Why I'm sticking with League of Legends and am not impressed by DOTA 2.

I've looked at the all the various articles & threads comparing League of Legends with DOTA 2 and I've played both games. And, after all things considered, I'm simply astounded by the claims made by DOTA 2 players who argue that it's a more difficult and better designed game. Again and again I see the same old arguments that don't seem to hold water. So... I wanted to take a few moments to debunk some of their claims (which even many die-hard summoners have seemingly conceded).

Foremost of all claims made by proponents of DOTA 2 is that their game has a higher skill-ceiling than League of Legends. I believe that one of the primary reasons for this claim lies in the fact that DOTA 2 champions scale more extremely and thus end up dishing out more damage -- meaning that one false step, or a champion with a slightly better combo, is more likely to instantly kill you (or your entire team). But this doesn't make the game more skillful, it makes the game less fun. Yes, mistakes are punished more harshly, but this is because the champions in DOTA 2 are generally much more powerful and it is easier for a champion to snowball and nuke an opponent down more quickly. This makes comebacks less likely and that, also, makes the DOTA 2 less fun to watch and play.

The next most common argument regarding skill is that creep denying is more difficult and thus more attractive to more capable players. But really... creep denying is just glorified farming -- and it's hardly the most intriguing part of any game in this genre. Not only that, but creep denying delays interaction between opponents in a lane. This is because players can stick closer to their towers to farm. But, at the same time, if they are both competently denied, it delays interaction because leveling becomes more difficult and items take longer to acquire. And then, both the champions of a heavily denied lane probably won't be able to contribute very much to team fights in the mid-game. Because of the need to stay in lane and farm, most DOTA 2 players admit that the first 20 minutes of their game is much slower paced than a League of Legends match (which often has a level one team fight at the red or blue buff camps).