• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

If you have played the three main MOBAs (LoL, Dota 2, HotS), which do you prefer?

I prefer League of the three. I like the shrub mechanic and assortment of heroes more than DotA's. Haven't seriously played any MOBA in years, though...

But is HotS really one of the "big three"?
 
It used to be Dota, but now HotS is the only one I can even stomach anymore. I'm really fed up with all the extra layers of complexity Dota adds inbetween the actual teamfights, whereas HotS strips a lot of that out. Don't get me started on how much I dislike League.

It's for that same reason that my current favorite "MOBA" is Battlerite.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
NnoGhN1.gif


I like the dotos but I dont' play anymore
 

Bootsy

Member
Dota 2 though I've only played a few hours of the other two.

The reason I was put off of the other two so quickly is because they lock gameplay features (heroes and buffs in lol) behind a paywall (or grind).
 

D3VI0US

Member
LoL, best combination of art, characters, and skins IMO. I will say HotS was interesting with the different levels but I didn't want learn a whole new set of champs and Blizzard's characters are lame is you're not a huge fan of their titles.
 

OmegaX06

Member
Smite here. It fixed the two biggest issues I had with the other games (long match times and constantly have to control the camera).
 
Played a shit ton of Wc3 dota, then LoL/HoN when they were both in closed beta, then went HoN, Dota 2 after that. 1k+ hours in each of those games except LoL where it's probably around 200 or less. I have way less of a competitive drive now and I can't really stand dota 2's long games and shitty attitudes anymore. I love HoTS very much, it's the casual care-free moba that LoL tried to be (but failed imo, LoL is still very hardcore but in a different way) that I was looking for.

DOTA 2 easily

I enjoyed what I played of league but I dont want to deal with runes/masteries and having heroes locked out.

It baffles me that runes are still a thing in LoL. It's such a dumb free currency sink just to be on par with everyone else and very very few champ actually leverage the flexibility of runes. I also remember a time where you couldn't even do a role (jungler) without a set of armor runes, but I'm sure they tweaked that since I played.
 

mlclmtckr

Banned
I only like LoL (and even then not that much but still.)

DOTA is definitely the superior game but it's ass-ugly.

HotS is too simplistic.
 

bbd23

Member
DOTA 2 easily

I enjoyed what I played of league but I dont want to deal with runes/masteries and having heroes locked out.
 

Arkeband

Banned
HotS removes the worst part of MOBAs - match length and emotional investment. Seriously, these games turn even the nicest people into total monsters and a single game can ruin your evening.

DotA2 is mechanically superior though.

LoL gates you out of too much stuff and it also looks like poopoo kaka.
 

jetsetrez

Member
Also I'm not sure HotS is in the "big 3." Smite and HotS each had events over the weekend and Smite consistently had 10k+ more viewers than HotS.

Yeah HotS is definitely #4 after SMITE. Of the ones OP mentioned, HotS is for sure my favorite.

I most like Paragon, which I think is probably a distant #5?
Maybe in eSports viewership (which is debatable, HotS and Smite regularly alternate in terms of which as more eSports viewers). But I'm sure HotS has a larger player base. Just look at the active communities on reddit; HotS almost always has double Smite's, and has 50% more subs despite being a subreddit for many fewer years. I definitely think Smite deserves to be in the same conversation though. I think the "big 4" is more accurate for the genre, with HotS and Smite basically being tied in the distant 3rd spot.
 

Trace

Banned
LoL > Dota 2 > HotS for me.

I would like Dota 2 more but some of the design decisions aren't my cup of tea and I think the community is worse than LoLs. HotS is a snooze fest.
 

sibarraz

Banned
Played 700 hours of Dota 2, 200-300 of Hots and 50 or less of lol

I played Dota 4 years ago when I have more free time before graduating University, I really loved how intense the game is, plus graphically the game was/is still really gorgeous. Killing creeps and heroes felt great and sometimes the matches felt super epic. Sadly, the community was ultra toxic and after taking a 1-2 year hiatus I couldn't return to the game, since I was lacking training and I was matched against guys who were at better shape or plain idiots. The international season is fun with the compendium.

