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[Mr. Pedantic]

I was kind of surprised from the breakdown of Mekansm; I didn't realize it out performed a vanguard in terms of bang for your buck.

I actually worked it out, I think. Assuming that an average fight lasts around 60s (biasing it towards the Vanguard slightly), you're a melee hero, and speaking only for yourself and disregarding the aura, basically if you pop off the Mekansm there is no half-plausible scenario in which a Vanguard is appreciably better than a Mekansm.

If you don't, then that favours the Vanguard slightly because of the 1hp/s higher HP regen of the Vanguard. However, it still works out that for every 100hp you take over that period, you need roughly 12 more armour to make it worthwhile - for example, at 19 armour and 300hp you break even, but at 500hp damage, you need 47 armour to make Vanguard better.

Moral of the story: get a Mekansm.




I have the Excel file if you want to take a look.

 

[Zeze]

To be honest, I'm surprised a bottle or some kind of boots didn't get on there. Same with TP, courier, dust or wards. They're basic, and they don't give any bonuses to your hero, but few would consider going a game without any of them (except maybe dust or bottle).

Those seem like good videos.

Didn't they preface that they would exclude obvious items you Must get? Otherwise TP gets the best item in the game.

 

[nephilim2k]

I have a couple to give away

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I always feel like the Vanguard is a sucker's bet. If you feel you need one, you should just get a BKB instead.

 

[Zeze]

I always feel like the Vanguard is a sucker's bet. If you feel you need one, you should just get a BKB instead.

Yup.

Vanguard was a core on everyone mere two years ago. Now it's been effectively outdated by Tranquil Boots that give eternal healing for a very cheap price. And HP can be mitigated with the introduction of cheap value items like Drums, PMS, or casual Vitality Booster into Heart later.

You can tell Icefrog made conscious effort to make the game more fun, shorter, & action packed in last 3 years:

- More kill/assist gold and EXP buffs time and time to make ganking more encouraged than farming

- Faster level 5 to 7. Faster level 11.

- Introduction of value-packed cheap items that make early & midgame fun: Urn, Medallion, PMS, Aquila, Drums, etc.

- Big items are cheaper and come 'online' faster- Orchid is about 1000g less (core on Clinkz, QoP, Storm), same goes for Daedalus. Desolator is dirt cheap now & deadly early. Skadi, Hex, so many are cheaper.

- Arcane Ring became Arcane Boots, so you don't have to waste 2 slots.

- Soul Ring 3.5 years ago changed everything. Uber cheap mana for all STR heroes. Same goes for Armlet.

- Smoke of Deceit was introduced to encourage more ganks (bypasses wards) & break stalemates.

- Reliable Gold was introduced (gold can't lose upon death) to spring back easily.

So on and so on. Vanguard needs attention and is due for a tweak or an overhaul.

The last 10~ heroes released (original Dota 1 creations, not Dota 2 ports) are all supports or gankers to add more flavor to the game. (Phoenix, Legion Commander, Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Winter Wyvern, Oracle, Arc Warden, Gyro, SD, etc).

The game is heading in a very nice direction.

 

[Destiny]

If you have to choose: Blink Dagger or Force Staff?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

If you have to choose: Blink Dagger or Force Staff?

Depends. Blink dagger is nice in that it goes whatever direction you want to go, but force staff lets you move other people, and it doesn't get countered by damage. Probably force staff in most cases. Blink if I'm magnus or Enigma or something where I want to focus on getting my combo, not the direction I need to face to get the combo.

 

[Destiny]

Depends. Blink dagger is nice in that it goes whatever direction you want to go, but force staff lets you move other people, and it doesn't get countered by damage. Probably force staff in most cases. Blink if I'm magnus or Enigma or something where I want to focus on getting my combo, not the direction I need to face to get the combo.

True, normally I get a blink dagger but since I've been playing as support heroes alot lately I found out with force staff I have a better survivability rate = they almost always focus on me first in team battles.

 

[Clinkster]

Depends. Blink dagger is nice in that it goes whatever direction you want to go, but force staff lets you move other people, and it doesn't get countered by damage. Probably force staff in most cases. Blink if I'm magnus or Enigma or something where I want to focus on getting my combo, not the direction I need to face to get the combo.

Generally speaking, blink for better initiating, force staff for better escaping.

 

[Zeze]

Blink:

- Great for initiation. The full 1200 range is a must on ES/Enigma/Puck/Magnus/Bat/ so on. Pubs don't respect dagger range. They get hard-fucked by dagger + stun (which is another +500-600 range on top) at all times because they rely on their crappy 1800 vision too much. Forcestaff can NEVER match this.

- Big upfront cost. Hard to buy for supports unless you're already stomping.

- Good for escaping as long as you aren't hit in 3 seconds (which is actually common). You can still die after using Forcestaff.

Forcestaff:

- Good for escaping yourself and allies. This is a boon to Naix, it effectively cancels one Open Wound. You can use it on allies which can be perfect at times.

- Easier to buy with smaller parts.

