The other is that there's no time now. There's only DotA.
According to DotaBuff, I first had a game in February/March 2014, and only 3 games at that. I probably got yelled at for feeding, not levelling my abilities properly, not buying wards, hell, not buying items. Who the hell needs items anyway. Not this cancerous feeder. I can only assume it was uninstalled in disgust at the toxicity of the community, none of which was my fault oh-dear-me-no. The next time I had a go was when The International 4 rolled around - I enjoyed watching the pros play, and they (Valve) set up a noob stream to basically explain what the eff was going on. Playing wise, I lasted a single game.
The International is Valve's yearly 'main event' for DotA; the best teams from around the world gather together to compete in a tournament with a prize pool that grows bigger every year - nearly $11 million in 2014 (over $20 million 2016). It's is partly funded by players buying skins and a 'compendium' (then), 'battlepass' (now) containing loot, quests and what-not from Valve, and 25% of the purchase price of these goes towards the prize pool.
July 2015 - TI5 was getting nearer, shit I'd better have another crack at this game. Figure it out once and for all. This time I did it properly, advertised on Dotafire as a noob, LFG. Some experienced players picked me up and taught me the basics, and put up with my shit. It was so much more fun. They were all far, far above me in MMR (MatchMaking Ranking, DotA ELO effectively), so whilst I enjoyed the experience mostly, and we were in a 5 stack so I didn't get continually griefed, the games were hard. I was with 2 year old players, against 2 year old players, and still feeling my way like Captain Michaelus Raphael prowling the Sin of Damnation. You want over-wrought similes? This is the spot.
I played for longer, watched the streams for longer, understood barely half of it. Soldiered on for a few months, made it until the end of November when I played 10 games in one session and lost 7. I think my new found friends finally got sick of me, because I started to get mildly frustrated comments like, 'Why were you there? What were you doing? You should be here. P-p-p-ping!' Small potatoes in DotA insult-world that, but I quietly let the game finish, and then quit. Deleted them off my friends list, sold all my skins and uninstalled it. Fuck that game. Fuck them. I don't need that shit.
August 2016. TI6. Shit me, this game looks great. Why don't I still play it? This time. This time, I will bend this game to my will. Played a few matches, then absorbed myself in TI. The production quality was incredible - all credit to Valve, the production team and the commentators, they really pulled out all the stops. For example, if you'd bought a Vive headset, you could spectate in VR; I nearly bought one for just that! I steeled my will, and rode out the consumer desire. TI6 has been the best yet - here's the ending of a tightly fought game between Digital Chaos and Evil Geniuses.
This time I had a clue what was going on, I could follow the main stream, and didn't really need the noob one. I still missed some of the more esoteric details, but it was mostly there. I've noticed since then that my play has improved - I can last hit (sorta). I can support. I can ward. I can't pull yet, still keep forgetting, but meh. Muscle memory isn't there in a team-fight panic, but that's why I'm low MMR (720-odd). And you will panic.
This game has really got it's claws into me now. I try and at least play once an evening, twice if I'm lucky, time permitting. I'm definitely improving, my opponents are clearly better - and I need to get better to best them. The eternal challenge. The itemisation is still a struggle, still working from online builds mostly, but beginning to understand why I might choose the Heart of Tarrasque over Shiva's Guard in late game, for example. Solo queue does suck though; I try to remain positive, if there's any salt from team-mates to team-mates, I try and mediate, head it off - after all, criticism will only make that player play tilt more, and then you're really boned. Seems to work to some extent. My win rate is creeping up - 46.58% (out of 307 games), up from the doldrums of 44.67%. That's right, I've never claimed to be any good.
I'm digging this game, it feels as though I've crested a hump. I'd go as far to say that the DotA2 learning curve is akin to Eve Online's:
I love that pic.
I've still got a lot to learn. I still feed when I try a new toon. BUT! I can see when people are doing strange things... abstractly, my game-sense has improved. My MMR, KDA, GPM and XPM are all creeping up. I'm getting used to the blink dagger. I will never be pro, clearly. Those guys are all late teens to mid 20s, with reactions like cats.
I'd be happy with an MMR of 1500. For an introduction to the game, you could do worse than checking out Purge's 'Welcome to DotA. You suck'.
He's right. You will.
