Hello LiquidDota! I figured that I could use this blog to ventilate and analyse a lot of things that goes on in my head every day and every game as the captain of a team with individuals between 4k and 5.2k. MMR is so misleading anyway, we've beaten decent teams, gotten crushed by less skilled teams, et cetera. Today, it's all about outing some of the thoughts I have about DotA and general team play.
Individual mechanics and decision-making, they're such a big deal to a team that doesn't consist of veterans. Bar two people, we've only really played DotA2, since around TI2. I expect my mid to be able to crush certain matchups, my solo to get different things out of different scenarios. In turn, they expect me to have a plan. But things don't always go as you want them to. We can lose a Razor vs Viper-matchup pre-6. We can win a Brew vs DP matchup pre-6. Things don't always make sense for us, but we make do.
Small hero pools are the bane of a drafter until you realise what you as a collective unit like to do. I can draft most things, to varying success. We've tried imitating major teams until we realised what we wanted to do and try to patch our own ideas together from all of them. The theorycrafting never ends, everything from the iceiceice Spirit Breaker to the Fear Visage. From the MMY Tusk to the BigDaddy Pudge.
The hardest thing is facing something over and over without actually getting closer to beating it. We had that issue with Razor. How do you beat a midgame Razor? I didn't know. How do you effectively shut him down or negate his impact? I didn't know. So I had to waste one ban, every single game, on Razor.
Until recently, I've relied on drafting a winning laning stage that can steam roll and eat up the map until we're so far ahead that we can't lose. Finally, we've realized how to be fine with losing a laning stage, at least a little bit. It's sort of like you're investing in the future without knowing the present, the ROI is the inverse degree of execution you need to have in order to come back.
One thing I've realised about people, except for the extremely new meta Dunning-Kruger term, is that people have a hard time letting go of their ego. When you try to be constructive they shoot you down for being the Devil's advocate. When you're in a team, realise that in order to gain mutual understanding and a common foundation to work from, words will need to be exchanged and opinions will most often have to be changed. I'm getting the easy deal here because I pick for my friends. I tell them I need a Blink, a Mek, the Divine Rapier. But telling your team that their plans aren't the plan you play from requires more from the team than from you.
What's most important is that you feel that you want to play together come hell or high water. Friendship makes DotA so much easier to handle.
What's most important is that you feel that you want to play together come hell or high water. Friendship makes DotA so much easier to handle.
Its pretty funny to me that a videogame, something we play for fun, can be so damn traumatizing, but damn you are so right.
Losing is so sour to so many, but we've come to the point where we just shrug it off. It's amazing.
On November 25 2014 00:26 hoepie wrote: May I ask how you guys practice? Do you watch replays together etc, or individual learning + scrims etc?
And how did you beat Razor?
The others do the individual training. Me and one other guy watch replays and tell the others (and each other) what we need to not do anymore, what wards/timings/rotations/ganks work et cetera.
Kill everything else or just put so much pressure early that either him or the rest of his team falls behind. He's very good at being immobile, so pressure is easily applied as long as you aren't 1v1 against him.
On November 25 2014 01:12 teddyoojo wrote: i 100% expected this to be a girl blog
I 100% feel your struggle.. I've captained a squad for 3 years, eventually even moving in with 2 of my teammates since we started at the same university (we were from different parts of Germany). Being a team is way easier if you actually enjoy spending time with eachother. I think a lot of it is very similar to a real relationship (so basically in a way this is like a girl blog huehue), since finding a good way to argue is key. For example it greatly increased our play when we made carrying a tp some kind of game. We would simply write down whenever someone didnt have a tp although he could have and at the end of the day, the person with most missed tp opportunities would have to buy Oreos for everyone. Easy.
Before we had this rule, we always argues about that point. But having that rule actually made everyone pay close attention to having TPs and using them. And it was fun.
Totally agree that friendship makes dota a more enjoyable game, I only really play with 1-2 people that I know irl and I never get mad at them for making a mistake even if they flat out just feed the whole game. I've thought about making a dota team but I figured I'd never find people as committed/dedicated as I'd want them to be.
And what are these grills that everyone keeps posting about? Like George Foreman grills or?
But things don't always go as you want them to. We can lose a Razor vs Viper-matchup pre-6. We can win a Brew vs DP matchup pre-6. Things don't always make sense for us, but we make do.
Basically how I feel, except at my level its even worse. Some of the people I play with are obsessed with having a 'killer' strat, despite the fact that in pubs everything usually goes to hell really quickly.
I don't like having a super solid strategy as I find that being able to adapt and make the most of whatevers going on in pubs is far more effective. Along with pushing a lead you already have. Generally relying on people to play concrete positions seems to be a very artificial way to play in pubs. It also seems to limit just what the team can do.
Hi man, thanks for the post. I started a team with friends at my uni about 3 months ago. We are rather serious about our games, but we don't play nearly enough to my liking. Now that exams are over I drafted something that I can use to motivated my team to play more often over the holidays. The main reason we created the team is to have fun playing tryhard dota, which we all like, and to compete at an upcoming LAN competition.
