DotA 2 has changed a fair bit

A long while ago I used to play quite a lot of DotA2.  I played it enough to warrant purchasing the compendium for two different Internationals and I felt like, while I wasn't what you'd call good, I had a good grip of the game.  Then for some reason I quit, I don't remember why exactly but it was probably because my backlog of unfinished games is some kind of stupid high number and I gave up online gaming to focus on that for a while.

In my absence there have been a multitude of updates, none of which I kept up to speed with save for a few messages from my friend who plays it a bit more frequently than I do.  What I had heard is that the game had got some kind of overhaul and that it was all glitchy and shit.  Then some time passed and now it's not so glitchy and shit and it's back to being highly enjoyable and with that I decided to give it another go.  Fuck me is it different though.

Right off the bat the interface has been completely reworked and it's all fancy and swish now.  One thing I was a little disappointed to see is that my level from previously earned battle points had been replaced with some new thing and my old level was reduced to some kind of shitty trophy.  The inventory looks completely different and to me, who got so used to the old menus, it was a little hard for me to find everything.  Still, the extra 5-10 minutes I spent wrapping my head around the new design isn't worth complaining about that much.

There's all these new heroes now too and I have no idea who they are, what they do, what items are good for them and I've never seen anyone use them.  I suppose it would be a good idea for me to check them out but I remember that the "all hero challenge" was a thing and started doing that instead.  There's also a bunch of new items and it feels like every game I'm seeing something in the shop that I didn't see before.  I'm too worried about not letting the team down to spend time perusing the additions to the shop.  The pre-update DotA had this inventory thing in the menu which gave you a run down of all the items you could buy but this feature seems to have vanished so now I'm just using recommended builds and hoping that it all works out.

The map is also a little different and the base is covered in these statues that I think are player owned but I'm not sure what the fuck they are for other than being another thing to destroy when I make my way into the enemy base.

I like the new update though because while it's a little daunting its nice to see all this new stuff after a long hiatus.  So if you're like me and haven't played in a while give it a go, maybe the new content can rekindle your enjoyment for the game.

DotA2 Compendium is back!

YES! It's fucking back!  One of the best things in all of E-Sports is back to accompany one of the best events in all of e-sports!  The International!

I don't care if you love or hate DotA2 or the genre in general, The International is one of the best events in the whole competitive gaming scene just because of all the work that goes into the experience for both players and the spectators.

The Compendium is this cheap digital book that you can buy that outlines all the details of the upcoming tournament and the teams that are playing.  However it does so much more for the consumer that it's hard to believe that this is a thing being pushed in an industry full of companies trying to do nothing but nickle and dime you at every turn.

The book itself has a bunch of interactive features such as choosing your favourite teams or making predictions for the outcomes of the tournament and upon making those predictions you are given a multitude of rewards.

The more that you take part in the event and actually play DotA during the event, the more you are rewarded with all sorts of fancy shit.  What's even better is that not everything has been implemented yet, so as the event draws closer the features will expand even further for no additional cost, thus giving you more value for money out of your digital e-sports almanac.

The reason I say I don't care if you like DotA2 or not is because this is the kind of thing that ALL companies should do for any game that they want to push as a competitive title.  Love or hate Valve, the one thing you can't fault them on right here is fostering a sense of community within DotA2.  People are discussing the game and it's players and are going to be making decisions in the compendium based on these discussions and it's that kind of shit that brings people together and just adds to the enjoyment.

Valve is by no means a perfect company, they do a lot of bullshit and depending on where you stand there's a lot about them to dislike, but in the case of the Compendium they really are leading the way into what E-Sports should be.

DotA2 New Year Event Roundup

New Year?! BUT IT'S FEBRUARY!  Well this event was in time for the Chinese new year, hence the picture of the horse and the dirty big dragon.  It should be obvious except with some of the shit I see people writing on the internet it wouldn't surprise me if there was a certain group of people who may stumble on this post that didn't know these Chinese New Year wasn't Jan 1st.

Anyway, what happened in this event? Well lot's of fucking NOTHING, that's your answer.

Well...that's a harsh evaluation.  There was a patch with a cool new Ability Draft mode, that allows you to pick your skills from a big pool made up of all the heroes in the match which were picked at random.  It's an interesting mode made to be played for fun, but almost every game I've had of it contains one super try hard tosser moaning and just spoiling the silliness for everyone else.

Then on top of that there were two new heroes.  Phoenix, a big fire bird that heals shit and explodes a lot.  Then there was Terrorblade who is a big glowy eyed demon that makes clones of things and swaps health bars around.  I've not had a chance to play them yet because I'm on a huge winning streak with Zeus and I'm a very boring individual who hates change.  Maybe once I start losing I'll give them a spin.

