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So why does League of Legends still have a larger playerbase than Dota 2?

Hylian7

Member
Except they're not taking them, they're killing them. You have to think of them in an abstract manner for it to make sense - is basically what you're saying here. I mean shit, why not just not send our little minions out with gold in their pockets in the first place?



They're the crux of why though - the gameplay is more approachable due to the mechanical differences, and the other reason is largely the visual/lore aspects. People get attached to character,s they don't get attached to generic units.
Keeping the enemy from gaining money is abstract?
 
Fair enough, but when it comes down to it, are the major differences in DOTA/League these legacy/archaic mechanics being talked about? It seems inconsequential compared to, say, League having summoner abilities like blink available to you immediately and DOTA locking that to an item, which to me seems that naturally early game would be a lot more fast-paced. I think those should be addressed moreso than Secret Shops or Denying, both of which I agree appears to be a product of it's time as opposed to a conscious change in game flow.
Nah, if anything DOTA 2 has the more dynamic early game thanks to the inclusion of dust and the limitations of vision wards to allow for ganks to happen. Also because of the symmetrical nature of LoL's map, you see a lot of the professional teams lane swap and turret trade with nothing happening in between, which is probably strategically complex, but is extremely boring to watch.
 

TheYanger

Member
Because the opinion of those who DON'T play a game regularly are a great indicator?

"OH SHIT WILL HE MAKE IT TO THE SECRET SHOP TO BUY THE ITEM HE WANTS?!? is not thrilling in the least, nor interesting in strategic cases in all but the most fringe moments"
- just shows that you have really no idea what you are talking about. Courier snipes happen in pro games all the time. Losing a 5k gold item for 5 minutes is game deciding.

Even in regular games, if your team is turtling, getting a successful buy at the secret shop buy navigating the courier around enemies while defending your base is extremely satisfying and game changing.

It's a good indicator of why people continue to not play that game, yes. That's literally what this thread is about.

I mean, I say this partly to be funny obviously, but I could also force myself to masturbate while I play and it would be more challenging as well - but I don't, because that's not what I'm looking for when I play a game. People don't want to 'navigate their courier to the secret shop while defending their base' they want defending their base to be the interesting part of the game about defending your base.

Keeping the enemy from gaining money is abstract?

Considering your own units as 'enemy resources' (your OWN units), thereby justifying murdering them yourself in order to prevent them from dropping gold for the opponent as well as experience points, is the very definition of abstract.
 
I see a lot of stubborn LoL players in this thread... Once you understand the impact last hitting, items and economy have in DOTA, there's no looking back.
 
Except they're not taking them, they're killing them. You have to think of them in an abstract manner for it to make sense - is basically what you're saying here. I mean shit, why not just not send our little minions out with gold in their pockets in the first place?

Geez, why does minions in League give gold AND this magical number called experience to enemies?

Wouldn't it be great if I could, I don't know... deny the enemy the chance of getting this spawning gold that breaks some laws of physics and this magical number that makes my enemy grow stronger?

It's like in games you need to abstract certain concepts to accept them in the game experience! So obtuse!
 

LordRaptor

Member
If you can't see how not executing your own units as sub-optimal strategy is less accessible than just worrying about enemy units, I honestly don't know what to say.

But it's one of the answers that addresses the question of the OP.
 

PSqueak

Banned
- A girl carrying a legendary weapon seeking the hero it's meant for yet failing to realize that hero is herself.

I appreciate what you're trying here, but come on, as much as i love Poppy's current gameplay and find her lore cute, i won't pretend that her current lore is not a HUGE step down from her previous, badass lore.

The thing is, I don't even agree wtih this. In terms of skill FLOOR, hots < league < dota. in terms of skill ceiling? I don't actually think so at all. I think people just try to be reductive of everything that they don't play when it comes to mobas and it's pretty gross. Moment to moment gameplay in hots and league are miles faster than dota, for example.

