The Idle Thumbs Lords Management Consortium - Dota 2, LoL, other Lords Managers unite

[Orv]

  On 11/4/2012 at 5:58 PM, youmeyou said:

I don't want to get yelled at.

Being that this is nigh inveitable, play Lich for support learnings, Skeleton King or Viper to learn carries and Tidehunter to learn initiation. Dive right into the the giant pool that is DotA.

Also probably wouldn't kill you to have this available. http://www.dota2alttab.com/

[youmeyou]

This is like school.

[Orv]

Imagine four balls on the edge of a cliff.

DotA works the same way.

[dibs]

And you are gravity.

[Doorselfin]

I think I'm DireTired of Diretide. I mean, the candy-stealing mechanic and fast-paced levelling is fun enough and I've been using it as a chance to experiment with new heroes, but holy crap the Roshan nonsense at the end just feels like a huge drag.

It's definitely made me appreciate the regular game a lot more.

[Twig]

Yeah the Rosh fight is so dumb, especially since there's literally no point in trying to go for the record since everyone just does a five-hour pudge-farm-fest exploit. And even before that, it required both teams working together from second one.

But everything up to it is super rad and I hope it becomes a real game mode, although more polished, less rushed together.

[youmeyou]

I still haven't tried playing yet. If anyone wants me to ruin their game for them while teaching me the ropes, I would forever grateful. (same nic on steam) I could teach you how to play... hm. I don't think I play any other online game that comes even close in terms of complexity. I'm pretty bad at Starcraft...

[Forbin]

I played my first game today, and it took me an entire round to figure out how to buy things out of the shop. And I'm still fairly confused by the whole tech tree that lies behind the suggested items.

I picked the alchemist, and blew myself up like 5 times.

We somehow won, so it was a good environment to learn, but I totally would have ruined the game for a team that needed me.

[youmeyou]

Why didn't the team need you?

[Gwardinen]

  On 11/6/2012 at 2:28 AM, Forbin said:

I picked the alchemist, and blew myself up like 5 times.

Yeah, don't do that. He's widely considered one of the worst heroes in the game.

If you need to practice basic UI and shop stuff, the bots games can be used for that. Just don't play them too much because the bots are incredibly stupid in some ways but bizarrely dangerous in others, so it completely screws up your sense of what a real game is.

[Twig]

Alch is no longer considered one of the worst heroes in the game.

Well, he might be, but last patch buffed him big. I consider him to be much, much better than before.

Still, not an easy first hero.

[dibs]

I have some invites if anyone is looking.

I was tired of that Halloween thing after one game.

[TheLastBaron]

I've seen Alch picked in competitive games so he's definitely considered viable now as he has the highest potential gpm of any hero, though he's still a situational pick.

[bakka bakka bakka]

You've also probably seen that Alch have 1k GPM and still not be a factor. He can farm better than ever but even in his ult form he's not an impact hero.

[TheLastBaron]

Hence he's a situational pick. Still he's no longer "widely considered one of the worst heroes in the game".

[Forbin]

He was widely considered as the guy I picked at the last second. He looked big and clunky and the least likely to require finesse to play properly. The team I was playing on had two players who said they were completely new other than myself, and one guy that was extremely upset about this fact before the match started. But the other team was apparently full of terribles, and the good guy on our team absolutely dominated.

I stayed alive like a good boy, only dying at the end when the other team gave up and and rushed a lane to get some kills. But I still can't figure out how you're supposed to throw that bomb.

[Gwardinen]

I haven't been playing much recently so I'm a little behind on balance changes and didn't realised Alchemist had been significantly buffed.

  On 11/7/2012 at 3:53 AM, Forbin said:

I stayed alive like a good boy, only dying at the end when the other team gave up and and rushed a lane to get some kills.

That's a big deal. Just not giving away kills to the enemy team is one of the best things you can do for your team.

[Brannigan]

By far the biggest change for him is that the enemy team can't see his stun countdown, have to listen for the sound of him charging the stun. So you don't explode yourself nearly as much unless you're just straight up stunlocked while prepping. Plus you know, all those other buffs that make him much better. Definitely not a first pick but you don't have to cry when you see him on your team.

[Orv]

Even before the buffs I have come across a couple terrifying Alchemist players, but those were even rarer than good Sillybear players.

[Sully907]

yea if alchemist gets his farm going, either getting to a hand of midas or a hyperstone, he can obliterate whole teams with like a .35 attack speed, high damage, high hp, and a good initiation stun. When you think of a DPS carry you normally think of someone like clinkz or sniper or drow that a team can focus fire down at the start of a team fight if they're organized. You can't really do that to alchemist.

[Twig]

  On 11/7/2012 at 6:16 PM, Orv said:

Even before the buffs I have come across a couple terrifying Alchemist players, but those were even rarer than good Sillybear players.

To be fair, Syllabear is at least inherently good - he's just hard to play. Alchemist was inherently bad.

Although I did reasonably well multiple times as him pre-buff. Post-buff... I haven't played him, yet, but I've seen him perform well above and beyond his previous potential.

[Orv]

Syllabear can destroy when played well, I just mean the rarity is comparable. As for good post-buff Alchs, I haven't played any.

[Twig]

Yeah, I getcha.

[Forbin]

So what would be a good training hero?

[Orv]

Nobody!

In order of difficulty:

Support: Lich, Warlock (chain THEN stun!), Disruptor (ult inside your cage!)

Carries: Viper, Skeleton King (don't forget to turn off your amulet!) Windrunner

Initiation: Tidehunter (don't use it to save only yourself!), Sand King, Earthshaker

After you feel comfortable with those, try randoming.