The "Thing" About DotA 2

I has been a while since I had played DotA, and ever since Valve had helped make a more balanced and stable DotA, we now have Dota 2. I know there are some of you out there that may argue League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth are much better titles compared to the late comer which is Dota 2. But undeniably, the two different versions which are from the original modders of DoTA would be League of Legends and Dota 2, League of Legends which was worked on by game designer Guinsoo and Dota 2 whose game designer was IceFrog.

Videos regarding how DotA started :
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 (Big thanks to Machinima)

I never really played any of the other variances, and to be honest, I never played the mod that started it all, Aeon of Strife, which was a modded map for the original Starcraft (was really popular back then, still is now too apparently). I only started playing because it was very popular in my school back in the day. And being not as knowledgeable in games and all this kind of stuff, I thought that DotA was a stand alone game, and not a modded map for Warcraft 3, which made my entering of the genre a bit shaky. And also, back in the day, I never really played DotA to a competitive level, not to the level at which I play Starcraft II. I had only started playing this, which I thought was a dying game genre (in my school maybe, but certainly not dying anytime soon) as they had released the new Dota 2. And after watching a few videos on the game, I suddenly wanted to play it again. Long story made short, now I am playing it quite often with my sister, my brother and a few of my cousins and friends.

(Above) The DotA for Warcraft III which was what made the genre explode and has been popular ever since.

Now to get to the before mentioned "THING" about DotA, or now Dota 2 since I am experiencing all of these while playing it is how unforgiving players can be in game. For those of you who don't know, DotA is a game where 5 players on each team (meaning a total of 10, math people!!) duke it out to see which team is better. And in game, since I had been playing alone a lot, you get matched up with random people. And again for those of you who don't know, DotA has a very, and I mean VERY steep learning curve when compared to other competitive games like Counter Strike, or Starcraft. This makes starters, or people who are getting back into the genre (people like myself) have a really hard time with not the enemy team, OH NO NO NO, not them but your own teammates. This was just one (okay, maybe more) experience, but sometimes I get worried that one bad experience maybe ruin it for someone who wants to start playing and enjoy the genre, or even become a fan of these kind of games.

(Above) It's when your team plays like that, especially with your friends, you guys will have a lot of fun!

"Experienced" players can be very unforgiving to new players who want to try out the game. And by saying quote experinced unquote, yes, Sheldon, that was sarcasm. They bash you non-stop in game for that one death, or that one time you didn't help with a push, and you suffer throughout the entire game. However, these players forget that they play a role in teaching and helping starters. For me, Starcraft is very easy to learn, build this, build that, make workers, make an army, and then, send them to battle. That's pretty easy to do. However, DotA has a large pool stuff to do, stuff to learn and not to mention the reflexes that players need to have that might change a gank, into a full team wipe. I recently played a game, which was also why I posted this so that any of you readers who want to try out DotA know a little of what to expect. My hero got killed once because of my carelessness. And instead of forming a strategy, or telling me to do something, the player whose hero was in the same lane as me started swearing. And he continued this throughout the entire game.

And you might say, "Oh, you're so touchy~" Think about it this way, your team is losing, you're getting killed a lot, and of course you get more frustrated, then you have these "teammates" of yours who at the same time make it harder for you to concentrate is a whole recipe for disaster. And add in the fact that your teammates over extend a lot (over extend means biting off more than you can chew, or in DotA terms 1 hero versus 5, and you're not even fed) you know very well you're going to lose the game.

(Above) If you're that Undying and you think you can take on all 3 heroes, that would be over extending.

(Above) So true!!! Hahahaha!!!

If you play DotA, or Dota 2, make it easy for starters, give good strategical advice if possible and don't swear or blame other people in-game. DotA is a team game, you play a role too, not only your allies. Dota 2 does include a way or reporting people for abusing the chat and also a way of commending people for being friendly or teaching you how to play. It is a nice way to keep bad players off the game, but of course it has its flaws.




Farid
(Wow, my first ever rant post!)