Orv

I took one of Thompson's SMNC codes to try to parlay it into a DotA 2 key, but at the rate people are proliferating SMNC keys, that isn't going to happen. So you can have it, if you'll but add me on Steam. (Name is in the steam id thread.) I'd love a Diablo 3 beta. Also, Korax, I'm still willing to take that Achron off your hands. People are welcome to the majority of my TF2 items Spy stuff not on offer.

Behold terrible graphical bugs. Shit gets weird with the Strangers PC remake.

Fail-Deadly http://www.third-helix.com/?page_id=1099 You control the building and unit productions of both sides in a war in an effort to cause a thermonuclear stalemate. Quite neat.

They're 2.50 a piece on Steam, which is a fantastic price, and well under what they're worth. That said, if you insist on consoles, I can't help you with prices.

Enjoyable, I can see myself getting some time out of it. The catch-phrases/chatter is stupid and I'm not sure why they even made it if it's only got twelve phrases, but otherwise it's a fun game. It made me think of Space Hulk, if Space Hulk was a dual-stick shooter.

Robert Zemeckis' Quadrotor A thrilling new interpretation of Hitchcock's classic!

Neat Soul Calibre V trailer.

I'm so confused. I saw Prince Humperdink on Deep Space Nine. What is going ooooooooonnnnn.

I thought the campaign was great. In fact I just reinstalled it in a fit of nostalgia, because that town level never ceases to infuriate me while making me love it at the same time. Stupid helicopters.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/30/fan-made-cc-fps-spawns/#more-91649 I loved C&C Renegade, though I may have been the only person on earth to do so, so this is basically Christmas for me.

I've somehow managed to maintain a positive W/L ratio by the skin of my teeth. Playing with 2 other pre-organized people seems to be the sweet spot for a 50/50 ratio.

I'm an okay Clinkz, I guess.

I'd agree with that, though I'd voice a couple concerns in that; - If you fuck up a critical Fissure, bad things happen. - Farming with ES and Tiny is... an experience (read: terrible) and you need that blink dagger on ES at least, if not Tiny, and that can be problematic when starting. Otherwise yeah, go for. More initiation is always appreciated in pubs.

Hilarious Dagon heroes: Riki Lion Lina Pugna (Decrepify + Dagon is a lot of damage) Anyone with a burst stun (A lot of people) Gondar Clinkz Both Nerubians Leshrac (Please don't) That said, Push Stick -> Eul's -> Your Stun -> Dagon is pretty hilarious. On Skeleton King. I still say never buy Dagon's, but if you're absolutely rolling through the enemy team, there's no reason not to. Twig, what is your Steam? E: A lot of people will recommend Lich as a starting place for DotA. They're not wrong! He's a good place to start, since he doesn't require any items to function (a couple bracers will serve you well however) and Sacrifice makes his spells quite spammy. That said, it's hard to go wrong with Skeleton King if you follow the ultimate guide: http://www.playdota.com/guides/epic-return

Oh man, I don't even want to talk about Dagon. But I should. Here's the skinny: Are you anyone other than eveyone? No? Don't get Dagon. I can definitely see the Scepter on Sand King and Earthshaker, but I mean, this is after Arcane Boots, a Blink Dagger and likely a Vanguard/Heart. I mean, if you're rolling in gold after that on SK/ES (hoooow? are you up 40 to 10 or something? ), then by all means. We need to do some Thumbs DotA.

