Anyone else getting excited? I purchased the level 50 compendium and I believe the prize pool will reach just over 15 million. 6.83 was very stale so I'm excited to watch some 6.84 dota, and see who's invited and who qualifies for TI5.
Not that excited tbh. The new compendium seems to be worse than the last one which I think has impacted on the feel of the event. I will watch some of the games and probably the final. 6.84 is a wild card at the moment and I am not sure anyone really knows what it brings. There is so much theory craft on Reddit as to can be done with some of the new stuff. I watched Navi vs Empire last night and the new items almost never featured. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxET_m-edrY
I preferred the last compendium. The huge xp bonus combined with the level up presents meant lots of new items.
I do agree about the old compendium and leveling system. Doesn't mean I won't spend some money on the new one though, because I'm a sucker for most things dota. As for 6.84, I'm enjoying but also disliking it. My dislike for it is because I normally play supports with my stack, and as of late I've been solo queueing. Despite doing my job, roaming to gank, trying not to feed, keeping up vision, and keeping my carry alive, it seems there are just a lot of incompetent people. My MMR is 3400ish, but I normally play with a stack where our average MMR is probably in the 4 - 4.3kish range. I go from having tough games as a support with good team and communication, to having a decent time supporting but having other lanes lose, despite ganking them, etc. However, I'm happy with the hero variety in this patch as of now, and the new items can be effective. I enjoyed playing undying and he's a bit stronger now, and with the new guardian greaves, going mana boots and mek are worthwhile since upgrading them removes the mana cost, making it viable mid-game. Prior to this, mek wasn't worth it since the mana cost increase. I'm also happy with the xp and gold changes. The rubberband meant teams could turtle in their base for 15-20 minutes and after 2 solid defenses turn a game around. I'm all for good play, but the turtle until rubberband kicks in really sucked. I am slightly fearful of the deathball strat coming back, early today we were having a stomp of a game and had one set of barracks down by 18 minutes with all other lanes t2's already down. Time will tell how this patch plays out, but a lot of champs are viable again, so I'm happy for the change.
I think the lotus orb is great, if rather situational. Basically anything that a linkins would block, it will reflect. The upgraded shadow blade I feel is extremely strong. The 40% damage reduction on the target, plus the breaking of passives (fantastic against PA). Speaking of the mute and break, my understanding is break stops passives, mute stops items / casting? I'm not too fond of these changes, and the nerf to scythe of vyse, as prior to this, sheep or MKB where your solution to PA and evasion, now your only real option is MKB or another item that breaks. I feel like that change has really hurt scythe. The mango is good, but I feel like its too expensive. I realize its for the convenience of just popping it and having instant mana, but it's 3x the cost of a clarity. Glimmer cape seems extremely powerful for how affordable it is. It's a great in between item for some carries, or supports. It did need the nerf though, as before the no mana cost was pretty crazy. The other new items I haven't seen too much of, but I do like the idea of the upgraded medallion into solar crest. I usually pick up a medallion and a heaven's halberd when I support on heroes like venge, so having the solar crest as an upgrade path is faster than building a halberd and saves a slot (at the loss of more hp from halberd).
I've seen good results with Octarine Core (25% CDR and spell lifesteal), but I only tend to build it late game. Moon shard is pretty powerful for how cheap it is, but I only grab it when I'm out of slots or just for the sake because we are winning by so much and it's fun.
Octarine core needs to be with a spamming hero. I think it's fantastic on a core leshrac if you go blood stone, octarine core, then tank up with shivas, etc. I haven't actually seen anyone buy it yet, but people have been saying it's decent on bristle since it helps him tank up, and I guess he gets vamp from his quills? Not really sure if it's a worthwhile tradeoff vs another more traditional item. What other heroes would benefit from octarine core? Maybe timbersaw? Also, how do you feel about centaur aghs. I used to play him quite a lot but as of late I've not played much offlane. I feel like it's very strong for going high ground since its 70% damage reduction for 3.5 seconds, and you can run over terrain, but I'd imagine it's rather situational since its duration is so short.
Oct works well on Lina, OD and Zeus (probably invo too) - basically caster semi-carries. Haven't seen BB get it, but glimmer cape works well on him. Cent's agh sounds pretty good, but I'm yet to see it in action and I would probably end up failing when he uses it - getting stuck somewhere or having it run out at the worst time possible.
Anyone catch the Red Bull finals last night? They were some exciting games! Spoiler I'm a big EG / Secret / C9 fan, so seeing Secret get their first lan win against IG was nice. I missed the first two games, but the last 3 were very exciting, and for the most part there was a decent amount of back and forth from both teams.
Seems to be a lot of reports of hacking lately which is quite worrying. Thought it would be easy to prevent in a game like this.
I think the reports are for Dota 2 Reborn. Apparently with illusions you could drop the items and sell them, which was abused a lot. I imagine it's already been patched out though.
Ah, lol that makes sense. I heard of a naga with full items within 10 minutes or something. Have you tired the custom games in reborn? I tried Strikers and Pudge Wars but didn't really like either. Pudge wars was slightly better though imho. I am yet to try overthrow.
I tried the overthrow, did the 3v3v3 and it was okay. Also tried green TD reborn today, and it was rather difficult. Biggest issue with custom games is the hosting; afk hosts, hosts who actually can't host but keep trying, etc. Reminds me exactly of custom games in WC3. I haven't played much as of late, getting back into CSGO, and working. I'll probably get my dota fix this weekend. Immortal 3's will also be out this week! It's pretty crazy how the prize pool is over 15 million, and we still have a month to go. Valve is swimming in buckets of money.
Seems to me like Navi keep trying to play defensively but it does not really work. Last two games they have been on the back foot, made a good comeback but all for nothing as the early ground lost was too important. Would like to see a larger variety of heroes, I think this every TI.
Unfortunately I missed all of the group stages due to work. I've got Monday off so I'll get to see day 1. Going to see if I can stream some of the matches at work, though I'm doubtful. I think there were 27 heroes who weren't selected during the group stages, which is significantly more than the last couple years. I believe last year there was 11 or 14 heroes who weren't selected at all. I don't really like seeing SF, Gyro and QoP being picked every game, wish people would try something new (though I can understand they are playing in the largest Dota tournament to date, so stable / safe is more desirable). On a side note, the new chests are more expensive than normal chests, and I feel like most of them are rather underwhelming. I bought 1 chest because I had a spare $5 and figured why not try for the tide helmet, ended up with Rubick staff. It's not bad but I don't play Rubick.
