Depends on where your friends are at.
If you prefer to go alone, Heroes of the Storm looks like it's aimed at people new to MOBAs so that might be for you.
I started with Infinite Crisis and League of Legends.
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Introduction to MOBAs
- Thread starter SteveWinwood
- Start date
Depends on where your friends are at.
If you prefer to go alone, Heroes of the Storm looks like it's aimed at people new to MOBAs so that might be for you.
I started with Infinite Crisis and League of Legends.
I_D
Member
Played just about all of them in the OP.
The standouts are Smite and Awesomenauts.
Smite is far easier to control than the standard point-and-click games, and it has quite a few more options as far as battle movement is concerned.
Something that always bothered me in the rts-style MOBAs was the inability to run backwards while attacking an enemy. Because the only way to move is to click, and the only way to attack an enemy is to click, mouse movement is vital to success. If you play in a high resolution, you're at a disadvantage because you need to cover more screen space to achieve your actions.
Smite fixes this by binding movement to WASD and you use the mouse to attack, like a third-person shooter. This allows you to move in a direction while attacking in a different direction, which makes it play much faster and more easily than point-and-clicks.
Note: I'm sure you can bind other games to WASD, but I'm going by default settings.
The completely unique MOBA is Awesomenauts, though. Because it's 2d, jumping and vertical movement have a massive effect on the gameplay. In every other MOBA on the list, including Smite, jumping is merely cosmetic and doesn't really do anything. You play on a flat plane and move forward, backward, and side to side.
In Awesomenauts, you can move from the top level of the map to the bottom in a matter of seconds, which adds a lot to the strategy. You can move forward, backward, up and down, rather than side to side. This means you must be aware of your front, back, and attacks from below or above. It's much more 'twitch'-based, and it plays like oldschool arcade games.
If anybody is curious about which MOBA to start with, I'd definitely recommend Smite. It's free to play, and you can unlock characters via in-game currency, which is earned for doing well in matches. You can buy the characters, of course, but it's not vital to get every character.
The standouts are Smite and Awesomenauts.
Smite is far easier to control than the standard point-and-click games, and it has quite a few more options as far as battle movement is concerned.
Something that always bothered me in the rts-style MOBAs was the inability to run backwards while attacking an enemy. Because the only way to move is to click, and the only way to attack an enemy is to click, mouse movement is vital to success. If you play in a high resolution, you're at a disadvantage because you need to cover more screen space to achieve your actions.
Smite fixes this by binding movement to WASD and you use the mouse to attack, like a third-person shooter. This allows you to move in a direction while attacking in a different direction, which makes it play much faster and more easily than point-and-clicks.
Note: I'm sure you can bind other games to WASD, but I'm going by default settings.
The completely unique MOBA is Awesomenauts, though. Because it's 2d, jumping and vertical movement have a massive effect on the gameplay. In every other MOBA on the list, including Smite, jumping is merely cosmetic and doesn't really do anything. You play on a flat plane and move forward, backward, and side to side.
In Awesomenauts, you can move from the top level of the map to the bottom in a matter of seconds, which adds a lot to the strategy. You can move forward, backward, up and down, rather than side to side. This means you must be aware of your front, back, and attacks from below or above. It's much more 'twitch'-based, and it plays like oldschool arcade games.
If anybody is curious about which MOBA to start with, I'd definitely recommend Smite. It's free to play, and you can unlock characters via in-game currency, which is earned for doing well in matches. You can buy the characters, of course, but it's not vital to get every character.
Dota 2 is more complicated but has a much better tutorial than League of Legends. League of Legends has an awful tutorial but is more streamlined and less punishing. SMITE translates well to third person gameplay, if you've played a lot of those on the PC.
So, to answer your question: where your friends are.
My Top 3: Dota 2, HoN, LoL
Dota 2: Hardcore
HoN: Semi-Hardcore/Casual
LoL: Casual
These games are built the same since it all comes from DoTA.
