Is SMITE any good to play? Compared to Dota?
As a DotA aficionado myself, I've always thought Smite was the second best MOBA on the market. It's sort of a neat hybrid between a decent first person shooter (take your pick) and League of Legends. So much of a hybrid that even the viewpoint lies in-between those two extremes (overhead * first person = 3rd person). So it's possibly the most twitch-based MOBA on the market, if you're into that sort of thing.
I will say that it has the best lore by far, using the old polytheistic Gods of many ancient religions, and (from what I've observed) staying very true to their original mythology while also making them incredibly fun and bad ass to play. I just don't think the other games can really compete much in this regard, especially the game where SMITE seems to draw most of its inspiration from (League of Legends), whose heroes are a brutal and confusing mix of futuristic psychic warriors, ninjas, warlocks and witches, and girls with teddy bears (it's very schizophrenic). Even DotA has some really cool lore/design concepts but in this regard loses in my opinion.
Now as far as the hero DESIGNS themselves, well that's up for grabs. I personally think DotA has the best designs in terms of gameplay mechanics, and this is reflected in the popularity of the game as an e-sport and competitive title. But in terms of gameplay, SMITE has some pretty neat ideas too, once again I find the designs in terms of gameplay mechanics to be superior to LoL, the game it seems to pull most of its MOBA inspiration from. The only majorly annoying/bad character design mechanic I've noticed is that 8,000 of the characters have an ultimate which makes them fly up in the air, temporarily invincible, and perform some action for a set period of time before landing and becoming vulnerable again. Yes, I get it they are gods. Yes I know it fits with the theme. But as a mechanic it's absolutely horrific to deal with. Imagine if in DotA half the cast had an ultimate that made them invincible and untargettable for several seconds. That's basically how it feels.
One advantage of SMITE over DotA is that it has many more modes built-in right from the beginning (sharing this with LoL). In addition to conquest it's got a various list of interesting and exciting maps and gameplay modifications that give the player some other things to do if the competitive mode gets boring (such as ARAM).
Given that I keep comparing it to LoL, I will say it's a much superior iteration of the former. In addition to the fresh 3rd person perspective, and the neat hero lore and superior design concepts, the game is balanced vastly better. It basically has the same two "Summoner Spell" slots as in LoL, but these are simply handled in a much more creative and balanced way. For example, there is a "Flash" equivalent but unlike in League it hasn't been overpowered since launch and 3+ years later the developers are too incompetent to think up a fix.
Overall, from what I've played, the game is a more simplified, more streamlined, more intuitive version of DotA. Or a more complex, more balanced, more enjoyable form of LoL. All of this with of course the 3rd person element makes it a top contender in the genre in my humble opinion.
