I've always seen so much hatred back-and-forth over the years between the two games, that it was astounding, mostly humbling, to see the League Frontpage today. Mostly because the fan-following of these two giant titles are so vocal about how the other side is spewing garbage and promoting a poorer quality experience.

Dota has come such a long way. About 3 years ago, I remember we were paused during a HoN game, and I was playing Zephyr mid. One of my friends made a comment about Valve releasing Dota. At that moment, looking at the incredible HoN engine and how goddamn suave my Turkey Zephyr looked midturn, I laughed and made an offhanded comment about how I would never leave this beautiful game, about how this was the true game and how the new Dota would never make it.

Today I've been playing this game with over 7k steam hours, 3000+ games and god knows how many weekends spent frozen in front of the computer as my dota loaded, how many classes bunked so I could get an extra match in, and how many frustrating moments/triumphal shouts invested into this glorious game.

The laptop I play with today has broken screen pixels running across it, shitty ping and framerate issues on SEA, power cuts that lead to disconnects into abandons into low prio games and a host of other issues that make the game frustrating and ugly. I've lost almost all of the friends I used to queue with, mostly because they couldn't handle the pressure anymore, and it was too difficult to move on.

But I still play. Perhaps every night, I try to get at least a game in. My APM isn't the same, and slumping onto my chair after coming back from work, I hit the Find Match button and try to kill the hour with a dota 2 match. Most end frustratingly, some end without emotion after tasteless victories. But even after 3 years, I still look out for those games, those close-call victories, that really put the life back in me. I sometimes feel like a lost man seeking el dorado or atlantis, but those rare moments of euphoria that I chance upon make all those countless hours of frustrating games worth it.

I've made some friends here, but lost a lot more here. I've learnt a lot too over the years. But mostly, even after all I've lost, I'm glad I've stuck through. Because I believe better things are yet to come.