Dota 2 Beta Thread V: Real Talk Strikes Back [Tutorials]
- Thread starter Artanisix
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Just update the textures and model. He needs to remain short and ineffectual.
I know this is an incredibly vague question, but how do you guys go about improving as a player? I feel like I've been mostly stagnant in the past few months having been overseas and forced to solo queue on my not no so great laptop. I have about 500 hours in Dota 2 and feel like I'm an at least halfway decent player who has a fairly deep understanding of the game, but I really want to continue to improve. I feel like my biggest issues are not being reactive with my with item choices and skill builds, (I tend to pick a build at the beginning of a match and stick to it irrespective of how the game progresses,) and I also don't really have much of a clue about proper ward placement outside of warding the run spawns. Any tips about these areas or on improving in general?
I'd say about 4x as likely than an actual mythical.
Sgt.Pepper
Banned
Watch some replays of good players. You will learn a thing or two if you are used too much to certain roles etc.
I played mostly support in most of my dota playtime, and I was fucking terrible at farming (and still are, but not so much), but watching some replays helped me a lot.
I watch streams and Purge Plays videos pretty regularly, but I just can't seem to get the hang of the split second decision making with items that these guys seem to have.
1) watch pro players (or really good pubstars)
2) play with better players
3) get good at mid in solo queue
shira
Member
Agree, but also realize there is a cap or max potential you have. Maybe you have already hit that level. If you don't have the reflexes or hand eye coordination playing games over and over will not help you any. If you aren't already a video game wizard you can't just quantum leap to Dendi level much the same as basketball training will make you Lebron James.
Emerson
May contain jokes =>
God I hope so.
Doesn't Valve tend to test stuff big stuff like that in a single game before pushing it out to Steam as a whole? That's what they did with the Mann Co. economy update in TF2. It's essentially the same system used for Steam inventory trading system.
Maybe I'm wrong, but DOTA doesn't seem like a game where most people will hit their skill cap. It's not like Starcraft where around mid-level master league you just need to play at a certain speed to be competitive in the late game. DOTA seems more like a game where most of your improvement comes from gaining experience and being in the right place or making the right decisions, rather than being able to micro your units while expanding and macroing.
shira
Member
I would say most of it comes from reaction time and how well you can string combos together, so it's probably more like a fighter game with 5 people. You can't really modify reaction time. But yeah I guess you can play more games to be in more situations, but in the end how many thousands of hours can you play games to simulate those situations.
Perhaps the new issue of PC gamer ACE1991
Chinese government getting involved it seems : http://dotaland.net/2013/06/18/more-details-on-the-chinese-national-esports-tournament/
shira
Member
Oh man, if the Korean government backs doto insteand of lolo, we going to see some crazy shit.
I think what people refer to as reaction time in games like DOTA or Starcraft generally has a lot more to do with being mentally prepared for all possibilities before they actually occur, rather than having ultra fast reactions. I guess I'm not really talking about whether anyone out there could be a pro player given 10,000 hours which is the level where I'd imagine games can be decided by getting off a stun a quarter of a second too late.
You seem to be assuming that reaction time is a built in characteristic of a person and is not malleable, but this is not the case at all.
I really don't understand why they're doing this. Has this ever been done before? Why are they backing an American developed game so heavily?
shira
Member
Disagree, reaction time is pretty much not improvable and only decreases with age. If you know of any studies or whatnot please post them. You can improve your results on a reaction time test but I'm pretty sure RTZ can press 'R' for Zeus a lot faster than you/I will ever be able to.
Nope I'm talking straight up how fast is your brain wired. I would rewatch a pro game at half/slower speed and see how quickly and perfectly these guys nail bkbs, blinks, and combos. You want to see a good player, watch a good Puck. Or fucking Navi at TI2 I don't know how this guy did it http://youtu.be/mahHF8dIeVg
This is reaction time, combo chaining, communication, foresight, all with maximum stress. These are not skills you could ever work on or practice.
Gully State
Member
Is Steam down?
Chinese government does what the people want them to do. If they see they can garner some goodwill in the young male 15-30 crowd, they will do so. Especially if it's as cheap as hosting a little game tournament.
I'm not arguing that anyone could be as good as those players with enough practice, just that the mechanical or unimprovable (is this a word?) aspects of DOTA become significant at a much higher level than in a game like Starcraft or Quake 3. If you are physically unable to play Starcraft faster than 100apm, you are going to struggle mightily to get above mid masters without doing all-ins every game. I might be wrong because I still am new to DOTA, but the point where using a Zeus ult .15 seconds faster than the average person actually matters seems much higher up the skill tower than most other competitive games.
its not as big of a deal as you'd think. Mechanically-wise cty is the #1 solo mid player in the eastern scene, but that doesn't mean Vici's mid lane is always going to be guaranteed, or that they're even a strong team. The game isn't a 1v1 platform, so differences in mechanics only apply in isolated conditions like 1v1 lanes. A team's success in a game is more reliant on things such as coordination, drafting, game sense. So while having the best solo mid player in the scene, or the best carry player does bode well for your team, its not what determines how strong your team is.
SteveWinwood
Member
I mean the vikings still suck and they have ap.
Gully State
Member
Yeah, there's a difference b/t being as good as Dendi and significantly improving your reaction time. You might not be able to play like Lebron but with proper training and approach, you can be a magnitudes better basketball player than your baseline.
I dunno what shira's going on about, pro players aren't some sort of untouchable god-among-men of gaming.
What you see is the result of hard work, dedication and, perhaps, some natural predispositions.
And luck.
Not every play is going to be that Navi vs iG turn around, even at the pro level. But with enough games, it's going to happen sooner or later. What separates pros from your average player is that they have a higher chance of making those plays happen through a mix of ability and experience.
What you see is the result of hard work, dedication and, perhaps, some natural predispositions.
And luck.
Not every play is going to be that Navi vs iG turn around, even at the pro level. But with enough games, it's going to happen sooner or later. What separates pros from your average player is that they have a higher chance of making those plays happen through a mix of ability and experience.
I think I worded that last part poorly. I meant to say that you need to get much much higher up the proverbially skill ladder for stuff like that to matter in dota, relative to other games like SC or Q3.
dave is ok
aztek is ok
Techies now in color. ETA 2015
Think there will be anything worthwhile in there? I'm not sure PCG is targeting someone with almost 2 years of play with that feature, but I could be wrong.
Fast reaction time was just being used as one example of skills that either can't be improved through practice, or can only be marginally be improved through practice. Example in Starcraft would probably be things like playing at 300+ apm or microing two or three different situations at one time.
Starter/Deluxe packs for Dota are now on sale, $10/$20:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/?l=english
They come with a Wax key, which I find pretty interesting.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/?l=english
They come with a Wax key, which I find pretty interesting.
Anuxinamoon
Shaper Divine
I still don't understand the whole techies hype xD Guess I should play before I sway.
Also Valve broke, steam leaking...
Also Valve broke, steam leaking...
Technosteve
Banned
did dota just die?
Once Techies releases, you will wonder how you survived without one of the coolest heroes ever.
and you better make Techies items
Techies will honestly ruin about a third of all your AP games, and that's not even exaggeration.
shira
Member
I'll read the article tomorrow because it is behind paywalls, but I have a feeling that the "compter battery" reaction time test is poor as shit. I know these kinds of studies are being pushed hard by drug companies because anti-alzheimers are hot as shit right now.
Individual maybe less so, but team reaction time is ungodly important.
This is the problem with trench. People don't know they are shit because they are only MM with the same level of people.
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