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Four score and about a month or so ago I was given a gift of numbers. I was sitting at my desk, wasting time on the internet as befitting a student on winter break when I happened upon a very special tweet.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/c0SWO.png)
all good things come in 140 characters or less
Using my insane Starcraft skills (110 EAPM I'll have you know) I copy and pasted the code into my Steam account almost as fast as Flash lays spider mines. Without even a second to worry whether I was too late, Steam was ticking away, authorizing and finalizing. The net result of these scant few seconds was this:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hvfww.jpg)
dota2 joining games of pedigree, like railroad tycoon 2
I couldn't honestly believe it was there. I stopped the download as my parents house internet had an almost cruel bandwidth cap on it. I would have to wait till I ventured back to Dublin, my student flat with its godly internet in comparison.
I was certainly not the average gamer to be in the DotA2 beta. I never played WC3 Dota, my exposure limited to watching a friend play it once a long time ago and not truly understanding what was happening. I'd never played LoL or HoN. I didn't know anything of the Chinese scene or any scene for that matter. I watched The International for all of 30 seconds. I didn't 'get' Dota-like games and was even slightly hostile to them, being a high and mighty Starcraft fan.
Slowly however, at the end of last year, I began to watch the odd Dota 2 stream, usually Link or Dendi. I would occasionally tune in to the caffeine addled, almost maniacal Tobi Wan, still not grasping the essence of what the hell was going on. I knew one thing however: DotA2 was designed properly as for the spectator. Unlike its peers in HoN and LoL, the more mature, restrained yet distinctive art style made every hero nearly unique, abilities were impressive and eye-catching whereas in the other two lived with the legacy of WC3's bright pastels making them almost like the mad scrawling's of a toddler with crayons. This instantly made me a hundred fold more engrossed in the game.
![[image loading]](http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1478246703/toby1.jpg)
the real passionman
My interest in the game grew and my thirst to play it. I filled out the beta access form and waited. I entered a few contests. I waited. To suddenly just get a key as I did was a surprise. It was almost a surreal experience. I don't think I'd ever been in a closed beta before (well Age of Conan expansion beta but those were dark days). Suddenly it hit me. I have no fucking idea how to play this game and people are going to hate me for it. I was terrified. I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I started to read up guides on playdota, learning mechanics and heros. I was utterly overwhelmed. It was like starting SC2 all over again, perhaps even more difficult. It was like having ladder fear again something which I had long gotten over. It was the thought of having the full force of the infamous DotA communities rage unleashed upon me.
![[image loading]](http://idisk.mac.com/mstrickla/Public/11210817.jpg)
poodles = other players
baby = me
That's where I am now. I have played a few games vs bots with Tidehunter, Skeleton King, Sven, Drow and Sniper. I die a lot, my last hitting sucks but is getting better, I have the basest knowledge of items, I suck at ganking and I suck balls at Sniper which is so far my favorite hero to watch. I've checked out some of Purge's videos on items and him giving commentary while playing. I watch Sing_Sing's stream because he commentates as well as trying to catching Fear when he does the same. I definitely appreciate whats going on more and really enjoy watching The Defense but I feel I am tens of hours of playing with bots away from hitting find match. Or at least that's what I feel T_T
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/UHESb.png)
matchmaking fear is the new ladder anxiety
I'm staring into the abyss that is DotA2 and I think it wants to eat me.
Thanks to Bumbleebee for the key
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United Kingdom10823 Posts
Do it the same way you go through in SC2:
Start with bots
Then go in with friends as a team
Then slowly ease into standard MM
The TL channel regularly has people looking for games, so you could join up here too.
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If you select the lowest skill estimate before you queue it shouldn't be all that bad, as long as you're humble about it, I actually don't think you'll get all that much hate. In any case, I'm sure there are others around your skill level in the beta, so you should be getting decent(ish) matches after you've played a few games.
Just make sure you learn a few heroes at a time, since the amount of information you'll need to absorb in the long is pretty daunting.
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Like Alur said, pick 2-3-4 characters you like (preferably support type characters) and type in "(hero name) dota guide" into google and read up on how the character works and the items they suggest. In this way you slowly learn all the item combinations and what kind of uses they have. You'll still have to deal with new item graphics from the original dota but the guides themselves should still be super relevant as very little has changed from dota to dota2.
My favorite characters are Mirana, Enchantress, Omniknight and Puck.
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I know how you feel, I recently got my key and I was very excited, but then it suddenly dawned on me; I'd be an absolute scrub playing with the DotA community, infamous for their BM to noobs. But what I did was just say "Fuck it" and click Find Match because I wanted to play DotA2, god damn it.
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Australia7069 Posts
watch synderen's stream (he's streaming now). he explains why he does everything, or he does hillarious quests. either way its awesome.
as for ladder fear, you'll end up with people of a similar skill bracket to you assuming you play at the peak time for your area so dont worry about it. the fact that you've done a ton of research beforehand means you're a ways ahead of the average pub dota player. just dont pick a carry unless your team doesn't have one.
srsly
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Tidehunter, Skeleton King, and Sven are all good noob-friendly heroes for play against real people. Drow and sniper are not.
In general, you should play as a hero with some sort of stun or slow. If you're a strength hero, you should beef up (get more strength/hp) and if you're an inteligence hero, you should always be wary of the map and what your escape route will be.
Your biggest issue will be staying close enough to get xp without dying. Your secondary issue should be knowing when is a good time to land your stun (which is when your nearby heroes outnumber theirs, or your heroes combined nuke power and hp is greater than theirs). DotA is a game of constant, constant, constant decision making.
You are making judgement calls every second - last hit or deny? Farm or gank? Initiate or stay back? Buy damage or support?
Here's the biggest thing, though: you can read how to answer all of these questions, but theoretical knowledge is not the same as game sense. You just have to play hundreds of games.
http://www.playdota.com/guides/welcome-to-dota-you-suck That guide is full of pertinent advice, but remember: this game is hella fun. Even if you're new and go 1-10, that one kill you got was probably damn satisfying. Good luck and have fun!
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Just play, no-one cares if you lose and suck except yourself. And you can take yourself in a fight, right? Punch that fucker in the face if he acts up, like a man.
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PM me if you you'd like someone to play with who's also nooby and doesn't care if he loses. :D
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You're going to be really bad for a long time after you start playing Matchmaking, but thats just a fact you're going to have to accept. You're also going to get flamed, but ignore that(chances are the people flaming are just as bad as long as you pick the low skill experience thing). The key is just to work on getting better. When you get ganked try not to think "WTF NO MIA CALL?", think "Why am I so far pass the river when there's nobody on the map". Try and learn from your mistakes, and watch streams/pro games to see how the heroes are SUPPOSED to be played. Enjoy your DOTA2!
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On February 18 2012 03:30 Fishgle wrote:
PM me if you you'd like someone to play with who's also nooby and doesn't care if he loses. :D
Haha I might take you up on that :D
Thanks for the responses guys! I will just knuckle down and grind games vs AI until I am reasonably comfortable 
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EPT