Hots feels super casual, this is great and bad at the same time, at least here I can't stop playing from a while, return, and not feel that out of place, Blizzard production is top tier, and is fun to play a wide variety of maps. In the other hand, when one player dissapears is pretty much gg, at a casual level this game requires way more teamwork than dota or lol, since is impossible to win a match with one player carrying the rest of the team on the same magnitude than other mobas. Also the game lacks a good penalty system.

I havent played that much lol but I really love how doesn't require a good pc to run well, the game has a good balance of casual and competitive, and it has the advantage that more friends are playing it. I hate the client and since it so popular must have the worst childrens playing it.

At this point I think that I will stick with Hots, I don't have that much time to play and 2.0 seems great for me since I love to open loot crates, but in the end I think that this kind of games live and die in if you have friends that will play with you or not, Dota 2 was my favorite game of the 3, but by the time that I took and hiatus, and returning to the game without friends the game died for me.
 

Marceles

Member
Even though people always talk about torture or MOBAs having a toxic community, I've always wanted to learn to play at least one of these at a decent level. I think it's cool that I can watch a Dota tournament in real time and in-game
 

Mandoric

Banned
Dota 2 though I've only played a few hours of the other two.

The reason I was put off of the other two so quickly is because they lock gameplay features (heroes and buffs in lol) behind a paywall (or grind).

The LoL champion unlock system is kind of an interesting example because, honestly, the second-order design decisions it enforces are by far worse than the P2W argument normally used against it. Those wide fields of Shotoclones DO end up functionally equivalent, you really don't need to own the Ken if you have the Ryu, but precisely because of that truly unique abilities are severely restricted and hard counters have to be nerfed into line.
 

Dekutulla

Member
Haven't played HotS, but between League and DOTA2 I definitely prefer League. I can accept that I'm bad in League, but DOTA actively made me feel like a stupid idiot just from trying to play the game, so...yeah. At least in League I know what I'm doing.

This was back when DOTA 2 was in beta and had no tutorial, though. Maybe it's gotten less obtuse since then.
 
Dawngate.



Let me mourn in peace.

edit: regularly play League though because it's objectively the best out of the three main ones (which are actually LoL, DotA and Smite btw, HotS is awful).

Yes. Objectively.
Come at me. >:[
 

thenameDS

Member
Definitely LoL for me. But I had to give up on these games, they just become too time-consuming and stole hours of my life back in the day.
 

Sojiro

Member
I started with original DotA, went to HoN (which I enjoyed for a long while), and eventually went to HotS, and never plan to leave. I just like the style of the game more than going back to "normal" mobas. I really enjoy HotS' game lengths being much shorter, the lore/characters from blizzard's IPs, and the multitude of maps that offer objectives which force frequent team fighting.
 
HOTS because I don't have the patience for LoL or Dota 2

Matches in HOTS are usually half as long and I don't waste time purchasing items in the shop.
 

zombieshavebrains

I have not used cocaine
Dota 2 is my game of forever because I hate fun.

I play hots every once in a while with friends to have fun. I don't care about the game and don't really like it, but that's why I can enjoy it. Hang out with friends and not take it too serious.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Of what I've played, Dota 2, although I've got more than a decade of DotA knowledge in the tank so I'll probably always be more at ease with it. Smite is interesting but the lack of control just breaks it for me, and HOTS is just too simplistic to tickle my fancy.

I would agree Smite is a little more popular than HOTS, though. League obviously is the biggest with Dota 2 behind it.

I started with original DotA, went to HoN (which I enjoyed for a long while), and eventually went to HotS, and never plan to leave. I just like the style of the game more than going back to "normal" mobas. I really enjoy HotS' game lengths being much shorter, the lore/characters from blizzard's IPs, and the multitude of maps that offer objectives which force frequent team fighting.

Is HoN still around? Or is it in the action RTS/MOBA dustbin at this point with Demigod and the like?
 
Of what I've played, Dota 2, although I've got more than a decade of DotA knowledge in the tank so I'll probably always be more at ease with it. Smite is interesting but the lack of control just breaks it for me, and HOTS is just too simplistic to tickle my fancy.

I would agree Smite is a little more popular than HOTS, though. League obviously is the biggest with Dota 2 behind it.



