Dota 2

[CaptainKishimoto]

Since we're still kinda talking about Invoker, here's a really good game with an amazing Invoker:

[youtube]2AB3riEQb2Q[/youtube]

Also, hopefully when I see more people within my family, I'll get some money for chinese new year (which will enable me to buy a PC).

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

they changed the invoker spell lay out so it's actually a lot better now :). everything is just q w e r t c

really easy to grasp

 

[Wikey]

Person who has only played LoL. Don't read if my perspective will make you rage.

Am I correct in thinking the hardware requirements of this are way higher than LoL? Doesn't look like it would run on my toaster. Also, visually it's way more impressive and the characters look really cool and have really interesting abilities and such, but something about the art style is just, bland. I don't know how to put it. Also, again, it's visually impressive but it seems like it's harder to tell what is going on at any moment. Non-champion elements are too intricate making them draw your eye away and making it harder to tell what is going on. Also, it seems needlessly more complex than LoL. Like, complexity for the sake of complexity.

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

dota 2 isn't really hardware intense at all. uhh art style / confusing whatever, i've played dota forever and everything is really familiar; i've played LoL a few times and i probably feel the same way you do about dota. also it isn't complex for the sake of it at all, there are just some hidden mechanics that you should know - secret shop access from roshan, wards can't see roshan pit, ward placement on hills, toss doubling avalanche damage, blink's max range being 1100/1150/1200/1250 but capping at 800 if you blink too far.

you just pick these up as you play more or read up on it more. i guess there's a fair amount to take in, but it really amps up the amount of thinking you have to do when you play. also knowing these things gives you a nice advantage over your opponent.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

When you've never played a game before, it's only natural that you won't have an idea of what is happening (and experience with LoL isn't something that'll help). When you have over 100 heroes (and essentially over 400 spells), of course you're gonna be overwhelmed with what's going on. Luckily Dota 2 is in the beta stage so they haven't implemented the all the heroes yet, so it'll be slightly easier to learn. The amount of depth that DotA has isn't something you can learn over night, it takes lots of learning and experience to know what each and every hero/item is capable of. Of course there are some things things that aren't exactly entry-level friendly (e.g. losing gold when you die), those are just part of the growing pains that you'll experience.

 

[SgtWoodsy]

I have recently received Dota 2 on my own Steam account. My first impression:

The game is otherwise really fun and a nice change of pace from LoL. Learning new heroes is pretty entertaining although I am having some trouble with skill/item builds (BKB seems to be built on everyone though).

 

[pookar]

i got some micro down in this game after only 2 practice games but i still have no idea what ANY heroes do except like.. pudge, drow ranger and jakiro (and viper)

randomly getting stunned and not even knowing who did it is annoying :(

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

The recommended item builds are pretty accurate, but it's always good to experiment. If you have any questions regarding skill builds (or anything else), you can always ask. =]

 

[pookar]

i was asking woodsy when i was playing w/ bots as viper :3 i got manta style, bkb, eagelsong phase boots .. theres so many item actives in this game x.x

 

[Faladran]

Person who has only played LoL. Don't read if my perspective will make you rage.

Am I correct in thinking the hardware requirements of this are way higher than LoL? Doesn't look like it would run on my toaster. Also, visually it's way more impressive and the characters look really cool and have really interesting abilities and such, but something about the art style is just, bland. I don't know how to put it. Also, again, it's visually impressive but it seems like it's harder to tell what is going on at any moment. Non-champion elements are too intricate making them draw your eye away and making it harder to tell what is going on. Also, it seems needlessly more complex than LoL. Like, complexity for the sake of complexity.

Dota's definitely more hardware intensive than LoL, but it's still pretty lenient - nothing a budget gaming computer couldn't handle easily. I think the graphics are largely up to personal preference. I definitely like Dota's look, but some people seem to feel it isn't quite as eye catching. On the other hand, I've known certain gamers to call LoL's graphics childish-looking or garish.

I personally like Dota's complexity. It gives the game a bigger learning curve, but it also makes it easier to distinguish player skill. I've always thought of the comparison between League and Dota to be somewhat akin to checkers vs chess or picture books vs chapter books. Obviously the differences between the two games aren't quite as extreme, but they're comparable to the above analogies in the sense that the former is easily approachable for most, whereas the latter takes some time on the part of the participant to fully appreciate.

P.S. I hope it didn't seem like I was criticizing LoL. I do find it to be a pretty enjoyable game (especially when all my friends are on to play), but I personally prefer Dota 2 from a competitive standpoint.

 

[TAY]

I've been playing this a while now and it's a blast. The graphics are great, the layout is great, overall just a really fun game. I especially like how much the game is simply about information gathering and positioning; it's really complex. There have been issues lately with the servers crashing or something but hey it's still the beta so whatever.

