DotA2 - Original Thread

Someone made a historically accurate Riki with death ward and untargeted blink. Someone else made Pugna with I believe Take Aim, Overpower, Psi Blades, and Impetus.
http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/commen..._you_can_swap/
That has some funny screenshots of the results plus instructions on how to do it yourself in the comments.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IllegallySane

I was just amused to be able to play DoTA 2 with friends all in one room.

This.... I am laughing so hard over here. And I thought you can't modify DoTA at all.

---

They are going for WC3 style custom maps eventually with all players having access to custom map creation tools.


Also riki death ward? Welcome to guinsoo dota.

I hope you weren't planning on casting any spells. Ever.

Spoiler

http://roflsaurus.com/users/public/w...4700689l42.jpg

And this sums up old riki:

Spoiler

http://roflsaurus.com/users/public/e...Guinsooz42.jpg

Guinsoo dota thread? Guinsoo dota thread.

Spoiler

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Collection.jpg

And it wouldn't be a Guinsoo thread without...

Spoiler

31 SPELL INVOKER!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Collection.jpg

Oh god what, Guinsoo DoTA???

These abilities and ability combinations. They scare me. If this custom version of DoTA was a fun mode similar to TF2 randomizer (where it randomly rolls your class as well as weapons), I'm afraid of just how much I would play it. For those not familiar with the mode, this should be a good example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8wrU...yer_embedded#!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IllegallySane

Oh god what, Guinsoo DoTA???

These abilities and ability combinations. They scare me. If this custom version of DoTA was a fun mode similar to TF2 randomizer (where it randomly rolls your class as well as weapons), I'm afraid of just how much I would play it. For those not familiar with the mode, this should be a good example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8wrUAJB_bE&feature=player_embedded#!

---

Guinsoo, one of the designers for Riot now, used to be one of the lead designers for wc3 dota before Icefrog came.
Dota was a terribly terribly balanced game at that time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Raul

Guinsoo, one of the designers for Riot now, used to be one of the lead designers for wc3 dota before Icefrog came.
Dota was a terribly terribly balanced game at that time.

---

Wait....... wait.

>With Guinsoo DoTA was terribly balanced before Icefrog's time
>DoTA now looked over by Icefrog in terms of balancing
>Guinsoo now works for Riot
>Complaints that the newest releases usually tend to be grossly overpowered before they either get nerfed to the ground, remain where they are, or get even MORE overpowered. Now complains of season 3 one of the newest items is blatantly better than everyone else.

My god. It's all coming together!

LoL used to be much worse in terms of item balance. Innervating Locket, Sunfire Cape, Hextech Revolver, DFG, Phantom Dancer, and Zhonya's Ring. I don't think they let Guinsoo do much with live balance anyhow. I never got the impression that anyone ever really thought he was a good game designer, he just started the whole thing which was awful when it started, actually. Making new releases slightly OP is actually something Icefraud does too so bugs get found better. They just aren't allowed in -CM until they're ready. That's why Drow is the bane of -AP, she got her ult remade so Icefrog wanted to test her.

Anyhow I want Ember Spirit and Legion Commander.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Raul

LoL used to be much worse in terms of item balance. Innervating Locket, Sunfire Cape, Hextech Revolver, DFG, Phantom Dancer, and Zhonya's Ring. I don't think they let Guinsoo do much with live balance anyhow. I never got the impression that anyone ever really thought he was a good game designer, he just started the whole thing which was awful when it started, actually. Making new releases slightly OP is actually something Icefraud does too so bugs get found better. They just aren't allowed in -CM until they're ready. That's why Drow is the bane of -AP, she got her ult remade so Icefrog wanted to test her.

Anyhow I want Ember Spirit and Legion Commander.

---

Icefraud? That's new to me. lol

But to make new releases slightly OP so more players would play them and therefore find bugs more easily? That's actually pretty smart I'd say. No one would play new heroes as much if they didn't feel they can stomp bad players and perhaps give good players a challenge.

