I’ve talked to a few people who have voiced concerns that DotA will be little more than a complexity buff to League of Legends, leaving players fumbling over mechanics and new champions for weeks. That may be true to some extent (although I have faith that players can pick the game up more quickly than that), but now that DotA is in Valve’s hands, there’s a lot more than just complexity on the horizon.

One of the first things I noticed about DotA 2 was the voice acting. Each hero has unique voice acting, complete with context aware clips for buying certain items, killing certain champions, or even missing abilities. Kunkka, a pirate-themed hero in DotA, casts a giant ghost ship that boosts allied move speed and stuns in an AoE on landing. It is notoriously hard to land. When the player misses, Kunkka says “now THAT was a failboat.” It’s little things like this that add a lot to the DotA experience. I know some champions in League have these kind of “hidden passives,” but to hear them for every hero in a game is really cool.

I’m not sure if this falls under the same umbrella, but I’ve also been enjoying the suggested items editor. League of Legends has gone on far too long without adding the feature. It’s so nice to not have to browse an ever-growing shop for the items I need. I find them once, add them to my build for that character and they’re available the next time I play. It’s even possible to save generic item builds that can be loaded for any character. I’m sure this is somewhere on Riot’s radar, but I would love to see it implemented sooner than later.