DOTA2 or LoL?

[Uszi]

EDIT: Oh, another thing I don't like about DoTA is the mana pool, the resource available to most champs to use their abilities. It's just waaay too small. In both games, you can only use a few abilities in the early game before it's depleted, but in DoTA this is always the case, while in LoL, every champ will be able to use their abilities many times at the higher levels without needing extra mana or mana regeneration.

Spell spam is one of the most noticeable differences between LoL and DotA. In DotA it's generally inadvisable to cast any spell before it's rank 2, so you normally don't cast a spell till you hit level 3 ---- with exceptions, of course. Rank 1 spells in DotA are a trade off where the damage they do for the mana they cost you is usually not worth it, but obviously can be worth it if you're in a situation where you get a kill.

But then again, that's DotA. It's all trade offs.

LoL, on the other hand, is all about spam. I think the difference gets really highlighted when you compare LoL characters that were clearly based on DotA characters, i.e. Blitzcrank [http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Blitzcrank] and Pudge [http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Pudge].

Blitz Rocket Grab is 110 mana at all levels. Pudge Hook 110, goes up 10 each level.
Blitz starting mana is 260 (no runes). Pudge starting mana is 182.
Blitz gets 40 mana per level. Pudge gets 19.5 mana per level.
Blitz level 1 mana regen is 1.32/s. Pudge level 1 mana regen is 0.56/s.

And like, I said, without runes or masteries, and considering how awesome mana shield is on Blitz I normally stack mana on him (Manamume, frozen heart, etc).

It just translates into Blitz being able to Rocket Grab more often than Pudge, and missing an individual Rocket Grab is less painful to Blitz than it is to Pudge.

Uhm, not to say one is better than the other, personally. If you think casting abilities is fun and you want to do more of it, then stuff costs less mana and characters have more mana to work with in LoL, and abilities scale into late game with AP. If you like the trade off, then DotA is more fun.

 

[kortin]

Dota 2 is needlessly complex in some sort of attempt to appear more than it is.

LoL is fun.

Pick which you'd prefer.

 

[Uszi]

... denying must be the most anti-fun gameplay mechanic in the history of anything. More anti-fun than YORICK.

Yorick is one my favorite LoL champions. He pwns the snot out of everyone early and then makes any 5v5 a 6v5 by making a ghost of the carry.

Yorick is a boss. Supporick bottom is a double boss.

Dota 2 is needlessly complex in some sort of attempt to appear more than it is.

LoL is fun.

Pick which you'd prefer.

Meh, maybe my opinion is a minority opinion, but I still don't think DotA is "more complex," than LoL. The basic mechanics of both games are the same. What's different is that LoL has more items, more champions, and more spells, especially since a lot of LoL spells have multiple effects (i.e., Shaco's Two Shiv poison is a passive attack modifier, or an active ability, but using the active ability disables the passive attack modifier for the duration of the active). LoL also has a system of masteries and runes which are not part of DotA.

 

[Kicksauce]

I weep over the comparatively miniscule popularity of HoN

 

[joshthor]

They both have their place. I prefer league of legends. Here are the facts:

1. They both have terrible communities because mobas bring out the worst in people.
2. Dota 2 has better graphics and take more power to run - you can run LoL on a toaster.
3. LoL has more champions - however not by much, and all of Dotas champs are free - LoL you get a rotation of 10 free champs you have to buy the rest - either through playing games and earning IP or spending money.
4. LoL is more newbie freindly - its a much easier game to pick up and it doesnt punish you for mistakes nearly as much as Dota does (this is what makes LoL more fun for me. In LoL if you do bad you have a chance to come back, in Dota if your doing bad you will probably never catch back up)
5. Valve is a better company. Dont get me wrong, I love Riot but Valve is much more likely to do free events where riot is not, however, riot has much better communication with thier players than Valve does. Valve takes the standard company approach where PR or Gabe does all the talking, but in LoL all the employees talk to the gamers (for better or for worse, its got them in trouble alot)
6. Dota 2 has a lot more mechanics that can frustrate your team or opponents (for instance, you can kill your own creeps or towers to deny gold from your enemies, you can manipulate your allies, CC is much much much stronger than in LoL
7. League of Legends has better balance (this will probably get me yelled at) Dota is pretty well balanced however there are much fewer viable champions/heroes than in LoL
8. LoL is much more rigid with roles than Dota is.

