DOTA 2

[njoos]

The matchmaking does try to prevent situations like that. Trying to make teams play against teams. Guess it also prefers speed over that though. Damn shame. 

 

Don't give up. This could be you next week:

 

[Jutranjo]

Groups get the members MMR artificially raised. 

 

If you can't handle losing half your games, you aren't going to enjoy playing dota long term.

 

I guess you could take the advice of mr. Петров and uninstall.

[dibs]

The matchmaking does try to prevent situations like that. Trying to make teams play against teams. Guess it also prefers speed over that though. Damn shame. 

 

Don't give up. This could be you next week:

 

Luna noob uninstall.

[undermind9]

The match making system is fucking stupid and lame for not taking that into consideration. 5 randomly thrown together people are less likely to coordinate / listen to one another than a group of 3, 4, or 5 people. They have the inherent advantage. Sick of this shit.

 

This part of the Matchmaking always makes me uncomfortable - the rando's VS a 4 or 5 stack

 

I play with my family on sunday mornings & tuesday nights as a 5-stack...but the range of skill goes from pretty good to pretty awful...like our 5th might as well be an "easy" bot who buys wards and is proficient with +/-10 lords.

 

 

im uncomfortable because i know even with 4.5 players our communication is going to automatically be better than a 2 & 3 team...or worse 2/2/1.  I really hate stomps, win or lose, but with the way the matchmaking is setup it seems to swing pretty far on the pendulum.  we still lose quite a bit, and that is where the skill & picks will trump even the most in-sync group.  

[dibs]

I play with my family

 

[Twig]

I regularly play with a 3-5 stack and almost never run into a group of random people. It does happen sometimes, and sometimes they destroy us. X:

 

Probably because we're a very wide range of MMRs and the enemy team is built using our average + party bonus. BUT THAT'S NEITHER HERE NOR THERE.

[undermind9]

as for the Lone Druid conversation -

 

orb of venom is 375 and gives a great slow for <Rank 3 bear, when it gets roots then its a bonus for those no-proc chases.  to me its a low-cost entry item that can be easily dumped later for a basher, maelstrom, AC, etc.

 

as for the Midas discussion...its a lot of money.  i know it pays dividends when purchased early & used often, but 2 boots to buy, armor items, etc - i feel like i can get way behind with a weird gank that keeps my bear on cooldown for 2 minutes (and any items stranded there)

 

 

the long and short, my items on LD are more subject to game tempo & line-up.  if its going to be a long haul a midas investment could be good...but if going to have fight early and often i think i'd opt for more useful items sooner

[Dewar]

I think that's what keeps me coming back for more. I'm really good with a handful of lords, can hold my own with lots more, but then there are some that just intimidate the piss out of me. So I find myself falling back on the same lords just because I know I'm good with them and we have a better chance of winning. I need to play more All Random or Single Draft matches to mix things up a bit. As you can see, Necro and WD are my current go-tos...

 

 

Buy the compendium and start doing the daily hero quest? That's what's really got me going. Other than that, I perfer Single Draft to get me out of my comfort zone. That way you can't get stuck with Meepo.

 

Frankly teh "A to Z" thing is arbitrary and does the opposite of helping people to learn the game. It's frustrating.

People should be getting comfortable with the lords one at a time at their own pace. I got better with this lord, then that, then that, then went back to the first to try some new things, and this all keeps steamrolling into picking up on how to play every character. My first attempt to play a support was an arbitrary decision and I chose Disruptor. Big mistake playing a hard support. But later I played some supports that were similar to other lords I'd played, and bammo, I had way more success. And from there I transition into doing better with Disruptor.

 

I think the point of the A to Z challenge isn't to get good at every lord, but instead to just have a basic idea what every lord can do to you. That's the main difference I see watching DOTA streams is that the guys that are good always know what threat the other players pose, while I still don't recognize half of the lords on sight.

[undermind9]

ya, my 2 brothers, cousin and uncle (his father) lol

it creates small rifts...but rarely does it bleed past the day's matches.

 

 

but also been doing family dota for ~10yrs.  For a long time we'd play Sunday "dota civil war" with myself, youngest brother & another uncle VS 3rd brother, cousin and same uncle.  that would get messy.

[njoos]

Orb of venom is 275 now, used to be 350 a few patches ago. I did abbadon with orb + batrider lane yesterday. Funny stuff. 

