Dota 2 General Chat - ALCHEMIST IS BACK BABY - Games

[B][U][I][highlight]NEWBIES! SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU SEE MORE RED TEXT!![/B][/U][/I][/highlight] [url=http://www.dota2.com/][img]http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/valve/secret/logo610.jpg[/img][/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cSFPIwMEq4&feature=player_embedded[/media] [B][U]What is Defense of the Ancients?[/U][/B] Defense of the Ancients is the original map that created the "Action RTS" (ARTS) genre. It started as a map modification in Warcraft III and is now being made into it's own game with Valve using the Source engine. In short, it's a session based, Player vs. Player RPG. Ten people play on two teams of five and each person controls a hero of various ability, utility and strength. As you play in a game your hero will level up, you will gain gold, you'll kill opposing heroes and buy items to become stronger. The ultimate objective is to kill the enemies main structure in the back of their base. This takes teamwork and coordination, not something you can do by yourself as the base is also protected by AI controlled creeps that constantly spawn to defend it and towers meant to hold you back. Matches take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and when you're finished and start a new game, you pick a new hero and start all over. Nothing is persistant when it comes to something that can affect each game. That sounds simple in description but what has kept people playing it for years now are the complexities of the game. [B][U]What is the history behind Defense of the Ancients?[/U][/B] Defense of the Ancients started out a long time ago as a map modification in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. It was originally started by someone who went by the name Eul back in 2003. DotA is actually based on an older map from StarCraft called Aeon of Strife. When Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne released, Eul never updated the map. Probably because he went to work for Valve on Half-Life 2 and every title since (see this interview). Variants of the map were made to replace Eul's version but none really replaced it until Steve Feak, aka Guinsoo, made DotA Allstars. Guinsoo added more heroes, the recepie system for items, and Roshan (Which is named after his bowling ball? Huh.) with his Aeigs of Immortality. He held development of the map for two years and in that time also helped make a central hub for DotA players with Steve Mescon, aka Pendragon, at dota-allstars.com. The website is now debunk since Steve and Steve now work on League of Legends. In 2005 Guinsoo handed off development to IceFrog, the most reclusive of the DotA developers. IceFrog turned DotA into the highly competitve map it is today. While he regularly updated the map, adding new heroes, items, and fixes over time, the only evidence that he was working on it was the fact that his name was branded on the loading screen. He even refused to do interviews. Eventually he opened up his own blog and then a website, playdota.com, to communicate better with players. PlayDotA is now the central hub for DotA. IceFrog's variation of the map is the most balanced and competitive. DotA didn't become an esport until this version. It's mind boggling to think how over 100 heroes on one map can be balanced to such a point but IceFrog did it and has been doing it for years now. At some point Valve approached IceFrog with the proposal to make DotA into a full retail game. Robin Walker, Adrian Finol (Eul), and Erik Johnson were all fans of DotA and eventually started talking to IceFrog over e-mail using the fact that they were big game developers (lol). When IceFrog expressed the want to make a sequel that was free of the restrictions in the Warcraft III engine, Valve said "Hey, we've got a great idea! Why don't you come here?" Obviously he said yes. [B][U]So how can I play it?[/U][/B] You can't. Yet. Sorta. You can sign up for the beta. More and more people have been getting in every day. The selection is totally random at this point but if you're in the pool you still have a chance to get into the beta. You [i]could[/i] also buy your way into it. On the Dota 2 store there is [url=http://dota2.com/store/itemdetails/57939587?appid=570]an invite that you can buy for $30.[/url] It also includes a handful of nifty items for Juggernaut and Sven and a special courier. If you're still on the wait list to get in and don't feel like dropping the dosh for an invite but still want your dose of Dota 2, there is quite a streaming community behind it that is still growing. Check out [url=http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Dota%202]Twitch.tv[/url] and [url=http://www.own3d.tv/game/Dota+2]own3d.tv[/url] for Dota 2 streams and[url=http://www.gosugamers.net/dota2]Gosu Gamers[/url], [url=http://esfiworld.com/dota2]ESFI World[/url], and [url=http://www.joindota.com/en/start]joinDota[/url] for Dota 2 news. There is also the amazing yearly tournament Valve holds, The International, which invites the best teams from around the world to compete for a $1,000,000 top prize. There have been two so far and you can watch every match from both of them on [url=http://www.youtube.com/dota2]Valve's Dota 2 YouTube page.[/url] There an amazing series of games. [B][U]Coming from League of Legends? Read this.[/U][/B] [I]Written by Zorus...[/I] [quote]Like LoL, but a lot more unforgiving. *Abilities don't scale with items, with the exception of a certain item increasing the damage on certain ultimates. *There is no AD or AP as in LoL, just three attributes which give health/health regen, mana/mana regen, and attack speed/armor. *Also there doesn't appear to be any sort of fixed metagame, unlike League with its standard bruiser top, caster mid, support/carry bot and jungler. *Every hero uses mana as a resource. *There is no combine cost for some items, but there are items called recipes which you must buy in order to complete certain items. *CC is much more brutal, with fifteen second silences and five second stuns. *You can control more than one unit, players control their own hero and a courier, and some heroes can summon units that they control. In League there's things like Tibbers, and Shaco clones, but to control those you can only hold alt and move the unit. *Upon death, you lose gold. Killing a hero will not decrease their value. Bounties are pretty much the same thing, also exp reward from kills is