KlatuAussie Aussie AussieOi Oi OiRegistered Userregular
edited June 2017
Watch these videos followed by these 2 by Purge. I'm not sure how long ago he updated them, but I think they're current to version 7. And even if they're not, the basics are still relevant.
I haven't watched them in yrs, but I think he covers last hitting and denying as well as the roles and items. IMO Purge vids are a pretty good place to start. After you're done with the intro vids, move on to the hero spotlight ones. I watched nearly 100hrs of vids before I played my first actual game haha. But then I don't mind the research.
The day9 coaching by purge is VERY GOOD to understanding the game. He does try to teach him how to learn the game, not just how to play the game. They're about 1 hour per lesson, they're up to 12 episodes.
Yeah this can't be serious, I'm pretty sure Page is like the best dota player on these forums by a country mile from what I remember from the PA inhouses we did a few years back.
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Page- was the best DotA player by far for years. I'm assuming this is either a joke or a reaction to the huge amount of changes since last they played, since the game is quite different than it was a couple years ago.
A little of everything! It would be nice to see some activity but it has also been a while since I last played and I feel sorry for the teammates that get stuck with me as I acclimate. And that's after I already dropped 600 or 700 MMR before I stopped last time.
I'd imagine after this weekend, with the Summit and Galaxy Battles, we'll get our TI7 direct invites, so we could start having that fight now. I don't have a compendium, but here's my totally obvious picks that you can use if you want to get lots of BP (not a guarantee).
I'm saying 6 invites only, OG, IG, EG, Newbee, Liquid, and VP. The only way it goes to 8 is if Secret/NP finish 1-2 at Summit and/or a dark horse like Odd wins Galaxy. Even then, the gap between top 6 and anyone else is so big that I wouldn't be shocked if Valve sticks with 6 no matter what. Even without invites, Secret and NP probably breeze through qualifiers anyway, and Valve knows that. 6 invites leaves 10 qualifier spots over 6 regions, China and SEA probably get 2 each (China because China, and SEA because they won't have a DI), and the last two will be wildcards. I've heard suggestions that you have 2nd place NA and SA qualifiers, and 2nd place EU and CIS face off for those last two spots, and I like that, but who knows.
1) Silence 2) Books must be returned by the last date shown 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality
A little of everything! It would be nice to see some activity but it has also been a while since I last played and I feel sorry for the teammates that get stuck with me as I acclimate. And that's after I already dropped 600 or 700 MMR before I stopped last time.
But learning is where the fun is!
You can always party with me so you can feel better about yourself as I get beat up, I'm somewhere between 3.5k-4k
Edit: Open invitation for anyone else too, add me on steam, I should be easy to find. Steam profile is the same as Penny Arcade and we're probably already friends anyways.
The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
Watching Day9 play is just reaffirming that I couldn't get into this game. There's just way too much to keep track of, he died because he didn't notice the blip of Lina's health bar as she just popped into view behind him because he had popped the camera over to watch his Legion win a duel on the other side of the map, so when he went up to bully Necro (as Bristle) he suddenly gets stunned and goes "oh, there's two of them". I can handle positioning and rotations and all that fine, but when you also throw in oh there's items, both keeping track and planning out your build as well as checking your opponent's items and figuring out what their plan is and how to deal with that, and also you gotta maximize your map presence both in advancing objectives and in farming... I'd have to play this game nonstop for like a year to get any of those down to muscle memory level, and putzing around being bad at the game indefinitely just sounds like a whole lot of not fun.
Watching Day9 play is just reaffirming that I couldn't get into this game. There's just way too much to keep track of, he died because he didn't notice the blip of Lina's health bar as she just popped into view behind him because he had popped the camera over to watch his Legion win a duel on the other side of the map, so when he went up to bully Necro (as Bristle) he suddenly gets stunned and goes "oh, there's two of them". I can handle positioning and rotations and all that fine, but when you also throw in oh there's items, both keeping track and planning out your build as well as checking your opponent's items and figuring out what their plan is and how to deal with that, and also you gotta maximize your map presence both in advancing objectives and in farming... I'd have to play this game nonstop for like a year to get any of those down to muscle memory level, and putzing around being bad at the game indefinitely just sounds like a whole lot of not fun.
