Dota 2 Reborn. Source 2 is here!

[Moz]

Preface: We have a nonspecific MOBA thread, but it's impenetrable and a bit dead at the best of times. This is an attempt to get some Mukkers to try Dota 2, and help those looking to get into it to organise themselves and ask questions without fear of being scoffed at.

“Why should I care about Dota 2? MOBAs are stupid/scary/impenetrable. The people that play them are weird, unlike us hypercool non-MOBA playing videogamers. Hurry up and Make Half Life 3. Hats are dumb, etc.”

DOTA2 is the most popular game on Steam, and growing. It’s free to play, can be played on a fairly low-end PC, and looks lovely on a high-end PC. There are no (and will never be) any “pay to win” elements. It’s got a Cockney porcupine, a guy who can throw an entire ghost ship at people, and a barely disguised Dr Kleiner from Half Life 2 stomping around in a mechsuit summoning hordes of tiny robots to nip at the ankles of the enemy. It’s silly, funny, deadly serious, fun, frustrating and elating in equal measure, but most of all it’s rewarding to learn. It’s as much a team “sport” as it is a videogame. If you are avoiding giving it a go based on any preconceived ideas you may have, you're robbing yourself of a brilliant game.

Dota 2 is incredibly enjoyable and possibly one of the best multiplayer games ever made. - Forbes.com

This is the beautiful game, the supreme form of the MOBA which everyone else working in the genre is trying to capture like lightning in a bottle. Dota 2 is a monumental piece of craftsmanship. - Eurogamer

Valve studiously avoided reinventing the wheel with Dota 2, and given how beloved the gameplay is that is undoubtedly the best thing for the game, the community, and the genre. The infrastructure for matchmaking, spectating, and everything else that surrounds actual matches is executed on a level only the best studios can rival. - Gameinformer

It's an amazing game - technically outstanding, showing all of Valve's usual polish and attention to detail, especially in the all-important multiplayer aspects. The continual balance tweaks and new heroes combined with the vast amount of content in the game offer countless hours of enjoyment. It's hard to master but good wins with your teammates are incredibly satisfying. It took me a long time to warm up to, but I'm helplessly addicted and every day look forward to getting home to fire this up with my friends. If you can spare the time - play it. - Ausgamers

“Alright, alright. But why should I care? Valve should make Half Life 3. Beli3ve!”

Dota 2 is a Valve game, through and through. Whilst it may at first seem far removed from any of their previous efforts, which it is, it’s also quite possibly their best game by some margin. The underlying game, the rules of which were defined in the original DOTA, was sculpted by years of experimentation and balance tweaks. Valve don’t mess with this, they simply add a triple-A sheen, a robust infrastructure and a brilliant business model. This is a solid gold chunk of game carved from millions of hours of player data over many years, balanced nearly to perfection, with a massive dollop of Valve flair on top. And just think, the more virtual crap you buy from the Dota 2 shop, the more development money Valve has to spend on Half Life 3 making new badges.

“OK, I’m still here. So uhh, what is it?”

“DOTA” stands for “Defense of the ancients”. Though "Dota 2" is simply Dota 2, probably for legal reasons. There are two teams of five players, starting at opposite sides of a map. Like most sports, the map/field/pitch layout never changes. Each team has a base, inside which is a structure called an ancient. You must defend this from attacks by the enemy team, whilst mounting your own attacks upon theirs. Whichever team destroys the opposing ancient first wins the game. That’s it. Not so complicated, right? There’s a bit more to it than that, but nothing you can’t pick up by bumbling through a couple of games.

You control a single character (and occasionally pets or minions) so the game is much more akin to Diablo than Starcraft. You don't build bases or level up tech trees, you don't research stuff, you can't get a cultural victory. Moment to moment it's nothing but fast, deep, dirty combat and frantic "farming", i.e. grinding gold and XP as quickly as possible. The only way to win is to smash your enemy in the face until they fall down dead, or help the bloke standing next to you do it.