But my recommendation would be HoN since it has APEM, and random mode to play to learn your way.
All the items and class builds in HoN will translate well into DoTA 2 when you want to migrate into a more hardcore community.
LoL? If you are good in HoN/DOTA2, you will be great in LoL.
LurkerPrime
Member
This is all from memory, so it might be inaccurate in some areas, but here goes nothing:
Aeon of Strife (1) was 3 players and 3 A.I. lanes vs 3 A.I. lanes of stronger mobs. Strictly PvE. There was a handful of heroes available. Heroes could buy units to help out as well as upgrade their offense or defense. There would be events that influenced how the battle went. It was chaos.
Aeon of Strife (2?) was 3 players and 3 lanes of mobs vs. 3 players and 3 lanes of mobs, all of which started equal. Designed for PvP. Similar hero availability, upgrading, and unit purchasing. Heroes had special attacks in this one and started with a dropship. There were also A.I. events and hero-purchasable mob waves.
There might have been a third AoS, I don't really remember. Custom maps in StarCraft were.. so plentiful. Too bad Blizzard dropped the ball with SC2.
Going to sound biased due to the avatar, but probably league would be your best bet.
A lot of the newer mobas are borrowing from league's system, so it'd lay a good groundwork for any of the others (Except Dota 2, for the most part). It is the most popular one right now, so always a good thing to find out *why*.
Tyran_lord
Member
There has been a map update I believe in January or February. In this update the map was slightly altered, bindings do not respawn anymore and Parasite has become more important. Also the Guardian has been updated and instead of 3 health bars he has now only skillshot abilities that are linked to cores, which can be destroyed. The guardian is invulnerable until all cores are destroyed.
Dawngate is way more action oriented than league and shapers(heroes or champions) can be build very differently each game due to the item system. Almost all shapers do not have a resource like mana. The ones who do have an extra passive that balances out the resources.
Players can also select a role before going in game which alters how you gain extra vim(gold).
I've been in beta since almost the start so if you have any questions PM me or post in this thread and i'll try to answer them
SteveWinwood
Member
I would play a SC2 custom with my roommate called Star Battle which was super fun and simple. Probably the simplest of these I've ever played.
Granted it got boring kind of quickly.
Edit: ^^^^ I was wondering if anyone here was actually into Dawngate, I had seen next to no discussion on it.
AzureSkies
Member
Wasn't LoL's trinket system "borrowed" from Dawngate?
Why even play it then jeez
Most likely, yes.
Taco_Human
Member
Dota 2 owns my soul right now. Love it.
It's coming in the next update though but yeah, it's why I recommend checking the game out in several months time.
In some ways the looser structure of HotS makes things even more confusing for players. Certain aspects of the game seem mind numbingly simplistic, but sometimes there are so many objectives on the map at once that it's hard for players to really determine where they should be.
I had a seven minute game today in HotS on the map called "Haunted Mines", and it felt like the enemy team was fooled by the game's mechanics. For context, Haunted Mines is a two layered map. The upper layer is a standard style moba map with lanes and bases, but specific entrances on it lead down to an empty mine beneath everything that's going on. Every so often hordes of undead camps and a boss spawn in these mines, and killing them yields tokens that players can gather to power up an undead golem that will march on the enemy's base for their team.
In my game today a bunch of horns trumpeted the spawn on the first batch of undead, and the enemy team naturally went down to go collect as many tokens as possible for this timed event. Meanwhile, my team sent only one person down to collect a few scraps in the mine, instead taking advantage of the absence of enemy heroes to take every neutral mercenary camp they could. With the mercenaries on our side or push was massively more powerful, even though our undead golem was far weaker. We closed out the game on our very first push before the enemy could even react strategically, and the defense they could mount was meaningless.
It's really hard to prioritize objectives in HotS sometimes, and when you're behind it really doesn't feel like you're able to fight for them.
Well do you want to enjoy the game, or grind out content?
