*** Official Dota 2 Thread ***

[Purdy]

Dota 2 Official website - http://blog.dota2.com/

Dota2 Wiki - http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Dota_2_Wiki

Dota 2 development forums - http://dev.dota2.com/

The other thread lacks info available to new people so thought I'd make a new one and hopefully gather more interest on the game here.



Getting Started

There is an absolute tonne of information to take in to learn how to play Dota competently and for some people to start enjoying it to a certain degree, but it is definitely worth the effort as the reward through enjoyment/fun I simply don't get from many/if any other game.


A brief 4 minute video on the objectives and what exists inside the game

Guides

Along with reading Purge's guide this video seems very informative with a quick scan through it and someone has posted it was very good

This guide by Purge is probably the one I would recommend most for reading, it breaks down the basics and goes in to some of the more advanced stuff as well. I'd also recommend having your game open and going into a bot game so you can see all the items he talks about or even opening and closing new bot games to see the heroes he recommends and their skills.

You can give yourself maximum level and gold by using the cheat mode function which you turn on in the game settings in a custom game.

Here is a link to the cheat commands, if you want to test out stuff whilst reading the guide you want to use the commands '-lvlup 25' and '-gold 16000', these commands work by just typing them in chat with cheat mode on.


Once you have got to grips with the basics and are ready to start playing vs real people, you can read up in depth guides on each hero or if you choose to play different heroes each game there is this website -
http://www.dota2alttab.com/
It has very basic guides on each hero and I wouldn't live by those guides but they are a decent starting place if you really don't have a clue. The recommended items to buy inside the game which you will see are also reasonably good most of the time.



Watching Dota 2

Watching Dota2 can be one of the best ways to help learn and improve at Dota2 by watching tutorials or just watching players much better than you.(Mainly pros.)

There are many places to watch Dota 2

http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Dota 2 is good for watching popular streamers, own3d is also a decent site.

http://www.dotacinema.com/ has many introductions to heroes and some guides via videos.

There is also the 'Learn' tab in the game itself with text and videos explaining games.


The Competitive Scene

Watching Dota2 competitive play some people find more enjoyable than playing the game itself and will rarely play but watch a lot, as above twitch/own3d are the best places to watch.

www.joindota.com/ is also another great place to watch competitive games/see schedules and results and casted by many peoples favourite - Tobi.

You can also install this chrome addon, which has a list of most streamers currently streaming Dota 2 - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dota-2-stream-browser/cnhfhjlfbaehncgjfnleejhehimhleip


VODs
Tobi Wan Kenobi
Purge

Following tournaments can be done here

Also in the game you can watch tournaments by buying certain tickets and watch the vods in the client with a choice of commentators, some are also free such at The International 2.

Here are some videos of great team fights and moments of Dota 2 which have been very entertaining to watch.

Who Plays

So a list of people from OcUK who play hopefully can be built here

Purdy
Just add me and I'll invite to the guild, too many people for a list.

There is also the OcUK channel in the client, join it.

I'd also recommend joining UK Dotaand their channel in game for some people who speak english to play with and are willing to work as a team.
TeamLiquid channel is also good for getting people.

Other

Patch Notes/Content Analysis

Pretty much every week there is a patch in some shape or form, these notes can always be found at dev.dota2.com early before posted at http://www.dota2.com/news/updates/ officially.

A great content analysis is always done every week by Cyborgmatt - http://www.ongamers.com/dota-2/6000-1/news/




Trading

Trading items works pretty much identically to TF2.

Best places for trading are as follows.

http://dota2traders.com/forum/
http://www.reddit.com/r/dota2trade

Be careful and make sure you don't trade an item for a lot less than its value, some worth in excess of £100.


Giveaway

I'll be trying to give away at least 3 keys this week, just post in the thread that you are interested in a key and please fully intend to at least try the game for more than one match, there are free ARTS's similar enough to know if you like them you can try for free - LoL/HoN.
I'll try getting the keys sorted ASAP and will be handing them out Friday/Saturday.


OcUK In-House learning

If enough people are interested (ideally 8) we can set up inhouses where we have two captains (two more experienced dota players) helping newer people with the game whilst playing against each other as it is daunting as **** going to play solo when everyone is calling you a feeding faggot or abusing you in russian.

For this to work people would need to read material before hand to get an idea of what is goin to go on and pick a hero they would like to play before hand so they can get to grips before playing the in house so it goes smoothly, hopefully from this we could form some groups that play regularly and have some good games.

Ideally a captain will be able to help with decision making, item choices based on how the game is going, where to go and when, lane setups and general play if everyone has read up on the basics, maybe no one is interested on this but I continually see people pushed away due to the ****** community and learning curve so this could help.

 

[Purdy]

Who Plays

So a list of people from OcUK who play hopefully can be built here

Alastair84
FragnaticDeath
Hedge
Purdy
Sleeve88
tom113
Tune
Utnac

There is also the OcUK channel in the client, join it.

I'd also recommend joining UK Dotaand their channel in game for some people who speak english to play with and are willing to work as a team.
TeamLiquid channel is also good for getting people.

