The DotA 2 thread

[Rui]

I was pretty sure there was a forum for DotA 2 at some point. Since that's gone, and the remainder of threads about the game are old (DotA 2, DotA 2, Dota 2 editor, 2015 New Bloom Festival, Dota 7.00), I decided to create a new one for all DotA 2 discussions.

Every now and then, there is an event that introduces a temporary new game-mode. One of the threads I linked earlier is about the New Bloom, which occurs around February and March. It has had pretty interesting events, the latest of which was Aghanim's Labyrinth. It is a gauntlet-style mode where you have to fight your way through a series of rooms, each of which has unique creeps and shenanigans that make up for an unique challenge. At the end, your hero is rewarded with an improvement to one his/her abilities.

This was a very fun mode to play, and I only regret that these game modes are usually temporary. Fortunately, a few individuals managed to bring back the mode to the Arcade section: "Aghanim's Pathfinders" (based on Aghanim's Labyrinth 1, which unfortunately I did not get to play), and "Aghanim's 2 Extend", for the latest Aghanim event. Sadly, both mods are quite imbalanced in the sense a few heroes are underpowered, while others are extremely overpowered, passing through the hardest difficulty with ease (in the former, Medusa can stun the final boss, and, in the latter, all new heroes are rigged; the author seems to have little understanding of balance overall).

Anyway, I took screenshots of two runs in the official game mode when it was available, where I managed to have a significant impact (I'm named "Silence" on both):

 

[Napoqe]

No need a Dota 2 forum. A old forum was a wasteland, new posts were month interval.

About Aghanim's Labyrint 1, it was good mode so I finished all difficulties (the last two were very difficult). But mode itself is very repeatable and cloying. And it still depends on having skilled allies on the team.
I saw that in the Addon folder, these temporary modes are added there as sample addon for developers to see script examples, and even community continue temporary events converting them into Arcade games.

Valve updates usually break Arcade games. Making mod developers spend time fixing new bugs when possible.
Many modders abandoned Dota 2 because of this, and other factors such as little diversity of game types players play.

So far, Dota 2 mods is inferior to Warcraft 3 Custom Games.

 

[Regeneration]

So far, Dota 2 mods is inferior to Warcraft 3 Custom Games.

I agree.

Dota 2, the game itself is very good. Sure it has a meta game and some heroes are more powerful or just better than others in certain patches but overall it is balanced. Warcraft 3 Custom Games were special to me. Dota 2 never came even close to it.

 

[Napoqe]

For me, Warcraft 3 was also special. Being able to create your own maps easily and fun and also fun to play with friends.
With several other styles of gameplay of maps from the Warcraft 3 community. And many with great quality. What nostalgia.

Valve opted only for the Lua programming language, and Panorama for the Interface. Although the Dota 2 community created a tool to program in Typescript.

But Dota 2 has some good Custom Games, few:

Custom Hero Chaos
Dota Auto Chess
Dota 2 Castle Fight
Pudge Wars
Pudge Wars (1 hook = 1 kill)
Dota 2 Warlock Brawl

 

[Rui]

About Aghanim's Labyrint 1, it was good mode so I finished all difficulties (the last two were very difficult). But mode itself is very repeatable and cloying. And it still depends on having skilled allies on the team.

Aghanim's Labyrinth on the arcade is one of the reasons that makes me go back to the game. It is unfortunate that the first one is not maintained, and that all my pleas to balance the new heroes went unheard in the Discord channel for Agh's 2 (people there actually think the new heroes are balanced even though they consistently deal 100 times more damage than vanilla heroes). This is actually annoying me to the point of wanting to pick up Valve's DotA Workshop Tools and make an Agh's Labyrinth spinoff of my own.

 

[Napoqe]

If you play with full group it would avoid one of two problems, @Rui. Because your lobby wouldn't need an unknown player to fill. Which would be hard to find, as your spin-off would compete with the mod you're complaining about, but without subscribers, it would be very hard to get more. Dota 2 Arcade does not highlight new mods with few subscribers. And new players need to subscribe to your mod to play. Oh, if they discover your mod exists.
Problem number 2. Every new Valve update can break some mechanics, make it unplayable, something different happens in your mod. You would have to spend time fixing and releasing updates to fix new bugs caused by Valve updates for mod.

 

[Rui]

Not sure if there are tricks in the book to get visibility more quickly, but I suppose all mods start out like that, do they not?

 

[Napoqe]

Until recently. The arcade placed at the top of the list, the custom games with the most lobbies. This incentived and happened of bots to create abandoned lobbies to increase the total value of the lobby, for it to be on the top list on the Arcade homepage. Now is couting number of players playing the mod at the moment.
I don't know the Game of the Day criteria. But if your mod appears there. A great chance to get new players. Although I suspect that to appear there, the mod needs a minimum of subscribers and / or playing at the moment.

If you are very willing to make your version. Then do it. If it doesn't succeed, at least you tried.

I don't know how the population is in Warcraft 3. What do you think about making a version of Aghanim's Labyrinth for Warcraft 3?

 

[Rui]

The arcade placed at the top of the list, the custom games with the most lobbies. This incentived and happened of bots to create abandoned lobbies to increase the total value of the lobby

Ah, so this is why I occasionally see a ton of repeated lobbies with just 1 player in them

What do you think about making a version of Aghanim's Labyrinth for Warcraft 3?

Alas, in the current state of the game, I don't feel like making anything for Warcraft 3.

 

[Deleted member 247165]

@Rui I didn't know you play DotA 2 <3

 

[Rui]

I come and go to be honest. I hadn't played DotA in 2 years before this due to lack of time and interest, as I only play Rubick and Silencer, and it tends to get a little boring. But these events do make up for some time well spent.

Spoiler

<3 Kerrigan

 

[Deleted member 247165]

ohhh, I see.

Protoss Technology here, NOT A BAIT

Nuclear Launch Detected

 

[Rui]

In the past months, I enjoyed participating in the "Fantasy" feature of the game and watching a few tournaments, namely the Arlington Major. In one of the tournament's days, in a leap of faith, I bet on Beastcoast, and had that faith rewarded. Place #2!

Though Team Spirit got kinda beat by PSG.LGD in the semi-final, my heart was always with them (I'm a big fan since their rise in TI 10), and I ended up being on the top 10% there too, hehe.

 

[Deleted member 247165]

In the past months, I enjoyed participating in the "Fantasy" feature of the game and watching a few tournaments, namely the Arlington Major. In one of the tournament's days, in a leap of faith, I bet on Beastcoast, and had that faith rewarded. Place #2!

View attachment 406253

Though Team Spirit got kinda beat by PSG.LGD in the semi-final, my heart was always with them (I'm a big fan since their rise in TI 10), and I ended up being on the top 10% there too, hehe.

xD

 

[Rui]

A perfect run by me in "Aghanim's Pathfinders" today: 1424 Duel damage . Surprisingly, I only hit for 387 damage, ~825 on crit, because final bosses always have such high armor, but when playing tanks I usually make up for that by returning some of his beam damage to him with Blade Mail, hehe.