I cant get into how DOTA 2 feels.

What I dont understand though is why people think LoL is like an easy DOTA 2. It is more simplified, yes, but not easier. Its like saying Street Fighter is an easy game because the characters dont have a lot of moves or whatever.

As for your situation, I would say keep trying to play with your friends in DOTA and keep trying to get them to play more LoL. There is no reason why you couldnt just play both.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the reason I got into LoL in the first place was because of how awesome the game looked and because of the characters. I still believe that is the biggest reason why LoL is so successful. The characters in LoL are mostly based on humans or animals: things that people can identify with. The first champ I ever played was Blitzcrank and I picked him because he was a giant robot with a cool voice. I dont get that when I play DOTA2. When I look at the DOTA 2 heroes I cannot help but think that everyone looks like some kind of monster, and then I lose my interest in the heroes. Plus LoL has a unique art style, and looks completely different from every other MOBA out there (whereas the other MOBAs kind of look the same)

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Starfishhunter9

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@redbliss: Yeah in dota to be component you need to know some idea of what every hero in the game can do and their likely combos you should watch out for. How ever in lower matchmaking skill brackets you should find others of the same skill level and have good games.

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onarum

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why play any mobas at all?

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Seedofpower

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@onarum said:

why play any mobas at all?

Why play any video games at all?

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StaticFalconar

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Since I have never played Lol, I cannot make a fair judgement against it. To answer the question, The only reason why I play dota 2 over lol is because in dota 2 all the heroes are there unlocked and ready to go. I hear in lol, you actually have to pay for more heroes which the cheap person inside of me says no.

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GaspoweR

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#36  Edited By GaspoweR

@staticfalconar: Well, if you want all of them immediately you have to use money. They do cycle through heroes (weekly now I believe) that are available but if you want to unlock all the heroes for free then you have to accrue more points that you can spend on either buying heroes (which all have different prices) which would mean playing the game A LOT up to a point that it feels like grinding.

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Subjugation

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I can play any hero I want at any time without having to buy them.

Honestly though, I've heard enough times that these games are different enough that it's okay to have a preference for one over the other. Play whichever one you find to be the most fun. I don't think you can say that one is objectively "better" than the other, only that you prefer one over the other.

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triple07

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For me I played LoL for awhile when I was first getting into Mobas and had a great time with it. However, then I got into the Dota 2 beta and tried it out and at first I hated it. It was so much harder than LoL that I failed in most of my games. Over time however it really started to grow on me and the weird mechanics became something I really enjoyed. Sure denying isn't fun in and of itself but the back and forth between playes added by denies is really fun for me.

One thing that really ended up driving me away from LoL was the increasingly stupid art design for the game. The last time I played any LoL was when they released their first legendary skin or whatever that made one of the characters look like he was from space. Also I really enjoy the hero variety much more in Dota 2 as it has some just weird ass heroes with strange properties like Invoker or Visage.

I'm not saying you have to like Dota 2 better than LoL because I know some people that don't but for me Dota 2 is more appealing personally then LoL.

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Grissefar

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  • Why Ninja Gaiden over God of War?
  • Why Disgaea over XCOM?
  • Why The Wire over The Walking Dead?
  • Why Tales over Ni No Kuni?

Because often times the more nuanced experience is the most worthwhile in the long run.

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Hungry

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#40  Edited By Hungry

@redbliss said:

...have a basic understanding of how MOBAs work, but for whatever reason I think DOTA 2 feels terrible to play.

What I dont understand though is why people think LoL is like an easy DOTA 2. It is more simplified, yes, but not easier. Its like saying Street Fighter is an easy game because the characters dont have a lot of moves or whatever.

The first sentence explains the rest of the post. For the most part, when you get really good at this genre, you find out just how little tactical and strategic depth there is in League of Legends by comparison to Dota. Lack of teleportation scrolls (or other similar mobility-based mechanics. It is less about getting back to base easily and more about flexibility in where your team can be), lack of varied item choices, lack of dynamic lane setups and team compositions, the list goes on and on. Which is really funny, because League of Legends actually adds a ton of complexity with the Rune and Mastery system, but there seems to only be one or two rote builds that anyone ever uses for particular heroes, so it ends up just being a silly grind that adds very little depth and restricts fair, competitive play.

However, I do agree with the rest of what you said. OP, if you wanna play League of Legends and you want to play with your friends, try and get them to play with you. Play what you have fun with, regardless of if it is the more casual, less deep game :p

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ArbitraryWater

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#41  Edited By ArbitraryWater

They're very different games, something that I quickly discovered after a few hours of DOTA 2. It certainly seems like a more methodical game that allows for more diverse strategies than the metagame that dominates League... but all my friends still play LoL and I don't particularly want to spend that kind of time re-learning all of the mechanics so I can reach competence again.

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Akrid

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I've won ~300 games of league, and I have 200 hours in Dota. They're both awesome, but I like League better. Dota is an amazingly unique game with some of the craziest game design ever, but it's also brutally stressful because of that. I've always felt like there is no place in the non-existent design doc for Dota that stipulates the game should be any sort of "fun" for the player. The only objective that game has is to create an ultra competitive environment, and if people happen to like that, it seems like it's merely a bonus. It's in stark contrast to the motives of most other games - and to League's doctrine, which is to at least have the player's viewpoint in mind when making design decisions.

Neither are objectively the superior game though. It's different flavours of the same thing, and there's no true answer. People will say Dota is the "better" game because it's more complicated, but that's a silly statement. Enjoyment of complexity is a subjective thing. A lot of people who play LoL will say it's needlessly arcane because their point of reference is from the position of having lots of fun in League without all that stuff. And they're not wrong - no one can honestly say they are, because it's subjective.

To answer your question more specifically, Dota 2 is a different game. That enough is a good reason to play Dota 2 over League of Legends. It's like you not wanting to play Dota instead of League, except the other way. Crazy, right?

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gogosox82

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#43  Edited By gogosox82

You can play any hero you want at any time w/o paying. That's basically why I play it over LoL even though I have played a few games in LoL and find it fun.

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StarvingGamer

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#44  Edited By StarvingGamer

I agree with you 100%. LoL handles like an ARPG tuned for players in control of a single character. DotA2 feels burdened by the legacy of the original DotA, being built from a game paced to allow players to control dozens of units and manage a base and economy all at the same time. Just like the Hero missions in WC3, it's sluggish and boring.

That's not to say that DotA is a bad game, just too slow for my tastes. But to all the people saying that more mechanics makes it a superior game, I wonder if you would also argue that Warhammer is a superior game to Chess. And what do you think about Divekick?

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SirPsychoSexy

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I have played a little League and a lot of DotA. DotA is just so much deeper on every level. Basically every hero is viable on a competitive level, there are no troll picks in DotA. The meta is much better as well. You can see virtually any type of laning setup. Offensive/Defensive trilanes, dual lanes, solos, abandoning lanes, ancient farming, jungle farming. In League its most often going to be top solo, mid solo, dual bot, and a jungler. Its so fucking stale.

Another thing I don't like about league is how spells are so inconsequential. You can spam most of them for no mana without a second thought. In DotA every use of a spell (especially early) is a very big deal. The damage is meaningful and the fact that you might not have your stun for another 2 minutes because you just used it and are low on mana is a big deal. Also in league the skillshots people talk about and things like that are so easy its actually funny. The shit you can do in DotA is fucking insane, the skill cap is infinitely higher. And dont get me started on juking. In league you can hide in bushes, DotA's tree mechanincs are incredible, it makes the juking and vision so much deeper. And Flash is also ridiculously poorly handled.

The final big problem with League is the best items are not only cost efficient, but slot efficient as well. This is god awful design. So in League you just build up to your ideal late game setup and go. In DotA the items are so varied in not only their cost effectiveness but also their abilities and uses, which League lacks. Making a decision to go drums and aquila before your daedalus just adds a whole new level of strategy league lacks. You know in the long run it will hurt you and not be best in slot, but you may need it just to survive the early game, and its cheap.

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DonPixel

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#47  Edited By DonPixel

I don't know... Play both?

Gotta say thou: I follow closely the DOTA pro scene... seriously the game is balance around 20 heroes at most, show me a game without LifeStealer, Nature's Prophet, Dark Seer, Gyro, Bath rider... like seriously same as with LOL, at top level you will find the same heroes match up over and over again.

So the whole DOTA 2 is more balance argument doesn't really holds up for me, play both or play the one you like the most, they both ballers.

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buft

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I like Dota because all of the characters are available for you too play, i've spent real money on Dota because i felt like it not because i didn't like the free characters that week. too be fair though i certainly haven't played enough LOL to even comment on it, in my first game i played as a lady with a keyboard who was difficult to figure out at the time and because it was my first game it put me off playing.

only recently have i had the patience to try out the genre again and thanks to the large community of GB duders in game i got over the initial bump. I mkay go back to LOL at some point.

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BirthdaySuitBurns

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I dabbled in a bit of LoL before DOTA2 was released and the only thing I can tell you is that LoL didn't stick for me because of the persistence outside of matches. I hate unlocks,leveling for talent points and grinding for points to buy runes and/or heroes. I understand the arguments for it but I absolutely can't stand that given how prevalent it is in multiplayer today.

As for denies, the benefit of having denies is that it allows players to better control the creep equilibrium which introduces another element of strategy in the laning phase. I personally think your lack of fun comes from just being way too ingrained into LoL more than anything else. If I were in your shoes, I probably wouldn't switch given the amount of time needed to learn DOTA2 and make the transition away from LoL.

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SirOptimusPrime

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@birthdaysuitburns said:

I personally think your lack of fun comes from just being way too ingrained into LoL more than anything else. If I were in your shoes, I probably wouldn't switch given the amount of time needed to learn DOTA2 and make the transition away from LoL.

This is about it.

Also, on the topic of denying, as a player who prefers offlaning and playing lane support the idea that you can't control the creep wave in LoL boggles my mind. Not being able to create static farm for your carry - or maintain experience range for yourself as an offlaner - sounds crazy.