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[Wok]

But it's not "the only reason, period." so...

• May 2014: 7.86 million unique players, according to this article.
• May 2015: 10.72 million unique players, according to the official blog.

So, it is a +36% increase in terms of players. Now, if we look at the prize tracker, money flows to Gabe's pockets twice as fast (+100%). So, yeah, there must be another reason:

• either a higher proportion of players buying the compendium,
• or a higher proportion of whales in the afflux of new players.

Actually, without further information, I would believe the money comes from Chinese whales finally getting to play Dota2.

The fact that money comes from whales should be easy to assess: if the pace of the prize pool increase stays steady till the end (+100% compared to last year), it is unlikely that it comes from people buying compendiums, it most likely comes from people buying points.

 

[Acinixys]

Whats the chance of CLASSIC JIMMY doing something stupid and throwing the game?

Undying healing for 480 is pretty crazy

 

[aeolist]

holy shit undying OP

 

[shira]

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttt

 

[Hung_real]

that was insane

 

[ViviOggi]

T

E

A

M

M

U

S

H

I

 

[shira]

 

[JambiBum]

SR got caught twice in the same exact place doing pretty much the same exact thing. Smoke into enemy jungle, don't find anyone, go back out through bot lane only to run into the entire radiant team. If they could have killed SF there it would have been an ok trade but since he just lived through everything anyway that fight was gg.

BSJ has a problem where he's almost at the Bulldog level of only being able to play a few heroes really well. Ban those heroes and his team is at a handicap. I feel like this is what happens when you get pubstars that climb the ranks by spamming only a few heroes and then they go on to play on a team.

 

[G.ZZZ]

balanced

 

[1.09]

http://www.twitch.tv/109dota

2 or 3 games before its cinco de mayo tequila time

 

[Anbokr]

i told you people would beg for 6.83 and the age of pristine agriculture back

i just didn't expect it to happen so quickly

by people u mean like 1-2 guys in this thread?

 

[Sianos]

by people u mean like 1-2 guys in this thread?

yes

one of those people may be me

I'm just not having my needs met right now, I've grown too greedy and accustomed to the farm being plentiful.

 

[Artanisix]

"Actually, without further information, I would believe the money comes from Chinese whales finally getting to play Dota2."

That doesn't go against what I claimed in the first place at all. I don't even understand what you're trying to point out. There is value to purchasing the and points for the compendium. If you didn't get anything from purchasing the compendium, if all you got was a bzz pugna set, no one would buy it.

That was my response to Liquid from the start, who said that Valve have a busted-ass hat system and are money grubbers. Yeah, there are more people out there than ever purchasing compendiums and points, you're just ignoring why they're purchasing them in the first place.

 

[Hylian7]

by people u mean like 1-2 guys in this thread?

Let me clarify what I meant: I don't want 6.83 back, 6.84 is great, there are just some aspects of it I'm not particularly happy about, the main one being short games.

 

[Eleuin]

rocket barrage is a bananas skill now omg

 

[Quesa]

Every patch is great until it is terrible

 

[Acinixys]

Fuck Dota i want to see this Table Tennis game NOW

 

[shira]

Fuck Dota i want to see this Table Tennis game NOW

I wanna see a Chuan eating burgers

 

[poppedcollar69]

I wanna see a Chuan eating burgers

i wanna eat burgers with chuan

 

[shira]

3 hours from Game 1 start to Game 2 start.

Nice format

 

[Drkirby]

Hanni gone from yet another team. Not surprised.

 

[G.ZZZ]

Hanni gone from yet another team. Not surprised.

I think he actually retired

 

[shira]

I think he actually retired

Did he retire from eating?

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

Yeah h4nni quit to go cast

 

[G.ZZZ]

Did he retire from eating?

Jokes aside i think he joined Joindota retiree home with Maelk.

 

[Acinixys]

Merlini blinks SO MUCH

 

[Shorty11857]

Hanni gone from yet another team. Not surprised.

Think he's gone to JoinDota

 

[Calidor]

SR got caught twice in the same exact place doing pretty much the same exact thing. Smoke into enemy jungle, don't find anyone, go back out through bot lane only to run into the entire radiant team. If they could have killed SF there it would have been an ok trade but since he just lived through everything anyway that fight was gg.

BSJ has a problem where he's almost at the Bulldog level of only being able to play a few heroes really well. Ban those heroes and his team is at a handicap. I feel like this is what happens when you get pubstars that climb the ranks by spamming only a few heroes and then they go on to play on a team.

BSJ plays tons of sniper though

 

[Wok]

"Actually, without further information, I would believe the money comes from Chinese whales finally getting to play Dota2."

That doesn't go against what I claimed in the first place at all. I don't even understand what you're trying to point out. There is value to purchasing the and points for the compendium. If you didn't get anything from purchasing the compendium, if all you got was a bzz pugna set, no one would buy it.

That was my response to Liquid from the start, who said that Valve have a busted-ass hat system and are money grubbers. Yeah, there are more people out there than ever purchasing compendiums and points, you're just ignoring why they're purchasing them in the first place.

I read too fast Liquid's sentences. Then I started thinking aloud. Now, I think that this year people are finding the compendium brings actually more value than they did last year, since the prize pool increase cannot be solely explained by the increase in player number.

 

[G.ZZZ]

HR getting outdrafted like plebs

 

[juicyb]

Man only being able to earn coins from AP is fuckin dumb

 

[SteveWinwood]

coins are worthless anyway until we can buy levels with them

 

[M.D]

14 minutes in only 1 outer tower left

this meta is so fun guy...zzzzzzzz

 

[shira]

 

[Randdalf]

Reckless CIS dota plays so well into iG's hands.