All in all, they both have their place. its up to you. I recommend League of Legends, however, Dota is also good. Whatever you do though... play bot matches or mute all communication until you figure out what you are doing because the communities are merciless. (on par/possibly worse than counterstrike)

 

[joshthor]

EDIT: Oh, another thing I don't like about DoTA is the mana pool, the resource available to most champs to use their abilities. It's just waaay too small. In both games, you can only use a few abilities in the early game before it's depleted, but in DoTA this is always the case, while in LoL, every champ will be able to use their abilities many times at the higher levels without needing extra mana or mana regeneration.

Spell spam is one of the most noticeable differences between LoL and DotA. In DotA it's generally inadvisable to cast any spell before it's rank 2, so you normally don't cast a spell till you hit level 3 ---- with exceptions, of course. Rank 1 spells in DotA are a trade off where the damage they do for the mana they cost you is usually not worth it, but obviously can be worth it if you're in a situation where you get a kill.

But then again, that's DotA. It's all trade offs.

LoL, on the other hand, is all about spam. I think the difference gets really highlighted when you compare LoL characters that were clearly based on DotA characters, i.e. Blitzcrank [http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Blitzcrank] and Pudge [http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Pudge].

Blitz Rocket Grab is 110 mana at all levels. Pudge Hook 110, goes up 10 each level.
Blitz starting mana is 260 (no runes). Pudge starting mana is 182.
Blitz gets 40 mana per level. Pudge gets 19.5 mana per level.
Blitz level 1 mana regen is 1.32/s. Pudge level 1 mana regen is 0.56/s.

And like, I said, without runes or masteries, and considering how awesome mana shield is on Blitz I normally stack mana on him (Manamume, frozen heart, etc).

It just translates into Blitz being able to Rocket Grab more often than Pudge, and missing an individual Rocket Grab is less painful to Blitz than it is to Pudge.

Uhm, not to say one is better than the other, personally. If you think casting abilities is fun and you want to do more of it, then stuff costs less mana and characters have more mana to work with in LoL, and abilities scale into late game with AP. If you like the trade off, then DotA is more fun.

in fairness to pudge while blitz can certainly spam more, pudges pull range is so far you can completely blindside your enemy where blitz its harder to do.

 

[Vigormortis]

Dota 2 is needlessly complex in some sort of attempt to appear more than it is.

LoL is fun.

Pick which you'd prefer.

Funny, I've had the opposite experience.

Dota 2 is fun and LoL tends to be the one that fakes complexity in an "attempt to appear more than it is".

That, and I've been insulted, yelled at, received death threats on myself or my mother, and had my sexuality called into question FAR more often in League of Legends than I have in Dota.

Honestly, there are times I'd rather be playing something like Halo or Call of Duty on Xbox Live than listen to my fellow players in a match of LoL.

 

[Larcenist]

That, and I've been insulted, yelled at, received death threats on myself or my mother, and had my sexuality called into question FAR more often in League of Legends than I have in Dota.

Your sexuality is apparently a big part of how you play MOBA games, something the League community never fails to inform me of.

One thing I've noticed since I've always been a massive ricer when it comes to MOBA games is that, since most games are balanced from a professional tournament standard (DotA, HoN and LoL alike), DotA offers a lot more items that allow you to fall completely out of control given the enemy team fails to stop you (and no one player can be everywhere at the same time so should your top and mid laners fail to stop an enemy top laner while you're bot for example, you can't really help it). This might be one of the reasons why LoL seems more appealing to new players since there are no items of the same caliber in LoL (short of the top lane which can make or break the game completely).

 

[maxmanrules]

Then you get dived because towers are considerably more shite than the LoL ones. Only a select few people in LoL are exceptional 1v1 divers. Garen can fearlessly tower dive because he's a *****, Jax can dive because lol Counterstrike, Akali has too many teleports and too much damage to care and Darius is Downright Dunkmaster Darius. It's much more risky for entire rest of the cast

You forget tower party pantheon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghXaa0jryy0

 

[The Wykydtron]

... denying must be the most anti-fun gameplay mechanic in the history of anything. More anti-fun than YORICK.

Yorick is one my favorite LoL champions. He pwns the snot out of everyone early and then makes any 5v5 a 6v5 by making a ghost of the carry.

Yorick is a boss. Supporick bottom is a double boss.

Dota 2 is needlessly complex in some sort of attempt to appear more than it is.

LoL is fun.

Pick which you'd prefer.

Meh, maybe my opinion is a minority opinion, but I still don't think DotA is "more complex," than LoL. The basic mechanics of both games are the same. What's different is that LoL has more items, more champions, and more spells, especially since a lot of LoL spells have multiple effects (i.e., Shaco's Two Shiv poison is a passive attack modifier, or an active ability, but using the active ability disables the passive attack modifier for the duration of the active). LoL also has a system of masteries and runes which are not part of DotA.

