Smite VS Dota2/LoL - A educated comparison

Greetings forum user!

Due some conflicts between friends/players about what game is better among the MOBA genre, I have decided to make a comparison. No "opinions" will be involved, pure facts and research results.

Gameplay:

Dota 2 has a advanced, more deeper gameplay then any other MOBA game. Every mistake you make can change the tide of the game, and you lose gold/exp when you die. With various item builds of various attributes possible on every single Champion/hero/god. You can make it your tactical battleground

Smite has a unique, and fresh third person gameplay. Mistakes are less punished, even though you lose alot of farm. As leveling up/farming goes on a quick rate compared to Dota 2. Ganks & escapes are more creative as it is third person. Meaning that you cannot see behind you, or around the corner. This gives a new element to the gameplay. There is less variaty among items and item builds. Though that does not mean you can't be creative your gamestyle.

League of Legends has a simple, easy to understand gameplay. That doesn't mean proffesional LoL gamers play worse then proffesional Smite gamers, though LoL's gameplay is way simpler, with less depth possible and strict item builds/laning.

Community:

Dota 2 has, as researched by various reviewers ( like PC-gamer/IGN) exist out of more mature players then other MOBA games. Like every game it has its toxic sides. But the hard and serious gameplay ( as mentioned above ) causes players to act more seriously, or else they won't win.

Smite exists out of various groups of players, from mature the children. This might cause trouble among the first levels of your gaming experience, though when you get higher you get to the mature and tolerate players. These people take the game seriously as they have put time into it.

League of Legends has a mixed community as well, but unfortunatly exists out of more "young" players then more mature ones. Because the game is easy to learn and free to play ( Smite as well, though its harder to get really far in the game ). The community is more toxic then others, especially in ranked as everyone's stats are at stake. The toxic community can sometimes, ruin the gameplay for you

Graphics:

Dota 2 has a more realism focused graphics, with jungle textures and animations. It creates a painting alike atmosphere. As it is considered "nice", it causes trouble to see exactly what's going on. But when you get used to it, you will appriciate its fantasy/realism theme and its polished textures

Smite has a more roman/fantasy themed graphics. It is linear/plain at some points. Though it does offer a nice memorable atmosphere and backgrounds. The arena is well textured and some areas are well polished. Smite is unfortunatly yet in beta, as the patches show the graphics are improving.

League of Legends has simple,plain and cartoony graphics. It has its own style like Smite, only its considered way too simple under the community. The Graphics do give possibility to make LoL playable for lesser PC's.

Balance:

Dota 2 is more balanced then other MOBA's, its the first priority because imbalance would ruin the whole game more then others. Afcourse, once farmed/you get a great team you are stronger then others. But there isn't really a champion/hero/god which is stronger then others.

Smite has a well balanced gameplay so far, though some gods do loads of damage in a short time. Giving the singe victim no change to do something back. Fortunatly, this includes more skill then imbalance. But theres always room for improvement.

League of Legends has unfortunatly some serious imbalance issues. The game is still enjoyable, until you get agains't a Darius which kills you in 2 abilities. But it isn't just that one champion/hero/god. Some are way too strong compared to others, and after many updates the progress of balance is going slow, slower then the new skins becoming avaidable for sale.

Conclusion:

You can like a MOBA for your own personal reasons, though some games are just better then others.

Gameplay: THe winner of the gameplay section is Dota 2, due its real depth and possibilities with one single champion/hero/god. There are alot of items, and every single one gives a importnant profit to its owner.

As second comes Smite. He came really close to dota 2, but due its still in beta and its issues it cannot be equal/better.

Third comes LoL, it has simple and linear gameplay. You know what to expect from each champion, leaving no suprises. Great for new players, might get boring for more proffesional ones

Community: The winner of the Community section is Smite, at the start you might experience toxic community groups. But once you get higher you meet very mature and great team members to play with.

As second comes dota 2, this time dota comes close to Smite. Only due the big mistake punishing , your team will complain if you make one. Sometimes with rage, sometimes with even hatred. Even though it is mature, negativity is in the air. High leveled or not.

