Sean Posted July 3, 2014 Dota Today 13: On the Road to T14: We're once again joined by Aaron Ayesee Chambers to discuss the lead-up to The International, bullshit in South Korean e-Sports and the many virtues of the wondrous Puck. Game Discussed: Dota 2 Listen on the Episode Page Subscribe and rate us on iTunes Subscribe to the RSS Feed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pkirkner Posted July 4, 2014 Really enjoyed this one and am now totally looking forward to The Rektreational. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jutranjo Posted July 4, 2014 Isn't that suppose to be the Recreational? POD IS NOT DED! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henroid Posted July 4, 2014 Yeah this was a good episode. I like the discussion about Shadowblade vs. Blink Dagger, because everywhere I can talk to people about DotA 2 has been discussing that over the last few days. I posted this in the DotA 2 thread but over the last few days I've also seen a surge of Shadowblade over Blink Dagger, which I think is just a matter of people trying to play against the expected curve. It can be obnoxious when Kunkka suddenly appears to track you back and smash a ship into your face, and also get away from all that. I played a match a couple days ago where everyone on the opposing team had Shadowblades and they were just ambushing us (because it was all-pick random queue, my team wasn't organizing to defeat that tactic). Also liked the question about favorite lord to watch and favorite to play. I love playing as Lycan, who was my best lord (until recently when I jumped into a new bracket of players to queue with). He can't do much at the start to kill other players, and probably throughout most of the game. He's not the kind who can just go gank, which I hate because some people are under the impression he can - he has no natural disables, he's just damage output. But split pushing is what I love about him. He's kind of my favorite guy because I can push with my team if it's a team that knows how to team-fight, and in the instances where my team is antsy about team engagements I can just go do my own thing to split push and give them a better chance (since my push will draw one or two enemy players away). Puck is my favorite to watch, and it has everything to do with his mobility. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jutranjo Posted July 4, 2014 If any hero really needs a shadowblade it's Kunkka, the backstab damage is applied to the cleave. Every time Dota Today comes out, a few hours later Valve put out a ton more info about whatever wasn't known before: http://www.dota2.com/international/overview/ There'll be a multicast stream! Begginer one! Prizes for everyone except 15/16th team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted July 4, 2014 Prizes for everyone except 15/16th team. Boooo. I think everyone who made it to TI4 should get some money. They're the 15th and 16th best teams in the world! (According to Valve's setup for TI4, anyway, I suppose.) The prize pool is enormous! Spread it out a little more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrMooEar Posted July 4, 2014 If any hero really needs a shadowblade it's Kunkka, the backstab damage is applied to the cleave. Every time Dota Today comes out, a few hours later Valve put out a ton more info about whatever wasn't known before: http://www.dota2.com/international/overview/ There'll be a multicast stream! Begginer one! Prizes for everyone except 15/16th team. Seriously! It feels like a conspiracy! Volvo have mercy! ! The beginner stream is super exciting for me. I have been trying to explain the excitement of pro Dota to some people at Double Fine and it's just a really hard thing to convey. Maybe this will be the thing that shows newcomers why eSports can be cool? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
njoos Posted July 4, 2014 Beginner stream is a really good idea. Many were annoyed in previous years because the streams were kind of either or. Probably because it is very difficult to cast dota I think. Anything you say is most likely going to be wrong unless you are in that 0.1% of players. Using pro players as co-casters is so great for me, wish they had a bigger pool to take from. Merlini and synderen are going to TI4 I guess. Hope 7ingmad is as well, but I don't think so? He was great at the ESL desk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Badfinger Posted July 7, 2014 Beginner stream is a really good idea. Many were annoyed in previous years because the streams were kind of either or. Probably because it is very difficult to cast dota I think. Anything you say is most likely going to be wrong unless you are in that 0.1% of players. Using pro players as co-casters is so great for me, wish they had a bigger pool to take from. Merlini and synderen are going to TI4 I guess. Hope 7ingmad is as well, but I don't think so? He was great at the ESL desk. Eesh, I really don't agree with you. In basically every competitive discipline that's been broadcast, there are people who understand and can communicate the nuances of the display much better than the people who are actually proficient in doing those things ever can. The crossover from players at the absolute pinnacle to (good) broadcaster is relatively quite low. One of the things that's generally suggested is the people who are the very best have so much natural talent that they don't know how to communicate it outside of themselves. I am hopeful they'll have people who are good at broadcasting on the beginner stream, rather than amazing DOTA players. I'd rather miss out some of the subtleties than just get a garbled mess from a pro who is parsing everything but can't spit it back out. I also hope it's not like American curling broadcasts where they cut out a quarter of the game for commercials and it takes 2 ends for them to describe what curling is to what they assume is an ignorant audience. So whatever the equivalent for LOMAs is, I don't want that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted July 7, 2014 This was a great episode! Does anyone have a link to the "rat Nature's Prophet" game that they talked about, or at least info about which game it was so I can watch it myself? All that info about TI4 is nuts. The beginner's stream, the multicast... you can really tell that Valve just has some people who are like "what would the best DotA 2 tournament in the world look like? Let's just do that." This is the sort of stuff you usually only get to dream about in esports. edit: forgot to mention how glad I was to hear all three of you talk about how gaming needs to work on being more inclusive and less racist/sexist/etc. It's always a breath of fresh air to hear people who understand how much work there is to do rather than people who make it their life goal to insist that everything is fine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jutranjo Posted July 7, 2014 Eesh, I really don't agree with you. In basically every competitive discipline that's been broadcast, there are people who understand and can communicate the nuances of the display much better than the people who are