[Megathread] DotA 2

[Grable]

Man ESL was great. So much hype from the crowd and the casters. The Secret techies game had the people screaming their lungs out. And EG vs Secret matches were so good. Secret are simply fantastic but the matches wouldn't be good if EG weren't incredible as well.

[EqualWin]

PPD keeps trying to outdraft Puppey and he's not the one drafting anymore. I think EG will catch back up to Secret if they do their homework over the next month. Not sure about any of the others. But you would be amazed what a $20,000,000 prize pool will do to some people.

if some1 knows that puppey isn't drafting anymore, its PPD.

it has been 4 lans? with s4 drafting winning all of them.. its funny because when they tried zai as captain in starladder they got rekt, they bootcamped for like 1 or 2 weeks in turket for that, with s4 they dont even practice.

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the chineses LGD vg (tho they've been meh, I think its good for them, other teams wont focus on vg that much) eg secret and empire too

[PizzaSHARK]

Fuck me, just watched game 2 of EG v Secret. Secret is unquestionably the best team in the world now... their decision-making mid-fight and positioning is just unreal.

[Omertocracy]

Fuck me, just watched game 2 of EG v Secret. Secret is unquestionably the best team in the world now... their decision-making mid-fight and positioning is just unreal.

My jaw dropped open at parts of that series.

[RobertoCarlos]

I liked the force staff + mana leak combo's from puppey. Will be trying that out.

[Lysah]

Letting a team have KotL and DS at the same time is going to be as annoying as a game can get, not a good idea.

[Sorcereria]

WoW. Valve is really getting bad at customer support. Clearly they dont have the manpower...

I ask steamsupport to check what happened with my golden basher. Provided card info as they like and I get an automated response "please provide us a CDkey with a marker written on it with support ticket number".
That is on a fresh account that wasnt in the beta and only game on account. CDkey question on a free2play game...

First thing I laughed, though I wasnt smiling later realizing how bad it is compared to few years ago.

[PizzaSHARK]

My jaw dropped open at parts of that series.

They make EG look like a second tier team, when they're really one of the best teams in the world. At this point I think only EG and maybe VG have any chance at beating Secret in TI5.

[Lysah]

I wouldn't get too excited about ti5 yet, people have been known to play very differently in majors. Let's not forget that a team as bad as Newbee actually won last year. This is the one tournament a year where I will actually say "anything can happen." ESL's prize pool was nice, and obviously EG didn't WANT to lose, but 15+ million versus 250k is a world of difference. Expect most teams to play better in ti5 when everything is on the line. Also, ti5 will be a much longer tournament, so you can't abuse the same strategy every single game and expect to make it all the way to the end. Lots of teams have been very strong leading up to a TI and then fade off half way through the tournament as people figure out how to beat their 1 practiced strategy.

[PizzaSHARK]

WoW. Valve is really getting bad at customer support. Clearly they dont have the manpower...

I ask steamsupport to check what happened with my golden basher. Provided card info as they like and I get an automated response "please provide us a CDkey with a marker written on it with support ticket number".
That is on a fresh account that wasnt in the beta and only game on account. CDkey question on a free2play game...

First thing I laughed, though I wasnt smiling later realizing how bad it is compared to few years ago.

Not sure if it affects their customer service departments, but Valve's "everyone does whatever they're interested in doing" model is great for creativity but definitely not optimal for long-term support of products and services.

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I wouldn't get too excited about ti5 yet, people have been known to play very differently in majors. Let's not forget that a team as bad as Newbee actually won last year. This is the one tournament a year where I will actually say "anything can happen." ESL's prize pool was nice, and obviously EG didn't WANT to lose, but 15+ million versus 250k is a world of difference. Expect most teams to play better in ti5 when everything is on the line. Also, ti5 will be a much longer tournament, so you can't abuse the same strategy every single game and expect to make it all the way to the end. Lots of teams have been very strong leading up to a TI and then fade off half way through the tournament as people figure out how to beat their 1 practiced strategy.

That's what happened to EG, though. Sumail has become to them what AdmiralBulldog was for Alliance when they were in their stride - he's a player that's very, very good... with a small number of heroes. You can see how Secret countered Sumail, not necessarily the heroes he was playing, and won because of it. In game 2, for example, they let the Storm Spirit through and didn't pick any of the "traditional" counters to him like Silencer, Lion, Rhasta, etc. Instead, they just focused on playing against Sumail specifically and it worked beautifully, because EG was like "sweet, we get SS for Sumail, easy win!" and mostly drafted around supporting Sumail's SS rather than having a backup plan, or other source of damage in fights, etc.

Several times Sumail was baited into zipping after someone that looked like an easy pickoff, but then they protect them with Walrus Punch, glimmer capes, etc and suddenly Sumail's invested 70% MP into diving after this person who he can no longer kill, Secret's setup a countergank on him, and he doesn't have enough MP to escape with. They really punished that Bloodstone first build like this, and then by time Sumail had the Orchid for damage, they had Glimmer Capes to ensure that no one would ever die to Soul Burn.

Just absolutely beautifully played throughout by Secret. I don't get the feeling that Secret is running a one-trick pony here; they've shown themselves to be capable of playing a variety of different strategies and heroes, and they've shown themselves to be very capable of playing from behind as well as maintaining momentum (something that C9 is very bad about and which keeps them as a second-tier team.)

