[Banned?]

NEWBIES! SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU SEE MORE RED TEXT!!

What is Defense of the Ancients?

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.


What is the history behind Defense of the Ancients?

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.


So how can I play it?

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.

In the meantime, they also lifted the NDA. People in the beta can talk about it, post screenshots, and stream. If you want to watch some streams check Twitch.tv or own3d.tv. There is a website dedicated to streams for Dota 2, StreamDota2.com. You can also check Reddit's Dota 2 subreddit for news and screenshots and stuff like that. You can also watch all the matched from Valve's Dota 2 reveal tournament, The International. It's a spectacular series and shows off the game very well.


Coming from League of Legends? Read this.

Written by Zorus...

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 (Malzahar, the Prophet of the Void) whereas in Dota, you refer to a hero mostly by their occupation/title. Yurnero the Juggernaut, Krobelus the Death Prophet. Some exceptions like Zeus the Lord of Olympia or Rikimaru the Stealth Assassin.

Coming from Heroes of Newerth? Read this.

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 thought. The HoN Wiki has a pages dedicated to what is the same and what is different between DotA and it. Check it here: http://honwiki.net/wiki/DotA_vs_HoN


Fucking helpful resources!!!
Welcome to Dota 2. You suck! A must read for newbies. Not as terrible as the title might imply. Extremely helpful.
How to play Dota 2 in 4 Minutes A must watch for newbies.
Ultimate Guide to Warding If you don't read this guide and take close notes you're a terrible, bad person.
Dotaholic Really great reference site.
Dota 2 Alt Tab 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 could be better.
Dota Buff A website for more in-depth stat tracking. Not maintained by Valve.
PSA! JUNGLING ETIQUETTE
PSA! SUPPORT ITEMS AND YOU
PSA! U-U-U-UTILITY PART 1
PSA! U-U-U-UTILITY PART 2
PSA! GO AROUND AND KILL
PSA! SO YOU THINK YOU CAN CARRY PART 1
PSA! SO YOU THINK YOU CAN CARRY PART 2
PSA! AREA OF INFLUENCE
PSA! POWER TO THE PUSHER
PSA! SUPPORT OUR SUPPORTS
PSA! ROAM AGAINST THE MACHINE
Reddit "Hero Discussion of the Day" Top voted posts generally have valuable info about the hero.

Archive
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[BeardyDuck]

lel

position 3 and 4 are best positions.

[Banhfunbags]

What's wrong with the old thread?

[Belivo]

Banhfunbags posted:

What's wrong with the old thread?

Major threads get closed every month or so.
Dota releated: Witch-doc is swaggest support there is.

[Maruhai]

give them the anderson

[Banhfunbags]

Belivo posted:

Major threads get closed every month or so.
Dota releated: Witch-doc is swaggest support there is.

The old thread wasn't locked.

[Banned?]

Banhfunbags posted:

The old thread wasn't locked.

Because I haven't bugged rilez yet and am going to bed.

[Maruhai]

Banhfunbags posted:

The old thread wasn't locked.

We went through this on last month's first page, can we work together and stop bringing up this pointless debate again and again ?

[usaokay]

I am usaokay and why the hell are DoTA 2 t-shirts $25 on Jinx

[BeardyDuck]

there are a few dota t-shirts on valve merchandise store that costs $30 but that's because they come with an in-game code.

Edited:

shirts without codes are $20

[usaokay]

$27-28 for a premium t-shirt at Jinx. Eugh, but that's also a good thing if I don't have $50 to use at the Valve Store. Since the Jinx office/warehouse is 15-30 minutes away, I could just go pick it up without any shipping cost.

[Sad.]

anyone wanna play on SEA server, solo queueing is p. boring.

[Maruhai]

usaokay posted:

I am usaokay and why the hell are DoTA 2 t-shirts $25 on Jinx

I paid $999.99 for a forum upgrade and all I got was a beating from my mother :(

[littlefoot]

Sad. posted:

anyone wanna play on SEA server, solo queueing is p. boring.

I'm up for it. The last few consecutive games I've played have had leavers.

[Roxerg]

Chinese Dota is most boring Dota.

silly title writer.

[BeardyDuck]

chinese dota also incorporates silly heroes like batrider and disruptor into their lineup.

Edited:

there's also a chinese team that includes techies.

[Captain Chalky]

BeardyDuck posted:

chinese dota also incorporates silly heroes like batrider and disruptor into their lineup.