Yeah but enough people play the game that matchmaking sticks you with people at your level. So, even if you're bad at all that stuff, all the people you play against are also bad at all that stuff, so, no big deal. This is like saying "I can never play basketball because you gotta be able to do all that stuff Kobe does" when in reality you only need to do that stuff if you want to be good at basketball. Plenty of people play basketball even though they're not good at it, and it's still fun!
Watching Day9 play is just reaffirming that I couldn't get into this game. There's just way too much to keep track of, he died because he didn't notice the blip of Lina's health bar as she just popped into view behind him because he had popped the camera over to watch his Legion win a duel on the other side of the map, so when he went up to bully Necro (as Bristle) he suddenly gets stunned and goes "oh, there's two of them". I can handle positioning and rotations and all that fine, but when you also throw in oh there's items, both keeping track and planning out your build as well as checking your opponent's items and figuring out what their plan is and how to deal with that, and also you gotta maximize your map presence both in advancing objectives and in farming... I'd have to play this game nonstop for like a year to get any of those down to muscle memory level, and putzing around being bad at the game indefinitely just sounds like a whole lot of not fun.
Yeah but enough people play the game that matchmaking sticks you with people at your level. So, even if you're bad at all that stuff, all the people you play against are also bad at all that stuff, so, no big deal. This is like saying "I can never play basketball because you gotta be able to do all that stuff Kobe does" when in reality you only need to do that stuff if you want to be good at basketball. Plenty of people play basketball even though they're not good at it, and it's still fun!
At learner-tier, it's just as likely that the Lina will show up and stand right next to Necro for no good reason, then you, the Bristle, will say OHSHIIII- and turn around just as her stun hits you, tank all their damage on your bristleback passive, run away while their whole team dives you into tier 3s, then turn and kill everyone from all the quill stacks you built up. All while Benny Hill plays in the background.
If that sounds ridiculous, then you haven't played low MMR dotes lately. The point is you get matched against players just as good (or not ) as you, and you can be as clowny as you like down there while you have little idea just how little you know. I have a shockingly bad WR on Timbersaw for example, because I loved me my Timbersaw back when I had absolutely no idea how Timbersaw worked.
KlatuAussie Aussie AussieOi Oi OiRegistered Userregular
I loved me some Axe back when I started, and I even built a battlefury to make hitting stuff better!
You may not have the situational awareness needed, but you may have more item and build knowledge than someone. They may have eyes all over the map, but build horribly, or just mechanically fail to last hit even 50% of the time. You don't need to be good at everything right out of the gate
Watching Day9 play is just reaffirming that I couldn't get into this game. There's just way too much to keep track of, he died because he didn't notice the blip of Lina's health bar as she just popped into view behind him because he had popped the camera over to watch his Legion win a duel on the other side of the map, so when he went up to bully Necro (as Bristle) he suddenly gets stunned and goes "oh, there's two of them". I can handle positioning and rotations and all that fine, but when you also throw in oh there's items, both keeping track and planning out your build as well as checking your opponent's items and figuring out what their plan is and how to deal with that, and also you gotta maximize your map presence both in advancing objectives and in farming... I'd have to play this game nonstop for like a year to get any of those down to muscle memory level, and putzing around being bad at the game indefinitely just sounds like a whole lot of not fun.
Yeah but enough people play the game that matchmaking sticks you with people at your level. So, even if you're bad at all that stuff, all the people you play against are also bad at all that stuff, so, no big deal. This is like saying "I can never play basketball because you gotta be able to do all that stuff Kobe does" when in reality you only need to do that stuff if you want to be good at basketball. Plenty of people play basketball even though they're not good at it, and it's still fun!
There's a bit of disconnect here. I'm not saying I don't want to play because I'm bad because I'll lose--it's because I'll just constantly be angry at myself for being bad because I know I can do better. The #1 thing that makes me mad in videogames is my own screwups, which is why getting better at games is one of my favorite parts of it, but DotA is just too much of an uphill battle in that regard.
And that comparison just doesn't hold water for me. They're completely different activities--one can be fun to play even when I'm bad at it (basketball, TF2, no-stakes poker), and others can be not fun when I'm bad at it (DotA, drawing, running a marathon). It doesn't matter that I'm playing against people who are just as bad as me, what I'm focusing in those sorts of activities is how bad I am at it and that sucks all the fun out of it.
