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[Dance Inferno]

I started playing LoL in the closed beta and stuck with it for a few years before moving onto Dota 2 for a few months, and then eventually getting into the HotS alpha and playing that game for ~6 months. I haven't touched MOBAs in over a year though, and I've found HotS to be a really nice way to welcome me back to the fold, especially as a pretty filthy casual. The simplified mechanics and inventive heroes are really engaging, and I can have fun with the game even if I only play for 1-2 hours a week.

I'm curious how other folks around here view these three games, and which you prefer?

 

[CalamityPixel]

Who would subject themselves to that much torture?

 

[Fou-Lu]

I prefer Dota 2 by a huge amount, but have completely given up on the MOBA genre as it makes me feel like shit more often than I actually enjoy it.

 

[Maintenance]

 

[Crankshaft]

I've played all 3 but I only like LOL.. and Heroes of the Storm

 

[fr0st]

Lol
DotA 2 for me

 

[Ghazi]

Dota 2

 

[Mifec]

DOTA 2 and it's not even close. I played League a lot before it but once I moved to DOTA I never had the desire to go back, the added complexity makes DOTA infinitely better for me and way more fun. HOTS was not enjoyable at all for me.

 

[Askherserenity]

Only moba worth the time investment is DotA.

 

[jon bones]

none, i aim to play games that take 5-10 minutes to finish and no one calls me a "nigger faggot"

 

[Sölf]

I barely played LoL, I think maybe a few weeks several years ago? I played DotA for quite some time, back in WC3 and then when DotA 2 released, but I haven't played DotA 2 in 1-2 years now. While I am also not actively playing HotS, I actually like it the most out of the three. The main reason is the fact, that there is more than 1 map. Since the maps vary in objectives, this alone reminds me of the time back when I played Warcraft 3 and there were all these different AoS maps. I still hope some of the more unique mechanics from some of those maps would find their way in a new Moba or some HotS maps (being able to buy mercenarys, build defenses/buildings to spawn new units, choose what units spawn, etc).

 

[Alixey]

HotS is my pick, it's the only MOBA I can tolerate. I got bored of both LoL and Dota, mostly because of the community.

 

[Lyng]

I prefer Dota 2....by a country mile.
That beeing said, due to how limited my time is now I only really play Hots. And I think Heroes of the Storm is a great Moba if you dont have that much time to invest.

 

[Capitan]

Dota 2, but that's the only one i've played a lot of. i think dedicating yourself to more than one would be kinda rough.

 

[Memory]

Hots, mainly because i can play co-op or solo vs bots with my friends and chill. I also love the variations to maps and win conditions they have and the wealth of characters. Competitive mobas with the same maps and outcomes are not for me.

 

[Dr_Boris_Goltz]

I enjoyed League the most out of those three but never got out of simple AI matches. DOTA 2 I tried VERY hard to like (I have like 90 hours played, mostly against humans) but the controls and some of the mechanics felt too old fashioned for me.

I played a bunch of Heroes but eventually fell off because I couldn't get past the art style. I also didn't like the rotating stages.

Now I'm playing Paragon and I absolutely love it.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

None as I don't really enjoy the genre but if I was going to play one it would be HoTS as the community while still not great is much much better than the other two.

 

[PSqueak]

My go to MOBA is LoL, but HotS is pretty good for being infinitely more approachable, beginner friendly and more team oriented rather than individual like DotA and LoL.

 

[Vaev]

Heroes of the Storm, here are some of my reasons:

• Awesome character pool and lore to choose from
• Enjoyable/classic lore
• Different maps!!!
• Objectives objectives objectives
• Good implementation of physics
• To me, graphics look superior
• Entire menu/UI navigation (I'm a sucker for hexagons)
• I can click and drag to move my character with no glitches/lag
• I can press "a" to attack my hovered target, I don't think the others can do that.
• No last hits
• There is Chain Heal <3

 

[Mister Zimbu]

HotS is my favorite, and I never thought I would say that. You can just dive in and immediately be viable and have fun rather than have to spend a ton of time outside the game reading guides.