EDIT: Adding in the above info. so it is more separate for people to find others who play








Just to highlight if you didn't bother reading.

There is a give away near the bottom of the page and a Dota 2 Inhouse group for OcUK to help learn hopefully if interest is decent.

Also post your steam page so I can add the link to the list of people from here who play.

 

[Purdy]

What's wrong with the existing DotA2 thread (the one which is quite dead)?

maybe no one is interested on this but I continually see people pushed away due to the ****** community and learning curve so this could help.

What are wrong with your existing eyes (the ones which can't quite read)?

 

[Purdy]

Wow, quite a sarcy reply for someone who is supposedly trying to help people lol.

Your post would have been no different if it had been at the end of the existing DotA2 thread.

Yeah but I'm used to what your posts are like

Also yeah, and if the page had changed people wouldn't likely see it, on the other hand being the front page and a new thread hopefully it will gather more interest.

I mean most played game on steam daily, but you have a valid point in it actually requiring a braincell, UK players seem to suck at remotely challenging games, hopefully with the helpful OP and willing to help people learn in matches together it can have a place on this forum.

 

[Purdy]

Many American players/Europeans as well as teams, granted they aren't as good as the Chinese and Na'Vi but the UK sucks. I mean name one top player for any game to come out of the UK.

 

[Purdy]

Who have got big tournament results

dApollo prolly better than those SC2 ones if he actually played a pro routine

 

[Purdy]

JonnyRecco was impressive but lets see him at a LAN and going far. As for the others they just aren't up there, I mean christ idrA could probably manage to beat most of them still.

 

[Purdy]

Well UK has a **** dota scene too we can talk about

 

[Purdy]

Add me on Steam if you like anyone. My name is Jive Turkey

Add me in the list if you want. An active player of dota for over 9 years experience.

Couldn't post your steam pages please, more than one person called Jive Turkey

 

[Purdy]

Utnac what bracket of games do you play in Dota? High or Very High?

Myself and a mate are considering forming a team but don't want skill levels to vary so much that people get frustrated. I.e. If you're in very high and pretty well into it you'd be a fair bit above us.

 

[Purdy]

I don't honestly know what you mean by skill levels, guessing that's a new feature because I havn't played for a few months now but I'd rate myself high rather then very high, I'm certainly no pro but I don't think I'm too far below that sort of level, I'm more interested in communication and personality/attitude from people I play with, sick to death of russians.

Can certainly scrim together, I can get mad but won't start insulting people just be like '**** this game' .

I do like to use xaxaxa/cyka/ye6ak from time to time, my full russian vocabulary.

Also if you hit 'watch' tab and type in your name you can select medium high and very high brackets, so if you have replays in very high you are in that bracket.

 

[Purdy]

Also iviv if you find people have warded it and try to come gank you try buying smoke if deceit and using it in your jungle before running in

 

[Purdy]

Latest test notes - 17th October 2012

Spoiler

Test Update for October 17th
Added a Hall of Fame section to the community tab, featuring a different group of high skill players each week.
Added a Team Browser section to the community tab. This shows teams that have participated in leagues that are available through the client.
Added a Replays Highlight option when watching games. Watch the best moments from a match with a click of a button.

GAMEPLAY
Dark Seer Fixed Ion Shell damage interval and it triggering Cold Snap
Disruptor: Fixed Glimpse interaction with invulnerable units
Magnus: Fixed enemies being able to cast and attack while in Skewer pull
Rubick: Fixed Telekinesis Land sub ability proccing magic stick
Viper: Fixed Nethertoxin damage not being critable
Visage: Fixed Familias attack timings taking much longer than intended
Fixed Illusions placing Orb of Venom debuff

UI
Added a right click option for some items to alert allies that you want to cast them (Arcane Boots, Smoke, Mekansm)
Fixed being able to sometimes move your hero before hero picking was done
Enabled pause cooldown in co-op bot games.
Fixed various hero swap bugs
Fixed HUD element covering Armor bonus values in 4:3

VISUALS & AUDIO
Increased Magnus model size
Fixed Ravage visual timings
Fixed some buffs not showing the correct cooldown frame ( slight gap at the top for aura provided buffs )
Tweaking the scale and offset of visage and his units
Tweaks for some neutral creep sounds, generally reducing volume and increasing range

CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
Fixed a bug that caused some items to not be equippable for Morphling and other heroes that recently had their item slots shuffled.
Fixed Doombringer's missing tail.
Fixed the 'Uldorak's Hide' set not properly displaying as a set of items.
Reduced the size of the stumpy treants created by Nature's Prophet when using the Call of the Dendrochron.
Fixed Invoker's head disappearing when head items were equipped. These items may need to be re-equipped.
Fixed a bug with Multi-Hero Chronosphere not detecting its scoring condition.
Fixed several item sets having incorrectly tagged rarities, relative to the contents of the set.
Fixed Sword of Sir Davion being white for some users.
Fixed overly bright specular on the Runed AiIlettes.

