Anybody who isn't into Dota watching the international? Im kind of interested at the spectacle at least. And maybe to hopefully understand the game a bit more. Anyone else in the same boat watching?

Well I don't play Dota2. Haven't played a single match, or even installed the client ever. (tho I dabbled in the original Warcraft 3 mod way way back in the day when it was still a weird little fun map)

But I do watch the bigger games like the International and some other tournaments. This kinda happened by chancing on a Russian/Ukrainian stream of their LAN finals, during the time Brad was making the game prominent on the site. The commentators were brilliant (and by brilliant I mean hilarious). Since then I frequently put matches in the background to listen to them. And then the International 3 had a great team of English panelists (Bruno/James). Having a solid background in RTS games, recalling some of the basics from the original mod, then looking at the wiki of heros/items between matches and generally just observing games, I've pretty much gotten a full understanding of the game and keep watching the finals of big tournaments occasionally.

For the International I actually switch between the English and Russian language streams, watching the English panel and all the stuff between matches as it's much better done then switch to the Russian/Ukrainian commentators (when the good ones are on) for the game stream itself as i find the English ones too dry and too focused on the immediate game (not enough jokes).

I watch some matches here and there. I've thought about getting into DOTA for a while but I don't have anyone to play with, I don't have a great computer, and I'm not sure I want to go that deep into a single game.

If you haven't been doing so, be sure to check out the new players stream during the games. They ran it during the qualifiers last week and they've gotten better and better as the event's gone on. They really come at it from a much more explanatory perspective than the regular commentary so you may find it much more useful as a non-player.

It's also available if you're watching in the game client itself (which is a fantastic way to watch although probably more useful to players more familiar with the game). They don't provide any between-game coverage, so you'll want to keep the main stream open for that, but hopefully you find it useful!

Dota 2 can be fantastic to watch, and learning enough to enjoy watching it is a much faster process than becoming a good player (as you'd expect). I'd also highly recommend PC Gamer's guide to watching Dota as a newcomer as well as their finals primer to get you up to speed if you haven't been following the qualifiers closely and want to know who everyone is and how they got here.

Also, if you end up watching in-game (or even just have the game open) you can join the chat channel "Rektreational" (or even the normal Giant Bomb channel) which has a bunch of GB people in it during games and should be a good place to chat and ask any questions you might have.

@y2ken: Awesome thanks, ill definitely check it out! Im lucky that i'm watching it with a bunch of friends who are really into Dota so i'm hoping to learn some stuff from them. It's funny because iv'e played a bunch of LoL but whenever i watch Dota 2 I just feel lost. It probably comes down to learning the move sets of the heroes and the more Dota specific tactics. I don't plan to get too deep into playing it but i definitely want to get to a point where i understand enough to follow what is going on when watching.

I feel the same way with LoL. :) I wholeheartedly recommend watching the official "New Player Stream" especially when it is casted by Purge and SUNSfan. They do a great job of explaining specific facets where if anything they maybe too meticulous but it is definitely way more informative than the usual "HYPE TEAM" announcing style.

I'll watch the final probably

I never watch streams of games I never played. Case in point, LoL, Starcraft 2, and fighting games. If I'm not interested in the game, why would I want to watch pros play, where I would have to appreciate the intricacies of the game to enjoy it?

Just stupid. Quick Looks, on the other hand, introduce games to people. Even with DOTA2's new "new player stream", it dosen't help AT ALL because you can't pay attention to the match while learning the game. It's counterintuitive.

I did last year, but I think I've got it out of my system now.

Yeah, I tried watching EVO. Sure, dudes were beating each other up, but I don't understand anything about SFIV's fighting system, so I couldn't even appreciate when someone did something "cool".

Esports are niche. You gotta invest time to understand the game before watching it competitively. Unlike real sports, like soccor. "kick the ball in the other team's net". Explaining over. No "new player" commentary required.

I play only a little, but yeah, I'm watching

I haven't watched any yet. I might tune in this weekend. Every time I've tried to watch a dota stream on twitch I just don't get it and get bored after 10 mins or so. I feel like it's such a big game that I should try to understand it a bit more. I don't think I would play it though. No one I know plays it casually. It takes over their life. Or at best they compare everything to it. Hmm, that was a tasty meal but it was 30 minutes I could have spent playing dota.

No. I don't find it interesting to watch as someone who doesn't like MOBAs and knows very little about Dota 2, just like SC2 wasn't interesting to watch. For me, only fighting games manage to be interesting to watch as someone who doesn't play them--I got a lot of enjoyment out of EVO this year, especially the USFIV finals.

@mcfart: This seems like a weird approach to take. You can enjoy watching people compete at a discipline or sport without wanting to undertake it yourself. And it's certainly possible to enjoy watching something without understanding every last complexity. Sure, you'll appreciate it more as you learn the intricacies; but that doesn't mean you can't watch and say, "Hey they killed the enemy team and are destroying their base!" or, "Hey that guy ran past all the others into the endzone to pull ahead in score!"

