The Daily Dota: 05/17/2013

Yeah.... though the idea is that the characters "pawn" the other's head for gold... but still...

I continue to love this feature.

Stop being such a cheap-ass, and maybe you won't care anymore! How dare they want to be paid for what they do.

Also, Ad revenue is not exactly huge. It's not like you put a couple ads up and suddenly make a million dollars. And sub funds are actually pretty significant. If it didn't make sense for the business, why would they continue? It's like $5 a month. If you can afford the internet you need to watch this shit, you can afford to actually pay for your entertainment.

They were able to expand the kinds of content they produce because of the extra money from subs, so that stuff is staying premium. Seems pretty sensible for me, especially for $50 a freakin' year. If you want the content, pay for it. If you can't stop whining and go get a proper job.

Premium content isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and that's fine. It's so cheap to buy into that shit anyway, so seriously, stop whining. If you actually value the content, you should be willing to pay for it.

How can people watch this? It's most boring thing ever.

I can't believe giant bomb is wasting vinny or drew's time with this shit.

@jz: They're not wasting time. Brad specifically mentions that the way they have it set up is that Brad can do everything without needing Vinny or Drew.

@guardianknux: well that's plus atleast.

I've definitely found that having consistent item slotting really helps. A quick stop to move your items around is worth it if it means you remember to use them more frequently. I always move my boots, blink dagger, and wand/bottle to the same inventory slots so I'm using my most comfortable hotkey for that item.

Love these!

I really like that Giant Bomb staff can just play what they like. It is a hell of a lot better to watch them play something they are interested in than just fluff material. aka professional Wednesdays. That show just went against everything that they stand for.

Plus this is awesome

Will there be Double D on Saturday as well? Even Sunday, if Brad's got the monkey on his back?

I'd appreciate them explaining this a little more, these videos actually have me interested to start playing but I suck even against bots right now. They use a lot of phrases I have no idea about. Reading a few guides but would still appreciate it.

cool new feature to document brad's descent into madness! :DDDDD

As a Queen of Pain player (I don't use anyone else) I always rearrange my items to C, V, and B and the same items always go in those slots. It helps that they are healing in nature or AOE damaging so when I'm in the fight and things get crazy I just pop them all off nice and easy.

I really like this series, branching out to other kinds of content and things they enjoy playing is much more entertaining to watch and more content is always a good thing

This is the new thing I'm watching while I mine in eve. Easily.

I want in on the #bigplays! Good stuff.

I need to play more Sand King. That ult is purely ridiculous.

Love this feature. It's surprisingly educational to watch someone learn the game.

Brad in Dota2 its now shame to hang back for a couple of levels and not get gold if that shifts the strength balance of the lane. With Rikki u can farm with W from time to time.

Also u still elect to walk from base too often. Did you read Purge's guide on Dota2 ;)?

You need to use Rikki's smoke straight after a blink strike. The slow and silence is brutal on most enemies. It will stop them getting away and let your allies close distance too.

Also, you can use blink like a teleport. Use it on your own creeps/allies to run away fast if things go bad.

Keep it up Brad!

Definitely read "Welcome to Dota, You Suck". Helped me a lot. Some of the the tips and actions of your esteemed companions are not entirely correct, which is absolutely fine, but it is really helpful to watch veterans like Purge or Merlini play this game. For example: at the beginng of the last Daily Dota people were pushing the lanes really early on, which is something of a grave mistake in the early laning phase. Lots to learn for everybody! Plus, it is fun to watch you learn independently and then put that into action during play. Prostreams like the high production value GDStudio or BeyondTheSummit are fun as well but won't teach you all that much as a beginner.

Enjoying these videos,but I'm not really a Dota player. I know these are mostly meant to be just you playing with friends, not commentary, but every now and then in a lull could you throw in a sentence like "So I've just reached level 6 and my ultimate lets me do this...". So those who don't know every characters abilities know whats going on. Or maybe just a few sentences at the start describing a characters strengths and weaknesses.

I find Dota2 confusing once the camera is in broadcaster mode / jumping all over the place. Hope it stays in this format with just Brad's perspective.

@saladxaxsis: Depends on the commentator; in spectator mode, you can easily switch between different modes, for example player perspective, which lets you watch the player's every mouse movement.

I don't play DOTA, but these shows are great. I wish I had enough time to get good at DOTA.

"Coconut water: it's like really shitty milk". Amen to that, brother.

I know I will never been any good at DOTA, but I do love watching people playing it.

"It's getting hard now"

Brad Shoemaker, step away from Dota. This is becoming too sexual.

5 mins in.... Sorry Brad no DOTA

For me..ever!.... Looks

Boring as Shiiiiit!

@golguin: Not trying to be a dick, but playing only one hero in Dota 2 is a recipe for being bad.

Try going out of your comfort zone every now and then, and you'll find yourself getting a lot better naturally

I wonder how long this fascination with dota will last.

Where's Brad Muir???

never played dota 2 until these videos now 10 hour in and i cant stop damn it this is bad

I don't really die and I get a lot of kills and assists. You can check out my history for proof.

I'm never going to play DOTA myself and probably never fully understand the mechanics of it either. But for some odd reason I'm drawn to watch these series of videos. Even though I don't fully grasp the meaning of all the terms being thrown around.

There's something to this...

This will probably improve the value of this feature since i suppose the majority of giant bomb users are not really dota players (like myself ;).

"As soon as you come up here.......you should come up here" -Matt

Probably my favorite part.

Yeah!

@golguin said:

@golguin: I think this is not the point. In DotA you kinda need to pick a hero that is most suitable for the rest of your team. If someone has already picked up a mid hero or theres no support heros, by default you will go with any hero that will help your team or any lane thats need backup, right? I dont know how many matches against teams you played, whats your level or how many times you played with each hero, but I'm sure that I improved a lot by discovering all the negatives and positives of all heroes. But then again, I only have one year of experience with DotA. Not much, but I think I learned a lot in that short period (•‿•)

looks like they got a comment too.

@golguin: What if you only play a hard carry and there's three other hard carrys? It's GG from the start.

I started playing about a month ago. Since then I have played about 50% of the heroes. You learn so, so much about the game in general. It's great to know how most abilities work.

I definitely found this video far more helpful, it's really nice when you guys explain more about the little nuances. Also, the Giant Bomb chat in game has been SUPER helpful.

I hope Brad's learned how trading cards work now.

Brad :(

you gotta do better than 20 last hits at 10 minutes as solo-mid...

Ugh. I don't think I could play DOTA as long as it says "pwned" when you kill someone.

Yea, this video is Brad playing sub-par DOTA. Yet... I still end up watching it. O_o

Best one yet, really enjoying these DOTA vids. Now to go buy a PC...

Luna's voice actor may have the worst fake Irish accent I have ever heard.

I don't get why people play LoL when there's this game (and I'm not even a fan of mobas)

@ramone: Maybe because it is Scottish?

@blackspur said:

It's so bad that it transitions between the two frequently.