[Megathread] DotA 2

[Deleted]

Just played three matches against bots with Slardar, Morphling, Tiny. My last game, which was with Slardar, I finally got a bit of hang of things (against Easy bots mind you).

So far (including comparisons to LoL as that's what I'm used to):

- The abilities are pretty cool. Much more varied than LoL.
- The graphics, while good, are (to me) a bit less clear than LoL, but I guess that just takes some getting used to.
- The map is huge
- The division of shops, I personally don't like it at this point. I guess once one knows all the items and where to find them this gets better though. However...why did they decide to make multiple shops?
- The costs of items is pretty huge, and sometimes components already take 3000g. Is there a way to stash my gold? Because it's pretty hard to farm up 3000g without dying (in my very short experience).
- In a comptetitive game such as this...why is gold earned per minion a random number?
- Not sure if I like it more than LoL at this point. Some people call LoL simpler, which is true, but to me it also seems more elegant. It's less varied, but I guess that makes it more easy to anticipate what can happen in a lane etc. Definitely gonna play more though, as after 3 games I know next to nothing about the game.

[Deleted]

- The division of shops, I personally don't like it at this point. I guess once one knows all the items and where to find them this gets better though. However...why did they decide to make multiple shops?

The sideshop is there so that people in the side lanes can complete the "most important" items without making constant use of the courier. The secret shop is there to create an element of importance regarding map control. Once you get a flying courier buying from there isn't too much of a hassle anyway, unless of course your enemies are there to kill it.

- The costs of items is pretty huge, and sometimes components already take 3000g. Is there a way to stash my gold? Because it's pretty hard to farm up 3000g without dying (in my very short experience).

No, there is no way to stash your gold. Farming up so much can indeed be a bitch but it's to make sure that people don't get really powerful items even if they keep dying and just buy components on the way.

- Not sure if I like it more than LoL at this point. Some people call LoL simpler, which is true, but to me it also seems more elegant. It's less varied, but I guess that makes it more easy to anticipate what can happen in a lane etc. Definitely gonna play more though, as after 3 games I know next to nothing about the game.

If you'd like to, we could play a couple of games and I'd be glad to answer any questions.

[PizzaSHARK]

http://www.twitch.tv/dreamhackdota/b...7756?t=193m20s

Jesus christ, that Mouz vs Darer game. Mouz really showing how good they are when they aren't playing stupid.

[Finear]

[Lysah]

I see people ragequitting in maybe 1/4 games or fewer, and it's almost always during the first minute or when the game is already over so it doesn't even matter. "Valve refuses to put any resources" sounds like a typical MMOC bullshit sentiment so I'll just leave it at that. And I again welcome you to take a round of low-priority matchmaking to catch the feeling of how abandoning doesn't matter at all.

If you DC out of a game you don't get a debuff. That's why you see people DCing out of games so often. Maybe it doesn't happen at your MMR but I get it all the time.

There are also the flat out abandons 10 seconds in, I haven't had many in the past few days but last week I went through seven losses in eight games that were over before picks because of an instant abandon. It was especially bad because of the PA release - people either don't get PA and rage quit or they get PA but their team picks other carries so they rage quit.

Lastly, it's hard for me to have faith in the reporting system when people can feed 20 chickens to the enemy team all game, force staff their allies up cliffs and then spam click the crow at base so you can't fly TP scrolls to yourself, buy gems and intentionally run into the enemy fountain when you're a stealth hero, etc. and none of them ever get low prio let alone banned for this.

[Deleted]

If any of you a bit more experienced people can get me a bit into the game, you can get all of my internet cookies found in my internet jar on top of my internet closet.

cappadocian_87[at]hotmail[dot]com is still my steam username it seems.

[PizzaSHARK]

If any of you a bit more experienced people can get me a bit into the game, you can get all of my internet cookies found in my internet jar on top of my internet closet.

People still use Hotmail? And why are the cookies in the closet...?

Lysah, what items does Doomy usually get after his core wand+phase boots+vanguard? Armlet seems like a good idea since it's cheap and effective, but it doesn't do anything for mana issues.