If you're not interested in watching it, that's fine. But a desire to play or compete in something yourself is certainly not essential to enjoy watching that same thing.

I watched about a hour. Was okay, but EG's match was pretty one-sided. So, not as fun as it could have been.

Might watch some more tomorrow.

i fired up DOTA 2 because i remembered there was an in-game spectator mode i wanted to check out, was pleased to find that it had live event commentary, couldn't figure out how to turn the volume up on the commentary, and then the match was over...so that whole 10 minutes was the extent of my internationals viewing.

I tried today, watched for like 2 hours but I kept glancing over to the other screen and doing something else. I honestly don't understand *anything* and why all that is happening seems to be so exciting.

I'M REALLY TRYING HERE, I EVEN INSTALLED DOTA 2 AND ALL BUT... NOT... WORKING!

I'm gonna try to watch it this weekend through the client with the newbie commentary on. I also heard you get special event drops or something when you do that? Or maybe that's just for the people who paid for the compendium.

I haven't played one game ever and don't really plan to, but I feel the need to watch something this big and weird.

I'm too occupied with the LCS and OGN at the moment. If I started watching Dota I'd never sleep.

@foodie_monster said:

The Newcomer stream explains things in a much more newbie-friendly fashion. Look for the ti_noob stream on Twitch.

Same here. I've tried to watch some commentated matches but the ultra high energy from the announcers I've seen just bugs me to death, that and I don't understand any of the lingo or really what is happening at all. I just can't get into it.

Yeah it definitely sounds like many of you would really benefit from the New Player stream. They've been getting increasingly good at their simplified explanations of the core mechanics, and discussions of hero skills and items.

@foodie_monster, you're right: trying to watch a regular stream will make no sense if you aren't familiar with the game. So hopefully this one will make a lot more sense as they tend to explain any of the weird terms they use. And @mb I'd also say that they are a lot more relaxed than the "ultra-hype" of the regular commentators - which is why I've been listening to this stream (despite not being a new player) just because it's far more chilled.

There is a chance to get drops if you're watching an event, but they're incredibly rare (and usually not particularly valuable items when they do). Think of them as more of a nice memento - say if you caught one of the stray balls that flew into the crowd during a tennis final and were allowed to keep it. It's possible you may need the compendium to qualify, but I wouldn't suggest watching purely in the hope of getting items either way. Watching in the game client is definitely the way to go if you can though, it's a much nicer experience all-around.

Also I'll reiterate that a few GB guys have been chatting in the in-game channel "Rektreational". If you're watching as a new player and have any specific questions, or want to join our discussions about the best mustard variety, please feel free to jump in.

i might try the new player stream today, but i've got the hang of most of it by now, i'm still a bit vague on some of the items but the biggest trick for me was memorizing what player is on what hero as the game starts - because the main stream commentators mostly refer to the player and you kinda need to know immediately what skill / spell to look for to be able to see it go off in time. Still, i wouldn't say no to a bit more info graphics in that regard. i also wish the panel would ramble less during the draft and be more on point when explaining why each hero is getting banned or picked, but maybe the noob stream does that better.

EG completely fell apart during that second match, it was so damn frustrating to watch. It didn't help that their lineup was freaking weird either. Storm Spirit was a horrible choice, and Dragon Knight was also pretty questionable. I thought they were going to go with Tinker to mimic an earlier strategy they had in the tournament, but no such luck. Watching them just get stomped so badly really ruined the match. These are supposedly the best 8 teams in the world, and it's just freaking annoying to see teams messing up so badly. It's especially worse since EG is one of THREE teams that isn't Chinese, and tomorrow it's going to be one of TWO since Navi and Cloud9 are going against one another. Chinese Dota has to be one of the most boring things to watch, and it looks like it'll unfortunately turn out to be Chinese Dota Finale.

Sorry for the rant, just had to get that outta my system when I saw your post.

I watched for an hour or so. Downloaded the game. Then played through the tutorial and hated it. Every single part of it. I found it incredibly boring. MOBA's are not for me, it seems.

Shame really, I wanted to like it.

How far'd you get in the tutorial? To the part where you were playing normal matches with bots? Cause IIRC the first few parts of the tutorial are just "here's how you move" roughly veiled with some dialogue.

No game will ever be for everybody (and I'm relieved that you calmly realize that); just wanting to make sure you got far enough in to give it a fair shake.

Eh; sometimes teams just get outdrafted, just like they get outmaneuvered or outlaned or outexecuted in-game. Drafting is as much of a part of the game as anything else (as you seem to realize), and sometimes that falls apart just like the other parts.

But absolutely agree to the bolded part. I've been busy with life (and haven't had the urge to play or watch Dota since October of last year) so I haven't watched more than a couple matches, but when I looked through the teams I didn't recognize and noticed that most of them were Chinese, and that the couple of matches that I watched were averaging 30 kills in 70 minutes, I got super sad. I'm about to leave for out of town this weekend so I won't be able to watch anything live, but I'm really hoping somebody puts together a 'these are the games that weren't super boring to watch'-list, cause man, those 3-4 games I watched were rough, and two of those were even Meepo games.