Being able to pick your hero before you queue rather than being stuck in a role you don't want to play and not having to deal with "mid or i feed" idiots is huge too.

Other things I like is the game has an amazing soundtrack and just oozes style. Community seems to be the most chill (in QM at least) to boot.

 

[bjornhelgoe]

Dota <3

 

[Doffen]

I play Smite on Xbox.

 

[Joco]

League. Some of Dota's mechanics feel like complexity for the sake of complexity, which I wasn't a fan of. On the other hand HotS feels to simplistic. League is a nice middle ground.

 

[CannonFodder52]

Dota2

Neither of the other two come close for me.

 

[Syf]

Dota 2 is the best one for sure. HotS is fun if you want to turn your brain off for a while. League is just eh in the middle.

 

[GoldenDarkness]

I rarely play them but when I do I always go to Heroes of the Storm now, I just find it A LOT easier for bads like me than LOL, DOTA2 and HON. I also really hate having to deal with gear and shops in these games

 

[Big-E]

DOTA 2. Heroes never clicked with me and LOL is not different enough for me to give up DOTA.

 

[Caffeine]

heroes the matches are fast. I dont like the time investment per match in lol and dota it just takes to long to get going.
I should note i dont really play any right now but have tried all 3.

 

[Tagyhag]

From the 3, I definitely prefer Dota 2.

HotS is a fantastic MOBA for people who don't want to pour hundreds or thousands of hours into it, and the interactive maps are a lot of fun, great for beginners, good charm and characters and matches are finished relatively quickly. Unfortunately, if someone wants a super complex and deep experience, the game is limited and eventually you're going to look into something else.

LoL to me is in the middle ground of being easy to pick up and what you can do with your skill level, a lot of champions have fun personalities with abundant skillshots, and I understand not everyone liked the skill tree mastery (If it still has that, it's been a while since I've played) but I thought it added fun versatility to each character. I don't like how champions are deadlocked to their roles and map placement and trying out new things can get you banned. Stuff like that means that your meta never changes. But I do like that it has different maps with different modes.

With DOTA 2, I'm biased because I've played so much of the first DOTA that it's the gameplay that I love the most. I love the art style that Valve has created, and the fact that every single hero is available from the start, meaning skill level is the only difference between you and each person. I love how most heroes can be played completely differently and map placement can vary like crazy. It's encouraged, not looked down upon, to experiment. Thankfully with stuff like custom games, it's insane how many different types of games you can play. I also love that while it has the highest skill ceiling, there are some heroes that are clearly meant to test your APM and accuracy even if you're not a pro. There are things like a lack of early flash and the fact that denying is super important which I really like, but I completely understand why that would be a turn off for others.

You can't go wrong with any of those, but one thing is that with a group of friends, all MOBAS are elevated in terms of fun unless your friends are tryhard assholes.

 

[NeckToChicken]

I mostly stick to HotS lately. I have points I remember fondly about both LoL and Dota 2 (Mostly how Lux played and the Bastion announcer pack respectively), but something about both games was caustic and stressed me out. Attending TI5 with my significant other (who is still an active player) remains a great memory though.

 

[Mandoric]

LoL. I appreciate most of DotA's design cues more in isolation, and definitely prefer League's earlier and more DotA-like champions and items to its later additions and revisions, but what keeps me coming back is LoL's commitment to almost being an isometric fighter with a focus on micro footsies and constantly building on low-risk skirmish wins as opposed to DotA's big moments in between bookkeeping.
For the same reasons, I play quite a bit of Wonderland Wars when I have the chance.

HotS is a party game that happens to use the same input metaphor as the other two. If I had to pick a third moba "big three" after the irrelevance of HoN, I'd almost be more inclined to hand it to Smite.