As third comes LoL, there are always awesome people to play LoL with. But best is to join up with your friends. Especially in ranked you will be demotivated, hated or even blocked by many players who do not agree with your playstyle or course of action.

Graphics: The winner of this section is League of Legends, because it makes it possible to run for lesser PC's. It gives people who cannot afford strong PC's the chance to enjoy games, and thats really appriciated among the community.

As second comes Dota 2, even though its harder to pin point whats happening. The art is well done, almost like a painting. And gives a deep atmosphere, almost magical. It has darker textures then other MOBA's, but once used to it you will appriciate it.

As third comes Smite, it doesn't have bad graphics. ( better then League of Legends graphics ). Though some PC's can run it normally, as it is a big game. And the graphics aren't better then Dota's. Graphics do not really tell if a game is good or not. But it is appriciated.

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So what game to play?

If you are new to MOBA's , try LoL. But avoid the community, and cross your fingers for not complaining teams.

If you are regularly skilled, or want something new, Try Smite. It provides a unique amazing gameplay. With a deep lore and great community. Though at Smite's state at the moment, it cannot offer any career chances as Proffesional gamer, or any big competitive scenes.

If you are proffesional, and want some tense games. Try dota 2, it offers some really tense games. And is focused on its roots back to the dota map on WC III, every mistake you make can cause a lose. And for "hardcore" gamers, this can be nice.

Very informative post, though I'd ike to add my own input on the balance.

-DotA's balance is more in the form of "fighting overpowered with overpowered". That is to say, everything is really strong in their own way, and anyone can seem stupidly good if you are skilled enough at the game.

-SMITE is considered balanced at a casual level: you can win with pretty much any god if you're skilled enough with him/her. The ranked environment is more restricting in terms of what works, though I've been hearing things like success stories of Anubis in the EU scene, contrary to the perception that he's bad.

-LoL's balance issue resides in the fact that recent powercreep has rendered heaps of champions unviable in the competitive scene, and end up being completely forgotten for a long time until they get a rework. For example, the addition of Zyra made Heimerdinger completely obsolete, and he's been in need of a buff or rework for about a year now. Many champions like Skarner lost viability from Season 3, and struggle to find a place in the new meta.



Also regarding the LoL community, there are two major problems. One is the fact that it is mainstream: mainstream titles always attract the worst kinds of individuals in any multiplayer genre. The other big problem is that unlike DotA2 and SMITE, the meta permeates into the casual scene, and you are expected to adhere to that meta. This means picking trash-tier champs or playing a certiain role in a lane the meta doesn't suggest (i.e. running a mage top) will invoke the rage of your teammates, who will bombard you with a slew of unsavory comments in regards to your "skill level".

Well, I do think that
Smite=Dota>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>LoL>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>&g
t;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>any other moba right now

The gameplay winner would be Smite in my opinion, because it is fresh and feels very cool (direct controll over a god is so badass).
Dota's in deapth gameplay scores him a second place in my opinion, but a very close one at that.
LoL has the most broken champions I can think off, but it still is a very fun game. Just not as good as the other 2 the gameplay is fun, but the balance ruins it

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Community
This is a very hard topic, because all moba communities are bad, but I like Smite's community over the other 2 (SMITEFIRE FTW)

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Graphics
I can't say that one is objectively better than the other, but I just like all 3

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Balance
Dota>Smite>LoL

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Conclusion
Smite and Dota over everything :D
Not hatin' on lol, but I just like the other 2 betrer

I feel like your opinions are extremely biased against LoL.

Balance
If you have played all 3 extensively like I have, then you would know that LoL's balance is very good and is constantly updated. All reasons for nerfs and buffs are clearly justified.
I feel Smite by far has the worst balancing. Almost every patch, there's something I see that simply makes me think, "Why the hell did Hi-Rez do that?" I feel that Smite's balancing team is by far the worst of the three, and DotA 2's is the best. However, I will acknowledge power creep and currently only 30% of the champion pool is playued during tournaments, but pretty much all of them (about 5 I can think of that aren't) are viable and all of them are fun. Also, you know the character Darius you were talking about? Well, they realised he was on the strong side and they toned him down. Heck, Darius is now no longer a common pick as when he first came out. Also, the statement about killing you in 2 spells was complete exaggeration. No champion in League of Legends (unless they are fed) can do that. I feel the champions in LoL do the least damage compared to other MOBAs.

