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So due to wrist problems and a general malaise with Sc2 lately I am shifting focus to either LoL or Dota 2 but I can't really decide on one, I am hoping it's possible to get unbiased opinions from people but this is likely a pipe dream, let me preface this by saying if you are here to post "HURF BLURF DOTA IS MORE HARDER" just turn around please.
At the very base level I enjoy Dota more, I find the heroes and spells more discernible and I find the game much more immersive where I actually feel connected to my hero where as LoL kind of feels disconnected where I am aware I am playing a game. However, I also really enjoy laddering, it gives me a reason to get better and since I know I will never be a pro gamer climbing the ladder is my own personal form of achievement.
Honestly the lack of a ladder or competitive matchmaking is really turning me away from Dota right now.
I can't turn around without seeing League these days, all my friends who game play League and aren't interested in Dota so right off the bat I am far more likely to have fun games with friends in League, most of the streamers i watch play League (Destiny, Hafu and some of my favorite Sc2 streamers do LoL in the off time).
So here I am, I have reasons to enjoy both games, I will likely devote the next 2-3 years trying to improve at the game and I enjoy taking other peoples thoughts into account when making personal decisions, so is there any possibility I can get some unbiased thoughts on the 2 games?
  
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You enjoy league more, you don't intend to be competitive.
Silly thread.
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On August 31 2013 15:30 Thaniri wrote:
You enjoy league more, you don't intend to be competitive.
Silly thread.
I would love to be competitive, I just don't have delusions that I might be pro, if it happened it would be amazing but 99.9999999% chance it won't. That doesn't stop me from trying to improve as much as possible.
Also on a complete game to game basis ignoring everything but gameplay I would say I enjoy Dota more but I don't enjoy not being able to ladder.
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Play ixmike's inhouse league "ixdl", it has a visible rating and if you do well enough you are admitted into "ixdl invite" where many NA/euro pros play
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No, it is not possible to get unbiased opinions.
You already seem to have enough information to go with and both games are free and easily accessible to try anyway. Unless the idea of the thread is to get people from two camps to fight over your "allegiance", you already have everything you need to make your own call on what you want to play.
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On August 31 2013 15:42 Talin wrote:
No, it is not possible to get unbiased opinions.
You already seem to have enough information to go with and both games are free and easily accessible to try anyway. Unless the idea of the thread is to get people from two camps to fight over your "allegiance", you already have everything you need to make your own call on what you want to play.
It's more a I can't make this decision, I want to play Dota but I don't like not laddering, it feels like wasted time and I don't really know what to do. Play the game I prefer or play the game that has the systems I enjoy in place.
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I've played both a bit. I'll sum up what I feel about each one.
LOL
+More interesting lore and characters imo
+Crisper graphics, clearer visuals
+Clearer roles for characters
+Items are more intersting
Dota 2
+Game loads much MUCH better (rarely start with afk or disco players)
+Community is slightly less toxic
+Spells seem to hit harder but cost more mana
+Some good ideas like mules
All in all, I prefer LOL, but I play Dota 2 because I can't stand the LOL community, not sure if it was just my level but I played with the most toxic noobs out there.
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You can play them interchangeably. A lot of the skill carries over between the two games. Sure it's a lot more to learn, but might be more enjoyable.
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It sounds like you have more incentive to play league. Unless you are having a BLAST playing dota I don't think it'll last without goals and friends to play with. Valve has said they intend some sort of ladder in the future, but for some reason I highly doubt it's going to be coming this year.
You just have more options with League. The competitive scene is really good and well supported; many regions with Worlds coming up, and lots of teams/personalities you can root for. Then there's the game itself where you can choose between ranked or playing with friends casually to relax.
I hate to say it as Dota was my first game and I'm far better and far more experienced in Dota, but I find Dota 2 to be very casual in its current state. League is casual too but there's options.
With that said you can always switch back and forth if you get burnt out. Basically what I've been doing.
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I played LoL from 2010 on and off whilst taking breaks from BW and it's an alright game by itself. But even so I haven't hit level 30 and can't play the actual competitive ranked LoL. Which kind of works in reverse to most people's situations. Other people have friends and time invested into LoL, and while LoL has a bigger player base, I have friends who play DotA, and I am not limited to hero selection/runes/masteries/etc.
If you feel like you'll have a better time with your friends in LoL vs just soloing in DotA, then it's fine imo. You might as well keep playing since you have to farm runes/champs anyways.
People say that the matchmaking system in Dota is invisible, but I beg to differ. You can kind of gauge your MMR when you gradually shift from an all carry no-one buys courier team to one that actually communicates, runs a trilane with non-pudge mid, smokes and places wards. You kind of have to make goals for yourself, what level of competitive Dota you want to get to. Although I play support, I place the wards, and I buy the smokes, and I'm still playing all-pick so I dunno if what I have to say is anything to go by.
The only thing that irritates me about Dota is queue times. Australian servers is approx 5 min wait time >.>.
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On August 31 2013 17:29 Itsmedudeman wrote:
It sounds like you have more incentive to play league. Unless you are having a BLAST playing dota I don't think it'll last without goals and friends to play with. Valve has said they intend some sort of ladder in the future, but for some reason I highly doubt it's going to be coming this year.
