official Dota 2

[Freelancer1111]

Got my hands on Dota 2 today (finally), and I have to admit that they did quite a good job. The game is easier than the first one but nonetheless you can't autohit like in Leage of Legends and expect to win. Fights are also much shorter than in LoL, everyone just pops his abilities and its over, so there is no chasing and running :)

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Got my hands on Dota 2 today (finally), and I have to admit that they did quite a good job. The game is easier than the first one but nonetheless you can't autohit like in Leage of Legends and expect to win. Fights are also much shorter than in LoL, everyone just pops his abilities and its over, so there is no chasing and running :)

Congrats. It's a fun game once you get the hang of things. There are ways of surviving with some heroes. Clinkz, for example, has a move called skeleton walk that makes him go invisible. It also gives him a movement speed bonus (up to 44% on the highest level, if I remember correctly). And that's just one example. Other heroes have similar abilities and for the ones that don't, there are items like shadow blade that let you do something similar. I'm not a pro or anything but one thing I've noticed with higher-skilled players is the way they select their heroes. They usually wait until the very end because some heroes are good counters against others (like Slardar against Riki or Bounty Hunter).

If you're interested in looking up guides for heroes, Dota Fire is really good. (Y)

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Dota 2 is bigger than Counter-Strike: Source and Skyrim and it?s not even out yet

Dota 2 is doing rather too well for a game that hasn?t been released. According to Steam stats, it?s the second most played game on Steam right now, ahead of Counter-Strike: Source, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim and lots of other games that have actually been released. Dota 2 is currently in an ever-expanding beta that?s been running since late last year.

Back in September, Dota 2 dev IceFrog posted on the Dota 2 site to say that Valve had decided to speed up work on Dota 2 after the success of The International tournament. The original beta plan had been to keep the game in beta for a year to get the roster up to size. Given how well the beta seems to be doing that might not be such a bad plan after all.

Here?s a graph built using Steam Graphs showing Steam player stats over the last few days. At peak times in the US Counter-Strike: Source and the king of Steam, Counter-Strike 1.6, retain the upper hand. Dota 2 overtakes both during those downtime hours, which suggests a strong, growing international community.

[...]

Source: PC Gamer

[Shaun N.]

It's not bad, just not for me. I get bored easily with it and abandon :(

[mattmatik]

I've been wanting to get into moba a bit and watching some of the Dota 2 vids on youtube have really got me pumped for this. My question though is which game - Dota, LoL, HoN, etc - would be better suited for the new player? The one thing I would hate to have happen is to lose interest because the community is full of blowhards.

[Argi]

I take back what I said earlier (I must've been drunk when I first tried it), I enjoy DotA2 more than LoL. :)

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Nowadays, I find Dota 2 to be more enjoyable than Diablo 3. I figured I'd play both games equally but lately, I've been playing a lot of Dota 2. I'm at a point now where I can confidently pick a random hero. The only time I'll re-pick is if I really don't want to play a certain hero or if my team doesn't need another carry.

I've been wanting to get into moba a bit and watching some of the Dota 2 vids on youtube have really got me pumped for this. My question though is which game - Dota, LoL, HoN, etc - would be better suited for the new player? The one thing I would hate to have happen is to lose interest because the community is full of blowhards.

I honestly think Dota 2 would be better. It may be harder to learn but once you learn the basics, you'll be set for just about any MOBA game. The Dota 2 community can be harsh at times but it's nowhere near as bad as Heroes of Newerth. I stopped playing that game because of the community. And the only time I ever played it was with 4 of my friends.

I take back what I said earlier (I must've been drunk when I first tried it), I enjoy DotA2 more than LoL. :)

I may have mentioned this already but I have a younger brother that absolutely loved League of Legends. Once he tried Dota 2, he found it hard to go back.

[Miuku.]

There's one thing I dislike about DOTA2: the camera is too bloody close.

When I play on my native 2560x1600 resolution (30" screen) the characters are frigging huge and for some reason I have trouble getting a whole view of the entire area. Maybe it's just me.

[Pupik]

^ You're not the only one. Having troubles sometimes escaping the battle when needed, as the result of the seriously ****ed up zoom level.

[mattmatik]

Nowadays, I find Dota 2 to be more enjoyable than Diablo 3. I figured I'd play both games equally but lately, I've been playing a lot of Dota 2. I'm at a point now where I can confidently pick a random hero. The only time I'll re-pick is if I really don't want to play a certain hero or if my team doesn't need another carry.

I honestly think Dota 2 would be better. It may be harder to learn but once you learn the basics, you'll be set for just about any MOBA game. The Dota 2 community can be harsh at times but it's nowhere near as bad as Heroes of Newerth. I stopped playing that game because of the community. And the only time I ever played it was with 4 of my friends.

I may have mentioned this already but I have a younger brother that absolutely loved League of Legends. Once he tried Dota 2, he found it hard to go back.

Yeah, I have a friend who plays HoN a lot and he took me into a pub match and it was not very enjoyable. Would expect a little more slack for pub games - you want to go super serious in ranked, I'm all for it. I then tried a couple games in LoL and had a much better experience so maybe I will give Dota 2 a try; I just got my invite from Valve.

Its just frustrating when people expect you to know the ins-and-outs of a game.

[Athernar]

Yeah, I have a friend who plays HoN a lot and he took me into a pub match and it was not very enjoyable. Would expect a little more slack for pub games - you want to go super serious in ranked, I'm all for it. I then tried a couple games in LoL and had a much better experience so maybe I will give Dota 2 a try; I just got my invite from Valve.

Its just frustrating when people expect you to know the ins-and-outs of a game.

