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Does anyone else wish league was balanced like Dota?

Dedrius·8/28/2015, 10:00:59 PM·18 votes·3,522 views

No this is not a "Dota is better than league" post, seeing as how I have only played Dota once or twice while I have been playing league since the beginning of S3. But from what I have heard and seen, it seems as though Dota balances their game with the mindset of "Lets make every champion very strong in their own way, but give solid counter picks so no champion is ever unstoppable in every game". Like I said I have not experienced Dota much but to me a game that has a shit ton of strong champions that can be hard countered seems more fun than having 15-20 top tier champions picked every game due to the fact that there is not much you can do to stop them.

The state of league balance is basically pick a strong champion, build the 1 build path that makes that champion as strong as possible, and do that same thing every game while it seems Dota has not eliminated alternative build paths and a lot of the champions in that game are strong.

"Every hero in dota has a unique skillset and a distinct niche, which makes their usefulness more dependent on the current metagame than objective power level. As a result when a hero is too strong people start using strategies that counter it, which keeps things in check unless the hero in question is way over the top. In contrast League is balanced around specific roles that don't really change from match-to-match, which is why it's a big issue when one jungler is noticeably better than the rest."

This post I found sums up how I feel about both games in terms of balance and how it seems as though Dota has a better grasp on it than league.

Any thoughts on the topic or feel free to correct me if I am misinformed in some way.

53 Comments

Sakura Mirage8/28/2015, 10:03:31 PM12 votes

The thing is league doesn't want you to lose in champion select it has been said before.

WhiskerWow8/29/2015, 4:41:02 AM7 votes

All the champions in DOTA2 are available so counterpicking is a lot easier to do.

Also, it would be harder to just main a single champion if they could be counterpicked, or if you felt pressured to counterpick. I like to practice only on one champion because its easier to improve that way.

I feel like people really underestimate weak champions by the way, but I don't want to talk about that right now.

TraakSC8/28/2015, 10:02:21 PM6 votes

No because Dota2 sucks and only has a fraction of our player-base. Also you admit you've only played Dota2 once or twice, how is that enough experience to determine that Dota2 is more balanced?

Krys Star8/29/2015, 6:40:57 AM5 votes

Because Dota doesn't balance around what will net them more income. Dota balances around what is more enjoyable and fun for their playerbase. They care more about diversity and excitement, whereas League cares more what'll keep its game fresh and pull in more money.

joebobby14128/28/2015, 10:20:09 PM3 votes

I can break down for you why this isn't and won't be a thing.

Dota, is done, they maybe patch a glitch, or bug once in a while? But, they don't make new Heros and add new items and try to keep the game fun and interesting. Which, you could say is all the better for them maintaining an audience without that, but also League has a bigger community so clearly people like it.

Riot, continues to add more champions items, diversity to the game. As long as they are adding new things they will have to try to balance all those things. League is not, by any means, still a "new" game and just recently, Riot broke any balance with Sated Devourer. It is a coll item idea, they thought would be fun, but upon introduction it is broken. Eventually this will be corrected, but also eventually something new will come out that will be too strong.

In order for League balance to be similar to Dota in any way, they are going to have to decide to stop adding new stuff to the game and stop updating old stuff. You can't have it both ways.

SEKAI8/30/2015, 4:45:38 AM3 votes

People have the misconception that "if everyone is broken then no one is".

In the case of Dota, it's not like there is simply no balance rules to follow. Notice how they have an extremely punishing resource system in trade of their blatantly overpowered spells.

In LoL, we have champs that have infinite gapclosers, resource-less, no counterpick options etc etc. If anything it only shows how broken LoL's balance is when compared to Dota.

Because even in a game about broken heroes dares not to venture into the pit that is LoL balance, and LoL is sitting there, digging another hole for itself to go down to.

BlkGolem8/30/2015, 4:39:08 AM3 votes

A guide to diamond I saw (forget if riot promoted it or not but I think a lot of people saw it) literally said to pick out of 15 champions to use to get to diamond, no shame.

l Mamba l 248/29/2015, 12:01:45 AM3 votes

There's going to be top tier of something in every game. Literally every champ in league is viable learn to get skilled with them.

Vicarious1178/31/2015, 11:52:10 PM2 votes

"Like I said I have not experienced Dota much..."

Well there's your answer. Dota has it's metas as well as top tier picks, there is never a game that is entirely balanced. And besides, if a game company ever did find a way to 100% balance all their characters, they could never add anything new to it at any point in time, the game would never grow past it's current state, and it would become stale incredibly quickly.

