Moba Preferences

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Envy661
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Moba Preferences

#1 Post by Envy661 »

Let's have an obligatory "Which Moba do you play and why?" thread coupled with the inevitable spiral into derogatory cynicism any topic comparing Mobas will bring about.

The point of this thread is going to focus on conversation involving constructive criticism of all Mobas, even your favorite, so be prepared.

To me, every Moba is flawed, but there has only been one I've actually stuck with playing. From League of Legend's item shop, overly long games and limited map selection (I swear to Christ if I play another game on Summoner's Rift I will end it all) being the main factors of why I don't like the game, to Dota 2's.... Being Dota 2, there have been a lot of reasons why Mobas just haven't been for me. And while I have heard good things about SMITE, I personally haven't tried it.

So the Moba that I play is obviously at this point, Heroes of the Storm. From the simplistic style to team leveling, the game, overall, feels better than League and Dota to me. Instead of an item shop, you get talents for leveling, which strengthen your abilities, and even allow you to select an Ultimate ability, instead of just having the one. To top it off, the maps are actually greatly varied and fun, as in-map objectives play a huge role in the game, and can often determine whether you win or lose a game (Though not always, as jungling and stealing merc camps and bosses can also turn the tide). I would say this is the main reason I like the game.

The game also features combos between all the Blizzard titles. Characters from WoW, Diablo, Starcraft, and Overwatch are playable heroes in the game. Plus, the benefits of events being tied to both Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch as of late throw in additional incentive to play it over other Mobas. As an Overwatch player, I love the fact that my preferred Moba also helps me unlock things in Overwatch.

But this is just my opinion on things, and I would love to hear others, especially where SMITE is concerned, as it's the only major Moba I haven't tried.
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Nuff
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Re: Moba Preferences

#2 Post by Nuff »

Hi I'm Nuff I'm the dota guy. No other competitive game comes even close to being and deep and engaging as Dota 2. From the constantly shifting meta to the incredible balancing job IceFrog does at making almost every single of the 112 playable heroes viable, to the point that at the last Major (if we include the qualifiers) every single available hero was picked at least once. It allows for a huge variety of styles of play and although trends may set an optimal build heroes can be built in many different ways with big choices in items, nothing is a simple stat boost and there are very few without some form of active ability. Games tend to run a little longer on average than other MOBAS but if you are after something a little shorter you have the Arcade where you can play a bunch of different custom games should you fancy something a little different. It is as far as I know the only one of the big 4 MOBAS (HotS, LoL, SMITE) to cost zero money and allow you to play any hero you want right from the start, the only money you can spend in game is on cosmetics which for me is the only way F2P games should be built.

I've played a decent chunk of SMITE although I've been away for a while now. It's the only other MOBA I've seen as being worth my time as it is played with a different perspective to the top down game we are used to and thus gives a different enough experience where it doesn't get devastated by how much better dota does it. I enjoyed it even if I mainly only played the arena map as it was a nice quick game of fighting rather than the traditional lane set up of their standard game, which was basically just your normal MOBA fair and thus not good enough to edge out dota. I suggest giving it a go Envy661, it's pretty fun especially if you can get some friends together and it's simple like LoL it it's item purchases so you just follow the guides and you are good. It's method of making money id the same as LoL, gods behind a paywall (or grinding for coins to buy them) with different gods on rotation each week or 2. You could buy the game early on in it's release to unlock all gods and future gods, I did this myself as the game proved to be fun enough to give them money. If they are still doing it it's a pretty good deal if you want to play the game for a decent amount of time.

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Re: Moba Preferences

#3 Post by midnightblink »

I've played SOOOOO many different MOBAs, but I always come back to League. I guess you could say I have a more "tolerant" view of other MOBAs that most other MOBA players, I think the majority are all enjoyable in their own way and can be enjoyed equally by different people, for me, it's just always been League.

I actually tried VERY hard to get into DOTA a few years ago, I've got 131 hours in it on steam, but it just never stuck with me. I can concede that it is the most complex and varied of the MOBAs, but that doesn't make it a better or more enjoyable game in my opinion. When you have to spend hundreds of hours in game, and even more researching things outside the game just to understand the game better, or basically have a friend spend that time just teaching you the basics, it becomes less of a game, and more of a chore. I always felt like League hit a good balance for me between complexity and streamlining, I was having fun going through the learning curve, instead of feeling like I had to slog through it to get to the ACTUAL game. I also don't mind the progression system of having to earn champions, because I remember when I first tried playing DOTA, the massive rooster was intimidating, and I had no idea what to do since I had 0 knowledge of any of the characters. In League, you start off finding maybe one character out of the free rotation that you really enjoy, and you buy that character, you start to develop a better understanding of that character, and then it's time for the next rotation, and you find another one, and then another, and so on and so forth. You're allowed to slowly discover every champion, instead of having them all thrown at you and told "good luck".

I still play Smite every once in a while, it's basically a game I play just for fun, and I think that's largely because the third-person view gives a different experience. Paragon is another interesting one, it's similar to Smite, but feels more like a third person shooter, and has some interesting verticality in the map design. One MOBA that I really liked was called Dawngate, it was pretty different from other MOBAs, from it's map design, to its characters, sadly the servers for it got shut down, so it is no more.

Also, SUPPORT MAINS, UNITE

Edit: EYYYYY, just learned that apparently some people are remaking Dawngate with all the original assets and characters (or Shapers, as they were called in the game) under the name "Shrine of Imanna"
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Re: Moba Preferences

#4 Post by HeckobA »

I still occasionally play League of Legends - my main issue with that is that the game doesn't update automatically because I have to run the launcher to do so and I only run the launcher when I occasionally want to play or my friends are starting a game. In terms of gameplay, I'd say it's on par with dota's depth and balance. The games are very similar, though I often feel like League has a bit more polish into it. Maybe it's that neat 'hand-painted' visual style for the environment, maybe it's how responsive the controls are even with 200-300 ping (something I always have because South Africa's far from Europe). It's something they and Heroes of the Storm have that makes your character immediately do the local action without waiting for the command to get to the server and the server saying "ok, your character's doing this now". As a side note: can have some amusing (but mostly incredibly annoying for obvious reasons) rubberbanding if your ping is really bad but it's not bad enough to disconnect.

As for Dota, well, I play it more often because my steam is always open and keeps it up to date and whenever I watch a Dota WTF video I always get a strong urge to go play some. A Dota game takes the longest on average of them all, but it's not a problem as long as you don't play Dota when you think you might have to leave in less than an hour. Safer to know you have 80 minutes though, just in case. The really long ones are some of the best games though, when both teams put up a good fight.

HotS is currently my most-played MOBA. It's really good for if you want something quick and low-stress. Less likely to find salty players too, though of course it's still a thing. That's why you have :salt: though :P

SMITE is cool but I don't really play it anymore. Third person MOBA works and I have fun with it, but if you have lag issues then they tend to be even more infuriating in that.
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