Quote Originally Posted by trep View Post
I think it's a matter of opinion really. I would rate Dota2 into the complexity side of games. Not everyone will like this kind of game and even after 1000 hours of playtime, some are still figuring out what happened. I personally think a balance between both is possible though.
In Dota 2's case it's a matter of an enjoyable level of depth for each character, but each character's depth is subject to the depth of every single other character. It's like playing a nuanced Rock-Paper-Scissors in the 81st factorial. Normally a learning curve would be enough, but since the premise of the game is that massive number of characters available to play both as and against from the get-go, that's nearly impossible. It drops you into the height of it in your very first match.

Oddly enough, FPS's do the same, but (luckily?) people don't realize just how much complexity (more in terms of rules of thumb more than actual coded rules of the game, though the latter can be numerous too) many of them can have, and the self-led learning usually works itself into an enjoyable pace. MMOs with an emphasis on long-depth sub-mechanics, a free pace and a large open world tend to do the same.