This game is so so much easier to get into than DOTA. In DOTA you play 100 games and you are still utter shit. This game I am #1 on my team first game ever. It does make it great for new players but I wonder if this is going to cause issues with holding people's interest.
Who knows; one thing I do know is that I am digging the 18 minute matches and am not missing DOTA matches that require you to sit around for 30 mins when loss is 100% assured.
The game has a shocking level of depth that isn't apparent on first play. When I was rank 30 I thought I knew a lot more than I do now at a much higher rank.
The pros talk about it a lot on the podcasts, but heroes is much more a team game than Dota, for example. Mechanic skills will only get you so far, and team fights and map co-ordination is happening all the time in a HoTs match rather than 15 minutes in after a laning phase.