DOTA like games

[ksaf]

I never got into those games but now i'd like to give them a try. Which one would you guys recommend for a beginner?

[Natureseer]

all dota like games are extremely difficult for beginners to learn and often the communities can be very hostile towards newer players unfortunately i would have a friend teach you if thats at all possible. anyway, i like HoN, its free and as of this week you can play the entire hero pool for free.

[Mystile]

League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth. Those are really the only two options at the moment. With DOTA2 coming soon, and Smite, there will be more diversity. HoN has every hero for free, and imo has a lot more fun items, and a more interact-able jungle, which makes it more fun. League has more fun heroes (though the sheer amount of heroes is intimidating... thus why I do not play it much.)

Edit: before this gets out of hand, the communities of both games are awful. Neither is better than the other. New players will get tortured, relentlessly. I recommend playing these games with friends exclusively until you get the hang of it.

[saras96]

Beside LoL and HoN there are Bloodline Champions,Avalon Heroes,LOCO....
I started with dota before when lol wasnt even out yet and i cant tell u dota wasnt that hard for me

[tawoko]

Super Monday Night Combat. Great cross between 3rd person shooting and MoBA game play. Not to mention its free. Has an awful, cannibalistic community, but thats expected from a Moba.

[Bulwarked]

It's really hard for me to suggest which one to start playing for a new player. I would love to introduce DotA 2 to everyone and keep them away from LoL but if you're new you might want to lean toward league of legends. It's got an easier skill curve and requires less background knowledge. The way stats work are similar to WoW, so if you've played that you'll understand the differences between types of damage.

If you're up for the challenge sign up for a DotA 2 invite and play either League of Legends to warm up or HoN if you're more interested in really understanding all there is to DotA. There's a lot to learn and making the jump from LoL to DotA 2 is still going to be big if you ever want to take on the challenge. If you want to learn some DotA 2 here is a good place to start:
http://www.playdota.com/guides/welcome-to-dota-you-suck

TL;DR
if you're just interested in casual easy to pick up play, try League of Legends
if you're more interested in playing competitively, try to get a DotA 2 invite

[Toxigen]

Just play League of Legends...

[Ichy]

Every ones comments hold true, but if you want an actual List:

Heroes of Newearth
League of Legends
Dota 2
Smite

All of those are Spin off of the original WC3 dota. Dota 2 is a stand alone clone made by valve with some tweaks. HoN is the 2nd closest spin off to the oiginal- many of the same abilites/items but with new heros as well as old ones with new skins. LoL has its own thing going, but game type is the same- probably the easiest to pick up. Smite brakes the mold a little bit (from what I gathered from its home page) by being a 3rd person view MOBA styled game.

Smite is in a kinda of open/closed beta- requires invite (got mine about 2 weeks ago and haven't tried it out- seems very interesting). Dota 2 is in an open invite- just takes time to get your key.

[Zoneseek]

They're all tough for beginners. There is a barrier to entry, get ready to get whooped all over the map for the first bunch of games no matter which one you go for.

I play the following 3, and in my experience here is my list from easiest entry to hardest entry. Mileage may vary, and people may disagree, this is just my experiance talking:

League of Legends
Dota 2
Heroes of Newearth

My favorite is Dota 2 so that's where I tell people to start generally, but LoL still feels to me like it has less of a barrier. HoN in my opinion at this point in time, if you are new to just the game (nevermind the genre) you will just be a punching bag.

[tawoko]

Can't believe nobody has suggested Super Monday Night Combat... o wait

[Deleted]

The best is HoN. All heroes are free.

---------- Post added 2012-10-02 at 02:43 PM ----------

Smite is in a kinda of open/closed beta- requires invite (got mine about 2 weeks ago and haven't tried it out- seems very interesting). Dota 2 is in an open invite- just takes time to get your key.

SMITE is really cool!

---------- Post added 2012-10-02 at 02:46 PM ----------

Can't believe nobody has suggested Super Monday Night Combat... o wait

I've never heard it.

[omarthegreat]

id start off with League then switch to dota 2 you can purchase it early for 29.99. from personal experience i havent ran into the someone picked the champion i wanted to play so im going to shit talk my team and feed real hard beacause i didnt get my way. the experience with the dota 2 community has been 1000 better so far than with the league commmunity. i have never played HON so i cant really say

[KickThatGuy]

Heroes of Newerth.

[Fencers]

League of Legends. Probably the best "all-around" MOBA out right now.

[Morgaith]

League of Legends. Probably the best "all-around" MOBA out right now.

Dota 2 is the best one all around. (play HoN so i'm not a valvedrone)

[Hermanni]

HoN has been dogshit awful since beta. The game has a lot of problems, game balance is non-existent and the company that runs it is only interested in developing more skins for you to buy. The game will die out soon after Dota 2 is launched so for an entirely new player I'd suggest getting someone to teach you Dota or try league of boring.

[JimPaladin]

Dota 2 is the best one all around. (play HoN so i'm not a valvedrone)

While I agree Dota is 'leagues' ahead of League of Legends (once you learn the basic ropes) Valve has this really shit-faced policy right now where they consider the game out of beta, but you still need a beta invite.

So you either wait like 3 weeks after doing the beta survey to HOPEFULLY get a beta key, or you have a friend buy the 30 dollar beta invite from the store.

That all said, I wouldn't listen to some MMOchampion moderator with a heartseeker vayne avatar/signature when he says LoL is the best.

[Morgaith]

HoN has been dogshit awful since beta. The game has a lot of problems, game balance is non-existent and the company that runs it is only interested in developing more skins for you to buy. The game will die out soon after Dota 2 is launched so for an entirely new player I'd suggest getting someone to teach you Dota or try league of boring.

You spelled League of legends wrong in at the start.

[Fencers]

Dota 2 is the best one all around. (play HoN so i'm not a valvedrone)

I don't really agree. I think DOTA2 is a deeper, more complex and skillful game. DOTA2 is not a better designed game.

A lot of DOTA's concepts and even secondary systems are either oblique or difficult to grasp at first blush. In terms of picking up a MOBA and easily grasping how to play it- League by far outshines everything in the genre currently.

But you are welcomed to your POV all the same.

[JimPaladin]

HoN has been dogshit awful since beta. The game has a lot of problems, game balance is non-existent and the company that runs it is only interested in developing more skins for you to buy. The game will die out soon after Dota 2 is launched so for an entirely new player I'd suggest getting someone to teach you Dota or try league of boring.

HoN showed a lot of promise, because it was originally supposed to be Dota 2, Icefrog was even working directly with S2. It was only when Icefrog saw how incompetent and money-grubbing S2 was that he said "Yeah, fuck this." and left. S2 quickly devolved after that.

HoN was more or less dead a year ago, I don't really even consider it a game anymore.

There's also Smite, a newer Dota-like, but from what I've played of it, it doesn't seem very good, and I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner to the 'genre'. That said, if you want a game that's a little different, you can give it a try.

Realm of Heroes (I think it is? Something like that) is a dota-like where all the abilities are skillshots. It's not really popular at all, and I think it's mostly just declining, but I've heard it's okay. It's also free to play.

Realm of the Titans is a hilariously bad dota-like, eternally stuck in beta development.