Hungry

This is actually completely false. I would say that there are less heroes with carry potential in Dota than there is in League of Legends. The very existence of something like Ability Power or spells that scale off of your right click damage makes it so that there are more heroes with the capability to carry. In Dota 2 you will never make Crystal Maiden's spells do more damage, and her auto-attack and Strength and Agility are so godawful it is nigh-impossible to deal significant damage.

As for your examples of heroes that are different but fill the role of "mage." That kind of archetypal role is completely devoid in Dota. Heroes are categorized by farm priority rather than any sort of capability they have. Whether the hero has stuns, or burst damage, or the ability to farm quickly is something you consider in your lineup. You don't take Wisp because Wisp is a support, you take Wisp because you want the unique aspect that Wisp brings to the game. Dota has more heroes that change the dynamic of the way the game is played. League of Legends has more heroes, on average, that just sort of have different ways they do the same role as heroes that are similar.

I will say though I am sure League of Legends is more successful competitively. It is easier to get into and follow, and Riot throws tons and tons of money at the competitive scene. Valve supports the competition with their single tournament and through the game, so they just have a different approach. For example, now you can buy an item in the in-game store that the money goes to the prize pot for the big tournament of the year, the International. A great way for players to support the pro scene.

@grantheaslip:

Persona 3 on Hard (which is only in the Portable and FES versions) is almost staggeringly difficult. You can get a game over on any random encounter if you fail to get player advantage, and a lot of the early bosses you basically have to grossly abuse game mechanics you probably would not have a grasp on yet at that point of the game. I would rank Persona 3 up there with Nocturne and Strange Journey in SMT difficulty. There is also the "challenge" of on Hard the Persona Compendium prices are jacked up by a factor of four. Have fun trying to pull out a level 2 Pixie for 12,000 yen. My end-game Persona in Persona 3 cost 2.5 million yen to pull out.

That being said, I felt like the back 15-20% of the fighting except for some select bosses (and the final boss) were a breeze. It gets to a point where MC is so ridiculously powerful that, as long as you got player advantage, you would win every fight on your first attack.

If I ever eat the ends of a loaf of bread I have to either have them individually in one eating session, or have them both (if I am eating a sandwich or something like that). It is delicious however, and I love the ends of all breads.

@Sweep said:

My friend plays dota without using the keyboard. He literally clicks everything with the mouse. It drives me mental, not because I dislike the idea, but because he still manages to do surprisingly well. He has a 16 win streak with Visage and that hero requires micro and everything.

It's fucking witchcraft or something, I dunno.

I imagine he is not too terribly high up in matchmaking then? I would imagine such a huge handicap on timing would ruin any chances of that. Especially if he played a very timing-sensitive hero like Rubick. He should play Invoker or Storm Spirit sometime.

On another note, I usually use very standard hotkeys, but my friend plays Dota with SZXC as his camera controls. I find this ridiculous since you have to shift your fingers to hit abilities or use items while moving the camera. I prefer to just have really high mouse sensitivity and camera scroll speed (then again I am used to games like Quake and UT so it is all about really fast mouse speeds).

@GetEveryone said:

After the first section of the Black Tower in Darksiders (on Apocalyptic), there's a fight on a balcony with ~5 or 6 waves of enemies.

Took me a good couple of months to eventually muster up the energy to get past it. Absolutely abused wrath gimmicks, stoneskin and the ground pound move.

Tactical use of War's chaos form is necessary to even stand a chance of getting through. The rest of the game was a fucking breeze compared to that.

I actually restricted myself from using either Chaos or Wrath in Apocalyptic to make Darksiders even a little challenging. Two words: Harpoon Tackle. Harpoon Tackle. Harpoon Tackle. Harpoon. Tackle.

For some reason I feel like maybe Dark Souls should be credited here, but the title is "overly difficult" and I don't really think any fight in Dark Souls is too hard.

However, there are plenty of Shin Megami Tensei bosses that are fairly bullshit. The last day in Devil Survivor is beyond ridiculous, and the end boss in Strange Journey is just unfair. The entire game you are encouraged to use a party of demons with your alignment, and the boss has an ability that unsummons all demons of one random alignment. Not to mention you have to build your main character (through a nebulous personality test) in such a way to be anything other than useless. I found out that my stats were completely counter-productive to doing anything other than throwing items for damage, and those things were not cheap.

Also, Nyx Avatar on Maniac(with no direct control)/Hard in Persona 3 are pretty ridiculous simply because if you lose near the end you have a good, long 45-60 minute fight to redo. I had an Odin with 99 in every stat AND Gungnir so my Thunder Reigns were doing thousands of damage and it still took forever to beat that boss. Shoutout goes to the secret boss in Persona 3, since it is pretty ridiculous without Armageddon spam.

Damn all of those games are great though.

@Irvandus said:

About a year ago I played LoL on a daily basis for a few weeks. I was pretty decent in that I was never the one being yelled at by my team. I've had Dota 2 sitting installed for a while and I just need to know if their is anything I should know before jumping in. Major changes between the games, difference in character roles, etc.

You should join the Giant Bomb Steam Group and play with us Saturday afternoons. We have fun and 99% of the people (especially Rattle) are really bad at it.

Not me though. I'm super gdlk Invoker_Dragon420. As for differences in the games, Dota 2 has a much higher skill ceiling and requires a lot more communication with your teammates. There are also a lot more abstracted mechanics that aren't necessarily apparent until you think about it for a second (like the reason spells don't normally scale). You have to learn a lot but it is infinitely more rewarding and you don't have to pay for new heroes.

@ArtisanBreads:

Yeah I disagree with your opinion but it is completely valid. However, when you join on this site you adhere to certain rules. If you break those rules you will be reprimanded. Subscription doesn't grant you immunity to anything. You can enjoy all the subscription content you want, just you won't be allowed to post on the comments or in the forums (or give people probation, that usually calms people down).

@ArtisanBreads:

I am not saying "Everyone who hates on Patrick should get the fuck out." The problem comes from the people who find every single place people are talking about the content produced on this site and shit all over Patrick. Yes, we know you don't like Patrick. Yes, he is in a lot of Quick Looks. Yes, we know you think he is terrible or a click-baiter or lacks journalistic integrity or whatever. It ends up derailing threads (as it has here) and ends up with low-content posts. There is a difference between shitposting and voicing a dissenting opinion. I say we kick out the people who like to shitpost.

@NaDannMaGoGo said:

Jesus the arguments by the Patrick-Haters are fricking ridiculous. How can shit like that not get punished by decent moderators? I'm sorry, I understand that Giantbomb isn't supposed to be strictly moderated but with shit like this that becomes more common with a large and growing userbase, what other choice is left.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

It would be cool to see Jeff, Ryan, and Brad to write more (I really like the way they all put their opinions into writing) but I am fine with them not doing it either. Their E3 pieces and other writeups are always a pleasant treat.

@me3639 said:

Also, is anyone getting a little Dark Souls vibe on the difficulty. My ass was getting owned early and often until i grinded up a few levels

I never felt like any boss in Dark Souls told me I was too low level. It always told me I was not a good enough player. Also, Soul Level does very, very little for you on its own.

On topic: For people who have played the game do you have absolutely zero control over the AI or are you choosing not to do it because it is a hassle or something? I am genuinely curious.