In 2 days we will see all stats reset (again) and the pre-season will start and continue until early 2010, during this time you will be able to  get your summoner level up and unlock your favourite Champions (with the 10 free champions rotating regularly)

On top of this, before the the first official ladder season begins Riot plans on introducing a heap of features currently not in the game, these include clans, teams, tournaments, ladders, draft mode, as well as additional content such as new champions and maps.

Other hot~ish topics in the forums include a fully integrated VoIP system, other game modes (CTF, KotH) and Replays all of which are being taken rather seriously and various posts from Zileas would suggest that the “top men” in the office are working their butts off to make it possible.

Anyway, what are you waiting for, if you haven’t played yet, flood the games with noobs

sign up!

http://signup.leagueoflegends.com

The focus of this post will be focused on the controversial Heart of Tarrasque.

Before: HoT

35 STR

300 HP

11 HP regen per second (stackable)

Remake #1 : HoT

11 HP regen per second –> 1% HP per second (non-stackable)

Remake #2: HoT

1% HP regen per second –> 2% HP regen per second (non-stackable)

Hero based damage disables regen for 10 seconds.

Buffed Remake #2: HoT

+35 STR –> +40 STR

Disable time from 10 –>8 (Now includes roshan as “Hero based damage”)

As you can see, these new remakes of HoT lend the game a new style of play. The change of the constant stackable regen to a standardized 1% regen was a popular change, since almost everybody saw the balance that came with that. However, then next change caused much more friction. Many of you complained, whined, and rolled in the dust when the new “Disable Regen” mechanism was introduced in 6.63. Some even sent an email to the frog, which he responded to.

Q: Why did you remove the combat regeneration from Heart of Tarrasque? (from Florian)

A: It was a very specific choice to completely remove combat regeneration from it rather than just reduce it. While it was a nerf, that wasn’t the primary goal. The problem with trying to measure the value of regeneration on Heart is that it makes your success in a fight depend at least partially on how long the fight lasts. The core issue is more about what it promotes rather than it allowing you to survive. It encourages the wrong things and doesn’t reward players who make better moment to moment decisions as much as it could. It removes some depth from the game and makes it a little less interesting over all. If the item needs a certain amount of tanking power, it is much more direct to add more hit point bonus to the item instead of doing it via a method that obscures the ability to measure the balance of the item.

This is more about the design philosophy the item should have, rather than its actual numbers or power, since I consider those as solvable problems if you have the right design to start with. In general, I prefer to lean towards creating a situation of long term solvability to issues. Some things might be knowingly imperfect but done in a manner that increases measurability to allow it to settle in a better place in the long run.

And no, the question isn’t asked by our famous flodian. It’s “floRian” apparently. I’ve bolded some of the “meat” in this statement.

• While it was a nerf, that wasn’t the primary goal. That statement itself is debatable. I think icefrog was biased a little bit by all the emails people hav been sending him. As alluded to in the second part of the statement, the frog didn’t have a nerf in mind when he tried to remake HoT. One of the key things to remember is that the regen was DOUBLED. If you were a morphling that had eliminated all of your base strength into agility, with this item you would still regenerate at >20 HP/second.
• It encourages the wrong things and doesn’t reward players who make better moment to moment decisions. Referring to the old HoT. One of the key reasons in my opinion on why Icefrog changed HoT. Oftentimes after a Heart is aquired, common sense is lost, and players would just charge into battle with little or no thinking, feeling that (rightfully so) the Heart’s massive regen would make up for whatever life was lost due to poor judgement. Now, the attention once again turns to a more calculated approach, one that benefits noobs less and helps more intelligent players more. 
• “It removes some depth from the game and makes it a little less interesting over all. ” Again, referring to the old HoT. Who needs to think when you’re roofy, have living armor on, have 3K hp, regen 30 per second, and are at level 12? Yes, I achieve that frequently. For most heroes that get this item, again, the mindlessness that comes after feeling the security that comes from such a major tankage boost desensitizes you to things an otherwise good player would notice, like map awareness, and most of all, encourages 1v1 battles. Once again, this item points to more teamwork, something that everybody that has played pubs would like to see more of >.>
• design philosophy the item should have, rather than its actual numbers or power. Wise words from a wise man. The numbers can easily be tinkered with and balanced, but this new design is what will really make a difference. We can compare the amount of HP regenerated with this heart compared to the old heart in all sorts of different circumstances, and declare it a buff or a nerf or whatever, but what ultimately matters is what type of gameplay tactics this change affects. Surely, you can see what the frog is aiming at here. In a way, the frog is using this to support the DPSgeddon that caspy’s been talking about for a long time now. Heroes(even tanks) are getting weaker HP wise, and games have more ganks/kills, more action, and feel more interesting. Late game, the heart buff allows pure DPS to shine, rather than allowing uber tank heroes with a disable or two to shut down carries as is frequently the case.
• knowingly imperfect but done in a manner that increases measurability to allow it to settle in a better place in the long run. This phrase sounds really technical, but it’s similar to the last key point. I think this actually points to a nerf on HoT in the future. Icefrog is smart, he knows how these changes will be recieved, and massively increased the regen (and recently buffed the item even more) to try and compensate for the huge percieved “nerf”. Once people get used to the new style of playing, and seeint how powerful HoT really is, that’s when the nerfs will come.

