Dota Today 6: The Hoove Oeuvre, with Greg Kasavin

[Nick Breckon]

Dota Today 6:

 

 

The Hoove Oeuvre, with Greg Kasavin

This week we sit down with Supergiant's Greg Kasavin to talk about how LOMAs impact his work, what it was like writing lore for Magnus and, most importantly, hooves. Gross.

 

Game Discussed: Dota 2

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[friccish]

Your discussion of hoofs led me search 'weird hoofs' for some reason where I found these things. I'll never be the same.

 

 

 

[Sean]

[mikemariano]

The Lady Torgo Collection.

[Brannigan]

I do like the bayonetta style revolver heels. Nice touch.

[Coods]

Vibram Five-Fingers On Hooves

 

Also looks like Abaddon's coil has been renamed "Mist Coil". 

 

While I do think that Dota have a concede button is not a good idea, there is something more to be said about people who choose to stay in the pool as an alternative. It really isn't a matter of being discontent with losing or being angry in any way. What's actually happening to most people is they realize, like most players do, that they're losing. It's obvious that playing dota is an investment of both time and energy, so some players find it justified to go AFK instead of play the game which is a really douchey thing, but not out of anger at losing. They most likely alt tab out and look at reddit or something. 

[Jake]

Oh man those hoof shoes. Jesus. And THIS ... is your dream content for tonight's sleep.

[Brannigan]

Having just waited 20 minutes to go to sleep while the enemy team deemed that yes, it was finally time to push in, after getting the aegis they didn't need and finishing their farm that wasn't needed... I still like a concede option.

[Cleinhun]

That fist pair appears to have gun heels?. So that's a thing I guess.

[CaptainFish]

That play Greg was talking about was from Na'Vi IG I forget if it was a semi or the  grand final. IG lost once and played Na'Vi twice, if I remember correctly.

[Flynn]

1000 fps! Nice.

[Chris]

That play Greg was talking about was from Na'Vi IG I forget if it was a semi or the  grand final. IG lost once and played Na'Vi twice, if I remember correctly.

 

I was in the audience for that! I didn't entirely understand what was happening but it sure was exciting.

[Coods]

I was in the audience for that! I didn't entirely understand what was happening but it sure was exciting.

 

You must be here then:

 

 

Also 10/10 on that 1000FPS music choice. 

[Sean]

I was with Chris and then got called away about ten minutes before to do press back at PAX. I can't remember where we were sitting! GAH!

[Chris]

You must be here then:

 

 

Also 10/10 on that 1000FPS music choice. 

Yeah I am but like Sean I also can't remember where we were sitting.

[metuk]

It's worth throwing out the multi-cam version for completeness.
 

[ctryan]

The Chinese are just stone cold. I've been watching a lot of Dota2 lately, and the Chinese teams are very methodical, low risk players. I think that's why Navi has such a big fan base, they're willing to take risks but at the same time have really good technical skills to farm up their heroes. I remember watching one game where they were corned all the way back to their ancient until the gyrocoptor bought 2 divine rapiers and pulled a complete turn around.

 

here's that game: http://www.dotacinema.com/vods/4423#game1

[Badfinger]

Can someone talk through the layman's version of what happened? I have a pretty good idea of what's just occurred, but because I don't have a huge knowledge of who does what I'm not entirely sure how that just happened.

[Ian]

Sure! So iG came up to sneak attack from behind and as they engaged (using Naga Sirens ultimate Song of the Siren, it disables the enemy team and causes them not to move but they also do not take damage while in it either) Na'Vi was able to use Force Staff to push Rubick out of the Ravage (Area damage spell that disables/stuns anyone caught in it). At the start of the engagement the orange circle that you see, that's Juggernauts spin move, it makes him magic immune, this was done to give him the protection needed for the start of the team fight. The Rubick then quickly used his ultimate ability, which allows him to steal someone elses spell, and used it in turn on iG. This time however Na'Vi got all 5 of the iG players and caused a counter team wipe. It was a really impressive play of fast reactions and timings, one of those things that is even rare for pros to do.

 

I hope that explains it, if not let me know and i'll see if i can clarify better or perhaps someone else can. I could likely write a thousand words on this play breaking it down, having that replay at 1000 fps slowing everything down. 

