First impressions of League of Legends from a Dota 2 player

[Kyren]

1/2/3. Yes LOL's design for gold farming isn't as penalizing as DOTA where a player can lose gold from dying or getting denied. This is mainly because LOL's design gives item builds a lot of importance. There are items that give gold every few seconds which are made for some support heroes that don't rely heavily on items but gives them mid to late game support items that changes the way one plays. Unlike Dota where everything relies on kills and creeps which makes supporting have little item dependency. Turning support heroes very squishy and have little late game strength. I personally find having more item choice for other support roles more fun than Dota's support/ganker/warder. And if you get money way too fast that means the same for your enemy given similar skill level. LOL focuses on strategic advantages of a kill than the kill itself. IE: pushing a lane, safe farming, better map control. I'm not sure what you mean by Dota's farming requiring more skill.

4. Escaping depends on hero composition. I doubt it will be easy to escape everytime. However there are certainly lanes that are easier or harder to gank. Maybe you opponents simply didn't have enough cc. This is also where item choice comes in where tanky items can really save you.

5. Couriers are meant for sustaining lanes. In LOL sustaining a lane will rely heavily on your initial items. I find that needing to go back requires more strategy than simply staying in a lane forever. Deciding when requires more strategy. Planning ahead also requires more strategy. Your starting items will be what decides your fate in lane, where as a courier will require more micro skills than strategy.

Game changes a lot with more knowledge. It's a relatively easier game to get into than Dota but the strategies only become very important later into the game where metas are used and team comps are made. Item choices will vary depending on enemy comps. Theres also a lot more build diversity in LOL. CDR, ASPD, AP, AD, ARpen, Mpen, etc.. There's alot of choice to build for. Experimenting with more heroes and item builds is what makes LOL really fun. My friends and I love playing heroes unconventionally like building heavy AD influenced characters with AP. Try watching some tournament replays to get a better glimpse of high level play. I can't really tell which one requires more skill or strategy. LOL probably has less things to worry about than Dota because it doesn't really focus on microing so playing DOTA may take more APM than LOL however strategy wise I think LOL has a lot more compared to DOTA.

So it's totally up to preference. But since im really not fond of microing, I find LOL a lot more fun to play. I actually thought LOL wasn't very different in the first few games I played it but after a while playing with friends I found it a lot more fun than Dota.