DOTA 2 Catch-all

Warriorpoet897 wrote:

I tried playing this game for about 45 minutes and it felt almost impenetrable. It added insult to injury that I had trouble figuring out how to exit the game when I was frustrated.

Hit up me or Harry and we can walk you through it. There's also quite a few newbies in the thread workign to gether on a nightly basis. Cask, sped and so on.

I can attest that this game, even more than most is reliant on having a team to talk to you (in the same language!). This goes for both people that know the game and the people that are new.

Atomicvideohead wrote:
Warriorpoet897 wrote:

I tried playing this game for about 45 minutes and it felt almost impenetrable. It added insult to injury that I had trouble figuring out how to exit the game when I was frustrated.

Hit up me or Harry and we can walk you through it. There's also quite a few newbies in the thread workign to gether on a nightly basis. Cask, sped and so on.

I can attest that this game, even more than most is reliant on having a team to talk to you (in the same language!). This goes for both people that know the game and the people that are new.

You also have to put in your time learning the game. I did a lot of reading/watching before I even played a bot match. And everything still felt incredibly awkward then first few times. But the addictive part is as you start learning all the various systems/heroes/items.

Let me see if I can cut in paste my primer links that I've been sending people to intro to the game:

Cinematic -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cSFP...
- just to get the juices flowing

Welcome to Dota, You Suck -
http://www.purgegamers.com/welcome-t...
- the single best summary of how the game works and how a beginner can
approach the game

Tutorial Videos -
http://www.youtube.com/user/DotaCine...
- these are some of the best videos I've found on demonstrating
various techniques in the game in an accessible but detailed way

The International 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
- Valve recently held an invitational in Seattle with a 1.6mil purse
and a 1mil grand prize. I've linked to the playlist for day three and
there are some spectacular pro matches with extremely high production
values

Pub casting -
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
or http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
- some commentators take user submissions, some of lower level play,
and offer criticism on player decisions. Gave me a lot of tips on
things to avoid and things that were effective

Dota 2 Hero difficulty ratings -
http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/User%3...
- Once I started playing, this was very handy to help me start with
heroes that weren't as complicating. Just sort the table by overall
rating and it will help guide you in your early choices

Dota 2 Alt-tab guides - http://dota2alttab.com/
- great suggest skill/item builds for each hero. Extremely useful to
bring up on a 2nd monitor so you can refer to an effective build
order. These are better than the in-game suggested items and while
they aren't "optimal" builds, they are likely better than what you'd
choose with beginner knowledge.

I also recommend https://www.youtube.com/show/dota2failsoftheweek -- learn from the mistakes of others, and laugh at their misfortune!

Anyone play with Nyx since the latest update? Apparently they changed his spiked carapace ability fairly significantly.

Rumor is that next weeks "big patch" will include another character and moving Roshon to what they hope is mroe neutral territory. Apparently a recent beta in DOTA 1 includes Roshon's pit switched with the Dire ancients, so that you can see the back from lane. Entrance still faces the mid and river. Thoughts? I'm gonna have to see it in action personally. If it's true.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

Anyone play with Nyx since the latest update? Apparently they changed his spiked carapace ability fairly significantly.

Rumor is that next weeks "big patch" will include another character and moving Roshon to what they hope is mroe neutral territory. Apparently a recent beta in DOTA 1 includes Roshon's pit switched with the Dire ancients, so that you can see the back from lane. Entrance still faces the mid and river. Thoughts? I'm gonna have to see it in action personally. If it's true.

Yeah, it looks like it's going to be Magnataur (renamed Magnus, I think) next week. Moving Roshan could be interesting, though at pub level the positioning isn't going to be the difference for who gets Roshan kills.

Oh god, the tiny/magnus, and tiny/centaur combos are ridiculous. I used to play a ton of Centaur, double edge is such a fun spell.

I am slightly terrified by the amount of knowledge I am accruing about the systems within DOTA. It's not as much as some people, but.....yikes. I can hear myself in my head explaining things like armor vs. hitpoints, and I just want to scream "nerd," at me.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

I am slightly terrified by the amount of knowledge I am accruing about the systems within DOTA. It's not as much as some people, but.....yikes. I can hear myself in my head explaining things like armor vs. hitpoints, and I just want to scream "nerd," at me.

It's an extremely cerebral game, and there is always a lot more to learn.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

I am slightly terrified by the amount of knowledge I am accruing about the systems within DOTA. It's not as much as some people, but.....yikes. I can hear myself in my head explaining things like armor vs. hitpoints, and I just want to scream "nerd," at me.