Sure playing AS Yorick is fun I would imagine but playing AGAINST Yorick? Is so god damn awful. Annoying little FUCKING ghouls and their slows and shit. I don't even know what his abilities are exactly only that the little green slowing ghoul is a WHORE. They don't even DO much on their own either, he just spams them all day then grows mysterious burst damage once you decide to all-in him due to rage.

You can't win against a good Yorick. You can only not die and attempt to maintain farm.

He's like a bullshit version of Teemo. At least you can kill Teemo through the harass. Teemo can't revive himself with the Fuck You Button either.

Oh you want ghost shenanigans? Try this:

 

[The Wykydtron]

Then you get dived because towers are considerably more shite than the LoL ones. Only a select few people in LoL are exceptional 1v1 divers. Garen can fearlessly tower dive because he's a *****, Jax can dive because lol Counterstrike, Akali has too many teleports and too much damage to care and Darius is Downright Dunkmaster Darius. It's much more risky for entire rest of the cast

You forget tower party pantheon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghXaa0jryy0

I have yet to see that tower diving item once. ONCE! Nobody buys it, not even the top lane bitches bruisers who can tower dive well anyway. I mean a jungler could buy one then pull off some ridiculously easy ganks. I guess the cooldown must be long and I don't know where you would fit it into a build but I want to try it.

Next jungle Hecarim game i'm going to rush it and see what happens.

Also Siv HD is awesome. I actually tried Atmog's Fate back in S2 and it works as this amazing late game carry if you can drag the game on long enough.

You don't get much damage with just the Atmog's and you deal fuck all damage with just the Warmog's but the moment you get a Phantom Dancer you become this beast of a character. Teleporting into, or in front of the enemy team. Forcing a teamfight, whenever you please.

 

[WoW Killer]

snip

Ah yes, I'd heard there was a bigger emphasis on active items in DotA 2, but I hadn't twigged how that effects the meta. If you can give situational healing and tanking abilities to any character, then that gives you a lot more freedom in team composition I guess. I'm liking the sound of that.

Smite and LoL have a scaling system where spells become more powerful with item purchases as the game goes on. LoL has AP and Smite has, what, magic power, or something.

Funnily enough a lot of SMITE players still use the terms AD and AP, though it's physical power and magical power in game (at least I think those are the equivalents; I'm not entirely sure what AD and AP refer to, particularly with regards to the difference in an AD and AP carry). They recently put a Focus stat in SMITE which is supposed to buff utility, like longer stuns and such. IIRC, Hel's heals are currently running off magic power rather than focus, which might be where the imbalance comes from. I think they're still playing around with the focus stat and the items that come with it.

Oh, another thing I don't like about DoTA is the mana pool, the resource available to most champs to use their abilities. It's just waaay too small. In both games, you can only use a few abilities in the early game before it's depleted, but in DoTA this is always the case, while in LoL, every champ will be able to use their abilities many times at the higher levels without needing extra mana or mana regeneration.

I've noticed that in the DotA 2 videos I've been watching. In SMITE it's kind of expected of you to use mana/abilities to kill creeps and push towers, even in the very early game. There's even some gods that'll use their ultimate to kill creeps (e.g. Ra can kill an entire wave with his ult as soon as he gets it at level 5). What ties into that is that pushing a tower early on is a very viable strategy (which I gather it isn't in DotA). The minions are pretty powerful early on so you can keep someone pressed against a tower and unable to respond if you've got a good push. You often see matchups like Ao Kuang versus Anubis in the mid lane; Anubis is way more effective at killing players, but Ao has a much better push. So Ao's best defence is to keep Anubis at his tower. Good example here (from Anubis perspective):

Spoiler: well, Ao gets destroyed, but you get the idea

 

[Lunar Templar]

I play LoL (rarely) cause i have friends that play it and occasionally they want the extra challenge carrying my ass through a match, cause i suck horribly at it xD (least i assume that's why they ask me to join a game, it's not for company, we can chat with out LoL)

can't say its done much to endear the MOBA genera to me, i like some of the champions and accompanying skins though, other then that, it's decent enough game.