Gameplay with the new Heart

Places where heart can be considered a “buff”

• Tower pushing. Towers do almost nothing when you have 2% of max HP regenerating.
• Neutral creeping. Similar to towers, allows farming of gold fairly quickly when you can regenerate that rapidly.
• Creep stacking. Any hero with a HoT can effectively clear a stacked Ancient camp. Again, quick $$$.
• Whenever heavy regeneration is needed out of battle (i.e. after a huge team clash). After getting this item, fountain trips for health are completely unnecessary, as by the time you get there, you will be mostly renerated anyways. After a large clash where you lose a decent amount of HP you have two options. Neutral creep if you lost the clash, and then pop back out with almost full HP 45 seconds later. If you won, go ahead and keep pushing, since by the time enemy heroes respawn, your HP will be at a healthy level again.
• Radiance users
• Roshing

Again, you can see how this benefites the late game carries, whether they weild this item or come up against it. STR carries especially, like Slardar, Nai’x, Huskar, Skeleton King, etc will ikely see more use since often they get lifesteal which is meant for direct combat regeneration.

Places where heart can be considered a “nerf”

• Long periods of frequent direct combat.
• Fleeing heroes
• Juking
• Mega-Tanks

Again, once these gameplay changes are analyzed, it become obvious that this DPS heroes are mostly benefited.

Now recently, Icefrog buffed the heart even more, increasing the strength by 5 and decreasing the regen disable time. At the same time though, Icefrog recognized the crucial mistake he made in not giving Roshan the ability to disable it. Darn, now that would’ve been something haha.

Ok, I’ve been at this long enough. Now get out there and enjoy how DotA has taken a turn for the better with this change. Oh, and pick a DPS hero

The next versions of Dota will be so DPS heavy, it will be a case of picking just one or even two DPS heroes and witness an Armageddon taking place.

This Armageddon, which we have since come to know as DPSgeddon, and fittingly so, are seeing very tangible signs of a prophecy being fulfilled, in the very version of 6.64.

Just recently the Dota community was treated to a mind-and-soul-breaking replay of Kuroky’s Lanaya (Templar Assassin) in a Farm4Fame match against TEG. I’m sure some of you have already seen this, but if you haven’t you might want to see for yourself the makings of the DPSgeddon. This replay is the epitome of the meaning of Lanaya’s hero name - that of a ruthless, armor-shredding Templar who will not let her prey escape. Kuroky in the person of Lanaya defied leaguers’ conventions and broke the TEG psyche like a Templar does.

How has the prophecy been fulfilled?

1. picking just one or even two DPS heroes - check. MYM picked Lanaya and Slardar, 2 DPS heroes.
2. witness an Armageddon taking place. - check.

Several times in the 20-minute game (say wow?), the heroes that proclaimed “Meet Your Makers” wiped out the heroes that had called themselves “Elder Gods” - a most ironical twist. But the greatest winner of all was obviously the Templar Assassin, effortlessly ratching up double kills and sending death shrills into the spines of TEG. The game should have proceeded longer, but the TEG of their own accord conceded defeat, their spirit obviously broken by a Templar the likes of which they have never seen before.

This replay is arguably the most dramatic and represents the significant turn that Dota is experiencing right now. Despite his complaints about certain things in Dota not being balanced, Kuroky has obviously made clever adjustments to cope with the change of the times. You can bet gold that a lot of players who wish to rise to divinity will focus on this replay, thus further accelerating the transition of Dota, from a previously AoE spell-oriented game, to an AoE DPS-oriented game, culminating in the phenomenon we now call the DPSgeddon.

