DeadLock: LoL vs. DOTA, Which Game is Better?

MOBAs multiplayer online battle arena games three lanes ten players one big game of capture the castle from the genres humble beginnings back in 1998 as a mod for Starcraft it has exploded in the past six years spawning a billion-dollar business and an avid eSports following where millions of dollars are given away in cash and prizes every year and of these games to reign supreme League of Legends and dota each one has its own rabid fan base eager to prove that their game is the superior one but today we're putting the definitive answer on the books three lanes two games one winner ladies and gentlemen of the Internet welcome to deadlock prepare to get rekt it's about to get darude-sandstorm come mortal witness your Divine Yoda is the more specifically DOTA allstars is the game that launched the genre it started everything to begin with dota is a more balanced fairer game we guess things like runes and masteries and summoner spells like you do stat increases that you may buy and equip outside of the individual matches so those buffs are attached to your player profile meaning that any match you play any character you choose may have an advantage even before a match begins dota always starts on an equal playing field once you actually start playing dota is such a dynamic experience they may only ever be three lanes or the pass through them are endless that may be very poetic but there are more items in DotA and more of them interact in interesting ways a large number of items in lol offer you stat upgrades that's lame the other items are much more active and can do anything from turning invisible to shooting out a giant Nova of ice sure but they're sure some of these things are accounted for in the runes and masteries of League but having to farm the gold to get the item offers another layer of nuance to the dota experience and speaking of nuance let me tell you about denying as soon as your allied creeps or minions I suppose if he ran lol ur fall below 50% health you can attack them if you managed to last hit your own creep you will deny your opponent the golden a large portion experienced that opponent would have received same thing with powers and even allied heroes in some specific cases and the jungle in between lanes leagues jungle is used for buffs and ganks and dota the jungle can be manipulated and a variety of ways to accelerate experience and gold farming building your heroes level early on or even just hide around the detailed individual jungle elements detailed design elements open the door to such a great level of strategy something that lol just doesn't have seriously do this this is a debate that's two sides like dota now or League o double rainbow what does it mean oh sorry is it my turn now - say that dota is the granddaddy of the genre well when was the last time your granddaddy was up on the latest and greatest that technology has to offer [ __ ] the lot and I mean a lot about the depth of strategy in DotA and that's great it's important to have a deep rich game win let's face it at the end of the day it's the same three lanes jungle same five on five action every single time it needs to be complicated to keep it interesting Lal on the other hand has choice variety before you even get to playing you have the option of trying any of four major Maps while in DotA you're stuck with five be five in Lal you actually have the option of 3v3 as well as an open round arena and a single lane free-for-all choice means that players can start out in whatever environment they feel most comfortable in and move to others over time and different scenarios hone different skills so you have the potential to become a much more well-rounded player supporting hero and single in combat tank and 3v3 and a damaged heavy or DPS hero in 5v5 whatever combination of those you choose it's not just about teaching yourself the strengths of each hero it's also about continually being aware of context to become the strongest all-around player sure so there are a couple extra maps to choose from but it's not all about choice it's also about quality those other maps better than the original 5v5 dota classic are they just add-ons that create more stuff to do since your main game isn't as good also dota has the ability to create custom match lobbies where game parameters are adjustable it might only be one map it doesn't mean you can't customize have I mentioned that wall also Trump's dota when it comes to champions to choose from heroes champion heroes champions gods shutoffs might look at the DOTA heroes there so unmemorable you got guys with names like lion litt and warlock the creative department really stretched themselves there didn't they and what about the designs themselves you've got a a spider nature girl with magic nature girl with bow cold girl monsters honestly none of these designs stand out they're just kind of bland but just scroll through Lal roster and without knowing anything about the champions you got a mummy kid lilo and Stitch Sam Fisher evil scarecrow and Sonic the Hedgehog and girl with a flaming teddy bear these guys are guys with personality and because the game is a little more tongue-in-cheek you can have more flexibility with pop-culture references and goofy skins like gentlemen cho'gath or brolof but don't have serious characters for a serious game and it respects its lore and its fans enough to take itself seriously and not dumb its characters down dota also leaves the door open for community members to model and create their own items which means that players have a level of control that lol can't match yeah why does that even matter great your characters are super rich detailed realistic but at the end of the day you're zoomed out on the battlefield and your epic character looks like a cartoony GI Joe swinging his sword every 1.2 seconds it's goofy I'm sorry if dota had a low angled camera in the third person like smite does hey shut up smite all that rich detail would be awesome to have but as it stands the seriousness of the characters and the design just don't match the aesthetics of the game lul strikes a better balance of matching the tone to the visual and gameplay style it realizes that the graphics aren't the greatest that the perspective is zoomed out and that the battles aren't all that realistic so a more cartoonish sensibility just makes sense that is where you're wrong though the detail is