And which gods do I have to pray to in order to get a fucking alpha wolf to spawn? I still haven't seen a single one in three goddamn games... just nothing but trolls and taskmasters.

[Valedus]

People still use Hotmail? And why are the cookies in the closet...?

Lysah, what items does Doomy usually get after his core wand+phase boots+vanguard? Armlet seems like a good idea since it's cheap and effective, but it doesn't do anything for mana issues.

And which gods do I have to pray to in order to get a fucking alpha wolf to spawn? I still haven't seen a single one in three goddamn games... just nothing but trolls and taskmasters.

You can check both jungles, assuming you have map control, but yeah, they only spawn in certain packs and it can be annoying. If you want mana issues to be solved, Battlefury isn't a bad item. It still gives damage and helps you farm even more, and is nasty with crit hits.

Also: question for anyone, how does the MMR work? Played some games with my brother tonight, who hasn't played since DotA1 (we just gave him a key) and the games were nasty. Like, real nasty. I went 18-4 as Windrunner, and was getting 1600 crit cleaves on Sven(so damn fun), etc. It never felt like a challenge. Did it normalize our MMR's or something?

[Lysah]

And which gods do I have to pray to in order to get a fucking alpha wolf to spawn? I still haven't seen a single one in three goddamn games... just nothing but trolls and taskmasters.

Yeah the alpha wolf curse is a real shit, I've spent 45 minutes in a game waiting for one to spawn. It only appears at two camps on each side if you know which ones to be looking at, remember.

I don't skill lvl?death, it's a waste of mana when your auto attacks hit just as hard and the cast animation only slows you down. It's only barely worth it if you get the multiplier, 4 skill points to be able to hit people a few minutes of the game just doesn't compare to +8 to stats always in my opinion. Between devour and using scorched earth when you're attacking/running away I never have mana issues without any real items.

I usually start with quelling blade/health regen/stats or stout depending on what I'm doing (lane versus jungle). I'll rush strength treads and the helm for armlet as fast as possible, the attack speed/health+armor boost will keep you alive from most anything early game. He definitely needs the armor with his 0 base. With some decent last hitting skill you can easily have strength treads/armlet by the time anyone else is even finishing their tier 2 boots. When you have that and all earthshaker has is energy boots and teleport scrolls it's pretty easy to pick up kills early on. Doom and an auto attack or two will kill most heroes, and since you levelled SE instead of lvl?death you're phenominally faster than them. After that I usually pick up MoM>lothars>yasha, which I usually have completed around 22 minutes. It sounds cheesy, but SE+yasha/MoM is 522 movespeed, you'll have the attack speed of a high level agility carry, and you'll be critting for over 500 with armlet activated. You'll also have 2200ish health and plenty of armor to take a hit. Lothars lets you drop in on a hero that could otherwise put up a fight, get a free 400 damage auto attack and then doom them and they'll be instant panic mode, as if they ever had a chance to survive anyway.

Of course, BKB is necessary some games, lothars is the first item I'd drop for it. Skadi is necessary to stop people from running away, it also gives you even more health/mana and is one of the best items in the game in my opinion. MoM is necessary for the speed boost, as is SY. If you find that you don't need to be the melee carry of the team, you can always change items around to be more tank, but I just find caster doom to be a huge waste of 20% of the team's space, lvl?death is hilarious early game but it's effectiveness very rarely lasts so all you'll end up with is doom and run in circles doing no damage.

I'm sure other people will disagree with me, and there are many ways to play a hero. But I find hard carry Lucifer to be easily my most successful, the sheer speed at which you can develop these items and the way they synergize with SE/alpha wolf skills/doom is insane. Armlet/MoM/yasha/lothars already costs less than manta/bfury AM and you can do a whole hell of a lot more with it. Plus, because of devour you'll have these items when AM is just finishing bfury and has 800 health.