Is this the reason why the item Khadgar’s Pipe of Insight was not allowed in the F4F league, in a well-intended, but perhaps fruitless attempt to delay the onslaught?

Get it here.

Changelog:

Broodmother
- Spin Web now shows a minimap icon

Clockwerk
- Armor decreased by 1

Dark Seer
- Ion Shell cast on an already affected unit will replace the old buff instead of stacking
- Wall of Replica damage dealt when affecting an enemy hero increased from 125 to 150
- Wall of Replica image damage increased from 60% to 70%

Dazzle
- Removed the extra vision on Weave that remains for 12/18/24 seconds. It now only reveals for a couple of seconds during the cast effect.

Huskar
- Burning Spears damage rescaled from 6/8/10/12 to 4/8/12/16

Lanaya
- Psionic Trap now adds to your most recently placed trap to your selection panel as a secondary unit

Leoric
- Vampiric Aura increased from 5/10/15/20% to 10/16/22/28%

Lone Druid
- True Form movement speed decreased by 35
- Hero movement speed increased by 10
- True Form transformation time increased from 1.45 to 2 seconds
- True Form armor increased by 2
- Spirit Bear’s leash range reduced from 1500 to 925
- Spirit Bear no longer returns to Syllabear when he attacks out of leash range. Instead the bear will not attack

Lord of Avernus
- Aphotic Shield cast range decreased from 800 to 300
- Death Coil cast range increased from 300 to 800

Morphling
- Morph Replicate mana cost increased from 0 to 150

Necrolyte
- Strength gain increased from 1.5 to 2.0

Nerubian Assassin
- Mana Burn can no longer target creeps since it no longer effects them (42965)

Nerubian Weaver
- Urna Swarm’s Scarab’s cast mechanism changed. If you cast Infestation while having multiple Scarab selected, only one casts one at a time instead of all of them.

Night Stalker
- Darkness cooldown reduced from 240/180/125 to 180/150/120

Obsidian Destroyer
- Agility increased from 15 + 1.4 -> 24 + 2.0

Pandaren Brewmaster
- Primal Split’s Fire Panda now has hero damage type

Pudge
- Flesh Heap reworked, it no longer gains strength from creeps. Instead he gains strength (same values as before, 0.9/1.2/1.5/1.8) for any nearby (400 AOE) dying enemy hero. You still get the bonus if the unit dies outside of the aoe if you are the killer.

Rhasta
- Scepter version of Mass Serpent Wards no longer increases ward count. Instead, the damage of the wards is increased to match previous damage output.

Storm
- Base Intelligence increased from 23 to 26

Sven
- Warcry AoE increased from 350 to 450

Techies
- Remote mine now adds to your most recently placed mine to your selection panel as a secondary unit

Tidehunter
- Kraken Shell reworked, instead of removing buffs in time intervals, buffs are now removed whenever 600 HP is lost from player based damage. The counter is reset whenever you don’t take damage for 6 seconds.

Undying
- Base strength reduced from 25 to 22
- Intelligence gain reduced from 2.8 to 2.0
- Dying Illusions no longer trigger Plague Aura for regeneration

Viper
- Movement speed decreased by 5

Warlock
- Fixed Upheaval from slowing in the AOE around you rather than at the target AOE as it should

Arcane Ring
- AoE increased from 400 to 600

Armlet of Mordiggian
- Recipe restored to previous version since there is no more recipe conflict. Requires claw and 900 gold recipe instead of quarter staff and 500 gold recipe

Demon Edge
- Damage increased from 36 to 46

Heart of Tarrasque
- Bonus strength increased from 35 to 40
- Regeneration disable time reduced from 10 to 8

Necronomicon
- Recipe cost reduced by 50 gold

Mjollnir
- Static Charge changed from 45 cooldown to 35

Phase Boots
- Bonuses and recipe reworked

Power Treads
- Bonuses and recipe reworked

Orchid Malevolence
- Increased damage by 5

Satanic
- Bonus damage fixed on units that morph
- Cooldown reduced from 50 to 35

* Reworked buyback cost scaling

* Lots of ingame scoreboard improvements

* Slightly increased the regen rate of barracks and towers when they are attacked without nearby creeps/corpses from 40 to 55

* Added colored teleportation effects (allied only) at the target destination to match your player color (infrisios,5153)

* Added a new command -ii (-iteminfo) that displays allied hero items in the scoreboard

* Added a new Forked Lighting Icon, Name (Ether Shock) and visual effect (16523)
* Changed Vengeful Spirit sound set (13425)
* Changed Void’s Time Lock visual effect (5793)
* Items that get disabled with damage (Heart & Dagger) are no longer affected by self damage. Roshan damage now disables them.

