League also had a head start over Dota 2 (though not over DotA 1), and people were drawn to the game their friends were already playing. Of these, I think the biggest factors contributing to the difference are the amount of marketing Riot and Valve did for their respective games to promote them to more casual players (referral links ftw), and the fact that Dota 2 was limited by beta keys. I believe League also had more marketing done in the past to help garner that critical mass of players, at which point it feels like everybody and their mother plays League and you might as well play League so you can play with your friends. Once League draw the players in initially, the IP and leveling system helps to keep people playing since they feel like they've already made an investment in the game and don't want to simply give it up. I would say the more action-oriented style of League (with its skillshots, instant turnrates and generally more responsive feeling controls), as well as its focus on clearly indicated range indicators and stuff like that, is more appealing to a broader audience than Dota is. There are also far more nonintuitive mechanics (denying, pulling, creep blocking, etc.) and frustrating pubstompers to deal with in Dota that can easily turn off new players from the game, such as Spirit Breaker with his global charge, Sniper with his long range and spammable ult, Nature's Prophet with his global teleport and insane pushing and farming capabilities, and really pretty much every hero in the game is a pubstomper in some way or another. The fact that Dota 2 required a beta key until recently also limited its growth since even though it was easy for anyone who really wanted a key to get one, I can imagine many people just wouldn't bother. Dota 2's tutorial system has improved a lot since I started playing, but when I started League about a year ago, its tutorial system explained the game far better than Dota 2 did (back when I got my beta key a year and a half ago I don't think there even was a tutorial). I started playing LoL first even though I had a beta key for Dota 2 because it was simply easier to get into.
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