Debate of the best MOBA game, is it LoL, DOTA 2, or something else? [Battle #3]

[Bahz]

UPDATE:
We'll be postponing the winners announcement to Dec 30th, the winners for Battle #3 will be posted up on ROG Website


The third battle is a new type of battle; it’s a “debate.” Share with us your thoughts on which game title you feel is the true champion of MOBA games. The obvious choices are LoL (League of Legends) and DOTA 2, but is there something else that belongs in this discussion?

This battle begins on December 8th 2016 at 8:00pm (UTC+8) and ends on December 22nd 2016 at 8:00pm (UTC+8).

Don’t just share your choice, tell us why and prove it with your passion for the game! Only one submission for this topic but you may discuss and debate with others to earn additional entries for the grand prize draw.

See prizes and complete rules below:

Biweekly battle topic prizes

1st Prize – ROG Goodies Box (filled with a ton of exclusive ROG swag)
2nd Prize – Mafia 3 Game Code (digital game code)
3rd Prize – Mafia 3 Game Code (digital game code)
4th Prize – Mafia 3 Game Code (digital game code)

Grand Prizes (draw will take place between January 5th 2017 – Janurary 11th 2017)


Rules

• Provide your answer on which game title you think is the best MOBA game and provide your reasoning and facts to back it up. Only entries that meet these criteria will be considered a valid entry.
  
• Limit one entry per person for the biweekly prize draw but no limit for additional entries for the grand prize draw
  
• Additional qualified replies/comments will earn you additional entries for the grand prize draw. All additional qualified replies/comments on this thread or the other 3 battle topic threads will be accepted as additional entries up until January 4th 2017
  
• Qualified replies/comments must have substance and not 1-2 word replies and are helpful in carrying forward the discussion. The eligibility of each reply/comment will be determined by our ROG forum admins.
  
• Winners will be announced on the ROG website 4 days after the conclusion of the battle (December 30th 2016).
  
• 
  

For complete rules for this campaign, please visit the official campaign thread:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?88630-ROG-Forum-Battleground-Community-Campaign-OFFICIAL-T...

[Omnisentient]

danzzal wrote:
One more thing about why Dota 2 is really special and why it's a heavily community driven game.

1. Dota 2 have custom games just like the old days in Warcraft engine that uses World Editor. Dota 2 allows other people to create it's own game using Dota 2 Workshop tools! Currently there are plenty of custom games that are very fun to play, plenty of tower defense games, RPG games and even LoL mod is in Dota 2. For me, it's really good for people who want to take a break from playing Dota 2 without leaving Dota 2 client.


Image taken from Dota2.com

2. Dota 2 also allows other people to create their own cosmetic items and submit them into the game. When accepted, they can get some commission based on the sales. People can even make serious money in the game.

Wow, I wasn't aware of this. This means players can play those other custom maps from Warcraft III again? Provided that someone created it for DOTA 2. I would honestly love to play Hero Siege and it seems it has been recreated there. Another favorite custom map that I would love to see recreated on DOTA 2 would be GOH or Guild of Hyppos. I'm not sure if anyone here has played that but it's pretty addictive. And ah, It's nice of them to actually give money to those who suggest good cosmetic items. I wish something like that was applied on League of Legends too.

[shinz14]

danzzal wrote:
I've played Dota since 2007. There were no other MOBA games that was popular as Dota during that time, so I assume Dota is the first successful MOBA game internationally, especially in China and SEA region. Correct me if I'm wrong. So, for me, Dota 2 is the best MOBA games. There would be few reasons why I choose Dota 2, and they are:

1. The developer

Dota is one of the oldest MOBA games that always receive updates, and improvements since 2003. What really make the game stand out is that the developer listens to the player. They were plenty of developers involved in making this game, but the one that really listen and well known, is known as Ice Frog. What really make the game stand out is that the Dota community is deeply involved in the making of the game. I still remembered some of the heroes are made based on community's suggestion. One of the was Puck. For me, this is the reason why Dota is one of the game that stand strong until now.