The Escape Goat on
0
MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
I had a lot... read... A LOT more fun when I wasn't trying to gain ranks and MMR. Now it's a literal struggle to do anything even remotely fun because if you step out of line or make a single mistake, you get called out for it and your mates will throw the rest of the match because they don't trust you to help win for them. Even when something doesn't make sense to you at all.
Here's a real scenario I encountered. Hard carry PA against an enemy team of Omni, Pudge, Axe, Templar, and Anti-Mage. Would you a) build a BKB to defend disables? or b) build a diffusal to purge the Omni and TA?
The correct answer to me is build the diffusal. You'd get way more value out of turning off Omni's magic immunity and TA's damage shield than you would protecting yourself from getting disabled. Also note, Axe and Pudge both go through magic immunity, but FWIW the Omni built Eul's so BKB would help against Eul's and AM's magic drain.
I got flaaaaaaaaaaaaamed for not going BKB. The entire game past 20 minutes. "Where's your BKB?" "PA no BKB?" "LOL PA NOOB BKBLESS"
Sometimes there's just no winning with the community. Even when you make what could be the more valuable decision.
The day you stop learning new things and trying to be creative is the day you get stuck on that MMR treadmill and stop enjoying yourself. You had more fun when you were bad because you were constantly discovering and you hadn't built up your expectations yet. You want some of that back, then try something new. And work on mechanics. Granted, there's a bit less nuance there now than there used to be, but it's still a lot to get down.
I mean, I had never played mid seriously before DotA 2. The only times I'd used a bottle was to refill it for someone else. Everyone thought I was some amazing qop player, but I learned DotA as a dedicated lane support and cut my teeth with Warlock and CM. When the DotA 2 beta started, I wanted to try something new, so I did.
Try the all-hero challenge or something. I probably should. There are still a few heroes I'm pretty sure I've only played in DotA 1.
Summit 7 ended yesterday. VP win it by using 5 new heroes in every match of the entire tournament except the very last one, beating numerous teams who were playing it straight. Pretty impressive overall. I think they decided in the last game that they were out of heroes at that point, and wanted to actually wanted to win the tournament.
TI7 direct invites to EG, IG, OG, VP, Newbee, and Liquid. I think this is pretty much right on, though IG and OG have been very inconsistent in the last month or so. But they've collectively won all of the biggest tournaments this year, so that was always going to get them in.
Regional Qualifiers start next week, open quailifiers in a couple days. Looks like this year NA is probably the best qualifier region, with DC, NP, Planet Odd (formerly thunderbirds formerly DC), and Complexity all going for two spots. SA has its own qualifier, guaranteeing one spot to SA in Seattle. SEA and CN also look good, while the other regions lineups look pretty meh.
Alliance just had a roster change and will have to go through opens, but they haven't looked good in a long time, so I don't expect much there. I'm not sure if there's anyone else to watch in open quailies.
Summit 7 ended yesterday. VP win it by using 5 new heroes in every match of the entire tournament except the very last one, beating numerous teams who were playing it straight. Pretty impressive overall. I think they decided in the last game that they were out of heroes at that point, and wanted to actually wanted to win the tournament.
Part of it was also that TS were banning heroes they hadn't used yet, substantially dropping their remaining choices.
I think going 'all in' for the finale is pretty reasonable under those circumstances. Cool of them to play with a self imposed handicap of sorts, but with money on the line I can respect dropping that for the 5th game of the match. Would've been an extra feather in their cap if they'd 3-0'd TS doing that, but frankly I'm surprised they held to it for as long as they did.
I can't say I've been a long term VP fan, but doing that takes some guts and skill (and shows that some heroes can do surprising things in the right hands). I should go back and watch some of their vods from earlier in the competition.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
0
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Sweet, International '17 open qualifiers start this Thursday, and Main Qualifiers start next Monday.
I'm REALLY surprised Team Liquid was directly invited this year. If I remember right they've been having to fight through qualifiers (and even failed a couple years ago right?). Nice to see OG invited too. Though the team rosters are... very different from last year. Miracle is on Liquid now? What little I know of the pro circuit I actually like EG's lineup better than the other invited teams. As in their chances to go all the way.
I had a lot... read... A LOT more fun when I wasn't trying to gain ranks and MMR. Now it's a literal struggle to do anything even remotely fun because if you step out of line or make a single mistake, you get called out for it and your mates will throw the rest of the match because they don't trust you to help win for them. Even when something doesn't make sense to you at all.