noticed and appreciated notice business model is based on them not to mention the absolutely gorgeous particle effects on the characters abilities it's like watching a Hollywood production versus a Saturday morning cartoon fine let's say if you prefer lol's aesthetic and I kind of feel like I need a shower just saying that that doesn't make them good a pretty game still has to be playable and leaves heroes sorry champions just aren't as well bound for use as part of a competitive lineup this year during the International dota 2 championships out of 104 or 105 heroes only five of them were not picked or been in other games they're a much smaller pool of viable care sure but not everyone is there to play competitively I don't hate people for using Meta Knight and brawl because rarely am i playing with people who are so good that they know how to break the game fair enough but even as a casual player you would hate it if your favorite character wasn't available right like if you prefer as your suit samus and she's not able to be selected absolutely that's League of Legends no it's not you can play as anyone yeah on the random week the champion rotation decides to promote that character in between yet another round of Garen ash and Annie you only get 10 free champions every week sorry but that just sucks in DotA all the heroes are free all the time you say sucks I say encourages you to break out of your comfort zone and try new characters there are over 100 after all and humans have a psychological tendency to stick with what they know in a lecture hall filled with hundreds of seats you sit in the same one every day despite being able to choose any one you want it because people are afraid of change law forces you to try the whole roster don't try to use your science on me mad pat if I'm training yet good with a specific character I need to be able to play with that character not hope that the wheel of free champions over at riot lands on my ear got that well if you like the character so much why don't you marry it Sally you're gonna say no that's not what I was gonna say at all I was gonna say why don't you buy it I shouldn't have to buy it and in the interest of experimenting Lal has a practice mode where I can suck at nunu all day long without feeling the guilt of my team calling me a feeder plus League of Legends games have a lower death penalty so if I'm still rocky with a character I'm just having a tough game I'm not setting my team back quite as much but if I was playing dota my inaptitude would just hurt my team all the more to your first point dota has a practice mode which a player can not only play against bots but can control the difficulty of all the bots finally don't allows you to queue with a coach who can see what you're saying draw things on the map ping different areas of your HUD and point out areas you're missing dota may have a harsher more rage-inducing learning curve it also offers more tools to help the newbie learn the ropes what if I just want to play the game you're saying that I need to hire a coach to even learn the basics away Lowell is way more friendly to casual players that's probably why it has so many more active monthly users ah what's that number again mm oh wait I remember now it's a 32 million year five but if you're hardcore there is room for that too in League of Legends League of Legends and dota they're both TV sports and while all may have more players competitive dota is way more popular in the eSports scene I disagree all tournaments in 2013 are hosted at international venues that hold just as many if not more in person viewers and garnered a massive online following I'm not talking about just viewership for international participation matpat I'm talking about the universal language love cash prize Ola the quiche I grant you the lol tournament prizes have been climbing in recent years but the 2014 prize pool for DotA's World Championships climbed to almost 11 million don't forget though that dota is basically kicked starting that entire prize pool by offering players in-game incentives like skin and sound effects for donating to the prize it's no wonder the pot is so massive and besides the size of the prize pool says nothing about which game is best being the best has to do with what the game to offer the mechanics and the player experience okay then let's finish this up with the player experience if you're a serious fighting game fan you play Street Fighter if you like MOBAs you play DotA dota knows what it is the original and its programmers have dedicated themselves to providing the pinnacle of the MOBA experience the characters are balanced and everyone is accessible right from the beginning the gameplay is nuanced and deep the map is dynamic and team cooperation is essential Lal may be more mainstream now but there's a reason dota has been going strong for so many years to sum it up at their core MOBAs are team based strategy games and by that definition dota offers the richest most complex most rewarding once you've conquered the learning curve MOBA experience that may be true but where does that leave the average player complexity doesn't make a good game it just makes it harder to play not everyone has the hundreds of hours it takes to really master the platform so yes if you're competitive maybe dota is the better choice but if you're not looking to compete for the multi-million dollar prizes Lal is clearly the better option it gets you up to speed quickly and encourages you to experiment with new maps new champions new items new gameplay modes it finds the right balance between deep strategy and forgiving gameplay and wraps it all in a bright fun visual style that doesn't take itself too seriously you say that dota offers the richest MOBA experience but MOBA is short for multiplayer online battle arena that doesn't just mean three lanes and 5v5 matches dota may offer the best of those but when it comes to which is the better game I prefer the one that will keep me occupied when I get bored with laning to me the best game is the one where the greatest number of players can have the best experience and that clearly is law despite is good - shut up sweet ladies and gentlemen of the Internet we have reached deadlock now the decision is in your hands who had a gg and who got ganked click on the person you think argued it fast or click the links in the description to cast your vote to settle this debate once and for all

