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Dota 2 Beta Thread: [Brewmaster]

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How much money does Riot make from skins/aesthetics vs champion sales? Normally I would think champion sales would be higher, but the huge hat numbers in TF2 have demonstrated I know fuck all when it comes to what motivates F2P purchases.

Basically, I'm wondering if heroes being free would leave too much money on the table for Valve. I'd really like to think/hope they'll be free...

Hard to compare to Riot as their game setup allows them a few other extra avenues for $$$ to come in that DOTA2 doesn't have. Since they have their leveling system complete with rune and mastery pages they can sell you on extra things like runes/quinces for your rune pages, more rune pages, XP and IP (in game currency) boosts and stuffs like that.

Extra Rune Pages cost a epic $#!% ton of in game currency too so I know a ton of people who spent real dollars to buy extra pages instead. Valve lacks that area to skim some extra cash from.
 
Hard to compare to Riot as their game setup allows them a few other extra avenues for $$$ to come in that DOTA2 doesn't have. Since they have their leveling system complete with rune and mastery pages they can sell you on extra things like runes/quinces for your rune pages, more rune pages, XP and IP (in game currency) boosts and stuffs like that.

Extra Rune Pages cost a epic $#!% ton of in game currency too so I know a ton of people who spent real dollars to buy extra pages instead. Valve lacks that area to skim some extra cash from.

Yeah, that's true. But as others have mentioned, Valve can make up for that "loss" by opening the floodgates for tons of new customers using Steam.
 
Also keep in mind that Riot does make money from runes. A good rune page will cost you about 6000-8000 IP, which is one champion. If you're trying to unlock champs solely with IP, you won't have enough for runes, which can be necessary if you're going to play ranked or whatnot.

The solution?

Buy champions with RP and save the IP for runes.

It's really a devious business model.
 
Yeah, that's true. But as others have mentioned, Valve can make up for that "loss" by opening the floodgates for tons of new customers using Steam.

Oh I don't disagree. I'm 110% sure it'll be F2P. It's just a question of what's going to be free, and what's going to be pay.
 
Also keep in mind that Riot does make money from runes. A good rune page will cost you about 6000-8000 IP, which is one champion. If you're trying to unlock champs solely with IP, you won't have enough for runes, which can be necessary if you're going to play ranked or whatnot.

The solution?

Buy champions with RP and save the IP for runes.

It's really a devious business model.
To go into it further.

They will actually charge you a full 6300 price champion for an addition rune page.
Meaning, you have to generalize all champions into 3 groups, unless you want to spend extra cash. You can really make specific sets for characters or even the 5 basic roles, AP Carry, AD Carry, Support, Tank, and Jungle. And then they have characters like Shen and Aki, which don't run on Mana, or ones like Tyrand and Vlad who run solely on cooldowns.

Every single thing is monetized.
All new champions are 6300, about 25-30 hours of play with IP. You also ban base on the pool selection of the other team, not every character. So if your team has 50 compared to their 80. It becomes harder.
Some runes are re-usable, but you'll still end up spending about 20k for the basic ones, unless you want to rely on T1, which are 40% less than T3.

In a good way to say it, League is wonderful for casual play since you really don't need to spend anything. But once you want to be competitive. Its either massive timesinks or normally spending a large sum of money to acquire champions. And the hole only gets bigger since they add in a new one about every 2 weeks.
 
inhouses are stressful because some people think its time to fool around while others want a really competitive game. There is no easy balance, unless you make funhouses and tryhard inhouses
 
I feel like demanding a grind from players in order to be competitively viable is the antithesis of competition.
inhouses are stressful because some people think its time to fool around while others want a really competitive game. There is no easy balance, unless you make funhouses and tryhard inhouses
I joined an ih once thinking it would be a funhouse. First pick AM, second pick Furion (MILKMAAAAAAAAN), and I was all ":(".
 
Inhouses should be all random or something silly to help ease tension (hurry up with the other game modes, Valve!). Tryhard games should be reserved for leagues.
 
I feel like demanding a grind from players in order to be competitively viable is the antithesis of competition.

I definitely agree, but the upside is that it forces people to at least play the game for a while before they are allowed to play competitively (i.e., in ranked). The idea is that they learn how to play before they reach that level.

The downside is it's such a long fucking grind.

I'm curious as to what Valve will be doing with levels. I hope it's nothing like LoL.
 
or the MKB Daedalus Sanjay Windrunner

Don't you go forgetting my Skadi Drow Ranger and Pipe Huskar.

The biggest problem with inhouse games is that they are rarely balanced. Milkman is, by far, the best Dota player on GAF. That means games have to be balanced around him which typically means taking 2-3 above average players on the same team and having them play against less experienced people on Milkman's team.

Nuh-uh
http://i.imgur.com/ShUgH.jpg

I understand why no one plays ihs now.

You need to deflect the saltiness somehow, HoNGaf did it through humour but Dota 2 is serious business now. One mistake and its going to be in your obituary.

