I said something to this effect a while back, and might make a thread about it sometime, but here is a miniature version of this rant.
What are LoL and other games in the genre so scared of in general? Almost every facet of them seems like they are scared to actually go further. I mentioned the example of stuff like the 200-300 second CD on teleport, which is longer than most Dota ultimates, but a lot of CDs in LoL are like this too. Then there is the fact that everything gets nerfed rather than counters to it buffed or it a different aspect of it being needed. A Dota example of this is 6.83 to 6.84 Sniper. Shrapnel was broken and without question needed a nerf. However when nerfing it, the main idea of the skill needed to be retained. That would be area denial, damage, and a slow. With the 6.84 change, it still does these things. However he has to either predict enemy movement, or just pick areas to deny access to. This makes it not a hunting tool and it sticks to it's purpose.
LoL isn't the only game that does this either. Hell, I would say Heroes of the Storm is even more guilty of it than LoL is. Two significant examples from HotS are that brewmaster hero and the Lost Vikings. With the brewmaster, one of his heroic abilities (every hero has two, you choose one per mastich) is a split similar to the WC3 brew. However there is a HUGE difference: You can't control the pandas individually! They are stuck in the triangle formation with an ability that spreads them out, then they slowly go back in. I don't understand why they are afraid of having some micro on these things. I mean part of the audience for this game is the StarCraft audience. There are people that can handle this, and if they can't, learning some micro won't kill them.
Then there is Lost Vikings. This was a cool idea for a hero at first, but then you look deeper and see it is just three guys, that you can actually micro this time, however they all have passive abilities. So all it is is just to micro then and make them attack things. Why can't they each have at least one active ability? It seems like a good idea ruined by the fact that they are afraid of making it "too complicated".
Another one too is Abathur, and this one is even more unique. The closest Dota things I could compare it to are Nature's Prophet and Tinker, but after experimenting with it, I don't think it goes far enough. Why does the Locust have to be automatically controlled? Couldn't they at least give the option to control it, and if there is no input it just automatically goes down a lane? But nope, the only way to control it is with Symbiote, which leaves Abathur sitting there while you do that. The clone idea is also a cool one, and actually is probably the source of inspiration for Morphling Aghs, but again this doesn't really go far enough with the idea, as you lose control of Abathur while doing this. Again, cool idea, just not taken far enough.