There are 3 main 'devs' of dota in WC3.
Eul was the first, he created a lot of pomegranate in regards to the map and so on, kind of the father of dota if we don't count AoS as the true father.
Then comes guinsoo, he basically took heroes from a lot of different dota games and added them together into what was then known as dota allstars. Guinsoo implemented roshan(Roshan is the name of guinsoo's bowling ball) and recipes and tries to act as though he was behind creating 75+% of the heroes. He wasn't, he copied them from others and changed them slightly, not to mention that barely any heroes today are anything close to what they used to be.
Then comes IceFrog and takes a more serious approach to the game and the competitive scene starts growing, IceFrog listens to his community but doesn't let the community dictate the changes or heroes(Puck was a fan-made hero for example) almost everything dota happened on one forum called DotaAllstars. The forum becomes big, like absolutely monster big. The game grows happily and IceFrog primarily listens to pros as to what they think, and he tends to create batpomegranate insane ideas and then kind of just tweaks them untill they work. Then pendragon is hired by riot, shuts down DotaAllstars since he was the host, promises to reupload all the forum sometime soon within a few weeks, meanwhile he puts LoL advertisement everywhere on the site. Years later the data still hadn't been re-uploaded and when he finally does re-upload it multiple things are missing, primarily in the hero idea and item idea section. This is a huge pineappleing reason as to why dota players are hostile towards LoL, because pendragon shut down their site and replaced it with LoL advertisement, he basically burned the bridge between the two games, sadly.(He could've transferred ownership, even when he re-uploaded it he was a plantain about it).
I have absolutely nothing against LoL myself, but i know where a lot of the hate originates from.

These are the kind of gems that were lost for years:

Knights of light

This strategy ONLY WORKS WHEN YOU ARE ON SENTINEL. If you are on scourge the ghouls attack you and you die almost immediately after spawning, due to your radiant and goodly nature.

The key to any good DotA team is the members' synergy and theme. Who could be better at working together than the charitable and modest KNIGHTS? Here are the heroes:
Omniknight (Omni)
Rogueknight (Sven)
Holy Knight (Chen)
Dragon Knight (DK)
Chaos Knight (CK)
This strategy is all about the theme here-you're knights. of the freaking round table. Therefore, you are bound to your oath: No KSing. If you KS your knight status has to be revoked and you have to leave the game after selling all your items and donating the money to the poorest member of your team.

Now, this team is pretty well rounded. You have Chen, the brains behind the operation. It's a good idea to have him be the leader of the team, because he's the smartest of the heroes. He also has skills like "Hand of God" which is pretty much intimidating yet also is clearly most righteous. So unquestioningly follow anything Chen says, because his intelligence score is going to be much much higher than yours. This team has sufficient nuking to work well through early game, but late game is when it really shines. If you don't shine late game, that shows that there is something wrong with you and God has not given you favor, so you should sell all your items and give them to the Sentinel.

A SIDE NOTE: Knights do not gank. They give ample warning of their approach by spamming in chat "BEWARE VILLAIN, I AM COME TO SLAY THEE,"[make sure it's all caps] and also they usually challenge the enemy to 1v1 combat. If the enemy declines, then the friends and compatriots of the knight (read: the rest of you) are then allowed to honorably engage (read: gank the crap out of) the enemy.

I. General Strategies/Hero Specific item builds

Here's who I will recommend to go together in each lane:

Mid: Sven/CK: the reason for this is firstly that they're both some weirdo race that should probably be kept away from everyone else. Also, this way you have a balanced force, some cavalry(CK) and some infantry backup(Sven). Cavalry is highly effective versus infantry in the new versions of DotA (6.27b+). Using cavalry, however, makes it mandatory to speak and give commands to your horse (which you must name) in all talk, as you should be yelling these commands. Sven can, if necessary to the RPG side of the game, also fill the role of squire, making him act as a chicken as well as omgwtpbbqpwner in times of need. Sven and CK should get, as far as items: Platemail, broadsword, boots, stout shield, helm of iron will. These should then be upgraded as quickly as possible to Aegis, Crystalys, Treads, Vanguard, Helm of the Dominator. Notice the lack of pants-items that you're buying ; this is because real knights model their behavior after the Right Honorable Zap Brannigan, who realized long ago that pants are for girls. With sturdy armor, sword, boots, shield and helm, a good knight can go far.

Top: DK solo. DK has some pretty impressive solo action. He has Dragon blood, which enables him to solo without going back to heal, ever. To maximize his potential, what you really need to do is fill your inventory (after boots) with Perseverances . Every single slot should be full by level 16 or so, with 5 Persevs and treads. After that, DK should start stacking battle furies. By the end of the game you can be doing 175% splash damage (and the 11th commandment is: Thou Shalt do Massive AoE with every attack) and getting ridiculous hp(24hp/sec, + str bonus) and mana regen(500%). Also, try to challenge the enemy to 1v1 contests, because your shield bash can work wonders as far as cleansing the world of the hellspawn enemy.

