DOTA2

[Kail]

Is this game free to play yet?  I logged into Steam this afternoon and it informed me that I already purchased the game, which I didn't.  Regardless of how it happened, it was a nice surprise.

I believe the spectator mode is free, but you can't play the game, or something stupid like that.  It just doesn't show up as it's own thing for some reason.

If you want to play, though, just let us know, I think a bunch of us are swimming in invites.

[Soln]

I'll take one.   Plz & Tks.

[Lemming]

I believe the spectator mode is free, but you can't play the game, or something stupid like that.  It just doesn't show up as it's own thing for some reason.

If you want to play, though, just let us know, I think a bunch of us are swimming in invites.

Yep, spectator mode only.  If anyone has a spare invite, please let me know.

[Thrawn]

I believe the spectator mode is free, but you can't play the game, or something stupid like that.  It just doesn't show up as it's own thing for some reason.

If you want to play, though, just let us know, I think a bunch of us are swimming in invites.

Yep, spectator mode only.  If anyone has a spare invite, please let me know.

I currently don't have any, but you shouldn't have any trouble finding an invite somewhere if you go looking.  Tons and tons of them have been given out.

[Rasix]

If you need an invite, just PM me here.  I think all I need is your email if I'm not your steam friend.

[Maledict]

Same here - just PM me your email address. I seem to have a million DOTA2 gifts available...

[Fordel]

Silly little game: http://www.dota2.com/quiz

You can play it in the actual game too, when waiting for your matchmaking queue.

[Johny Cee]

Had one of my most fun games in a while yesterday while playing Bristleback: 

The enemy team had a disconnect right at the beginning.  Our team then had one disconnect when the abandon came through.  The Troll I was laning with spazzed out and rage quit because I wouldn't go massively aggro with him on two heroes over and over again.  So, 3 v 4 that we pulled out with a massively fed Drow, me with my Heart and Assault Cuirass, and a Pudge who did okay.

For a while the enemy team kept diving us on towers over and over expecting to win because we were down a man.  Chase the Bristleback around the tower is not a game you can win.

[bhodi]

Seriously, I have a million invites. Just msg me.

[Fordel]

http://blog.dota2.com/2013/04/the-international-3/

Ti3 qualifiers and dates announced and stuff. Last years champs are the first invite (obviously).

[Llyse]

Jumped in again for a few games lately, pretty fun games and ELO is working because I'm playing with similarly skilled people.

[Thrawn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shIFPcWUVvg

How do you even counter that?    Maybe just beat them with a better lineup I guess.

[Fordel]

Don't let them pick that lineup when they are dire side.

Or TP yourself if you really think they will do it.

[Megrim]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shIFPcWUVvg

How do you even counter that?    Maybe just beat them with a better lineup I guess.

Haha. Ban Ursa.

Seriously though, its typically Ursa + SK or Ursa + Sylla, so if one sees anything like that in the picks, there needs to be some early attention paid to Roshan (as is the case with Ursa and Lycan anyway).

I got a kick out of the commentators carrying on about "next level". This has only been around since 2007.

[Fordel]

Alliance did pretty much own that tourney though, don't think they dropped a game? Certainly not a series.

[Megrim]

I had to look them up, because I didn't realise it was Loda's rebranded team. Meh, they'll choke and/or disintegrate per usual when it matters. The early Rosh IS a gimmick strat.

[Fordel]

Sure it wasn't Ti3, but the G-1 Lan in china is a pretty big stage.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=414459

[Megrim]

Oh yea, I don't doubt they played well, and that they are a great team. I've just not seen the games or really followed that tourney, and just going by the way western teams tend to play, they burn hot for a while with "fresh strats", then crater upon impact.

We'll see at TI3 though, that's for sure.

[Fordel]

The Chinese not being ready for their strats certainly played a factor yea. Like shit, they gave Admiral Bulldog LoneDruid both games in the finals.

[Megrim]

Really good article on this, actually.

[MrHat]

I've got 6 more invites to this sitting in my account if anyone wants.

[Thrawn]

Haha. Ban Ursa.

Seriously though, its typically Ursa + SK or Ursa + Sylla, so if one sees anything like that in the picks, there needs to be some early attention paid to Roshan (as is the case with Ursa and Lycan anyway).

I got a kick out of the commentators carrying on about "next level". This has only been around since 2007.

New to me I guess, I watch a lot of tournament games and I've never seen a team finish Roshan before the other team can even get to it to contest.  If the opposing team all buys TPs and does the same just based off the lineup to counter, all you need to do is NOT TP mid then and the other team is now all starting down 135G each and you already have a lane advantage.  While it's not some game breaking idea that we're going to see all the time it is pretty ingenious.

[Thrawn]

http://www.playdota.com/changelogs/6.78

Huge patch with too many big and interesting changes to even list.

Consensus seems to be that these changes are usually in DotA 2 in less than a week.

[Fordel]

Outside of the new Heroes at least. Those showup whenever they showup.


So does Aghs on Omni gives your team a second building glyph?

[Lounge]

Consensus seems to be that these changes are usually in DotA 2 in less than a week.

This has normally been the case, but being so close to the International I'm not sure they will.

[Thrawn]

Consensus seems to be that these changes are usually in DotA 2 in less than a week.

This has normally been the case, but being so close to the International I'm not sure they will.

I haven't seen any confirmation but I've seen a lot of people saying that they plan on releasing at least one major patch and possibly two more heroes before the International.  It is almost three months away still.  I actually like the idea of seeing some changes between the qualifiers and the tournament so teams have a chance to come up with some new ideas and maybe we can see some different lineups.

[Brennik]

So does Aghs on Omni gives your team a second building glyph?

Pretty much.

They usually patch new content on Thursdays and I'd expect 6.78 to be ready for this week's release.

[Lounge]

I was wrong... Parity patch notes are up.  Should be live on Thursday assuming the usual schedule.

http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=90753

[Der Helm]

13 games, 11 losses. This might have broken me.

[Thrawn]

13 games, 11 losses. This might have broken me.

9 game losing streak here as well.  Longest since I started playing the game.

[Hoax]

Did they change MM or something?

[Fordel]

They split the Queue, there's a solo only queue thats always 5 randoms vs 5 randoms and there's the old stack+random queue still.

[Megrim]

13 games, 11 losses. This might have broken me.

9 game losing streak here as well.  Longest since I started playing the game.

Eh, I'v been on a streak around that long. It turns around after a while, no big deal. Are you guys queueing on Euro, or US, because if its US we could probably party up at some point.

[Thrawn]

13 games, 11 losses. This might have broken me.

9 game losing streak here as well.  Longest since I started playing the game.

Eh, I'v been on a streak around that long. It turns around after a while, no big deal. Are you guys queueing on Euro, or US, because if its US we could probably party up at some point.

I'm on US, but usually don't have any ping problems on EU.  Always up to find more people to group with, wish I could 5 man and captain's mode more often.

[Hoax]

I'm pretty disgusted that Valve won't just copy the one thing LoL does better which is having a quick and easy draft mode. CM takes too long but drafting is the best format for the genre. Riot accidentally made a good compromise that gets games going but with some semblance of order and Valve refuses to just steal it.