There are 100+ characters (or “heroes”) to pick from when you start a match. Each has their own set of strengths, weaknesses and abilities. Different team compositions and match-ups grant the game an endless variety of possibilities and a depth of strategy that most games can only dream of. Think of it like a five-a-side match where you can pick any player from any club in the premier league for any position. And they've all got magical powers. Daunting, but exciting. Right? Unless you hate football, in which case think of it like a team-based multiplayer videogame with 100+ characters. Daunting, but exciting. Right?

“So I need to learn 100 bloody characters before I can play the game?”

No. Recently Valve has implemented what it calls the “limited heroes” pool. Essentially, they’ve taken 20 easy-to-learn heroes and created a game mode where you can only pick from these. As there are 10 players per round, it will not take too long for you to see each of these heroes in action. You could play 20 rounds as a different character each round if you like, or pick one you like the look of and stick with him/her/it. You can sit in this pool for as long as you like. Hell, you can sit in it forever if you wish.

“Will everyone shout at me for not knowing what I’m doing?”

Yes. But Valve has made efforts to match you with people in a similar situation. If you wind up in a game with people who have a few wins under their belt and feel like screaming at you instead of being helpful, they're the ones playing it wrong. There’s a mute button and a report button, both of which work wonders. The important thing to remember is that nobody really knows how to play the game in the early matchups, so concentrate on improving your own game. Take constructive advice from teammates, try your best to play with people you know rather than randoms, and try to experiment and have fun. People only see the number of wins you've got against your name (and only if you turn that on!) so don’t take losses too badly. You will lose your matches at least half of the time if the matchmaking works as intended. But if you can improve your own game in some way every match, you’re always winning. The matchmaking, despite Valve's best intentions, can often throw up some "interesting" oddities, so try to play with people you know and can communicate with whenever possible.

“Who should I play as first? What’s a “lane”? What are the different roles? How do I buy items, which items should I buy? Can I Meepo? Why is everyone screaming in Russian? Can you recommend a long, complicated guide for me to read before I get stuck in?”

Look, don’t worry about it. I’m not going to put any detailed guides, tips or suggestions in this OP. There are far better sources for that. Pick someone you like the look of, and if you decide you don’t like them, pick someone else next time. It really doesn't matter early on. Chances are everyone else is doing the same, though they might shout at you for daring not to pick a character which complements their own. But fuck ‘em, pick the guy with the sweet beard or the silly glasses or the funny name just for that reason. You have to start somewhere. If you want to take advice or ask for help from your teammates, go right ahead.

The limited heroes pool offerings are:

Bounty Hunter:

He can go invisible and get the jump on people. He can also "track" a target to increase the gold obtained when that target is killed. Likes coconut chocolate bars.

Death Prophet:

She can make ghosts fly all over the place, which steal health from her enemies. She can also stop her enemies from casting spells for a short period of time. Right now (version 6.80) Death Prophet is a bit of a monster.

Dragon Knight:

He's a Knight. He turns into a Dragon. He's Dragon Knight.

Drow Ranger:

Drow Ranger is quite similar to a hunter class, if you've ever played an MMO. She shoots people with a bow and arrow until they die. Usually they die very quickly and then ragequit. You should probably try and get Drow on your team, as she's very hard to counter for a new player and very easy to pick up and play.

Juggernaut:

Juggernaut is some kind of monkey goat man with a samurai sword. He does a nice move where he spins around on the spot and says JUGGERNAUT and hurts everyone around him. He can also do Cloud's Omnislash from Final Fantasy 7. He's pretty great.

Lich:

Lich is able to give his teammates and friendly structures extra armour. His best move can be devastating, making a ball of ice bounce between the enemy team. If you get this just right, you can take out an entire team with it!

Lion:

Fuck knows. He can turn people into frogs and kill people by pointing at them. Probably a product of Valve's bring your daughter to work day.

Omniknight:

He's a bit like a Paladin, if you know what that means. *Yawn*

Razor:

Razor looks a bit like Lich, so don't get the two confused. Razor has a lightning bolt whip, a lightning bolt lasso thing which he uses to steal attack power, and he can summon a lightning cloud to strike everyone around him repeatedly. He likes lightning.