much greater *You can kill your own creeps when they are under 50% hp, only with autoattacks and certain skills, this is called denying and stops a hero from killing the creep for gold, while also decreasing the exp gain from the creep. *Trees and elevation which can be used to advantage *Day/Night system, some heroes get stronger during the night (and day?) *A lot of mids gank, whereas in LoL mid normally doesn't gank/would gain more benefit from staying in lane *LoL level cap is 18 and you can only level abilities, each ability can be levelled to 5. In Dota, level cap is 25, and you can add +2 to attributes as well as level abilities to 4 and ultimates to 3, not every hero only has 3 standard skills, also the hotkeys are different for each hero (however in Dota 2 the ability hotkeys are standard QWER with some heroes having more skills that extend to d and f) *Certain heroes have more vision range than others. *Wards last longer *Neutral creeps do not give buffs, the equivalent to Baron drops an item which is the equivalent to Guardian Angel's passive, and also Cheese on third death *Two runespots, runes are items that can be taken instantly, or bottled (with an item) to be used for later, runes can double damage, make two clones of your hero, (which take and deal less damage) stealth, increase movespeed, or regenerate hp and mana greatly *Lane creeps give a lot more gold than in LoL *Unit collision is more important *Different types of shops, there's a unified base shop in Dota 2 but in Dota they were segmented, a secret shop in the jungle on both sides, and a sidelane shop *To return to base you must either walk or purchase an item that allows you to teleport to allied structures, in other words, no global recall spell *Towers deal less damage but fire faster, the last hit on a tower will reward extra gold, towers can be denied to the enemy team just as creeps can *No runepages/summoner spells *No bushes and that's about it. I've played both games, switched to LoL for a long time and now I'm playing Dota 2. Some negligible things are that lane creeps are pretty damn big compared to hero units, and nomenclature of heroes isn't always standard. In LoL most heroes are called by name ([B]Malzahar[/B], the Prophet of the Void) whereas in Dota, you refer to a hero mostly by their occupation/title. Yurnero the [B]Juggernaut[/B], Krobelus the [B]Death Prophet[/B]. Some exceptions like [B]Zeus[/B] the Lord of Olympia or [B]Riki[/B]maru the Stealth Assassin.[/quote] [B][U]Coming from Heroes of Newerth? Read this.[/U][/B] HoN has a very close relation to DotA, at least in it's early life. Over time its changed its but it still retains a lot of likeness and it the closest game to DotA between it and LoL. It does have it's differences though. The HoN Wiki has a pages dedicated to what is the same and what is different between DotA and it. Check it here: [url]http://honwiki.net/wiki/DotA_vs_HoN[/url] [highlight][B][U]Fucking helpful resources!!![/U][/B][/highlight] [url=http://www.purgegamers.com/welcome-to-dota-you-suck]Welcome to Dota 2. You suck![/url] A must read for newbies. Not as terrible as the title might imply. Extremely helpful but really long. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akUNmFAzS98]How to Play Dota 2 in 4 Minutes[/url] A must watch for newbies. This should be one of the first things you link to people who are new to Dota 2. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi01ChpR4sw]Understanding Dota 2 Hero Roles in 5 Minutes[/url] Another must watch for newbies. A quick and easy guide to understanding what does what in Dota 2. [url=http://www.team-dignitas.net/articles/blogs/DotA/1092/Dota-2-Ultimate-Guide-to-Warding/]Ultimate Guide to Warding[/url] [B][I]If you don't read this guide and take close notes you're a terrible, bad person.[/I][/B] [url=http://dotaholic.com/]Dotaholic[/url] Really great reference site. Has heroes, their abilities, items, chests. Pretty much anything you'd want to look up on the fly. [url=http://www.dota2alttab.com/]Dota 2 Alt Tab[/url] Quick and easy guides for Dota 2. Not all of them are terrible but, personally, I think the order they tell you to get abilities in for most heroes could be better. [url=https://dotabuff.com/]Dota Buff[/url] A website for more in-depth stat tracking. [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/n2sz1/psa_jungling_etiquette/]PSA! JUNGLING ETIQUETTE[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/n53fw/psa_support_items_and_you/]PSA! SUPPORT ITEMS AND YOU[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/n7ayv/psa_uuuutility_part_one/]PSA! U-U-U-UTILITY PART 1[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/n9j5w/uuuutility_part_two/]PSA! U-U-U-UTILITY PART 2[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/nalp8/psa_go_around_and_kill/]PSA! GO AROUND AND KILL[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/nc9st/psa_so_you_think_you_can_carry_part_1/]PSA! SO YOU THINK YOU CAN CARRY PART 1[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/ndnwq/psa_so_you_think_you_can_carry_part_2/]PSA! SO YOU THINK YOU CAN CARRY PART 2[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/nf5p8/psa_area_of_influence/]PSA! AREA OF INFLUENCE[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/njr3m/psa_power_to_the_pusher/]PSA! POWER TO THE PUSHER[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/o27do/psa_support_our_supports/]PSA! SUPPORT OUR SUPPORTS[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/osrku/psa_roam_against_the_machine/]PSA! ROAM AGAINST THE MACHINE[/url] [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/search?q=Hero+Discussion+of+the+Day&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance]Reddit "Hero Discussion of the Day"[/url] Top rated posts generally have valuable info about the hero. [B][U]Archive[/U][/B] [url=http://facepunch.com/threads/1013298]I[/url] [url=http://facepunch.com/threads/1152190]II[/url] [url=http://facepunch.com/threads/1160463]III[/url] [url=http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1174059]IV[/url] [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1180892]V[/url] [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1187624]VI[/url] [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1187681]VII[/url] [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1194613]VIII[/url] [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1202016]IX[/url] [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1209697]X[/url]