- Additional +2hp regen is quite helpful (esp when you buy the ring early alone), +10 int is good as well. Good stats. Axe loves both, as well as Slardar. They really love either Dagger or Forcestaff.

- Can also use it on enemy. If you time it right, you can have 1 enemy fall right into the pit of your team.

- Range isn't good enough at times, unless you skip terrain over it.


Some heroes only love dagger (Mag, ES, Enigma, etc)
Some heroes love either (Lion, or most supports actually)
Some heroes love BOTH in same game (Bat to Blink in, Lasso, Force out)

 

[Olikan]

The game is heading in a very nice direction.

yep... i find really amazing how good IceFrog is at balancing this game, it's so out of the box...

it treats dota, like... a game XD
i mean.... having to write "winner!" at chat with legion comander, disabled buyback with necrolite ult...well, buyback as a whole.... it is so "un-"immersive, the oposite way that every game is going

 

[Juddog]

yep... i find really amazing how good IceFrog is at balancing this game, it's so out of the box...

it treats dota, like... a game XD
i mean.... having to write "winner!" at chat with legion comander, disabled buyback with necrolite ult...well, buyback as a whole.... it is so "un-"immersive, the oposite way that every game is going

Well one way to look at it is that the game has had a decade to work on balance while it's still in beta, since the original DOTA had so long to work on balance issues. It's rare to see a game that is this polished while still in beta.

 

[Zeze]

Some Dota news for you guys, fresh this morning:

A Korean journalist vists Valve's HQ. (Even if you don't know Korean, the pics alone are awesome).

Dota 2's highly anticipated documentary 'Free to Play' poster revealed. (It's about eSport pro players, their struggles, etc.)

Dota 2 confirmed to be released (out of beta) before TI3 (August 7, 2013)

Fails of the Week Episode 56

 

[{bad}]

m back after 4 days, so to cut long story short..

->against pl i always pick Keeper of the Light to hrash him and shut him down from lvl 1,
->there is not e1 1 game which is balanced, there will always be people who whill be good at something than others, though i think dota is pretty much balanced when it comes to heroes there is counter to everything.
->traquil boots + urn killed van
-> from last 2 years icefrog is changing most of heros who had passive spells to castable spells(troll, razer are perfect examples) focus seem to be on better teamplay. no more sitting in ncs till u get 6 pack

 

[{bad}]

where is everybody???

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Not playing much dota, have an important test tomorrow

 

[Peter Nixeus]

LOL... I'm trying to understand what you are saying...

I still think Sven is a better counter to PL or Meepo... When I picked Earthshaker to counter PL, I had to wait till his ultimate is off cooldown before unleashing hell on PL...

With Sven, I just stun the group, find the PL that took the least damage if the stun didn't kill all the illusions - then unleash hell on the real PL while the passive queling blade skill kills the illusions. And I carry dust just in case PL tries to disappear...

Or I choose Crystal Maiden and follow a ganker around... when we gank PL, I use her first skill's AOE damage to find the real PL then I freeze the real PL before he can disappear or run - then the ganker will kill him before the freeze wears off..

 

[Zeze]

where is everybody???

I'm here- today's update will be released any hour now. It's widely speculated to include Abbadon or Legion Commander.

Or neither and we just get a new tutorial.

 

[BergeLSU]

I'm here- today's update will be released any hour now. It's widely speculated to include Abbadon or Legion Commander.

Or neither and we just get a new tutorial.

Or not even that and we just get some bot updates.

 

[Clinkster]

I'm here- today's update will be released any hour now. It's widely speculated to include Abbadon or Legion Commander.

Or neither and we just get a new tutorial.

Historically, there have rarely been updates with new heroes before The Internationals. The focus is usually on bug fixes, UI and spectator mode.

I'd like to be proven wrong though with Abbadon release...

 

[Zeze]

Historically, there have rarely been updates with new heroes before The Internationals. The focus is usually on bug fixes, UI and spectator mode.

I'd like to be proven wrong though with Abbadon release...

Last year, Valve outright confirmed there won't be more heroes before TI2. They haven't said that yet.

 

[BergeLSU]

Or not even that and we just get some bot updates.

Or not even that. Just Guild UI being prepped for next week.

 

[{bad}]

i would love to see Abbadon, Legion Commander i havn't played in dota also because i almost left dota around time Legion, phoenix etc came. w8ng for techis.. because when there is techis in game we are play a different version of dota and i love it.

 

[Destiny]

Wow... you know a game and league is legit if the matches are being bet on and there is someone trying to fix a match:


http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/06/17/d...el=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0


http://starladder.tv/

eSports network StarLadder TV has dropped the banhammer on Aleksey “Solo” Berezin and four of his teammates on Dota 2 team RoX.KIS. StarLadder TV claims RoX.KIS purposefully fed during a Star Series match to win a $100 bet placed on eSports betting site egamingbets.com.

http://starladder.tv/http://starladder.tv/


D_O

 

[veri745]

I just checked my steam inventory and I'm swimming in free copies of Dota 2. I have like 7 to give away. Anyone still need one?