Talk:VPBE/@comment-3463132-20150114024533/@comment-1330314-20150116195400

I wouldn't say Riot updating its game really creates brokenness, rather, its design philosophy has evolved over time to recognize mechanics that were previously considered okay as unhealthy (silences on high-burst champions, for example). Even so, it's also a matter of perspective: the most glaring issues right now, for example, are some assassins like and  being either too good overall or too low on interaction, and those are getting addressed within a patch cycle of being brought up. In Season 2, entire classes of champions (mages and marksmen) were unplayably weak, while another class (bruisers) dominated the game completely. In Season 1, jungle was one of the unhealthiest things to exist in the game (and still is to this day), and he remained untouched for months before finally getting a rework/nerf. Dota 2 is still in infancy compared to LoL, but despite having different core rules, its most recent updates (namely, the Shifting Snows update) implemented changes and design paradigms that Riot established literally years ago (Dragon Knight not losing previously learned abilities on Dragon Form, for example, or Beastmaster gaining both his pets right from the start instead of having to gain them via ranking up abilities). Even then, you can still have issues like Tiny permanently trapping an ally by throwing them into a bunch of trees, and that's seen as acceptable.

I also disagree that Dota 2's stats add that much complexity. If anything, it makes stat-based decisions mostly irrelevant, because most late-game items offer so many different stats that they rarely factor into purchase decisions (by contrast, even has meaningful stats). While Dota does have Orchid Malevolence, which is DFG on steroids, or Vladimir's Offering, which is basically prior to its nerfs, League has a lot of those effects, on top of more meaningful build paths (you don't have to build armor for a damage item, which is the case for Armlet of Mordiggian). A lot of those powerful actives are also present in the form of summoner spells in League: Force Staff and Blink Dagger, essential items on a lot of Dota champions, exist here in the form of. Teleport Scroll exists in the form of Recall and at the same time. Supports also have better item options in League than in Dota, with dedicated build paths right from the start and enough effects and actives to cater to specific playstyles (AP support, utility support, hybrid, etc.), as opposed to Dota's support itemization which tends to be aura-based. There's also the case of junglers, a role that is fully recognized and catered to in League, yet that has barely one dedicated item in Dota. There are a lot of itemization niches in League, such as magic resist tanks, poaching junglers, health-shredder carries and on-hit autoattackers, that have no real equivalent in Dota, and those niches exist because League tends to be more subtle with its distribution of stats and effects on items. League still has a few itemization holes and problems, but it's a lot more structured and complete than Dota 2's.