Here's a real scenario I encountered. Hard carry PA against an enemy team of Omni, Pudge, Axe, Templar, and Anti-Mage. Would you a) build a BKB to defend disables? or b) build a diffusal to purge the Omni and TA?
The correct answer to me is build the diffusal. You'd get way more value out of turning off Omni's magic immunity and TA's damage shield than you would protecting yourself from getting disabled. Also note, Axe and Pudge both go through magic immunity, but FWIW the Omni built Eul's so BKB would help against Eul's and AM's magic drain.
I got flaaaaaaaaaaaaamed for not going BKB. The entire game past 20 minutes. "Where's your BKB?" "PA no BKB?" "LOL PA NOOB BKBLESS"
Sometimes there's just no winning with the community. Even when you make what could be the more valuable decision.
Heh, ah yes the old "PA always goes BKB first" canard. And it sucks because you can't lay out in chat that there's 2 heroes with bkb piercing crowd control, and another that will very likely be building basher into Abyssal anyway if he doesn't get to side tracked with MKB first. And since you can't outpace an AM on farming, your only chance to stay on par is to mid game snowball and guess what item lets you do that?
I finally beat Siltbreaker Act 1, and as coincidence after having no Artifacts up to now, I got 2, one of which came off the final boss. Today was a good day.
I had a lot... read... A LOT more fun when I wasn't trying to gain ranks and MMR. Now it's a literal struggle to do anything even remotely fun because if you step out of line or make a single mistake, you get called out for it and your mates will throw the rest of the match because they don't trust you to help win for them. Even when something doesn't make sense to you at all.
Here's a real scenario I encountered. Hard carry PA against an enemy team of Omni, Pudge, Axe, Templar, and Anti-Mage. Would you a) build a BKB to defend disables? or b) build a diffusal to purge the Omni and TA?
The correct answer to me is build the diffusal. You'd get way more value out of turning off Omni's magic immunity and TA's damage shield than you would protecting yourself from getting disabled. Also note, Axe and Pudge both go through magic immunity, but FWIW the Omni built Eul's so BKB would help against Eul's and AM's magic drain.
I got flaaaaaaaaaaaaamed for not going BKB. The entire game past 20 minutes. "Where's your BKB?" "PA no BKB?" "LOL PA NOOB BKBLESS"
Sometimes there's just no winning with the community. Even when you make what could be the more valuable decision.
Minor point here, but I'm pretty sure Repel is no longer purgeable. It was a major patch or so ago that he got that buff though, so pretty recent. In return, Repel's uptime and cast time were both nerfed, IIRC. Or it might have been cast point buffed but uptime super-nerfed? I can't remember exactly. The point is, Repel got the Chaotic Offering treatment.
I had a lot... read... A LOT more fun when I wasn't trying to gain ranks and MMR. Now it's a literal struggle to do anything even remotely fun because if you step out of line or make a single mistake, you get called out for it and your mates will throw the rest of the match because they don't trust you to help win for them. Even when something doesn't make sense to you at all.
Here's a real scenario I encountered. Hard carry PA against an enemy team of Omni, Pudge, Axe, Templar, and Anti-Mage. Would you a) build a BKB to defend disables? or b) build a diffusal to purge the Omni and TA?
The correct answer to me is build the diffusal. You'd get way more value out of turning off Omni's magic immunity and TA's damage shield than you would protecting yourself from getting disabled. Also note, Axe and Pudge both go through magic immunity, but FWIW the Omni built Eul's so BKB would help against Eul's and AM's magic drain.
I got flaaaaaaaaaaaaamed for not going BKB. The entire game past 20 minutes. "Where's your BKB?" "PA no BKB?" "LOL PA NOOB BKBLESS"
Sometimes there's just no winning with the community. Even when you make what could be the more valuable decision.
Minor point here, but I'm pretty sure Repel is no longer purgeable. It was a major patch or so ago that he got that buff though, so pretty recent. In return, Repel's uptime and cast time were both nerfed, IIRC. Or it might have been cast point buffed but uptime super-nerfed? I can't remember exactly. The point is, Repel got the Chaotic Offering treatment.
Ah! I do remember reading that, thanks. You can still purge Guardian Angel though, correct?
