Alright, so, I made the really stupid mistake of actually playing this thrice-cursed game.
Because now I'm hooked.
I didn't see any threads for this when I checked search, so there may already be one hidden in the deep, dark of past threads, but I am not so greedy as to dig that deep.
Anyway, the game is free to play (http://na.leagueoflegends.com/), and if anyone decides to join, put me in as a referral so I can get free stuff! :D
Anyone already playing, consider friending me. I go by the same name I do here, and I think it would be fun to actually get some people together for a few pre-made games. Win or lose, it should be good for some laughs.
And speaking of such things, is anyone following the developments of DotA 2?
Quote from: CoyoteCamouflage(snip)
And speaking of such things, is anyone following the developments of DotA 2?
I am. Which is interesting because I don't play DotA, let alone Dota 2, but my best friend does, quite avidly. If he played LoL, I'm sure I'd be following that as well.
Anyways, I watched some of the pro tournaments on the Dota 2 site, and they're pretty intense (well, if you know what's going on, which if you don't, looks completely absurd - the beauty of our medium). League of Legends looks pretty awesome, too. I'm interested to see if DotA's following carries over into Dota 2, or if there'll be more of a drift towards LoL.
I play LoL, tried it out a few weeks ago so I'm still terrible :p
I somehwat followed Dota2 but then I learned something that made me extremely uninterested, they're porting DotA over 100%. It'll be a complete copy, instead of fixing/changing all the shitty things and stuff that was their only because the shitty War3 engine.
That being said DotA2 looks gorgeous.
I was surprised that they had the DotA International Tournament already, but that the game will not actually release until sometime in 2012. That just seems weird to me-- wouldn't it be better to have a major tournament (With some wickedly hefty purses) much closer to your launch date?
I used to have a lot of fun with DotA, but then I began to completely and utterly hate the community. So far, I found that LoL is much more forgiving in matching parties, for now. I wouldn't say I'm terrible, but I'm not great, either. Though I have to say that Anivia is wicked fun.
The replays are best watched when commentated by a podcaster-- they at least have the ability to explain what the heck is going on and to make the game seem much more interesting for what it is.
I didn't hear about the DotA port, though. That does seem problematic. Still, I'm wondering how the landscape of LoL and DotA 2 are going to be once both games are launched. I think LoL has had much longer to get a fanbase, and with their stable of ~79 champions and Dominion in the works, they should have a lot more diversity than DotA 2 will.
I think DotA 2 really needs to bring something fresh or different to the table if it wants to work. I admit that the game is quite pretty from what I've seen, but I also think that most of the model designs I've seen are full of a lot of fail-- most of them just look like garbage, which is a direct result of copying everything from the first game.
And speaking of copying everything over, I would be greatly amused if they kept Lina Inverse's name/character, only to be sued by the owning studio for copyright infringement. :D
Quote from: CoyoteCamouflageI didn't hear about the DotA port, though. That does seem problematic. Still, I'm wondering how the landscape of LoL and DotA 2 are going to be once both games are launched. I think LoL has had much longer to get a fanbase, and with their stable of ~79 champions and Dominion in the works, they should have a lot more diversity than DotA 2 will.
Actually, the fact that Dota 2 is porting DotA over completely seems to be, at least in my anecdotal experience, a plus. The custom game maps available on Warcraft 3 have a limited amount of programming space, and DotA is due to hit that limit. People are generally excited that their favorite game isn't changing and getting a graphics upgrade.
I still think the trailer for Dota 2 looked ridiculous :P.
I'm not a fan of porting over a woefully out-dated game and giving it nothing but a bad, cartoon-y facelift. Sure, the original DotA did remarkably well with what little resources the WC3 engine allowed it-- but it's how old now? Technology changes and gets better, especially with an engine modded and devoted solely to the game. It makes me feel like the developers don't want to bother trying to do anything to improve the game. Considering Valve's track record with releases, I am content to assume that they are all just freaking lazy.
Given the amount of elitism in the community that I experienced, I suppose it also possible that most DotA players are so arrogant as to believe that the game is
perfect and cannot be improved upon in any way except updating the graphics.
I just want to see DotA at least try some new things. Add some differing maps. Make different game modes. While Demigod proved to be a mediocre game, map diversity was certainly one of its strong points. It just baffles me that people can play the same, exact map and game-type so much for so long. In WC3, it rather made sense due to the nature of the Custom Maps and the Battle.net system. DotA 2 will have no excuse-- especially if they are selling it as a full product. At least LoL has the idea to make most of the basic material free-to-play, with a micro-transaction system.
My biggest concern is that DotA 2 is just going to be a complete re-hash of DotA Allstars, with no improvement-- just an increase in the number of asshats playing. Oh, and "better" graphics. You know, because everyone wants there games to look like WoW.
Quote from: CoyoteCamouflageMy biggest concern is that DotA 2 is just going to be a complete re-hash of DotA Allstars, with no improvement-- just an increase in the number of asshats playing. Oh, and "better" graphics. You know, because everyone wants there games to look like WoW.