The only reason I come back to League on occasion is because it's constantly changing and adapting, there are different metas and champs shift in power with the changing metas. It's interesting, without a slight lack of balance the game would die.

Seekêr8/29/2015, 7:27:52 AM2 votes

The original dota wasnt as balanced. The issue, and props to valve for realizing this, was that the kits and items didn't provide enough diversity by means of distinguishable and unique strengths.

So what valve did was make a new game rather than trying to fix one that was already somewhat broken. It's probably too late for Riot to do this, seeing as how their business model is limiting and they would have to explain to players why they spent hundreds of dollars unlocking content on a game that was gonna have a sequel with the same content anyway.

The point is, Dota 2 is so balanced because they built it from the ashes of dota 1 and they learned from their mistakes and they listened to the concerns of the community and they made a very balanced and diverse, albeit difficult to learn, game.

Malix Farwin8/29/2015, 7:55:13 AM2 votes

DOTA is nice for people who like it but it is a little too slow paced for my liking. feels very... wierd.

Koldheartedjsp8/29/2015, 1:57:38 PM2 votes

I feel like league is getting there slowly

Decrit8/29/2015, 1:58:47 PM2 votes

With the state of balance like Dota? yeah, i would like.

Balanced like Dota? oh hell naw, i' d rather play a character knowing that i can have good or bad matchups, but that i can overall fight the power curve with my team rather having it decided at champion select.

They are just different: dota started as a mod and with a mean to balance easy to do from few people, but it impacts the game experience too: i really ahte teamfights in Dota.

UltraSceptile8/29/2015, 9:35:27 PM2 votes

Isn't dota the game where if you pick the right hero and you get one kill you can 1 v 5.

Catastrop8/29/2015, 10:15:48 PM2 votes

Dota is basically about Counter Counter Play. Observe, I'm getting CC'd too much, I buy Black King Bar, it gives me immunity to all Magic Damage and CC. They just have to use Enigma and Black King Bar becomes useless. Okay then, enemy team takes Warlock or maybe was it Sniper?(I don't know I haven't played in a while) and the cycle continues until one team completely counters the other. Bring that into League and it wouldn't function as well due to it not being fair to lose in champion select.

LithiumWednesday8/30/2015, 3:36:19 AM1 votes

Honestly, yeah.

In terms of mechanics, DoTA is pretty straightforward (as opposed to League's numerous features that only show up on one or two characters) Kits generally have a clear focus that makes them good at something or another. PA has a slow, an AS steroid, a blink, and a passive that buffs her autos. Ursa has a kit based solely around being able to auto someone. Zeus has good AOE and true sight. As far as I can tell, people like champs like Braum because they have can be powerful while having clear weaknesses and none of the bullshit invisible power Riot claims to hate.

Also, the attribute system and the way heroes' builds are pretty flexible are nice.

SLangedEdge8/29/2015, 9:33:57 PM1 votes

With a locked champ pool you will never reach a good balanced state. you should just go play dota.

Crossette8/29/2015, 3:03:28 PM1 votes

It helps that DotA pretty much has the same base ratio on every fucking spell.

kek

Lost R8/30/2015, 5:33:49 AM1 votes

I haven't played DOTA 2, but from what I've seen in my experience in the game, right now there doesn't seem to be accurate matchmaking. More often than not you end up fighting opponents much more skilled than you or your allies are not up to par or fresh to the game, and as a result you get demolished rather quickly. That's the first part, and in circumstances like this, in a TEAM game, you look after your teammates and help them when you can. One of the major problems with the game right now is that a large percentage of the community has shifted the other way and see their teammates as a liability or no different than the enemy and refuse to help their team if and when they need it.

The major causes of imbalance in League right now are as follows:

  • Extreme matchmaking imbalance, pitting experienced players with inexperienced players to a greater degree than in previous years.
  • Crippling overspecialization, particularly too many players focusing more on damage to the exclusion of utility and durability.
  • Overspecialized ADCs. There's too much of an emphasis on building critical chance, removing their ability to build in response to the enemy.
  • Lack of teamwork and communication. This includes warding.
  • Too much of an emphasis on surrendering fast and early, when games can still be walked back.
Inclined To Derp8/29/2015, 2:01:11 PM1 votes

I used to play dota and was kick ass at it, but they did add in tons of new items, there werent super defined roles in it, no champion was ever too strong unless you really fed them, and even then they could easily be stopped, objectives were taken more often, and the game and player base seemed more focused since most things were balanced they didnt rage, -not kappao