That's why you even see HonGaf dodge ih games, with balanced players around. Rather just MM queue instead.

I think I'm done playing ih games. I felt like shit afterwards.

But your team won?

I have no doubts that Puppet is a better farmer and carry player than I am, but that's not the role I enjoy the most (nor am I sure it's the role he likes to play the most, either). He's probably also a better support than me, too.

Puppet playing this right now:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erhfjpL5Sng
 
Inhouses should be all random or something silly to help ease tension (hurry up with the other game modes, Valve!). Tryhard games should be reserved for leagues.
This is a terrible idea.
Don't you go forgetting my Skadi Drow Ranger and Pipe Huskar.
I don't even understand why you would make this item on that hero.
Sanjay said:
That's why you even see HonGaf dodge ih games, with balanced players around. Rather just MM queue instead.
Cause the games aren't fun, the hero pool isn't big enough to mess around with like in HoN, if I wanted to random a hero, I could just do that in a MM game, and play against similarly skilled players. It's not necessarily that the game is srs bizness, just that it lacks the light hearted atmosphere the IH's had in HoN. Big reason is that all the heroes are stuff that I've played before, so not the same allure compared to HoN where some of the heroes are new, like that week when Cthulhu first became free, and we had no idea how to use him effectively. Plus there's no really interesting games like Team Kag Bros, vs Everyone else and stuff.

The slow game pacing doesn't help either, with making things exciting for specs.
How to beat milkman: No one go support and hope someone can stop him?
Time to step up to the plate and bust out your legendary Weaver
 
How to beat milkman: No one go support and hope someone can stop him?

Death Prophet didn't ward once and I was so focused on scepter >_< lol

But I was kiiiiinda supporting. Tried keeping sprint on you as much as I could. Got a couple nice saves on you guys, too.
 
Death Prophet didn't ward once and I was so focused on scepter >_< lol

But I was kiiiiinda supporting. Tried keeping sprint on you as much as I could. Got a couple nice saves on you guys, too.
We definitely needed you to carry. Also it isn't smart to support a first time riki user anyways especially when it's me.

Also I'm still getting trolled for that weaver pick? I didn't even want to play weaver either, just making a suggestion. Everyone should
now my suggestions are awful, the only good one I ever have is side solo windrunner.
 
Death Prophet isn't a support.

Say what?

The character doesn't scale well at all end game so what else would he do? I'd rather have wards than a 'carry' death prophet.

Damn right I didn't. That stupid sheep stick wasn't cheap. Even had to sell a TP... A TP that could saved my bacon 1 out of those 13(!) deaths!

...Then match just dragged on and I plain ole' didn't care at that point.

But you can easily mow down a few waves of creeps. Not sure why you sat at the shop waiting for your gold to reach 2700g :/ oh well, we still won, so whatever.
 
inhouses are stressful because some people think its time to fool around while others want a really competitive game. There is no easy balance, unless you make funhouses and tryhard inhouses

I can see how this would be a problem. Honestly in all the inhouses we've had I didn't really feel this problem. The problem is that the current 10 people that are up for an inhouse at a given moment are probably of all varying skill levels, haven't played all the heroes (read: me), and things like that.
 
But you can easily mow down a few waves of creeps. Not sure why you sat at the shop waiting for your gold to reach 2700g :/ oh well, we still won, so whatever.

After dying twice (both times around 2400), someone suggested I hang back a little bit. I then only stuck to taking out waves that were close to base and waited at the secret shop once I hit 2650. But you're right, it doesn't matter... we won?
 
Say what?

The character doesn't scale well at all end game so what else would he do? I'd rather have wards than a 'carry' death prophet.

She's a pusher/semi carry. She won't out carry Anti-Mage, but she is still lethal for a large portion of the game. You typically want to go survivability (Vanguard, Pipe, Shiva's, Sheep, etc) so that you don't get insta gibbed during her ulti.
 
She's a pusher/semi carry. She won't out carry Anti-Mage, but she is still lethal for a large portion of the game. You typically want to go survivability (Vanguard, Pipe, Shiva's, Sheep, etc) so that you don't get insta gibbed during her ulti.

In our game, he had no choice but to go support. Why wouldn't he?

JvRnP.jpg
 
Ranvier's Arcane Boots Dragon Knight

I love you guys

in my defense I had just read a guide saying DK should spam fire breath and I thought that would be the best way to do it. But see, I'm glad you guys noticed and gave me crap about it. I'll never do that again and probably play DK a bit better because of it.

I've realized I like the support role a bit more then the farm all game hard-carry role.

Sadly in an In House this is the role that takes the most advantage of players with lower awareness / reaction times, we tried having higher skilled players play supports when we did HoN In Houses and it was still pretty salty.

This is only because we are only 2 months into it. If anything I think we need to encourage more in house games. The more we play them the more we learn about each other's skill sets and eventually, we will be able to make some pretty balanced gaf in-house games.

