Originally Posted by
Bolivar
I'm kinda miffed Dota 2 didn't make it, it's very rare that we get games with this extreme depth of game mechanics and skill but I understand why it wouldn't fit into our forum's niche. It also just officially released a few months ago and it's best days are certainly still ahead of it.
Also it isn't the best game at what it does.
Point the first: Denying is an actively bad game mechanic. It forces players to do things that aren't fun, because they have to, because it's the only way to compete. Games that are GOOD games make players do the things that they actually like doing; the things that are fun.
Point the second: The game is based on DotA (obviously) but it doesn't fix the things that were wrong with DotA. It doesn't change the fact that there's not enough to do for the first few minutes. It doesn't change even the mechanical choices that were literally nothing but limitations of the Warcraft 3 engine - for instance, Axe's Counter Helix triggers at the beginning of an animation, rather than when he's actually hit. Why? Because that was a coding limitation in WC3. So they copied it and kept it exactly in Dota 2, rather than fixing it. There are many, many more. I don't feel the need to enumerate them.
I loved DotA, I played thousands upon thousands of games of it; but League of Legends is simply a better game, and I'd be very surprised if it wasn't picked to be on this list. Arguably, it's the game that should be at the very top of the list; certainly would be in terms of real world popularity.
Dota 2 isn't something you play through and finish; you're always choosing between it and LoL, unlike a type of game like an RPG where you play one, then play the next one. You could reasonably have 2 RPGs in a personal list; I find it harder to make the case for 2 MOBAs (or 2 MMOs of the same style, or 2 deathmatch-based FPSes, etc), and so the better one gets on the list.