Why DOTA 2 Over League of Legends?

So, I feel I have a little bit of explaining to do! A lot of people wanted me to play League of Legends instead of Dota 2 on the channel. And now that I've gone and picked up Dota and pretty much dropped LoL, a lot of questions have began cropping up: Will I play LoL again soon? Which of the 2 games do I prefer, LoL or Dota? Hopefully this here article will explain everything!

Now both League of Legends and Dota 2 are extremely respectable MOBA titles. Both have growing player bases and both are very active in E-sports, something a lot of people are taking much more interest in these days (which is pretty exciting to witness!) I won't list the ways in which the games are similar, though. Anyone can glance at the two games side by side and see the resemblance. I'm more interested in going into what sets the games apart for me.

I played Dota 2 before LoL! Whether this has had an impact on my judgement or not, I'm not certain - I won't rule out the possibility. But I played Dota before League of Legends for a reason. And that reason is graphics. There is no dispute on this matter for me. Dota 2 is a far more visually appealing, beautiful game in comparison to League of Legends. Going from Dota to LoL made me feel like I'd downgraded my PC, or had gone from playing a PS3 to a PS1. Graphics obviously aren't everything, of course, but there are certain boundaries beyond which I can't look past; League is treading those boundaries for me where is Dota is in a pretty comfortable spot!

The second reason I tried out Dota 2 before LoL was the public notion that Dota is far more challenging experience than League of Legends. This gripped me even more so than the graphics, I think. People can argue all day that the game's require a similar level of skill and know-how to succeed at - which could well be true, as I'm admittedly a very inexperienced LoL player - but I feel it's fair to say that the general consensus is that Dota 2 requires more practice and game knowledge to perform well at than League of Legends does.
Moreover, even if the above is false, and both games are equal in terms of skill requirement, Dota 2 is still, indisputably I feel, a more 'hardcore' experience than LoL, but more on that later.

Now before I get into what really sets Dota apart for me, a little more on League of Legends and my experiences with it.
First off, the graphics did hit me with a slap. As I mentioned before, coming from Dota 2 to the clearly more dated League had me unable to help but notice the archaic, pixelated visuals. But as I also mentioned before, graphics aren't everything to me! Those of League irked at me, but they definitely didn't stop me from having giving the game a good few plays.

The next thing I noticed with League was just how similar the gameplay is to Dota. Until I really got my teeth into the game, I was under the perception that LoL simply was Dota 2 with poorer visuals! And even as I played a little more, there aren't really any significant things I can point out about the gameplay where it falls behind its rival, which is why I fully respect it as a title... but there were quite a few little things. I won't go into these in-depth, but not having a courier, feeling like my ability to teleport around the map and generally move about quickly were diminished, as well as the very general statement that the gameplay felt more basic did niggle at the back of my mind.

Again, maybe those things only became irritating because I'd come from Dota to League. Maybe I'd be saying the opposite and fighting League's corner if I'd been introduced to it before Dota 2.

What made me stick with Dota?

The graphics were a part of it. I almost feel a tad ashamed to list this as a reason! I used to pride myself on seeing past the visuals of a game to enjoy the real experience underneath. But I suppose times have changed. Gradually, I've become more and more used to games with more polished graphics to the point at which games like LoL become difficult to take seriously for me.

However the main thing that brought me back to Dota was how much more intense the experience really is. How much more 'hardcore'. This my opinion, of course, but I believe I share it with a significant number of people.

1. Being able to last-hit your friendly creeps to deny opponents gold and experience adds another mechanic to be mastered in the laning phase.
2. Having control of a courier with which to deliver your purchased items! And if your courier is killed, it not only takes 3 minutes to respawn, but your opponents are also rewarded with a good amount of gold for the kill.
3. Losing gold immediately when you die. Dying in Dota 2 is something you are punished for a lot more than you are in League. You are put at a significant disadvantage for incurring an early death - and conversely, a solid advantage if you are able to take all-important early kills.
4. Items! LoL does have On-Use items, but Dota 2 has more to learn and master the use of, as well Portal Scrolls - something I missed intensely while playing League.
5. A more complex Jungle. Being able to creep-stack, manipulate friendly creep waves and control lane equilibrium via pulling waves of friendly creeps into stacks of neutrals. And of course pull-throughs! 

To me, these points (and more I've left unlisted) simply make Dota 2 a more intense, unforgiving and extreme experience when put beside that of LoL. There are more things to learn, more things to master and to get right - because if you don't get them right and learn to use every possible mechanic to your advantage, and someone else on the enemy team does, the chances are that you will lose. And I personally really like that. It's very head-to-head and feels like a real competition, pitting your ability to play the game the best way you know how against that of your opponent. If you win you get to feel proud - it's a very rewarding feeling, to be honest - and if you lose, you might get frustrated and angry, but more often than not you can think about what you could've done better and will do better next time!

So Id have to say, I actually agree with the stereotype: Dota 2 is for the hardcore, League is for casuals - which, contrarily to the beliefs of some, is not an insult at all. League was far more accessible than Dota for me. I didn't learn every hero, definitely didn't learn every item, but I could win games comfortably if I put my mind to it after a few days of playing! With Dota 2, I was still being destroyed by medium bots two weeks in! There was a lot to learn, and for the first few weeks, I wasn't even sure that I liked the game - and now I love it, and wish more people would really give it a chance!

So anyways, both games are immense! I'm pretty certain that if Dota 2 didn't exist, I'd be able to happily play League and enjoy it. But for me, one game is just more tailored to what I'm looking for, and I can't help but notice everything I enjoy about Dota 2 while playing League, which I just feel lacks some vital ingredients that might've made it as intense an experience as Dota.