 

[42Weasels]

Having played both, I answer you this way: Play both if you have the time.
They are similar enough that you don't have to relearn everything to try the other, but different that they give very different experiences. They are both free to play, so there's no cost involved in trying one or the other. Personally, if I was better at Dota 2, I would play LoL much less, because I enjoy Dota 2 more. On the other hand, though, when I'm in the mood for a couple relaxed games, I boot up LoL

 

[TheKaduflyerSystem]

Well, I love playing LoL with friends, but without a friend to help make it fun and that you can work with, games can become a veritable clusterfuck of raging, accusations and general bitching. That said, you can also have random games were everything turns out wonderful and you have a really great, hard fought game.
Unfortunately I haven't played DOTA 2 yet, but I've been keeping up with it as much as I can, and I'm looking forward to when I can actually play it. It seems much easier to co-operate as a team in DOTA 2 than it is in LoL, thanks to the addition of a VOIP and... I'm not quite sure what to call it, but it's like a quick select wheel to call things out, such as 'missing' or 'good job'.

Both games have their upsides and downsides, and they really shouldn't be compared alongside each other in the way that they constantly are, seeing as even though LoL evolved from the original DOTA, it has become very much its own game.

 

[Rednog]

Jax can dive because lol Counterstrike

Uh, how old is your information on Jax? He hasn't been able to dodge tower hits with his counter strike for almost a year...

 

[Denamic]

(and no one player can be everywhere at the same time so should your top and mid laners fail to stop an enemy top laner while you're bot for example, you can't really help it)

Nature's Profit and Tinker can.
They can push all the lanes at the same time. Tinker does it faster, being able to teleport and march the creeps pretty much whenever he wants to, but NP can take down towers much more easily with his treants. There's also heroes like Wisp and Keeper that can teleport other heroes to where they're needed.

 

[Larcenist]

Nature's Profit and Tinker can.
They can push all the lanes at the same time. Tinker does it faster, being able to teleport and march the creeps pretty much whenever he wants to, but NP can take down towers much more easily with his treants. There's also heroes like Wisp and Keeper that can teleport other heroes to where they're needed.

Yeah but I meant more in the way of preventing a complete snowball effect when your team is losing horribly from minute one. Tinker can push as soon as he gets BoT but even then it will not be very efficient. Furion I guess could fit somewhat in the picture since he can push his lane while still wrecking havoc with his ultimate in other lanes but you will still depend a lot on your team as a whole (given the situation where a faraway lane is getting out of control).

I'm afraid I don't really know a whole lot about Wisp since I stopped playing DotA when HoN beta started, and that was around AA/Murloc patch or something IIRC. My point was that given a general public scenario a decent DotA player can very well carry his team to victory all by himself, while this will almost never happen in a LoL game since there are very few heavy snowball items that allows for this.

 

[Denamic]

Nature's Profit and Tinker can.
They can push all the lanes at the same time. Tinker does it faster, being able to teleport and march the creeps pretty much whenever he wants to, but NP can take down towers much more easily with his treants. There's also heroes like Wisp and Keeper that can teleport other heroes to where they're needed.

Yeah but I meant more in the way of preventing a complete snowball effect when your team is losing horribly from minute one. Tinker can push as soon as he gets BoT but even then it will not be very efficient. Furion I guess could fit somewhat in the picture since he can push his lane while still wrecking havoc with his ultimate in other lanes but you will still depend a lot on your team as a whole (given the situation where a faraway lane is getting out of control).

I'm afraid I don't really know a whole lot about Wisp since I stopped playing DotA when HoN beta started, and that was around AA/Murloc patch or something IIRC. My point was that given a general public scenario a decent DotA player can very well carry his team to victory all by himself, while this will almost never happen in a LoL game since there are very few heavy snowball items that allows for this.

But there's always ways to have comebacks. Just a couple of days ago, I was playing pubs with a friend, and we were losing hard. 15 to 30ish kills 30 minutes in. We won anyway. I got enough farm for a sheepstick on Tink and my friend finally got over his death streak and managed an Orchid on Clinkz. Our team started working together much better, and our invoker figured out how to do magic. At first, we came out about even in teamfights, but then we slowly started winning them, despite having less farm and thus shittier items. We won despite our killscore and net worth being much lower. They even had harder carries. I don't think any of us had a positive K/D ratio. Though we didn't actually win by crushing them. 4 of us just held out against them and their mega creeps at our base while Veno pushed Bot and took down their ancient. With some help from me, of course. I even brought him healing pots.

It's really not so much about items as it is team composition and teamwork. Hell, even an excellent team comp can be crushed with map awareness and teamwork. Of course, if your enemy team has 30 kills to your 5, it's not snowballing anyway. You and your team were just playing bad and lost.

This isn't that rare either. We have several games per week where we manage more or less impressive comebacks. You haven't lost just because you're behind. It's not a game of numbers.