You hear me, the NDA is officially non existent and open beta is set to begin… well about now.

In 2 days we will see all stats reset (again) and the pre-season will start and continue until early 2010, during this time you will be able to  get your summoner level up and unlock your favourite Champions (with the 10 free champions rotating regularly)

On top of this, before the the first official ladder season begins Riot plans on introducing a heap of features currently not in the game, these include clans, teams, tournaments, ladders, draft mode, as well as additional content such as new champions and maps.

Other hot~ish topics in the forums include a fully integrated VoIP system, other game modes (CTF, KotH) and Replays all of which are being taken rather seriously and various posts from Zileas would suggest that the “top men” in the office are working their butts off to make it possible.

Anyway, what are you waiting for, if you haven’t played yet, flood the games with noobs

sign up!

http://signup.leagueoflegends.com

As many of you have probably noticed, Icefrog has remade a few important items in these past few versions. These include the boots, Mjollnir, HoT, Diffusal/Manta, and many others. This post will be part of a multi-post series on item remakes.

The focus of this post will be focused on the controversial Heart of Tarrasque.

Before: HoT

35 STR

300 HP

11 HP regen per second (stackable)

Remake #1 : HoT

11 HP regen per second –> 1% HP per second (non-stackable)

Remake #2: HoT

1% HP regen per second –> 2% HP regen per second (non-stackable)

Hero based damage disables regen for 10 seconds.

Buffed Remake #2: HoT

+35 STR –> +40 STR

Disable time from 10 –>8 (Now includes roshan as “Hero based damage”)

As you can see, these new remakes of HoT lend the game a new style of play. The change of the constant stackable regen to a standardized 1% regen was a popular change, since almost everybody saw the balance that came with that. However, then next change caused much more friction. Many of you complained, whined, and rolled in the dust when the new “Disable Regen” mechanism was introduced in 6.63. Some even sent an email to the frog, which he responded to.

Q: Why did you remove the combat regeneration from Heart of Tarrasque? (from Florian)

A: It was a very specific choice to completely remove combat regeneration from it rather than just reduce it. While it was a nerf, that wasn’t the primary goal. The problem with trying to measure the value of regeneration on Heart is that it makes your success in a fight depend at least partially on how long the fight lasts. The core issue is more about what it promotes rather than it allowing you to survive. It encourages the wrong things and doesn’t reward players who make better moment to moment decisions as much as it could. It removes some depth from the game and makes it a little less interesting over all. If the item needs a certain amount of tanking power, it is much more direct to add more hit point bonus to the item instead of doing it via a method that obscures the ability to measure the balance of the item.

This is more about the design philosophy the item should have, rather than its actual numbers or power, since I consider those as solvable problems if you have the right design to start with. In general, I prefer to lean towards creating a situation of long term solvability to issues. Some things might be knowingly imperfect but done in a manner that increases measurability to allow it to settle in a better place in the long run.

And no, the question isn’t asked by our famous flodian. It’s “floRian” apparently. I’ve bolded some of the “meat” in this statement.

• While it was a nerf, that wasn’t the primary goal. That statement itself is debatable. I think icefrog was biased a little bit by all the emails people hav been sending him. As alluded to in the second part of the statement, the frog didn’t have a nerf in mind when he tried to remake HoT. One of the key things to remember is that the regen was DOUBLED. If you were a morphling that had eliminated all of your base strength into agility, with this item you would still regenerate at >20 HP/second.
• It encourages the wrong things and doesn’t reward players who make better moment to moment decisions. Referring to the old HoT. One of the key reasons in my opinion on why Icefrog changed HoT. Oftentimes after a Heart is aquired, common sense is lost, and players would just charge into battle with little or no thinking, feeling that (rightfully so) the Heart’s massive regen would make up for whatever life was lost due to poor judgement. Now, the attention once again turns to a more calculated approach, one that benefits noobs less and helps more intelligent players more. 
• “It removes some depth from the game and makes it a little less interesting over all. ” Again, referring to the old HoT. Who needs to think when you’re roofy, have living armor on, have 3K hp, regen 30 per second, and are at level 12? Yes, I achieve that frequently. For most heroes that get this item, again, the mindlessness that comes after feeling the security that comes from such a major tankage boost desensitizes you to things an otherwise good player would notice, like map awareness, and most of all, encourages 1v1 battles. Once again, this item points to more teamwork, something that everybody that has played pubs would like to see more of >.>
• design philosophy the item should have, rather than its actual numbers or power. Wise words from a wise man. The numbers can easily be tinkered with and balanced, but this new design is what will really make a difference. We can compare the amount of HP regenerated with this heart compared to the old heart in all sorts of different circumstances, and declare it a buff or a nerf or whatever, but what ultimately matters is what type of gameplay tactics this change affects. Surely, you can see what the frog is aiming at here. In a way, the frog is using this to support the DPSgeddon that caspy’s been talking about for a long time now. Heroes(even tanks) are getting weaker HP wise, and games have more ganks/kills, more action, and feel more interesting. Late game, the heart buff allows pure DPS to shine, rather than allowing uber tank heroes with a disable or two to shut down carries as is frequently the case.
• knowingly imperfect but done in a manner that increases measurability to allow it to settle in a better place in the long run. This phrase sounds really technical, but it’s similar to the last key point. I think this actually points to a nerf on HoT in the future. Icefrog is smart, he knows how these changes will be recieved, and massively increased the regen (and recently buffed the item even more) to try and compensate for the huge percieved “nerf”. Once people get used to the new style of playing, and seeint how powerful HoT really is, that’s when the nerfs will come.