BOTS
Fixed bug that would cause bots to not ever want to go to the Secret Shop if they want to buy a TP scroll.
Fixed bug where bots would always think they could push towers unopposed.- Optimized tango tree search.
Juggernaut bot now better estimates Omnislash damage (will no longer think it'll bounce to out-of-range creeps).
Bots will now consider whether their laning opponents are ranged or not to determine their desired lane position.
When a hero is farming a lane, bot desire to push that lane is now lessened.
Lowered the desire to help out with an under-control tower defense when in the laning phase.
Fixed incoming defense evaluation.
Lowered defend desire when not in late game.
Adjusted Juggernaut's loadout.
Made Blade Fury focus on its target better
Trying something different with determining when and how to lead a target.
Bots laning with a hard carry should now harass enemies more.

The new clan/hall of fame/replay stuff sounds awesome, really hoping for some Windrunner cosmetics finally bloody released, will have to see Cyborgmatt's analysis later if they are.

Also Roshan courier looks awesome

 

[Purdy]

I sat down last night with full intentions to learn and actually play the game, however it simply seems impossible for noobs to get into.

So many characters, items, tactics, acronyms etc.

I really want to play, just dont think I ever really well due to this.

Everyone started out as a noob, simply the best way to learn is play as many heroes as possible getting the gist of how all their spells work, most items that are recommended are usually quite decent and the dota2alttab guides are reasonably decent for skilling your hero.

When you go into a game either pick a hero you want or random, then
- Check out a skill build and have it open on second monitor or ready to alt tab and read what all the skills do (so pick early so you have time).
- Follow the starter items in game or on the guide and continue throughout.
- Play passively in lane if you don't know what the other heroes do until you have seen them pop a few spells and get an idea.
- As for tactics don't worry, listen to team mates and watch where they ping on the map and you will get the hang of it, remember you are likely to be thrown in with people at a very low skill level as well and if you still find it to daunting play bots and also watch pro games so you can see what skills certain heroes do

Might be worth putting joindota.com in the top post as it has schedules for all pro matches + links etc...

Yeah thought I had stuck it in but just Tobi's youtube VODs, cheers .

This pic, aside from being my favourite dota2 comic, summerises how I feel being a support on 4 carry teams.

Did laugh, main reason why I play captains mode now, queue is only 2-3 minutes and I usually get to be captain and can pick pretty decently.

 

[Purdy]

Is it the LAN finals? Off tomorrow so if it is hopefully can watch some Na'Vi

 

[Purdy]

Is the game played on just 1 map?

Is there any progression to be had? As all levels reset for each new game.

Is there anything which you keep as an overall aim/goal?

Yeah it is but valve plans to add mod tools eventually I believe which can be really good fun.

You get the basic level up depending on how much you play. Everytime you do level up you are guaranteed an item, all items are purely cosmetic but some awesome ones, as far as progression that is it though which is a good sign in some ways as too many games need unlocks to persuade people to play these days.

You may be interested in item trading I don't know, some of the stuff you can get from chests that drop (require a £2 key to open I think but you can trade items for them) can have very rare couriers worth in excess of £100, even around £300.

Also you can get strange cosmetics that record kills, wards bought etc and things specific to each class

 

[Purdy]

Ah okay. Does any one know if this game is going to be f2p like LoL ?

It is f2p they just can't officially release because the amount of people wanting to play will murder the servers

Ok, thanks for clearing that up...

Lastly, how do I equip items? Bought all the starter ones yesterday and they just sat in my inventory, couldnt figure out how to actually use them.

Items you buy can either be usable or just stat boosters/passive auras.

If you are in your base items go directly into one of 6 slots, after that you have a stash which can store items you buy when not at base or when full. You can bring the items from your stash to you via use of courier or simply picking them up when back at base.

Default keybinds for using the items 1-6 are Alt +Q/W/E/A/S/D IIRC, I personally change my item binds to 1-5 + spacebar.

Items that you would buy that are usable at the start would be healing salve (health potion), tangos (you press to use them then click on a tree to consume it.) or clarity (mana potion).

The 'potion' ones will have their effect end if you take any attacks from an enemy, other recommended items like 'Iron branch' have + 1 stats, so they just sit in your inventory giving you the stat boost, once you start getting better items and are full on space you should sell or just drop iron branches as they are worth so little.

 

[Purdy]

DOUBLE ORCHID.

Nah at late stage with Ursa it is unlikely you would be alone, although Ursa really has limited items that he needs due to damage coming heavily from his W E R, he can still tear through people with very little. I'd personally pick up a sheep stick so you definitely catch them as opposed to an orchid . (Then again I'd be miles ahead if I was picking that up.)

You already had a blink dagger though right? If not get one.

Ok, so when they are in one of the 6 slots in my inventory does that mean I am receiving the stats from them? Armour for example.

Yeah you can test it out by looking at your stats by dropping and picking up items.

 

[Purdy]

hm, not sure what the default are, I changed my keybinds before I even played, but I have skills on QWER and items on 1-6, much easier, courier is on V and characters on C, works alright for me.

This but last item on space bar for your 'oh ****' item. I.e. Mek/BKB

 

[Purdy]

hm didn't think of that, what's the default for spacebar? Don't think I use it so may do that.

Same as SC2 i think, snap camera to last warning i.e. tower being attacked