I am not all that disappointed in Dota 2. It is exactly the same thing they announced: Dota on an own platform.
The graphics are so-so: I don't like the "drawn", comic-like style they use; the heroes look like made of plastic. Spell effects are ok, some spells look nice, others look shitty. But that was the same case for Dota 1 and depends on personal taste anyway.
The gameplay is exactly as they announced: An exact copy of Dota. They announced to port the heroes; they announced the gameplay will be the same, they even announced to keep all the special mechanics the same (animation cancelling, denying, juking). So, what big changes did you expect? They wanted to copy dota, and they made a good job.
The main changes will not be in the game itself, but around it: Matchmaking, Stat-tracking, unlimited ingame observers, on-the-fly shoutcasting available ingame, when you observe, singleplayer practice vs bots or in special scenarios (last hit challenges etc), the whole mentor-mentee system they announced, the "community points" system, where you get fame for teaching people how to play or replace them in a match they have to leave etc.
All of this is stuff they announced and which will probably make it into the final game. This is whats really different to Dota 1. If they suceed, this will make Dota 2 way more beginner-friendly than Dota 1 and a better game overall; despite having the exact same gameplay.
And all of this has one thing in common: We did not see it yet.
I think, Dota 2 is a great game, just like Dota 1 (well, its the same ;) ). There is almost no reason for playing Dota 2 over Dota 1 gameplay-wise, but once all the features stand and the game is released, there might be reasons to play it as a whole.
Also, breaking with the WC3 engine enables the developers to fix some nasty bugs from WC3 and enables features for future versions, which were just not possible before.
You could still ask, why not to take HoN or LoL over Dota 2? Well, I cannot answer that. Personal preference again.
I for myself liked the announced plans for community support that much, that I am willing to give it a try. And if I would care for shiny graphics that much, I wouldn't still play Dota 1 ;)
I am not all that disappointed in Dota 2. It is exactly the same thing they announced: Dota on an own platform.
The graphics are so-so: I don't like the "drawn", comic-like style they use; the heroes look like made of plastic. Spell effects are ok, some spells look nice, others look shitty. But that was the same case for Dota 1 and depends on personal taste anyway.
The gameplay is exactly as they announced: An exact copy of Dota. They announced to port the heroes; they announced the gameplay will be the same, they even announced to keep all the special mechanics the same (animation cancelling, denying, juking). So, what big changes did you expect? They wanted to copy dota, and they made a good job.
The main changes will not be in the game itself, but around it: Matchmaking, Stat-tracking, unlimited ingame observers, on-the-fly shoutcasting available ingame, when you observe, singleplayer practice vs bots or in special scenarios (last hit challenges etc), the whole mentor-mentee system they announced, the "community points" system, where you get fame for teaching people how to play or replace them in a match they have to leave etc.
All of this is stuff they announced and which will probably make it into the final game. This is whats really different to Dota 1. If they suceed, this will make Dota 2 way more beginner-friendly than Dota 1 and a better game overall; despite having the exact same gameplay.
And all of this has one thing in common: We did not see it yet.
I think, Dota 2 is a great game, just like Dota 1 (well, its the same ;) ). There is almost no reason for playing Dota 2 over Dota 1 gameplay-wise, but once all the features stand and the game is released, there might be reasons to play it as a whole.
Also, breaking with the WC3 engine enables the developers to fix some nasty bugs from WC3 and enables features for future versions, which were just not possible before.
You could still ask, why not to take HoN or LoL over Dota 2? Well, I cannot answer that. Personal preference again.
I for myself liked the announced plans for community support that much, that I am willing to give it a try. And if I would care for shiny graphics that much, I wouldn't still play Dota 1 ;)