2. Game mechanics

This will always be my first reason on why I played Dota 2. Dota 2 have a more complex mechanics. One of them is denying our own creeps to deny our enemy's gold and experience. This complex mechanics really make the game to have a very high degree of freedom to play. What I mean by that, there will be extremely large combinations of heroes and play styles that can win the game. Almost everything can work. This can be seen on competitive matches lately. Currently, out of 110 heroes pools in Captains mode that are possible to be picked, almost 95% of them are picked and this was just about matches from now like Boston Majors, to 8 months ago! This really shows that there are literally countless of possible combinations and all of them can work. They also keep adding and improving the mechanics.

3. Dota 2 community

Most games will have toxic players and I can't deny that. Even Dota 2 is one of them. But, most of the toxic players in Dota 2 are not like in the other games. Most of them are "funny" and made me laugh as Dota 2 community mostly made up of people that really like dank memes. Even some of the toxic behaviour get recorded and turned to be memes and get posted on the internet. I love this community, full of xd, ez game, mid or feed, etc. 😉

I can see this game will continue to grow in the future with the current trend.

DOTA2 grow from the past years, some bug or even player exploited glitch abuse when exposed but developers fix it. We have a huge community to rely in any aspect like combining heroes combos or ideas to become a better player. A huge numbers of players around the globe, play everyday that's a one fact that the competition on each of one of us never end but we still learn and grow as player.

[Omnisentient]

danzzal wrote:
I've played Dota since 2007. There were no other MOBA games that was popular as Dota during that time, so I assume Dota is the first successful MOBA game internationally, especially in China and SEA region. Correct me if I'm wrong. So, for me, Dota 2 is the best MOBA games. There would be few reasons why I choose Dota 2, and they are:

1. The developer

Dota is one of the oldest MOBA games that always receive updates, and improvements since 2003. What really make the game stand out is that the developer listens to the player. They were plenty of developers involved in making this game, but the one that really listen and well known, is known as Ice Frog. What really make the game stand out is that the Dota community is deeply involved in the making of the game. I still remembered some of the heroes are made based on community's suggestion. One of the was Puck. For me, this is the reason why Dota is one of the game that stand strong until now.

2. Game mechanics

This will always be my first reason on why I played Dota 2. Dota 2 have a more complex mechanics. One of them is denying our own creeps to deny our enemy's gold and experience. This complex mechanics really make the game to have a very high degree of freedom to play. What I mean by that, there will be extremely large combinations of heroes and play styles that can win the game. Almost everything can work. This can be seen on competitive matches lately. Currently, out of 110 heroes pools in Captains mode that are possible to be picked, almost 95% of them are picked and this was just about matches from now like Boston Majors, to 8 months ago! This really shows that there are literally countless of possible combinations and all of them can work. They also keep adding and improving the mechanics.

3. Dota 2 community

Most games will have toxic players and I can't deny that. Even Dota 2 is one of them. But, most of the toxic players in Dota 2 are not like in the other games. Most of them are "funny" and made me laugh as Dota 2 community mostly made up of people that really like dank memes. Even some of the toxic behaviour get recorded and turned to be memes and get posted on the internet. I love this community, full of xd, ez game, mid or feed, etc. 😉

I can see this game will continue to grow in the future with the current trend.

Yeah, I don't think there were any other moba around the time DOTA was popular. While the map's idea itself was taken from a custom Starcraft map, DOTA map is the one that became really popular. A developer that listens to their player is a good thing, although it can be a bad thing if they get pressured to do something that ruins the game just because a bunch of people are whining about something. The statistics you mentioned is very interesting, it makes me wonder if there is something similar for League of Legends' champions.

[shinz14]

leopretorius wrote:
There is always this misconception that different MOBA players hate each other, but that's just a small majority of the community. We are after all gamers and thus most likely competitive in-game and in the real world, so we feel that need to compete with others regarding our titles we choose to play and love and that's what keeps our favorite titles on tip of there toes to impress and keeps the development cycle active giving us great games in return.

