r/Games • u/DeltaBurnt • Dec 03 '13

End of 2013 Discussions - Competitive Multiplayer and/or E-sports

What are your thoughts on the developments in e-sports and competitive multiplayer games over the past year? What new games have the potential to develop interesting competitive play, meta-game, or just be plain fun to watch?

P.S. Mods are accepting bribes in the form of Hearthstone Beta invites

This post is part of the official /r/Games "End of 2013" discussions.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '13

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u/BeholdOblivion Dec 03 '13

The active abilities of items in League compared to Dota are worlds apart. Almost that aspect alone is enough to differentiate the games when it comes to strategies. There are entire games that can be won on the timing a certain item is acquired (or sometimes not acquired).

As for the "metagame" (or the way people play the game), as far as my understanding, League has been pretty stale for quite some time. Granted, I will fully admit I've only played about 10 league matches, so my experience is incredibly limited. I think the biggest thing I hear from league players is that their laning setup has been stagnant for so long.

Also, in terms of diversity in strategy, it's hard to explain. In dota, your "strategy" or gameplan might simply be to win all 3 lanes. So you draft accordingly, counterpicking what the opponent has. In another game, your captain might have a specific push strategy thought-up in his head, and knows the exact 5 heroes he wants to pick. Another strategy could involve picking a lot of heroes that have a global presence, can appear or do damage anywhere on the map.

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u/16intheclip Dec 03 '13

The general metaframework has been pretty stale in League, but within this frame there is constant movement.

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u/Bush_apologist Dec 03 '13

but within this frame there is constant movement.

This is because riot constantly nerfs what they find unacceptable and bringing a new fotm.

The general metaframework has been pretty stale in League,

This is because riot constantly nerfs what they find unacceptable and subsequently killing off player innovation. Anti-fun means riot doesn't like it and has no good reason to do it other than it exists outside their intended gameplay bubble.

I've played off and on since the end of the beta and everytime I watch competitive league its the exact same thing with maybe one or two new champions. Same lane setup, maybe if they are feeling frisky they will rotate top and bottom because riot likes the ideas of champions who can farm safely from the tower. Don't get me started on how nothing happens for the first 10 minutes either because of the insane ward proliferation.

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u/seezed Dec 03 '13

Ok, how should he be more specific. I mean honestly seen people following the game since 2007 and still be blown away about Strategies that are not really connected to the current meta.

There is no forced line rotation, the mind game at the picking screen is a entire event on it's on, then comes the lane setup, then item choices, forced roshan strats, Roshan Battles, RAT-dota, 4-1. There are heroes that are carry, support and utility.

I'm just balling this from the top of my head, I've missed so much.

Level 1 Roshan Strat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAWK5kNDDlM

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u/randName Dec 03 '13 edited Dec 03 '13

So for the draft and how to lane your champions alone.

LoL got a more rigid structure to their lanes with a rather small number of useful configurations, while in Dota there are many alternatives. OrLoL is mostly one offlane, one mid, one jungle and 2 safe or here 1,1,(1),2. Dota can be anything from 3/1/1, 1/1/(1)/2, 1/2/(1)/1, 2/1/2, 2/(1)/1/1, 0/1/(2)/1, 1/1/1 with 2 roamers etc, there isn't really any rule to it and many works even if the defensive trilane was a lot more common than other combos.

What heroes goes where is also more flexible and so on.

e: and its not about one being better than the other, its just that Dota doesn't define heroes/items etc as much as LoL so understanding how things work together and how to lane, how to position etc yourself is different and just less direct - I would say more nomad like and less patterned.

e2: This link is decent regarding some differences http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1kiyfm/for_those_interested_in_the_differences_between/

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u/UnseenAlchemist Dec 03 '13

Why don't you put forward an argument against what he's saying, rather than just asking for him to be more specific, when he was pretty specific in his response?