LurkerPrime
Member
Star Battle is probably the best SC2 custom map I've played. And it did get boring pretty quickly... This was a while ago though, so maybe there are more interesting custom maps now.
Are you going to add all of the DotA clones that were floating around in WC3: TFT? No? That's probably for the best, I suppose... Advent of the Zenith sure was neat, though.
Fake Edit: I forgot to say, this is a great idea for a thread.
How does this even matter with DPI and mouse speed options
I_D
Member
Like I said, I'm talking about default settings.
Even if you set your mouse up perfectly, I still can't stand the fact that you move and attack with the same button.
It works on a game like Diablo because you're deliberately engaging the enemy.
In a MOBA, though, it makes running away while defensively attacking nearly impossible.
TharpDaddy
Member
Dawngate is really an interesting game. The champions/heroes are quite unique and well made. I preferred the old map they had, but the freeform nature of the roles in it is refreshing. If you put on the tactician role then any champion can be a support and will get money from nearby minion deaths, on top of money for harassing enemy champions (called Shapers in Dawngate). It becomes really fun to support since you spend most of your time brawling with your enemy laner. I think it has a lot of potential.
Dawngate is way more action oriented than league and shapers(heroes or champions) can be build very differently each game due to the item system. Almost all shapers do not have a resource like mana. The ones who do have an extra passive that balances out the resources.
Players can also select a role before going in game which alters how you gain extra vim(gold).
I've been in beta since almost the start so if you have any questions PM me or post in this thread and i'll try to answer them
I'm having fun with Dawngate as an alternative to DOTA2 but the Shapers don't really interest me. How often are they added and how many are planned? I've been in beta for months but only recently started playing. So far it seems really really easy to play range over melee with every game being dominated by them.
So what you're saying is don't play anything.
Marauder Shields
Member
Might as well call it the Dota mega thread since all the other ones are trash AMIRITEGUYS!
Jk no hate from me. Will probably give HOTS a go when it comes out.
Tyran_lord
Member
Nah, he's going to say "play dota 2 because everything is unlocked from the start" and poop on league of legends in the same sentence.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
I worked how LoL influenced Dota 2.
You get gold for killing wards now.
You get gold for killing wards now.
They also changed
Prototype Viktor
Member
Did someone say moba?
Stone Ocean
Member
The fact that we managed to go through almost 2 whole pages before someone trying to start that shit showed up is impressive, really.
SteveWinwood
Member
I'm proud.
Wrong again... this is what they copied.
Waifu cleavage!
Windrunner is as flat as a board.
False advertising.
This is when demon and aui subbed right? Too bad about the ending
Windranger*
You hurt me
But that's a what was actually going to happen. I'm no liar.
Dreams-Visions
Member
It's...an interesting game. I'm not a big fan of it at this point, but it plays well enough. all skillshots all the time. Some of the animations could use some work, but it's a solid first 3rd person view effort.
How about no. The idea of generalizing many different games with different business strategies, communities, competitions, gameplay, style, and fans that hate each other under the label of "MOBA" seems like a horrendous idea. The thread is also demeaning to all the individual communities, as instead of treating them like different you are just blending them together.
Never played one, but I'm really curious as well. I have heard nothing but terrible things about how the MOBA community treats newcomers though, so that unfortunetly pushes me away from trying the established ones. Feel like I'm already too far behind.
But I'm a HUGE Blizzard fan, love their characters and polish so that's the one I'm waiting for. I'm not gonna lie though, I also wouldn't mind a MOBA on consoles, that new SMITE game looks like it would translate well to a gamepad.
But I'm a HUGE Blizzard fan, love their characters and polish so that's the one I'm waiting for. I'm not gonna lie though, I also wouldn't mind a MOBA on consoles, that new SMITE game looks like it would translate well to a gamepad.
Yeah you're right, I've seen his shtick before in other threads.
Indeed it was, but as a balance change it is moving more towards the direction of League's design. It could have been balanced in other ways. I mean, this is of course speculation since I have no idea of what Icefrog is thinking.