Update on Regional Qualifiers. Because Champions Cup is a joke, Alliance gets to skip Open Q's despite having changed rosters by being one of only two teams to sign up for Europe's, with the other team already in Regionals. They're not going to qualify anyway, because they're terrible, but that's a dumb loophole right up there with those Tier 3 Euro teams qualifying for NA Regionals through Opens because the best OQ American team right now is pretty much the one made up of casters.
1) Silence 2) Books must be returned by the last date shown 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality
I had a lot... read... A LOT more fun when I wasn't trying to gain ranks and MMR. Now it's a literal struggle to do anything even remotely fun because if you step out of line or make a single mistake, you get called out for it and your mates will throw the rest of the match because they don't trust you to help win for them. Even when something doesn't make sense to you at all.
Here's a real scenario I encountered. Hard carry PA against an enemy team of Omni, Pudge, Axe, Templar, and Anti-Mage. Would you a) build a BKB to defend disables? or b) build a diffusal to purge the Omni and TA?
The correct answer to me is build the diffusal. You'd get way more value out of turning off Omni's magic immunity and TA's damage shield than you would protecting yourself from getting disabled. Also note, Axe and Pudge both go through magic immunity, but FWIW the Omni built Eul's so BKB would help against Eul's and AM's magic drain.
I got flaaaaaaaaaaaaamed for not going BKB. The entire game past 20 minutes. "Where's your BKB?" "PA no BKB?" "LOL PA NOOB BKBLESS"
Sometimes there's just no winning with the community. Even when you make what could be the more valuable decision.
Minor point here, but I'm pretty sure Repel is no longer purgeable. It was a major patch or so ago that he got that buff though, so pretty recent. In return, Repel's uptime and cast time were both nerfed, IIRC. Or it might have been cast point buffed but uptime super-nerfed? I can't remember exactly. The point is, Repel got the Chaotic Offering treatment.
Ah! I do remember reading that, thanks. You can still purge Guardian Angel though, correct?
No problem, amigo. Yep, GA is still purgeable.
But as for having fun and improving...I often choose to lose a lot with Rubick whenever I feel frustrated at DOTA and how bad I am at it. It tends to make me feel better. Playing Rubick feels like studying all of DOTA at once, and the rush of making a good - or nearly good - Rubick play is unlike anything else in multiplayer games for me. Heroes come and go, I've had phases with this or that new crush, but I still remember the time I got a rampage off stealing 2 big ults to defend our top rax. Or the time I nearly counterganked a late-game Juggernaut with just a force staff, a ghost sceptre, and my wits.
Rubick might not be the hero for everyone, but I think it's important to find the heroes - whomever they may be - that make you happy to play, improve at, and occasionally excel with.
Update on Regional Qualifiers. Because Champions Cup is a joke, Alliance gets to skip Open Q's despite having changed rosters by being one of only two teams to sign up for Europe's, with the other team already in Regionals. They're not going to qualify anyway, because they're terrible, but that's a dumb loophole right up there with those Tier 3 Euro teams qualifying for NA Regionals through Opens because the best OQ American team right now is pretty much the one made up of casters.
Oh. That is v dumb.
+3
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Far from it. 2 EU teams got direct invites and are heavy favourites, plus Secret will probably easily qualify. It's a top heavy region right now, and a lot of teams reshuffled following Kiev, so the teams are mostly in flux. Also, the CIS region got split off for Valve majors, so it's not as deep. Throw in that Planet Odd will end up in EU after TI7 (they're only in NA qualifiers because they played the majority of their games this year there while they were Digital Chaos/Thunderbirds) and EU will be fairly strong going forward.
The Champions Cup thing is because that whole format is a joke, and nobody plays it at the level required to qualify. I didn't check all the details, but apparently you have to have been a Tier 8 Battle Cup team before Kiev to sign up? There's still time for other teams to sign up and challenge Alliance, but even then, it's unlikely any random PUG would match up against any pro team, even one as bad as them.
1) Silence 2) Books must be returned by the last date shown 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality
Yeah, it's just a perception thing. Like, people are also upset that SEA gets 3 qualifier spots while CIS only gets 1, but miss the fact that Virtus.Pro got a direct invite, and no SEA team got one at all, and any SEA team that qualifies beyond TNC is likely headed for a bottom 8 finish, with one likely eliminated in the group stages.
Man, I'm jazzed for qualifiers. Nonstop pro Dota for like, a week. It's not always high quality, but there sure is lots of it.
