I skim r/dota frequently and direct new players here if FallenElf hasn't already beaten me to it, but I'd be happy to help in a more official capacity. I have experience in coding (job and hobby related) although I would prefer to work in community building in some capacity. What sort of things did you have in mind there, besides the obvious of warning new people that when Shane says "go in" he really means "if we go in we will surely team wipe".

No no no, you have it all wrong. Gambit's girlfriend is the real DotA2 mastermind, but has gone to the dark side and only rages at noobs. Gambit is only dating her in order to pass on her knowledge to us less fortunate ones. Thank you for your continued sacrifice my friend!

That is it in a nutshell. This is why Gambit plays at night and has to whisper for fear of waking her.

If the internet continues to be a problem you should look into doing something like FRAPS and uploading to Youtube instead of live streaming.

Welcome! My steam name is "UnoPolak" and I wouldn't mind playing some bot games with you, too. I usually play support but am trying to practice the other roles and a few bot games would probably do me good. Cheers!

Best... introduction... ever. Now we just need FallenElf or Shane to illustrate this.

To commemorate the game with our special guest...

I noticed a few top tier heroes that received nerfs. The QW invoker is going to have a tougher time with the -4 base damage, Dark Seer + Naga Siren now has to wait for the sleep to wear off, Furion trees can be nuked down more easily, Lone Druid will be giving away 100 gold instead of that last second resummon of the bear, Lycan's wolves are MUCH more susceptible to physical damage but still about the same for magical, Brewmaster pandas are now affected by Blackhole so he isn't as strong a counter to Enigma anymore, Tidehunter's ravage propagates more slowly and (looking at you Dendi Rubick) give quick hands a chance to react, and Venomancer's wards give a little less vision and make them less valuable for scouting.

Of the item changes, BKB not being able to be sold is a big one. The Eblade goes off of your primary attribute, so the Eblade Dragon Knight is more viable than ever (curse you syndereN). Smoke of deceit is dispelled by Brewmaster pandas, and a plethora of other little changes.

Notable missing changes are the rumored Morphling Morph rework, where stuns would stop the morphing. I was also struck by how large the stat gain increase for Phantom Lancer was, from 2.8 to 4.2. Sheesh!

All in all... should be interesting times ahead. :-

Wait, you and Known can reach England from your windows? :-P

I love me some Pyrion Flax, so I am definitely in for this. At least he will appreciate our Paint art!

Not like this?



Also, welcome to the group jennyli!

I do... regularly. Welcome kwakie!

For those mek builders out there, why don't we chat about optimal build order. This discussion is partly inspired by a similar one on reddit (link below), and partly based on Gambit's suggested item builds. First, some math:

[item=235]
+2 Attributes -> 38 HP
+3 HP/s aura
Cost: 53 (branch) + 350 (ring) + 200 (recipe) = 603

[item=236]
+2 Attributes -> 38 HP
+5 Armor
+2 Armor activate
Cost: 53 (branch) + 550 (chainmail) + 200 (recipe) = 803

Some people in the reddit thread argue for building [item=239] first, then buckler, and disassembling the tranquils for the mek once you have enough for the headress and mek recipes. The argument here is that you keep the HP regen for yourself for lane/gank staying power, and the buckler activate can help in early ganks and tower pushes. This leaves you with a casual [item=67] that can either be sold or turned into a [item=234].

The argument for getting the headress first appears to be that it has an easier buildup and gives your lane partner some HP regen as well. One problem here is that it also gives your creeps HP regen, and will push the lane to a degree.

Now for personal preference. If I have a successful early gank and find myself with enough money for the [item=71], I usually go ahead and buy it. The thought process here is purely economic, knowing how hard money for a support can be to find and that death can make those "big" ticket items impossible to come by. I can respect that giving your lane partner some extra HP regen is useful, though. Thoughts?

Reddit thread:
http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/10v3x7/which_is_better_to_get_first_when_building_a_mek/

I am not shane and I welcome you

I think people know that we play DotA games together... what are you talking about?

Bonjour mon bon monsieur!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cShYbLkhBc

I guess I will need to play some co-op bot games this week then!

Welcome! As our name hopefully suggests, all are welcome and hopefully we can help you improve. Our primary communication is via Mumble, and you can find more information about that here:

http://www.dotanoobs.com/main/welcome-redditors-a-guide-to-mumble/

Cheers!

It is perfect for Chief Inspector Shane.

I picked up the (6GB!) demo and played through it. It definitely looks like it has potential, but probably going to wait for reviews and a significant sale before trying to pick it up. Hooray money!

Let us know what you think of it, though.

What is it that we want to promote with these awards? The two things that jump to mind are to (a) make new people feel at home faster and (b) encourage positive behavior in the community. Specific awards targeting new people would definitely help (a), and the (b) awards should range from fun (best suicide) to improvement (winning solo mid for the first time). To spread the love around, we could also have a rule that one person cannot win multiple awards in the same month.

And now for brainstorming:

Nope! (In order of increasing importance, most creep denies, tower denies or ally denies)
Maelk award (10+ deaths, 20+ assists)
I've got my eye on you (Placed an influential ward, be it catching enemies Roshing or warning of a incoming gank on carry, etc.)
Save meh! (Best sacrifice to save a teammate)

As far as a team goes, I know that Gambit has already been handing out some items and my guess is that Fallen and I would be glad to help out. Cheers.