* Added a new test command “-killwards” to remove all observer and sentry wards on the map
* Added a new Eyes in the Forest icon (46851)
* Added a visual effect for Kraken Shell when buffs are removed
* Added color change visual for Morphling’s model based on the ratio of agility to strength
* Added buyback message for observers
* New replay data available

* Fixed bug that prevented Open Wounds from working properly on non-hero units. It can now target regular units.
* Fixed Linken Sphere to properly block Nerubian Assassin’s Mana Burn
* Courier’s Deliver Items ability now properly exits its logic if you interrupt the courier with a different order (shield and burst don’t count)
* Fixed Mjollnir’s Static Charge being stackable
* Fixed Proximity Mines not triggering automatically on Scourge Towers like they do on the Sentinel ones
* Fixed a bug with disassembling Mjollnir not giving the recipe
* Fixed Enchant from being able to take over Primal Split units
* Fixed a bug with HCL mode where the game mode could be duplicated resulting in various other weird bugs
* Fixed various typos
* Fixed missing cooldown tooltip to neutral creep Tornado ability
* Fixed Glyph from affecting Tombstone

In case you didn’t know, I got massive support for the RAL post, even warranting a separate coverage in Playdota. For that, thanks a lot to the people who read it and made it more viral. Your support goes a long way towards maintaining the supremacy of DS in the Dota blogosphere

2nd.

I believe that more people are going to blog here, so you will not be just hearing from me. In fact, you’ll be hearing from them quite soon, so support them as you did royalty. Of course, first preferences to royalty.

3rd.

In the RAL post I made a brief mention of the term DPSgeddon and made some brief allusions. Here, I will explain what I had alluded to.

I think as far as the RAL is concerned for now, there can be no more illusions - it is only the fool who would neglect the trio and think they are insignificant. However, the frog would not like to see a permanent dominance of the RAL, and is doing his best to make sure they will not appear in the banlists of the future. The trends all point to one way.

That the frog will continue to buff the “DPS” heroes - in formal jargon heroes depending on physical attacks - until they are so overpowered to the point that the leaguers will be forced to take notice.

___________________________________________________________________

In some ways this has already happened. An increasing number of bans in league now involve the said DPS heroes - among them Broodmother, Viper, Syllabear, Morphling, Slardar and Enchantress.*** One need only check the 6.63b changelog and notice that Huskar, Sniper, Troll and Nightstalker, among others keep receiving buffs that many pub players have never imagined would take place. I need not explain in detail the buffs on other DPS heroes in the recent changelogs. Those who have true sight - and I mean true - will only conclude one thing:

The next versions of Dota will be so DPS heavy, it will be a case of picking just one or even two DPS heroes and witness an Armageddon taking place. It will be very much like in 6.49 where Luna - one DPS - can just tank all 5 enemy heroes and kill 3 or 4 in the process. For your information this scenario - Luna 1v5 - has happened before, with awe-shocking consequences. Imagine this happening on almost every DPS hero (especially with the necessary support) and what you get is taking the first 4 letters off Armageddon and replace it with DPS.

___________________________________________________________________

DPSGEDDON.

That’s right. I’m issuing this warning of a DPSgeddon in the future. Players specializing in DPS will have much cause to rejoice, because a tremendous opportunity is finally now within their reach. This also implies that many pubbies will be very happy with the future versions, because their favorite heroes are just that much stronger. On the other hand, many veterans, even leaguers, even myself (I am actually very good with the RAL if you didn’t know ) will find themselves out of place, their skills not as useful anymore. Unless leaguers make quick adjustments and stop insisting on a quick-gank playstyle, they will lose easily to a DPSgeddon-oriented lineup. I’m afraid, this time the frog will not listen to Kuroky’s pleas for a return to the gank-heavy era of 6.48b. (Check the RAL post for more details)

I do acknowledge that leaguers command tremendous influence in Dota. However whether the leaguers like it or not the frog will impose the DPSgeddon and those who do not recognize the warning signs will be vaporized in the cloud of DPS smoke. If, after so many buffs on DPS heroes, the leaguers still refuse to play them, I believe the frog will force a “remake” of certain DPS heroes that is even more overpowered than the old incarnation. We need not look far to see what the “remakes” of Visage and Enchantress have done to leaguers, one in 6.52, another in the now 6.63b.

