edit: Quote tags aren't working again.
we're 3 months in, and while demigod is tons of fun to play, it's still essentially broken. Custom games work good (though in my experience getting a 5v5 can still be difficult), yet patheon and skirmish while perhaps not 'broken', certainly aren't working completely, the ladder is totally bogus, achievements just barely started working (or are they?) favor points were broken until yesterday.
I agree with you that these items should work and don't, Pantheon and Skirmish in particular. However, I feel Demigod is far from broken in any stretch of the imagination. It was Broken when it launched until Stardock fixed the connectivity issues; and make no mistake, those issues have been fixed. The issues that are persisting now are mostly behind the scenes issues - such as database errors with statistic collection - that have proven to be more complicated than originally thought as stated in Frogboy's journals. While Pantheon and Skirmish do work they're not entirely reliable, however Custom Games work without any issues. The use of Custom Game as the primary method for playing online, however, brings social interaction issues - Pre-mades VS Randoms for example, which if Pantheon was the main method of play wouldn't be as major an issue as it is now - to people's attention. Other problems, like the lack of the larger scale games, are result of other problems that were understandably overlooked. The lack of 5v5 games, for example, is a result of the upload speed the average user playing Demigod seems to have. I can only play 4v4 if every person is Australian based and I can connect to them with a time of less than 100ms due to my own upload speed, for example. This can hardly be placed at the feet of the developers, who have already optimised the netcode to reduce the bandwidth requirements by a third. I understand that these features were listed "on the box" and don't work as intended, however it's not like we're being kept in the dark here and fed on bullshit. We're being informed when the situation changes, and clearly work is being done. Calling the game broken sounds like an extreme over-exaggeration of several smaller issues. They're annoying, however the game can still be enjoyed.
We have 8 demigods, it's debateable, but i'd say each demigod realistically has two builds, so you might say there are 16 demigods. Demigod is in a good position because it's only real competition is dota, a mod of a 6-ish year old game. Yet, best case scenario, league of legends ships in september, two months away, and last time i check their website, they had 21 heroes revealed, and room to reveal 7 more (presumably before or at launch)
Actually, I wouldn't say there are 16 Demigods. I'd say there are 8 Demigods each with two builds; variations on the unique play style of each Demigod. Unlike DotA, which has over 90 different Heroes, each Demigod has much more flexibility. The 90+ Heroes of DotA, for example, are merely slight variations on common themes or roles. This has already been discussed at length in multiple threads, and I don't feel the need to cover it all again. The basic outcome from those discussions: More Demigods would be nice, two are already on the way, however we don't want too many as to dilute the fairly good balance present in Demigod or give less significane to each Demigod.
In terms of the "Us VS Them" mentality of Demigod VS LoL or DotA, I'll have to go back to what Frogboy said; why does this mentality exist? If Demigod was the only game ever released of this sub-genre, it would grow stale. More releases of this sub-genre mean more development of the core ideas and growth; innovation of gameplay mechanics. You need only look at some of the Map ideas floating around in the suggestions sub-forum to get an idea of how a few minds are already looking to change the way Demigod flows. There are thousands of FPS's on the market, and yet I don't ready about "Crysis: Warhead will be the death of Quake: Live". It's a pointless argument. League of Legends, as you used in your example, appears to be trying to capture the DotA players more than forge it's own player base as Demigod has done. From the roster of heroes to the very art style of the game, League of Legends screams "DotA" and I feel this will be the games weakest element. Yet, if it's still fun, I'll still play it. Demigod, however, doesn't scream 'WE 
DOTA'. Demigod is it's own beast and will have it's own player base. Demigod is inherently slower and has a much less focus on the 'whack-a-mole' style gameplay that persists in DotA at a competitive level.
The first serious competition is drawing closer, and if demigod is going to solidify it's niche in the market, i feel as though they must do the following things to prove to community members the game has the legs of dota.
Most people aren't here to play DotA; they're here to play Demigod. Trying to compare Demigod to DotA at every turn is a flawed idea; DotA rides off the back of Warcraft 3 much in the same way that the original mod of Counter-Strike rode on the back Half-Life - these games were massive releases which sold millions of copies. Demigod has no such back to ride off. DotA had 'legs' because it's a rather old mod - publically released in early 2003 if memory serves me - which has a dedicated fan base because of it's age. Demigod is 3 months old.
-patheon and skirmish working perfectly
-clan support
-multi player finding system - you and 2 buddies can search for another team of 3 to play, etc
-minimum of 1 new demigod (in reality i think they community demands 2) - with some indication of further demigods in the works
-potentially 1 new map, and possibly some new items
Judging from your list 'requirements' I can only assume you don't keep up with Frogboy's journals. Ever feature you've listed is on the way. 2 new Demigods are in the works - free, of course - and a new micro-expansion - also free - called Clan Wars is going to be released adding in all the clan support and Team Matchmaking. Additional features for Impulse are also in the works to add things like VOIP and a far more robust Friends system. Demigod is a 'work in a progress' rather than the paid Beta people like to label it as - things are going to be added and changed for quite a while. We're 3 months into the game and already the amount of support we've seen trumps some of the support other games will receive in their entire life cycle.
I really am having fun playing demigod, it's a blast, but ill be honest, in it's current state, it isn't a complete game. The nuts and bolts are there, but the polish isnt. I think most community members would agree. I also think most community members will admit they see great potential in demigod and would like to see it flourish, i know i do. I feel like it's so close, but also these next two month will either make or break the game long term, and ill be honest, i'd like to have it around long term. Thoughts? comments?
I'd just like to point out that you should get over to the Journal's section of the Demigod forum and read up on Frogboy's posts more often.