Sand King:

All of Sand King's attacks hit multiple enemies, so he's very good in a "team fight". He can cause earthquakes and sandstorms, and can burrow underground. He can also make enemies explode upon death, which is fun.

Wraith King:

The other king. He hits things with a big stick. As he levels up, he hits things with a big stick a bit faster and harder. When you get his final ability, he can resurrect himself after dying, and continue to hit things with a big stick. He's a good choice if you like hitting things with a big stick.

Sniper:

Sniper can shoot things from far away. He's quite fun to play as, especially if you get an early lead. His best attack does massive damage to a single target from really far away. You know, like a sniper.

Sven:

Sven has a great stun attack which hits lots of enemies at once, and can boost his damage output to crazy levels for a short period of time. He can also buff his teammates with a war cry that gives them extra speed and armour.

Tidehunter:

Tidehunter is a giant walking watermelon who makes a lot of bad puns about fish. He has a really great move where tentacles shoot out of the ground and molest the enemy team.

Vengeful Spirit:

Magic Missiles, cleavage. The best.

Viper:

Eww. Shoots poisonous gunk everywhere, a bit like Richard Littlejohn with wings.

Warlock:

Looks like a pug with foetal alcohol syndrome in a dressing gown. A very useful addition to any team, the Warlock can "bind" groups of enemies together so that they all take damage when any of them get hit. He can also heal others a little bit. Most importantly, he can summon a massive firebeast to terrify the enemy team. Certain items and upgrades will allow him to summon several massive firebeasts at the same time, which is totally hilarious and encouraged at all costs.

Windranger:

Runs really fast, or something. Can tie people to trees. Cleavage.

The game makes you run through a couple of dopey tutorials before you can play properly. These teach you how to move around, how to buy basic items, how to level up and how to use skills.

When you get into a “proper” game, you’ll be expected to choose which items to buy and which skills to level up. This can seem extremely daunting, but there’s an app for that. You can actually pick a community created “build” from a list, which works like a template, telling you exactly which items to buy and skills to pick. Anyone can upvote or downvote these builds, so pick the highest rated build and use that. Some of them come with extra tooltip advice too, which is handy.

Don’t worry about barrelling through guides just yet. That will come later. For a new player, even the best and simplest guides contain too much info to take in at once or put into practice. Instead, play with at least one person who can answer your questions, and don’t be afraid to ask! Think of it like Dark Souls. You need to learn through doing, through experience. To use my own brother as an example, he reluctantly agreed to play with me last weekend, and quickly found himself having fun. He asked plenty of questions as we played, and he was open to having his mistakes and his successes pointed out to him, and he took advice keenly. In just two or three games he had picked up enough of the game to finish with a respectable score and be an asset to his team, and most importantly he enjoyed it.

And oh yes, everyone is screaming in Russian because it’s Dota 2. Welcome to Dota 2. Either learn Russian ("cyka" is "bitch", I think) or team up with friends to reduce the non-English speaking element from your team. There are however generic ways to communicate (there’s a chat wheel) so you can overcome the language barrier to some extent.

“Doesn’t it take forever to get into? Don’t I have to play it for hundreds of hours before I’m any good? I don’t have time for that.”

During your first game you will feel overwhelmed, there’s no way around that. But you can play as much or as little as you like. Once you've got the basics down, you can easily play a couple of games a week and still get something meaningful out of it. There's no overarching skill-levelling besides your own as a human being. Some of my most enjoyable games were very early victories when I had just begun to understand certain parts of the game. There is much enjoyment in that moment of understanding, however small it may be in the grand scheme of things.

“OK, I’m ready to take the Dota 2 challenge. Gulp. Where do I start?”

Well, first you need a Steam account, you probably already have one of those. Then you need Dota 2. Anyone can download it now: http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/

Do the first set of tutorials (you’re forced to) and then you can join the Rllmuk guild. Every member of the guild has the ability to add more members, so go ahead and ask in the thread. Someone will hook you up! It's a social guild, for finding people to play with and chatting. Nothing is expected of you, so don't be intimidated.

