Okay disclaimer time:

If you want deep comparisons, you'll not find them here.

If you want anything but my own personal opinions, you'll not find it here.

If you want to be a dick..that's up to you, but it would be pointless.

I have a terrible sense of humour, you have been warned.

Steam ID is Jazz and my LoL ID is JazzGB or Ahriman Efreet

Gunslingerpanda's Twitch Stream - link

Lolking link to my profile - link

Dota2 profile on DOTABuff - link

Week 1 can be found here

Week 2 can be found here

Week 3 can be found here

Week 4 can be found here

Week 5 can be found here

So..here we are. The end of a month (ish) of me trying to learn what the hell I'm doing in both Dota and League. I'm going to use this final blog, in the current series, as a retrospective. So let's get started:

• Starting either of these games without any background was probably not the best idea. It's probably unsurprising that League became my defacto game due to it's relative simplicity. I emphasise 'relative' as it's still kicking my arse just trying to learn the little quirks it has.
• Thinking back on it now I reckon it was probably a bad idea to call this blog League vs Dota as it's kind of a false equivalence and ever so mildly clickbaity...which was not really my intention. This blog has always been about trying to learn these games with the help of the local GB community while also laughing at my inability to click properly.
• I cannot thank you guys enough for making it such a joy to write these blogs and generally messing around on League or Dota with a couple of you. Audience participation, as it were, makes or breaks these kinds of things..so, cheers.

  

• So here's probably the first Podcast of the tentatively titled series 'Learning League': Episode 1 - League of Space Puppies.
• Joining me are Adam (Gunslingerpanda) and Chris (TBK) for a rather all over the place discussion of League, Dota, Warframe? and how much my animals hate me. I apologise for the audio - hopefully it will be fixed soon. edit: Embed fail.

You can download the mp3 here if you would wish. Any criticism must start with 'It doesn't sound like Feline Coitus but....' I'll also look into setting up an account for emails.

On to my very general thoughts about both games so far:

• Starting with Dota2 - damn this is an intimidating game. I've been vocal about the fact that I'm not a fan of the hero design in the game and that hasn't changed.
• I also really don't like multiple shops and the fact you have to buy teleport scrolls. I guess B has spoiled me.
• However I do like that due to it's rts roots Dota has a lot more in the way of lane mechanics than League. Denying via direct attacks on your own minions/towers is a far more interesting than just zoning the other team.
• I'm currently ambivalent about the items in Dota. Adam (Panda) made a very valid point in the podcast about items in Dota taking on the properties of runes and summoner spells in League. He may very well be right about how this gives a greater amount of customisation in Dota rather than being locked in once you start a game in League. I don't think I've played enough games in either to make my own mind up about that.
• Minor things but I really dislike the range of the towers and the fact you can miss attacks on an incline against a stationary object. Minor things but annoying to me.
• As far as playing heroes goes - in Dota I'm fond of Huskar, Crystal Maiden and Windrunner..and that's about it. In time I'll probably find more but as I've said they generally just don't appeal to me.
• Speaking of which Luna and Bane..especially Bane..are on the troll list. There was a point where I thought a valve employee had taken control of the Bane bot just to troll Panda. It was uncanny.
• I really like the UI design and the general 'Valve Polish' of Dota compared to League..but then again I think even Riot prefer it as well. Also replays.

The fact that Steam absolutely refused to work for two weeks on my laptop did rather put a massive bullet in the head of me trying to play Dota for these blogs, but I think it probably worked out well in the end and to be honest there's more than enough Dota love on this website as it is..Don't get me wrong, I like Dota quite a bit..just not as much as I like League.

• Let's start with what I don't like about League. Ignoring the general public that play the game..I really don't like how the meta works. What I mean by that is due to the way the game has been tweaked I HAVE to take Flash apparently. Yes, I know..this is me beating a dead horse..but it's a symptom of a wider problem which has only really just become apparent to me (I'm slow like that). I don't like having the choice taken away from me - especially when I'm given a choice of spells that look like they'd actually have more utility than just escape or initiation. I don't mind being taught how to play a game but I don't like being told I HAVE to do something just because everyone else does. Childish..probably. This is where Dota's itemisation seems to give more choice and thus more options to play where you want and how you want. Eh, I probably didn't explain that very well but I hope you get the drift.
• MID TOP MID I'M FIRST - seriously EUW? Sort that shit out please.
• I've mentioned that I prefer denying to zoning, but I'm relatively happy with the lane phase (laning? Laneing? I dunno) in League.
• I suppose the rest of my issues stem from the people who play League rather than the game itself. People barely ever ping (ss without saying which lane as well) and nearly nobody wards..ever. Playing support I do my best to try both but the frustration levels..ergh. It's worse of course when I'm not support - then there's nobody to do it.
• Blaming other people for being shit and then wanting to surrender while everyone is in the middle of a team fight, so that bloody popup obscures what's going on and you die...happens all the time.
• Surrendering is another thing I'm rather dubious of..learning to lose properly is generally as important as learning to win. Sure it saves time but..stop being a pussy and learn to lose.
• I think my hatred for Blitzcrank..especially when he's on my team..is legendary by now. Yi is pretty close up there but I swear to god, if you play Blitzu on the team I'm on I will mute you and actively let you die because 9/10 you will be the one fucking us over. I apologise greatly to 1/10 who can actually play him.
• Again it's widely recorded that I adore Lissandra, Lux, Morgana and I'm fond of Fiddlesticks. I'm not sure if it's the skillshots of these characters..it's certainly not the dumbass designs of the women..that leads me to enjoy playing them as much as I do. I think they all have decent CC abilities and when item'd up they can wreck all sorts of hell on the other team..Liss, especially, because generally people have no idea how to handle her at my level. I've never seen anyone play her apart from me.
• I'm actually a big fan of the drip feed of Champions and the rotation aspect. I feel more attached to the champions I have purely because I earned them..sure I bought one and grind..grounded? the rest but it's given me the opportunity to become more familiar with my small circle available to me. Sometimes, at least in my opinion, too much choice can be a bad thing. Rengar should come up on sale tomorrow...hype.
• Though I probably should have mentioned this earlier..having a new computer (thus not running at 29fps all the time) was made possible by my desire to play League (and Dragon Age 3) and to get better at it. It's lead me to actually become part of the 'PC Master Race' that Kieron Gillen kept waffling on about.

There's probably more I could say - but I think we cover quite a bit in that podcast.

Finally Adam and I had an..interesting game of League after we finished the podcast. Unfortunately (for us) Chris had to dash so Adam and I braved the world of unranked blind pick with Liss top and Zac jungling..things didn't go to plan. It's currently being uploaded so hopefully by the time you get here it should be up.

So all that's left now is to say thanks to all of you that have stuck with me through this madness. As I've said we'll be trying something new in the coming week so please take a look once that's up.

Cheers

Jazz