 

[Lumination]

The main thing I enjoy about LoL is how skillshot oriented it is. You "spam" your skills far more often than in DotA which allows for frequent dynamic play. ^ That comparison to an isometric fighter is spot on. I love the footsies aspect of laning. The low impact, low cooldown aimed abilities really add to that.

DotA was my main game back in the WC3 days but I don't play DotA 2 as much because even though I acknowledge the benefit of turn rates, I've always disliked the feeling. I love how flexible item builds are. You buy items for their unique utility, unlike LoL's mainly stat-based items with lower impact actives.

Not a fan of HotS. I don't like the team leveling mechanic. I don't like everyone having mounts -- it feels like it's too easy to roam the map, but I haven't played enough to make a definitive statement. I think HotS's most interesting mechanic is their skill trees. Super cool amount of customization on the fly.

 

[Syf]

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.

 

[Dahbomb]

DOTA 2 easily. I somewhat respect LOL but HotS is way in last here.

 

[jetsetrez]

HotS. About 4000 games/1500 hours in HotS, about 400 hours in DotA2, and maybe 10 hours in LoL.

The game design, the variety of maps, hero design, the sheer creativity, the lack of archaic mechanics that offer little strategic benefit and generally just pad game length, the 1-to-1 feeling of mechanical control that prioritizes movement over animation delay (and doesn't take 20 minutes of leveling/items to get to that level of action/reaction speed), and the increased focus on group movement and map strategy over standard lanes.

 

[Nikana]

Smite all the way.

 

[jackissocool]

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?

 

[panthapanda]

DotA. LoL didn't feel as technical to me. Could never get used to not denying creeps. And it just felt like too much was going on. I didn't like the skills either. Never tried HotS.

 

[Oshimai]

Played all of them. All the others don't even come close to the amount of fun I've had with Dota 2.

 

[Xenthar]

Smite. I just can't go back to any top down view moba.

 

[Renekton]

League of Legends.

The Koreans like it and they are the demigods of e-sports.

 

[Drayco21]

Love HotS.

Can't stand League or Dota. Not interested in the item system, or the overly toxic community.

 

[Schweinehund]

dota 2 by far and away. I still play it sometimes, albeit mostly arcade mode.

HoTS and League just don't have the same complexity that I crave, each game feels different in dota 2 while league has static lane meta for the most part (atleast when I played, was 2 top, 1 mid, 1 bottom, 1 jungle) and not a whole lot of gameplay elements like runes that spice it up.

I played league for 2 years and dota 2 since beta.

 

[old manatee]

I don't play Dota-2-likes anymore, but if I did I would play DotA 2.

 

[Vanillalite]

DOTA2 is probably objectively the best

I prefer LoL though as it's nice in between slot with DOTA2 being more hardcore and HotS being less.

I play Vainglory more than anything these days purely due to ease of access on mobile.

 

[GregLombardi]

Dota 2 until Valve stopped caring about everything except the competitive scene.

 

[I_D]

HotS is the easiest to get into, so that's the one I've put the most time into of the three in the OP.

SMITE, though, eradicated hundreds of hours of my life. It's so incredibly better than traditional MOBAs that, even today, nothing compares. Paragon is kinda close, but it just feels like SMITE in slow motion. Pretty much all MOBAs except Awesomenauts, actually, feel super sluggish compared to SMITE.

Basically, even though I'm done with it now, play SMITE. Other MOBAs feel like intro-level games in comparison.

 

[Shadybiz]

I've only played them for a few hours each, but as a filthy casual, I preferred HotS. I like the art style, the multiple maps, and the typically shorter game times.

 

[Gurnlei]

Dota 2. LoL feels too basic yet cluttered at the same time for me.

 

[manfestival]

Only play hots at the moment cause I play super casual right now and dota 2 is a huge time sink. Plus hots is easy and dota 2 is not. Started off with lol beta back in like 2009. Stopped playing ages ago and was gonna go back but then I saw they got rid of dominion. So I said no thanks