When comparing Dota 2 vs Payday 2, the Slant community recommends Payday 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best LAN party PC games?” Payday 2 is ranked 25th while Dota 2 is ranked 71st. The most important reason people chose Payday 2 is:
This game is like the bank heist scene from Heat.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Fair free-to-play business model
Microtransactions involve only cosmetic items such as custom weapon designs or clothing colors and tickets to view live events.
Pro Start with all heroes
You don't need to unlock or purchase characters.
Pro Incredibly deep gameplay
For players who put the time into Dota 2 to get past the early beginner phase, Dota 2 can become an extremely satisfying game. There's a reason it's one of the most popular eSports titles in the world. The amount of strategy, skill, and variables involved make it a very deep game where anything could happen.
Pro A very diverse MOBA
This game has a steep learning curve, but it's well worth it. The games that came after Dota like League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, Smite, and other lookalikes don't even compare to the complexity of Dota 2.
Every hero is unique and valuable in one team composition or another. The amount of versatility of each hero is amazing as well. The mechanics by far destroy any other Dota style game (MOBA) and that's what makes this game top tier in its genre. This game is the highest grossing eSport game in the world and will probably continue to be for a long time.
Pro It's very well-balanced
Gameplay is balanced in the sense that while other MOBAs would have only around 30-60 viable picks for the competitive scene, Dota 2 has heroes and strategies in the game that are more varied, which enables more heroes to be picked in the competitive scene.
Number of Heroes Picked in Dota 2's Recent Major Tournament in the past 4 months (as of July 2016) is 86/111 heroes picked and 100 out of 111 heroes picked.
To compare between Dota 2 and LoL pick diversity, LoL has 64 out of 131 champions picked for LCS.
There are also factors such as the ban/pick phase difference and the more rigid positions in LoL that may limit the viability for different playstyles and hero picks (typically it is 2 (AD, Support Bot) -1 (AP mid) -1 (Tank Off) - 1 (Jungler), with a possibility of double junglers in LoL).
On the other hand in Dota 2, there are a lot more different positions compared to Lol/Smite such as Duo Mid (1-2-2), Traditional (2-1-2), One Jungler (1-2-1-1, most similar to league), One Roamer (1-2-1-1 as well with the difference being the hero roams the map for kills to create space for the mid and safelane rather than farm the jungle which can weaken a lane), Duo Roamer (1-1-1-2, all lanes are weaker in lane presence with the tradeoff being they get solo experience with two aggressive supports roaming), Trilane (1-1-3, Aggressive or Passive Trilane) and Abandoned Offlane (0-1-3-1 where the offlane is completely left empty due to a strong duo or trilane on the opposing team).
More heroes are viable and balanced in Dota 2 partly due to the greater flexibility in laning. This can be attributed the mechanics such as creep pulling and creep stacking which allows the team doing trilane to make up for the shared experience between three heroes. Besides that, the existence of teleport scrolls that allow you to defend your towers or punish a tower dive also allows you to react and assist other lanes.
In pub games, any hero/lane/lineup can work, and it is more about your individual mechanical skills (understanding of hero, combo execution, map awareness, last hitting, timings, item builds, flow) over the lack of coordination and teamwork (on both teams).
Pro Has user-created custom games
Dota 2 includes Workshop Tools that allow users to create custom games as well as other play them.
Pro Moba-leading graphics
When compared to other leading MOBAs, Dota2 has some of the best graphics to be found.
Pro In-game mic
Has in-game mic so you can get toxic with voice chat.
Pro Cross-platform
Available on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
Pro Very active professional scene
Dota 2 has one of the most active professional scenes in eSports today. If it's not the most active, it's certainly got the largest prize pools, coming in at over $20 million in 2016.
Pro Players can trade self-made cosmetic items
The game includes a system for players to create, buy, and sell cosmetic items.
Pro Dota 2 has the world's biggest e-sports tournament
At The International 7 in summer 2017, players raised the prize pool to more than $23 million, one of the largest prize pools in sSports history.