Could this be a hidden reason why Jacob “Maelk” Toft-Andersen decided he will retire from Dota, other reasons aside? I’m not saying that Maelk is terrible at DPS though, but his specialty heroes when playing league have so far excluded most heroes you would term DPS.

___________________________________________________________________

However this does not mean that support heroes especially the RAL will lose their dominance. In fact their position will be even more comfortably entrenched because of it. One does not need to be the Emperor to command the Empire. In fact, all one needs to do is to be the High Priest influencing the Emperor. One case in mind - Bane has his Enfeeble skill causing a 120% loss of DPS. Imagine how convenient that would be when you square off against a DPS.

The greatest losers in the coming DPSgeddon will be the gank cum AoE spell heroes, while the greatest winners, aside from the DPS, the supports who will anoint them as the messiahs of the future. And in most of Dota history, the greatest winners of all, no matter what the frog does, have always been the supports - the High Priests, the Chens, the Dazzles, the RAL, the Vengeful Spirits, the Warlocks. Their scant record of kills is only to disguise their real power which they have always exercised, with deadly effect, behind the scenes.

Now, should we be so surprised that pubbies keep insisting on Sniper permapicks? Maybe I should try permapicking Sniper for a change.

***Check out the following for references:

1. ADC09 Regular Season Round 7 - Digi vs Cybertime
2. ADC09 Regular Season Round 7 - Game 3 - cD vs MCiTY
3. ADC09 Regular Season Round 7 - DTrust vs SuP!

However, we found out that there is a technical issue with Phase Boots. They seem to prevent procs like crits, bashes, etc while phased. It was never as apparent before because it was not coupled with attack speed. This makes the Phase Boots a bit anti-synergetic.

A workaround was underway and he is playing around with different versions of Phase Boots and Power Treads:

Phase Boots:
Boots of Speed (500)
2x Blades of Attack (1000)
Recipe (none)
Total: 1500

+70 Movement Speed
+26 Damage
Phase (Active)

Power Treads:
Boots of Speed (500)
Boots of Elvenskin or Belt of Giant Strength or Robe of the Magi (450)
Gloves of Haste (500)
Recipe (none)
Total: 1450

+60 MS
+10 Any Attribute
+30 IAS

While he notes:

While there may be workarounds for that bug, most would probably come at the cost of some functionality. So while still keeping with the primary no armor concept, I am exploring a new buildup for Phase Boots and Power Treads. Keep in mind that numbers are still at an early stage and this change is by no means final, but I’d like to share one version of what we are experimenting with.

While Dota 6.64 will contain mostly fixes, IceFrog hinted new remakes and heroes in version 6.65.

Take a look at IceFrog’s statement:

I have some really awesome news I’d like to share with you guys. I am now leading a team at Valve! I finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right.

My goal and top priority in the future is to solve the surrounding issues that affect the DotA experience in order to allow it to reach new heights. Addressing these issues will enable us to further enjoy aspects of DotA such as the gameplay, mechanics, and in-game feel that currently work well and ought to be maintained. As I’ve said many times in the past and especially after today’s developments, I am very excited about DotA’s future!

With regards to the 6.64 patch, the focus will be primarily on more balance improvements. It is moving along very smoothly and I expect to have it ready soon. Once those refinements are done, I’ll be working on some fun new content such as heroes or remakes for the 6.65 version. If there are specific things, big or small, you want me to consider for patches that follow, let me know.

Now, as we all know (or if you don’t), Valve is the company behind Steam, a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform. Steam facilitates the distribution and sale of games through the Internet with over 20 million users and 800 different titles available. Four key components might play importantly in this partnership. One is Steamwork’s multiplayer lobby feature, a lobby system where players agree on game settings before joining a server, something we have yet to see in Dota. Another is a matchmaking system that automatically groups players based on a criteria. Steam’s social network, aptly called The Steam Community, is a place where players interact with each other, see player stats and history of gameplay. Lastly, Steam Cloud enables Steam users to store game settings and saves on a central server. Really, really exciting stuff here, but then again, all of this is pure speculation by me.