Channel: The Game Theorists

Views: 3,739,662

Keywords: League Of Legends (Video Game), Defense Of The Ancients (Video Game Mod), Real-time Strategy (Media Genre), LoL, Riot Games (Video Game Developer), esports, League, MOBA, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (Video Game Genre), Dota 2 (Video Game), DOTA, DOTA 2, Games (TV Genre), Video Game (Industry), Debate (Quotation Subject), DeadLock, Game Theory, Game Theorists, MatPat, MatPat13, E-sports, Deadlock (Musical Group)

Id: 3OROWtr4F8E

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 14 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

I loved how they keep mixing DotA and Dota 2 graphics. So cringe.

[u/Skwahzee]

I'm a big fan of MatPat's videos, and he seems like a really smart dude. I'm genuinely surprised by how weak his arguments were and how much backpedaling he did.

I mean, he talks about how you can play everyone and it's great, and then how you can't but it's still great. It reminds me a lot of the debate I was in a few weeks ago (I'll be posting about it tomorrow or the next day, my last final is tomorrow!).

The guy arguing for Dota, whom I've never seen before, had a LOT of great points. Very solid statistics and some fantastic arguments. MatPat, however, kept on brushing over what he said and then saying that his thing was better with a "just trust me" attitude. The only solidity in his entire debate was the McDonald's argument (shortly after saying that having a higher jackpot doesn't make it a better game (do numbers matter or don't they, Matt?).

One of the things that really ticked me off was when he gave this really shitty person-to-person argument about how people will just pick the same thing over and over. You can't make that assumption for a group of millions of players. The only thing stopping a player from doing that in League is the pay/grind wall.

Not to mention how he spoke so objectively about Dota's hero design in comparison to League without even touching on, what most people agree with, the idea that part of a hero's personality and memorability is in their moveset. He said "oh yeah, a Spider... but LOOK A MUMMY KID!!" but that could easily be rephrased into "a Spider who can summon a bunch of smaller spiders to scout around the map, get vision, gang up on enemies or towers and (depending on how good your micromanagement is) take an alternate path to you and block escapes from fleeing enemies. But LOOK! A MUMMY KID WITH... a gap closer, a few AoE damage spells and an AoE nuke/disable."

Most of his argument was entirely opinion and dancing around calling League a casual game while the Dota guy brought up more static points like competitive aspects, overall possibilities ingame along with the actual STRATEGICDIVERSITY^TM we love in this game.

[u/BaldurXD]

I just love Sohinki. He's a true brother and he brought up all the right arguments. I don't blame MatPat for representing LoP but I think the promise he made in the beginning of the video with how they will find out who the real winner is should have been satisfied (?) but in the end the last LoP argument was just an excuse and the vote will surely be won by the LoP playerbase. PS: Sorry for that weird sentence. I can't english.

[u/HauntedTophat]

LOL has choice

Hahahahaha

[u/[deleted]]

I can't tell if this is a joke or not.

He puts such confidence behind everything he says.

[u/Kazhw]

what a bad video ... dota guy gives way more valid arguments.

no mention on replays...

number of player month on dota is ~11M dota2.com

edit: i like the part they put wc3 models in the middle of the video ... to compare them with artwork of LoL

edit2: and the one on the graphic... on DotA1 ohh LoL has better graphic ... on dota2 graphics doesnt matter...

[u/[deleted]]

"its about the player experience not money", so why were you talking about player numbers then? XD

[u/[deleted]]

As someone pointed out in youtube comments, it's clear that MatPat doesn't actually play LoL.

This is a video made to get people to talk a lot in the comments. They intentionally made it full of shit. Clickbait

[u/0DST]

So I made 1 comment, and then these idiots reply to me. Holy crap, how can someone honestly think like this?