cakedotavi

There are Dota 2 leaderboards?!

Some of the map changes need work, for sure. I specifically think the Radiant offlane jungle is too strong compared to Dire, since you've got your 2 camps very close together with the rune right beside them, and the biggest highground hill in the game protecting your shrine to the north. It's damn near impossible to get ganked in there, and you can farm very efficiently thanks to the rune/camp placement when your offlane is pushed. Overall I like the *intent* of the map changes (faster game encouraged, less AFK jungle farming possible), and just feel like they need some fine-tuning. I like it because it forces you to move around the map, leading to more frequent natural ganking opportunities. Playing enigma and just finished farming your offlane camps, and the enemy is pushing the offlane at the same time? Pop out and see if you can get a kill with malifice. Doesn't cost you more than a few seconds since you were nearby anyway thanks to having to move around, and leads to more exciting play overall. I don't quite understand what the app does. Can you clarify?

Agreed; it's a fun break from regular games. I got to wave 12 or 13 (Alchemist) with a lineup of Sniper, Winter Wyvern, Ember, Underlord, and Tiny (the Tiny pick was the least effective, I feel). It seems like Underlord is just mandatory in that mode honestly - amazing early wave clear, he's a great tank, and his ult is actually really really good for repositioning the team quickly. I think Sniper is also really important for his ult, which is one of the few things that can blow up targets from really far away (great for the Warlock wave, for instance).

I've continued to focus on offlaning since the above post, especially as Slardar. I am absolutely in love with offlane Slardar this patch (solo or dual lane), despite never playing him pre-7.00. He's pretty versatile & can be built as a pure initiator & semi-support (initiation items into vlads, crimson/pipe, etc), or if you team needs a core you can fill that role too (initiation into echo, BKB, etc). Even better, he excels at fighting *all the time* thanks to his 8 second AOE stun, and with his ult he can get kills really easily with just 1 or 2 other players helping. His "up time" as an initiator is second to none (no waiting for long CDs), and with sprint, blink, and force staff you can cover the width of the map in no time. Everything about him is amazing in this fight-heavy meta; he can be damn near anywhere on a moment's notice, initiate and re-initiate in a single fight easily, and burst down key targets very quickly with corrosive haze. I got off to a bit of a rocky start with not knowing when it's safe to sprint etc, but after I watched Purge's offlane Slardar commentary & practiced a bit things have really come together for me. I'm now 9W : 3L over my last 12 Slar games, and I'm feeling supremely confident playing him these days. Win or lose I almost always have a great time playing him since he's just so active & fun to play. Thanks to Valve for a really fun meta this patch! Some stuff to fix for sure (Radiant ~8% win advantage etc), but I'm excited by the faster pace of the meta & what it might mean for future patches.

Strange! Thanks for the info; I wasn't aware of that.

Hmm, thanks - good food for thought. I'm mostly just *so* happy with how my 2500k has aged that I'm looking for something comparably long-term, and was thinking 10nm might be my best shot at that kind of longevity. Perhaps I'm giving it too much credit though; I'll read up on the purported performance gains a bit more.

Anyone heard anything about the upcoming 10nm CPUs? I think it's Canonlake that brings 10nm to mobile and laptop CPUs, but they couldn't get desktop CPUs running at 10nm yet if I remember the Intel rumor mill correctly. Has anyone heard when, or I guess if, Intel expects to launch 10nm on Desktop? My OC'ed 2500k is getting up there, and it seems like a bit of a waste to get a 1070/1080 with such an old CPU. I'm trying to wait for "the next big jump" in CPUs, but I've got a 1400p/144hz display that I really want to get the most out of!

How do people feel about Offlane post-7.00? Specifically, as heroes like Slardar who sometimes have to leave the lane (creeps are under enemy tower etc), what do you fill your non-laneing time with? You can only grab runes so often. Does anyone have any good tricks for pulling your lane to bring the creep line back so you can farm again? Or do people just roam and show in other lanes when you can't lane yourself? I'm ~3600 MMR for context.

Doom: Doom is really great, and definitely my most mechanically satisfying game of 2016. I very much like the pacing, with bursts of frantic flow punctuated by slow moments exploring for secrets between fights. Thanks to the speed and fluidity of Doom's movement, combined with weapons that feel great and "glory kills" (melee executions that heal you), the action in each fight is non-stop & incredibly satisfying. If you enjoy shooters and are tired of the plethora of "stop-and-pop" tactical/cover shooters these days this game has your name all over it. Technically everything is rock-solid; great presentation and runs like a dream. My only complaint is that the back 3rd felt a bit drawn out. I'd say you switch between (very minor spoilers) but aside from that I really loved it. Honestly my only complaint is that there's a *bit* too much of it, which is a great problem to have. You should play this game.

Played a bit further (details below) and gosh the one boss fight I just did was way, way too simple. I love this game, but wish there was a bit more to the combat - it just feels too "same-y" compared to the variability of, say, Darksouls. Give me the open world, characters, and narrative of the Witcher with the combat of Darksouls and I would be very, very happy. I want more involved attack animations, multiple possible boss attacks/patterns instead of just one, and the like - it's just too static as-is.

