In a survey thread recently concluded in DS, we had the opportunity to gauge the popularity levels of Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends and DotA itself among DS members. The results were as follows:

1. League of Legends - 534
2. Heroes of Newerth - 348
3. Neither - 659

All right, before I’d say anything about the results, I gotta admit that the “Neither” option was a bit ambiguous. It could have meant only DotA, or both LoL and HoN or all 3 since there sincerely might be game geeks who will love DotA and all its succeeding ripoffs. Therefore it is not surprising to me that “Neither” got the most number of votes.

Lesson for the mods: make clear vote options. But that will be for next time.

Now, having said that, the numbers for LoL speaks volumes. Just ONE, clear-cut option gave it as much as 534 votes, indicating very much that LoL is bound to get a lot of fans and players from DS itself right after its official launch. Also, it’s openly known that Pendragon aka Steve Mescon, as well as Guinsoo aka Steve Feak were (and are) very much involved in DotA. It’s obvious they’ve been riding on the DotA tsunami to crash land LoL on our shores, presenting it as an attractive diversion. It is still unknown why a fallout happened between Icefrog and the two guys, but I bet gold it’s definitely got something to do with the thought-of notion that LoL will supersede DotA to oblivion.

May I suggest somebody go undercover to find out what’s really happening? You could start at their official website, http://www.leagueoflegends.com/

And then HoN. First things first, I think that HoN has several glaring weaknesses in terms of marketing and presentation. As of this moment, nothing concrete is being presented on their official website at http://heroesofnewerth.com/. Other than some eye-candy and a link to Facebook, we don’t know what hot stuff is going to take place on HoN and how. It’s true that Facebook is notorious for viral marketing and so the strategy of having an FB (not “a”, “an”) spotlight helps a lot, but you still gotta have a PROPERLY functioning website or blog first. Bad move.

Then the accusation that HoN is literally a clone of DotA. In this respect I have to admit that a perception battle is being waged and guys at S2 don’t seem to have it their way. The battle is not yet concluded, but if anything I think that HoN had better do something to avoid charges of unoriginality at the people’s court. The way I see it, the frog will never admit defeat. He is definitely adamant at making DotA stand out and make people who contend that LoL or HoN will eclipse DotA swallow their words. Remember, Blizzard has a stake in this battle too. If Dota gets less popular this equals very much less WC3 players. In other words, this is WAR and it is not just about defending the ancients anymore.

In this respect, it maybe why HoN got lesser votes than LoL or “neither”. I also noticed with a slight amusement how our DS member Blarfles consistently prepped up LoL at the expense of HoN. Maybe I’m thinking a little too much, but somehow LoL is really lucky to have free propaganda.

As for me, I’m relishing the opportunity to catch both HoN and LoL in action. I don’t care about the tripartite war, all I care for is profit. And a dose of entertainment.

Here’s an announcement from Riot Games, creator of League of Legends:

DotA-Allstars.com is proud to announce that we’ve partnered with Riot Games, the makers of the upcoming MOBA game League of Legends, and GOA, League of Legends European publisher to host an invitational DotA tournament at their booth at Gamescom in Cologne Germany. The event will be streamed live to the web on the tournament portal located at http://web.dota-allstars.com/tournament

Tournament Information
Format: Groupstage into single elimination finals
Prizes: $15,000 USD
Dates: August 19th-23rd
Location: Gamescom (Cologne, Germany)

Links
Tournament Announcement - http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showtopic=294607
Tournament Coverage with live video - http://web.dota-allstars.com/tournament
Event Schedule - http://web.dota-allstars.com/2009/08/13/event-schedule
Coverage on Twitter - http://twitter.com/RinoaSunie
Pendragon on Twitter - http://twitter.com/RiotPendragon

Message from Riot Games
Marc Merrill, the president of Riot Games said, “We’re hoping to raise the profile of DotA to a mainstream audience by displaying it at one of the largest consumer gaming shows in the world. Additionally, this tournament is one of several things that Riot and GOA have planned to “give back” to the DotA community that we’ve been part of for such a long time.The competitive space is extremely important to us, and we already have additional events for both DotA and League of Legends in the works!”