Gameplay with the new Heart

Places where heart can be considered a “buff”

• Tower pushing. Towers do almost nothing when you have 2% of max HP regenerating.
• Neutral creeping. Similar to towers, allows farming of gold fairly quickly when you can regenerate that rapidly.
• Creep stacking. Any hero with a HoT can effectively clear a stacked Ancient camp. Again, quick $$$.
• Whenever heavy regeneration is needed out of battle (i.e. after a huge team clash). After getting this item, fountain trips for health are completely unnecessary, as by the time you get there, you will be mostly renerated anyways. After a large clash where you lose a decent amount of HP you have two options. Neutral creep if you lost the clash, and then pop back out with almost full HP 45 seconds later. If you won, go ahead and keep pushing, since by the time enemy heroes respawn, your HP will be at a healthy level again.
• Radiance users
• Roshing

Again, you can see how this benefites the late game carries, whether they weild this item or come up against it. STR carries especially, like Slardar, Nai’x, Huskar, Skeleton King, etc will ikely see more use since often they get lifesteal which is meant for direct combat regeneration.

Places where heart can be considered a “nerf”

• Long periods of frequent direct combat.
• Fleeing heroes
• Juking
• Mega-Tanks

Again, once these gameplay changes are analyzed, it become obvious that this DPS heroes are mostly benefited.

Now recently, Icefrog buffed the heart even more, increasing the strength by 5 and decreasing the regen disable time. At the same time though, Icefrog recognized the crucial mistake he made in not giving Roshan the ability to disable it. Darn, now that would’ve been something haha.

Ok, I’ve been at this long enough. Now get out there and enjoy how DotA has taken a turn for the better with this change. Oh, and pick a DPS hero

Previously, you read here that:

The next versions of Dota will be so DPS heavy, it will be a case of picking just one or even two DPS heroes and witness an Armageddon taking place.

This Armageddon, which we have since come to know as DPSgeddon, and fittingly so, are seeing very tangible signs of a prophecy being fulfilled, in the very version of 6.64.

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Dota Allstars 6.64 is out!!

Get it here.

Changelog:

Broodmother
- Spin Web now shows a minimap icon

Clockwerk
- Armor decreased by 1

Dark Seer
- Ion Shell cast on an already affected unit will replace the old buff instead of stacking
- Wall of Replica damage dealt when affecting an enemy hero increased from 125 to 150
- Wall of Replica image damage increased from 60% to 70%

Dazzle
- Removed the extra vision on Weave that remains for 12/18/24 seconds. It now only reveals for a couple of seconds during the cast effect.

Huskar
- Burning Spears damage rescaled from 6/8/10/12 to 4/8/12/16

Lanaya
- Psionic Trap now adds to your most recently placed trap to your selection panel as a secondary unit

Leoric
- Vampiric Aura increased from 5/10/15/20% to 10/16/22/28%

Lone Druid
- True Form movement speed decreased by 35
- Hero movement speed increased by 10
- True Form transformation time increased from 1.45 to 2 seconds
- True Form armor increased by 2
- Spirit Bear’s leash range reduced from 1500 to 925
- Spirit Bear no longer returns to Syllabear when he attacks out of leash range. Instead the bear will not attack

Lord of Avernus
- Aphotic Shield cast range decreased from 800 to 300
- Death Coil cast range increased from 300 to 800

Morphling
- Morph Replicate mana cost increased from 0 to 150

Necrolyte
- Strength gain increased from 1.5 to 2.0

Nerubian Assassin
- Mana Burn can no longer target creeps since it no longer effects them (42965)

Nerubian Weaver
- Urna Swarm’s Scarab’s cast mechanism changed. If you cast Infestation while having multiple Scarab selected, only one casts one at a time instead of all of them.