The only way to buy in absentia from the secret or side shop is a courier, so you were doing it correctly. As for bad Aghanim's characters, it's really on a per-case basis. Bad characters for Aghanim's include... fuck it, here's who you get it and don't get it on. Addendum A: In truth, all Scepter purchases are situational. Any hero with a Scepter bonus can get by without one, and gold is often better spent elsewhere. But if you have the money, you're already good on supportive/tank/carry items, it's rarely a bad idea. Always Get An Aghanim's On: Dark Seer Invoker Necrolyte Situational Aghanim's Purchases On: Axe (Are you carrying? Are you farmed?) Clockwerk (Are you carrying? Are you ganking heavily?) Doombringer (Are you carrying? Are there a lot of people with low health susceptible to silence?) Jakiro (Are people standing in your ult? Are people not dodging Ice Path?) Leshrac (What are teamfights like? Messy clusters of unintelligible murder? Buy it.) Lich (Are you having amazing ults? Has the enemy not learned from them yet? Do you have the gold for some stupid reason? You may be better off with a Refresher, in that case, but keep it in mind.) Lion (Are there INT heroes on the enemy team that you could easily Spike and Finger for an instant-kill?) Lina (Same deal as Lion. Will that extra 325 damage be able to nuke someone into oblivion with your full combo?) Natures Prophet (Should almost be in the "Never Buy" category, but sometimes you just have a really good game.) Night Stalker (Are you fed as hell from nights one and two? Buy an Aghanim's, it gives you unrestricted sight, even over terrain. Ensure your carry status.) Puck (Only if you've got a ton of kills and are initiating well. And you should never have a ton of kills as Puck, unless your team is bad.) Queen of Pain (That cooldown is nice, but can you justify the 4200 for Scepter over a Scythe of Vise? Or even an Eye of Skadi? ) Razor (Again, how hard are you carrying? Will cropping up a Scepter'd Storm during a team fight kill everyone?) Shadow Shaman (Do you have ward trapping down? If so and you already have your Eul's/Scythe, buy.) Spirit Breaker (Are you the carry? If not, can you guarantee more kills with Scepter?) Vengeful Spirit (How much of an asshole do you feel like being? 10 second cooldown on your ult sound good? Think you have the reflexes to swap the right person at the right time? Go for it.) Venomancer (People just surviving your ults won't be solved by this. But if you can ult and then get a Q or an auto-attack on everyone, deaths are coming your way.) Warlock (Two golems are better than one, but can you keep an eye on both?) Witch Doctor (Are people stupid enough to stand around during teamfights? Are you constantly hitting three or more people with casks? If so, buy, but not to the detriment of other supportive items.) Windrunner (Are you actually doing damage with auto-attacks? If so, grab a damage item first, then an Aghanim's.) Zeus (People surviving with sub-100 HP? Get it.) People You (Almost) Never Buy Aghanim's On: Tiny Viper Sand King Pudge (Never ever.) Huskar Enchantress Earthshaker Dazzle Crystal Maiden Beastmaster Chen (Could almost be in Situational, but if you ever have occasion to need a 10 second CD on Hand of God, you may have more immediate problems. Addendum B: Any support heroes mentioned here are recommended to obtain supportive items before any Scepter purchases. In fact, if you purchase a Scepter when you could have a Scythe in another three minutes of farming, I hate you. E: I see Twig and I disagree on ES. My argument towards not getting a Scepter on Earthshaker is pretty simple. If you're doing that much damage on entering the fight with a Blink + Echoslam, you should really already have won the game from wiping them out. Not to mention if you're swimming in kills as ES you're doing it wrong.

Yeah, added a couple things.

Updated my earlier post.