You have 3 days left to stomp with Lycan.

lycan's just gonna be in lane now rather than the jungle.

I really hate how some people thinks that being mid equals to gank, if mid doesn't have stun/slows/dissables, stop expecting him to come down and win your lane

but being mid DOES equal ganking. that's the whole point of mid, to gain levels faster and control the runes to gank.

[QUOTE=leonthefox;37866181]I really hate how some people thinks that being mid equals to gank, if mid doesn't have stun/slows/dissables, stop expecting him to come down and win your lane[/QUOTE] Then how come Shadowfiend is such a good ganker? You go to mid to go ahead of the other lanes and then to go and gank the shit out of them. Even if you dont have any slows/stuns/disables the lane that youre ganking could. Also I really hate it when my mid player just sits AFK farming his lane while shit is going down around the map.

[QUOTE=Prism;37866415]Then how come Shadowfiend is such a good ganker? You go to mid to go ahead of the other lanes and then to go and gank the shit out of them. Even if you dont have any slows/stuns/disables the lane that youre ganking could. Also I really hate it when my mid player just sits AFK farming his lane while shit is going down around the map.[/QUOTE] A Shadow Fiend mid usually requires some sort of slows or stuns on the sidelanes to gank effectively, since all he can do is nuke damage.

[QUOTE=Da_Maniac_;37866938]A Shadow Fiend mid usually requires some sort of slows or stuns on the sidelanes to gank effectively, since all he can do is nuke damage.[/QUOTE] Depends on how the lanes look, how pushed they are, what heros they have and such. If there is a lane that is close you your tower and the other team's heros are there, if there is a squishy it will be an easy kill if you are quick enough with razes. It of course helps a lot with disables but it's possible to pull it off if you come behind them and hit all the razes quick, and you do a shitload of damage with your autoattack if you gotten some souls so finishing them off won't be hard. But that's my experience so, I can't really say for anybody else.

[QUOTE=BeardyDuck;37865988]lycan's just gonna be in lane now rather than the jungle.[/QUOTE] I saw someone saying how jungling was still possible with a stout shield and some regen, you will have to tank for the wolves until level 5 and get vlads by 10 mins. I really need to test this out

[QUOTE=leonthefox;37866181]I really hate how some people thinks that being mid equals to gank, if mid doesn't have stun/slows/dissables, stop expecting him to come down and win your lane[/QUOTE] If you are in lane and you have a bit of crowd control you can always help the ganker, don't expect to the mid player to do all the job because that won't be more efficient that three people attacking.

the reason some heroes are "mid" heroes rather than just "solo" heroes is precisely because of their ganking power. hence why you never see, say, broodmother mid when there's another more viable choice like Storm Spirit available.

