2013-01-17, 11:48 PM
Sorry if there's been an overload of these kinds of "I need help" posts but I figured it would be good to ask for help here. This post might end up kinda long so I'll try to format it as best as I can, but the bottom line is that I want to learn how to play/get good at DotA(2).
I'll just get it out of the way now that I have a background in LoL (average skill) and SC:BW/SC2 (gold - plat SC2), so ARTS/MOBAs aren't alien to me. I play games more for competition than for leisure, however, and after looking into DotA a bit I decided I'd probably enjoy it more than LoL if I had a firm grasp on it, and for several reasons (art style, pace, strategic variety, etc).
I'm not sure where to start learning however. I've done some research on game mechanics and watched a few gameplay videos from The International, but that's it. Things I know/have seen and probably won't have a big problem with:
- Farming/denying
- Eating trees
- Side shop/secret shop
- Courier/multi-unit management
- More complex micro in general
- Creep stacking
- Rune/jungle/area control
- STR, AGI, INT heroes
- most ARTS/MOBA basics, push/hold mechanic, etc.
Things that I understand in comparison to LoL:
- Progressive stats vs. pre-game runes/masteries for hero specing
- River runes/Roshan vs. jungle buffs/Dragon/Baron
- TP scroll vs. recall
- absence of summoner spells
- absence of ability power, magic resist, etc.
- different focal point for balancing heroes
- harsher death penalty
- hero availability
- hero roles? Might be a bit foggy on this, but I'm assuming there are carries, various flavors of supports, tanks, offtanks/tanky DPS, anti-carries, roamer, jungler, etc.
As expected though there are a lot of things I've seen that I don't understand and there probably will be more things to confuse me, but regardless I have more questions:
What is the significance of the day/night cycle? I'm assuming Radiant favors day and Dire favors night, but is there anything I'm missing other than that? Are there heroes with passives that are affected by day/night?
What happens when the game starts? Do teams fight over runes, try to deny the enemy jungler if there is one, try to snowball a lane right off the bat... In LoL it's usually either help the jungler get buffs or steal/deny the enemy team's buffs, but that process takes up most of the level 1 phase.
What do you do when you're behind? Do you just play passive until you can counter-play, or is it too punishing--do you have to fight your way back in?
How much does control over secondary objectives (Runes, Roshan) have an impact on the game? I know that runes respawn way more often than buffs in LoL (2 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes, 6-7 minutes for bigger objectives). Denying a buff to a laner gives his opponent and the opposing jungler much more presence, as an example, and later in the game the buff granted by Baron (Roshan's equivalent) can inhibit a team's ability to defend a push among other things. Does it work in a similar way in DotA?
What are the differences in the roles that carries of different stats have (AGI vs. INT etc)? The primary element that separates most carries in LoL is AP/spell damage vs. AD/AA damage, and then there are different ways the damage is applied, generally on a scale of high burst -> sustained. I would imagine that this is sort of how it works.
That's about all I can think of for now as far as questions go, but I'll probably have more later.
Anyway, I think I have an unused beta key so I may be able to hop on, but again I'm looking for some help with learning the basics, and after that someone to help me improve. I'm generally not fazed by something being too hard as long as I'll get something out of trying it. Thanks for the help!
I'll just get it out of the way now that I have a background in LoL (average skill) and SC:BW/SC2 (gold - plat SC2), so ARTS/MOBAs aren't alien to me. I play games more for competition than for leisure, however, and after looking into DotA a bit I decided I'd probably enjoy it more than LoL if I had a firm grasp on it, and for several reasons (art style, pace, strategic variety, etc).
I'm not sure where to start learning however. I've done some research on game mechanics and watched a few gameplay videos from The International, but that's it. Things I know/have seen and probably won't have a big problem with:
- Farming/denying
- Eating trees
- Side shop/secret shop
- Courier/multi-unit management
- More complex micro in general
- Creep stacking
- Rune/jungle/area control
- STR, AGI, INT heroes
- most ARTS/MOBA basics, push/hold mechanic, etc.
Things that I understand in comparison to LoL:
- Progressive stats vs. pre-game runes/masteries for hero specing
- River runes/Roshan vs. jungle buffs/Dragon/Baron
- TP scroll vs. recall
- absence of summoner spells
- absence of ability power, magic resist, etc.
- different focal point for balancing heroes
- harsher death penalty
- hero availability
- hero roles? Might be a bit foggy on this, but I'm assuming there are carries, various flavors of supports, tanks, offtanks/tanky DPS, anti-carries, roamer, jungler, etc.
As expected though there are a lot of things I've seen that I don't understand and there probably will be more things to confuse me, but regardless I have more questions:
What is the significance of the day/night cycle? I'm assuming Radiant favors day and Dire favors night, but is there anything I'm missing other than that? Are there heroes with passives that are affected by day/night?
What happens when the game starts? Do teams fight over runes, try to deny the enemy jungler if there is one, try to snowball a lane right off the bat... In LoL it's usually either help the jungler get buffs or steal/deny the enemy team's buffs, but that process takes up most of the level 1 phase.
What do you do when you're behind? Do you just play passive until you can counter-play, or is it too punishing--do you have to fight your way back in?
How much does control over secondary objectives (Runes, Roshan) have an impact on the game? I know that runes respawn way more often than buffs in LoL (2 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes, 6-7 minutes for bigger objectives). Denying a buff to a laner gives his opponent and the opposing jungler much more presence, as an example, and later in the game the buff granted by Baron (Roshan's equivalent) can inhibit a team's ability to defend a push among other things. Does it work in a similar way in DotA?
What are the differences in the roles that carries of different stats have (AGI vs. INT etc)? The primary element that separates most carries in LoL is AP/spell damage vs. AD/AA damage, and then there are different ways the damage is applied, generally on a scale of high burst -> sustained. I would imagine that this is sort of how it works.
That's about all I can think of for now as far as questions go, but I'll probably have more later.
Anyway, I think I have an unused beta key so I may be able to hop on, but again I'm looking for some help with learning the basics, and after that someone to help me improve. I'm generally not fazed by something being too hard as long as I'll get something out of trying it. Thanks for the help!