But then there was the event itself....holy shit what a let down.  From the kickoff there was this big timer that was counting down from 7 days.  During this timer, playing normal games of DotA got you a form of currency called Flamesalt Ingots, that the game said would be used to fight "the year beast".

So I cut off EVERYTHING to grind out a load of ingots.  If you were wondering why I've not been streaming or producing videos, it's because I was grinding ingots on DotA.....yes I'm that sad stop judging me.

Anyway, once the timer ticked down, the year beast appeared! A huge dragon thing where the damage you dealt to it was converted into prizes.  Now, the gold you were given to buy items with against the dragon was based on how many ingots you got, and even though I had over 1000 ingots (I'm not paying for favour, go fuck yourself), it didn't last very long.

I managed to get a couple of prizes but once my ingots were gone there was literally NO point in playing anymore.  All those games of DotA for a short morning sessions against the year beast and I was done, what a fucking letdown.

Finally, I still have no idea what the fucking offering thing does in the item menu, I just put shit on there and nothing happens, so that's another feature that can go royally fuck itself.

SHITTEST. EVENT. EVER

Stop Making MOBA Games

If there is something which could quite easily be described as pointless, it would be making a new MOBA game right now.

So we have DotA2 which is the big one, one of the most played games on steam and has a massive user base that includes people who have been playing since the days of the old Warcraft 3 mod and people who have recently picked it up.  On the other side of that you have League of Legends, a similar game with simpler mechanics and a more newbie friendly approach to things and this game also has a massive userbase.

Before that we had Heroes of Newerth, which was a game that was basically trying to be DotA but with it's muddy art style, crap characters and awkward transition into a free to play model, it was quickly forgotten.  Then on top of that there have been quite a few other titles which have been trying to take the crowns from DotA and League.  Stuff like Bloodline Champions, SMITE and a few others are all there and available to play but very rarely do you see anyone talking about them.

So you would think at this point people would be like "well shit, guess we're not taking them down anytime soon, guess we better go make a different kind of game" but you'd be wrong.  There has been talk for fucking ages of "Blizzard DotA" although I have no idea what that's going to be like and then more recently we have this thing called Strife made by the same guys who did Heroes of Newerth.

This is a terrible idea because what do you expect happen, really?  These games will get released, be played for a few hours by a small group of people before being binned and ignored for League or DotA.  These developers should be channelling their efforts into making something different, something new or original, but instead we're just getting shit games that'll be forgotten within a few months.

We've seen this exact same thing happen with MMO's thanks to World of Warcraft, and it's happening again now with this shit.  Stop making these games because getting people to switch or even just take interest isn't really worth the time or money.  Maybe in the future, once DotA and League have lost some steam, but doing it now is the epitome of pointless.

A Problem With MOBAs

Forgive the image, it was one I used in a post a long time ago and it was easier just to use it again, this is not a DotA vs LoL post.  Also I know there are people on the net who don't like the term MOBA but I'm sorry, it's just the term I've known for the longest time

Anyway, today I was playing some DotA2 and I was trying to think why this genre more than any if notorious for having such a toxic, aggressive community.  It wasn't too long before I realised the reason why.

You don't even have to think that hard for the main reason why there is a significant chunk of the player bases for these games who just don't seem like very nice people.  A game of DotA or LoL or anything like that tends to take about 35 minutes or so at least (or 20 if it's a quick surrender in LoL) and that's quite a time investment for someone with a busy day.  Even if you're not busy, if you're not having fun, 35 minutes can feel like fucking forever.  So, if there is someone on the team causing the game to go poorly then it's pretty obvious that the reaction to that person is going to be quite negative, their lack of ability basically renders the entire duration of the game a waste of time.

Now what I'm not saying is that people who are new shouldn't play, because that would be just completely fucking stupid, but what is a newbie to do?  Well the common argument is "go play against bots!" but I don't really buy into that.

You see, bot games are all well and good for learning the basic mechanics of the game and how your character of choice works, but let's face it, bots don't play like real people.  You could play bot games all day but when you start going up against real people who do things differently and behaving in different ways then even with all the bot practice in the world you're still going to get rocked.

It's not so bad in a game like Starcraft because that is only 1v1.  If you suck in a game of Starcraft, the only persons time you are wasting is your own.  But if you suck in a MOBA game then you are wasting the time of 4 other people, and people don't like having their time wasted on stuff that isn't fun for them.

Unfortunately though, I don't have a solution because the only real way to get better is to keep practicing in real games so that you can eventually get to the point where you can play effectively.

