So You Wanna Watch Dota 2 - A Primer

On June 20 2012 00:26 Haydin wrote:

Let me pose a bit of a counter-question. Why are there so few units in starcraft, and why are you stuck with the same dozen or so every game? In starcraft, maps are a huge part of the game - they have a major influence on what strategies you use and create variety. Now, you COULD try accomplishing the same thing by adding in a ton of different units, but I think we can all agree that would be a terribly silly idea that would be a balance nightmare. Each unit in starcraft has a ton of depth in terms of when and how they can be used - there's really no need for 40 or so units when you have a dozen that are incredibly well designed.

The same is true of DOTA and its single map. It may look simple but there are a TON of nuances to it. It may be surprising, but every single tree on the map is positioned very intentionally with consideration of hero abilities and the ability for heroes to "juke" around them to keep out of line of sight during a fight - vaguely similar to how someone might use terrain to their advantage during a fight in an FPS game. The lanes have very specific lengths, and every bit of high ground is where it is after a decade of playtesting. Essentially, the roles of maps and heroes/units in DOTA and starcraft are reversed.

In DOTA, the variety and selection of strategy comes from the picking and banning of heroes. There are over 100 heroes (some not yet ported to dota 2) in DOTA, giving teams a huge range of options of what they can pick and counterpick. The massive range of options also create a bit of mind games during the drafting phase, too. Thanks to the 2 phase system in dota, a good captain can try to force their opponents into a certain draft, while picking a composition that in theory, should have an advantage.
In DOTA, there are some heroes that are, without question, overpowered. But it's intentional - it's a whole part of what you select to pick up and ban. But they have very specific playstyles, and are often baited out as picks. Even if your opponent might have Lycan, the most powerful hero in the game, you can still draft a team that can simply curbstomp him.
You can force through a certain strategy in your first three picks, or you can try to go for some general heroes to make a solid team and not reveal your strategy until your opponent can't really counterpick without ruining their team's synergy. And on top of that, how you position your team in a laning phase and your ability to predict the opposing lanes for the first couple levels is HUGE. In DOTA, it is actually completely reasonable to have heroes that are as much as 8 levels behind if their role is support - they sacrifice their gold and XP for the sake of the team.

Kind of rambling at this point so I'll stop here. Does this pretty much answer your question?

EDIT: Oh, and let me also say that while HON and DOTA 1/2 maps are very similar, there are some big differences in terms of juking spots. Also, the 5v5 LoL map is NOTHING at all like the dota and HoN maps. The lanes are very different, the vast majority of juking spots do not exist and are replaced by tall grass (giving you invis while you are inside), and the way neutral creeps, shops, and timed buffs on the map function are radically different. It doesn't get talked about as much, but this is also one of the major things that fundamentally separates LoL from DOTA and HoN and makes it play like a radically different game

So You Wanna Watch Dota 2 - A Primer - Page 6