Actually, I would love to have my brain think that way. I usually go for the HP regardless of what I'm fighting against.

Hobbes2099 wrote:
Atomicvideohead wrote:

I am slightly terrified by the amount of knowledge I am accruing about the systems within DOTA. It's not as much as some people, but.....yikes. I can hear myself in my head explaining things like armor vs. hitpoints, and I just want to scream "nerd," at me.

Actually, I would love to have my brain think that way. I usually go for the HP regardless of what I'm fighting against.

HP -- additive. Armor -- Percentage. HP more effective early game and against magic. Armor is mid to late game, stronger against physical damage.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

I am slightly terrified by the amount of knowledge I am accruing about the systems within DOTA. It's not as much as some people, but.....yikes. I can hear myself in my head explaining things like armor vs. hitpoints, and I just want to scream "nerd," at me.

That is what feeds the addiction for me. Just the sheer volume of information to learn. And incorporating more and more of it into your gameplay. I just started doing more creep pulling as support this weekend. And a lot more warding - though my placement sometimes falls short.

Also, the 6.75 changelog was fascinating, as I could see the impact to many of the balance changes.

Holy crap! That change log is definitive!

Ah, cheaper wards how delicious. That said, power levels seem to be going up accross the board, us poor lost supports will need the extra gold for some survivability.

dibs wrote:

Ah, cheaper wards how delicious. That said, power levels seem to be going up accross the board, us poor lost supports will need the extra gold for some survivability.

There is also more gold available for supports due to the tweaks in how gold is distributed to nearby team members on hero kills. This means that even if you don't split the last hit gold, you are still making more money if you help gank or team fight.

I'm really curious to see how quickly all (or some) of this finds it's way into the Dota 2 client.

Also, I think last night's match was my favourite Dota 2 match so far. Having 5 people on voice and being matched so closely with the other team made for some very satisfying play. And I think everyone was contributing fully to the effort. I do wish we'd managed to push through for the win, but even in defeat it was a reminder of why we endure so many horrible matches. Of course, with such a close match, I wish I'd made a couple different item choices...might have made the difference.

Reading through the changelog brings back many painful, and happy memories of a lot of the heroes that still aren't in this game.

Yeah great fun. Made a few too many mistakes, and didnt quite finish my linkens -- probably would have helped my survivability. Did enjoy my first go as Nyx though.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

Yeah great fun. Made a few too many mistakes, and didnt quite finish my linkens -- probably would have helped my survivability. Did enjoy my first go as Nyx though.

Yeah, I shouldn't have gone with the 2nd mek. And the sheep stick was probably stun overkill. Couldn't stay uninterrupted and alive long enough in team fights to use everything. Shiva's might have been a better choice. And agahnim's or BKB. There were a few times where I could have gotten off a 2nd earth strike except I was silenced/stunned.

Also, with a full team, we should probably look to use smoke a bit more often when trying to catch someone out or start a team fight. Might have been enough to put us over the edge last night.

I'm also looking forward to some more matches playing Sand King.

I had a lot of fun that game. I definitely had my farm and every right where I needed it but that Skeleton King got his too sooooo.

GO TEAM BUG!

That is all.

Axe announcer. Must. Have. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_2As...

Oh man, that is hysterical.

Team bug is the best team, pincers down.

So team bug...

Nyx
brood
weaver
sand king
?

Happytime Harry wrote:

So team bug...

Nyx
brood
weaver
sand king
?

Venommancer.

Kinda Tricky. Lots of pushing seems to work, with the Nyx tripping up the other teams carry, and Sand King being the only one that can take a punch. Good amount of disable atleast. And everybody's pretty much invisible.

Dark Seer + Dusruptor + Sand King = fun times. Guaranteed.

liquid wrote:

Dark Seer + Dusruptor + Sand King = fun times. Guaranteed.

If you read 6.75, one of the biggest combos in the international is getting removed. Naga sleep + vaccum.

Yeah, I'm glad for that one. Better yet, remove Naga ulti entirely.

liquid wrote:

Yeah, I'm glad for that one. Better yet, remove Naga ulti entirely.

It's always been like that, although regular dota her ult only works where it's casted. So it doesnt follow her, i prefer it that way so she can still die if you are out of range an catch her.

That would be a nice and welcome change tbh.

So there is a new group for Dota2?

Guess it's for more active person :S

I wasn't always active, I just don't get the game correctly, and get fustrated.

Oh well. I'll try out a bit more after my 2 games I need done (TL2 and BL2)

I'll be on a buying hiatus, so, looking at the horizon for F2P games.