So really what I'm trying to say is that people who play these kind of games need to chill out and just accept the fact that there are going to be people who suck.  There isn't a need to get mad, because it reflects badly on the community and you're not helping the sucky person get any better.  So help them out, teach them a thing or two about what to do, who knows, maybe something will click with them and you'll be able to turn around a losing game.

If you are on the receiving end of the abuse, don't rise to it, just ask for help because maybe the person yelling at you might calm down when they realise that you are just genuinely new and need pointers.  Calling each other "fucking noobs" all game doesn't help anything now, does it?

I've singled out this genre because it's pretty well known for having ragey arseholes but this goes for other team games too.  Chill out, it's not like that one loss on your record is going to ruin your life and maybe you'll help improve someones gameplay so they can score their own wins further down the line.

DotA 2

I have a new addiction, and it's called DotA2

This is a game I previously had very little experience with despite owning it for a long long time.  Although the whole thing seemed a bit impenetrable at first and because of that I ended up shelving it for a long long time.

Recently though, I decided to give it another spin with a few buddies.  After a few games of being absolutely destroyed and struggling to figure out whats what, things started to go a lot smoother.  Once you get round all the differences from something like, League of Legends, and you begin to get a feel for how to play, everything becomes a lot clearer. 

When you first fire it up you are SWAMPED with literally hundreds of things that you have to take in all at once.  Of course, not all of these things will sink in over the course of one game, so you will need to take a little while to find your feet.  That said, once you have found your feet DotA2 is a much more satisfying game to play than League.

I'm not saying League is bad with that, but League feels very bare bones.  One of the reasons I think it appeals to so many people is that you don't really have to learn all that much stuff before you can play it with some degree of proficiency.  With League you can switch your brain off and just make things die, which is fine for having fun with, but the depth found it DotA makes it a much more satisfying after a match is finished.

Right now it's still in beta and you need an invite to play it, but if you can get your hands on one, give it a go.  But whatever you do don't give up just because you get destroyed the first few times, it WILL happen, I promise it, but once you do master it a little bit you'll be playing one of the most fun games available at the moment.

Leauge of Legends Vs DotA2

When I'm spending my time lurking around gaming forums, a common topic I see being discussed is which game is better between League of Legends or DotA2.  So I'm going to throw my opinion into the pile, even though it's sort of like spitting in the ocean at this point.

So which game do I think is better?  Well the answer is neither because this whole argument is fucking stupid in the first place, they are two completely different games, offering completely different experiences made by completely different sets of people.  Yes, they are in the same genre so there are some things you can say about similarities in style and game play, but the differences are far too vast between the two titles.

Don't take the fact that I think this argument is stupid to mean I don't like either game.  I like them both and I play both, but I play them for different purposes.  League of Legends I play strictly for the fun times, dicking around with a small group of buddies and just generally having a good time occasionally doing stupid shit.  DotA on the other hand is my serious face game.  I still have fun with it but I feel more motivated to TRY and do well in DotA than I do in League.  That's not me saying League of Legends isn't a competitive game, I just personally don't want to treat it as such.

Now the reason this argument is so stupid is because it's so obvious that League of Legends is trying to attract a completely different kind of person to DotA that if you can't see that you need to be smacked over the head with a piece of wood.  League from day 1 has always been a game that's far more accessible to new players, it's a free game that simplified the game mechanics of beasts like DotA so that everybody could have fun with it.  That's not to say the game is dumbed down per se, but things have been tweaked in the favour of those who know nothing about this genre than the hardcore fans of the old Warcraft 3 mod.

DotA on the other hand is the kind of game you really need to study to be good at.  There is so much depth to this game, and things like buying items and dying carry so much more weight that it's really aimed at the kind of person who wants a deep, challenging game rather than a quick MOBA fix.

To simplify my point further, it's like the difference between chess and checkers.  Neither are bad games, but one blatantly requires more thought, effort and practise than the other to be good at. 

But what I also see a lot of is people from DotA bashing people who play League, and this is also really fucking stupid.  It's not like the DotA scene was particularly huge until recently, but the hardcore DotA fans would love nothing more than all the new League players to just fuck off.  This doesn't make any sense!  Yes, DotA is deeper and more involving, so HELP THEM understand it and get good at it, don't shun them straight off the bat, your community will never improve that way!

Both good games, if your a fan of the genre I'd recommend both!

Note: Comparing these games to RTS games is fucking stupid, don't do it.  Also RTS players need to generally shut up about League and DotA players, because it's not impossible to be good at both genres for fucks sake.