 

[DrPizza]

14 minutes in only 1 outer tower left

this meta is so fun guy...zzzzzzzz

Create a bunch of new late-game items.

Shift the meta towards early push and fighting so that nobody can buy them anyway.

 

[JambiBum]

14 minutes in only 1 outer tower left

this meta is so fun guy...zzzzzzzz

You're telling me you would rather have teams sit back for 30 mins farming their respective sides with the occasional fight than 45 kills in 25 minutes? Farming games are boring as hell to watch and having every game turn into 60-90 minute high ground defenses gets exhausting. It's already been shown that long games are still possible and when they happen now they are far more interesting than when they happen every game.

 

[Hylian7]

You're telling me you would rather have teams sit back for 30 mins farming their respective sides with the occasional fight than 45 kills in 25 minutes? Farming games are boring as hell to watch and having every game turn into 60-90 minute high ground defenses gets exhausting. It's already been shown that long games are still possible and when they happen now they are far more interesting than when they happen every game.

Yes, because usually a team will always have some farm requirement to be truly useful. It's frustrating as all hell to be in that position where you can't farm because the team constantly needs you to fight.

On top of that, I don't get the hate for farming. Farming is fun, farming takes skill (yes, it actually does to farm efficiently). Why the hate for it?

 

[Haly]

Boring to watch and to play for everyone except the farmer.

 

[SteveWinwood]

no one's ever happy

 

[Dahbomb]

On top of that, I don't get the hate for farming. Farming is fun, farming takes skill (yes, it actually does to farm efficiently). Why the hate for it?

People want to see PvP action as opposed to PvE action. Farming is fun for the guy who is doing it especially players who are greedy (I love me some farming) but for the viewer it's boring.

In that regard this patch has been some what successful in promoting PvP action. Lopsided skill level games end fast (usually by 25 minutes) but equal skill level games can go the distance. No one wants to see a match that was decided within the first few minutes drag on for another 30 minutes.

 

[Hylian7]

Boring to watch and to play for everyone except the farmer.

People want to see PvP action as opposed to PvE action. Farming is fun for the guy who is doing it especially players who are greedy (I love me some farming) but for the viewer it's boring.

In that regard this patch has been some what successful in promoting PvP action.

Is it? In 4 protect 1 strats (rarer these days obviously, even last patch) usually the 4 are taking fights. Doing crazy tricks for stacks is always really fascinating to watch.

Part of the problem though with the anti-farm is that it basically removes a good chunk of the hero pool from viability.

 

[Shorty11857]

People want to see PvP action as opposed to PvE action. Farming is fun for the guy who is doing it especially players who are greedy (I love me some farming) but for the viewer it's boring.

In that regard this patch has been some what successful in promoting PvP action. Lopsided skill level games end fast (usually by 25 minutes) but equal skill level games can go the distance. No one wants to see a match that was decided within the first few minutes drag on for another 30 minutes.

Exactly, a 60 minute game is fun to watch if it's close, a 60 minute game is boring as hell to watch if one team is stomping and the other is just turtling hoping for that one fight that turns the game around while the other team is too afraid to push because they're afraid they'll throw the game

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

Is it? In 4 protect 1 strats (rarer these days obviously, even last patch) usually the 4 are taking fights. Doing crazy tricks for stacks is always really fascinating to watch.

Part of the problem though with the anti-farm is that it basically removes a good chunk of the hero pool from viability.

More like the 4 try to delay the game in any way necessary, rarely did that mean taking fights. If both teams are doing the 4 protect 1 that means everyone just waits for their carry to get farm before doing anything.

 

[Shorty11857]

More like the 4 try to delay the game in any way necessary, rarely did that mean taking fights.

You can do 4 protect 1 in an entertaining way if the team goes with 4 hyper aggressive heroes and just puts too much pressure on the enemy for them to be able to even notice the carry

 

[Haly]

Is it? In 4 protect 1 strats (rarer these days obviously, even last patch) usually the 4 are taking fights. Doing crazy tricks for stacks is always really fascinating to watch.

No one's referring to those games.

People are talking about when both sides are playing passive and it turns into the DOTA equivalent of trench warfare.

 

[Drkirby]

I personally think farming is fun for no one, since hitting creeps for 30 minutes is so damn dull. Especially if you have to rely on your team not to lose, or even worse in terms of fun, win without you getting to do any thing.

 

[call_kotaku]

They should just remove creeps from the game, and make the towers move forward 1 pixel per second for the whole match

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

You can do 4 protect 1 in an entertaining way if the team goes with 4 hyper aggressive heroes and just puts too much pressure on the enemy for them to be able to even notice the carry

Well that's why I said rarely.

I personally think farming is fun for no one, since hitting creeps for 30 minutes is so damn dull. Especially if you have to rely on your team not to lose, or even worse in terms of fun, win without you getting to do any thing.

That's mostly why I strongly prefer the 2/3 role over the 1 role, much more involved early on without becoming too irrelevant late game and less reliant on farm.

 

[JambiBum]

More like the 4 try to delay the game in any way necessary, rarely did that mean taking fights.

This. It usually comes down to the 4 being forced into fights when they don't want to be because the other team is taking advantage of the fact that they have an afk farmer. You have one hero (maybe two) taking up the majority of the farm on your side of the map which leaves your other heroes under farmed and being forced to defend their 1 position the entire time.

The meta hasn't removed heroes from the pool, it's added more and made the heroes that you think it's removed have to change from afk farm to farm and fight which is better for everyone overall.