I don't try to be reductive of the other games, the only reason i didn't stick to DotA is because i don't have the time to learn the game, it's a pretty good game, but Mobas are a huge time investment, people usually have to marry to just one.

And i for one ADORE the newbie friendliness and the objective focus of HotS, the lack of focus on farming and kills in tandem with the wildly varied objectives makes HotS incredibly fun to play, the reasons why i don't play it too much is because 1.- network issues i haven't been able to resolve and 2.-Again, i can only sink so much time in Mobas so i stay married to LoL

I think I agree with this,I'll add a bit gimmicky to HotS since thats also part of the appeal for me, I really love the different maps and their gimmicks

You get it, absolutely wish more mobas took this approach, i guess LoL has the Rotating queue now and the upcoming Nexus Siege mode, but still is not as varied.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Just pretend denying is scorched earth. Boom, intuitive.

Frankly, there's not enough opportunities to go scorched earth in modern games, EUIV being the other notable case.
 

Twookie

Member
Übermatik;208030141 said:
I see a lot of stubborn LoL players in this thread... Once you understand the impact last hitting, items and economy has in DOTA, there's no looking back.

yeah pretty much

I used to be like this aswell until I really gave dota a chance and I've never looked back
 

Grenchel

Member
I simply enjoy Leagues of Legend better than Dota. Maybe the latter is the better game "objectively", but I have had a lot more fun with League on a whole.
 
The long answer:

DOTA2 is severely hampered by trying to stay "true" to character designs that were mostly cribbed from Warcraft 3 units that were never meant to look terribly interesting or cool, aside from the handful that were already Hero units. There are simply too many "characters" that, frankly, aren't characters but rather just boring basic units with a name slapped on (Wisp, Gyro, etc.) or slightly-improved boring basic units with a new paint job.

League of Legends, by comparison, has made it a point of not only releasing an increasingly more aesthetically stylized cast of characters, but also actually going through their backlog and gradually updating the "classic" (ie, garbage) designs to that same standard as they go.

The tl;dr answer:

Same as Overwatch vs. the 101 Overwatch clones. Waifus.
 

Moonlight

Banned
1. Terrorblade?
2. Sea monster version of Pudge?
3. Literally Enigma.
4. Literally Vengeful spirit.
5. This one is new.
6. Sand version of Wraith king.
7. Time travelers are countless in Dota 2.
Dota 2's heroes might bear reassemblance of their Wc3 counterparts, but their lore are completely rewriten and their models aren't even really similar to their old ones.
Anyway I just want to point out that the claim that Dota 2's heroes are generic is incredibly ridiculous.
ok at this point this is coming across as ridiculously disingenuous though I'll give you benefit of the doubt and assume you have no clue what any of these characters I mentioned actually look like or how they operate because otherwise I cannot wrap my brain around comparing this to The Guy Who Looks Like Illidan

I appreciate what you're trying here, but come on, as much as i love Poppy's current gameplay and find her lore cute, i won't pretend that her current lore is not a HUGE step down from her previous, badass lore.
I really like her new lore, tbh.
 
Not anymore. That redesigned Dota 2 interface is dumpster tier.
yeah sorry but it's still true. even if the ui is garbage, it's nothing compared to the monstrosity that is the league of legends client, which still doesn't have a working first party replay system in 2016.
 

BearPawB

Banned
If you can't see how not executing your own units as sub-optimal strategy is less accessible than just worrying about enemy units, I honestly don't know what to say.

But it's one of the answers that addresses the question of the OP.

No one is arguing denying detracts from the accessibility slightly
But there is also no need to act like it is some colossally complicated thing that no one possibly can understand


I do think League has more interesting character designs artistically. But mechanically? that is more debateable
 

danmaku

Member
I explained why it's a bad mechanic, but you dismiss what I say as 'spitting venom' - ok. neogaf.gif.

Uh no, you tried to explain why deny is a bad mechanic, not having 3 different shops. Also, you are not really discussing, you're screaming like a crazy preacher and insulting other posters.

