I do love Dota 2 [Steam], in fact I was completely addicted to it some time ago clocking hundreds of hours into it. This update might pull me back in, as I like the sound of what they're doing to improve the experience.
One thing did always sour the experience, which was the community when you're not playing with friends. They seem to be making some more steps towards cleaning it up. Now, persistent bad behaviour can result in a six month ban from matchmaking. A good step, because some people are incredibly toxic. However, it's a free game so there's not a lot stopping them making another Steam account, although I imagine it will be enough to make some people rethink their attitude.
On top of that, your actual selected language will now play more of a role in matchmaking. I hope they mean that too, because being put into a group full of people who don't speak you language, was something that also ruined a fair amount of games for me.
With those two changes alone, it might make the experience quite a lot better.
There's also a handy new trainer included to help those of you struggling to get gold, they've put in a "last hit" trainer (you get gold if you hit creeps last when they die) that can be played anytime you want, even while queuing for a game.
For those of you who enjoy the custom game modes, you will be pleased to know that they now use dedicated servers to improve performance. Not only that, but custom game developers can also opt-in to have penalties for players who who abandon or fail to ready up, giving them a cool-down.
There's a huge amount more to this update, you can see the release notes here. If you've played it since this patch, do tell us how the experience is for you now!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I still can't will myself to play any MOBA. There's simple no easy way to start, it is too complicated for a beginner and almost every tutorial about it makes the game seem a boring mess.
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hardpenguin 2 Feb 2018
They added so many small improvements to the interface, I love it :) Part of the news is also that they are going to change the update flow to "smaller patches, but often", instead of the usual "big patches just couple times in the year".
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I still can't will myself to play any MOBA. There's simple no easy way to start, it is too complicated for a beginner and almost every tutorial about it makes the game seem a boring mess.
I agree. I used to play the various MOBA mods for Warcraft 3 back in the day and I enjoyed it. Then I see DOTA and LOL and it feels more like a chemistry class in another language. The tech trees have sprawled to insane levels for the beginners and the tutorials are all but worthless. Right away you're thrust into playing with other humans who seems like they are MLG level pros right out of the gate. There needs to be some kinda scaling system that reduces the tech trees and you can put in 20-50 hours then you open up the next level and so on until you feel you grasp the full scale/scope of things to venture into real matches. I think one of the big problems is this idea relies on a decent AI and most games these days don't want to write AI or structure long campaigns or tutorials to use the AI with when the games focus is multiplayer.
While I was on Windows i played quite a bit of HOTS
Different mechanics but MUCH easier and more fun
No gold , no item shop. Many varied maps with objectives.
Only problem is that it's windows only and you would need to use wine for the game and the battle.net client.
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Maybe i'm a part of those who think the MOBA are easy to start to play but hard to master.
I think this is the case about LOL. I started to play it a few years ago and it seemed pretty "smooth".
I didn't have any difficulties to play the game and enjoy it.
But maybe it's not the majority. ^^'
I don't play to DOTA because of Steam, yeah i know... and because of this, i'm stuck to play LOL in Wine.
But i agree with you about the tutorials.
I think this is the case about LOL. I started to play it a few years ago and it seemed pretty "smooth".
I didn't have any difficulties to play the game and enjoy it.
But maybe it's not the majority. ^^'
I don't play to DOTA because of Steam, yeah i know... and because of this, i'm stuck to play LOL in Wine.
But i agree with you about the tutorials.
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I still can't will myself to play any MOBA. There's simple no easy way to start, it is too complicated for a beginner and almost every tutorial about it makes the game seem a boring mess.
You might be right about getting started with Dota 2 is hard.
Although I never had these problems when I started with it, I enjoyed it from the beginng but it also was my first MOBA. If you really want to learn it, I recommend the youtube videos of purge.
I really can't get enough of Dota 2. It's such a great, complex and entertaining game. Even after 1800 hours in it, I learn new things and every game is different. Guess that's the part of "easy to start and hard to master".
I really hope Valve will improve the bad things regualary so that beginners have an easier start.
After all the new 6 month ban period for game ruiners seems a good start.