Bottom: Chen/Omni. This duo is the most pious of the bunch. Every in-game night, you should have both of them go to your tower and pray for at least a minute, so that God will continue to support them and provide them with wtppwn skills like purify and hand of God. If you forget to do this you have to go back to base as soon as possible and pray for an entire day, during which you should take all of your equipment off and let others use it or even have it permanently. After this you actually have more hitpoints and mana than normal, it just doesn't show up on the display, and you also have a higher hero damage reduction than you normally do. This is due to the divine favor gifted to you when you pray for an entire day- again, none of this will show up, but if it did then God would be proving his existence and so then there couldn't be faith blah blah blah blah. But anyway, basically you're invincible after this happens, so your whole team should group behind you as you all push middle. If any of you die on this push, that means God hates you.

Also- sometimes, Chen should go out into the forests looking for people ( and things ) to convert to your religion. While he's doing that Omni needs to be especially careful, because he has to be vigilant and watch closely for the effects of corruption and evil enough for two people. He also needs to assist Chen if the enemy tries to perform dastardly backdoor bandit action on him while he is "convincing" the small children and denizens of the woods to join his cause.

II.Early game:
As knights, your primary concern is to deny (honorably) and try to work at the towers, defending the land and last-hitting evil-doers whenever possible. If you're really going to take this RP idea far, then everyone also probably needs to go straight for headdresses, meks or basiliuses, because you have to help others as well as yourself in your quest to destroy evil. Plus, multiple meks along with purify and hand of god and divine intervention is so freakin' good. Even without everyone going for that, hp regen is key, as is the armor and mana regen aura for basilius - everyone on your team has spammable abilities that depend on mana. Ultimately, early game is your time to let Chen show some neutral creeps the glory of your Most Divine Lord and try to farm like hell. Your team will be a little gimped for a while, because 4 of the 5 of you are melee. However, as anyone will tell you, none of these heroes are terrible early game, and all of them can contribute without farming a ridiculous amount. One of your best assets is that 3/5 of your team has a 2+ second stun, and the other two members have slowing abilities, so fleeing before the forces of Good is quite difficult; they must stand and fight, or be destroyed.

Another strategy early game is:

1. Invite the other team to a feast of sapphire water and trees at the "Gates of Rohan"
2. If they attack you, you freak out about violence at the kings feast and punish the pagan beasts.
3. If they don't, then you yell pomegranate about slaughtering the heathens and kill them.
4. Drink heavily (sapphire water)
5. Smite evil
Basically this strategy is undefeated in about 15 games trying it, including four CAL matches. I'm pretty sure that there are absolutely no holes at all in this one. In fact, I recommend this one more; however, it's harder to pull off sometimes. It requires an awful lot of sapphire water, and that pomegranate's expensive, but you have to be careful to not get too much, otherwise your ability to walk in straight lines, speak coherently, and have any sort of good judgment about the opposite sex, etc. can be greatly hindered.

III. Middle game

While Knights of the Round Table spend most of their time gallivanting around the countryside saving hotties from dragons and jousting with evil black knights, (levels 1-10) eventually they must meet back at the court to share tales. As soon as you reach level 10 you MUST begin the long trek home(recommended at lvl 8), bringing any converts that you may have made or squires/damsels in distress you've encountered along the way. Once everyone has achieved level 8 and has returned, the collected knights must go on the hunt for the Holy Grail, which is encased in a giant frozen icicle in the far northeast of the land. This involves a valiant and strong push through mid--the "crusade", which must be based entirely in your faith and adherence to your code of honor. You should be able to easily win on this push.

III. Late game

You should have turned the heathen scum on their tails and made them flee by now.

IV. Team Strats

"The Crusade:"

Crusade tactics involve an allout push towards the Holy Grail, which is located in the top right corner of the map, inside some sort of ice crystal. To succesfully Crusade, your whole team must assemble and destroy the crystal imprisoning the Holy Chalice of Life. Keep in mind: When doing the "crusade" tactics, one might be afraid of being waylaid by enemies and having to defend oneself. Fear not, there are mind-tricks and plans for coping with any attempt the brigands put forth to end your righteous existence. Firstly, make sure that you go everywhere in formation before you engage in combat. Keep the cavalry ( chen, ck) on the edges, so that they can flank the enemy lines during the heat of combat and attack from more weakly defended sides. The Flying V, as it is called, puts the Dragon Knight as the leader of the infantry divisions, backed by the Rogue and Omniknights. Make sure that your forces are in this position, because it absolutely optimizes your strengths and makes it much harder for the enemies to encircle your forces, trapping you. Watch for lurkers in the woods, as they could perform all manner of nasty deeds to you. If you see any such hoodlums, charge the whole team in after them--with solidarity comes strength, and 4/5 of you are strength heroes.

"The Tournament"

Each member of the team chooses one of the enemies to engage. All heroes charge the one hero they've chosen and engage in man-to-demon honorable combat. Upon defeating the enemy you must lend encouragement and support to your allies, but may not in any way touch their foe. This strategy is particularly effective never.