1) Silence 2) Books must be returned by the last date shown 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality
Posts
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Which bit do you need help with?
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
I haven't watched them in yrs, but I think he covers last hitting and denying as well as the roles and items. IMO Purge vids are a pretty good place to start. After you're done with the intro vids, move on to the hero spotlight ones. I watched nearly 100hrs of vids before I played my first actual game haha. But then I don't mind the research.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
You can skip the practice/coaching bits if you just want to know the basics, Purge is structuring this really well.
You only get a visible MMR in ranked, that's locked until you're level 20. If you want to play some dota, I'll play, pm me your steam profile.
But learning is where the fun is!
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
I'm saying 6 invites only, OG, IG, EG, Newbee, Liquid, and VP. The only way it goes to 8 is if Secret/NP finish 1-2 at Summit and/or a dark horse like Odd wins Galaxy. Even then, the gap between top 6 and anyone else is so big that I wouldn't be shocked if Valve sticks with 6 no matter what. Even without invites, Secret and NP probably breeze through qualifiers anyway, and Valve knows that. 6 invites leaves 10 qualifier spots over 6 regions, China and SEA probably get 2 each (China because China, and SEA because they won't have a DI), and the last two will be wildcards. I've heard suggestions that you have 2nd place NA and SA qualifiers, and 2nd place EU and CIS face off for those last two spots, and I like that, but who knows.
You can always party with me so you can feel better about yourself as I get beat up, I'm somewhere between 3.5k-4k
Edit: Open invitation for anyone else too, add me on steam, I should be easy to find. Steam profile is the same as Penny Arcade and we're probably already friends anyways.
hAmmONd IsnT A mAin TAnk
At learner-tier, it's just as likely that the Lina will show up and stand right next to Necro for no good reason, then you, the Bristle, will say OHSHIIII- and turn around just as her stun hits you, tank all their damage on your bristleback passive, run away while their whole team dives you into tier 3s, then turn and kill everyone from all the quill stacks you built up. All while Benny Hill plays in the background.
If that sounds ridiculous, then you haven't played low MMR dotes lately. The point is you get matched against players just as good (or not ) as you, and you can be as clowny as you like down there while you have little idea just how little you know. I have a shockingly bad WR on Timbersaw for example, because I loved me my Timbersaw back when I had absolutely no idea how Timbersaw worked.
hAmmONd IsnT A mAin TAnk
You may not have the situational awareness needed, but you may have more item and build knowledge than someone. They may have eyes all over the map, but build horribly, or just mechanically fail to last hit even 50% of the time. You don't need to be good at everything right out of the gate
There's a bit of disconnect here. I'm not saying I don't want to play because I'm bad because I'll lose--it's because I'll just constantly be angry at myself for being bad because I know I can do better. The #1 thing that makes me mad in videogames is my own screwups, which is why getting better at games is one of my favorite parts of it, but DotA is just too much of an uphill battle in that regard.
And that comparison just doesn't hold water for me. They're completely different activities--one can be fun to play even when I'm bad at it (basketball, TF2, no-stakes poker), and others can be not fun when I'm bad at it (DotA, drawing, running a marathon). It doesn't matter that I'm playing against people who are just as bad as me, what I'm focusing in those sorts of activities is how bad I am at it and that sucks all the fun out of it.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
I had a lot... read... A LOT more fun when I wasn't trying to gain ranks and MMR. Now it's a literal struggle to do anything even remotely fun because if you step out of line or make a single mistake, you get called out for it and your mates will throw the rest of the match because they don't trust you to help win for them. Even when something doesn't make sense to you at all.
Here's a real scenario I encountered. Hard carry PA against an enemy team of Omni, Pudge, Axe, Templar, and Anti-Mage. Would you a) build a BKB to defend disables? or b) build a diffusal to purge the Omni and TA?
I got flaaaaaaaaaaaaamed for not going BKB. The entire game past 20 minutes. "Where's your BKB?" "PA no BKB?" "LOL PA NOOB BKBLESS"
Sometimes there's just no winning with the community. Even when you make what could be the more valuable decision.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
I mean, I had never played mid seriously before DotA 2. The only times I'd used a bottle was to refill it for someone else. Everyone thought I was some amazing qop player, but I learned DotA as a dedicated lane support and cut my teeth with Warlock and CM. When the DotA 2 beta started, I wanted to try something new, so I did.
