So I am not sure what format you guys want to use at this point, so i will just make one up.

I have played about 100 games in total, mostly with you guys. I play support pretty much 100% of the time, and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the basics of support.
Whenever I go mid, I usually end up just getting yelled at.

Gameplay
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Things I believe I am OK at:
I am pretty good about ward placement....when I remember to buy them.
Harassing is...ok.....i seems to do better with some characters then others, but I do notice I body block the lane mate alot.
My last hitting seems to be ok for support, not good enough for a carry.
Jungleing

Things I know I am not great at:
Playing anything other then support.
The coordination and timing of team-fights...this would be initiation i guess?
Captaining...ugh...I had to do it once and it was a disaster.
Knowing when the "game phases" change.
Map Awareness.
Item checking the other team.
Micro....c.h.e.n........*shudders*


Characters
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Confident:
Litch
Crystal Maiden
Disrupter
Tidehunter
Sandking

Enjoyed:
Dazzle
Venomancer
Bounty Hunter
EarthShaker
Omniknight
Undying
Enchantress
Witch Doctor
Death Prophet
Dark Seer
Enigma
Leshrac
Wisp
Juggernaut

Terrible Games:
Sven
Brewmaster
Pudge
NightStalker
Puck
Storm Spirit
Shadow Shaman
Batrider
Ancient Apparition
Vengeful Spirit
Gyro
Nyx Assassin
Jakiro

Its safe to say that if there is a hero not on this list, i have not played them.

So I guess that is a short list of my own assessment, and if you disagree it will not hurt my feelings. I have watched a few replays of my past games, and they are certainly helpful, but I would imagine actually watching one with a more experienced person would be of much benefit. I actually really enjoy Support, however, I would be interested in starting to branch out. I started to try and pick-up Juggernaut and its been...ok at best. There are certainly some characters that I would like to get better with in all the categories, but this post has been long enough. So just let me know if there is any additional information i can pass along..?

@Gambit, I don't have alot of time tonight, probably just an hour or so. Not sure if we maybe want to play a game, then we can both watch it for review together at another time?

The best day for me would be Wednesday, but I know your are in a completely different timezone, so i am not sure what times work best for you. I can say that for me, 7PM EST Wednesday works best if we want to get a few games + commentary in.

I would really just be interested in playing a bit more then support. I know that we have worked on Bounty Hunter in the past, and that has helped tremendously. I would say any mid-lane hero would be what I am interested in, as it is really where I have near zero experience. If I had to pick a character, i would say a carry? or semi-carry? As I said before, I have been trying to play with Jugg, and would be ok with continuing that. At the same time, i would also be open to most characters, say a Faceless Void?

Fallen,

I think with your friend, that would make 4 people interested if you check the Other Gaming section. I am ok with giving up on my roommate checking specs and shit, let just do this. I don't have a ton of time tonight, but i will be more then happy to play this in general.

I can probibly play a game on Thursday. If you want to turn it into a learing oppertunity, i am always up for that.

Shane! you were offline! i don't want to hear it.

Well then, i will be hitting you up this weekend! I will add you on Steam when I get home.

Are these Thursday nights going to be a regular thing? I was not sure if I should have hoped on or not, last night, but I was having issues connecting to Steam, so i was unable to anyhow. I really enjoyed watching the casts from last week.

I think the top comment says it best!

" I am appalled! I didn't know they now let rape videos on YouTube."

We were able to add each other though Steam, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to sync up times.

Yes I love watching the casts that he does with us! I also appreciate how he does not mention my terrible Bane playing during the AR game!

His voice kind of reminds me of the Dean from Community. Just makes it more entertaining for me.

Thanks for the advice! I have only played Bane a few times, and I have enjoyed him every time. I didn't realize how good that brain sap was until to late into the game! My mid is pretty week though in general, i really need to work on it.

I support anyone with Futurama references in their username, welcome! To the world of tomorrow!

So, i have really been enjoying playing Vengeful Spirit recently, however, i very rarely see her in games!

Her stun seems pretty effective
Her Armor Debuff is fun
+Dmg aura? yes please
It seems like her swap, can be very handy.

Do people just hate her? Is she not as awesome as she seems to be?

I would be interested, but I am out of town that weekend due to the Holidays

So to continue with my posts of characters who don't get alot of play.....

Slarder

I have only seen him a handful of games that I have played in, so I figured I would try him out!
I was a big fan of his Armor Debuf, and the very low mana cost was nice.....hmm after Venge and Dazzle, it seems I have a thing for armor modification.
His stun was pretty bad ass.....
Being able to slither around at blazing speeds? Check.
Chance to stun on right-click attacks? Yes Please.

So I am sure there are obvious reason why he doesn't get played ever, but I enjoyed him.

Any tips/tricks? Should I not bother trying to play with him as he is a terrible character?

I think they should just hire some of the people from that Polycount contest, they came up with some awesome cosmetic items.

ooo nice, I did get this on the Steam Sale....still very confused when I play, all I know is that I make a terrible Alien.

So is the new concept, that people will sit in their appropriate skill brackets while looking for games?
If so...would we want to add a Looking For Group option within those channels? Or could that possibly cause it to become too fragmented?

I have found many times that people will sit in the lobby while in their own MM games. Then you have the people in the MM and In-house channels playing games. While I don't want to interrupt people playing the games in their respective channels, I do have to tend to hop around and ask/spam (sorry Bandit) if I want to have a chance of getting a game going.

I would say my flow most of the time is to:
1) Hop on.
2) Each individual in the Lobby is in their own MM game.
3) Hit up the other channels that have more then 5 people to see if anyone wants to play.
4) Solo Q because noone is around.

I do apologize if that is super annoying, but I really feel as though I do not have a chance of getting a group with people from the lobby.

The site looks amazing in Chrome, I am loving it.
My only legit complaint is that "Upcoming Events" and the "Latest DOTA News" are not scrollible. The "Upcoming Events" section is cutoff for me Might just be my shitty work computer though.

I do have a bug to report though.....it looks terrible in IE6 WTF is up with that? lol
jk my work still has me running IE6, its awful.

EDIT: I should note that these observations for the "Upcoming Events" and the "Latest DOTA News" are when being viewed through Chrome. I am able to run the stand alone version

Yeah, I guess it all goes back to what you would consider a noob.

I have ~80 wins, and most of the time I feel pretty good about myself (I am out of non-noob status!)...Then I play with Kree, Shane, ect. and I realize I still have alot to learn (back to being a noob/just bad at the game). On the other-hand I recently started to try and get my friend to play, and he only has about 5 bot games under his belt. It was hard to watch him play, to put it kindly. I would consider him a noob, but I am sure that pretty much everyone that has posted to this thread probably considers me a noob. I kind of do appreciate it being broken up by win counts, as for me that is what I use to compare myself with other players at this time.

I just wanted to express that i do find it hard sometimes to get a group of people going, so I can only imagine how a new person feels. As Fallen was stating earlier, it is an hour game so it is hard to time, maybe I am just impatient. I want to play now dammit! At the same time, there are still alot of people that seem to play together all the time, and that may just be due to time of day/timezone/comfort/ect.....Anything we do that would mix in the new people would only be a positive.

I know that we are trying a new Lobbying format now, so hell, we can just see how that goes before we change anything else up. Just wanted to give my opinion.