Here is what I wrote so far (I wrote this in Afrikaans for my team and used Translate so many grammar issues will appear, my English is not bad at all ROFL):
I make this document as a follow up to our team's log book to expand on the goals we have mentioned so far, and the many others that will matter if we want to have a successful team spirit integrated into our games together. Everyone is welcome to suggest changes to the document as the team develops. For any person who is dedicated to a specific task, it is important to adhere to the basics watched the execution of the task can be made easier and can make it as effective and efficient as possible. Some of us, I probably the biggest example of this, sometimes need a short boost and motivation from others to let myself believe that something can be done. No one is perfect, and it's been hundreds of times proven that more than one view is a better overall picture can form. This way I want each player brings his part when it comes to scrims and practices because just think of the possibilities if we have a team able to build not only ordered Dota play, but at a level which does all feel as if they means something and grow in the process.
The principle to get Dota team moving is easy and basic, get five people who want to play together, form the team, and there you have it. So simple, yet so vulnerable. I joined a couple of such groups, and each time it has so far failed. The first point I would make is that the mentality of each player matters far more than the skill of the players when the team is created. Skills can improve as more games are played, but the overall attitude is much less flexible than it first struck. The output of the team must be clear to every individual, and should be taken seriously if there is any hope for development. The other thing I have noticed is that it is quite important for the players to know each other personally for them as a team to play because many teams have already been drawn break because it's easy to so-called "online" to delete friends once their contribution is not preferred. A third important point for a Dota team communication, which will be expanded later.
critical factors
Then let us begin with a general layout for the team, with important ideas that will apply to all future games:
The picks are probably made by the captain, but the input of everyone is very valuable for the insight behind the final picks. It is impossible for one or two people to think of all the great possibilities and suggestions WITH arguments are always good for a healthy draft.
For profit / Losses, it is not necessarily because of the draft OR decisions in the game, but a combination of both. Take this into account for games and try to guess what aspects of the draft well / was bad, and the good / bad plays we made. Personal development is crucial, therefore, is also looking at things that you as a player can improve.
Always check in a game with a positive attitude, no matter what the current state of the game is. If you do not believe in yourself or in the team, how is it possible that the team can do well?
Each player should start paying attention to the small things of serious Dota games to play, such as to carry TP scrolls, regardless of the stage of the game. It is quite obvious that the 1/2 position players TPs will bear 5 minutes into the game, but the supports must especially TPs wear even for that time. Boots are important, immediate support TP is more important for a good early game phase for the team. 4/5 position are the main players in the game, because they determine the flow of the game and make or break the team's farm. Be unselfish and do everything for the team if it means you have no gold at all. Furthermore, it is recommended to wear TPs for every player, no matter if you push, farm, etc. Roshan doing. no.
Different roles are somewhat more important than other during certain stages of a game. As a result, it is necessary that these roles should COMMUNICATE when they are strongest. Talk to each other, even if it is in team chat. Messages can sometimes have a greater influence on people because to see something for you on the game screen forces you to notice if 5 people speaking to voice chat simultaneously. The 4/5 position players MUST coordinate in the early game, because that's when the greatest impact on the game. Ganks, rotations and runes and sweaters and so on are some of the MANY things they do, and effective communication is important. Divide farm and decided eg. who have enough money to upgrade courier AT 3 minutes and when wards who will buy or rather would build an item. The midgame is very determined by the 2/3 position players because they must be able to say whether they are comfortable to gank or push etc.. So it is VERY important that these players can reproduce their plans so that the team knows when to try to achieve the above objectives. Late game is of course true Carries the strongest, so these players will know better whether they are ready to be a certain thing to do, or they engage in a specific lane want to farm, lane want push, whether an item is that they first need. Therefore, the carry play a major role in decision making late game because he will best understand its capabilities with respect to the situations in the game.
Stay positive during a game even though things how bad. Comebacks are always possible, and stay focused to the things that are going well and try to use it to turn the game to the team's advantage. If it is a scrim, type man gg before at least 3 people agree so to do. Respect each other's decisions and shouldn't take any criticism personally, the goal of playing together is to act as a team to improve and enrich each individual.
Think often what items the team will best help and do not just buy an item because you always have a specific progression of items follows your hero does not. If you are not sure which item you should get, ask the team what they think the best item will be for the situation. Take such a decision, and remember to ALWAYS for BUYBACK to save in the late game. It's not so important to have rebuy early in the game, but anything after about 30 minutes can make a big difference. The best teams in the late game are those that focus on objectives when they try something, and carefully note the buybacks on their own team as well as the buybacks that are available on the other team. A team can how far behind in total net worth or XP in the late game, but as long as they have an advantage can get smart buybacks it does not matter how far behind the team is. Buybacks may even be good early in the game, but there is a risk attached to it and a player should always think before he buyback in such a situation. This may or very good, neutral or bad for the street team. Consider also TP cooldowns when buyback, because if your TP cooldown, it's usually not worth the buyback in the early stage of the game to.
SKILL builds far more matter in serious games than it does anywhere else. A general build for a hero might seem appropriate to you in a certain area, but it is not necessarily to follow the optimal path. A very simple example is Disruptor. That hero is generally as a support and played his best to casting and to keep them in place heroes. Thunder Strike maxing is almost never a good idea, although it might be very 'suggested builds "and so on. Max Glimpse is overwhelmingly better, and make it possible to more easily gank and get kills. Good skill builds are highly stressed and everyone is encouraged to know as much as possible about their respective heroes and to be comfortable enough with these heroes to customize their builds of game to game.
EPT