Try the all-hero challenge or something. I probably should. There are still a few heroes I'm pretty sure I've only played in DotA 1.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Summit 7 ended yesterday. VP win it by using 5 new heroes in every match of the entire tournament except the very last one, beating numerous teams who were playing it straight. Pretty impressive overall. I think they decided in the last game that they were out of heroes at that point, and wanted to actually wanted to win the tournament.
TI7 direct invites to EG, IG, OG, VP, Newbee, and Liquid. I think this is pretty much right on, though IG and OG have been very inconsistent in the last month or so. But they've collectively won all of the biggest tournaments this year, so that was always going to get them in.
Regional Qualifiers start next week, open quailifiers in a couple days. Looks like this year NA is probably the best qualifier region, with DC, NP, Planet Odd (formerly thunderbirds formerly DC), and Complexity all going for two spots. SA has its own qualifier, guaranteeing one spot to SA in Seattle. SEA and CN also look good, while the other regions lineups look pretty meh.
Alliance just had a roster change and will have to go through opens, but they haven't looked good in a long time, so I don't expect much there. I'm not sure if there's anyone else to watch in open quailies.
Part of it was also that TS were banning heroes they hadn't used yet, substantially dropping their remaining choices.
I think going 'all in' for the finale is pretty reasonable under those circumstances. Cool of them to play with a self imposed handicap of sorts, but with money on the line I can respect dropping that for the 5th game of the match. Would've been an extra feather in their cap if they'd 3-0'd TS doing that, but frankly I'm surprised they held to it for as long as they did.
I can't say I've been a long term VP fan, but doing that takes some guts and skill (and shows that some heroes can do surprising things in the right hands). I should go back and watch some of their vods from earlier in the competition.
I'm REALLY surprised Team Liquid was directly invited this year. If I remember right they've been having to fight through qualifiers (and even failed a couple years ago right?). Nice to see OG invited too. Though the team rosters are... very different from last year. Miracle is on Liquid now? What little I know of the pro circuit I actually like EG's lineup better than the other invited teams. As in their chances to go all the way.
Heh, ah yes the old "PA always goes BKB first" canard. And it sucks because you can't lay out in chat that there's 2 heroes with bkb piercing crowd control, and another that will very likely be building basher into Abyssal anyway if he doesn't get to side tracked with MKB first. And since you can't outpace an AM on farming, your only chance to stay on par is to mid game snowball and guess what item lets you do that?
Minor point here, but I'm pretty sure Repel is no longer purgeable. It was a major patch or so ago that he got that buff though, so pretty recent. In return, Repel's uptime and cast time were both nerfed, IIRC. Or it might have been cast point buffed but uptime super-nerfed? I can't remember exactly. The point is, Repel got the Chaotic Offering treatment.
hAmmONd IsnT A mAin TAnk
Ah! I do remember reading that, thanks. You can still purge Guardian Angel though, correct?
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
No problem, amigo. Yep, GA is still purgeable.
But as for having fun and improving...I often choose to lose a lot with Rubick whenever I feel frustrated at DOTA and how bad I am at it. It tends to make me feel better. Playing Rubick feels like studying all of DOTA at once, and the rush of making a good - or nearly good - Rubick play is unlike anything else in multiplayer games for me. Heroes come and go, I've had phases with this or that new crush, but I still remember the time I got a rampage off stealing 2 big ults to defend our top rax. Or the time I nearly counterganked a late-game Juggernaut with just a force staff, a ghost sceptre, and my wits.
Rubick might not be the hero for everyone, but I think it's important to find the heroes - whomever they may be - that make you happy to play, improve at, and occasionally excel with.
hAmmONd IsnT A mAin TAnk
Oh. That is v dumb.
The Champions Cup thing is because that whole format is a joke, and nobody plays it at the level required to qualify. I didn't check all the details, but apparently you have to have been a Tier 8 Battle Cup team before Kiev to sign up? There's still time for other teams to sign up and challenge Alliance, but even then, it's unlikely any random PUG would match up against any pro team, even one as bad as them.
IMO, EU could easily be considered the strongest region, with three teams in strong running for top 8 finishes.
Man, I'm jazzed for qualifiers. Nonstop pro Dota for like, a week. It's not always high quality, but there sure is lots of it.