That's not
entirely true, as they're making certain moves work as originally intended that the warcraft system didn't quite allow. I imagine that's not too many, but I'm not sure if I can relate to it being "woefully outdated." Sure, it's an old game. Really old. It's still pretty fun. Graphically it could use a boost, but gameplay-wise it seemed pretty solid. This might be me just being naive, but I'm not sure I fully understand what you and Llum are getting at without providing any examples of what is so bad about the warcraft engine, or about DotA in general.
Llum mentioned unit pathing online, but I can't think of many examples where that's been an issue, or at least, an issue that warrants it such a bad rep. I imagine that whatever issues there were with pathing they'd patch in Dota 2 (hopefully - to be honest, I'm not fully sure what porting over DotA entails exactly. I figured they'd be smart enough to fix any glitches or errors that might exist that don't really jostle the overall gameplay, but I'm not sure).
But hey, DotA isn't my life, and I don't even play it. Different strokes and all.
Specifically, the WC3 engine is very limited in what it allowed for scripting and programming, especially in regards to custom game types (IE. any type of game such as DotA or Footman Wars, or Tower Defense that does not conform to the usual WC3 gameplay). Most of those game-types revolved solely around one gimmick because the system was so restricted as to make only one core concept work well. Some of the attempts otherwise were very... messy, as the map editor lacked the necessary resources to combine multiple elements cohesively.
Now, who decides how a move was originally intended to work? Icefrog? Someone else entirely? Then how do they decide it should work? To what scale are they changing anything besides, you know, barely at all? As far as I see it, the original game is imbalanced, with a key corps of characters always in use-- from what I've seen/heard in regards to competitive play anyway. It is my opinion that this needs to be remedied so that most of the characters are viable in a competitive setting-- otherwise, what is the point of having them? Shits and giggles?
I will admit that the map itself is very pretty (unlike the character models), but I have two major problems with this. 1. The obvious. The higher the graphical requirements of the map, the more likely you are going to end up playing with people on your team who have a computer that cannot handle it, leading to latency and framerate issues that will, in all likelihood, lead to them simply feeding the other team. 2. Most serious players play on the lowest graphical settings anyway, so in light of point 1, is it really that great of an idea to have a game like DotA be at all graphically intensive? It will be ignored at higher tiers, and probably only be a liability in the low-mid tiers.
I'm not sure what is meant about the unit pathing. Considering all of the minions should only be going through one of three lanes...
DotA and Valve vex me in the same way that Apple vexes me. On one hand, they have solid, innovative, and reliable products. They are, however, still flawed, and do not change or improve over time, much to their detriment. Neither one is willing to admit that their product, while good, cannot be improved upon as time passes and greater technology becomes available, because they both seem to think that they defecate solid gold bricks. Secondly, I have yet to meet a major user of either one that I do not inevitably want to punch in the face. Repeatedly.
Perhaps my tendency to enter a frothing-at-the-mouth nerdrage has something to do with that...
Perhaps DotA2 will attract a modding community who will improve on the original game in ways that couldn't be done in the original?
What I meant was that unit pathing by the war3 engine is horrendous. So it makes hero control a HUGE factor in Dota, but really its just do to terrible scripting.
Steerpike, has Valve said they were going to release an editor.
Doubtful, Steer.
DotA is, at its core, something called a MMOBA. Massively Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. I think that's right. I might have missed a letter somewhere with all these silly acronyms flying around.
Essentially, expecting to be able to mod the game is like expecting to be able to mod World of Warcraft or Rift-- the game is run online through Valve's servers, making any alterations of the game solely in the hands of the developers through patches once the game goes live.
With few exceptions, naturally. It is possible that someone could opt to host a private server to connect to-- I know some WoW servers that do that-- most have the advantages of things like major bonuses to gold and experience gain, but obviously suffer through a general lack of population (Unless it's one of the free ones, but as far as I know, Blizzard tries hard to close them down).
So, it's possible, but both very unlikely, and most likely subject to 'sanctions' by the owning company itself.
I'm mostly curious about it's business model. I both like and dislike LoL's micro-transaction model-- I find I tend to want to spend money on the game, but try to hold back because most of the material can be bought with a sufficient amount of in-game currency. This takes time, however, and I am quite lazy.
Still, with all kinds of champion releases expected through the future, as well as all kinds of other things, I really do expect DotA to function under the same idea-- with details such as the obvious Champion bundles to purchase at launch.
I also eagerly await to see what kind of setting or storyline DotA will attempt to produce. LoL did a fun job with that, allowing some very interesting major tournaments that would affect the political landscape of the world. In LoL, the battles are contained arenas used to wage war by larger political entities. I hope to see some sort of display from DotA to make the setting itself feel like a larger entity, rather than just some random, unspecific, endless battle.
Like Warsong Gulch. Because fighting over two forts in the middle of a box canyon is obviously a great idea.