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Metallinatus 2 Feb 2018
No gold , no item shop.For me those are all negatives, currency and items give a much needed depth and fun to the genre.
Many varied maps with objectives.That is what the mods are there for in Dota, but before they were there, I agree, different maps and objectives were one cool feature HotS had over Dota.
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Great update. It improves matchmaking regarding languages. No more non-English speakers in English servers is VITAL for such a complex team game that requires communication. Much appreciated, Valve!
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No gold , no item shop.For me those are all negatives, currency and items give a much needed depth and fun to the genre.
Many varied maps with objectives.That is what the mods are there for in Dota, but before they were there, I agree, different maps and objectives were one cool feature HotS had over Dota.
To me the gold and item shop just annoy me.
I hate that type of complexity and especially the last hit mechanic(which i still believe is a carryover from Warcraft days)
To each their own I suppose.
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UltraAltesBrot 2 Feb 2018
They added many quality of life features like an info about recent balancing changes for heroes in the pre-game screen and cast times for abilities. Player profiles also look way better now. Still, rip 6.88f.
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Dota is awesome, I think it's the best port ever done, since the performance is very good and you don't need a great PC to run it at the maximum settings.
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I used to be hooked on HoN, it was basically DotA 2 before DotA 2. Fun game, but difficult, time consuming and nerve wrecking. And unfortunately, I was never very good at it, I just don't have the reflexes of today's young cyborgs.
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Well technically Dota 2 isnt free. Or maybe I should say Steam. Because to have a Steam account Im pretty sure you have to buy a game and activate it along with the new Steam account.
I also think the game have to be worth 10$ or more to be able to do this. It isnt a very expensiv cost and Im not sure this will keep griefers or trolls away.
I also think the game have to be worth 10$ or more to be able to do this. It isnt a very expensiv cost and Im not sure this will keep griefers or trolls away.
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Metallinatus 2 Feb 2018
Hmmmm, I think you only need to buy a game to be allowed to use Steam Market and other community features, right? I am SURE I didn't need to buy anything to create my account in late 2012....
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I am SURE I didn't need to buy anything to create my account in late 2012....
Same here, although it may have been a year or so later for me (I don't recall).
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UltraAltesBrot 3 Feb 2018
Well technically Dota 2 isnt free. Or maybe I should say Steam. Because to have a Steam account Im pretty sure you have to buy a game and activate it along with the new Steam account.
I also think the game have to be worth 10$ or more to be able to do this. It isnt a very expensiv cost and Im not sure this will keep griefers or trolls away.
Only some community features are restricted, but you can play F2P games just like everyone else. See [ here](https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3330-IAGK-7663).
Ranked matchmaking requires a phone number, though.
Afterall, Dota 2 is entirely free to play.
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FYI, today I found a way to get Dota 2 to launch on your primary monitor if you use more than one. It's a little buried in a closed issue on Valve's github tracker. It took me a good half an hour to find the fix too, quite annoying.
Add:
As a launch option, and make sure your game is set to "Desktop-friendly fullscreen" in the "Display Mode" drop-down in Dota 2 settings.
Add:
-phased_window_createAs a launch option, and make sure your game is set to "Desktop-friendly fullscreen" in the "Display Mode" drop-down in Dota 2 settings.
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oldrocker99 3 Feb 2018
I tried to play DOTA, got stuck in the second tutorial, and found how to play it on YouTube with the with narration by a 10 year old kid.:O
Nope.:><:
Nope.:><:
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I tried to play DOTA, got stuck in the second tutorial, and found how to play it on YouTube with the with narration by a 10 year old kid.:OYeah it's not for the faint hearted. Probably one of the if not the most complex game around..
Nope.:><:
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it's on linux so I always wanted to get into this game but I so miss the single player campaigns from these games...
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I still can't will myself to play any MOBA. There's simple no easy way to start, it is too complicated for a beginner and almost every tutorial about it makes the game seem a boring mess.Awesomenauts is a free (wasn't free to play before) MOBA that is _very_ accessible to newcomers.
It's 2D, fun, pretty easy to get into, while still hard to master, and the good thing is the matchmaking does match people with approximately the same skill level (so as a noob, you only encounter noobs).
Try it ;)
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