Anomareh

I think the only way they could make the microtransactions any worse is if it was pay to win. It's like they're trying to make the game fail even harder.

DotA is a game about knowledge. You really just have to play DotA to the point where everything is just second nature.

Here are a bunch of things every new DotA player should be told before playing their first game.

1. Some people are just assholes. There are a lot of them in DotA. Be prepared for it.
2. Ask questions! Talk to your teammates!
3. CHECK YOUR MINIMAP CONSTANTLY. Map awareness is one of the most important things in DotA. Get into a habit of checking your minimap EVERY FEW SECONDS. Pay attention to where people are and the direction they're heading.
4. ALWAYS CARRY A TELEPORT SCROLL. Teleport to help defend towers (though please don't teleport solo to a tower that 5 enemies are attacking). If you are getting ganked and they don't have a disable, don't hesitate to TP if you think you'll make it! A lot of the time you can juke into some trees and make it out alive.
5. Don't go anywhere by yourself besides back to base.
6. Work on last hitting/denying. If you are playing a carry, last hit, if you are playing a support, deny. Last hitting if a very import skill to master in DotA.

As far as you question goes regarding roles, honestly just be aware of each role and just play whichever one you find is the most fun.

The suggestion of playing diretide as a means of learning is a horrible one in my opinion. It's the equivalent of telling someone to play EM to learn WC3 DotA. It is paced nothing like an actual game and you employ entirely different strategies. It will instill more bad habits than do any good. Bot games are a much better means of learning the game.

Feel free to PM me or add me on Steam.

My issues with it were mainly with how it played and the maps. The feedback is horrible. You can never tell if you're actually hitting someone and there's no feeling of impact. It's like you're running around shooting pellets at styrofoam. As someone else said, the maps were very cramped. I wish it went more Battlefield and less Call of Duty in that regard. It's like if they put tanks in any existing Call of Duty maps.

I was really excited about it and got put off. I probably won't check it out again until it launches.

Fuck Muton Elites. I failed 3 times with a 95% improved Arc Thrower.

@FluxWaveZ: Well in any case, that's for the link I guess. Though sadly it looks like they're trying to make an actual game or something. With the size of the group, how it's organized, and it using Unity and everything I imagine it's going to be a headache and we'll be lucky if anything comes from it. I was more hoping for a small talented group that wanted to mess around for fun on their off time and make something considerably smaller in size and scope. More like extended game jam territory not hey we have 100 people and are making a game with Unity territory.

@FluxWaveZ: Damn you... I deleted my post in shame after having posted without looking at the date of the last reply.

Isn't that the only sane strategy though? I mean, this is a strategy isn't it? Why would I take the only mission that gives global panic reduction when no one is panicked? Panic reduction is probably the single most valuable resource in the entire game and it on global scale is that much better. There is nothing beneficial at all from doing it sooner rather than later.

Yep, it was a joke for me as well. The only enemies that have been even slightly annoying are sectoid commanders with their mind control. Everything else dies before it can do any real harm. Only using light plasma rifles too. Grenades can suck but it seems they'll only throw them if they can hit more than one of your guys.

I run through very difficult rated missions barely taking damage. The only missions that have provided any sort of difficulty have been the terror attacks and that seems mostly dependent on the map. I had one that took place in some 3 story building and a bunch of chrysalids were running around murdering civilians because I just couldn't find them quick enough to kill them.

I've held off on doing all of the story missions as long as possible to get the most benefit from the global panic reduction and launching satellites to hold out even longer. I'm guessing this is what most people are missing out on when they say the game is hard (at least on normal).

I really wish the research would just tell you what you get out of it rather than some vague description. I totally didn't research the upgraded interceptors early enough because the vague prerequisites sounded like shit and I had no idea I needed to research like 2-3 things before I even unlocked the ability to do so. I think I may be fucked but I'm gonna play it out and see. I sunk all my research into armor and weapons early so the game has been cake on normal. I've only lost 5 guys, 3 of which were from the tutorial.

To the OP, I recommend playing your game out. It doesn't sound like you're going to make it much further and the more experience you can take into your next playthrough the better.

Also, pretty much never go for scientists. Engineers are way more important, especially early. As long as you're capturing each alien type close to when you run into them and do the resulting interrogations/autopsies, your research will be fast enough.

All I can add is it's definitely not your specs. I'm running it on a computer that's old as dirt (XP, an old c2d, 2GB of ram, and a 9800 GT) on high and it runs great. All I can think of is dicking around with your video drivers. Try updating if you haven't, a revision older if you were already updated. Maybe look for some beta drivers.