I think its an improvement over its ancestor.
There are some who complain about graphics, but I like cartoons, and for me some champs are really cool (its my taste), 2nd cartoon style are more legible which is helpful in the mist of battle.
The shop are much more streamlined and much much more forgiving for newcomers. The controls are made clearly for that kind of game.rnThe fact that u gain level and IP from which u unlock new champions its helpful for newcomers.
The balance. So many are worshiping Dota and say how fu.. up is LoL from balance perspective. Let me tell my experience. Back in the day when I was playing Dota with my friends, in lan 5v5 with balanced out teams. Every time we played with random heroes, thats how Dota is played, because its no way around, and 1/3 games we knew the outcome from the beginning. There were time when we even restart the game before we begin, because we had no hope at all. In LoL everybody is choosing his own champ, as his style fits. Yes u will hear a lot "That champ is OP", but 99.9% of players are so weak that the difference between champs doesnt count in the outcome. I think only few 100 people can make that difference count. Every champions has his weakness. EVERY.rnIn LoL if champ A was a nightmare for me when I was playing with champ B, with champ C I loved to hunt him down. I dont want to imply that LoL is more balanced that Dota, because I didnt played Dota more than 3 years.But the fact that Dota is played mostly random when LoL is played with picks is proving exactly the contrary as many would imply. And its a teamplay, the outcome=75% team+25%personal skill.
And yes, no game will pass by w/o hearing some blames. Every game will finish with "Noob team" :). But if u didnt sink that low, it will not bother u.