Watched a few matches yesterday. Hard to follow but there's two things I know that are good/bad: when a tower falls & a player dies. So I can at least cheer for a team correctly haha Even though I don't know what's going on half of the time, t's kind of entertaining still.

Not this year but for TI3 I knew just about nothing. Kinda just watched it on a whim and was able to pickup what was happening from the regular commentators with the help of the dota wiki.

@ajamafalous: Exactly! The Chinese meta is just so damn boring. The games are almost always farm, farm, and more farm, with a few game deciding team fights. It's just not fun to watch at all.

I think I watched it when they first did it, and it was new. I don't really get watching the same games ad nauseum. After a short while i "get it" and move on.

I really like the newcomer stream...when Purge is casting. I'm not a total newcomer to Dota since I've played it and watched videos about it for a little bit now (mostly from Purge), but I just really like how Purge casts and explains things. He is really good at splitting the difference between actually casting the game and explaining strategy and mechanics. The Pyrion Flax group, on the other hand, is terrible. They spend far too much time re-explaining everything and they focus far too much on describing how abilities work to the point where they are missing kills and early game action. They are doing a pretty terrible job at delivering entertaining commentary.

Nope, actually, I'm OBSESSING over the character guide of Dota2 PDF. Like wow, this is excellent to learn from.

I tried, aside from the comically dressed announcers it just wasn't that interesting/moved too slowly and the chance of a comeback is so low.

I would if it was in GB chat (I thought I remembered it being restreamed through chat last year?), but without that I have no motivation to watch any of it.

I watched last year to see if I would dig it , but frankly I wasnt as interested and kept it as background noise , maybe will do the same this time around but I dont get hooked on it as I did with CEO or EVO.

Watched a few matches today. The match where one of the best, Na' iv? was entertaining. All i know is Jeff hates esports, but sorry to tell ya fella that production job for this tourney is spectacular. As long as they dont flood the market with weekly tournaments, it could be around for a long time. Also cant remember the last time i heard so many, dare i say sport, commentators articulate and complete sentences like adults. Super entertaining.

I lasted 45 seconds this year. I did watch the final half of a match last year and everything seemed to have went over my head.

I don't play Dota and have been keeping up whenever other people say a match is gonna be interesting, and there's been some good stuff. That said, I was asleep at my computer for the last two games of that last matchup. As in, literally asleep with my headphones still on and the stream still running. Lesson learned; don't put my head on the desk for a second to relax. When Dota's boring, it's fucking BOOORING.

I'll watch it on Sunday while it's on Espn 2 just for the novelty. I think those are the finals? I know nothing about Dota, but I sure respect it from a distance.

I watched some of it. I also tried the game itself, got halfway through the tutorial.

I don't get it, period. When I see the matches and hear the commentators going wild I'm screaming back: "What the hell is going on!". I was pretty much into StarCraft 2 (watched alot of pro matches), but I don't get this game. To me it looks like a Diablo team deathmatch game. I guess you really have to know how to play and know the heroes and their abilities to appreciate it..

Tried watching some of this event last year. Not really planning on watching it ever again.

This just isn't true whatsoever. The last two games of this all Chinese team final have both been ~25 minutes. That's roughly 55% of the average game time for the whole tournament. VG have the lowest average game time for any team here. The whole China only farms thing is just plain untrue.

E: Oh look, and a 17 minute game.

Nah. I just never really got into watching competitive Dota or any MOBAs.

I watched it.

The short games were boring. I wish Newbee hadn't won. rOtk kept feeding hard in the midlane that last game, I think he felt pretty desperate. Understandable, but still, kind of a bummer.

Alright, they were short I'll give you that, but they were boring. They kept picking the same heroes over and over (kept banning the same ones over and over as well), VG kept allowing Newbee to pick heroes that dominated them before hand, and the game were consistently decided in the first few minutes (and in the last game it was practically decided in the draft in the last game). Every game was just a stomp, no excitement whatsoever. Na'vi vs Alliance last year went on for 5 games, and it was incredibly close at the end, and consequently, it was a FAR interesting finale as well.

So yeah, they were short, but they weren't fun to watch at all.

I'll be very curious to see if people will be as interested as they were this year and have as many compendium sales.

That Grand Finals was kind of unfortunate that it was just so quick. Wasn't that fun to watch overall (since I had no favorite team). Some of the earlier games were much more entertaining.

I knew nothing about DOTA but got really into the Noob stream. I like to think I have a decent grasp of the game now and while I won't start playing, I really appreciate DOTA for what it is.

One question for DOTA followers, does high level play normally end in the way the Grand Finals did? I thought it was weird to have the final game end without any barracks going down.

I'm kinda surprised at how now that the event is actually going on, there seems to be less buzz, excitement and news about it. I expected a torrent of news about matches going on pretty much for the entire weekend, but it all seems rather quiet. I only found out today the final is on (and is maybe already over?)