Along with a lot of guides that actually still hold true today, like warding spots and pomegranate, there was even a zeus guide by merlini ;_;


Also heroes aren't just made stronger to find bugs faster, it is also often because he implements a new mechanic(Like spell steal) and because the mechanic is new to the game he makes it stronger so he can see how he should tweak it and what things about it makes it too strong compared to everything else. He's done that forever. Zet on release was the most broken pomegranate i've seen in years :

Spoiler

Zet, the Arc Warden

Scourge
Agility

Movespeed: 295
Starting Armor: 0
Attack Damage: 40-50
Attack Range: 625

Intelligence: 24 + 2.1
Strength: 24 + 1.9
Agility: 15 + 1.8




Flux:
=====
Engulfs an enemy unit with swirling volatile energy for 6 seconds, slowing its movement speed by 50% and dealing damage over time if it is alone. The effect is muted if there is a nearby enemy unit within 225 aoe.

AoE: 225
Slow: 50%
DPS: 15/30/45/60
Duration: 6

Cooldown: 20
Manacost: 75
Cast Range: 600/700/800/900

Note: Effect stacks directly with multiple instances. Each instance operates independently.

Ability Code: A2M1




Magnetic Field:
================
Distorts space, generating a circular field that grants 100% evasion and bonus attack speed to allied units and buildings within. The field has an aoe of 375.

Duration: 3.5/4/4.5/5
AoE: 375
Attack Speed Bonus: 50/60/70/80

Cooldown: 50
Manacost: 110
Cast Range: 900

Note: Units need to remain within this area to get the bonuses

Ability Code: A2LM




Spark Wraith:
==============
Summons a Spark Wraith that takes 3 seconds to fully materialize. Haunts the targeted area until an enemy comes within its range and then fuses itself into him dealing magical damage.


Activation Delay: 3 seconds
Duration: Lasts up to 50 seconds before expiring or when it finds an enemy
Damage: 150/200/250/300
AoE: 375 (seeks towards the closest unit in this AoE at 400 MS and damages it)

Cast Range: 2000
Cooldown: 4
Manacost: 50

Ability Code: A2LL




Tempest Double:
==================
By vibrating at extreme speeds, Arc Warden is able to create a perfect electrical incarnation of himself for 20 seconds, at the cost of health and mana. This incarnation can use any spells or items he has, and spawns with his health and mana after the cast.

HP/MP Cost: 30/15/0% of current HP/MP

Cooldown: 55
Duration: 20

Note: The Tempest Double is visibly different for allies. Cannot copy Wards, Smoke or Refresher Orb.

Ability Code: A2M0

F-f-female Legion Commander?

:f4:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

There are 3 main 'devs' of dota in WC3.
Eul was the first, he created a lot of pomegranate in regards to the map and so on, kind of the father of dota if we don't count AoS as the true father.
Then comes guinsoo, he basically took heroes from a lot of different dota games and added them together into what was then known as dota allstars. Guinsoo implemented roshan(Roshan is the name of guinsoo's bowling ball) and recipes and tries to act as though he was behind creating 75+% of the heroes. He wasn't, he copied them from others and changed them slightly, not to mention that barely any heroes today are anything close to what they used to be.
Then comes IceFrog and takes a more serious approach to the game and the competitive scene starts growing, IceFrog listens to his community but doesn't let the community dictate the changes or heroes(Puck was a fan-made hero for example) almost everything dota happened on one forum called DotaAllstars. The forum becomes big, like absolutely monster big. The game grows happily and IceFrog primarily listens to pros as to what they think, and he tends to create batpomegranate insane ideas and then kind of just tweaks them untill they work. Then pendragon is hired by riot, shuts down DotaAllstars since he was the host, promises to reupload all the forum sometime soon within a few weeks, meanwhile he puts LoL advertisement everywhere on the site. Years later the data still hadn't been re-uploaded and when he finally does re-upload it multiple things are missing, primarily in the hero idea and item idea section. This is a huge pineappleing reason as to why dota players are hostile towards LoL, because pendragon shut down their site and replaced it with LoL advertisement, he basically burned the bridge between the two games, sadly.(He could've transferred ownership, even when he re-uploaded it he was a plantain about it).
I have absolutely nothing against LoL myself, but i know where a lot of the hate originates from.

These are the kind of gems that were lost for years:

Knights of light

This strategy ONLY WORKS WHEN YOU ARE ON SENTINEL. If you are on scourge the ghouls attack you and you die almost immediately after spawning, due to your radiant and goodly nature.