[Cleinhun]

I never but orb of venom, mostly because I don't usually play lords that want it, bit mostly because I always forget it exists.

[BusbyBerkeley]

I never but orb of venom, mostly because I don't usually play lords that want it, bit mostly because I always forget it exists.

 

This is me. I did get it on Lone Druid the other day though. Half the time I forget to use items that I already have in my inventory until i'm dead anyway.

[Forbin]

It's in the side shop, so it's an easy thing to pick up.

[Jutranjo]

I think it's worth picking up on any melee that isn't going to farm tons that is also somehow trading hits with the enemy. And on Naix.

 

If you're 1v1 or 2v2 it's probably worth it, 1v3 not really IMO.

[njoos]

It's good on Tusk, Slark, Lone Druid, naix and Abbaddon most of the time. Sometimes good on brewmaster. Brewmaster can be very annoying in a meele vs meele lane if he has an orb of venom. 

[undermind9]

Orb of venom is 275 now, used to be 350 a few patches ago. I did abbadon with orb + batrider lane yesterday. Funny stuff. 

 

Thank you for the correction, some of the minor price decreases always slip my mind...like hyperstone @2k now, or recipe costs (buriza, BoTs, bkb)

 

i just checked out the wiki for the Orb of Venom and saw the extreme price drop of this item over the year(s).  started at 550 in 6.70!  seems like icefrog is trying to force some use out of this guy

[Henroid]

Okay fine I played more rounds.

 

For the record I don't object to 50/50 win/loss ratios. I object to what the cause for losing is.

[Henroid]

PS Sniper with Desolator single-handedly turns matches around. Was just now playing him with this team:

 

Sniper, Lich, Ogre Mage, Abaddon, Brewmaster

vs.

Sand King, Lion, Wraith King, Warlock, Anti-Mage

 

We should've lost. We held up in the start but the mid-game got super sour super-fast. But as soon as that Desolator popped up we had an easier time melting them down, and the momentum shifted. It took a lot of effort but it was my first win in a while. Also decided I like Manta Style on Sniper, I used to not get it on him.

[Twig]

Desolator is, in my opinion, almost mandatory on Sniper. It's a very good item for a hero who's not up in the frontlines to have. He can ping it on whoever's being focused and BOOM they're dead that much quicker. Sniper in general is very strong with good positioning and a supporting team that can't be ignored, because he's free to do whatever he wants.

[Henroid]

Going 19-3-12 as Riki certainly boosts my ego.

[Dewar]

It's in the side shop, so it's an easy thing to pick up.

 

Rough game last night. I thought we had it in hand, but their carries got monster in the mid-game and I couldn't keep up. Carry isn't my best suit.

[Forbin]

Rough game last night. I thought we had it in hand, but their carries got monster in the mid-game and I couldn't keep up. Carry isn't my best suit.

 

Yeah... http://dotabuff.com/matches/725998813

 

We were in the lead for the first 30 minutes.  You did alright, and Viper is almost never bad.  The problem is our Tinker didn't rank march or his ult until really late.  And despite having Boots of Travel, pretty much never pushed the lanes.  We had about 20 minutes to get that top Tier 3 down or push on other lanes and we just didn't press our advantage.  The best we did was when I ignored everyone else and just warded up like crazy.  But then CM kept following me around without a TP scroll and feeding the enemy.

 

I wasn't frustrated though, just kinda confused why we started throwing.  Ah well, it was kinda fun.

[undermind9]

was he just trying to gank with those BoT's? bot/blink/march/refresh/march/bot home.  rinse repeat.  especially since invoker, drow, omni, bristle (and even ss) arent the easiest to get the jump on.  well rather, omni and bristle wont care...and drow would push his teeth if didnt get a laser off right away

 

thats unfortunate, looking at the graph you guys had them for a while, but as forbin notes, needed to push in hard

[undermind9]

fairly big patch today, not for balance...just UI and matchmaking/Find match screen changes.  condensed bot tab, combined some of the team matchmaking

 

http://tinyurl.com/bznptje

 

 

i dont think i like the new portraits VS the card mode selection.  its generally useless, but looked neat.  Also in RD the grid seems off...maybe just being picky.  I do though hope it comes out there is a way to remove the blue flashing glow on lord portraits after picking

[Henroid]

One of the changes was improvements to the language preference system and how it filters things for your selection(s) so that'll be great to see in action.