Dota 2 is Better than League of Legends

Thank you, and have a good debate. Before you assume something, opponent, keep in mind I think both games are great games. I just find one better than another. First matters off, let me discuss the formation of each game. League of Legends was designed by the original mod for the Warcraft III engine Defense of the Ancients (known as DotA to most). The development of League began when Riot Games partnered with Steve "Guinsoo" Feak (Guinsoo's Rageblade, anyone?), who had previously worked on the original map for DotA. The idea was that the game would be standalone as opposed to another sequel using the same engine. Upon which, League was born. Dota 2 is the sequel to the mod for the Warcraft III engine, Defense of the Ancients (known to most as DotA.) Its map was based off of the "Aeon of Strife" map for StarCraft. To make the map, the team used the map editor of Warcraft III's prequel: Warcraft II. The first version of this game was released in 2003, and has become extremely popular since, sparking the sequel which was made by Valve. Now let me head straight in to my argument: I. Learning Curve Many new players to Dota 2, or some used to LoL (I know I was) didn't understand the game at first. The controls were very confusing, especially for the items. And the idea of a TP scroll seemed ridiculous to me. Why didn't they just have a Recall button? I quit midway through my first game and didn't play it again until three to four months later. When I logged it, it was an entirely new patch. At the beginning, it asked me if I had played a MOBA before. I said yes. It then gave me a list of MOBAs to choose from, and when I clicked "League of Legends", I found out that, in game, it had changed the settings for me to be almost identical to LoL! They made it feel at least a bit more comfortable for me to play, even though I didn't truly understand what was going on. I shall not deny the learning curve is a LOT steeper in Dota 2 than in LoL. But I find that to be better in some cases. Imagine, opponent, you were faced with two tasks. One to learn a relatively simple task, and one to learn a complex one. Most would choose the easy one, because it's, well, easy. However, a few people would choose the difficult one. Note that I am NOT saying LoL is simple, just simpler. And that makes it good in its own regard; it's simple, fun, and easy to understand. However, taking the time to learn and perfect something much harder is more rewarding, because you end up feeling like you accomplished something that was very difficult, and you feel proud of yourself. The thrill of winning a tough match, or stopping that Faceless Void from getting fed (which is remarkably hard) is a lot more rewarding, it seems, than getting a kill in LoL, because it's EASIER for those kills to happen. You sometimes feel empty after killing an easy opponent, because they didn't provide a thrill, a rush, a sense of excitement and danger. This is why people keep coming back to Dota 2, and so do I. II. Graphics/Popularity Note: graphics do NOT define if a game is good or not. But graphics help to enhance the gaming experience you're in. After playing a few games of Dota, I simply could NOT switch back to LoL. The graphics seemed HORRENDOUS to me after what I've been used to. While they seemed sort of anime-like to me at first, it just lost its appeal after playing another game. As I said before, while graphics do not define if a game is good or not, I just could not play the game. The graphics aim to be good, but they aren't good, at least, compared to Dota's, and that is a major issue for me. The issue is with this, games such as Minecraft/Robocraft INTENTIONALLY have bad graphics. When a game is played as much as LoL, you think they could improve their graphics. And while they are current;y working to do so, they have essentially used the same map with the same graphics (Summoner's Rift) for about five years, without any major changes. III. Strategies Dota 2 has a more strategy-focused gameplay as opposed to LoL. Wile it is undeniable both games have great amounts of strategy implemented in them, Dota 2 opens up more possibilities to strategy, such as "creep stacking" and "denying" creeps and towers. In League, if you and your lane opponent farm passively, with no assistance from a jungler, then you both gain a huge gold advantage over the others, with virtually no one stopping you. With the chance to deny, you can stop your opponent from getting minions while still playing passively, opening up the possibility of your opponent not getting levels and XP and putting you ahead of them. Denying towers is also a huge deal. When you deny a tower, members of the opposite team only gain 100 gold each. When they destroy a tower, people end up getting 200-300 gold each, as well as the appropriate XP if you're near the tower. When you deny a tower, you end up denying the enemy 500-1000 gold. That is a HUGE difference! Creep stacking also allows for more strategic jungling. You aggro a creep and drag it out of its home before a minute hits. After it hits, a new pair of creeps spawn, because the game has detected no creeps are in the area. IV: Popularity/Community Dota 2 is undeniably LESS popular than its counterpart, League of Legends. Despite this, I still believe Dota 2 is the better game. Why? Because popularity DOESN'T DEFINE IF A GAME IS GOOD OR NOT. So many people think LoL is the better game simply because it has a larger playerbase than Dota. There are many cases I can think of that the less popular game is better than a more popular one. For instance, the example I can think of is in the FPS Category: COD, Battlefield, and TF2. Whilst all related in one way, each has completely different gameplay and playerbases, the largest being COD, second being Battlefield, and third being TF2. But I play TF2 more than any of those other games. Why? Because it's simply more fun. The people playing the game are a lot more friendly than the large abundance of 10-year olds who play COD, and the total tryhards who play BF. Community is also an issue for me. With League, the community is less than hospitable to newcomers. The best example I can find of this is the video "Why I Love League of Legends But Hate Playing it". (Link is in sources) The person in the video was talking about how they were all noobs, and it was a fun experience (especially building IE on Annie), even though they didn't know what they were doing. When it got to the later stages, however, they felt like they HAD to do certain things or else everyone would get mad at them. And this is why he loves LoL, but hates playing it, and the same goes for me. In Dota, the game is just fun throughout. Whilst difficult at first, the game's experience grows and expands as does your knowledge of the game, and you get to have more fun with it. People don't yell at you for going Dark Seer jungle, because you CAN. They don't even get mad at ES jungle, because you CAN do it. If I tried Akali jungle in League (despite her AoE capabilities), people WOULD rage and flame me for my decision, even if I think if it's a perfectly viable choice (And if it works, it ain't stupid). My conclusion for this segment is this: Dota 2 is superior to LoL in a number of ways, including graphics, community, and overall experience. Both games have their pros and cons, however, I find Dota 2 to be the better of the two games for the reasons above. Opponent, or anyone, if you read this all the way, I thank you for your time. And opponent, I wish you good luck in the next round. Your argument should be interesting as well. Thanks. :) Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxAabW7JfTQ