League of Legends and DOTA 2 are currently the two leading MOBA titles in the world. While DOTA 2 has seen a clear decline in some Asian countries, on the flip side, League of Legends is not as strong in North America and Europe compared to the LPL and LCK regions. This is exemplified by the absolute dominance of Eastern League of Legends since 2012 at the World Championship.
The communities of League of Legends and DOTA 2 are always embroiled in debates, arguing which game is truly “champion” in the MOBA gaming scene. Even details like prize money, tournament scale, and the legends of each game can become subjects of heated discussions within these two renowned Esports communities.
Recently, the communities of these two games engaged in a fierce debate triggered by streamer xQcOW – a popular streamer with millions of views on Twitch who often creates content related to various games like DOTA 2, Overwatch, and more. Specifically, during a discussion with xQcOW on December 25, former Riot employee Blautoise argued that the design of DOTA 2 is truly terrible and he does not understand why so many people think that the harder a game is, the better it is.
In response to Blautoise’s criticism of DOTA 2, streamer xQcOW harshly claimed that League of Legends players are too “weak”: “League of Legends only has about 3 activated items, and Riot even intends to remove them because they think too many buttons make League of Legends players unable to use them properly, how is that any different from being weak? It’s like, ‘Oh my God, 5 buttons? That’s too much, I can’t handle that! It’s exhausting!’.
This comment from the male streamer displeased Blautoise, and both sides continued their heated exchange. Ultimately, the debate ended without either side truly claiming victory.
However, just a few days later, netizens discovered that xQcOW had also been trying hard in League of Legends, even reaching level 77 and spending some money in-game to buy skins. When playing, he also seemed very try-hard and got frustrated when he was defeated or made mistakes.
Criticizing the League of Legends community as “weak” but later trying hard in the “national game”, xQcOW has been called out by many for seemingly trying to gain views. However, this is still evidence that League of Legends truly has a powerful allure and continues to grow more widely every day.