I'm writing this blog(my first ever) mainly to talk about LoL and why I like DotA more. It's something that I've wanted to get off my chest for a while now but something I've never found a proper place to vent off so I settled with a Blog.

Firstly, I would like to clarify that I don't hate LoL in and of itself, I don't even dislike it. I simply just like DotA more. I don't think DotA and LoL should be compared against each other in a debate on which is better. It's apples and oranges, they're different enough from each other that most comparisons would fall under personal tastes. To hate LoL merely for existing and being different from DotA is like hating apples simply because they aren't oranges, silly and nonsensical(not to say that there aren't valid reasons to hate LoL or oranges).

Personally, I'm glad LoL exists, IMO its existence is good for the Action-RTS genre(I like this term more than MOBA for many reasons but mainly because it's acronym is ARTS which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside). LoL, whether it likes it or not, whether we like it or not, is introducing A-RTS to players who probably never even heard of the genre, players who might become interested enough to search for more games of the same genre. Variety is good. Just as it is good that we have more than one FPS game; it's good that not all board games are chess; it's good that not all balls are baseballs.

So I've gone to length about why I don't hate it nor dislike it outright, so why don't I like it as much as DotA? Well first I'll have to share with you guys how I was introduced to DotA in the first place and how I grew into it and eventually my experience with LoL.

(Disclaimer: The following narrative may be dramaticized for poetic effect.)

It started in my first year in college. My classmates went to play DotA, needed one more player, and invited me to join so they could play their LAN game. I've played Warcraft 3 before, so I knew the basic controls at least. It was fun, I apparently didn't suck too badly at it, and the next time they played they invited me again. Before I knew it I've began to search for guides, and eventually became interested enough to actually learn more of the mechanics of the game, reading changelogs through and through. In a few weeks, barely even a month, and not even a day in game time, I became on par with my friends.

Then the summers came. No college meant no collegemates to LAN with. The first was okay, I had a few other games I've been meaning to finish anyway, but the next, I began to miss it. Broke my 3rd rule of gaming, no online play(lets face it, a lot of internet people are jerks you wouldn't want to talk with much less play with). BNet sucked! So now what? Lo and behold, DotA platforms. They still sucked but I found one that didn't suck as much. But rules are made for a reason, and by breaking that rule I entered hell.

Leavers, disconnects, lags, insults when I sucked, insults when they sucked, insults when we were doing well; all flowed through the internet like a raging river, a flash flood of shit. But I soldiered on, for the game that I had grown to love, though I did not know it yet. It was only temporary, I told myself. After all, when summer ended I got to play with my friends again. But all good things must come to an end. College was a priority and the third year of it was most brutal. Soon, summer would not be a time to play DotA online, it became the only time to play DotA at all. My torment, self inflicted as it were, would continue.

Then, I stumbled upon League of Legends. Anti-leaver systems, minimal lags, a reconnect feature, for FREE! It was like a choir of angels had descended to bring a piece of heaven just for me. Oh, it was fun at first. A whole slew of new characters to pick from, new items, a whole new game to learn! But the more I played the more I realized it was not for me.

DotA was a hellish landscape but it was a vast and varied one with spires that touched the sky. LoL was a meadow with small hills and few valleys. Online DotA was where imps stomped on your toes, pulled your hair, and wore you down. But before I had left, I knew there were also dragons to slay. I had seen them hovering high above the sky, challenging me, egging me forward. LoL had no dragons, nor could it promise one. While LoL may not have the steep difficulty curve of DotA, it also didn't have the same depth.

Soon, I could no longer see what LoL had to offer but rather only what it could not give. LoL will never have those niche heroes(or champions in LoL's case) which you'd want play once a blue moon, it's "anti-fun" policy sees to that. It would never have it's equivalent to Invoker, or Meepo, or Techies. Heck, it won't even have much in summon heroes; no Chen, no Enigma, no Furrion. It didn't have trees to juke with or cut down to make a new path. I had barely strayed from LoL's recommended item list, where as DotA had a slew of situational items could choose from, that I had to choose wisely from.

But worse of all, no one would be able to share my A-RTS experience through LoL. When I was introduced to DotA, my playmates were my friends, most of whom had already been playing DotA for years. If they had been playing LoL instead, I'm not sure I'd have been invited at all. If they had been playing LoL for years, you see, they'd be Level 30 with a full set of tier 3 runes, with all their mysteries learned, and likely have a few champions unlocked that they have mastered(anyone that say these don't matter is lying. Almost 15 armor penetration is not nothing). I, a complete newbie, would not simply be outclassed by experience but also by my summoner's low level, no runes, only a mastery, and only a handful of summoner spells. I would be a liability, not worth the player slot. I'd learned enough about DotA to be on par with my friends with less than 24 hour's game time. I cannot say I would have leveled up to 30 with LoL on a similar time frame, even if I had payed for xp and ip boosters.

I had left LoL on these sad terms but I had returned to DotA with renewed vigor. My eyes set high to dragons I may never reach but ones that reminded me that there was more see, more to fight, more to learn. There was simply more.