I've been playing DOTA since ice frog was the one and only king of MOBA. So as the game evolved I evolved with it and for me especially looking back I can't believe how far the game has come. For the amount of things that stayed the same, the things that changes just keeps me coming back for more. The excellent mechanics and balance (there has been issues 😮 ) and the community that just keeps getting bigger and bigger makes all the matches a challenge forcing you to up your game and adapt to a ever changing dynamic. That's why DOTA is king and so many other titles copied that same song and dance to compete with it on a global stage.

that's right! from DOTA 1 evolve to DOTA 2 the competitive had grown to a huge community but for us players, it's normal to be competitive that's why we choose to play and gain exp to become more good player to compete others.

[Omnisentient]

leopretorius wrote:
There is always this misconception that different MOBA players hate each other, but that's just a small majority of the community. We are after all gamers and thus most likely competitive in-game and in the real world, so we feel that need to compete with others regarding our titles we choose to play and love and that's what keeps our favorite titles on tip of there toes to impress and keeps the development cycle active giving us great games in return.

I've been playing DOTA since ice frog was the one and only king of MOBA. So as the game evolved I evolved with it and for me especially looking back I can't believe how far the game has come. For the amount of things that stayed the same, the things that changes just keeps me coming back for more. The excellent mechanics and balance (there has been issues 😮 ) and the community that just keeps getting bigger and bigger makes all the matches a challenge forcing you to up your game and adapt to a ever changing dynamic. That's why DOTA is king and so many other titles copied that same song and dance to compete with it on a global stage.

Yeah, I honestly don't get those people who have to insult others for playing a different moba game. I had an old friend who was being a prick to us because he plays DOTA and we played LOL. It's as if he's just upset that we're not playing with him on his favorite game. I think people have the right to choose whatever title they feel like. Is Ice Frog no longer working on DOTA 2? I'm not really updated with what's going on there. I stopped playing DOTA during the time the phoenix was released, and I've been avoiding DOTA 2 for a long time now because I don't want to get addicted to it.

[ygalion]

nikiking wrote:
Smite is my favourite moba and i have played LoL Dota2 and heroes of the storm.I like it so much cuz im not a huge fan of mobas and smite is the moba for ppl who dont like mobas.

Its poor game most for those who dont like mobas but you can play heroes of the storm, but be prapared, that game is really easy but most of players are bad. But smite most biggest fun are heroes and reall fantasy mithology.

[levluc]

Matter of taste. Dota 2 is a bit harder than LoL since it has more mechanics (turn rate, denying, runes, etc) and I felt like the heroes were more balanced than the champions in LoL, but LoL was much easier for me to get into.
Both are very hardcore games with a steep learning curve, but LoL seems a bit more casual than Dota 2. Dota 2 on the other hand is much more rewarding and actually managed to keep my interest for two years now, while I got bored by LoL after 6 months.
But ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

I would play both of them but if i have to Decide i have to take Dota

[shinz14]

levluc wrote:
Matter of taste. Dota 2 is a bit harder than LoL since it has more mechanics (turn rate, denying, runes, etc) and I felt like the heroes were more balanced than the champions in LoL, but LoL was much easier for me to get into.
Both are very hardcore games with a steep learning curve, but LoL seems a bit more casual than Dota 2. Dota 2 on the other hand is much more rewarding and actually managed to keep my interest for two years now, while I got bored by LoL after 6 months.
But ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

I would play both of them but if i have to Decide i have to take Dota

yeah DOTA2 is much more complicated because of many aspects even positioning is a critical part like timing. Yet still we love how DOTA2 works!

[Omnisentient]

levluc wrote:
Matter of taste. Dota 2 is a bit harder than LoL since it has more mechanics (turn rate, denying, runes, etc) and I felt like the heroes were more balanced than the champions in LoL, but LoL was much easier for me to get into.
Both are very hardcore games with a steep learning curve, but LoL seems a bit more casual than Dota 2. Dota 2 on the other hand is much more rewarding and actually managed to keep my interest for two years now, while I got bored by LoL after 6 months.
But ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

I would play both of them but if i have to Decide i have to take Dota

I very much agree with this. It seems that League of Legends intentionally wanted their game to have faster matches, and for it to be easily learned by anyone. While DOTA requires a lot of knowledge and practice. I don't believe that a "harder" a game is the better it is. Sometimes that's a bad thing. So at the end of the day, it's really up to your personal preference, if you want a challenging game or if you want a more relaxing game.