To be fair, if you don't know the ins-and-outs of a Dota-type game, you're very likely going to ruin the game for your teammates.

If you're against bots, then that's fine. You've got to learn somewhere - but I don't blame people for getting slightly irritated when one person on their team is 0/10/0 and has caused the enemy team to have a huge level and gold advantage.

Just remember that Dota 2 is far more unforgiving than LoL is.

[Miuku.]

Just remember that Dota 2 is far more unforgiving than LoL is.

But on the other hand you're not playing ranked, you're not trying to climb a ladder and if you lose it won't make any difference - I wish more people would remember that when playing instead of raging like lunatics.

[Athernar]

But on the other hand you're not playing ranked, you're not trying to climb a ladder and if you lose it won't make any difference - I wish more people would remember that when playing instead of raging like lunatics.

Ranked or not is irrelevant, you're ruining the game.

Especially when a single game takes anywhere from 30/45 minutes to an hour. If you only have enough time for a single match, it's incredibly selfish for someone to enter into a game not knowing the mechanics, and expecting everyone else to pick up after them.

Being pubstomped for 45 minutes because the other team are arses and being locked-into that game because of abandons, solely because of one player? That's trolling sans intent.

[Miuku.]

Ranked or not is irrelevant, you're ruining the game.

I wasn't really referring to people who don't know the mechanics but rather people who are simply new - you might have played a bunch against bots but aren't still used to how people play and as such as result you get raged at a lot for doing a few mistakes - in my time in LoL I saw people throw the kind of comments that would have ended you at the police station in real life but for some odd reason this seems to be acceptable behaviour in a MOBA.

I'd say a good portion of the MOBA player base should be sent for psychic evaluation because they're missing a few screws.

[Emn1ty]

But on the other hand you're not playing ranked, you're not trying to climb a ladder and if you lose it won't make any difference - I wish more people would remember that when playing instead of raging like lunatics.

Ranked or not is irrelevant, you're ruining the game.

Especially when a single game takes anywhere from 30/45 minutes to an hour. If you only have enough time for a single match, it's incredibly selfish for someone to enter into a game not knowing the mechanics, and expecting everyone else to pick up after them.

Being pubstomped for 45 minutes because the other team are arses and being locked-into that game because of abandons, solely because of one player? That's trolling sans intent.

That's where LoL's leveling system comes in. Up until level 30 you are paired with others who are of similar level which means as you play games you aren't being paired with seasoned vets who will rage at you for being bad. They are similarly ignorant to the game's mechanics. Although getting a 5 man together and playing with level 30's off the bat is a great idea to force you to learn the game and get good quickly (and your friends won't rage at you for being bad cause they already know you're not the best at the game).

Team games require friends to be really enjoyable. But League has a few things in place to make it easy to get into for even the solo players.

[Athernar]

I wasn't really referring to people who don't know the mechanics but rather people who are simply new - you might have played a bunch against bots but aren't still used to how people play and as such as result you get raged at a lot for doing a few mistakes - in my time in LoL I saw people throw the kind of comments that would have ended you at the police station in real life but for some odd reason this seems to be acceptable behaviour in a MOBA.

I'd say a good portion of the MOBA player base should be sent for psychic evaluation because they're missing a few screws.

I would say that (in terms of Dota 2) if you've mastered Dota 101, are proficient vs bots, and have maybe watched a few tutorials/hero guides or practiced vs friends - you should be more than capable of performing your role (should always be support to begin with) adequately. ELO should take care of the rest.

And really, if you're taking comments on the internet that seriously. You're doing it wrong.

Courtesy goes both ways, you show it to your team - and you're more likely to get it in return.

A hard fought loss can be just as enjoyable, if not more than a shallow win. Being a feedbag because you don't know what you're doing ruins the game for everyone

[CentralDogma]

Valve?s working on bringing Dota 2 up to DotA parity. They haven?t added the new features to make the game more accessible to new players yet.

I would say that (in terms of Dota 2) if you've mastered Dota 101, are proficient vs bots, and have maybe watched a few tutorials/hero guides or practiced vs friends - you should be more than capable of performing your role (should always be support to begin with) adequately. ELO should take care of the rest.

And really, if you're taking comments on the internet that seriously. You're doing it wrong.

Courtesy goes both ways, you show it to your team - and you're more likely to get it in return.

A hard fought loss can be just as enjoyable, if not more than a shallow win. Being a feedbag because you don't know what you're doing ruins the game for everyone

If someone is feeding due to inexperience, it is a failure of matchmaking, not the player.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

If anyone has a spare invite, please let me know. I'd like to give one to my younger brother.

[Knife Party]

^ signup is now public to all

[Athernar]

If anyone has a spare invite, please let me know. I'd like to give one to my younger brother.

If you're willing to spend money, you can outright "buy" the game via the store.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

^ signup is now public to all

I believe that has been the case since last year. My brother and his friends signed up months ago and none of them have been invited yet.

If you're willing to spend money, you can outright "buy" the game via the store.

I'm willing to spend money but $29.99 is way too much for beta access. The current value for one Dota 2 invite is 3 treasure keys ($2.49/key). I was going to do that yesterday but PayPal was temporarily unavailable on Steam.

[Shaun N.]

Been playing a bit over the last few days with Riki - Its fun :D

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

This video doesn't anger me but it makes me cringe. One thing I really hate in Dota 2 is when bad players pretend to be good. I'd prefer to play with more skilled players but I have no problems with teaching someone how to play their hero better. Also, I've seen way too many players do what Leshrac did at the end (with other invisible heroes in the game like Riki or Bounty Hunter).

[inferniac]

[cropcircles]

Man those cut scenes always look so awesome compared to actual game play. Thanks for the post.