EPTSo Dota 2 has always been this monster of a game that I didn't get into. The Dota 2 symbol sat on my Steam account and updated itself on a weekly. Within I knew there was this huge world of hardcore players and game play waiting for me. But I lacked time and a sort of mental willingness to put up with the internet as I struggled to learn the game.
But then Brad Shoemaker of Giant Bomb was pulled into the dark world of Dota 2. Brad Shoemaker is the every man gamer who dragged a large part of the Giant Bomb community into SC2 when it came out. His deep, rich voice and general humbleness about this own skill at games makes us all feel we could play with Brad and it would be awesome. So when he entered the world of Dota 2 and started posting the "Daily Dota" on Giant Bomb, the casual friendly community of Giant Bomb followed.
Its been a good couple of weeks for the Giant Bomb community in Dota 2. People with all of all sorts are playing together, match making and generally being pleasant, win or lose. Random draft is the flavor for the GB community, as it offers the ability to make a reasonable team without full blown Meta-madness of captain's mode.
So after a two week dive and about 40 games, I have been pleasantly surprised by Dota and its weird world of supports, mids, semi and hard carrys.
And Meepo. Fuck Meepo.
Point one: The game is deep, but the heroes pretty reasonable
Top secret info about Dota 2: its totally ok if you don't know every hero inside and out when you start out. In fact, as long as you know your role and how to play, you can play any hero that fits into that role and do reasonable(at lower levels). Just use common sense. If the two headed dragon breaths fire, don't stand it in. If little purple man makes a purple wall in the middle of the fight, don't walk through it. That guy who throws his fist, turns red and runs at you with a huge sword, don't fight him straight up if you are described as a "nuker".
Seriously though, a lot of the stuff you learn about the game can be learned over time. The only way to learn about heroes is to fight against them and see what they do. As long as you know "that guy can disable me" that is enough to make it through most games. The rest will be learned the same way that we figured out to not touch the stove.
Point two: Supports are fun, almost to much fun
League of Legends gives the role of support a bad rap. In that game, supports are characters who get no farm and buy way to many 3 minute wards in an effort to see into bushes. Their powers are reasonable, but do not scale. Even their usable items are left to things that make the team go fast for 2 seconds. You provide vision and buy wards, hoping to get a good snare once and a while.
In Dota 2, supports are tiny gods that ruin lives and wreck dreams. Every time I play a new support, I am in awe of the abilities. Living Armor has a global range? Sure, why not. Earthshaker's fissure travels almost an entire screen, stuns and blocks movement. Keeper of Light shoots a nuke from miles away and is endless free mana. Darkseer armor ability lasts forever and ruins the lives of melee heroes. Each ability is more broken than the last and somehow it all works out because everything is totally busted.
Who needs items to be awesome when you're a support? Once you have three abilities, you're badass. The items you buy only make you more awesome. As someone who love counter play and playing characters than can make a huge impact all game, I find a lot of joy in support. Their overwhelming power and ability to be in the thick of it makes me wonder why anyone would play a hard carry.
That is it for now. I have been enjoying my time with Dota 2 and its endless degree of overpowered non-sense that always seems to be balanced. I may post more thoughts as I play or break out my stream from time to time. But right now I am enjoying learning the right way to play and being shocked every time I try a new support character with some other busted ability.