In a fit of motivation (and a thread on the subject) we have made an IRC channel for members of DS.

originally it was going to be on quakenet… but then a couple of random internet people later, we were established on gamesurge.

find us at the url below…

irc://irc.gamesurge.net/dotastrategy

To use irc you need to have an IRC client.

Mozilla users have the benefit of ChatZilla and I don’t know about the rest of the world.

do a quick google search and you will find heaps of them.

After a long break, I’m back.

Well, not quite. I’m here in a VIP lounge in Taipei waiting for my flight to Manila, Philippines.

You know what the coolest thing is about this place?

The XBOX room!!

Anyway, I hope to catch up with you guys once I’ve settled down. Congrats to Flodian for winning Dotactics 2009. ^_^ I’ll be contacting you soon.

If by any chance you watched the recent not-very-blockbuster release of JK Rowling’s work, then you probably have an inkling as to what I will say here. If not, you’ll still have an idea as long as you played the recent versions of Dota. If you don’t then you will - after reading this.

Or will you?

There’s been some rants going on for a while which talked about magic wands the like of which Hogwarts apprentices use. And since I did address this magic wand thingy some time ago in my old blog, I thought maybe do some copy-pasta to earn some attention and traffic as well.

The general, but incorrect (IMO), consensus in DS the Muggle world is that it is a somewhat silly item that is only useful against spammers. It’s not very useful - too little life and mana replenished, too many charges, lalalalalalalala. Reading the recent magic wand threads, I was amused and seriously chuckled for a bit. You wanna know why?

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For a very very long time now, the only ever game mode that was used in leagues was AP plus hero bans. This has been the case since leaguers started to use 6.43b.

It was only in 6.56 that the CM mode was introduced and even that was nothing more than an officially entrenched system, an elaborate ceremony designed for the leaguers’ pleasure. Some other newly introduced modes like SD, RD and CD were also reflections of the same system - they were there for the purpose of making clan players happy.

If there are people who do not believe me when I say that the frog is extremely concerned about “league balance”, look at these new game modes. All of them are catered for one group of people - the elites - and none of them are meant for the common citizen who form the overwhelming majority of Dota addicts players. If Dota was not a game this would have easily evolved into a conspiracy theory in which the interests of the majority are subverted for the minority.

Problem is, what really constitutes league balance? Is league balance really about AP only? When some heroes cannot be picked together just because they are from opposite factions, will the current balance be the true balance? If for example, both teams decide to dish it out via %HP AoE (which is the league craze right now), the Scourge will probably only be able to afford Necrolyte and Undying - not enough %HP (in my opinion). On the contrary the Sentinel will be able to dish out quite a lot of that via Enigma, Zeus, Huskar and Tauren Chieftain. This is perhaps something the frog, as the map tweaker, has to consider.

This phenomenon has also dulled the creative potential of leaguers and by extension, pub players. Most, if not all of the strategies that forumers have been discussing about all rest on the assumption that it is an AP game. When lineups are discussed, do I hear Rhasta and Lion, QOP and POTM, Coco and Sand King, Tinker and Nerubian Weaver, etc thrown into the equation? Or how some heroes’ worst enemies seem to come from the very same tavern sometimes? When was the last time people actually played Normal?

It seems that Normal is, for all purposes and intent, an obsolete mode. It was viewed as a restrictive mode that bans players from touching the other faction’s tavern. At the same time, has anybody also considered the various possibilities that can open up in a Normal league game (corresponding mode LM)? Think about what will happen when players are automatically barred from picking two disablers, two blinkers, two supposedly imbalanced strength heroes, one hero that can teleport to another’s creeps, etc. This forces leaguers to think of new strategies and lineups to overcome the restrictions. End result - a more creatively developing Dota that isn’t so dull anymore due to the ubiquity of AP.

And how about the other modes like All Strength, All Intelligence, All Agility? How about new ones like Only Neutral Taverns? How about some way of allowing and banning certain taverns instead? Think of that immensely great game playing potential. Think of new lineups, new strategies, new counters. We could have a whole new bunch of players who would specialise in playing certain modes y’know. Why should Dota (or anything or anyone) restrict itself to just ONE way of playing?

Creativity can be born out of chaos.