It may be a few weeks to a few months before we learn what IceFrog’s really up to. Whatever it is, I hope it will be awesome enough to give the community a much needed boost and fire up the game for years to come.

On that old blog, I issued a challenge 4 versions ago - 6.59 - that Dota-ers should prove to the frog that certain buffed heroes back then would really make it into the league. And I myself predicted that one such hero would be highly used (and banned) by leaguers - even though, I can tell you, I have no s**t amount of league experience at all. My crystal ball of looking into the future is my own gut instinct, and common sense.

4 versions later - the current time - we hear leaguers clamoring for yet more balance, as if there wasn’t enough balance. Or rather, if there is any balance at all. Not too long ago a leaguer himself suggested reverting back (at least in part) to the 6.48b era. We wonder, wasn’t 6.48b history because of certain imbalances?

_______________________________________________________________

I think what I will say in the following will not be understood easily except by those who are very familiar with the Dota league scene. The most powerful Dota heroes right now, in 6.63b, are not the super-DPS like Troll or Anti-mage. It is not the “pro” heroes like Admiral, Nevermore or POTM, though they can look more powerful than they really are under correct circumstances (read: league).

It is the Really Atrocious Lineup. Namely Shadow Shaman, Demon Witch and Bane Elemental, who are the most powerful heroes in Dota right now.

I expect surprise and the question: Why? All 3 heroes share a thing in common - they have multiple disables. They are not excellent physical damage dealers - very poor in fact - but they allow the “pro” heroes to rack up kills because they do not allow enemies to escape or do any s**t to retaliate. However they do have excellent spell damage - Lion has his Finger of Death, Bane’s ultimate disables and damages a lot as well, and Rhasta has a somewhat spammable nuke. Hence two things happen when you encounter any of the trio - you can’t do anything to retaliate, and your as* gets burned quickly. Then the “pros” jump in for the last hit. And you think those heroes are “pro”? Indeed!

_______________________________________________________________

However even within the trio there can be ranks of power. And Rhasta is number 1 in that trio.

Both Lion and Bane depend on last-hits heavily to earn creep kills. Lion’s Impale, although an AoE spell, is very unreliable for securing mass creep stats due to its line range. Creeps do not line up to fight in Dota. However Rhasta’s 300-damage nuke works in many ways like POTM’s Starfall which “pros” love so much, due to the fact that it’s very easy to rake in creep wave gold. And that is certainly the case.

Rhasta, unlike the other two, can pump himself up very quickly with items if he wishes to, and if that happens his killing power can increase nearly tenfold. This is a major headache for many players whether league or pub. Let’s imagine for a while that Rhasta level 16 has a Guinsoo already, what happens? You get Vood00-ed, you get Shackled, you get Hexed, then Voodoo’s cooldown refreshes very soon (I’m not kidding - time the duration yourself) and you get Voodoo-ed again. All while Rhasta may have fried you with his Lightning once or twice, and some “pro” hero is whacking away jubilantly. If the fight is to be AoE, no problem. Set up serpent wards, Lightning away and disable anyone who is a threat immediately, up to 3 valid targets.

This is my favorite: Rhasta with Blink Dagger. The “pro” hero pretends everything is fine while the target happily whacks the creeps thinking the coast is clear. Then Rhasta blinks in and does his job. 8 seconds later, mission accomplished and most probably the “pro” hero is a few hundred gold richer. Almost always, I repeat - ALMOST ALWAYS - any of the trio possesses a Blink Dagger, Rhasta most of all, and death is certain every 15 seconds, if there were that many heroes to be killed.

_______________________________________________________________

Clearly, the leaguers understand this. And this is why you see, in the recent Pick League XII season, fu*kingly obscene bans on Rhasta in almost every game.

1. Game 1
2. Game 2
3. Game 3
4. Game 4

And many other replays you can find in Playdota’s forum. When the leaguers do not get balance, they impose it, via the fascist -CM mode. Such a hero so trepidly feared by leaguers that it is banned in practically every 6.63b game. Read: 6.63b, the latest, most “balanced” version that the frog has given us. Why so?