For example, I learned that milkman is pretty godly at Dota. I soloed mid lane with that guy and he was absolutely owning me and I was freaking sniper. 5 minutes in I was like half a level behind. I also learned that orangecaramel is pretty godly himself. First non-radiance dark seer I've seen in a while but he made it work so damn well. His apm must have ridiculous during team fights. I was just in the back with auto attack and assassinate. OC also makes a good team captain, telling people when to push and what items you need to counter and stuff.

Hylion is decent but is still learning the Heroes and getting the hang of things. N0b is good too and VERY passionate about the game. Gezza is also still learning and doesn't like being yelled at.
So yeah, the more we play with each other the better the games will be because we will know how to balance them.

I also really liked getting orchid first on sniper. It may not be the best dps wise but spamming assassinate was really fucking fun. I also realized sniper can be okay without the wind walk blade and still be survivable. Just play a bit more carefully.
 
I played an inhouse once.
But then I took a Milkman broodmother to the knee.
Np just blame unlucky power shots and sacrifice for that game.
This is only because we are only 2 months into it. If anything I think we need to encourage more in house games. The more we play them the more we learn about each other's skill sets and eventually, we will be able to make some pretty balanced gaf in-house games.
Trust me, trying to get 10 people of varying skill levels, to balance the game, and also having those same 10 people in the mindset that they are taking the game seriously, is really hard. It will very often be one sided stomps, or not fun for one side of the skill spectrum. It's better to just use them as learning grounds, and try to take the serious games to MM or some type of In House League.

For example all those games that Archie ( I'm not making fun of you, just first example to come to mind, sorry ) quit from cause they were one sided, tried to balance them, but not everyone was trying to take it seriously, so the team comp was terrible.

As for the post about your DK, I was mostly just joking around, it was pretty un-orthodox but it's an honest mistake I can see anyone making that hasn't played the hero, it's better to just get a Soul ring if you wanna spam the fire breath.
Also I'm still getting trolled for that weaver pick? I didn't even want to play weaver either, just making a suggestion. Everyone should
now my suggestions are awful, the only good one I ever have is side solo windrunner.
Your never going to live that down, essentially it's going to define your DOTA2 career from now on, at least until you do something funnier.
Death Prophet isn't a support.
She is if your team needs her to be.
 
You have a good point. Hopefully we can get some kind of league going eventually. Gaf in houses are pretty rare as it is, I've only been in one, that 80 minute one. But see, despite the game having some pretty stressfull moments overall, I had a really good time. More fun then any pub I've played in during the beta. Playing with Gaf members (both in in-house games in grouped pubs) is way more fun because A: we talk about it here and b: I feel like gaffers tend to be less assholy then people on pubs since they know they will get torn apart in the thread. Plus playing with people that I can talk to after the game is over to me at least, is a very big benefit. They can critque how i played and hopefully give advice on how i can get better which is another reason why I'm a big advocate of Gaf grouping in the game.

Also, is fuzzy wuzzy the only melee hero that can counter niax one on one?
 
Also, is fuzzy wuzzy the only melee hero that can counter niax one on one?
Skeleton King if he gets lots of crits? Does the N'aix have an MKB in this scenario, if not butterfly is a pretty good item against him. Pandaran Brewmaster (??)
To be fair I thought I was going to side solo and not the guy who randomed clockwerk.
Was I the guy? If so sorry.
 
Skeleton King if he gets lots of crits? Does the N'aix have an MKB in this scenario, if not butterfly is a pretty good item against him. Pandaran Brewmaster (??)

Was I the guy? If so sorry.

No it was a random guy that randomed clockwerk, so I automatically assumed he was shit.
 
Skeleton King if he gets lots of crits? Does the N'aix have an MKB in this scenario, if not butterfly is a pretty good item against him. Pandaran Brewmaster (??)
How about Nessaj, Slardar, SB, PA and PL?
 
How about Nessaj, Slardar, SB, PA and PL?
PA yeah, what if the N'aix gets 2 BF's and cleaves the images down for PL? I somewhat feel that once N'aix rampages off the Amp it would be hard for a Slardar to kill him, especially if he goes Basher , Crit , ASPD build.
 
Just wait til N'aix rages and then use Amp. It goes through magic immunity anyway, he'd bash him to death way faster than N'aix could do to him (although ultimately it's going to be luck-based). PL, it depends. He could probably overwhelm him with his tanky illusions if he has heart/butterfly/diffusal.
 
PA yeah, what if the N'aix gets 2 BF's and cleaves the images down for PL? I somewhat feel that once N'aix rampages off the Amp it would be hard for a Slardar to kill him, especially if he goes Basher , Crit , ASPD build.
Yeah the cleave is a problem. But it would significantly weaken Naix's build.

For Slar I was just thinking kiting. When he goes rage, get a bash on him and run the fuck away. Then when it comes off, throw on Amp\.
Lycan too.
What would be funny is Lycan bringing wolves into a fight against Naix.

INFEST LOLOLOL.
 
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