Lessons from DotA that Demigod missed...
Demigod has a lot of features that make it more appealing than DotA. However, Demigod missed a couple valuable lessons. In particular, even a slight skill advantage in Demigod can cause a whole game to be pretty lame. The problem is, Demigod doesn't have the control mechanisms that DotA has.
1) Many levels are small enough that a single good player can repel all lanes.
Cataract, one of the most played custom levels, a single player can move from side to side, unhindered, in about 15 seconds. That means, if you know you're outmatched - you CANNOT leave. Basically you turn into instant XP.
2) Large Levels Lag
My computer can't handle Mandala (the only level with 3 lanes). It can't even handle "the brothers." My computer was top of the line last year. That's probably better than 80% of gamers. (Way to miss your target market?)
3) Mid level portals.
The other issue is, somebody at GPGs is in LOVE with mid level portals. 4/8 maps have mid level portals. This is highly disruptive to game control. If your not a very good player, you can't get XP off of these "phantom lanes" because you'll be tanking all the creeps.That means your stuck on the primary lanes, which there aren't enough of.
4) No neutral creeps.
In DotA, if you've fallen a bit behind, you can kill a few neutral creeps unhindered.
5) Very short distance between towers. In addition, some tower placements make towers meaningless.
In DotA, there is still some strategy and creep reliance with towers. In Demigod, it quickly gets to a point where towers are meaningless, especially if you don't have the money to spare to upgrade your citadel. The combination of these 5 items means, basically anytime you are against a "good" or "very good" opponent (relative to your own skill), the game is a complete lock out and lacks any push and pull that is inherent to DotA.
6) Creeps and general's creeps are not very good.
A single ability shouldn't wipe out a whole group of creeps. Especially in a game that emphasises "Generals." When I'm playing OAK and I can rally the charge to wipe out all the creeps, that's not good game design. End of story.
7) The game lacks items that make a significant impact on creep waves.
In DotA, if you're not a very good player, you can at least buy aura items and gather several waves of creeps to make a good push. I've never seen a gathering of creeps like this in Demigod (except when they're at the citadel.)
I've put in about 30 hours of play time in this game. It probably didn't help that I stopped playing for a few weeks and the strategies have changed, but I'm not having fun learning how to be a good player. I know some people's attitudes are "Suck it up noob" but lets face it, my attitude and the majority of gamers out there play to... have fun. I'm not going to keep trying harder to become better at a game, when I'm not having fun LEARNING to play the game. There's lots of people out there like me that feel the same way. DotA became a very popular, good game because of good *Design*. Demigod deviates from DotA a lot. In some ways that's good, but there has to be balance in the Design. "Control Mechanisms" - something that keeps the game in check (allowing for push and pull), long enough that the game is interesting for both sides. A skilled side will still win, but only the most noobish players vs pro players should be a complete steamroll.
tl;dr Demigod is won/lost too easily in the first 5 minutes of the game, than you either be a tool and leave, or you suffer for 40 minutes.