The gameplay is very similar. League of Legends is heavily based on the original Dota but with different characters and slightly different mechanics where Dota 2 is a port of Dota 1 from a Warcraft III map to a standalone game.
I personally prefer Dota 2 but it's largely subjective.
The biggest difference is probably in business models. While both games use micro-transactions Dota 2 only sells cosmetic items, League of Legends requires you to buy (either via $ or points earned in game) access to champions/heroes.
Also, in LoL, you unlock runes the more you play(or masteries, can't remember exactly). These give small bonuses (e.g. +4% attack speed, turrets do splash damage). This means that people who have played the game more have an advantage in terms of stats and also champion choice.
As mentioned, DotA 2 only sells cosmetic items, or access to streams of events. This means that the game itself doesn't change whether you're new or experienced. You have access to the exact same heroes, and no extra bonuses.
>This means that people who have played the game more have an advantage in terms of stats and also champion choice.
untrue. you can get full rune page quite fast (~ month). and once it's done, there's no disadvantage anymore. if you play smartly from very beginning, you can get that done around lvl 30, right when you are allowed to start playing game competitively.
also - champion choice is not that important. especially in low level. and it's better to learn few champions thoroughly than "gotta catch em all" and being good at none.
I actually really like the marketing of not offering all champions directly, KNOWNING that you can acquire champions without money but with points you get from playing the game.
When you start playing LOL you have to choose from, I think 6 different champions? Which is pretty limited but let you master those 6 before changing them the next week to 6 new champions. I learned the game without problems this way.
DOTA2 let you play with all the champions directly, oh boy was I lost and still am 200hours of games later. I only play "random" so I can learn every hero but I still haven't played 25% of them I would guess.
Also I know many friends who bought champions on LoL, I think it's a very good source of income.
Well then u have never played original DotA then, most veteran/hardcore DotA player i know never play LoL for this reason, and also other reasons such as changed game mechanics and game points benefit. It removes the originality and thrill of DotA from the game, thats why we rejoice as Dota2 came out, and we played dota for almost 8 years.
I'm talking about a new players point of view, and even for a veteran of DotA coming to LoL, he doesn't know the champions so he would have to learn them. And I think the method of changing the default champions every week is a good way to do that. Just my 2 cents.
I personally prefer Dota 2 but it's largely subjective.
The biggest difference is probably in business models. While both games use micro-transactions Dota 2 only sells cosmetic items, League of Legends requires you to buy (either via $ or points earned in game) access to champions/heroes.