The only other recommendations I would ever make as far as items go is heart/shivas/guinsoos as a tank/support build or blink/centaur for snap CC (very situational). Blinkcentaur used to be my favorite build but the 30% damage aura and crits from alpha wolf are just way too damn good. And even if their team stacks the hell out of CCs and you can't run around like a pub agility player right clicking people to death, you can always farm BKB up in a matter of minutes and continue on the merry path to ultra kills. There just really is nothing quite like running through their team two shotting people, even PA doesn't compare.

[Deleted]

People still use Hotmail? And why are the cookies in the closet...?

Lysah, what items does Doomy usually get after his core wand+phase boots+vanguard? Armlet seems like a good idea since it's cheap and effective, but it doesn't do anything for mana issues.

And which gods do I have to pray to in order to get a fucking alpha wolf to spawn? I still haven't seen a single one in three goddamn games... just nothing but trolls and taskmasters.

Nope I don't use it, that was just my email at the time, which is like what .. 12 years ago or something.

[Kuntantee]

I love watching games where Na'Vi gets crushed...Looking for same results in TI2.

call me Na'Vi hater, idc.

[Deleted]

It's good to see mTw winning both TI2 qualifiers and DH after all the negative comments they got lately. (Not deserving of an invitation/ trash tier 2 team etc.)

[Kuntantee]

It would be good to see NEXT.kz in TI2 such great team...well mTw totally deserves their place....more than those who were invited.

[Lysah]

I love watching games where Na'Vi gets crushed...Looking for same results in TI2.

call me Na'Vi hater, idc.

Looking at their arrogant picks I'm inclined to agree, though I didn't actually watch the games.

[PizzaSHARK]

It would be good to see NEXT.kz in TI2 such great team...well mTw totally deserves their place....more than those who were invited.

I'd rather see Mouz. All of the players are skilled, but they have an annoying tendency to make some really awful decisions mid-game, giving up free kills and towers, etc.

NextKZ ain't bad, but they aren't really the best, either. I'm glad mTw made it... though that means Tobi won't be able to co-cast with Synd until mTw inevitably gets knocked out by EHOME or Na'Vi.

And yeah, I love seeing those pompous dbags in Na'Vi get taken down a peg. They're all amazingly skilled, but they're just so fucking... arrogant about it. Somehow I expect Na'Vi to turn into the idrA of the Dota2 world.

[Finear]

And yeah, I love seeing those pompous dbags in Na'Vi get taken down a peg. They're all amazingly skilled, but they're just so fucking... arrogant about it.

what?
they are not arrogant :3

Looking at their arrogant picks I'm inclined to agree, though I didn't actually watch the games.

could you tell me which of this picks are "arrogant" ?
http://www.joindota.com/en/news/3384...w-is-on-a-roll

if anything i would call jugg unconventional pick

[Lysah]

could you tell me which of this picks are "arrogant" ?

Last two games, the ones they lost and deserved to.

Game 2: 4 support casters and a soft carry, exactly the kind of team you'd expect to see from a 5 stack stomping pubs, not an actual competitive game where they consider the enemy team equal.

Game 3: See above, but this time they were smart enough to replace the soft carry with a hard carry. This is actually worse, in my opinion.

[Finear]

Game 2: 4 support casters and a soft carry, exactly the kind of team you'd expect to see from a 5 stack stomping pubs, not an actual competitive game where they consider the enemy team equal.

those are common picks on competitive scene so im not sure what you talkin about

[Lysah]

those are common picks on competitive scene so im not sure what you talkin about

It's also common for them to lose, unless this tournament is just some huge miracle. It's not even like this was the only match where I could've predicted the winner immediately based on picks.

[Deleted]

Puppey was acting somewhat arrogent when he said they would win 2-0 without a problem vs MTW but he kinda apologized after the games and said he respects MTW a lot now. Also he said before they would save their real picks/strats for TI2.

A lot of pros have also said that the european teams are all able to beat each other just based on having a bad or good day because they are mostly the same skill. I still think Navi will go into TI2 as a favourite and most likely win or lose the finals to some asians.