There's no doubt some mechanics in Dota are counter-intuitive, but maybe that's part of the appeal of Dota. It doesn't feel like a game focus grouped to death to be as appealing as possible. It feels like something a bunch of nerds threw toghether in their spare time and kept playing because it was fun.
 

Saturday

Member
Nah, if anything DOTA 2 has the more dynamic early game thanks to the inclusion of dust and the limitations of vision wards to allow for ganks to happen. Also because of the symmetrical nature of LoL's map, you see a lot of the professional teams lane swap and turret trade with nothing happening in between, which is probably strategically complex, but is extremely boring to watch.

This is what I wanted to talk about! Vision, and by extension support roles I think differ also greatly between DOTA/League. One thing I'm curious about is the supposed stereotype that League has no fluid meta, that most characters are stuck to one role, whereas DOTA, with kinda more influence towards items means that supports can become carries if they're so inclined?

That type of shit I think ties into the overall difficulty of League/DOTA and the general appeal.
 

Gxgear

Member
The new solo queue system seems to be driving a lot of players away, but more of them of flocking to Overwatch Dota 2 it seems. What timing.
 
Yet if this were true, it would probably be the more popular game, counterpoint: it has the better in none of those categories. Maybe client.

And here it comes, the "popularity = quality" argument.
s6CfN04.png

I guess that DFO and CrossFire are better games than those all those below them.
And back in 2014 Crossfire apparently was a better game than League.
How I love to use numbers to arbitrarily decide on the quality of something!
 

Caffeine

Member
League is easier to play (like insanely easier the camera follows the character, the camera isn't so close) and it is more forgiving.
It runs on a decade old machine.
people have investment monetary, or time they don't want to detach from.

I have tried both I hate both, but if my friends asked me to play one I would pick League because its accessibly easier.

when I had dota 2 beta invites I tried pulling all my friends that played league into it not one of them have booted dota 2 since. that could be another factor if u don't know anyone playing it why would u play it if they are playing the other game.

I personally feel heroes of the storm is the easiest one out there though and it's fast.
 

Des0lar

will learn eventually
It's a good indicator of why people continue to not play that game, yes. That's literally what this thread is about.

I mean, I say this partly to be funny obviously, but I could also force myself to masturbate while I play and it would be more challenging as well - but I don't, because that's not what I'm looking for when I play a game. People don't want to 'navigate their courier to the secret shop while defending their base' they want defending their base to be the interesting part of the game about defending your base.

I have never contested the claim that League is more popular because of its simpler mechanics. Quite the opposite.

What you have claimed though that Dota is filled with obtuse ridiculous mechanics that make no sense. I have simply refuted those claims.

Your second claim on the other hand is simply not thought through.
If I follow your argument that people don't like complexity, why play LoL at all? Why not play HotS instead.
Why would I need the concept of an item shop? That is unnecessarily difficult for new players. Combining items and the lot.
Hell why even have so many different champions? That's just extremely difficult to learn and to counter?
Why not give every player the same champion so we reduce complexity that way?

See where this goes?

Also btw, all your posts make it sound like Dota is a dead game, when it is far from it. So there are more than enough players who apparently like their difficulty and complexity.
 

PSqueak

Banned
I really like her new lore, tbh.

It's a nice, cute and ditzy lore to go with cute ditzy Poppy, but frumpy, no non-sense Poppy had a pretty badass background story.

Back then it was like, "Oh shit! here comes Poppy! Run!" and now it's like "Aww, here comes Poppy! I wonder what kind of wacky shenanigans will unfold!"
 

Ragnamith

Member
Maybe more people just prefer it over DOTA?

Yeah this is pretty much me. I've given DOTA 2 several tries but still stick to LoL.
I find it pretty shameful and disappointing how LoL lacks so many simple features, their client is years behind, still no replays etc, but I simply enjoy playing LoL more. DOTA 2 looks and feels grim to me, controls feel sluggish (I hate the "turning" of heroes), I like LoL heroes more (more fun and cool personality in them IMO).