“I’m still not sure, I need a final push”

“I know you said no guides, but can you recommend a couple?”

Alright:

Dota 2 in 4 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akUNmFAzS98

Pyrion Flax guide to DOTA2 (funny)

Dota 2 in 45 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzYNyDF_nDk

50 videos about how to play Dota 2, in no particular order:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvPMQjsM-jQ&list=SP24EB71B773DFB306

Comprehensive Dota 2 guide

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123364976#19574

“I've heard I should play League Of Legends instead. Should I?”

Allow me to refer you to this handy visual guide I found on google image search:

So there you have it, conclusive proof that people who play LOL should be institutionalised. All 5 million of them.

"What's the pro scene like? How do eSports work in Dota 2?"

They work very well. The game is chock full of esports features, including the ability to connect to a "live" game (there's a short delay to avoid cheating) and choose between different commentators. Sometimes these games are free to connect to, and sometimes you have to buy a season pass to gain access. Viewers of these tournaments can often receive extra items for buying a season pass, and very rare items are sometimes awarded to a viewer at the end of a match. You can also connect your Steam account to your twitch account and watch the games via twitch instead, and receive the same benefits.

The full length "free to play" documentary is available here:

"Alright, wrap it up."

Interested? Questions? Fire away! TLDR? Add me on Steam (below) and let me know if you're interested in Dota 2.

Finally:

So I played some more DOTA 2, taking my total up to about an hour now. I did the tutorial which amounted to nothing more than 'this is how you move, ps it's the same as every strategy game ever' and then jumped into a botmatch on easy. And then died 14 times in a row from getting oneshot by a blob of pixels while a magic horse flew around and absolutely nothing made any sense whatsoever. Sigh. The one thing the tutorial taught me, how to buy stuff, didn't seem to do anything as all those items would drop into my 'stash' and then I couldn't seem to do anything with them except sell them. Why oh why oh why are they wasting their time with this crap when they could be making you-know-what?

Don't be like this idiot.

[Blu3Flame]

Look what you've made me do! This is all your fault Moz.

[robdood]

I may just take you up on that mentoring offer Mr Moz. I just need some spare time.

[Distinct muttering]

Can Mac players mix with PC? Seems that maybe mac is still in the testing phase?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

The thread is in need of certain videos. These are very, very funny indeed, but largely opaque to new players, so maybe come back to them once you've got a bit of a handle on the game.

Somehow even the dubstep parody videos for Dota 2 are better than they have any right to be.

[Percy Filth]

"You are currently 74059 in the Launch Queue"

FFS. Any guesses how long it will take to get the game?

[Moz]

Can Mac players mix with PC? Seems that maybe mac is still in the testing phase?

There's no Mac client yet, but I'm sure it'll come eventually.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Mac and Linux support is in the test client at the moment (in a rough form) so I'd expect to see proper support in the main client in the next couple of weeks.

FFS. Any guesses how long it will take to get the game?

Shouldn't take too long - they're rolling out access in waves so that they don't overload the servers, but the number of unique players is shooting up daily so even that 70,000 should be worked through pretty quickly.

[sonicwave]

I was at 25000 or so, and had access after one day. May even have been quicker, since it just suddenly showed up in my games list - could easily have been there for longer without me noticing...

In any case, I might take up the offer once I get back to my pc later this week - initial plan is to keep it casual though, regarding the amounts of time spent... Fingers are crossed

[Takizawa]

I'm a bit allergic to keyboard and mouse for gaming at the moment, I presume there are no pad control options?

I really enjoyed GoME when there were no connection issues so DOTA2 does interest me but... I don't know!

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I'm a bit allergic to keyboard and mouse for gaming at the moment, I presume there are no pad control options?

Ha. Haha. Hahahahaha.

Sorry, not for this game. You need up to 6 buttons just for hero abilities (most have 3-4 ones you need to activate) and you'll want to use at least a few buttons for item shortcuts as well. Precision is needed for movement and actions, too, for which analogue sticks would be completely unsuited. It's just never going to happen.

[Takizawa]

Ha. Haha. Hahahahaha.