Is HoN still around? Or is it in the action RTS/MOBA dustbin at this point with Demigod and the like?

Still alive in thailand. Zombie rumblings in other regions. I wish I could play HoN back at it's peak. Puppetmaster, Scout, Electrician, Midas, Silhouette. God were HoN heroes fun as fuck.
 

TheBowen

Sat alone in a boggy marsh
Dota


Having every hero availible from the start makes it way better then league. Didnt play much of HOTS but i just hated how it felt
 

Sojiro

Member
Of what I've played, Dota 2, although I've got more than a decade of DotA knowledge in the tank so I'll probably always be more at ease with it. Smite is interesting but the lack of control just breaks it for me, and HOTS is just too simplistic to tickle my fancy.

I would agree Smite is a little more popular than HOTS, though. League obviously is the biggest with Dota 2 behind it.



Is HoN still around? Or is it in the action RTS/MOBA dustbin at this point with Demigod and the like?

Last I checked, it was all but dead, the player count was around 15k ish (been a while since i've checked mind you), but it seems like they still release heroes for it, /shrug. Toward the end there, it always seemed like the new hero they released was OP as hell (when it cost the most money to get lol) before being tuned down. Its been a long while since i've played the game though, got into the HotS alpha, and though it was a shitstorm at multiple stages of the game, I stuck with it and prefer it to any other now.
 
I played a LOT of LOL and loved it. But not playing it and coming back is hell. Setting runes and shit sucks. I hated it. Learning new characters was a process. It's not a BAD choice, but was bad for me. I had less time to engage with it.

Then came HOTS. I play it regularly and come back for new characters because it's relatively easy to jump back in to. Can't fault it for that. Maps are interesting and friends are invested.

Never really got in with DOTA2 though.

I love HOTS. Think its dope as hell.
 

Renmyra

Member
Dota 2 by far. Hots is fun and simple to get into, but it's way too team dependent for me. Lol's runes and shit can go fuck itself. I've got like 2000 hours+ in that game and I still hate its restrictive F2P shit.

Slightly biased since I've played Dota since 2005. Only got into Hots/Lol because of friends and stayed a bit because I wanted to get a good rank. Went a lot faster in Hots. The Lol grind from Silver is real.
 
HotS is the most fun. LoL is a mess and I think it's best not to look directly at it. Dota2 is possibly the single most boring game I've ever played.

Battlerite is the best, that game is the goat.

Edit: I'd play Smite over those three too.
 

E-flux

Member
Dawngate.



Let me mourn in peace.

edit: regularly play League though because it's objectively the best out of the three main ones (which are actually LoL, DotA and Smite btw, HotS is awful).

Yes. Objectively.
Come at me. >:[

Yes, runes and locked characters are objectively better, or how they used to push out characters every month or so who were all made basically from the same template.but stronger. And i think the champion pick rates reflect that fact, in League we barely see half of the characters picked while in dota most of the characters get picked, only a handful are left unpicked.

Edit:

I prefer Dota by a wige margin from the three of those, used to play competitively on lower level tournaments and leagues.
 

Sojiro

Member
Still alive in thailand. Zombie rumblings in other regions. I wish I could play HoN back at it's peak. Puppetmaster, Scout, Electrician, Midas, Silhouette. God were HoN heroes fun as fuck.

Yes, yes and yes! Especially Midas, really cool concept and character which I really enjoyed. But FUCK SCOUTS! :p Nah scout could be good, but most people never got him to that point and he was a big detriment to the team. I would also add a few of my other fave Heroes: Gravekeeper, Guantlet, Nomad (especially Nomad!), Aluna, and Dampeer. I will say, HoN's earlier heroes (can't vouch for the newer ones since i've left) were really awesome imo, and I really dug most of their designs.
 
HotS, feels more accessible. I got really tired of LoL/Dota because of the match lengths and dogma.

I don't like all the HotS arenas, but there is enough variety to keep me engaged.
 

ryechu

Member
I played Dota 2 and LoL extensively, thousands of hours each. I played hots for a weekend. I prefer Dota 2. I feel more agency in my decisions and actions in Dota 2 so I get bored of it more slowly.
 
Top Bottom