Pro Can be played online and offline
However, you will need to be logged in to Steam either way.
Pro Good for brain
Trains brain hard.
Pro Regularly updated
Dota 2 is regularly patched and changed with new characters being introduced and balance changes made. This can prevent the game from becoming too stale as the tactics utilized by players changes often.
Pro Exhilarating gameplay that makes you and your friends feel like you are part of a Michael Mann movie
This game is like the bank heist scene from Heat.
Pro Cooperation based gameplay makes sure no single player is more important than any other
Your crew needs to bring specific equipment and weapons in order to stay out of sight or improve everyones chances in a gunfight. You also need to pay attention to your crew's health and ammo. This creates a situation where each team member heavily relies on the rest in order to succeed.
Pro Tons of customization options lets every player individualize their look
You can customize your weapons, masks, and skills using the loot you earn from your heists. This lends itself well to the fact that the game is online multiplayer, being that most players enjoy that they can look different from other players.
Pro Random item placement keeps the games levels fresh
Important items are placed in different locations on each playthrough, adding a slight bit of randomness to how each game plays out. This way you never become too familiar with the layout of each level.
Pro Play as you like, since the missions can be finished in many wildly different ways
You can win levels through stealth, or through a massacre, meaning that you can use nonviolent methods as well as super violent methods, the choice is yours.
Pro New content is added regularly, making sure the game stays fresh and updated for everyone
New DLCs are released regularly, which give old players something new to do as well as keeps the game enticing in order to attract new players.
Cons
Con It's got a huge learning curve
Dota 2 has 111 heroes, all of which are unique from each other. It will take time and effort to learn which heroes you like to play, and become skilled with them.
Con Rude, toxic community
Many players feel free to flame and insult, especially in the lower ranks and from non-English speaking countries.
Con You can be put into a low priority mode for being bad at the game
Con Matches are too long
The game is great but even just a single match can take a lot of time. And when you get to mid game and realize you already lost, you have no option but to keep dying and literally wait for the game to end.
Con Zero merit goes to good players
If you score, say, a 20 kills 0 deaths but your team loses because 4 people are noobs, you lose -26 personal rank.
Con Miserable community
Takes 100s of hours not to suck, and even then, you're still not going to be good.
Con No SURRENDER option
As ridiculous as it may sound, you are a slave, once you start a game.
You may suffer, you may cry, but you can't concede.
Very much influences an overall toxic atmosphere of game.
Con It's a slow and repetitive game
This might be the most repetitive MOBA game.
Con The controls are terrible
It feels more like SC as a MOBA than an actual MOBA.
Con Waste of time
Con It has voice chat
It boosts rage and toxicity so much it has to be removed.
Con Valve doesn't care about their players
No surrender option and bad teamate can influence your personal mmr even if you perform good. Plus the company seems way too big and the services start to lack and suffer.
Con You love and hate the game
While infuriating at times the addictiveness of the game keeps the players coming back.
Con Game has been broken down to make it noob friendly
Con Pay-to-win scheme
As others have said, this game is built on DLC and MicroTransactions. If you decide to just buy the game and not fork out any more money you'll find yourself at a SERIOUS disadvantage over other players. In addition, a lot of in-game items require you to either own other games or subscribe to specific Steam groups.
Con Microtransations that boost important stats
With Crimefest 2015, the developer (Overkill) decided to add stat-boosting gun skins that can only be acquired using real money. This makes for a pay-to-win scenario where people who purchase these items have a distinct leg up over non-paying players.
Con New DLC can be a bit expensive
Getting the new DLC the day it arrives can set you back a fair bit. Your best bet is to wait for a sale.
Con Some DLC requires owning other games
Some of the cosmetic items are tied into other games available on Steam, which means you can’t access them unless you purchase the other games as well.
Con Limited to 4 players only
This game has not been built for huge LAN parties (unless you split your players to multiple heists).
Con Train wreck of bad decisions
Developers broke the game to make cash, released a 'feel-good' version to build anticipation for Payday 3. Toxic, game, developers, community. Stay away.