You just have more options with League. The competitive scene is really good and well supported; many regions with Worlds coming up, and lots of teams/personalities you can root for. Then there's the game itself where you can choose between ranked or playing with friends casually to relax.
I hate to say it as Dota was my first game and I'm far better and far more experienced in Dota, but I find Dota 2 to be very casual in its current state. League is casual too but there's options.
With that said you can always switch back and forth if you get burnt out. Basically what I've been doing.
Yea, this is pretty well said, casual is a good word I think for how Dota makes me feel, Like just now I played a 50 minute game and it might as well have never happened. Makes me sad because as said before I would much prefer play Dota and ladder.
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Try both games I'd say. I feel LoL is a stale game compared to every other DotA/AoS I've played (this includes everything from HoN to DOTX to some obscure wc3 maps) but the game is very smooth, has likeable characters, and the matchmaking system is better than DotAs (much faster) and has ranked. Plus, people tend to specialize in a certain champion more, so pubs are much less chaotic when it comes to laning, whereas in DotA people end up going in very crippling lanes and doing weird things, but this is also a side effect of buying champions, something you may or may not have a distaste for. I don't really care for ranking in DotA since I only solo queue to improve myself and not about winning at all costs.
Overall, you might actually like LoL the more you play it, so give it a try, because even though skills are quite transferable it is a different game.
You can try ixdl too if all you really want is a ranking system.
On August 31 2013 17:43 Nazza wrote:
I played LoL from 2010 on and off whilst taking breaks from BW and it's an alright game by itself. But even so I haven't hit level 30 and can't play the actual competitive ranked LoL. Which kind of works in reverse to most people's situations. Other people have friends and time invested into LoL, and while LoL has a bigger player base, I have friends who play DotA, and I am not limited to hero selection/runes/masteries/etc.
If you feel like you'll have a better time with your friends in LoL vs just soloing in DotA, then it's fine imo. You might as well keep playing since you have to farm runes/champs anyways.
People say that the matchmaking system in Dota is invisible, but I beg to differ. You can kind of gauge your MMR when you gradually shift from an all carry no-one buys courier team to one that actually communicates, runs a trilane with non-pudge mid, smokes and places wards. You kind of have to make goals for yourself, what level of competitive Dota you want to get to. Although I play support, I place the wards, and I buy the smokes, and I'm still playing all-pick so I dunno if what I have to say is anything to go by.
The only thing that irritates me about Dota is queue times. Australian servers is approx 5 min wait time >.>.
dota makes up for it by not taking 5 minutes to load...
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I'd say Dota, just because you don't have to grind for heroes and everyone has the same conditions.
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I'm a firm believer that you should always do the thing which is the most enjoyable for you on the lowest level. You enjoy kicking a ball? Play football/soccer. You enjoy making a musical note? Learn to play an instrument. You enjoy playing a game of Dota? Play Dota.
Realistically leagues or unlocks are nothing that will keep you playing a game in the long term, at least for me thats the case.
edit:
On the other hand, if the friends you would play League with are good friends and you would hang around with them either way all the time then I think it's probably smarter to play League as well.
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On August 31 2013 18:48 3772 wrote:
I'd say Dota, just because you don't have to grind for heroes and everyone has the same conditions.
This was the reason I quit LoL. I got to level 15 in a couple of days and then quit when they did new weekly heroes. So I can't give an unbiased opinion due to liking Dota 2 a lot more (based on the small amount of LoL I played) and not being able to stand LoLs unlock system.
I know a lot of people play both games, so that might be best for you. When you just want to sit back and play a game go Dota, when you want to play with your friends go LoL.
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Hearthstone is where all the eSports money is nowadays Keepo
User was warned for this post
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Dota is so much more fun it's not even funny.
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Both games are free and fun. Play both, there's no reason to make a decision since you're not a pro gamer, you have the time to play both and enjoy both. For example, like me who plays dota 2 solo but league with friends.
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On August 31 2013 17:04 Shottaz wrote:
LOL
+Items are more intersting
hmmm.
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DotA 2 on the Source engine doesn't feel smooth at all compared to Allstars, HoN, or LoL. Movement feels awkward and commands don't feel responsive.
The HUD isn't scalable and it's awful. It takes up the entire width of the screen and is useless for the most part, it feels like I'm playing a game designed in 2000 for 800x600 screens.
The scoreboard is also awful. Why does KDA have its own columns but level, gold, and CS don't? More importantly, why the hell does colour have its own column when the portrait border is already coloured? It also irritates me that the top bar is missing level and KDA when there's plenty of space for this info.
There's no desktop client like LoL so playing full screen is very annoying during the queueing / hero selection if you tend to alt-tab often. Though LoL does have that fucking stupid bug where the game gets stuck in the bottom corner if you're alt-tabbed when the actual game launches after champion selection (requiring you to relaunch the game).
Denying is rewarding yet frustrating at the same time.
With all that said, DotA does have its upsides. Lanes don't snowball nearly as hard as they do in LoL. There's a lot more variety in teams since you aren't forced into specific roles (ADC, Jungle, Top, Mid, Support) like you are in LoL. You don't have to farm for heroes or runes.
Note I don't play either game anymore. DotA for the reasons above, League because I can't stand playing with four randoms who cry over roles and have poor attitudes. I guess it gets better in Platinum but promotion series are seriously frustrating.
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EPT