In short, Dota is not a linear adventure game. It’s a strategy game, and strategies are endless. No strategist should be perplexed for lack of tactics, nor should they be forced to think in just one way. Some of our members think big, only to have others trying to smackdown them for making suggestions. I believe the frog is not like that though. But whether the frog accepts big ideas or not, I don’t mince my words when I say this - leaguers should not be so fussy and start getting real

Soooo I just wanted to make a quick parody of Teh Big Cheese’s Europe post. Currently in Hong Kong, I’ll also be a bit indisposed for a while. I’ll be taking a journey to ze motherland tomorrow(Chengdu, Guangdong, Beijing etc) to hide from govt agents and to visit dead ancestors. My activity will be very limited(depending on how much wifi I can leech) and only a select people will feel my limited presence. I’m also here coz I’m not as rich as Drew and can’t afford a Euro-trip ;_;

PS. Don’t let Yukino take over. VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

Currently in Europe for a 2-month hiatus. I was on my way to St. Julien Cathedral when I saw an Internet cafe. I had to make a stop and check my emails and of course, DS. I would have liked to be more visible during this period but my hotel’s wifi leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully when I leave Paris for Italy it’ll be better.

How’s everything? (Leave a comment below lol)

Download it HERE

6.61 Changelog:
===============

###############
## Heroes & Items ##
###############

* Batrider: Lowered Strength gain from 2.5 to 2.0
* Bloodskeer: Bloodbath no longer regenerates from images
* Bone Fletcher: Improved Searing Arrows damage from 10/20/30/40 to 20/30/40/50
* Bone Fletcher: Rebalanced Strafe from 20/40/60/80 IAS with 30 seconds cooldown to 50/60/70/80 IAS with 60/50/40/30 seconds cooldown
* Centaur: Reduced Double Edge cooldown (25->12 seconds)
* Faceless Void: Improved base Strength (17->23)
* Furion: Lowered Sprout cooldown from 11 seconds to 11/10/9/8 seconds and manacost from 115/140/165/205 to 100/120/140/160
* Magnataur: Reverse Polarity now pulls units slightly infront of you instead of all around you
* Medusa: Lowered Stone Gaze cooldown (70->35 seconds)
* Medusa: Minor improvements to Mystic Snake speed , cast range and cooldown
* Medusa: Improved Mystic Snake’s damage from 60/100/140/180 to 80/120/160/200
* Meepo: Rescaled Geostrike from 4/8/12/16 to 5/10/15/20 damage per second
* Nerubian Weaver: Reworked Watchers [details below]
* Nerubian Weaver: Lowered Shukuchi cooldown from 13/11/9/7 to 12/10/8/6 seconds
* Night Stalker: Improved Intelligence growth from 1.25 to 1.6
* Ogre Magi: Reduced Multicast from 30%2x/45%2x+22.5%3x/60%2x+30%3x+15%4x ->25%2x/40%2x+20%3x/50%2x+25%3x+12.5%4x
* Pandaren Brewmaster: Increased Drunken Brawler critical from 1.8x to 2.0x
* Razor: Lowered Intelligence gain from 2.2 to 1.8
* Rooftrellen: Casting Nature’s Guise on an allied unit (or other spells) will no longer take you out if you have it on you
* Silencer: Transferred Glaive of Wisdom’s secondary effect of +1/-1 Intelligence from hero kills to Last Word. If an enemy hero dies under the Last Word effect, that hero will lose 1 intelligence and you will gain 1 intelligence.
* Silencer: Increased Last Word AoE from 700 to 900
* Rebalanced Curse of the Silent from 10/20/30/40 HP and 5/10/15/20 mana per second for 10 seconds to 50 HP and 25 mana for 2/4/6/8 seconds.
* Sniper: Increased Take Aim range from 55/110/165/220 to 65/130/195/260
* Spectre: Decreased Spectral Dagger cooldown from 25 to 16 seconds
* Tauren Chieftain: Lowered base damage by 10
* Tauren Chieftain: Lowered Strength gain from 2.7 to 2.3
* Tauren Chieftain: Decreased Natural Order percentages to 20/40/60/80%
* Vengeful Spirit: Improved base Agility (22->27)
* Viper: Nethertoxin now only works on enemy units
* Witch Doctor: Increased base Intelligence from 19 to 24 (base damage adjust to remain the same though)
* Aghanim’s Scepter (Queen of Pain): Restored original cooldown improvement
* Aghanim’s Scepter (Shadow Shaman): Undid part of the nerf on Mass Serpent Wards. It now gives +3 (up 1 from 6.60, down 1 from 6.59d)
* Buriza-Do Kyanon: Improved the critical value from 2.2x to 2.4x
* Helm of Dominator: Converted creeps now gain the Resistant Skin ability, making spells duration on them the same as heroes or Spirit Bear.
* Quelling Blade: Minor reduction to bonus damage (36->32)

