It has some similarities, but in my opinion it's not quite as easy to navigate as LoL's (bear in mind it's been awhile since I played LoL). It's divided into two main sections: the "guide" on the left which is a customizable list of items based on the hero you're playing, and the shop proper on the right. The shop is then further divided into two basic sections: Basic and Upgrades. As the name implies, basic items are all individual items and upgrades are all items made with various component items. Futhermore, both Basic and Upgrades are divided into sections such as "Armor" or "Caster" to organize items. Once you've seleted an item (left click) it appears in a window below the shop showing all items required to build it (if any) and all items which is is a part of (if any). As a side note, there's also a search bar if you want to ignore the menu system. The problem is that it's not entirely apparent just which section any given item might be in. For example: not all pairs of boots are in the same section. LoL's organization by stats is extremely apparent, if it's got a certain stat then you click on that stat's section.
If i could have posted/given it to you i would have. However it's linked by Steam Account and rather than a code i have to register, it's just been added to my Games List ;>. I'm sure you'll get your turn however !
It's hard to believe there isn't actually much more chat about this. Watched a couple of matches on the central DOTA2 website and it looks like it's really taking off already. In Beta this is already the second most sponsored game in history (in terms of prize money and team sponsorship) it's only behind CS1.6....it's already overtaken CS:Source despite being a beta...it's madness! I desperately want a beta key, if anyone has one to trade drop me a pm.
I think everyone who has a just plays it all the time. It's very impressive, gorgeous map and character graphics, solid gameplay, weekly updates... the beta has been better than a lot of recent games that I've actually paid money for!
Guilty as charged. Had it for almost a month and am looking at nearly 100 hours played. It's got a long ways to go, but it's impressive the amount of detail everything has. The voice acting in particular I'd like to mention. I didn't notice until a little while ago, but characters will actually say things related to what's going on around them. I was amazed when playing as Batrider he suddenly said "Cuttin' da lane!" and sure enough, the enemies had creep pulled. Furthermore, he said "Two against one!" when it was myself and a team mate in the lane against one enemy. A true testament to Valve polish, even in a beta.
Yeah some of the voice acting and inter character banter is awesome. I've heard Batrider say to Mirana "Looks like your ride got the hots for mine", pretty funny
Anyone looking for a game to get totally hooked on and waste a fair % of your lifetime should go to joindota.com and watch some of the VOD casts from recent tournaments with Toby as commentator! Warning: high risk of becoming a no-life.
I finally played some games yesterday with a friend and have one conclusion... I suck balls at DotA. Even with all the slick and polish that the game has, it still reminds me of HoN in terms of overall feel and gameplay, even if the more subtle nuances differentiate them. Admittedly I hate getting thrown in the deep end, as with HoN and wasn't really sure where to start, even with a friend guiding me through items and playstyles. I tried Axe as a normal initiator, just trying to taunt everyone and execute any low hp enemy, but we ended up losing. Next was Drow Ranger since I just wanted a Champion who I only needed to worry about right clicking whilst I got a hang of the game... Now whoever decided to have a massive delay for her to draw her bow is a nonce. It's not a case of 'skill', it just means I need readjust my timing and judgement on how low up creeps need to be. However it it's a big kick in the ass to responsiveness. League does something similar but by making the projectile speed slower (think Soraka autoattack) but then at least I know I've actually input the attack command. I'll also reiterate the fact that the game is 'too smooth'... it's as if all spells can be cast without interrupting movement? Or at least, skill usage seems to be much more subtle than League, which made it hard for me to understand what was going on. I agree that the game exudes quality and polish, however I don't think it's quite there yet in terms of noob accessibility. Not to mention the community seems to be as elitist as ever... or maybe that was just the games I was in. I'll give a few games solo later and see if that changes my opinion. Sent from bit-tech Android app
Bleck, Drow certainly has one of the worst autoattack animations in the game, followed closely by Lina. It just adds a little bit more depth to the differences of between characters and is typically offset by other traits of the character. In the case of Drow it fits the player building attack speed items, she has a built in slow and built in damage, the only stat she needs to start really churning out damage is attack speed to get over that bad autoattack animation. Contrasting that you'll notice that many support heroes have much better attack animations to help them harass early on. This smoothness is still one of my complaints, particularly how it affects movement. Turning, moving from a standstill, et cetera often look beautiful and realistically animated but feel frustratingly slow and unresponsive. You get used to knowing what to look for with skills as you play, but the overly smooth movement still gets me. Remember this is a real beta, not some release candidate offered two weeks before release. It's easy to forget with how long players have had access but the core game isn't even complete yet, it only has roughly half of the heroes and is still missing game modes and all sorts of other small features are constantly being tweaked and added (even the fairly critical ability to turn off potentially harmful friendly spells was only recently added). New player training modes or tutorials are likely still off in the future.
Found out they have a bot mode . I'll be playing this for a large number of games as they're rather intelligently coded... Got my ass handed to me on normal when i was trying out Anti-Mage.
I had about 4 games the other night on this. I only won 1 game but It was my first time playing it. I have had some experience of HoN but the community sucked and the graphics/Ui wasnt great. But that was my experience. Dota 2 on the other hand is alot more better. I have been lucky with the community and havent had that many people who rage all the time. I did have a kid on the other team swearing and calling people and bigging himself up but ya just igonre/report. I still suck but slowly getting better. But I was the same when I started playing LoL. Does anyone have any Idea when this is going to be released?
Is Dota 2 based more on Dota classic, DOtA Renew or DotA Allstars? Personally, I loved Renew and couldn't stand Allstars (even though I played it until around 2005/6, just after Tiny got added, but then met Renew)
I remember you saying this in the last post and it just so happened to come up in League with the advent of the new Centaur champion:
Just picked up a beta copy in the last week; only played Dota super-casually back in WC3 days but really enjoying Dota 2. I love playing Tiny... avalanche/toss Cheesecake.
Don't judge Dota until you've played a hundred games or so. Its the most in depth game I have ever played without a doubt! Once you get into it all the nuances begin standing out and you start tasting the real stuff.
I'm actually a bit surprised to see that developers (or at least Riot) put such a level of thought into things before implementing them and playing catch up. I'd love to get a comment from Valve on the issue to compare, from a developer's standpoint, the advantages and disadvantages of each. That said, I've played a bit more since that post and learned a bit more about the game. I believe it comes down to Valve being bound by Warcraft 3. They've stated that they wish to emulate Dota gameplay as accurately as possible and the majority of my complaints seem to come from these legacy features. The engine used for Warcraft 3 included a rotational speed for turning units (I believe each unit's speed could be set) and so Dota became the game it is with turn speed present on all units. Now Valve have to include it or risk losing their target audience by changing the game at such a fundamental level.