Night Stalker
- Darkness cooldown reduced from 240/180/125 to 180/150/120

Obsidian Destroyer
- Agility increased from 15 + 1.4 -> 24 + 2.0

Pandaren Brewmaster
- Primal Split’s Fire Panda now has hero damage type

Pudge
- Flesh Heap reworked, it no longer gains strength from creeps. Instead he gains strength (same values as before, 0.9/1.2/1.5/1.8) for any nearby (400 AOE) dying enemy hero. You still get the bonus if the unit dies outside of the aoe if you are the killer.

Rhasta
- Scepter version of Mass Serpent Wards no longer increases ward count. Instead, the damage of the wards is increased to match previous damage output.

Storm
- Base Intelligence increased from 23 to 26

Sven
- Warcry AoE increased from 350 to 450

Techies
- Remote mine now adds to your most recently placed mine to your selection panel as a secondary unit

Tidehunter
- Kraken Shell reworked, instead of removing buffs in time intervals, buffs are now removed whenever 600 HP is lost from player based damage. The counter is reset whenever you don’t take damage for 6 seconds.

Undying
- Base strength reduced from 25 to 22
- Intelligence gain reduced from 2.8 to 2.0
- Dying Illusions no longer trigger Plague Aura for regeneration

Viper
- Movement speed decreased by 5

Warlock
- Fixed Upheaval from slowing in the AOE around you rather than at the target AOE as it should

Arcane Ring
- AoE increased from 400 to 600

Armlet of Mordiggian
- Recipe restored to previous version since there is no more recipe conflict. Requires claw and 900 gold recipe instead of quarter staff and 500 gold recipe

Demon Edge
- Damage increased from 36 to 46

Heart of Tarrasque
- Bonus strength increased from 35 to 40
- Regeneration disable time reduced from 10 to 8

Necronomicon
- Recipe cost reduced by 50 gold

Mjollnir
- Static Charge changed from 45 cooldown to 35

Phase Boots
- Bonuses and recipe reworked

Power Treads
- Bonuses and recipe reworked

Orchid Malevolence
- Increased damage by 5

Satanic
- Bonus damage fixed on units that morph
- Cooldown reduced from 50 to 35

* Reworked buyback cost scaling

* Lots of ingame scoreboard improvements

* Slightly increased the regen rate of barracks and towers when they are attacked without nearby creeps/corpses from 40 to 55

* Added colored teleportation effects (allied only) at the target destination to match your player color (infrisios,5153)

* Added a new command -ii (-iteminfo) that displays allied hero items in the scoreboard

* Added a new Forked Lighting Icon, Name (Ether Shock) and visual effect (16523)
* Changed Vengeful Spirit sound set (13425)
* Changed Void’s Time Lock visual effect (5793)
* Items that get disabled with damage (Heart & Dagger) are no longer affected by self damage. Roshan damage now disables them.

* Added a new test command “-killwards” to remove all observer and sentry wards on the map
* Added a new Eyes in the Forest icon (46851)
* Added a visual effect for Kraken Shell when buffs are removed
* Added color change visual for Morphling’s model based on the ratio of agility to strength
* Added buyback message for observers
* New replay data available

* Fixed bug that prevented Open Wounds from working properly on non-hero units. It can now target regular units.
* Fixed Linken Sphere to properly block Nerubian Assassin’s Mana Burn
* Courier’s Deliver Items ability now properly exits its logic if you interrupt the courier with a different order (shield and burst don’t count)
* Fixed Mjollnir’s Static Charge being stackable
* Fixed Proximity Mines not triggering automatically on Scourge Towers like they do on the Sentinel ones
* Fixed a bug with disassembling Mjollnir not giving the recipe
* Fixed Enchant from being able to take over Primal Split units
* Fixed a bug with HCL mode where the game mode could be duplicated resulting in various other weird bugs
* Fixed various typos
* Fixed missing cooldown tooltip to neutral creep Tornado ability
* Fixed Glyph from affecting Tombstone

First.

In case you didn’t know, I got massive support for the RAL post, even warranting a separate coverage in Playdota. For that, thanks a lot to the people who read it and made it more viral. Your support goes a long way towards maintaining the supremacy of DS in the Dota blogosphere

2nd.