actually proficient in doing those things ever can. The crossover from players at the absolute pinnacle to (good) broadcaster is relatively quite low. One of the things that's generally suggested is the people who are the very best have so much natural talent that they don't know how to communicate it outside of themselves. I am hopeful they'll have people who are good at broadcasting on the beginner stream, rather than amazing DOTA players. I'd rather miss out some of the subtleties than just get a garbled mess from a pro who is parsing everything but can't spit it back out. I also hope it's not like American curling broadcasts where they cut out a quarter of the game for commercials and it takes 2 ends for them to describe what curling is to what they assume is an ignorant audience. So whatever the equivalent for LOMAs is, I don't want that. The thing you want a pro player on a stream for is that tobi, ayesee, etc., most of the guys who are good commentators is that they don't have as much game sense as pro players. You can watch spectating by N0tail at the BTS LAN, he didn't miss anything because he saw what teams were planning in advance. Pro players add a lot but the most insightful stuff is during the pick and ban phase, where everyone else, including viewers just think of the flavors of the month, and during the game have something to point out almost always, where other commentators would just go off on some tangent to not have a silence. The beginner cast will probably have whoever is casting, doubtfully any pro players, explain what a BKB is, what roles a team has, what is support, what is carry. It'll explain a courier, what a bottle is, what are runes, etc. You don't need 2000 hours of captains mode to do a good cast of this. It'll probably be really annoying to watch for anyone who isn't that new to the game since it's likely the stream will be saying the same things all the time. I have no idea how good the multicast is going to be or how they will set it up. Will it be a guy or pair of guys switching from caster to caster in games, will they cast the games/highlights themselves? That'll be interesting to see. This was a great episode! Does anyone have a link to the "rat Nature's Prophet" game that they talked about, or at least info about which game it was so I can watch it myself? All that info about TI4 is nuts. The beginner's stream, the multicast... you can really tell that Valve just has some people who are like "what would the best DotA 2 tournament in the world look like? Let's just do that." This is the sort of stuff you usually only get to dream about in esports. edit: forgot to mention how glad I was to hear all three of you talk about how gaming needs to work on being more inclusive and less racist/sexist/etc. It's always a breath of fresh air to hear people who understand how much work there is to do rather than people who make it their life goal to insist that everything is fine. Here's the game on youtube the pick&ban ends at 12:32. It's a long game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henroid Posted July 7, 2014 Holy crap, the way that match ends is bananas. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voxn Posted July 7, 2014 the newbie stream is being cast by Blitz (who is semi-pro), Pyrion and Shane (who you've seen if you watch any GDStudio games). All 3 are super amicable + entertaining dudes. Ayesee posted the casting schedule: https://twitter.com/ayesee/status/486204057783390208'>here Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Polish Hill Posted July 8, 2014 Glad to see the game isn't required to watch these casts and might try and watch some of the beginner streams. Any recommendations on what matches a beginner should watch? Just the last rounds or any specific teams? (Really only know of EG, Na'vi, and maybe one or two others from the Dota documentary). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jutranjo Posted July 8, 2014 Glad to see the game isn't required to watch these casts and might try and watch some of the beginner streams. Any recommendations on what matches a beginner should watch? Just the last rounds or any specific teams? (Really only know of EG, Na'vi, and maybe one or two others from the Dota documentary). When games are live you can just watch this stream http://www.twitch.tv/dota2ti_noob Just open it whenever, or you can check the past broadcast from earlier today here http://www.twitch.tv/dota2ti_noob/b/545639129 at like 1:46:00, that's where the pick&ban phase end. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Badfinger Posted July 8, 2014 watching the newbie stream. It is much better than it was earlier in the day. Pretty subpar previously. Lots of instruction. Much more in depth than "this is a carry" while being spoken to in basic terms but respectfully. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted July 9, 2014 I can't quite recognize casters by voice yet but whoever is doing the multicast right now is fucking hilarious whenever he chimes in to talk about the multicast switching to another game or whatever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
undermind9 Posted July 10, 2014 thats Bruno. he usually has some weird suit get up. very personable and lots of stats in fact, TI3 suit evolution Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted July 10, 2014 I love him already. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted July 10, 2014 Bruno is probably the best personality in Dota. But I guess I'm biased because those suits. GD Studio in general is pretty great and they have a lot of fun with things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jutranjo Posted July 10, 2014 He had a few fun moments at TI2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3GnjlCVT9Q there were others. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted July 10, 2014 The no legs strat is one of my favorite things ever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
undermind9 Posted July 10, 2014 on the main multi-cast set I've generally liked the people hosting, although its obvious they aren't used to vamping or working together. there is some dead air, and then a rush of interruptions over each other. Maybe because im looking for it, but seemingly the over-talking when Sheeva starts a line has reduced/evolved from the play-in day up to last night. Perhaps by the end of the event she'll have a fair say Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jutranjo Posted July 10, 2014 I don't think any of those people ever casted/did a host thing together. 2GD and Draskyl were both working for Dreamhack, one casting in game, the other talking in between games. Blue is best at the moment: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/The_International/2014/Playoffs/Phase_Two All red logos are at the bottom, yellow is unaffected, blue is top. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted July 10, 2014 Not that it matters all that much because you'll probably figure it out eventually on your own, but her name is Sheever, not Sheeva. I am infuriated at Liquid's success. UGH. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