[Yuten]

Dota 2. Though my heart is begging me to actually say:"DOTA 2 EZ GGWP!!!"

Well let's breakdown what "best" means:
1) Overall enjoyment
2) Game design
3)Upkeep and Improvement
4)Visuals (Graphics)
5)Community and how it's controlled

I'm basing my analysis on these statistics supported by MY OWN thoughts.

I have sampled quite a lot of MOBA's but stuck with Dota 2 because it gave me a much better experience and enjoyment.

1) Being a warcraft all stars player Dota 2 has come a LONG way from it ancestor.
I enjoyed All stars because it was, at a stage, the only one of its kind and became very skilled at it. After sampling Dota 2 and various other MOBA games, my heart still stuck to my "1st love" simply because Valve took an amazing game... and made it better.
The graphics are better, mechanics are smoother and the community is larger... which means less waiting for matches and more playing.

2) The design of the game is flawless. There are very few bugs in the game and if one gets spotted, Valve quickly eradicates it to make the game fair. The fact that you have a hero that has no equal in the game makes it much more dynamic which contributes to anti picking (Making it way more competitive and sensitive).
There is NO hero that cannot be countered because of the vast spells and items each hero has and can gain respectively. In LoL, 90% of all spells are AOE and Skill shots (Target Point) which I REALLY enjoy but it becomes redundant when every player has the option for a "flash" and can use it at any given time, Dota 2 wins in this sense and ironically makes hero positioning that much more valuable. There is so much more I could talk about with the mechanics of Dota 2 but eventually people are gonna get bored of all the reading. One thing I particularly love about Dota 2 is that if you are a newbee, or if you are part of the Clan "Newbee", you both have an exact 50% chance of winning. I don't like the way a player gets better stats that helps in game just because you've played longer than others... Dota 2 take real skill and skill only to be good in the game, not relying on a "+2% attack speed with every hero because your player level is 9". All of the above I believe is better than any other Moba.

3)There are a lot of Moba''s but Dota definitely has the most updates. Sometimes annoying but necessary. When an update arrives it's usually visual items and alterations with hero skills and in game shop items. The alterations are VERY sensitively applied if Valve feel a hero/item is a bit too week/powerful and 90% of the time, the community agrees with the updates.
The visual items (sets) that come with the update are always gorgeous and most are affordable. What really caught me here is that there are THOUSANDS of items that are player created, giving people who have an artistic side a chance to grow their skill and make some money on the side. I have never been disconnected in Dota 2 due to server maintenance. If there is some to be done, you can continue your game and, once it's done, wait a very short while until the server is up and running again. One thing that I can say that I do NOT like about Dota 2 is that it takes a VERY long time to release new heroes, but with all my previous points I can wait :D.

4) Graphics, well I'll just summarize this one:
Best graphics in a MOBA with ratio to its visual theme (Artwork is closest to the aimed style).
Has the best GUI and Home screen vs other MOBAs.
Players can customize GUI/HUD, Map Theme, Heroes, Map Weather.
New to Dota 2 which I have yet to test is Dota VR which I expect will be amazing.

5) The Dota 2 community is full of all types of players like any MOBA. My main point in this section is to highlight that Dota 2 was only released in 2013, which makes it 3 years old, and it already has a much bigger player database than any other MOBA (including LoL which was released in 2009 making it 7 years old) If it wasn't the best MOBA, why are so many people playing it? xD
There are Bans and Mutes and AFK bans and so forth. Dota 2 has a control system that cannot really be abused. There are Mutes and Bans and etc... but it will only take effect if a pattern occurs with a player so, don't swear or feed too much cuz you'll get restricted :). If you feel you have been restricted for any reason, you can contact steam support and they will help you with how they feel is fair.

Overall Dota 2 is just an amazing game. I play every single day and I do so because it is extremely fun, I'm addicted to its competition, want to learn more about it and get better at it and meet new people from it.

I think many other people will agree with me after reading my essay xD.

Thank you for reading and all comments welcome within reason.