So yeah I don't think its "LoL only has a larger playerbase because it came out first" at all.
 
Geez, why does minions in League give gold AND this magical number called experience to enemies?

Wouldn't it be great if I could, I don't know... deny the enemy the chance of getting this spawning gold that breaks some laws of physics and this magical number that makes my enemy grow stronger?

It's like in games you need to abstract certain concepts to accept them in the game experience! So obtuse!
But you can do that. League doesn't have denying, it has zoning. You deny people of gold and experience by fighting them and pushing them off range experience otherwise risk getting killed.

It's a lot easier to understand than having to hit your own minions while you also worry about last hitting.
 
The new solo queue system seems to be driving a lot of players away, but more of them of flocking to Overwatch Dota 2 it seems. What timing.

Hopefully Riot is going to revert this someday. The long-reigning douche, with 0 actual achievements, and the "genius" behind quad-q was finally let-go.

For anyone above silver, it is a problem unless you abuse it too.
 

Eridani

Member
It always seemed weird to me that whenever a thread like this pops up a lot of people immediately start shouting some really absurd arguments about why DOTA is an awful game. Things like "The mechanics are only like that because of WC3's awful engine", "denying makes no sense" or even the dreaded "DOTA is anti-fun", so I'd like to clear up some misconceptions:

1.) It's not the fault of the WC3 engine. Seriously, WC3's map editor was an extremely powerful tool that let you change pretty much everything about the game. Turn rates, slow attack animations, denying, the shops - all of that could be changed. People saying that the engine is at fault for denying are particularly baffling, since DOTA already limits attacking allied creeps above a certain percentage of health.

2.) Denying is entirely intuitive and makes sense. Yeah, I said it. It shouldn't take long to realize 2 things: a.) Having your lane push towards the enemy tower is bad, since it makes it harder to retreat towards your tower and b.) Your lane is pushing towards the tower because your creeps are attacking the enemy creeps. It therefore makes perfect sense that your own creeps are actively hurting you and should be killed as soon as possible, which denying does. This also demonstrates why denying is incredibly important to the game and why it adds depth.

Hopefully this clears up some things for people,
 

Hylian7

Member
But you can do that. League doesn't have denying, it has zoning. You deny people of gold and experience by fighting them and pushing them off range experience otherwise risk getting killed.

It's a lot easier to understand than having to hit your own minions while you also worry about last hitting.
Why not both? Dota has both. Sometimes heroes are difficult to zone, and then then, you might not be able to keep them out of XP range, or from last hitting with a long distance cost effective spell (such as PA dagger).
 

LordRaptor

Member
No one is arguing denying detracts from the accessibility slightly
But there is also no need to act like it is some colossally complicated thing that no one possibly can understand

It is an unintuitive mechanic; it is one of many unintuitive mechanics present in DOTA that LoL either streamlined or dropped, but DOTA2 - as a true successor - retained.

That doesn't make DOTA2 or those mechanics shit, or LoL players dumbfuck babbys who just cant understand even if you capslock that secretshop / denial / runes / manually assigning level up stat points / whatever are super awesome.

It makes LoL a much more accessible game, in a genre which is by its nature extremely inaccessible in the first place.
 
ok at this point this is coming across as ridiculously disingenuous though I'll give you benefit of the doubt and assume you have no clue what any of these characters I mentioned actually look like or how they operate because otherwise I cannot wrap my brain around comparing this to The Guy Who Looks Like Illidan


I really like her new lore, tbh.

Are you talking about the background lore are you the kind of people who judge others based on how they look?
Because Dota 2's terrorblade is a demon who can manipulated 2 sides using reflection.
 
Übermatik;208031053 said:
DOTA has XP range too...
And dota has that too?
Why not both? Dota has both. Sometimes heroes are difficult to zone, and then then, you might not be able to keep them out of XP range, or from last hitting with a long distance cost effective spell (such as PA dagger).
I'm not arguing against or for denying. My point is League's lane dynamics are far easier to grasp at a glance for a new player - which is what this thread is about.
 
