Defense of the Ancients 2

We might have to wait until either open beta if there ever is one or until the game is released to see an influx of new players.

For those who doesn't still have beta accounts.

Alienware is giving out thousands of beta keys, Alienware give away
As this moment it still has 2700+ keys.

I don't even play Wc3 for the sake of DotA since it's too messy there.

I am down for this! Haven't gotten to play with others outside the South East Asian server.

Also, what's your steam name? I recieved 2 invites, and I have no idea which one is you.

i am rly gud my bst hiro is riki la

huehuehue steam id: dudekrulz

Mine's probably titled Wisdom, but the steamid is elywoodnoire

I just popped 640 GPM which i believe is the most i've ever had in Dota 2.

Even though i don't really like games where one team stomps the other one, this one was quite enjoyable.

Slithice came out today, looks almost identical to dota 1 Slithice.

I believe dota 2 invite is on sale in the steam store for 29.99 (reg 39.99), if anyone's already got their mindset on buying in, might as well save 10 bucks =)

Save 10 bucks just to get stomped on for the next 50 games (15-20 if you're experienced in MOBA), no problem :D

Uzu, what's your steam name =3

Sensei, check the previous page. I posted it there :3

Completely agree that this game is not noob friendly. I remember when I was playing the original dota and how hard it was to learn how to play. The best thing I can say to noobs is that you will suck and your team will hate you for it. There is just no way around it. You can't play dota like other games. At its core it is a strategy game of who can out wit the other. And it takes time to be able to develop those skills. I've been playing for years and I usually keep my deaths around <5 even if the rest of the team is terrible. But that is just how I see it.

I usually spend time watching dota cinema http://www.youtube.com/user/DotaCinema when I try to learn a new character. The guides are fairly good and fails of the week is hilarious.
Dota fire is my #2 source for info and stuff. http://www.dotafire.com/
I also found this again recently. I can remember reading this back when I first started playing dota. I really suggest all players who want to do better should read this. http://www.playdota.com/guides/the-forbidden-techniques
And also this one explains the power of wards. I cannot tell you how many times I have raped people while they were doing roshan because of this. http://www.playdota.com/guides/seeing-is-beliving-or-rape It is from the original dota but it is still completely valid.

Loki, what's worth mentioning is that Dota2 has a matchmaking system, at the very least. I'm not sure if it's based off of wins or level, but it attempts to match you with players as new to Dota2 as you are, so in some respects there's still an entry level for new players. However, the curve is still pretty steep.

I've always been sort of interested in DotA (2), but, like, I'm not sure if I see a reason to play it. I play LoL (big surprise), and the universe Riot's created for the game just makes it seem like they care more. Like, there's politics and countries and shit in the LoL world and each champ actually has a background story and relationships with other champs (I checked the DotA official site and those "background stories" are pathetic). And if I play DotA and everyone's just gonna be more of an asshole to me than the LoL assholes were, it's just like...why? And I get the feeling that "DotA is a real MOBA LoL sux noob" is just hipsters hating on the most popular MOBA.

Anyone want to convince me DotA is worth my time?

If you're going to replay the same game over and over again, does the story really matter? This is a MOBA and not a RPG.

I used to like the lore for League until Riot fucked it all up and then stopped making journals of justice because they were too busy releasing champion spotlights for three year old champs and making new legendary Teemo skins every patch. Dota2 is a completely different game than League, honestly. Here are the primary differences I always note when someone asks for my opinion:

In Dota2, all heroes are owned by default--you don't need to purchase heroes, which means a lot of things. Gameplay is more diverse because players aren't guided towards free week champs or stuck with limited selections after bans and picks simply because they don't own as many champs as they should, just to name a few impacts this has on gameplay.

In Dota2, there is virtually zero character imbalance. Unlike League, where characters are constantly getting retooled every month in the newest patch in response to community outcry or tournament results, DotA has been around for over a decade. The development teams working on DotA have had ample time to gather data from tournaments and public opinion to tweak and balance every hero in a way that has made the gameplay stable and reliable from a metagame perspective. We all like the feeling that you get when Riot announces an upcoming buff for your favorite champion, but for a game that is meant to be played competitively, constantly changing the stats and skill values of your heroes is counterproductive.

