Board 8 > Finally, a DOTA 2 invite.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Let's do this.

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There was a signature here. It's gone now.
Your face is bees.

There should finally be a new hero this week so maybe I'll start playing again!
Got kinda burnt out on it earlier, and the lack of new content didn't motivate me to dive in again. >_>

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Falcon Punch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw

I am so bad at this genre.

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There was a signature here. It's gone now.
Your face is bees.

The discussion topic had a bunch of useful stuff in the first post, but it purged. Nobody really clamoring for it to come back, the flow of content lately has been pretty slow, so yeah.
I'll go ahead and post the OP here so you can benefit from the info, but I'm probably not going to actually revive the topic for awhile. (If anyone wants to do it for me, you can just use what I'm about to post, I guess. >_>)

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Falcon Punch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw

Dota 2 tournament news and streams: http://www.joindota.com/en/start
Beta development/data mining news: http://www.cyborgmatt.com/
Heroes info: http://www.playdota.com/heroes
Item info: http://www.playdota.com/items
Purge's guide for complete newbies (awesome read): http://www.playdota.com/guides/welcome-to-dota-you-suck

Also, here's some helpful customization stuff for enabling right click denies, spell range indicators (still a work in progress), and auto-joining the Board 8 chat channel! (Credit to Ness)

Make a file called autoexec.cfg in your cfg folder (Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Dota 2 Beta/dota/cfg). Make sure it's .cfg and not .txt (sometimes Windows tries to "help" you). Add the following lines to it:
dota_disable_range_finder 0
dota_force_right_click_attack 1
chat_join "Board 8"

Ness also wrote this post on making the change from League of Legends to Dota 2. If you fit that bill, this post just might prove mighty helpful to you! (Though you should probably read Purge's guide as well, just to be safe!)

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/610657-dota-2/61432107

What is DotA?

Well, good sir, DotA is the alpha and the omega of the League of Legends/HoN variety of games! All games in the genre sprung from it, and so too shall the genre return to it upon DotA 2's release. DotA is a team oriented game, in which two teams of 5 players face off against eachother. Each player takes control of one of 104 unique heroes, and face off against eachother on a large battlefield, assisted by waves of computer controlled monsters called "creeps". The two teams, the Radiant and the Dire, each have a base: Radiant in lower left, Dire in the upper right. There are three "lanes" connecting the bases, with towers guarding the road to victory. Each team must push these lanes, with the ultimate goal of breaching the enemy team's base and destroying their Ancient, granting them victory.

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Falcon Punch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw

What kind of heroes are there?

DotA has all manner of heroes! The diversity of skills the various heroes employ is something to be commended. It would be quite impossible to go into them all here, but you can slake your thirst for knowledge at this link, if you want. http://www.playdota.com/heroes
To give a brief idea, though, there are three main types of heroes, Strength, Agility, and Intelligence based. Going a step further, DotA heroes occupy various "roles", parts they play in contributing to the team. The importance of teamwork in DotA cannot be stressed enough, so be sure you're aware of your hero's role!

What are these roles?

Remember to keep your shoes on at all times... wait, that's something different. DotA's roles include the following:
Carry - The importance of the carry in a DotA match can't be understated. By their nature, carries tend to start off fairly weak, but as they gain levels and items, they become unbelievably powerful. Back up your carry in the early/mid game, and watch them smite your foes in the late game!
Support - Support heroes, predictably, play a support role. Their job is to place wards around the map, heal their allies, stun their enemies, aid in setting up ganks, and other such things.
Ganker - These bad boys are dedicated to making the enemy team miserable. Gankers tend to start off quite strong in the early game, and it's their job to practice general deathdealing upon the enemy team, though especially on their carry, to prohibit them from becoming strong.
These definitions are a GROSS simplification, but as you play you'll notice very quickly how a team is supposed to function. Remember, a team that slays together stays together!

This sounds awesome, where can I start playing?

Ah, there's the rub. Unfortunately, DotA 2 isn't out yet! The game is currently in it's beta phase. We are rapidly approaching an open beta, however, as invites are being sent out every day now. To make it even better, everyone who is invited by Valve gets two guest invites for their friends! If you haven't already, follow this link (it opens in Steam) and take the survey. steam://takesurvey/1/
The questions are kinda silly, so just fake it if you must! The important thing is that you submit it, because that's the only way to get an invite!

When does the game come out?

We don't know! Valve/Icefrog have stated that the plan is to stay in beta until the game is insanely polished, but past a point let everyone play it as it develops. The game is updated every Thursday with balance changes and usually new heroes, so for now just kick back and enjoy it. (Assuming you've got your key!)

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Falcon Punch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw

Those links are all solid but that description/introduction section I typed up is pretty rough/outdated by now, bahaha.

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Falcon Punch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw

Oh right, and if you're only going to take one thing from all of that, it would be this:
http://www.playdota.com/guides/welcome-to-dota-you-suck
No question, it'll help you step your game up.

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Falcon Punch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw

Nobody here really seems to play DotA.

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Tornadoman78:
tornadoman and tornadogirl like to kick box each other in my tornaolayzers and she dosent even mind getting hit

That said, if you want to play with someone, I will play with you.

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Tornadoman78:
tornadoman and tornadogirl like to kick box each other in my tornaolayzers and she dosent even mind getting hit

What's your steam name? I only play when TRT or someone asks me to, but I am often willing to play.

If you just have a list in Steam of Dota playing friends and invite them randomly, you should be able to get pretty good groups.

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_foolmo_
'You are obviously intelligent and insightful' - Sir Chris about me

From: The Real Truth | #009
Nobody here really seems to play DotA.

I just dislike playing alone, and it seems our schedules don't really align well.

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No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.

Yeah, probably. I'm kind of a night person, so most people here are sleeping when I have the most free time.

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Tornadoman78:
tornadoman and tornadogirl like to kick box each other in my tornaolayzers and she dosent even mind getting hit

I can attest that most of the time I play with TRT it's when I'm about to go to sleep at 2AM

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_foolmo_
'Oh please, if foolmo made that analogy you'd think it was picture perfect' - Biolizard28

The majority of the invites I get are right when I'm about to go to sleep and I'm left with a rather difficult decision.

Most of the time I choose sleep. =[

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No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.

I've played so many bad/boring games. It's like I get screwed over for having a good record. So after winning a bunch, I end up losing a bunch. I mean, I understand trying to balance the game, but how is it fair if I have 4 people who are clueless about the game on my team?

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Tornadoman78:
tornadoman and tornadogirl like to kick box each other in my tornaolayzers and she dosent even mind getting hit

Holy crap, and I thought SF's ult looked good before. >_>

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Falcon Punch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw