Let's all take a moment to appreciate the fact that DotA 2 can only be played a set way, with no variations on roles between heroes who are best in the middle lane or the jungle,for example, and be glad that the idea of two lane/tower pushers can never be in the same lane doing what they do best: pushing lanes and pushing towers. Oh how ever so wonderful it is that there are set rules and regulations that everyone knows so as to not cause any confusion about who should be doing what in a match. ... If by now you haven't noticed the overplayed and undervalued sarcasm I use to describe many DotA 2 players in the current meta, then the rest of this essay is going to really upset you. Also, if you didn't notice the before-mentioned sarcasm, as overdone as a steak cooked on the back my old laptop during a game of Minesweeper, I hope it does!
As you may or may not know, obviously, the current state of the DotA 2 community is so far up its own ass at times, that most people seem to become locked in a comfort zone of consistency in their games because, "it works", or "it's what Pro Players do", or my favorite, "this is how the game is supposed to be played. It's simply absurd that in a STRATEGY game there is some preconceived notion that there?s little to no room for interpretation on how many of the game's characters can be played.
A prime example here: During a game with a friend, we hatched an idea on how to combat the once panic-inducing nightmare that was TI4 push-strats. The plan was to dual lane a hero who could clear a wave, and one who could fell a tower with ease. Keeper of the Light and Pugna were naturally agreeable in these terms. Well, not so much combatting it as it was fighting fire with fire. So as we took our positions mid, we were rapidly greeted by positive morale and words of encouragement from our super supportive teammates. There?s that sarcasm again, hint hint. After shirking off the "compliments of "2 mid GG FF" and the like, we settled down in the mid lane against who I believe was a Shadow Fiend, who was unfortunately NOT living the five-man fever dream of those days, and proceeded to obtain first blood, portions of our Mekanism and Veil of Discord, and a Tier 1 tower all in under 5 minutes. FIVE MINUTES, FOLKS! Needless to say, we wiped the backup that came only because they were as surprised as our own team, who swiftly got on board by viciously split pushing while we handled big boy things in the mid lane.
I understand I may be losing some people at this point who are now realizing this isn't the manga review they thought they clicked on, and may not be MOBA players or at least DotA 2 players, ANNND have no idea who these particular characters are and what significance it holds that we suppressed a Shadow Fiend who couldn't even buy a Blade of Attack before his loose collection souls stored from what few last hits he managed was scattered across the mouth of his lane like leaves on a cool October day, so I'll put it simply like this: We killed a scary monster and shattered his self-esteem before he ever learned how to go, ?rawr.?
As I was saying, it's just a real shame there seems to be no more creative minds other than what few Youtubers are followed closely and examined to see how they pull off seemingly silly positions and get away with it. Purge of the team Zephyr comes to mind. Purge is more than a Pro DotA player (shut up, he IS) because he is also a coach, a commentator, and a guide creator, introducing intimidating heroes to newcomers in a way that makes sense of their abilities and how to obtain optimal synergy amongst allies with said heroes. Many videos of his I first viewed showed him going mid with almost every hero he picked or randomed, such as Nature's Prophet (NP), who, while being a solid mid against many foes, is almost always more effective in the jungle. Nevertheless, Purge pushed his lane, farmed jungle camps, then returned to defend and push again until his first gank. This is something we just don't see anymore. It's not the cliff-jungle tactic that has killed several oblivious NP?s through time, but I can recall quite a few NP?s who sat in the jungle for 20 minutes farming with tunnel-vision blinders on, and still had the gall to ask for a TP Scroll when he returned to base with his GLOBAL TELEPORT which was available every 20 SECONDS! But I digress.
My point is that I find this current meta to be very bland and boring. I WILL play Bounty Hunter in the early game as a stealthy, invisibility-spamming, XP-sapping nuisance of an offlaner when needed, but my favorite way to play him is to apply as much harassment as possible to heroes in lane with my shuriken. The damage is doubled at level 3 and can be an even greater burden to enemies when they lose large, meaty chunks of HP rather than meesly bits. However, this build, 3-2-0-1 with first six skill points, gets a lot of flack since I could be playing closer to the support role by buying a Medallion of Courage or Drums of Endurance. A role which many semi-carries like Bounty Hunter, Vengeful Spirit, and Lehrac, for example, can fall into if their potential isn't reached before their opponents'. Playing like you have an instructional audio book running in the background stifles other players who could become a major, game-winning asset, regardless of whether they are playing similarly or not.
So I suppose the best way to sum it up is that this current meta, this unnecessarily universal thought that particular heroes should stay in their place, ruins much of the fun of DotA 2 as a STRATEGY game. We wouldn't have Crit-Shaker without innovation, nor would we have the Five-Man Bird Bomb, and although some strats are just garbage in theory, they can still put a fresh spin things, refer back to Crit-Shaker. So here?s the challenge: pick your favorite hero(s) in a bot match, play them in a different way than what you?re used to (i.e. Refresher Orb on Slardar, Dominator on Lifestealer. Hell, go 2 Hearts on Wisp and a Veil), then, once you've found a new hybrid build you enjoy, test it out in a pub and see how much of a difference you can make. Give it shot at least, because what's the worst that can happen? Low Prio? Hell people, there you can just go nuts and get a Refresher on Tinker if you want. But Low Prio is a fuming for another time.
-Opinions and statements are based on personal experiences in DotA 2 and do not reflect on all, or even a majority of, DotA 2 players. While likely to not have been encountered by these particular scenarios, these are the observations of a single, bitter DotA 2 player, and you are likely to have your own ideas about this bubbling, stagnant slop of a meta.-
Thanks for reading. -Seth
As you may or may not know, obviously, the current state of the DotA 2 community is so far up its own ass at times, that most people seem to become locked in a comfort zone of consistency in their games because, "it works", or "it's what Pro Players do", or my favorite, "this is how the game is supposed to be played. It's simply absurd that in a STRATEGY game there is some preconceived notion that there?s little to no room for interpretation on how many of the game's characters can be played.
A prime example here: During a game with a friend, we hatched an idea on how to combat the once panic-inducing nightmare that was TI4 push-strats. The plan was to dual lane a hero who could clear a wave, and one who could fell a tower with ease. Keeper of the Light and Pugna were naturally agreeable in these terms. Well, not so much combatting it as it was fighting fire with fire. So as we took our positions mid, we were rapidly greeted by positive morale and words of encouragement from our super supportive teammates. There?s that sarcasm again, hint hint. After shirking off the "compliments of "2 mid GG FF" and the like, we settled down in the mid lane against who I believe was a Shadow Fiend, who was unfortunately NOT living the five-man fever dream of those days, and proceeded to obtain first blood, portions of our Mekanism and Veil of Discord, and a Tier 1 tower all in under 5 minutes. FIVE MINUTES, FOLKS! Needless to say, we wiped the backup that came only because they were as surprised as our own team, who swiftly got on board by viciously split pushing while we handled big boy things in the mid lane.
I understand I may be losing some people at this point who are now realizing this isn't the manga review they thought they clicked on, and may not be MOBA players or at least DotA 2 players, ANNND have no idea who these particular characters are and what significance it holds that we suppressed a Shadow Fiend who couldn't even buy a Blade of Attack before his loose collection souls stored from what few last hits he managed was scattered across the mouth of his lane like leaves on a cool October day, so I'll put it simply like this: We killed a scary monster and shattered his self-esteem before he ever learned how to go, ?rawr.?
As I was saying, it's just a real shame there seems to be no more creative minds other than what few Youtubers are followed closely and examined to see how they pull off seemingly silly positions and get away with it. Purge of the team Zephyr comes to mind. Purge is more than a Pro DotA player (shut up, he IS) because he is also a coach, a commentator, and a guide creator, introducing intimidating heroes to newcomers in a way that makes sense of their abilities and how to obtain optimal synergy amongst allies with said heroes. Many videos of his I first viewed showed him going mid with almost every hero he picked or randomed, such as Nature's Prophet (NP), who, while being a solid mid against many foes, is almost always more effective in the jungle. Nevertheless, Purge pushed his lane, farmed jungle camps, then returned to defend and push again until his first gank. This is something we just don't see anymore. It's not the cliff-jungle tactic that has killed several oblivious NP?s through time, but I can recall quite a few NP?s who sat in the jungle for 20 minutes farming with tunnel-vision blinders on, and still had the gall to ask for a TP Scroll when he returned to base with his GLOBAL TELEPORT which was available every 20 SECONDS! But I digress.
My point is that I find this current meta to be very bland and boring. I WILL play Bounty Hunter in the early game as a stealthy, invisibility-spamming, XP-sapping nuisance of an offlaner when needed, but my favorite way to play him is to apply as much harassment as possible to heroes in lane with my shuriken. The damage is doubled at level 3 and can be an even greater burden to enemies when they lose large, meaty chunks of HP rather than meesly bits. However, this build, 3-2-0-1 with first six skill points, gets a lot of flack since I could be playing closer to the support role by buying a Medallion of Courage or Drums of Endurance. A role which many semi-carries like Bounty Hunter, Vengeful Spirit, and Lehrac, for example, can fall into if their potential isn't reached before their opponents'. Playing like you have an instructional audio book running in the background stifles other players who could become a major, game-winning asset, regardless of whether they are playing similarly or not.
So I suppose the best way to sum it up is that this current meta, this unnecessarily universal thought that particular heroes should stay in their place, ruins much of the fun of DotA 2 as a STRATEGY game. We wouldn't have Crit-Shaker without innovation, nor would we have the Five-Man Bird Bomb, and although some strats are just garbage in theory, they can still put a fresh spin things, refer back to Crit-Shaker. So here?s the challenge: pick your favorite hero(s) in a bot match, play them in a different way than what you?re used to (i.e. Refresher Orb on Slardar, Dominator on Lifestealer. Hell, go 2 Hearts on Wisp and a Veil), then, once you've found a new hybrid build you enjoy, test it out in a pub and see how much of a difference you can make. Give it shot at least, because what's the worst that can happen? Low Prio? Hell people, there you can just go nuts and get a Refresher on Tinker if you want. But Low Prio is a fuming for another time.
-Opinions and statements are based on personal experiences in DotA 2 and do not reflect on all, or even a majority of, DotA 2 players. While likely to not have been encountered by these particular scenarios, these are the observations of a single, bitter DotA 2 player, and you are likely to have your own ideas about this bubbling, stagnant slop of a meta.-
Thanks for reading. -Seth