Why is LoL more popular than DOTA

While I'm a fan of LoL, I think it's because LoL is more beginner friendly. Like any other players, I first got into MOBAs by playing DotA. I have a hard time denying creeps, using my courier, and I hate the uphill miss.

 

LoL seems to be much more open to casual play, while still allowing experts to play with other experts. Also, I find LoL to be more aesthetically pleasing than DOTA, though I'm sure that's more of a subjective thing. I think League just picked up at the right time, was marketed a little better, and its beginning popularity made it big in the E-Sports world, which increased its popularity even more.

 

Well, beside the fact LoL is more noob-friendly than DoTA, the former was actually one of the first MOBA games which offered a f2p experience which "lured" a huge fanbase. It's a great game, I can't deny, but I would play DoTA any time in the detriment of LoL, haha.

 

DotA 2 is more difficult to get into. Many people like the more cartoon like style of the heroes in LoL. LoL has good tutorials.

 

Time investment. Once you have built up and unlocked stuff, it is hard to abandon it and move to a similar game and start over. If you are making a similar game, you do not have to just be better, you have to be significantly better, enough to make people leave behind their hard work.

 

Maybe because LoL isn't as complex as DOTA. I guess that can be a plus or a bad to the game, depending on your perspective.

 

League is more social than DOTA 2. You can easily play league in a casual setting with friends and have fun, a game like DOTA 2 you have to put a bit more effort into it and it's just not a fun game to play from the start. It's slower in comparison to league, and there are more ways to get instagib in the start of the game than there are in league, which leads it to being anti-fun for new players.

 

Define good tutorials, haha. I've personally found that the tutorials LoL offer lack the meaningful advice players seek, and end up not doing the right thing, unfortunately.

The cartoonish style is also a plus, I forgot to mention. It can run on lesser PC specs.

 

I wouldn't consider the graphics of Dota better than that of LoL, but then again I wouldn't consider LoL's grapphics better than Dota's. They're their own thing; League has more polished graphics while Dota's are more on the serious side. I prefer League of Legends because I love how I have to work to unlock characters and decide which ones I want to play and when. I'm not a fan of the whole pro scene and consider myself a filthy casual, but I love the way League flows!

 

I appeals to a lot more people, is requires fewer resources to run, but most importantly, it doesn't have the steep learning curve that DotA has. Add the sense of progression you get from unlocking runes and masteries as you level up, and you get a game that is easier to enjoy.

 

LoL is a game for everyone, and Dota 2 is something that few people are very good at, even with practice.

 

It's definitely a mixture of LoL being much easier to learn, and it being from the original people. (The original people who made DotA made LoL, while the group who picked up DotA afterwards moved on to DotA2). League is certainly less pretty (though they are working to fix that), and its aesthetic is definitely more cartoony. It's true that all the champs are locked and stuff, but I think it's super exciting that way. Some champions are really rare early on because of it, and it makes it all the more exciting to see them, or get them. I remember the business of buying my first champions with IP, and how crazy it was. Every champion you got became your new main.
There's also something to be said for how intuitive LoL feels, whereas in DotA I often felt like damage came out of nowhere. The learning curve is super steep is all. I enjoy DotA for an every now and then game, only because the champs are new for me there and it makes it exciting again. But LoL has so much hype, and all the tourneys and stuff that also support its popularity.

 

The difference I feel is the fact that League has a much bigger streaming culture than say DotA 2, when you follow DotA 2 professionals they don't really care all that much about streaming themselves, they more so care about their tournaments (Something League has to catch up on I feel.)

On the flipside, I feel additions are coming to League that are clearly from DotA 2, a lot of changes happening right now are making the game pace feel like it'll be slowed down. Something that veteran DotA 2 players like myself have already experienced in DotA 2.

 

It was easier for me to get into LoL just because of the map. Ironically enough, DotA didn't give me the feel of war and vengeance they're trying to push, but instead made the game "dark" and not appealing to others.
Champions and balancing them were also an important factor.

 

Dota2 is harder to learn. League of Legends attracts more gamers because it is easier to learn.

 

From glancing at DotA tournaments a few months ago, the map looks very confusing and the creeps looked just as large as the champions, which made it hard to differentiate. I think that with LoL, it's a game that's simple enough for casuals and complex enough for incredible pro plays. DotA seems like it's more for the hardcore gamers. I haven't tried it myself, mostly because I'm intimidated.

 

As someone who played both games I think it's because League is a lot more easier to play than Dota. They both follow similar concepts but League is a much more simpler game. Perhaps it was because League came out before Dota, too. If Dota 2 came out before League then things may be different today.

 

I like playing LoL because it's much easier interface-wise and I don't have any trouble getting back into the game because the inhibitor respawns-- that's probably why it's more popular. DOTA happened much earlier and from what I gather are for much serious players who don't like trolls and want to earn as much kill and gold as possible so it's for a very select group. You do you, man.

 

LoL is way more 'casual'. It certainly is easier to start playing LoL than Dota. With Dota you have all these mechanics about denying, camp stacking, animation canceling, turn rates which make the game feel clunkier if you're not used to it and a new player will obviously be overwhelmed by all this information and just quit it altogether. With LoL you just kind of have to learn the basics of any MOBA and you'll be fine, farming, neutral objectives, etc.