Dota 2 in terms of what it offers as a game is excellent. It's a mostly* well-tuned game with a steep difficulty curve that mostly** feels rewarding, and when you play it well, it's a very fun time. I would recommend*** playing in a full party with people who also play and trying to expand your ability at every given opportunity if you want to get the most enjoyment out of it. I would personally recommend this as my go-to MOBA over any other.

* Mostly as in, many patch cycles will have heroes that dominate the meta. This is natural for metas, however, the amount they dominate can be absolutely frightening and the response can be very delayed or be insufficient. The degree to which you can effectively "counter" a PA for example with MKB is overstated and relies heavily on drafting which is easier said in hindsight. Many times, a game can be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ from the draft onwards, and while this makes sense, it makes for an agonising 40 minutes of gameplay, usually down to the fault of anyone but yourself when your party is full of random people.

** Mostly as in, the game's reliance on team fights/actions for the majority of its conflict can effectively blueball you no matter how well you play if your teammates are bad. This, again, is natural for MOBAs, but it causes an issue of being unable to get better or learn anything about the game when your progress is being walled, especially in ranked gamemodes. The issue isn't the reliance on teamfights, it's the matchmaking, which is admittedly very difficult since "skill" is so arbitrary, but many games I've played recently have had at least one or two smurfs, and at least one or two players who are simply playing a different game at times.

*** Playing in a party of five can effectively iron out these two issues if you play or learn well, so for that reason I strongly recommend it.

(As an added note, I disagree with people's umbrage over Valve not "caring" about the game. As a CS:GO and TF2 player, they very clearly care more about Dota 2 than either of those games. Regular balance patches are not ones that find their way into these, nor such elaborate and well-designed cosmetics and events.)

Dota 2 in terms of what it offers as a game is excellent. It's a mostly* well-tuned game with a steep difficulty curve that mostly** feels rewarding, and when you play it well, it's a very fun time. I would recommend*** playing in a full party with people who also play and trying to expand your ability at every given opportunity if you want to get the most enjoyment out of it. I would personally recommend this as my go-to MOBA over any other. * Mostly as in, many patch cycles will have heroes that dominate the meta. This is natural for metas, however, the amount they dominate can be absolutely frightening and the response can be very delayed or be insufficient. The degree to which you can effectively "counter" a PA for example with MKB is overstated and relies heavily on drafting which is easier said in hindsight. Many times, a game can be fucked from the draft onwards, and while this makes sense, it makes for an agonising 40 minutes of gameplay, usually down to the fault of anyone but yourself when your party is full of random people. ** Mostly as in, the game's reliance on team fights/actions for the majority of its conflict can effectively blueball you no matter how well you play if your teammates are bad. This, again, is natural for MOBAs, but it causes an issue of being unable to get better or learn anything about the game when your progress is being walled, especially in ranked gamemodes. The issue isn't the reliance on teamfights, it's the matchmaking, which is admittedly very difficult since "skill" is so arbitrary, but many games I've played recently have had at least one or two smurfs, and at least one or two players who are simply playing a different game at times. *** Playing in a party of five can effectively iron out these two issues if you play or learn well, so for that reason I [b]strongly[/b] recommend it. (As an added note, I disagree with people's umbrage over Valve not "caring" about the game. As a CS:GO and TF2 player, they very clearly care more about Dota 2 than either of those games. Regular balance patches are not ones that find their way into these, nor such elaborate and well-designed cosmetics and events.)