But you can do that. League doesn't have denying, it has zoning. You deny people of gold and experience by fighting them and pushing them off range experience otherwise risk getting killed.

And that's great. But by what the other poster was saying it could be explained as
"Why do you want to push the enemy away from your own troops? They're going to die anyway why not let them fight to the death? So obtuse".

It's fine both ways, but saying that something is "obtuse" and wrong because they can't visualize how creeps/minions/towers can be treated as resources is just being, ahem, obtuse for the sake of it.
 

Mohasus

Member
The deny thing is overblown, look at stats post game, most players will have between 0-5, that's not even enough to make a difference in the game.

It does matter to the mid lane though, and it is a way to control the lane if you are a carry.

But you can do that. League doesn't have denying, it has zoning. You deny people of gold and experience by fighting them and pushing them off range experience otherwise risk getting killed.

This is what usually happens in dota too. That's why most pro offlaners don't even bother going to the lane anymore, jungle is safer.
 

Holundrian

Unconfirmed Member
This is what usually happens in dota too. That's why most offlaners don't even bother going to the lane anymore, jungle is safer.

Obligatory, Iron Talon GG skillful game, thx osfrog :p (count me as someone that has complicated feelings towards that item positive and negative ones)
 

Twookie

Member
denying is pretty much only unintuitive if you want it to be. when get the "rythm" it feels natural imo

Runs on a toaster, isn't 30 gigs.

dota 2 is pretty scalable(albeit not as scalable as league and league would look better at lower settings if i remember correctly)

and 16 gigs =/= 30 gigs
 

Linkark07

Banned
Accessibility, and League of Legends reached critical mass before DOTA 2. You might pick up League today not because it's """better""", but because all your friends are playing it, which is the most important factor when it comes to a genre like this.

Yeah, this is a good reason. Tried to get some friends join and play Dota2, instead they went to LoL because most of their friends are there.
 

Des0lar

will learn eventually
denying is pretty much only unintuitive if you want it to be. when get the "rythm" it feels natural imo

It's literally explained with "last hit your own creeps too, so the enemy can't".

There is much to complain about in Dota, but the deny mechanic really isn't it.
 
Dota has an infinitely much higher skillcap.

If you don't cater to the lowest common denominator then the lowest common denominator will not play your game.

On the upside you end up with a much better game for everyone else
 

oroboros

Member
I guess that DFO and CrossFire are better games than those all those below them.
And back in 2014 Crossfire apparently was a better game than League.
How I love to use numbers to arbitrarily decide on the quality of something!

DFO is pretty damn good, dawg.
 

SerratedX

Member
League players are also extremely stubborn.

I have a friend who is a league player who lives in a house with 2 DotA players, however constantly refuses to play DotA and spends a majority of his time on LoL even when his roommates ask him to be a 5th to complete their comp.

The two games are similar enough that he can pick it up and has proved that he can play a pretty mean Omni when he is forced to, however he still grumbles any time its brought up in a LAN and will always retreat to a LoL game shortly after the LAN match is over.

... I just don't get it...

Personally as a DotA player I tried league a few times and enjoyed it, but never to the extent that I have with DotA and only find myself playing maybe one match every 6 months if Riot is lucky...
 

Moonlight

Banned
Are you talking about the background lore are you the kind of people who judge others based on how they look?
Because Dota 2's terrorblade is a demon who can manipulated 2 sides using reflection.
...I'm the kind of person who looks at a character as a full package from a design and writing standpoint, yes. Kindred is not a demon or whatever, they're literally an incarnation of death in its' two inseparable forms, swift passing and savage end represented in a Mononoke-esque mythology. It's a very unique premise for a character and a striking design. This is represented through a mechanic where they mark enemy champions for death, and by succeeding in killing them, they're permanently empowered. I appreciate whatever lore Terrorblade or whoever else has, but as you already said, these characters are visually derivative of WC3 counterparts and therefore I don't see the point in trying to counter any of the characters I mentioned with others in DotA that pretty much no one without context (or even with) could look at and go 'well these two things are basically the same'.
 

oroboros

Member
League players are also extremely stubborn.