I believe that more people are going to blog here, so you will not be just hearing from me. In fact, you’ll be hearing from them quite soon, so support them as you did royalty. Of course, first preferences to royalty.

3rd.

In the RAL post I made a brief mention of the term DPSgeddon and made some brief allusions. Here, I will explain what I had alluded to.

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IceFrog has begun working on the Dota 6.64 map update about two weeks ago, and in a recent statement he said that the 6.64 update will focus on balance improvements. In an older article dated September 23rd, he mentioned a bug with Phase Boots:

However, we found out that there is a technical issue with Phase Boots. They seem to prevent procs like crits, bashes, etc while phased. It was never as apparent before because it was not coupled with attack speed. This makes the Phase Boots a bit anti-synergetic.

A workaround was underway and he is playing around with different versions of Phase Boots and Power Treads:

Phase Boots:
Boots of Speed (500)
2x Blades of Attack (1000)
Recipe (none)
Total: 1500

+70 Movement Speed
+26 Damage
Phase (Active)

Power Treads:
Boots of Speed (500)
Boots of Elvenskin or Belt of Giant Strength or Robe of the Magi (450)
Gloves of Haste (500)
Recipe (none)
Total: 1450

+60 MS
+10 Any Attribute
+30 IAS

While he notes:

While there may be workarounds for that bug, most would probably come at the cost of some functionality. So while still keeping with the primary no armor concept, I am exploring a new buildup for Phase Boots and Power Treads. Keep in mind that numbers are still at an early stage and this change is by no means final, but I’d like to share one version of what we are experimenting with.

While Dota 6.64 will contain mostly fixes, IceFrog hinted new remakes and heroes in version 6.65.

IceFrog recently announced a teamup with big gaming company Valve, the creator of such games as Counterstrike and Half-life. What this partnership entails is still unclear, but IceFrog promises to reveal more details soon. In the meantime I suspect more far reaching implications. IceFrog had already detached himself from Dota-Allstars.com and setup his own PlayDota.com portal, which is now considered the official Dota-Allstars website. I think it’s natural for IceFrog to scout for big companies to support his efforts in taking the game further.

Take a look at IceFrog’s statement:

I have some really awesome news I’d like to share with you guys. I am now leading a team at Valve! I finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right.

My goal and top priority in the future is to solve the surrounding issues that affect the DotA experience in order to allow it to reach new heights. Addressing these issues will enable us to further enjoy aspects of DotA such as the gameplay, mechanics, and in-game feel that currently work well and ought to be maintained. As I’ve said many times in the past and especially after today’s developments, I am very excited about DotA’s future!

With regards to the 6.64 patch, the focus will be primarily on more balance improvements. It is moving along very smoothly and I expect to have it ready soon. Once those refinements are done, I’ll be working on some fun new content such as heroes or remakes for the 6.65 version. If there are specific things, big or small, you want me to consider for patches that follow, let me know.

Now, as we all know (or if you don’t), Valve is the company behind Steam, a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform. Steam facilitates the distribution and sale of games through the Internet with over 20 million users and 800 different titles available. Four key components might play importantly in this partnership. One is Steamwork’s multiplayer lobby feature, a lobby system where players agree on game settings before joining a server, something we have yet to see in Dota. Another is a matchmaking system that automatically groups players based on a criteria. Steam’s social network, aptly called The Steam Community, is a place where players interact with each other, see player stats and history of gameplay. Lastly, Steam Cloud enables Steam users to store game settings and saves on a central server. Really, really exciting stuff here, but then again, all of this is pure speculation by me.

It may be a few weeks to a few months before we learn what IceFrog’s really up to. Whatever it is, I hope it will be awesome enough to give the community a much needed boost and fire up the game for years to come.

I note with an amount of sadness that some of the followers of my old blog were disappointed that I was no longer writing there. Rest assured that I myself must suffer the greatest pain of not being able to write with a full amount of freedom, and that I am highly grateful to Drew and the rest of the staff that at least I can still have a lease of blogging life even though I no longer write on my own.

On that old blog, I issued a challenge 4 versions ago - 6.59 - that Dota-ers should prove to the frog that certain buffed heroes back then would really make it into the league. And I myself predicted that one such hero would be highly used (and banned) by leaguers - even though, I can tell you, I have no s**t amount of league experience at all. My crystal ball of looking into the future is my own gut instinct, and common sense.

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