Heroes in Dota2 have higher skillcaps than champs in League, as well as more diverse and strategic skillsets. Most champs in League are very simple and straightforward, because League was designed to be an easy game to get into. The comparison is often made that while League has a learning curve, Dota2 has a learning cliff. It is much more difficult to master a hero in Dota2, but it is also vastly more rewarding, especially given the fact that Valve and Riot have taken different stances on skillcap and balance. If you remember a while back, Shaco used to be able to set up his JitBs so that he could clear red and blue simultaneously, allowing him an amazing level two gank of unrivaled strength. However, this was somewhat difficult to pull off, as it required decent timing and placement skills. In response to this, Riot lowered the summon time of his JitBs so that he could no longer do this. League punishes players for thinking outside the box. Dota2 doesn't just reward them, it spoils them.

I could go on, but I already typed up a rather massive wall of text. If you'd like to hear more, I'll gladly indulge you, but I'm afraid if I type any more, no one will regard it in the first place, lol.

^Actually there's a fair amount of imbalance for dota 2. But the developers listen to the users, and usually fixes it up so that the imbalance is minimized (For those of you who got into the beta fairly early, remember anti mage?).

I would also add that the competitive nature of Dota 2 is a big selling point, at least for those who enjoys it. Though I would have preferred if match making was more flexible, Valve has done a great job in forcing players to play others at a similar skill range. The variation in skill level and the large pool of skilled players really drives me personally to improve at the game.

"DotA is a real MOBA. LoL sux, lol noob"


Kidding aside, here's a quirky fun read for those who have no insight on what Dota is, but want to try it anyway.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-10-the-dota-2-experience-part-one

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-17-the-dota-2-experience-part-two

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-24-the-dota-2-experience-part-three

So that aside, it's good that you already know how to play LoL. And a reason why you should try out DotA is because it's more competitive and, compared to LoL where you don't lose gold and have a shorter respawn time, while more punishing when you fuck up, is even more rewarding when you outplay or outsmart the other team, and even moreso when you realize you're carrying your whole team on your back.... and you're WINNING. Because of YOU. It's the greatest feeling, really.....

IF YOU DON'T FUCK UP.

And if that's not enough to convince you, I guess the other reason would be that it would drastically improve your gaming on LoL. Because what LoL can do, DotA can do harder. You can even get your butt kicked by bots, but I guess that's an unnecessary info. :)

But really, when you've played enough games of DotA, and then transfer back to LoL, you'll find yourself more accurate at your hits, more aware of your surroundings, and more versatile at thinking and acting quickly during situations. Because that's what DotA does to you, it makes you evolve your gameplay to another level in every game that you take, even if you don't realize this yourself.

You might find yourself that you suck at the beginning, and everyone screaming at you for being a noob (for the record, I heard that if you say you come from LoL, you'll get negative feedback), but that's expected. You'll find yourself with thicker skin after a few games, because you'll soon realize that neg feedback won't help your gameplay at all and you'll learn to quickly shun them off.


PS. Whatever Morello has said, FORGET ABOUT ALL OF IT when playing DotA. What he and Riot games has considered anti-fun are usually the most fun things about DotA

http://dev.dota2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29 Lore forum for dota 2
http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Heroes Look up any hero - they all have stories and lore (and flavour text for abilities).

I have not read much of LoL's lore, so I cannot make a comparison. However, Dota 2's lore is significantly more developed than DotA's.

At the bottom of each Hero's wiki link, there is a "Responses" link, which includes all (or at least most of) the Hero's voice acting... Which is mostly very high quality. The quantity of voice acting is, I am 90% certain, greater than LoL's.

There are no imbalances in DotA or DOTA2. And its not a MOBA, its an aRTS :-P

And just because AM was a top-tier pick didn't make him imbalanced. He was a very strong hero, yes. But he was easily shut down. If you were to call every hero that had free farm for 40 minutes imbalanced _EVERY_ hero would be unbalanced. The reason he's so strong is because the team puts all their money in one hero. If he were to fail they would instantly lose unless the enemy team is completely retarded.

@623
Its a better game. Play it and you'll enjoy it more than LoL.

@Tripwire_
The voice acting in DOTA2 is more than 100% better than the one in LoL. And it creates more depth to the game. It gives you a reason to have sound enabled. And the amount of effort they put in to such a small thing is amazing. Icefrog and Valve is a match made in heaven.