This space will hold a primer on LoL vs DotA (2) when I awake in some hours. Suffice to say, they share similarities, but holding to anything beyond last hitting that you learned in LoL will get you dead. Alright, there's a few things that could conceivably cost you a few kills/get you killed a few times if you've played LoL. LoL V DotA 2 Gold: Lost on death. Seriously, dying in this is a thousand times worse than LoL. You lose a portion of your gold and the enemy gains a large proportion of gold depending on your gold and your killstreak. Shopping: You can buy things away from base and they will enter your "stash" where they can be picked up by you or sent to you via courier. Don't lose an item you've farmed because you forgot to buy it. Towers: Do less damage in DotA 2, standing under a tower any time after ten minutes into the game will not guarantee the death of your attacker. Fortifying your teams buildings does not give towers a RoF boost. Creeps: Do more damage in DotA 2. They will kill you if you get trapped in them. Which brings up a side point; Unit collision allows for surrounds in a manner similar to more standard RTS. Don't trap yourself in creeps during a fight. Jungle: Not necessary to have a jungling character for victory. Only a few people can jungle well (Chen, Enchantress, Enigma, Lifestealer, Axe being the primary ones) and must follow incredible specific paths and timings in order to succeed. Creep stacking: Creeps spawn on the :30 second mark the first time (going positive after the game starts proper) and then the minute mark every other time. As a support in top lane as Dire, or bottom lane as Radiant, you should be "creep stacking" This involves pulling a full creep spawn from their camp, into the lane, so that the new creeps spawn in that camp. You then have double the creeps in that camp, but also double the XP and gold. Comprehensive guide for both of the previous topics: http://www.playdota.com/learn/jungle Mana/Spell spamming: You can't. Simple as that. Most heroes have enough mana for a couple spells in the early game, if that. Tiny, one of the heroes with incredible burst potential through comboing two of his spells, can't even cast that combo at level 2. Conserve mana, do not kill creeps with spells until much later. Counter-picking: If I wrote up a list of X hero counters Y hero I would need to use four or five posts, and not all the heroes are even in. Suffice to say, once you learn what everyone does, counter-picking is a thousand times more important in DotA 2. You'll frequently see people wait until the pick clock winds down in order to out-pick your last second picks. Do not allow this, you will lose. Intelligence heroes: In LoL, INT heroes/"mages" can scale in damage because of ability power. There is no such analogue here, the damage an INT spell does at level 4 is the damage it will always do, barring Aghanim's Scepter. In this way, INTs are often placed in supportive roles that benefit the entire team. Warding, buying dust (Of Appearance) to reveal invis heroes, and so forth. Aghanim's Scepter: Don't quote me on the exact number, but about 1/3rd of the heroes in DotA can buy an item called Aghanim's Scepter. It costs 4200 gold, gives +10 to all three stats, and does something very important. You see the picture of Tiny carrying a tree I posted up there? That's his Aghanim's bonus. He permanently uproots a tree and carries it around, giving him cleave, an attack range boost, and slowing his attack speed. It's great, but unfortunately, if you ever buy an Aghanim's on Tiny, you're an idiot. There are heroes that can get Aghanim's that never should, and some that always should. Feel free to ask if you're not sure. Warding: Do it if you're the support. Always have wards up. http://www.playdota.com/learn/ward Runes: Spawn at 0:00 and every two minutes there-after. Appear in the river, essentially next to where Baron and Dragon would be if this was the LoL map. Runes include: Haste, A red crystal - Obvious and quite good for ganking, depending on the character. Double Damage, A sharp-topped blue crystal enveloped in lightning - Again, obvious. What might not be entirely obvious is that it also gives you abilities double damage. Tiny and others become a murdering machine with this, often guaranteeing first blood and even a double kill. Regeneration, Green crystal with swirly vines around it - Gives enormous mana and HP regen until you are topped off. If you're completely healthy, only grab it if there's a chance any enemy will. Invisibility, A smokey semi-transparent purple crystal: Does what it says on the tin. Another incredible gank enabler. Illusion, A yellow crystal split into three parts: Give you two copies of yourself with the same mana and health as you had when you picked it up. Copies appear blue tinged to you and teammates, but normal to enemies. Not particularly useful in most situations, but quite helpful for leaving around the map during say, a Roshan attempt. The person in mid should endeavour to have "rune control" at all times in the laning phase. Consumables: Can be used on other people, and transferred to others by dragging and dropping the consumable from your inventory onto their model. Very rarely do you not have at least one stack (3) of tangos when leaving base for the first time. Courier: There's a little button down on the bottom right-hand side of the UI for the courier. Use it frequently. Make sure it's not the bottom button you press, but the middle one. The bottom one is fortify, do not waste that for the love of god. Support always buys the courier. Don't forget to upgrade the courier to a flying one. Roshan: Roshan is the Baron Nashor of DotA. Except he stuns everyone around him every couple of seconds, and doesn't give a shitty buff. What he does do is drops an item called the Aegis. If you're carrying the Aegis when you die, you are revived after a couple seconds at full health and mana. This is often a deciding factor, and while Roshan isn't always done in every game, if you give the Aegis to a carry, say hello to a decent lead. If not a pure win. On the third time you kill Roshan and every time after, he drops Cheese, which when used instantly restores 2,500 Hp and Mana. I think that's the basics.

Adorable as all get out.

Do we want to try and set up an actual time for this? I'm available pretty much whenever, but that's obviously not the case for the rest of you.

On backstabbing: Fsp6k4830a0 The first part of that video is also helpful. I've been playing a thief lately in Anor Londo. I've been abusing backstab chains pretty heavily, but it's almost always more interesting when someone manages to get out of it and I actually have to fight them. Sure, utterly destroying someone is fun, but it's more fun when you actually have to duke it out with them. Sidenote: If you haven't done a DEX build, try it and grab the Uchigatana. That thing is great. Also, if someone uses the bow emote from closer than five feet away, punish them for it. While I'm all for neat and tidy duels in just about every other PvP RPG in existence, stupidity can be, should be, and is punishable by death in Dark Souls.

I'd be happy to teach people the basics of DotA vs LoL or just DotA in general, if we want to get a Thumbs party going sometime. My Steam info is in the thread somewhere. Despite my acidic nature on here sometimes, I'm fairly Zen about DotA-likes, so I won't be yelling at you for sucking.

Just finished my first playthrough of Torchlight. I recorded a quick video while I fought the last boss on my thoughts of it, since I'd played through nearly all of it in a single sitting over the last few hours, but I fouled it up. So I'll do that again when I finish my Destroyer run-through, because honestly my opinions were pretty tainted by a few poor choices on my part. Fakeedit: Actually, I know what went wrong, so I'll just re-record the exact same diatribe when I wake up and start again. Stupid video encoding.

I couldn't say. But I continue reading it because it does present interesting ideas, but they're just couched in such an annoying writing style. I may give up, I may not, we'll see.