BeardyDuck posted:

silly heroes like disruptor

Disruptor is amazing, no idea why he isn't used more often in competitive games. Glimpse fucks everything up if you and your team work seamlessly together (which isn't that rare in competitive games) and Kinetic Field + Static Storm makes everyone cry if they have atleast one spell to rely on. (it's easilly countered, but of course, that takes away enemy funds and item slots)

[dual elites]

because if you play disruptor badly he's fucking awful

[Roxerg]

dual elites posted:

because if you play disruptor badly he's fucking awful

just like any goddamn hero.

[Gekkosan]

Oh new thread already.

I wonder, are there many Facepunchers who mostly get into 'Very High' skill-level games?

[Tokagero]

dual elites posted:

because if you play disruptor badly he's fucking awful

I think you mean "gets behind". Playing badly results in being bad in general, however being behind on items and levels is a different matter that is directly tide to play.

Disruptor needs levels, he wants his nuke to maxed, glimpse gets insane range, field duration is always important and of course ultimate. He is somewhere around Dazzle level of dependance. As much as Arcanes/Mek will be enough for him item-wise, but being level 11 when it's 30 minutes might be the end of you.

That said, he brings a lot to the table. When he hits level 6 fresh he can get a lot of momentum for team. He counters blinkers, can send TP supports back to base, big-ass silence cloud with damage, confines enemies to area that can be dead-zone with Sand King, Lina and such on team, etc.
What he lacks though is CC outside of Ultimate/Glimpse (long CD's) that is reliable. Dazzle has his slow at least, and most of other supportish heroes have on-target CC, he needs to land Field, which only seems easy to land.

Just because you land it 99% of the time against average Pub, doesn't mean knowledgeable players won't make it hell to trap them at clutch moments in a better match.

[Colour]

Shit just got serious in my pub

[Belivo]

Whenever I catch 3+ people into Distruptor's cage>ult I do manical/evil laugh.

[Rats808]

Belivo posted:

Whenever I catch 3+ people into Distruptor's cage>ult I do manical/evil laugh.

Avatar fits.
Except it's Chen(I think) instead of Disruptor.

[Roxerg]

Colour posted:

Shit just got serious in my pub

i don't get it.

[l l]

Colour posted:

Shit just got serious in my pub

your last hits for 30 minutes are lacking

dont buy recipes i understand you want daedalus but you shouldn't have trouble with dying when you have access to sprout and a global tp

[prodirus]

l l posted:

your last hits for 30 minutes are lacking

dont buy recipes i understand you want daedalus but you shouldn't have trouble with dying when you have access to sprout and a global tp

Unless he gets ganked and stunned. The enemy team has a decent amount of disables.

[Belivo]

Rats808 posted:

Avatar fits.
Except it's Chen(I think) instead of Disruptor.

[General J]

when can we expect the Meepo invasion?

[Belivo]

General J posted:

when can we expect the Meepo invasion?

Thursday or the day before that, forgot how to spell it, it started with W.
Or next week^

[Lefter]

Belivo posted:

Thursday or the day before that, forgot how to spell it, it started with W.
Or next week^

wednesday!

[Belivo]

Lefter posted:

wednesday!

So basically:
WED-ding (The thing "we go married" bullshit)
NES (fuck you if you don't get it, seriously)
-day

Well, that was easy.

[Sarracenia]

Guess what team lost?

Edit. I suck at this.
Link here

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Sarrace...36581050387359

[Rarara]

Maruhai posted:

We went through this on last month's first page, can we work together and stop bringing up this pointless debate again and again ?

Just for you I am going to bring it up next meeting.

So, nice weather in dotaland right?

[Suttles]

I played a game with a guy I banned on outpost(was months ago, but he remembers.)

He was saying "if i feed plz dont ban me, i am good man now"(Why the fuck would I ban someone for feeding?). He did fine tho, and we won. Single draft and getting antimage vs Zeus is amazing.

[Sad.]

anyone else wants to join? me and littlefoot playing at SEA server here

[Zorus]

Belivo posted:

So basically:
WED-ding (The thing "we go married" bullshit)
NES (fuck you if you don't get it, seriously)
-day

Well, that was easy.

It's easier to just pronounce it like it is. Some English speakers just say wed-nes-day out of spite also

[RoastedSagets]

I think the recent matches are broken. I'm trying to find this amazing match me and a friend did and it's not showing up in my recent matches or the recent matches in general. :c

[Badunkadunk]

Roxerg posted:

just like any goddamn hero.

It's more like you can get by playing like a retard with some heroes, while others are useless without half a brain. Disruptor is squishy, does poor damage with autoattack and has very position-dependent skills so an idiot will probably charge in, mash his keyboard at a teamfight and die in seconds and barely affect anybody- then call the hero shit and go back to bounty hunter.

[Maruhai]

Rarara posted:

Just for you I am going to bring it up next meeting.

So, nice weather in dotaland right?

Stop with the hate already.