I have a friend who is a league player who lives in a house with 2 DotA players, however constantly refuses to play DotA and spends a majority of his time on LoL even when his roommates ask him to be a 5th to complete their comp.

The two games are similar enough that he can pick it up and has proved that he can play a pretty mean Omni when he is forced to, however he still grumbles any time its brought up in a LAN and will always retreat to a LoL game shortly after the LAN match is over.

... I just don't get it...

Personally as a DotA player I tried league a few times and enjoyed it, but never to the extent that I have with DotA and only find myself playing maybe one match every 6 months if Riot is lucky...

Do those DOTA players want to drop DOTA and start playing LoL instead? Wouldn't they be just as stubborn if they won't? I don't get what your post is trying to prove.
 
My thought on League vs Dota 2 is that I am happy that Dota 2 has a healthy player base and that's about it. I tried both and I personally found Dota 2 to be an easier and more rewarding game to learn. There was more to learn (one of the things I love about the game is that there are almost infinite things to learn) but I found it easier to actually learn them. A lot of that was initially down to the in item game guides and the replay functionality. But again, that's just me personally, obviously other people feel differently.

It's been clearly established that both League and Dota 2 can survive and thrive in the market so that's great for everyone!
 

Bulzeeb

Member
League players are also extremely stubborn.

I have a friend who is a league player who lives in a house with 2 DotA players, however constantly refuses to play DotA and spends a majority of his time on LoL even when his roommates ask him to be a 5th to complete their comp.

The two games are similar enough that he can pick it up and has proved that he can play a pretty mean Omni when he is forced to, however he still grumbles any time its brought up in a LAN and will always retreat to a LoL game shortly after the LAN match is over.

... I just don't get it...

Personally as a DotA player I tried league a few times and enjoyed it, but never to the extent that I have with DotA and only find myself playing maybe one match every 6 months if Riot is lucky...

You should try to do what I did some time ago to form a team in Dota, I told some friends to play dota with me and in exchange my Dota team could form a lol team with him so we could play both games from time to time so he gave it a try for 2 weeks or so, after that he just decided that Dota was too complex for him because we keep on loosing and decided to quit but well at least he tried
 

Gorger

Member
I came into both games fairly late, tried them both, and so far I can't really find a single thing I really like with LoL over Dota, except maybe for cosmetics being more appealing.

Some personal pointers

*Dota has more interesting heroes, spells and items. For example there is a lot more usable items which can greatly alter the role and flexibility of your hero

*Everyone starts fresh, there is no talents or mastery system you only get by leveling up which gives seasoned players a disadvantage. No free wards or blinks depending on what trinkets you choose or town portals that can be used at any time to get back to base.

*LoL has no courier, tp's or secret shops wish diminishes the flow of the game.

*Dota has better interacting between the heroes, like taunts and dialogue which adds to the flair of the game. LoL has these too, but I hardly ever managed to trigger them. Dota 2 also follows Blizzards tradition of adding a ton of pop culture references into the speech.

*All heroes are available in Dota for free. Playing single draft is how I learned the mechanics of nearly all the heroes, which was impossible in LoL because it's highly restrictive with free rotations unless you're willing to pay. Despite LoL having a much greater selection of heroes, the hero variation during my games was almost always the same.

*Dota generally has much faster loading and a functioning pause system with no option of surrendering. It's so frustrating to finally get a good game, then having the other team conceding.

*Custom maps has a ton of fun games for free if you're up for something different.

*Hero guides. The game has a built in guide system with plenty of custom guides to choose from which will help you with item selection and teach you how to best use your abilities. An incredible tool if you want to learn new heroes.

*A true F2P game, which will never give you an edge beyond cosmetic changes.
 
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