Yeah, I know all the items and what they do. Every moba has very similar things to all of that. All those items are great and all.... but the enemy team has access to the same efficient gizmos that you do. It's not like they hit a point of snowballing and suddenly the game locks up their store, to prevent extremely practical things like those from being bought. If they're that far ahead, chances are they already HAVE alot of stuff like that. It's pretty much guaranteed, in fact. That's a huge part of the concept of snowballing. It's not about them buying expensive items: It's about them buying GOOD items.
And specifically, when I mention all of this stuff, I'm talking about it in an overall sense. It happening differently at a few tournaments doesnt change the fact that it's very rare. It simply means that it's happened in some well-known matches.
And yes, I know it requires good teamwork and all of that.... but in addition to everything related to it, this is a game that uses alot of stats and numbers and calculations..... there's only so much you can do when your spells.... the ones that never scale..... BOUNCE OFF of the enemy team. Because they're just too powerful to get wrecked at that point. And that's the thing here. Chances are, when this situation is taking place, it's NOT just the enemy carry who's gone berserk. It's probably the entire enemy team by that point.... I only mentioned the carry repeatedly because it's usually the best example, so it makes it less likely that I'll just confuse the points I'm just trying to make but it's rare that in this situation the enemy carry is the ONLY one who is snowballing. I've been mostly referring to the entire enemy team being ahead like this, not JUST their carry.
And if this is an enemy team that ISNT dumber than a sack of hammers, chances are they're well aware of any potential remaining weaknesses that could be used against them, and have made preparations to handle those. Which goes along with the other bit I said: If a big comeback happens from as far behind as I'm describing, chances are the other team had a major mistake. If you're that far ahead, and you're using teamwork that's just as good as or better than the team that's trying for the miracle win from behind, without any incredible mistakes, well.... you've got quite the high chance of keeping your win chance very secure.
Though why exactly anyone from LoL would try to bring this up in relation to Dota and NOT LoL is baffling to me. The problem is pretty much the same in LoL.... the only difference being the pleasant inclusion of a surrender mechanic. It has all the same issues though, if not to the same extremes. It's more of a genre problem, not just a Dota problem. Thinking otherwise is kinda silly, really....
As for examples in other genres, the only other game type I do competetively is fighting games, so stuff from other genres dont make too much sense to me.
Just got finished watching a 60 minute game between Empire and Sigma in the Shock Therapy Cup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UicwFDctsoThe game was actually played and recorded today, so it's safe to say that it's fairly recent
The thing is, Sigma completely crushed Empire early on. Empire lost all 3 lanes according to the casters. At the ~12 minute mark Sigma had double the kills and a 10,000 gold lead. They basically had double the gold of Empire at that point.
To make matters worse, Sigma *had* the better late game as well. Sigma had 2 hard carries, where Empire had none. So with Sigma, the better late game team comp crushing Empire early on, it looked like there was no hope for the losing team. Sigma kept their gold advantage for most the game. They killed Roshan 4 times, getting the aegis of course, and the cheese the 3rd and 4th time. They had destroyed Empire's bottom set of rax around the 30 minute mark.
I'm sure you know where this is going...Sigma lost the game. It wasn't like you said either, they didn't make any massive mistakes. They played a pretty solid game from beginning to end, Empire was just better. There was no glaring mistake that Sigma made that simply lost them the game. In fact, by all appearances, they should have won. The casters were sure they would win for 75% of the game, then finally began changing their minds at the end.
Comebacks like this happen all the time in competitive DotA. Ultimately, the game rewards the better team. I think that's what really matters. We get into these discussions about the chance of comebacks, mechanics designed to facilitate that, etc., but in the end, I think the most important factor is that the better team wins. In DotA that is almost always the case.
In League for example, I often see the better team losing. For example, let's say you have 3 better players than your opponent. You have a better top, a better support, and a better jungler. Well if the mid and carry lose, you're probably still going to lose the game in LoL. The thing is, top lane is so isolated from the rest of the game. Even if they're winning, they have to leave their lane to help anyone else, and without items like scroll of teleport, they're just giving the opposing top player a chance to take their tower and get back into the game.
Supports in LoL are like jokes. It doesn't really matter how good you are, your contribution to a team fight is usually pretty lackluster. Where in DotA you have supports like Earthshaker, Ancient Apparition, and Silencer, which can change the outcome of the fight single-handedly, LoL supports are really there more for the laning phase than anything. So even if it's a good player, their contribution to the game is very limited.
Having a good jungler is nice, but 1 player probably isn't going to change the outcome of the game if your mid and carry are failing.
This is just one example. The mechanics in DotA facilitate the better team by giving them the tools to stay ahead if they are winning, or get back into the game if they are losing. Individual players can make huge differences and turn the entire thing around. I was completely baffled in this game at how much Doom and Storm Spirit carried their team back from the gates of hell into victory. Some of the plays had me holding my breath the whole time.
You mentioned that you play competitive fighting games sometimes. Well in those fighting games, does the better player not usually win? If one player is ahead in a match (say by 50% of the healthbar), doesn't he have a huge advantage? Why shouldn't he have a huge advantage, he earned that lead. Sure, there may be small mechanics like a bigger "super" bar for the losing player, but ultimately, the player which has a large lead in health is going to have the advantage. Playing from behind is always going to be more difficult, but in the end, the better player typically wins right?
That's the whole point. Good game design ensures that the better team wins, and in the end, I think DotA does that well.