The key to any good DotA team is the members' synergy and theme. Who could be better at working together than the charitable and modest KNIGHTS? Here are the heroes:
Omniknight (Omni)
Rogueknight (Sven)
Holy Knight (Chen)
Dragon Knight (DK)
Chaos Knight (CK)
This strategy is all about the theme here-you're knights. of the freaking round table. Therefore, you are bound to your oath: No KSing. If you KS your knight status has to be revoked and you have to leave the game after selling all your items and donating the money to the poorest member of your team.

Now, this team is pretty well rounded. You have Chen, the brains behind the operation. It's a good idea to have him be the leader of the team, because he's the smartest of the heroes. He also has skills like "Hand of God" which is pretty much intimidating yet also is clearly most righteous. So unquestioningly follow anything Chen says, because his intelligence score is going to be much much higher than yours. This team has sufficient nuking to work well through early game, but late game is when it really shines. If you don't shine late game, that shows that there is something wrong with you and God has not given you favor, so you should sell all your items and give them to the Sentinel.

A SIDE NOTE: Knights do not gank. They give ample warning of their approach by spamming in chat "BEWARE VILLAIN, I AM COME TO SLAY THEE,"[make sure it's all caps] and also they usually challenge the enemy to 1v1 combat. If the enemy declines, then the friends and compatriots of the knight (read: the rest of you) are then allowed to honorably engage (read: gank the crap out of) the enemy.

I. General Strategies/Hero Specific item builds

Here's who I will recommend to go together in each lane:

Mid: Sven/CK: the reason for this is firstly that they're both some weirdo race that should probably be kept away from everyone else. Also, this way you have a balanced force, some cavalry(CK) and some infantry backup(Sven). Cavalry is highly effective versus infantry in the new versions of DotA (6.27b+). Using cavalry, however, makes it mandatory to speak and give commands to your horse (which you must name) in all talk, as you should be yelling these commands. Sven can, if necessary to the RPG side of the game, also fill the role of squire, making him act as a chicken as well as omgwtpbbqpwner in times of need. Sven and CK should get, as far as items: Platemail, broadsword, boots, stout shield, helm of iron will. These should then be upgraded as quickly as possible to Aegis, Crystalys, Treads, Vanguard, Helm of the Dominator. Notice the lack of pants-items that you're buying ; this is because real knights model their behavior after the Right Honorable Zap Brannigan, who realized long ago that pants are for girls. With sturdy armor, sword, boots, shield and helm, a good knight can go far.

Top: DK solo. DK has some pretty impressive solo action. He has Dragon blood, which enables him to solo without going back to heal, ever. To maximize his potential, what you really need to do is fill your inventory (after boots) with Perseverances . Every single slot should be full by level 16 or so, with 5 Persevs and treads. After that, DK should start stacking battle furies. By the end of the game you can be doing 175% splash damage (and the 11th commandment is: Thou Shalt do Massive AoE with every attack) and getting ridiculous hp(24hp/sec, + str bonus) and mana regen(500%). Also, try to challenge the enemy to 1v1 contests, because your shield bash can work wonders as far as cleansing the world of the hellspawn enemy.

Bottom: Chen/Omni. This duo is the most pious of the bunch. Every in-game night, you should have both of them go to your tower and pray for at least a minute, so that God will continue to support them and provide them with wtppwn skills like purify and hand of God. If you forget to do this you have to go back to base as soon as possible and pray for an entire day, during which you should take all of your equipment off and let others use it or even have it permanently. After this you actually have more hitpoints and mana than normal, it just doesn't show up on the display, and you also have a higher hero damage reduction than you normally do. This is due to the divine favor gifted to you when you pray for an entire day- again, none of this will show up, but if it did then God would be proving his existence and so then there couldn't be faith blah blah blah blah. But anyway, basically you're invincible after this happens, so your whole team should group behind you as you all push middle. If any of you die on this push, that means God hates you.

Also- sometimes, Chen should go out into the forests looking for people ( and things ) to convert to your religion. While he's doing that Omni needs to be especially careful, because he has to be vigilant and watch closely for the effects of corruption and evil enough for two people. He also needs to assist Chen if the enemy tries to perform dastardly backdoor bandit action on him while he is "convincing" the small children and denizens of the woods to join his cause.

II.Early game:
As knights, your primary concern is to deny (honorably) and try to work at the towers, defending the land and last-hitting evil-doers whenever possible. If you're really going to take this RP idea far, then everyone also probably needs to go straight for headdresses, meks or basiliuses, because you have to help others as well as yourself in your quest to destroy evil. Plus, multiple meks along with purify and hand of god and divine intervention is so freakin' good. Even without everyone going for that, hp regen is key, as is the armor and mana regen aura for basilius - everyone on your team has spammable abilities that depend on mana. Ultimately, early game is your time to let Chen show some neutral creeps the glory of your Most Divine Lord and try to farm like hell. Your team will be a little gimped for a while, because 4 of the 5 of you are melee. However, as anyone will tell you, none of these heroes are terrible early game, and all of them can contribute without farming a ridiculous amount. One of your best assets is that 3/5 of your team has a 2+ second stun, and the other two members have slowing abilities, so fleeing before the forces of Good is quite difficult; they must stand and fight, or be destroyed.

