IndieFinch

Just keep grinding games, the more you play the more accurate bracket you will be in. The low tiers tend to be filled with a lot of ignorance and anger. Once you start getting matched with people of equal skill then you will at least have people who are learning the game around the level that you are. Venomancer is a fine hero, especially if you are new to the game. Though there are plenty of times in which he is an awful choice. Maybe your team doesn't have a carry or any sort of inititation, don't last pick him because he doesn't fill those roles. I would suggest sticking to the set of easier heros and focus on your personal learning rather then getting bogged down with team compositions. Just ignore the flamers and try to figure out what you did wrong and how you can correct it in the next game that you play.

Support isn't a class or specific set of heros. It is a play style based around the lineup your team / opponents have. Gyrocopter can be considered a support and we see him being ran in that role in a lot of professional games. Most people consider Mirana a Semi Carry, however her best role is that of a support due to her mobility / stun. Vengeful Spirit can be played as a support or as a carry depending on how you are allocating farm and your item choices. Some heros that have burst damage such as Lina or OD can be played as a carry or as a support based on the laning / item progression. It is all about hero synergy and the over arching goal of your team and its current match up that sets up which heros should be allocated the farm. You can't take heros and stick them into nice little groups, there are tons of grey area...which is what makes Dota such a beautiful game.

I am really excited that she won. I voted for her every round, but never really knew she had a big following. Just her art style alone made me want her in the game. I think she will fit right into the current cast but also bring some interesting gameplay.

Next set of voting, I am unsure of who I will support. I liked Luduc but he lost first round last time, so I am thinking maybe Issac.

@gamefreak9: You pretty much just need to go blind baneling nest in ZvZ. It will shut down any sort of ling aggression so easily, but you just need to have a few banes ready beforehand. I usually go Baneling Nest before Ling Speed then make 2 or 3 banes. Leave 1 in main minerals, 1 above ramp in main, then another in expansion minerals. If they go that silly mass ling build, I keep droning and win. If they don't, then play standard and you will use those blings sooner or later. Plus whenever you move out to attack, just leave 4 banes or so at home to prepare for the inevitable ling counter attack. Most of the time the player doing the counter attack will just right click to your main, then go back to microing their main army. If you have 1 or 2 banes on top of the ramp, you will blow them all up easily. When you scout early, make sure you check their larvae. If you see them stock piling a bunch of larvae, then expect an attack...if they only have a few...then they wont be.

@fredchuckdave: I wouldn't say turtley, but more as the game as advanced to a more stable point. Due to the maps and everything people have figured out, it is better to play more of a safe / standard play. If you try to do some silly all in early on and they defend it, you lose. The people who used to live off 1 base blink stalker all ins / roach timings have quit playing / changed their style since people figured out how to stop those nearly 100% of the time.

@golguin said:

Generally for items you want to build up towards the final piece. Most of the components are items that are useful until you get that larger item. Say you want to build a Black King Bar. The Ogre Club will give you additional health, the Mithiral Hammer will give you +16 damage. Both of which are good stats for someone who is building a BKB (usually a carry or a hero who needs the survivability to put out their damage). Recipies do not contain any stats, they are just the final component for some items. If you want to build Drums of Endurance, you will get the Bracer early for survivability and the Robe of the Magi for a larger mana pool...both of which are great stats for a hero in a supporting role. Mekanism, build the Headress for early lane presence / sustainability...Buckler for the bonus armor for teammates...then you finish the recipe for the Mek.

Probably more info then you care to know...but it is good to know. There are two types of gold in Dota, Reliable Gold and Unreliable Gold. Reliable gold is gold that you gain from hero kills / assists, Roshan kill, and Tower kills. Unreliable gold is the gold that you receive when you get the last hit on an enemy creep / a neutral creep. When you die, you lose 30 x (The Level of your Hero). Say you are level 10, you will lose 300 unreliable gold when you die. When you purchase an item, you automatically use your unreliable gold first. If do try to save up to 3000+ gold, you run the risk of dying and losing the money. If you purchase wards / items consistently you will be able to keep your unreliable gold low. A good technique to do is to leave the item / component you are purchasing next on your Quick Buy at the bottom right. If you are about to die, purchase it, it will use up your unreliable gold and you are unable to lose that money. If you mouse over the gold icon on the bottom right, you will be able to see your current Reliable Gold, Unreliable Gold, and Buyback Price so you can plan accordingly. If you buyback, it will use your reliable gold.

Once you get to a higher level of play, then you will need to decide when you are purchasing these items. Your opponents will be checking your inventory consistently to see your item choices / mana / health pool. For example, say I notice that the enemy is building towards a Butterfly. I am going to quickly buy a Monkey King Bar as quick as I possibly can. That way I am able to negate his evasion by having the item with true strike. If he saved up for the full item at once, I might have spent my money on an additional damage item which he would begin to evade a lot of my attacks.

Only a few items can "level up." Diffusal blade has level 1 and 2, Necro Book has levels 1,2,3 and Dagon has levels 1,2,3,4,5. For Drums, you can just purchase the recipe again to refil your charges. For diffusal, you purchase Level 2 to refill your charges...but once you use them all, you cannot purchase another recipe to refill the charges.