 

Anyways, first post here, I really like the podcast and this episode is the one that caused me to sign up on the forums. I like that you don't try to attack the podcast like you know everything about the game but instead use your friends and connections to bring on interesting people to talk about aspects of the games that only industry veterans can. I find that when you guys start talking about that stuff is when I'm the most engaged in the show. 

 

Also, i googled over grown hooves... it's like the animal has dutch wooden shoes, pretty messed up.

[YoyomaBones]

So is the dotatoday guild actually up and running? On the podcast they mentioned to join a chat channel and ask to be added to the guild, but what's the channel name? I can only find an idlethumbs channel, nothing for dotatoday.

[Sean]

Yeah, just say "HEEEEY" in the idlethumbs chat channel.

[osmosisch]

I think they specifically said to join the idlethumbs channel and ask there. The Last Baron is apparently also an entryway into the guild.

[Brannigan]

Yeah, just say "HEEEEY" in the idlethumbs chat channel.

Does the secret handshake involve elbowing a jukebox to get it to play?

[Barnastyz]

That play Greg was talking about was from Na'Vi IG I forget if it was a semi or the  grand final. IG lost once and played Na'Vi twice, if I remember correctly.

 

That is mesmerizing. I'd like to see more big plays broken down like that. I'm really new to dota but I think I have a decent understanding of the game, but those crazy plays where everything depends on split second reflexes and coordinating those reflexes with 4 other people is what separates pro players from the rest of the dota world, well that and tons of practice with the same team and lots of natural skill (as far as I can tell anyway).

[nobueno]

Can someone talk through the layman's version of what happened? I have a pretty good idea of what's just occurred, but because I don't have a huge knowledge of who does what I'm not entirely sure how that just happened.

 

 

I'll try to explain it a little further in detail

 

Start of the fight:

1. iG smokes to become invisible to enemy wards' vision while flanking Navi

2. Dark Seer puts surge on Naga so she can move into position while Naga uses Song of the Siren to sleep the enemy team (they cannot move or take damage).

3. DS Vacuums 4 of Navi's players into a single spot during Sleep (vacuum has later been patched to no longer move slept heroes). 

 

Here's what key heroes do as the sleep ends and Navi regains control of their heroes:

 

Naga:

1. Activates illusions in preparation to do a bunch of damage.

2. Uses Riptide to nuke and reduce enemy armor in AOE.

 

Tide: 

1. Is still running into position as sleep ends, presumably to try to catch Juggernaut (who is further away and was not vacuumed by DS) with Ravage as well.

2. Ravage used, only affects 2/5 Navi heroes.

3. The delay between Sleep ending and Ravage activating allowed Juggernaut to Bladefury, Rubick to Force Staff, and Enigma to BKB, nullifying any Ravage effects to them.

4. After Ravage, Tide tries to Anchor Smash to do damage AND "cover up" his ravage spell so that it cannot be stolen by Rubick.

5. Near the very end of his Anchor Smash animation, Enigma uses Black Hole to prevent Anchor Smash from activating, leaving Ravage as the last spell used.

6. Ravage gets stolen by Rubick.

 

Rest of iG:

1. Puck throws nuke and jumps into middle of the fight to nuke some more. Gets Blackholed as he jumps in.

2. Lina Throws nuke. Gets Lifted by Rubick. Then hit by Ravage.

 

What Navi does as song ends: 

Enigma:

1. Mashes BKB to activate as quickly as possible.

2. BKB means Ravage does nothing to him

3. Hits the Black hole on 4 iG heroes grouped next to him

 

Rubick:

1. Mashes Force Staff to leap away from Tide who is about to Ravage

2a. Activates Haste Rune he has stored in his bottle to give him max movement speed.

2. Lifts Lina to disable her

3. Turns around and steals Ravage

4. Ravages all 5 iG heroes

5. Throws nuke to finish off some iG heroes

6. Chases sown Lina to finish the team wipe

 

Juggernaut:

1. Mashes Bladefury which grants magic immunity (e.g. from ravage)

2. Bladefurys the iG heroes being Black Holed.

 

Enchantress:

1. Activates Nature's Attendants which heals over time in an AOE

2. Gets hit by Ravage

3. Pops Mekansm (an instant AOE Heal)

 

Shadow Shaman:

1. Gets hit by Ravage

2. Nukes enemy team

3. Sheeps someone

 

Most of this stuff after the song ends happens in about 5 seconds of real time, it's pretty unreal.