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.

A video featuring SK and MYM players doing imba escape moves to survive…

by EndMyLifeNow

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.

If you have being living under a rock for the past year or so, you would not know that the DotA concept has been taken by a  number of game companies, had the wc3 elements and restrictions removed then revamped into a whole new game.  So far the only one of these that was sold to the general public is Demigod which sadly enough was a bit of a flop in my opinion.

Do not fret, there are more on the way which look quite promising, I am (naturally) talking about League of Legends. While browsing this site in recent times you will probably have noticed the same two ads flashing at you relentlessly. On the topic of LoL, I can’t say much more than this: yes there is beta, and I am participating.

Riot staff (the makers of League of Legends, including the maker of DotA Allstars – ‘Guinsoo’) have taken a very open approach to the development of the game throwing the doors wide and asking the question: What would you like to see in this game? Thus far this has being highly successful and LoL has gained popularity (definitely helped by the witty internet meem abbreviation.)

It is no surprise, perhaps that the secret S2Games project ‘Heroes of Newerth’ was announced, not only that, but you can get a beta key if you are willing to try. This covers the 2 new games that are cited as being DotA-like (and thus largely denied a wiki page on the topic of MOBA genre) and now it is time to try and draw comparisons without breaking the NDA I signed… or ticked the box really, but it is still a legally binding document.

A quick comparison or two…

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The versions 6.56 up to 6.60 have been phenomenal where change is concerned. By now you should have understood the significance of these changes, so I need not elaborate. What needs to be reconsidered in light of the changes, however, are item builds hitherto considered “cookie cutter” on certain heroes.

________________________________________________________

Luna Moonfang

From 6.49 onwards, the only item build which was seriously considered by both pubs and leagues was the Butterfly + Satanic build. This was especially so after it was found that in 6.49, Luna could tank 5 heroes while killing about 3 (maybe even all 5) at the same time. This was due to the nature of Satanic giving lifeleech off the 2nd-to-5th bounceys at that time. Even though this was changed in 6.52 so that the extra bounceys did not count for lifesteal, it still remained popular despite the reality that begun to sank in.

This terribly expensive item build was a burden that made Luna hard to play especially in later versions which demanded cheap ownage. With the 6.60 changes, it is even more important to evaluate if Butterfly + Satanic is ever a practical item build on the Moon Rider. Can Luna just sit still and farm more than 10 000 gold just to own when devastation is all around her? Why is Satanic still on her when she doesn’t get that special lifesteal anymore? If lifesteal is needed, then a simple Mask of Death or even just Mask of Madness (yes read that right) should do. Unless Luna has achieved her peak and is able to farm the crucial 3300 fast, Butterfly is also a suspect.

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It’s official. Team Flow, Philippine representative to the Asian Cyber Games 2006 and 2007, is the 2009 Philippine representative. Team Flow is composed of Arby Ng, Marvin Tan, Jojo Uy, Bryan Ang, and Vinzyre Villeguez. The famed Team Flow has been a force to reckon with since they burst out into the DotA scene more than four years ago.

In 2006, they won the local qualifiers against veterans 129. Flow represented the Philippines in the Asian Cyber Games in Singapore but lost to the eventual champions. In 2007, Flow decimated Ninja in the local qualifiers and represented the Philippines once again. That year, Flow gave the Philippines it’s first ACG medal as the team finished 3rd place.

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As the Sith emperor is making plans to conquer the world busy, in the meantime I’ll do some blogging in his stead. As some of you know, I have a personal dotablog at What Matters in Dota. So my style of blogging is exactly going to be the same here.

I think it’s no secret how the new map is going to look like, thanks to the beta-testers who leaked it. 2 totally new heroes, some old ones that are practically new, and some tweaked a bit. If you have read my blog before I said that I feel (emphasis on that personal note) all these changes are meant for only one purpose - to merge the pub and league worlds into one.

The trend of rushing changes and churning out new versions like there’s no tomorrow is not without reason. For some reason, the frog wishes leaguers to be more comfortable with using more heroes. To a certain degree he has already succeeded. You can check out all the “competitive” dota news to verify what I say. In another way, he also wants the style of pub players to be better incorporated into the league gaming style. In this aspect he may still have a long way to go.

The Tauren Chieftain is, plainly put, nothing more than another hero that fits quite nicely into the 1st purpose, while still lacking in the 2nd. This is perhaps the third such hero that the frog has introduced to Dota already, the first being Clockwerk Goblin and the second Admiral. However, unlike the two, the frog has learned some lessons about not giving too much power to a single hero, to the point of being burdened with too much nerfs in the later versions.

Hence, if you notice, the 1-second delay in the Great Stomp skill, the immense difficulty of getting that Ancestor to where you want it to be, and an even greater delay in the execution of Earth Splitter. Natural Order is perhaps what makes the TC a bit more special, reducing armor and spell resistance. In the world of leaguers where spell damage is predominant, giving even more spell damage can be intriguing. Combine that with a flawless execution of Earth Splitter and Great Stomp, and you have quite the punch that can make it into leagues.

Pub-wise, perhaps this hero in the initial periods after the introduction of 6.60 would command quite a lot of attention for a while, because people would need to get used to it. Standard operating procedure. After that while? Hopefully your ancestors would guide you.
(more…)

Icefrog announced a couple of days ago that version 6.60 of Dota will be released early June 2009. Based on my estimates that could occur in 2-7 days from now. What is *really* getting me pumped are the sweeping changes Icefrog mentioned in his blog post:

Here is a list of a few of the things to expect in 6.60. There will be many new items (at least 5) and improvements or remakes to current items. You can also expect lots of ability changes on old heroes, a couple hero remakes and a new hero or two. A new regeneration system for structures will be active only when they are attacked without creeps/corpses nearby (more detailed infomation on the mechanics for this in the changelog).

Let’s put that into perspective. So we’re going to have *at least* 5 new items. That’s a LOT, really. I’ve been reading around other sites on what these items *could* be (based on the leaked maps), and this is what I found out:
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A limited collector edition mousepad created specifically for DotA players has been released. Brought to you by Qpad, KODE5 and renowned DotA illustrator Kendrick “Kunkka” Lim, the mousepad sports the famous load screen we see in the latest DotA release versions. Only 1,000 of these babies will be produced.

Size: Large [40.5x28.5cm 15.95x11.23 inch]
Thickness: 4 mm
Color: kunkka design
Surface: Hybratek™ Coated soft top

It will set you back about $35-40 a piece. Pricey, but if you’re a die-hard DotA fanatic, it’s definitely worth it. If you’re interested, head over here.

(Yes, I bought one a few minutes ago)

Asian Cyber Games Philippine Preliminaries 2008
DotA All Stars

Day 3: July 13, 2008
FINALS

Flow
Two-time Philippine representative to the Asian Cyber Games
3rd Place, Asian Cyber Games 2007
ACG 2008 record: 3 - 1, Won over Judss, Nomets & Pag-ibig, Lost to Mineski

vs

Mineski
Two-time Philippine representative to the Asian DotA Championship
4th Place ADC 2007
ACG 2008 record: 3 - 0, Won over BTE, BS, and Flow

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