There are plenty of threads about the first batch of heros you should start with. Generally it is best to play with heros that have strong abilities that can assist the team, but do not require items. Tidehunter, Lich, Earthshaker, Venomancer, Lion, Witch Dr, Shadow Shaman, Warlock...to name some. Check out this thread previously where people talked about a bunch of the heros to start with - http://www.giantbomb.com/dota-2/3030-32887/forums/the-i-am-new-to-dota-beginners-guide-570903/#54

It may seem like a ton of fun to play Templar Assassin, Queen of Pain..etc, but just hold off. They are heros that require a bit more understanding of the game because you will be going middle with them. You will need to fight for rune control, gank other lanes, and also maintain your farm. TA in particular can be extremely powerful if you get a quick Blink Dagger / Deso. But if you do not, she will taper off really quickly. If your heart is set on these heros, play a few bot games / watch some pro games with them in the hero pool. Mid is arguable the most important lane in the game, everyone pretty much relies on a solid mid player. If you are trying these heros for the first time a lot of people will become upset when things don't go well. A good parameter to see when you are ready to move up to harder heros is when you can go into a game and be able to get 100 last hits within 20 min. If you can't, then you need more practice before you begin tackling the farm reliant heros.

@ajamafalous: If they put a concede at 30 min, wouldn't the team that is so much ahead just already win? It would mostly effect the people who don't understand how the game works. They will have the attitude of "Oh I lost my lane" or "Oh we are down 10 kills...lets concede!"

The only way that I would be content with a concede option, is if it required 5 yes votes. Then if you are playing with a group of friends, you can actually all agree that the game is lost and concede. That sounds great. But it is when it goes down the path of only needing 3 votes, then it is easy for the guy and his buddy to lose their lane / not get the farm they wanted and both click yes that ruins the game for everyone.

@yi_orange: There is really no "imbalanced" hero. Some heros might be stronger then others, currently the general consensus is that Phantom Lancer and Nyx are a bit strong. But neither of them is game breking, they just require less room for error. If your team sits back and lets Phantom Lancer get free farm for 30 min...then yes you will lose. But if your team actually purchases dust and makes an effort to shut him down...he will cause no issue. There are also always great counter picks to most heros so you just need to pick your team composition wisely.

@icemo said:

I wouldn't really say that would be a good thing in Dota. Sure if your team is built with a really strong pushing lineup with Sylla, Lesh...etc then yeah sure. But sat you have a hard carry like Faceless Void, you are going to want to play a 4v5 style where you protect Void and allow him to farm. If you do have someone like Prophet, Tinker, or Lycan, then you are going to want to spread the field and force them to defend multiple locations. League is built around the teammfight, Dota can be if you play a specific hero lineup...but I would say most of the time you are waiting to get those big items / ganking. The big teamfight usually comes when one team is contesting Roshan.

@ajamafalous: I think the problem is that once you add a button to surrender, people will be really quick to use it. Dota allows for a lot more comebacks then League does just due to how the mechanics work. If you have a decent carry, you need to protect them to get that one big item. If you have the ability to split push, do that. Someone should be buying Smoke throughout the game to pick up kills. As soon as you are behind, start smoke ganking their jungle / lanes. Picking one guy off and all of yours getting out freely can really get you back into the game. My fear is that if they added a surrender button, people would stop doing these things. People already give up way way to early and call "gg" in chat when there is no reason to. Sure it is way easier to just surrender and start a new game, but I think that would become the default answer to every game. If you are losing that bad where there is no possible way to come back, there is a good chance the enemy is already taking your rax.

@ajamafalous: Yeah that is true, I am always willing to answer questions / show people the ropes. I am now starting to create Hero guides in game, then recording a MP3 companion to it and slapping it up on the Dota Insight podcast stream / website for new players to try new heros.

I wouldn't really consider Dota a "hard" game. It is a game that requires you to be smarter then the average bear because of how deep it is. When comparing it to SC2 and a fighting game, Dota is just different beast. I know in SC2 I have spent thousands of hours training, I know that unless you have committed as much as me...I will crush you 100% of the time. In fighting games, I know I suck. I like to jump in and play with some friends and mess around...but when I play against a player who actually plays seriously...he will crush me 100% of the time. The same can be said for Dota if it was only a 1v1 game, I would beat most newer players 100% of the time. But when it comes to a regular 5v5 match, sure I can be the best player on the team but all it takes is the worst player on the team to die a whole bunch to an enemy carry and we will lose the game. That is where the hostility comes in. The people who have dedicated a lot to Dota, get a loss because of a player who didn't dedicate as much time as them. Rather then trying to coach that person and help them out, it is easier for people to get upset and rage. 45min+ is a long time to sit into a game being focused just to have it go from a win to a loss because one guy stepped out of position at the wrong time.

There is never an excuse for someone to yell at a new player. That being said, new players need to respect what Dota is and what type of game it is. This is a game that has been studied, tuned, perfected, min/maxed, and balanced for a decade. You are not just competing against people who are new to Dota 2 like yourself, you are playing against people who have played only Dota since 2005. Before you dive in, you need to check the guides / systems out there so you can at least get the basics down so you are able to comprehend what is happening and why it is happening.

The easiest thing to do is to start with a hero that is easy to play, but has a big effect on helping your team. Lich, Tidehunter...etc are heros that have massive abilities that change team fights. Since abilities do not scale with items, as long as you get experience...you can use your abilities. By starting here you can begin to see which heros do what, you will learn the dance on laning / phases through the game. Once you get comfortable with a few easier ones then you can branch out to other roles. This thread here: http://www.giantbomb.com/dota-2/3030-32887/forums/the-i-am-new-to-dota-beginners-guide-570903/#54 has a TON of valuable information from a very wide range of players.

I would say just to purchase the game. There is way more content then there was in Tri. If you play offline only, maybe you can do it in 50-100 hours or so. But the online play is the bread and butter of the game. A lot more quests to do and the more difficult ones are there as well.

The online community at the moment is really big. I have not had a problem finding people yet.