[QUOTE=BeardyDuck;37866194]but being mid DOES equal ganking. that's the whole point of mid, to gain levels faster and control the runes to gank.[/QUOTE] Some heroes are there to farm/push more before getting to roam and gank. And ganking mid is also very viable. And runecontrol means some efforts from teammates as well, like wards; A Tinker checking out unwarded runespots is extremely dangerous if the enemy team make a good ambush.

[QUOTE=General J;37865957]You have 3 days left to stomp with Lycan.[/QUOTE] That's my fucking title idea go away.

So now that Lycan's nerfed, who's the new OP hero of choice in pubs and competitive?

[QUOTE=injustpotato;37870362]So now that Lycan's nerfed, who's the new OP hero of choice in pubs and competitive?[/QUOTE] Alchemist.

[QUOTE=injustpotato;37870362]So now that Lycan's nerfed, who's the new OP hero of choice in pubs and competitive?[/QUOTE] Pubs? You will see the rise of battlefury svens, drow rangers and alchemists who have full item inventory's by 40 minutes.

we mlg now [url]http://www.joindota.com/en/news/4297-major-league-gaming-move-into-dota-2[/url]

Guys, a little software-sided help if you won't mind. I am playing Dota 2 in borderless window and I've been using GameCompanion thingy to set gamma, as in-game gamma only works with fullscreen. Now, GameCompanion creator hasn't updated it for a while, a year I believe, and sotware doesn't feature custom gamma settings, just "normal, dimmed,etc". Is there any software alike or any other way to set gamme in-game without leaving the borderless window mode ? I could use it being a bit darker so that night-time feels right.

[QUOTE=injustpotato;37870362]So now that Lycan's nerfed, who's the new OP hero of choice in pubs and competitive?[/QUOTE] I'm expecting doombringers to exit the jungle fully farmed at 20 mins and then stomping everything on pubs

[QUOTE=BeardyDuck;37866194]but being mid DOES equal ganking. that's the whole point of mid, to gain levels faster and control the runes to gank.[/QUOTE]Invoker?

Is this the biggest update in a while?

[QUOTE=titopei;37872413]Is this the biggest update in a while?[/QUOTE] The biggest update before Techies comes out. In terms of shitstorm I mean.

[QUOTE=titopei;37872413]Is this the biggest update in a while?[/QUOTE] Most influencial one, yes. That's how Dota works I believe, I didn't watch it's WC3 era as I was scorned by it during my WC3 era, but it goes something like this from what I know : Big patch with a couple of new heroes sometimes Fixes to big patch Fixes to big patch Fixes to big patch <IceFrog enters Odinsleep> <A month or more passes> <2 weeks of rumours about new patch> Big patch with a couple of new heroes sometimes ...

playing a hard support, doing pretty well, in lane set up the carry I'm laning with and get him 3 kills (enemy team were tri-laning) I die in the process. "omg stop feed u noob" My fault for playing hard support solo queue I suppose

[QUOTE=Tokagero;37872635]Most influencial one, yes. That's how Dota works I believe, I didn't watch it's WC3 era as I was scorned by it during my WC3 era, but it goes something like this from what I know : Big patch with a couple of new heroes sometimes Fixes to big patch Fixes to big patch Fixes to big patch <IceFrog enters Odinsleep> <A month or more passes> <2 weeks of rumours about new patch> Big patch with a couple of new heroes sometimes ...[/QUOTE] What was the last big patch?

The Aegis change is going to change the late game a bit.

[QUOTE=titopei;37872661]What was the last big patch?[/QUOTE] 6.74 had a lot of tweaks, 6.73 had 4 new heroes and 5 new items.

[QUOTE=xBackfire;37870701]Pubs? You will see the rise of [B]battlefury svens[/B], drow rangers and alchemists who have full item inventory's by 40 minutes.[/QUOTE] This is a terrible build. That 60 Damage isn't effect by God's Strength, and Great Cleave is perfect for farming as is. A completely full inventory for a HC Sven should be something like a Armlet, Satanic, Heart, AC/Daedalus, Force/Blink, BoTs/Phase/Treads. I'm leaning towards him being more of a semi-carry, though. Storm Hammer is an amazing skill and as soon as Sven hits 6 he hits as hard as two heroes. Drum/SoulRing/Treads would be all he needs to dominate past 12 minutes.

So why doesn't anyone ever use Shadow Poison as Shadow Demon? I mean, it looks like a really fun spell.

[QUOTE=GlebGuy;37873046]So why doesn't anyone ever use Shadow Poison as Shadow Demon? I mean, it looks like a really fun spell.[/QUOTE] It's not a bad spell but generally it's more useful to max out his first 2 spells over it. Just does more damage overall and can really fuck up some heroes (Bye bye AM mana.)