Wow, didn't expect there to be that much - felt like it was wrapping up & I was expecting 30 minutes or something. Glad I didn't try and power through last night. I'm eager to finish up so I can move on to Blood and Wine & Dark Souls III for my action-adventure fix. Thanks for the tip on the spoiler tag, Jutranjo.

Speaking of the end of this game dragging on a bit... can someone tell me how much further I have to go? Spoilers below in white text about where I am in the story. spoilers I just finished the fight with the Hunt at the Witcher stronghold, after gathering my allies. /spoilers

OK, cool let's give it a shot. I just added you. I think making a run from challenger to champion in one go is unrealistic so I probably won't want to do exclusively ranked, but let's try some unranked.

Strange - one of the main things I like about Rocket League is that I feel it's immediately accessible since the premise is so simple. Was it just the mechanical learning curve that bothered you? If so, were you being matched with people beyond your skill level and that's what made it less fun, or is it just the frustration of whiffing itself? Unrelated, I'm still playing the hell out of this game. A little over 500 hours played now & just hit Super Star in ranked 2's. Anyone else out there around the same 2's mark (on PC, NA) interested in buddying up & trying to push for Champion league? Steam name is same has here, if so.

Too bad! Seems to be great for Civ, but not as good for XCOM. Luckily(?) I don't have any DLC, so the one bug you guys mention won't be an issue for now. Still, if I were to lose another a-squad to some other bug I think I might cry... Whelp, here goes!

How has the patch support been for this game, specifically for mission scripting bugfixes? I had an Ironman game going back at launch where my a-squad got wiped because of a bug where the VIP I had to rescue didn't spawn, and I didn't realize I was encountering a bug until I'd wasted too much time trying to figure out what was going on to recover. I kept the campaign going on life-support for another 5 hours or something, but eventually wiped for good - it was too much to recover from. Was loving the game up until then & want to revisit it, but *really* don't want to have that happen again...

Anyone have thoughts on good Ultrabooks? I'm looking for something roughly $2000 CAD pre-tax, portable, good battery life, and capable of some light-weight gaming. I'm currently looking at the XPS 13/15, the Surface Book, and the X1 Carbon/Yoga, but of course am keen to hear other suggestions!

Yeah I spent a few hours doing some research yesterday and it sounds like the XPS is pretty much universally praised as best-in-class right now, so I decided to go that route. Thanks to all for your thoughts! I can't wait to give it a shot when it arrives

Cool - I hear the new ones are a bit quieter and cooler so that sounds great. Ended up going for an XPS 13 - can't wait for it to ship!

Raising an old thread from the dead here, but... I'm really enjoying this game! The story is terrible, but it's a great set of systems to interact with. I'll write more details about what I'm enjoying after I've played a bit more.

I like this game a lot, and I wrote a few words about why. An excerpt of the full article below:

Hi everyone. I recently spent a bit of time thinking and writing about what I find so uniquely engaging about Dota. I'd very much appreciate any feedback you folks care to offer, be it regarding your own thoughts on the topic, criticism of my writing, or opinions on formatting. I've quoted my opening paragraph below: Take a look at the link and let me know what you think! EDIT: Hahaha the "Lords Management" replacement is a nice touch, administrator.

I'm targeting 27 inches, with a viewing distance of about 73cm and very close to 20/20 vision. After doing some research yesterday it sounds like 1440p is *just* shy of being "good enough that more pixels will make no difference" for me. That certainly gives me something to think about. (As an aside, I likely will wait for Black Friday to see what happens over the coming months, and perhaps snag a deal on something like the Acer Predator XB270HU as Vorlonesque and others have suggested if I do decide to forgo 4k) Most of the games I play do support high framerates. I'd really like to see 144hz in person before I decide to figure our if it's for me, so I'll probably delay for a bit to try and make that happen. As I reference above, I've changed my mind from heavily favoring 4k to seriously considering 1440p 144hz; I'd just really like to see a HFR display before I pull the trigger and forgo those sweet, extra pixels Thanks to all of you for your thoughts!

Anyone interested in getting some games in this morning? (Quick match; I'm still only level 28) I've got the next few hours free, (flex day, baby) and I hate queuing for this game solo. Bnet ID is cakedotavi#1406 Ten Ton Hammer has some decent guides linked from their tier list. The competitive tier list is here, and the quick match tier list is here. (They split the lists since some heroes are more/less powerful when you have a team that is actually working together) The builds they link to from each list are the same though. Only the tier/order of the heroes changes between the two links.

Yeah it's outstanding so far. I'm normally someone who puts 5-20 hours into games per week (depending on other commitments) across a wide variety of games; I normally play between 2 and 4 different games in any given week. This week? Despite work being heavy I've clocked 20 hours in The Witcher 3 and haven't touched another game, and I've still got Sunday ahead of me!