########
## Bugs ##
########

* Fixed natural regeneration on rax
* Fixed an area where you could get stuck using TP scroll on the minimap.
* Fixed -ns mode
* Fixed a chance for duplicate heroes in -CD

* Batrider: Fixed Radiance from triggering Sticky Napalm
* Medusa: Fixed Splitshot triggering Essense Aura
* Razor: Fixed an error in the damage calculation method for Plasma Field that caused it to be slightly off sometimes
* Rooftrellen: Slightly increased Eyes in the Forest cast range (+25) to fix some order issue bugs
* Rooftrellen: Fixed Living Armor not regenerating structures properly
* Tauren Chieftan: Fixed bug with Natural Order sometimes instantly killing Forged Spirit summoned units

* Aghanim’s: Fixed minor incorrect sell value on some versions of the item
* Khadgar’s Pipe of Insight: No longer places the buff on units that already have it
* Bottle: Usage no longer removes Curse of the Silent.
* Linken Sphere: Fixed to properly block Mana Void and Nasal Goo
* Poor Man’s Shield: Fixed bug with -swap
* Quelling Blade: Fixed bug with -swap
* Quelling Blade: Fixed triggering Curse of the Silent
* Rune: Fixed Regeneration sometimes not being removed when you are full if you use bottle at the same time
* Rune: Fixed Double Damage visual effect to properly show when the user is using low graphics mode

####################
## Gameplay & Cosmetics ##
####################

* Removed the int/agi/str distribution in -CD. It is now like RD in its hero distribution.
* Bottle: Now autorefills at fountain if it isn’t fully used (2975)
* Reduced FPS drops when using Shiva’s Guard and Plasma Field with some custom import files (PGRu-Unexpect3D)
* Sound Effects: Removed the “Allied hero has fallen” (heavily requested for removal due to annoyances)

* Invoker: Added a new Icon for Sun Strike (5312)
* Juggernaut: You no longer lose control while using Omnislash. You can use items like Dagger while Omnislashing (4938)
* Slardar: Added a new icon for his Bash (3587)
* Tidehunter: Added a new Anchor Smash visual effect (4393)
* Gem of Truesight: Changed hotkey from T to I to help against some common misbuys
* Increased the transparency a little more for the Circle Of Powers that aren’t yours.
* Fixed -SP moving your camera away from taverns
* Fixed various minor inconcistences between sentinel and scourge units/buildings
* Fixed some very minor inconsistencies with acquire ranges on some heroes
* Observer Board colors now alternate between white and grey to make it a little more readable

Old Watcher’s:
==============
Cooldown: 30/20/10/5 seconds
Movement Speed: 522
HP: 1
Bounty: 10-13
Vision: 1400/1400
Invisible

Urna Swarm:
============
Summons scarabs from corpses. The Scarab can burrow and become invisible.
While it is unburrowed, it is visible to the enemy and has an Infestation
ability. Has collision when unburrowed.
Magic Immune.

Cooldown: 14/11/8/5
Movement Speed: 450
HP: 200
Armor: 6
Bounty: 26-38
Burrowed Vision: 400/400
Normal Vision: 1400/1400

Infestation: Can suicide to Silence enemy units 275 aoe around it for 3 seconds and deal 20 damage per second (non-stacking).

Enjoy.

In this article, opinions from leaguers were collected about 6.60. Read it for yourself and see why I said it is the Tauren Chieftain’s map.

I do not know what will happen in 6.61 the next incarnation, but being very concerned with “league balance” the frog will definitely not lie low and see that his pet is snubbed because it’s too powerful or something. Either a nerf or some sort of “rebalance” option will be on the tables to please the leaguers. You will see this very soon.

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