Another strategy early game is:

1. Invite the other team to a feast of sapphire water and trees at the "Gates of Rohan"
2. If they attack you, you freak out about violence at the kings feast and punish the pagan beasts.
3. If they don't, then you yell pomegranate about slaughtering the heathens and kill them.
4. Drink heavily (sapphire water)
5. Smite evil
Basically this strategy is undefeated in about 15 games trying it, including four CAL matches. I'm pretty sure that there are absolutely no holes at all in this one. In fact, I recommend this one more; however, it's harder to pull off sometimes. It requires an awful lot of sapphire water, and that pomegranate's expensive, but you have to be careful to not get too much, otherwise your ability to walk in straight lines, speak coherently, and have any sort of good judgment about the opposite sex, etc. can be greatly hindered.

III. Middle game

While Knights of the Round Table spend most of their time gallivanting around the countryside saving hotties from dragons and jousting with evil black knights, (levels 1-10) eventually they must meet back at the court to share tales. As soon as you reach level 10 you MUST begin the long trek home(recommended at lvl 8), bringing any converts that you may have made or squires/damsels in distress you've encountered along the way. Once everyone has achieved level 8 and has returned, the collected knights must go on the hunt for the Holy Grail, which is encased in a giant frozen icicle in the far northeast of the land. This involves a valiant and strong push through mid--the "crusade", which must be based entirely in your faith and adherence to your code of honor. You should be able to easily win on this push.

III. Late game

You should have turned the heathen scum on their tails and made them flee by now.

IV. Team Strats

"The Crusade:"

Crusade tactics involve an allout push towards the Holy Grail, which is located in the top right corner of the map, inside some sort of ice crystal. To succesfully Crusade, your whole team must assemble and destroy the crystal imprisoning the Holy Chalice of Life. Keep in mind: When doing the "crusade" tactics, one might be afraid of being waylaid by enemies and having to defend oneself. Fear not, there are mind-tricks and plans for coping with any attempt the brigands put forth to end your righteous existence. Firstly, make sure that you go everywhere in formation before you engage in combat. Keep the cavalry ( chen, ck) on the edges, so that they can flank the enemy lines during the heat of combat and attack from more weakly defended sides. The Flying V, as it is called, puts the Dragon Knight as the leader of the infantry divisions, backed by the Rogue and Omniknights. Make sure that your forces are in this position, because it absolutely optimizes your strengths and makes it much harder for the enemies to encircle your forces, trapping you. Watch for lurkers in the woods, as they could perform all manner of nasty deeds to you. If you see any such hoodlums, charge the whole team in after them--with solidarity comes strength, and 4/5 of you are strength heroes.

"The Tournament"

Each member of the team chooses one of the enemies to engage. All heroes charge the one hero they've chosen and engage in man-to-demon honorable combat. Upon defeating the enemy you must lend encouragement and support to your allies, but may not in any way touch their foe. This strategy is particularly effective never.

Along with a lot of guides that actually still hold true today, like warding spots and pomegranate, there was even a zeus guide by merlini ;_;

---

That was an insightful read. Really interesting to know some more about the backstory behind DoTA. That knight team idea sounds mighty awesome, and must do that at least once in my DoTA career.

South korean servers are on their way, would seem Nexon are actually working. I hope they can force the chaos players over to dota. (Chaos was a korean version of dota with quite some differences)

This was just amazing. Ursa on our team left early, so it was 4 vs 5. We were sucking hard early game, but things picked up and we managed to win it in the end. Not just that, but utterly destroyed their team with well geared Drow and Void. Teamwork + Lich support too good. Oh, and <3 Sheep Stick so much now.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...289C13F9B2AB4/

Talk of dota and nexon and korea:

Spoiler

Quote:

---

"Korean Server, Korean Dubbing" - Dota 2 is coming
Nexon and Valve working together to start local service in Korea


There have been whispers of a Korea-centric Dota 2 service coming up.

Currently, Valve's Dota 2 already has servers in North America, South East Asia, Oceania, Europe, Russia and China. Korea is said to be the next country to have servers set up for the game.

This was recently discovered in the latest patch, where patch files had an extra line called "dota_region Korea" added after the latest Australian server addition, and the news has been spreading on Twitter.