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The crowd in the ESL games really makes it. Just listening to how excited the crowd gets...

[Lysah]

That goes back to what I've said about PPD not having adjusted to 6.84. Storm isn't a good hero in competitive anymore since a 2000g item hard counters him. They need to stop picking him, no matter how good Sumail might be with him. Hopefully EG adjusts to the patch by ti5, already tired of the dream team hype around Secret and they haven't even won anything real.

[Longview]

i think having additional people theorycrafting together with your team definitely gives team secret an edge over a lot of other teams. same reason kaipi ever won any tournaments (even though they didn't win any crazy amounts of money)

@lysah whats 'real'? winning $100,000+ at two consecutive LANs doesn't count?

[Lysah]

@lysah whats 'real'? winning $100,000+ at two consecutive LANs doesn't count?

Correct. Beating 3 teams doesn't count. The prize pool is also pocket change compared to a TI5 victory. "Winning LANs" is meaningless, winning major LANs is what matters, of which DotA has very few. Maybe that'll change with Valve's new 4 tournaments a year thing.

[Sorcereria]

" *staff member has replied to your question: (FINNALY NOT A BOT)
Hello Michael,
I am sorry, you must provide valid proof of purchase for the account in
question in order for us to provide further assistance.
Please feel free to reply or reopen this ticket when you have the necessary
information."

I actually work in customer support for an international hotel company. Imagine what I would do with such answer if he worked with me or I had him speak as/with a customer.
I do wonder how much bitter I will be with them if they keep going like that. Grade *worthless* customer service.

NOTE: I provided full payments/card information that is asked first hand

[EqualWin]

Correct. Beating 3 teams doesn't count. The prize pool is also pocket change compared to a TI5 victory. "Winning LANs" is meaningless, winning major LANs is what matters, of which DotA has very few. Maybe that'll change with Valve's new 4 tournaments a year thing.

they won 4 lans in a row.. I think it proves they're the best. we'll see if eg /vg are saving strats for ti kek

[Lysah]

they won 4 lans in a row.. I think it proves they're the best. we'll see if eg /vg are saving strats for ti kek

They are undoubtedly among the best, they will prove they are the best if they win ti5.

[Omertocracy]

They are undoubtedly among the best, they will prove they are the best if they win ti5.

Just like Newbee proved they were the best last year. keepu

[PizzaSHARK]

It's really pathetic how unimaginative and boring people on Reddit are. Acting like Agh's isn't core on Luna because the pros haven't been spamming Agh's-first Luna for 3 months.

Gives Luna literally everything she needs for the early game and will remain relevant all the way to the ultra late game at which point it will eventually be sold to 6 slot with a different item (probably a rapier.)

+390 HP to a rushed BKB's +190, increases damage potential of Eclipse, causes it to provide 675 ground vision where it's cast, and it can be cast from 2500 range. Luna can bomb your high ground with Eclipse from halfway down middle lane, making it almost impossible to safely defend without letting them at least chip at your tower/rax. Agh's also has a very similar cost to BKB with a far more useful build-up and no gold wasted on a recipe.

The only reason people rushed BKB on Luna was because she has terrible base health (15 STR means she's one of the squishiest heroes in the entire game at lvl 1), and Eclipse ends if Luna dies. So you had to have Avatar, otherwise you'd run in and get Lina ult'd into the pavement and waste your 3 min cd ulti. Agh's changes that by allowing Luna to use Eclipse from a safe distance in a variety of different ways, while also boosting her health and mana pool far above what BKB would do for her. This also means she doesn't need to rush BKB and can instead get it whenever the time is right - most likely, after she's bought an item or two for right-clicking, so that she's an actual threat during that BKB instead of being down to 5 sec BKB charges once she finally has noteworthy right-click presence.

But, nope, pros haven't been spamming it (I'm 100% certain they've figured it out already and are holding it for TI5 and/or because Luna just isn't very popular right now), so clearly it's not good.

Fucking morons.

[Sorcereria]

"Hello Michael,
I am sorry, you must provide valid proof of purchase for the account in question in order for us to provide further assistance.
Please feel free to reply or reopen this ticket when you have the necessary information."

I feel seriously offended. I feel like going to the bank to proceed with chargeback wasnt a bad idea. New account waiting with open hands. Though it is funny checking reddit after putting "valve chargeback" or "Valve customer support"... For once I can say blizzard customer support is superior. Though valve was fine few years ago. Now it feels like you deal with bots or some 5th world country outsourcing.

[Lysah]

Just like Newbee proved they were the best last year. keepu

They were, for a time. And ti4 is proof that no team wins just by being better in the LANs leading up to the the major.

@aghs luna
People say this is bad because Luna is bad right now. Aghs Lina buff kind of removed Luna from the game. Lina can rush euls aghs just as fast as Luna can rush a BKB, at which point Lina's aghs made Luna's BKB worthless and she's guaranteed dead 2 seconds into every fight the whole game. I rushed aghs on Luna before it even got buffed, it was always a decent item for her, but the last patch really nerfed Luna in a ton of indirect ways.