Some of the character imbalances are pretty annoying though...it's pretty silly when invoker, antimage, nightstalker, chen, prophet, etc get banned nearly every game. It would be nice if the initial bans had more to do with strategy and less to do with just removing all the ridiculous-level heroes.

Anyway, I'd love to play if anyone wants to. I'm pretty sick of playing pub games and getting rocked because one or two teammates dont know what theyre doing or because of shit teamwork or whatever. So hit me up if you want to play, I usually play support-ish chars (venomancer, windrunner, lich, etc) but I can do whatever! I'm glad to see this game has a smogon following already =)

 

[Vein]

dota is my most played game. what do we expect on dota 2?

 

[Minwu]

dota is my most played game. what do we expect on dota 2?

a public beta is expected to be released a couple months before today

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Some of the character imbalances are pretty annoying though...it's pretty silly when invoker, antimage, nightstalker, chen, prophet, etc get banned nearly every game. It would be nice if the initial bans had more to do with strategy and less to do with just removing all the ridiculous-level heroes.

This mainly has to do with the current meta-game, and the hero pool itself. For example, Spectre is considered the most broken hero in the game. When she's in the game, it's a matter of whether or not you can do enough damage to the base (if any) before she gets her radiance (approx. 30 mins). However because the current metagame is all about pushing, Spectre is hardly ever picked because she's pretty useless before she gets it.

As for the hero pool, there are still several heroes that are just as (if not more) frightening than the heroes you've listed. Here's a list of some heroes that will most definitely have an impact on the game when released:

• Lone Druid
• Phantom Lancer
• Ogre Magi
• Undying
• Lycanthrope
• Chaos Knight
• Shadow Demon

 

[SgtWoodsy]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M7vRc0_B7M

DotaCinema uploaded their guide for Dragonite. I really like these guides (and most of what DotaCinema uploads on a regular basis to be honest)

 

[Fishin]

People use Ogre Magi? I thought he was pretty unpopular (doesn't help that how dependent he is on luck). Lycan and Syllabear and definitely going to be huge though, and Eredar looks pretty strong too though I stopped playing DotA before he was implemented so I have yet to see him in action.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Ogre Magi is picked semi-regularly, but I haven't kept up to date too much with Dota 1 so I don't know if it still holds true. Shadow Demon is probably the most annoying hero to lane against, and he is pretty solid otherwise.

 

[Temperantia]

How noob-friendly is DOTA2's player base? I've never played the original, LoL or HoN (I don't even know what that one is, but everyone talks about it)
Will I be able to participate in games when I'm inexperienced without getting kicked/ragequits?

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

NA servers are a lot more noob friendly than the ASEAN ones. i still recommend playing against bots at least a few times... DotA 1 was renowned for its elitist playerbase and I wouldn't bank on DotA 2 being too different.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Also games are based around matchmaking, so it's not like you're gonna get kicked or anything like that. I have no idea about the ragequitting though. I've seen streams where players who quit too many times aren't able to play games for awhile, so I'm not too sure if it's a regular occurrence.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Double posting because of awesomeness! Valve released concept designs of Lycan, Lone Druid, and Shadow Demon:

http://blog.dota2.com/2012/02/you-are-our-valentine/

images for those who don't want to click link

Lycanthrope

Lone Druid

Shadow Demon

 

[Phantom_IV]

Not sure how I feel about DotA2. I love the little quirks of the Warcraft 3 engine and can't imagine DotA without them. Plus I feel like the original models are much better. Sure there are more pixels in DotA2, but the heroes seem much less unique and some look downright ridiculous (Sven, Chen, Storm come to mind).

 

[Vein]

anyone playing dota imba? or fight of characters?

 

[Fishin]

Not sure how I feel about DotA2. I love the little quirks of the Warcraft 3 engine and can't imagine DotA without them. Plus I feel like the original models are much better. Sure there are more pixels in DotA2, but the heroes seem much less unique and some look downright ridiculous (Sven, Chen, Storm come to mind).

Have you played it yet? Most quirks from WCIII's engine (orb effects, inability to teleport to unexplored territory, ability to block stuff, the way fog of war works, etc) are faithfully recreated and the lion's share of heroes look very similar to their WCIII counterparts.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Ya I don't understand what kind of "quirks" you think are missing, unless you're talking about the inability to find games and re-join. =]

In all seriousness, the game isn't a sequel, it's a port. You probably don't even realize how archaic and restricting the Warcraft 3 engine is until you've played Dota 2. As for the hero designs, I don't think you're giving the Dota 2 heroes much of a chance. I mean some do look weird, but you probably haven't even gotten use to seeing them. Also, remember that this is a beta, and they aren't opposed to changing things. I do agree that some models will never be able to be as good as they are in DotA 1 (e.g. Tauren Chieftain, Lord of Avernus), but there are a lot of hero models that have been improved in Dota 2 (e.g. Windrunner, OD, Clinkz).