Community
I agree LoL has the worst community, but I feel that someone who is experienced with MOBAs would find Smite most frustrating as from my experience, there are a lot of people who are completely terrible at the game. I just came out of a game where we lost a 5v3, with 1/13 and 4/18 team mates. DotA 2 is also the best I feel in this category. However, I do feel like LoL's developers are the most interactive with the community, and DotA 2's don't really pay much attention.

Gameplay
Suprisingly, DotA 2 is by far the most forgiving of the 3 games. You see, while one may see losing gold as punishing if you are losing, if you do start a comeback, then it becomes much easier as they are also losing gold. LoL is more simplistic than DotA 2, but I feel Smite is by far the most simplistic of the three. I jumped straight into Smite with not much problem. The god designs are all simple, whereas LoL does have a lot of very complicated characters. Once again, I do feel like I enjoy Smite the most, but from an actual design perspective, DotA 2 does win in this once again.

Graphics
LoL's graphics are the worst of the three, but I still ike the unique cartoonish style. What is remarkable is how they found a way to still have decent graphics and still make it run smoothly on computers. DotA 2's is definitely nice, but I'll be biased and give this to Smite as I love the cell shaded look.

From an actual design perspective, DotA 2 is by far the best, as DotA was the father of all MOBAs. LoL is very innovative, as it strayed away from the mechanics from DotA and made their own. What you also need to realise is that all the mechanics of Smite are taken stright from LoL, like how HoN took from DotA. Everything is exactly the same, which is why I feel that LoL's system is by far the most solid and best of the three. In terms of mechanics, SMite offers nothing innovative, other than the different perspective of the game.

To conclude, I feel that DotA 2 is the best game, but I don't have much fun with it. Lol is the most innovative for its time, as it offered completely new mechanics that Smite simply adopted. In terms of how much fun I find from a game, DotA is the worst, LoL is second, and Smite's is the best, mainly because it's a breath of fresh air from the birds-eye perspective. However, I consider Smite to be a gimmick and the novelty of the new perspective may eventually wear off, and I'll simply continue on with LoL. In your thread, you make out LoL to be complete trash and a failure of a MOBA, which I feel is completely wrong. LoL and DotA 2 are already solid as a MOBA, but Smite is definitely on unstable footing, as it is losing many players to the questionable balancing of the game.

League of Legends did come out negative within this comparison, but that does not necessarily that it is trash. The gameplay of league of legends is solid, yet simple with restrictions. Not to forget that Smite offers various details in its "adopted" gameplay which still makes it its own.

If I include opinions in this comparison, I do have to agree dota 2 is the best on competitive and proffesional sides. But just not in taste for a bit more casual styled players.

Dota 2 has the best and most smooth textures, though it is sometimes hard to pin point whats happening and/or what your position is. Smite on the other hand has maybe plain, but artful graphics which provide a deep atmosphere.

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Now I can't tell if you're right on the "losing many players to the questionable balancing of the game". Because to my feeling, and according to several reviews. The balance is just fine.

As we start talking about balance, you are correct that league of legends reworks champions which are failed in balance. But on a very slow rate. If we take Karma for example, in the time Karma got reworked to a balanced ( not underpowered ) champion. Several new ones got on the market. Now we still have a very inbalanced Aartrox, a way to strong Nidalee Q. And many more of these flaws we call "inbalance". And as Riot games is dependable on its micro transactions of champions/skins, they focus more on marketing and advertising then on really balancing. Though I cannot deny they do balance, on any rate.

It sounded like you hate League of Legends in your original post, for example, in the balancing section, you started DotA 2 and Smite with the positives, but when it came to League of Legends, you immediately started off with 'League has serious issues'. That, to me, just portrays you as incredibly biased against League of Legends.