Sorry, not for this game. You need up to 6 buttons just for hero abilities (most have 3-4 ones you need to activate) and you'll want to use at least a few buttons for item shortcuts as well. Precision is needed for movement and actions, too, for which analogue sticks would be completely unsuited. It's just never going to happen.

Worked flawlessly on GoME, can't imagine that WITHOUT pad controls, does DOTA2 have a bit more going on?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Yes. Significantly. I didn't even go into the possibility that you might want to use a micro-heavy hero like Chen who can control his own little army of creeps.

I should clarify that this isn't at all some sort of snobbery about gamepads being inferior. I play a whole bunch of games with a gamepad myself. But Dota just couldn't be done with one.

[Ersatz Nihilist]

I've added you on Steam - Can I have an invite so I can drag you down on Dota?

edit - Ersatz, obviously. Same eyeball picture.

[Moz]

I've invited Dood, Ersatz and Motivator.

Re: gamepads, I just don't see it working. Maybe direct control would work for some heroes, but many functions just wouldn't make sense on a gamepad.

[Billy Brown]

I'd be up for learning how to play - thanks for taking the time to do the OP. My mouse is totally knackered at the moment so I'll need to wait until I sort a new one but I'll keep an eye on the thread and hopefully join in soon.

[flight]

Good OP - I'm keen. I was already planning on playing the tutorial and trying out some bot matches this week so some noob friendly matches sound great.

I've spectated a few games and read a few guides but never actually played the game. I was always put off by the supposed hostile community, steep learning curve and time commitment but the positive buzz and the fact it's a Valve game means that I reckon I should give it a try.

[MotiVater]

I've invited Dood, Ersatz and Motivator.

Re: gamepads, I just don't see it working. Maybe direct control would work for some heroes, but many functions just wouldn't make sense on a gamepad.

Try again and spell it right this time as I dont have any invite

[Moodmon]

I am kind on interested in learning DOTA2. Only one problem. I kind of play 'the other game'. A lot. Does this mean I will get beaten with sticks and hung onto the basketball nets via my undies? The one thing I would have said for LoL is the limited champion pool might have made it easier for completely new people. Then Valve do that limited champs pool which has got me very interested.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I am kind on interested in learning DOTA2. Only one problem. I kind of play 'the other game'. A lot. Does this mean I will get beaten with sticks and hung onto the basketball nets via my undies?

Some people will have an irrational reaction if you use LOL (or HON) terminology for Dota, so make sure to call them 'heroes' and not 'champions', 'creeps' not 'minions', 'Roshan' not 'Baron', and so on. But it's best to learn the Dota terms anyway, for maximum clarity.

But generally, no. They are different games so approach them as such.

[mprice]

I played a few games months ago and was barely able to make sense of the menus enough to do that. But too many people talk too passionately about it for it to be as shit as i think it is. So, ok. Downloading when i get home.

[Moz]

Try again and spell it right this time as I dont have any invite

It's OK I added you from the friends list. I think you need to go into the game and look in the "community" bit?

Current invites:

[PK]

Is there any chance I could get an invite? I promise to play the tutorial and many (many!) bot matches before ruining anyone's fun by trying to play alongside you!

[Moodmon]

As is typical for us LoL mouth breathers, I forgot to mention what my steam name is.

It's Moodmon.

So when do I start buying champions guys? [hides]

[sonicwave]

I've added you on Steam now Moz - would be happy with an invite... (Steam name is sonicwavezor I think)

[PaulM]

Thanks for the invite. I've started the tutorials and you can feel the warcraft roots Anyway, I'll get through them then on to the bots. I suspect I'll play it more once the Mac client comes out, rebooting into windows takes precious gaming time!

[feltmonkey]

i'm 16,392 in the queue.

[Ersatz Nihilist]

Hmmm... I've had a look in the 'Community' bit, but there's nothing there. Perhaps it takes some time to process.

[MotiVater]

Yeah, same here. Odd.

Finished the first few tutorials and... I suck

[Chow]

Added you on Steam. Downloaded DOTA 2 a few days ago, but haven't actually played it yet because I have no idea what to expect.