Having read through most of this, its fairly simple to categorize the posters here:
- Demigod Seperatists - believe universally that DOTA is a bad game with terrible people and are quick to tell you so. Their motivation for their hatred is sometimes unknown, though the opposition will tell you it is because they tried it, got pwned, and rage quit in their first few games. Other theories include that their fathers were DOTA players who beat them.
- Demigod Disciples - genuinely believe that Demigod is better suited to their interest in gaming and tend to focus discussion on game accesibility and game community. Some may have DOTA experience but most probably just dont get the same reward from the gaming commitment that is DOTA. Probably the most reasonable people here, or at least the ones that get out the most.
- Guardians of the Community - These middle of the road thinkers pride themselves on their open mindedness and adversity to conflict (read: lack of opinion). Whether they actually favor one game or the other and actually believe their posts or not, they will try to get everyone to see the value in the other's game/opinion. Motivations for taking this stance vary widely. Some do it to appear superior, above the petty squables of the DOTA Elitists/Demigod Seperatists, while a few may actually believe that both are equally good games with unique appeals and are naive enough to believe they can convince others of this. As a general rule, dont trust any of these unless they have the "Stardock" tag, everyone has an opinion, or they wouldnt have opened this post.
- DOTA Lovers - have played DOTA enough to understand its complexity and, good or not, can understand why they lose or win a DOTA game (which does take some experience to figure out). They often appreciate Demigod as a fine break from DOTA and probably are more interested in discovering the nuances and strategies of Demigod than the average Demigod Disciple or Seperatist. I predict these will become the best Demigod players simply because they understand the importance of gameplay details and are willing to figure out how to make the details work for them.
- DOTA Elitist - are jerks and have just amount as much justification to be a jerk as one can possibly have. DOTA is an unaccesible game for most people and becomming truly good at it probably requires more experience and practice than the majority of games (cliffhanger-steep learning curve). When you have spent that much time learning every aspect of a complex game just so you can be considered an "average" player, it is understandable that you become frustrated with the player who thinks DOTA is dumb because they cant choose sniper and right click their way to victory. To become a DOTA elitist, you have to not only play more DOTA than is healthy, you also need to be exposed to enough DOTA nubs (who are unwilling or unable to see DOTA's appeal) to become frustrated with them and more importantly be prone to that type of frustration. This of course doesnt change the fact that elitists are jerks and they probably abuse DOTA nubs. Yeah you are better than them at DOTA and they are probably close-minded about it, but how important is that really?
Defense: I have no doubt I could get flamed or banned for this post. Also, someone will try to categorize me so I am going to beat you to it: I am a DOTA-lover, used to be a DOTA Elitist, and think I am moving towards Demigod Disciple.
Prediction: Everyone is still a Demigod nub. Seriously, Demigod is more complex and has more potential for stratification of skill levels than most people seem to realize. It requires a lot of the same talent and experience that DOTA requires and will move in that direction eventually so if you want to keep playing and winning, you need to learn to love the genre.
EXAMPLE 1) You need to be very aware to play these games. It pays in Demigod to watch the minimap and, if your teammates are fighting close by, you need to get there with the quickness. This is a lesson every DOTA player has to learn quickly. Farming regulus all game without paying attention wont get the job done against good teams.
EXAMPLE 2) Items purchases can be greatly optimized. Anyone who knows the DOTA community should be familiar with your mathcrafters. Well known players in DOTA tend to purchase items to give them the greatest advantage at all parts of the game in order to get ahead, meaning they optimize return to cost and rarely have left over cash (e.g. branches instead of nobilitys early). Good Demigod players will need to start doing this soon. Have you ever really thought about whether its better to get the +4 mana regen helm or 2 combat mana pots? How about this, you have 3k gold and 4 item slots, should you get that one uber helm or 2 lesser helms? 1 expensive armor that doesnt quite fit your build or something cheap and a bunch of pots to get you through the next 10 minutes?
EXAMPLE 3) Map control. How many good DOTA teams dont place wards to always know where the enemies are? (if you dont play DOTA, just know the answer is "very few") Demigod places even more emphasis on map control with its flag capture points and purchaseable creep upgrades. To quote one of my other posts, try defeating an equal team on the map "brothers" without upgrading your citadel when they do. Also, I think we will see an increase in gank strategies once people figure out how to allow the enemy to push without losing too quickly.
Also, this is a wall of text and I doubt anyone will read it all but at least I killed some time at work.