ThisIsGame did a check and true enough, Korea is next on the list to have Dota 2 servers. The company in charge of setting up the servers will be game publishing company Nexon. Dota 2 runs on Valve's proprietary Steam client, thus Nexon will not be in charge of managing and testing the game.

Over a phone interview, Nexon revealed that Dota 2 will have its servers set up as "beta" status, in accordance to the game's current publishing status. Nexon will be in charge of setting up the servers, but could not give the exact time frame in which they will be set up.

- Nexon preparing complete Korean dubs

There has been multiple signs of Dota 2 coming to Korea. Dota 2 footage appeared on GomTV's Gangnam Studio opening video that featured on the 19th, and the official Dota 2 Korean dub Twitter account has also been set up to announce the latest progress.

A check by ThisIsGame revealed that the Twitter account is currently being managed by Nexon's Dota 2 team, and the same team are also in charge of the dubs. Nexon is working with Valve for testing the Korean language support.

A Nexon spokesman said that they are currently in works with the Korean language support, and despite having partial support for the language, they have been working "since March to provide an accurate, complete translation as well as to test the servers in Korea."

Nexon, who revealed their intention in February 2012 to launch Dota 2 in the later half of 2013 has yet to announce a concrete test schedule.

One gaming industry watcher said that "the second half target was a very loose deadline", and that if "the servers are set up with a local company's help, it is highly likely that the game will launch in the first half of 2013." He added that "Aeon of Strife-style games are very popular in Korea right now, and that (Valve and Nexon) are waiting for the right timing to launch Dota 2 to ride on that momentum".

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Source of translation of article and stuff: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=401866

I mean i've never been a big fan of nexon, but seeing that they will have nothing to do with the game balance or anything like that i think they might just be the right company if Dota2 wants a chance in south korea.

Yeah, Nexon is pretty damn big in Korea and sure to get a lot of people to play. I'd be more concerned about the quality of their servers.

More good news, this time from china:

Spoiler

Quote:

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Perfect World and Gamefy announce partnership, million-yuan Dota2 league
Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201303/149292.html
http://i.imgur.com/Bgt0Kpg.jpg
Today, Perfect World and Gamefy held a press conference to announce an official partnership between the two organizations. SGamer’s reporters on scene have reported back that as a result of this partnership, there will be a world-class Dota2 league, with a prize pool reaching one million yuan (equivalent to 160,000 USD). Clearly this partnership signals a new chapter in the rise of Dota2 in China, and the creation of a top-tier competitive Dota2 league belonging to China!

See more images from the press conference here.

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Source: http://dotaland.net/2013/03/08/perfe...-dota2-league/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Malthe

Talk of dota and nexon and korea:

Spoiler

Source of translation of article and stuff: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=401866

I mean i've never been a big fan of nexon, but seeing that they will have nothing to do with the game balance or anything like that i think they might just be the right company if Dota2 wants a chance in south korea.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dusk

Yeah, Nexon is pretty damn big in Korea and sure to get a lot of people to play. I'd be more concerned about the quality of their servers.

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As long as they are only a distributor, and leave all the balancing/gameplay changes to Valve and Icefrog, it should be a-okay. Server wise, I can see how that could be a problem. Usually though, Korean servers are crazy good as long. As long as they use whatever they use for their Starcraft servers, it should be top notch.

Hm. Something on Reddit gave me an idea...
I kinda want to make a Dota racing kart game. I have no idea if it's been done before.
But I'm having all these great ideas. I want the map editor to come out so I can do this without it being super glitchy. I don't want to wreck my client by doing this.
Currently my thinking involves this:

Spoiler

have powerups on the ground that can be picked up (basically using the rune mechanics) and give skills with a limited number of uses, using the mystery skill mechanics from naked greevils during Greeviling. remains to be seen if I can alter the skills that are given there because I want to use more including item actives like those of Scythe of Vyse, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Abyssal Blade, Force Staff, Diffusal Blade, Dagon, Orchid Malevolence (probably having this silence disable item actives), Rod of Atos, Black King Bar, Shiva's Guard, Manta Style (or just have this be illusion rune...), Phase Boots (or probably just Haste rune with modifications), Ethereal Blade, Shadow Blade, and I might see if I can make any tweaks to the passive from Linken's Sphere so that it is an active.
I'm also considering giving the racers natural skills. I don't know if one or two would be best but I don't think more would be appropriate.
the ones I've been considering are
Clockwerk's Power Cogs
Clockwerk's Hook Shot
Centaur Warrunner's Stampede
Earthshaker's Fissure
Tusk's Ice Shards
Tusk's Snowball
Kunkka's X Marks the Spot
Beastmaster's Primal Roar
Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness (non-global)
Slardar's Sprint (...?)
Pudge's Meat Hook
Lycanthrope's Shapeshift (maybe visually edited, basically serving as a GOTTA GO FAST button. this could serve for Alchemist's Chemical Rage as well, maybe Lone Druid's True Form too)
Juggernaut's Omnislash
Mirana's Sacred Arrow
Morphling's Waveform
Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap
Gyrocopter's Homing Missile (maybe have it accelerate? It'd never catch most enemies...)
Naga Siren's Song of the Siren
Naga Siren's Ensnare
Bloodseeker's Rupture (hehehehehehehe)
Razor's Unstable Current OR Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace
Viper's Viper Strike
Weaver's Shukuchi
Weaver's Time Lapse
Slark's Pounce
Spectre's Spectral Dagger
Puck's Illusory Orb and the associated Ethereal Jaunt
Windrunner's Shackleshot
Windrunner's Windrun
Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward
Nature's Prophet's Sprout
Nature's Prophet's Wrath of Nature
Enchantress' Impetus
Ogre Magi's Fireblast (I might have to make Multicast a passive ability that isn't shown for this, that's too cool to pass up)
Ogre Magi's Ignite (same as above)
Disruptor's Glimpse
Disruptor's Kinetic Field
Keeper of the Light's Mana Leak
Lion's Hex (or Shadow Shaman's Hex)
Witch Doctor's Paralyzing Cask
Witch Doctor's Death Ward (MORE LIKE RIKI'S DEATH WARD, NO CHANNELING ON THIS BAMF)
Death Prophet's Exorcism (...maybe. might need some duration reduction so it fits with the pace)
Queen of Pain's Shadow Strike
Dazzle's Poison Touch
Dark Seer's Wall of Replica (illusions behavior is like Spectre's Haunt illusions)
Batrider's Sticky Napalm (possibly increase damage/effects per stack)
Batrider's Firefly
Batrider's Flaming Lasso
Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast (possibly with different effects on the blast, dunno)
Invoker's Ghost Walk
Invoker's Ice Wall
Invoker's Deafening Blast
Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge
Visage's Grave Chill

anyhow, I'd probably mix and match and change some stuff around to make each rider
I don't even know where to start
ooh, forgot to mention this, I'm considering using the Greeviling river terrain as the main track and putting some trees around it with some paths in there (for people with force staff or flame break or whatnot).
I'm not sure if I want to incorporate mana as a concept and I'm not sure on how I want to make health work
I could make some spells do damage but should they OHKO? Should heroes/riders have the ability to get defensive options?
heck should the riders even be able to attack each other outside of spells? would that make the heroes with strong damage abilities too strong? would balancing that make the heroes with strong utility spells too strong?
and what the hell are they going to be riding? should I start with heroes who already seem like they have mounts, like Alchemist, Keeper of the Light, Chaos Knight, Centaur Warrunner (...kinda), Abbadon when he comes, Skywrath Mage when he comes, Timbersaw, Mirana, Luna, Gyrocopter, Chen, Disruptor, and Batrider? or should I go through the inevitable process of changing the heroes' visuals and making them able to ride a mount and make mounts for them all? because if this is going to go very far either I'm going to have to learn how to do graphic design stuff like this or I'm gonna need someone who can do this for me.
should I make obstacles? I could have a couple Roshans or Warlock Golems spawn somewhere and have them chase people a bit
I could have a meteor shower (literally a bunch of Invoker's Meteors) somewhere
I could have a rockslide somewhere
I could have a changed magnus model try to area cast Skewer
I could have basically a wall with skinny holes in it that would slow your time down incredibly unless you came at it with the exact right angle (remember this is greeviling ice path)
I could have "forest guardians" in the woods that you would have to avoid (likely with something like a Kunkka Torrent, Lina Light Strike Array, Leshrac Split Earth, Jakiro Ice Path, or whatever delayed stun/knockup skillshot you can think of) or get your ass kicked but if you avoided them your time would be significantly faster for some heroes
man I'm loving this idea
hmm I actually have no idea how to do the finish line function at ALL
I know I could probably code the starting function by using an Earthshaker Fissure with modified duration
I also have no idea how to go about coding the rider select process
hmm, something to think about.

G-LEAGUE HAS BEGUN, BIGGEST THING IN DOTA 2 SINCE TI2.

http://www.twitch.tv/gamefycn chinese stream
http://www.twitch.tv/beyondthesummit english coverage

Dota map is about 12,000 by 12,000 I think.
That means if Magnus has 17,000 range on RP, he can pull enemy heroes from their fountain to his fountain!
Side note, I think that was the first rampage I've ever gotten.