Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Astral]

The game is currently in beta. They're still in the process of porting the heroes while still maintaining the current gameplay; perhaps once they get a good balance they can move beyond the limitations of Warcraft 3's engine and start playing with different ideas, but for now it is what it is: A carbon copy of the original with shinier graphics.

Not to say that it's a bad thing, but it's not like I expected much more for the time being.

Besides, there are countless times that a Scroll of Town Portal (the 135 gold item that emulates a recall, and cannot be interrupted by things other than stuns and silences) has saved my ass with creative fog of war abuse. It does require a slightly different mindset; do I buy the scroll and port in, saving myself a trip to the lane, or do I port back and have to slog through the other creeps, possibly blocking them and pulling my lane back? Or, do I save it for teleport to a lane in need of help, or a pushed back lane that would have fog of war covering a gank approach? Do I even buy it at all, considering that the gold cost may disrupt my buying a necessary item, or will the time saved make up for it in gold and experience? Will I be able to make it out of this 3 man, double damage runed carry coming bottom, or should I run to the side shop, grab a scroll, and haul ass before they managed to kill me? If I have a character with a magic immune ability (Juggernaght, N'aix, or someone with a Black King Bar), will it block their stuns barring them using an ultimate? These examples are the ones I can think of without having played DotA 2 for a while, and there are far more creative uses for them. Or at least there used to be, with the scrolls granting towers a near invulnerability for the duration of the channel, but that was changed into another mechanic, AKA Fortification.

There's more than one way to use it, which adds to the depth a bit. I do agree that certain mechanics are a bit... clunky, and were streamlined or removed altogether in League, but it's best to think of DotA 2 as a completely different game anyway. I do foresee some mechanics being changed in the distant future, but they have to get to where the current Warcraft 3 version is, and that's going to take a while in itself.

[penguinofhonor]

Hm. There is some strategy around the Courier, but I still don't think it makes up for the clunkiness. And I've been under the impression that the DotA community has been very hostile to change, especially change that "dumbs down" the game, meaning things like this wouldn't be likely to leave. I could be wrong, though. I haven't read any of the goals the DotA 2 developers have once the game is fully ported.

One thing I do love about the game is cliffs. There are those little overhangs where you can see down but your opponents can't see up. Those are fantastic. I guess League's equivalent is Brush? But that doesn't give the same feel. Cliffs make you feel like a sniper with a tactical advantage over your foes since they can't easily get up to you.

[Criptfeind]

I dunno.

I like the courier, it is not like the town gatey thing because it allows you to still do things well shopping, which is a important difference I feel.

As for cliffs? Maybe. I think brush would be a great thing to add, but I dunno what you mean about cliffs making it hard for foes to get to you. The only areas like that that I ever see used are the actual ramps.  I trying to remember if there are any actual areas where you can fight someone and they can not just go up a ramp to get you. Maybe the river... Of course there are a lot of ramps there as well.

[penguinofhonor]

Uh, there's one near the river. Directly west of it by like a screen's length. It looks down onto a path that's next to the river.

[Criptfeind]

I guess so. I'm not worried about it. Although bush does sound awesome.

[Rex_Nex]

Cliffs are neat; there are actually quite a few areas to take advantage of them. They aren't necessarily a good place to sit on and autoattack things as they pass by; you'll only get a couple shots in before they run out of range (and it gets difficult to get in range when you are on a cliff, obviously), but it's great for sneaking off a ranged spell as they walk past.

For example, with Earthshaker. He has a ~1000 range stun that creates a crevasse between him and the destination, so you can use it for blocking. You're up on a cliff looking into the river and see an enemy hero walking through it; simply throw down the stun in front of him, and he is not only stunned but has to turn back because the river is now blocked on one side.

It gives an opportunity to be sneaky with heroes that otherwise are very up-front, much like bushes. Cliffs just feel better though. Because it's a cliff, goddamnit.

And you should be worried about that cliff, cript

[Alkhemia]

Edit:Out of Keys: This game too hardcore for me I don't like the forced counter-picking just to win

[Rex_Nex]

I rarely ever counter-pick.

[Yodamaster]

Quick question, how do you deny? I try to attack my last-hittable creeps but it does nothing. I feel like there's a key I'm not pressing or something.

[penguinofhonor]

A -> Left Click

[Yodamaster]

A -> Left Click

What is it in options? I rebound my keys.

[Rex_Nex]

It might be labeled "attack".

[Traejeek]

I love this game so much. I love how absurd every single hero is and how it can still be balanced. And I especially love how Valve doesn't kneejerk nerf random shit into the ground when people play how they didn't expect them to play. People crying endlessly that Invoker is broken and too strong? Minor nerf to two of his ten spells. PROBLEM SOLVED. NO MORE CRYING. No need to nerf all his stats and his spells.

So I know my Furion will always be Furion and I'll always be able to push every lane at once. And not a case of my Mordekaiser becoming a pile of crap because some idiots cried too much on the forum.

snipped

For what it's worth, Valve is doing absolutely zero work in the balance department. That's all Icefrog, and those are balance changes coming from War3 DotA as he patches it.

[Rex_Nex]

Yea, Icefrog is known to be a decent at balance. I mean, for just one guy working with his community, he has a pretty darn good sense of what should be changed.

[Traejeek]

Yea, Icefrog is known to be a decent at balance. I mean, for just one guy working with his community, he has a pretty darn good sense of what should be changed.

Keep in mind, he's in close contact with the competitive community, and they've got a pretty good sense of what's powerful and what's worthless (considering they deal with it almost daily).