DoTA 2 “lolz” at LoL
An objective comparison of popular MOBAS.
![DoTA 2 "lolz" at LoL](https://www.ameshighweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Dota.png)
In light of the flood of interest in LoL among the students of Ames High, I decided to dip my toe into the swirling eddies of this Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. Unfortunately, the raging river of quality gameplay I expected was no more than a shallow marsh of knee-deep casual back-to-base item race.
Beginning with appearance, playable character “Champions” are usually brightly colored, over exaggerated, nonsensical Pokemon-looking models with low polycounts meant to distract from the monotonous gameplay. Riot employs novelty to sell new characters to their serfs, I mean players. “Heroes” in DoTA 2 are more neutral, yet maintain individuality with body type and corresponding color scheme.
DoTA Heroes are all available to players upon installation, rather than in a weekly rotation or by unlocking by playing the game for dozens of hours; another ploy by LoL to keep their player base invested in the game and a Cookie-Clicker-like reward system.
The next section requires some knowledge of MOBA terms.
During early game, laning in LoL is very rigid and stale. 1 top, 1 mid, 1 jungler, 2 bottom is the setup in 95% of all matches, changing only in the transition to midgame. Players start out with a near inexhaustible mana supply, allowing them to spam abilities ad infinitum. Aggressive DoTA-style trilanes are seldom attempted except for in ambitious “pro” matches which, by the way, are filled with and won by player who practice with the more difficult DoTA.
Mechanically, DoTA 2 is much more intensive. Many mechanics are unique to DoTA, like creep blocking, denying, and turn speed. These create a game where fine “micro” skills are rewarded and LoL’s auto-attack lane pushing scheme would quickly lead to a gank. Higher mana cost in DoTA also prevents spamming abilities, even late-game, forcing a player to make strategic choices on how and when to use their abilities.
Most importantly, the propensity for countering in DoTA is what makes it so much more fun to play than LoL. The previously mentioned mana burn in DoTA means that upon respawning, a player can quickly counter their killer, left defenseless after using all their mana on that kill. Games of LoL are usually decided in the first or second teamfight, with the winning team then steamrolling towers (turrets) and ending the game. DoTA’s harsh punishment system can quickly turn on a winning team that grows careless.
Fervent worshippers of LoL may point out the higher number of views on international tournaments, but this is a strawman argument. Riot has bigger payouts for their tournaments, true, but that money is extracted from it’s playerbase when they are too frustrated to spend the in-game currency that takes dozens or hundreds of hours to accumulate. There is also evidence of inflating viewcounts on online streams, with hundreds of “users” with usernames “abc123” or some other string of letters and integers.
Objectively, DoTA is the better game, so the only remaining question is why LoL players cling to their gangrenous limb of a game. Is it Stockholm Syndrome from being trapped in Riot’s carrot-on-a-stick reward system? Is it that they want to play a game with the same level of intensity as Cooking Mama? I humbly submit that the true answer is that LoL players are simply afraid of the level of skill required for other MOBAs.
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Takeshi Suzuki • Nov 5, 2013 at 9:24 pm
SC2 all the way ^^
Anyways I hardly play either LoL or DOTA but on first impression I definitely liked DOTA 2 more. I guess i’m not really interested in having to spend money or play countless hours to unlock heroes, when I can play DOTA 2 and play any hero I want. I don’t have to worry about runes or certain skills to unlock. That along with the graphics is likely why I slightly prefer DOTA 2.
If I can be biased I would say SC2 has a higher skill gap, it seems that MOBAs are a lot more centered around learning each hero’s abilities.
Chris Robers • Oct 7, 2013 at 4:23 pm
Whoa, AHS has a DoTA club? I thought that was a joke. Objective comparison or biased bashing? What is it about DoTA fanboys that makes then want to aimlessly belittle every other MOBA? Let’s face it! LoL has a monthly playerbase of 32 million (as of October 2012) and DoTA 2 with 4.2 million, (as of July 2013) even after the 3 year hype leading up to the release of DoTA 2. There is really one big differences between LoL and DoTA 2; the competitive scene. (Quick Google search to see if DoTA 2 even HAS one, oh hey it does I learned something today) LoL’s competitive scene is simply more popular, and why wouldn’t it be? It is quite simply much more entertaining to watch. Who honestly wants to see The Alliance defeat Na’Vi every year for as long as they watch? All this really turns into is a popularity contest, and DoTA 2 loses. I would find it best that we all play whichever MOBA we want and try not to pick fights. You can boast about your graphics and TP scrolls all you want, it wont be the first time we have heard you do it.
Stefan Kraus • Oct 11, 2013 at 10:05 am
I really appreciate your interest in this topic, and am pleased that you did your own research, but I urge you to read the second to last paragraph of the article, wherein I discuss the differences between the competitive scenes of both games. This section is set aside at the end for the express purpose of acknowledging a “go-to” rationale LoL players have for defending their game. Please note that the community of a game does not reflect the quality of the game itself. My argument was mainly concerned with the differences in depth and required skill through game mechanics, not with how many people watch professionals play instead of playing themselves.
As a side note, you say you just discovered DoTA’s International Tournaments, but you seem awfully familiar with the Alliance and Na’Vi teams.