This is one example of Hi-Rez's questionable balancing. You see, Hi-Rez have never made a MOBA, and therefore they aren't experienced in the balancing department. Heck, if you go through the actual Smite forums, more likely than not you'll see a few threads questioning Hi-Rez's balance.

In regards to Aatrox, Nidalee and Karma, Morello (Lead content designer for League of Legends) has given justification as to why Aatrox has ridiculous sustain. I'll link it here. Also, in regards to Karma, another dev (who I can't remember) mentioned how reworking a champion is harder than making a new one, as you have to keep the same playstyle and feel of the old champion. They can't just redesign a new kit and scrap everything the old one had. Finally, Nidalee is a one hit wonder. While her spears deal a lot of damage, it's basically her only damage as she is too squishy to jump in with cougar form in teamfights. Her spears deal only a third of the damage a Leblanc combo could do.

I'd like to talk about a quote from your post.



This is the case for all companies, Valve, Riot Games and Hi-Rez Studios. You see, a common misinterpretation by society is that video game companies are your friends. They are not. They want your money. You see, all companies want to be as great as Riot in terms of micro-transactions, as they'll be receiving less complaints. The only reason LoL, DotA 2 and Smite exist is because they want money. They don't make a game because they want guys to have fun. They just realise that a game being fun will gain them more money. LoL is not alone when it focuses on marketing, because they all focus on money, it's just Riot is doing it better than the other two.

And with the above statement, I'd like to create a new category: How well the game does the free to play model.

DotA 2 will be completely free on its release, but as of right now, it requires a small fee or an invite from a friend or the company if you applied for it (like I did, and got accepted). Other than that, everything is free. You can get non-essential customisation with money, but they do drop from games. DotA 2 is the most free of the games, but that's because Valve has got Steam to get so much extra money, and they can afford to simply make all the heroes free.

LoL does the free to play model the best. They make IP gain at a good rate (gained 12000 IP in 2 weeks, which is about 2 new characters), and also make the prices for in game purchases reasonable.

Smite's Free to Play model is alright. Favour gain is way too slow, as mentioned by many forums, including our own. If you do go to the transactions, then you'll have to buy more than you need as there is no 200 or 100 gem purchase for $5. However, they do have the god pack which I find to be very good of Smite.

I agree with you about the misinterpretation, and that Hi-Rez & Valve do have a priority on money. Though Valve has a bigger fund to create/support games on, not to forget they use community marketing techniques ( low prices which motivates the players to buy more, and to make them look superior ). Hi-Rez is indeed a newcomer to the MOBA genre, and yet they have shown great results so far. league of Legends on the other hand is dependable on its game, when LoL doesn't bring money they will fall.

To continue about the balance, Smite does have instable balances. But you notice them less then on League of Legends. I rage more on a Aartrox which does 60% damage of my hp, then I finally "kill him" with 20 hp left, and he just generates 50% of his hp back and slays me, then on a Anubis who kills you when used right shorter then with other gods.

And about your statement of the LoL balancing progress.
They do fix focuses, and I didn't see reworks as hard as I see now.
But they do focus on marketing first then balancing for a better gaming experience, I know. Those companies run on money, but instead of making their creation more perfect so more people actually like it. They focus on grabbing the wallets of the existing community,

If you are a bussiness manager of LoL, and you have the choice to bring out a new bundle/skin, which will make your company earn thousands, or spend money on teams to balance and fix all the issues. What will you pick?

And lets talk about your "free to play model"

I do agree with the fact that the League of Legends system is the most polished and player friendly, and that Smite has issues which really damages its model.

But League of Legends free to play model is Commercial, more then other MOBA's. Afcourse Steam has the simmiliar system with sales and bundles, but they do not try to convince you to buy extra content while making you feel that "it is your choice".

Smite on the other hand, does have its micro transactions issues. I don't feel motivated to buy anything with real money on Smite, while those items on dota 2 really shout for my money.

As we start talking about currency, you tell that the Smite favor system is way too slow. I agree, but it is that slow for a very good reason.

As Smite is still in beta there are a few gods compared to others, if we, Like you stated before. Use the quick LoL - IP system, players would have had all gods in 2 - 4 weeks. ( depends on price though ) Not only makes the slow progress of favor a balance of the amount of gods you have on a x Level. It makes the god you have bought more worth, as you have played 12 games or more for it.


And about the "forum complaints".

Smite has them alot indeed, but many are just not legit.
If we take Bacchus for example,
Many Bacchus fans quit playing him or complained about his Nerf, he would be to "underpowered". Yet if you play him, his air time is only a bit longer so you actually have to aim instead of randomly click on a enemy to crush them. It isn't underpowered at all! But because it is officially announced, people seem to hate it.

though, I might be wrong. But this is my opinion.

Further, I don't think LoL is trash at all ( stated in my reaction before ). I play it time to time, but I just wrote a comparison about its content. While other "reviewers" prefer to talk about feeling, skins and player amount. But those are just commercial hypes which keeps people like my friends playing League of Legends.

Don't get me wrong, I don't consider League of Legends as a bad game at all.

Dude, you gotta stop talking about Bacchus, because I think he will soonly turn into the new Vamana

Lol, out of all the info you notice that xD

Let me say one thing that will rebut most of your comment.

Good balance makes a fun and enjoyable game. A fun and enjoyable game makes you big money. Hi-Rez don't balance Smite because they just find it fun, they do it to create a fun and addictive game that will net them a lot of money in return. The only problem is that their micro-transactions aren't reliable and their balancing isn't that great.

You see, if LoL's balancing sucked, then why do people still spend money on it? I mean, if the game is completely unbalanced, then it isn't fun, so why do people continue to spend money on it? It's because the previous sentence is not true. LoL's balancing is good, just slow. Aatrox, the champion you seem to constantly bring up, just came out. No balancing patches have come out yet, so they can't balance it.

Finally getting ONE god after 1 months worth of grinding is not designed to be something satisfying. It's a cheap trick that will make you want to spend money on the game, as you realise that the grind is ridiculous and you won't be getting the Gods anytime soon. I hope you do realise that it's practically impossible to get all LoL champions in 2-4 weeks? It'll probably take 2 years to get all the champions in LoL with intense playing. What is worrying however is that with the current amount of Favour gained, 2 years is the amount it would take for you to get all the Gods in Smite with Favour, and mind you, Smite has a third of the heroes LoL has. Like stated before, the slow Favour gain is a simple plot that will make you want to get the god pack. LoL can afford to be commercial because their game has already found stable footing. I can almost assure you that Smite will become as commercial as LoL, but currently it's too small to do this.

In regards to your statement about Bacchus, being a moderator of this site, I am not oblivious to the threads that pop up. Also being a person who enjoys browsing forums, I know that it is ONE person that hates Bacchus after his nerfs.

Steam do convince you to buy more things. Heck, it's basically surviving because it makes people want to buy things. How do they do this you may ask? Discounts. It may not be obvious, but a common USP (Unique selling point) for products is cheapness. Steam's USP is indeed cheapness (as well as accessibility and how you can buy things from your own home).

Smite has not shown great results so far. Smite has failed to take players from it's major competitors, and therefore is third in terms of popularity.



But that's just you. That's purely opinionative and is not solid enough information to actually prove that LoL has bad balancing.



They do what the community wants, and that's the key to a successful game. An online game with no community fails. You see, people actually want more skins for their favourite champions, and they are happy to spend money on it. Because they want it.

People don't want more skins from Smite, yet they still pump out skins. People want better balancing on specific gods, and fixing up Bumba's mask. Heck, if you believe what your average MOBA player says is complete ****, then let's step it up to the pro players, as they do know what is best for the game.

Most recent LoL pro players complained about how wolves and wraiths spawned early and how people could get an advantage in lane by killing them before getting to their lane. Riot listened to this and responded by pushing back the spawn times, but still ensuring that the jungler was still getting the same amount of experience.

Recently, a pro team in Smite, Pizza Gaming, disbanded with the recent introductions of Bumba's Mask, as it enforced a passive and boring laning phase. Hi-Rez did not give a flying f*ck about this, and simply just toned it down, as opposed to removing it and bringing back the action packed laning phase.

It's getting too late, so I'll leave it here.