_______________________________________________________________

Rhasta is a powerful asset in any team, and is especially useful when accompanying a DPS hero. I’m not doing a guide here, so figure it out yourself why I said so. I already gave hints in the above. Counter_Force[X] requested an example lineup involving Rhasta. I don’t usually oblige such requests for my own reasons, but one of my favorites would be:

Rhasta, Puck!, Slardar + 2 heroes of your choice, usually stun or AoE depending on enemy lineup.

For something this big, this article is late in stating Rhasta’s strength in Dota. I only hoped that my old blog did help some people who wanted warnings of what the future of Dota would hold. My crystal ball suggests that unless the frog figures out a drafting method that mandates a balance of DPS, AoE and disable, the RAL or Really Atrocious Lineup Rhasta-Atropos-Lion will continue to be banned in Dota until kingdom come. Pubbies, still unaware of the creeping corporatization of Dota, will continue to specialize in DPS. The coming DPSgeddon will seal the doom of many heroes, while ensuring the continued dominance of the RAL.

What is this DPSgeddon about? I plan to write about that in the future.

Would you believe me if I said that I think the collided map could have been an inside job? It’s not to say I am very certain that’s the case - I don’t have proof and I’m not keen to explore the possibility, but somehow I just have a suspicion. For a lot of people, Dota is the only reason why they play WC3, and coincidentially, for a lot of Dota-ers, they just do not have enough reason to upgrade versions (and perhaps weed out some piracy as well, since pirated games always have trouble upgrading).

Interestingly too, 1.24 was made to be only compatible with 6.62 and above, and it also does not work with other custom maps (thus I heard). Then we had Icefrog implement (as is his habit now) bombloads of changes, effectively forcing players to either upgrade or be satisfied with s**t in the collided map. Last time I checked the local cybercafe in the Dota-crazy country of Malaysia, I was pleasantly horrified to see nearly everybody who is playing Dota being able to see enemy heroes in the fog, or checking their skill upgrades, or have Sand King unleash his global ultimate (lol).

So I’m happy. I don’t have to play with f**king cheaters anymore, and I simply hate the version switcher. And I want to thank whoever did the collided map, whether it was simply a hack or really an inside job - you just made things so much easier for me.

________________________________________________________________

WRT Dota itself I was surprised to see the frog actually undoing some of his “balance” changes, most notably Bristleback, Blink Dagger and Mask of Madness. Previously I held a now-mistaken belief that the frog would never backtrack on his actions, presuming that he is now actively trying to find the “perfect balance”. So I laid low for some time and waited to see what would happen. This is one reason why I blogged so little about Dota recently. Observing what changes he has been implementing have led me to gradually believe that:

1.         There is actually no perfect balance. As I said before, what constitutes balance is very subjective and open to debate.

2.         The frog does not intend to find the perfect balance.

3.         Reforming the map again and again introduces a sense of freshness to leaguers, and that is the real purpose of changelogs.

4.         No changelog will last beyond a few months. You call it the economics of gaming.

5.         Constant bombardment of changelogs also gives immense pressure to competing games - either they also follow suit, or be called old. Either way, the frog leads the way, as does Blizzard’s WC3 cashcow.

________________________________________________________________

If you’re used to my writing, I’ll just say in a nutshell that whatever nerfs that you find in the changelog, is purely caused by leaguers using them very often. Most notably, the nerfs to Tauren Chieftain and Batrider. It was simply just to avoid my prophecy *lol* that Dota would become the Tauren Chieftain’s map from becoming true. One special case, raising Bane’s ultimate mana cost to 200/300/400 was amply justified, because the ultimate now sucks mana instead of costing extra mana per second, so you can’t allow the purple punk to go wild with unlimited mana. However, in far too many versions, heroes like Nerubian Assassin and Chen have been banned too many times, so I was just genuinely puzzled why Chen was given an Aghanim upgrade while Mana Burn was reworked. It just simply felt like a buff. I have this nagging feeling that the frog’s favorite heroes are in fact both NA and Chen.

In the same way, whatever buff in the changelog, is also to encourage leaguers to use them. The most notable for me, in particular, is heavily buffing Queen of Pain. The huge cooldown reduction to both Shadow Strike and Scream of Pain - you will do well to take notice of this b**ch for now, those buffs are nasty along with her Blink. Notice that Scream has an almost similar cooldown to Blink level 4 - that alone tells you volumes about the b**ch’s mass destructive potential. Second place goes to Chaos Knight - the frog finally saw the light of reason and buffed that s**t cooldown on Phantasm. I just hope that this one will not be backtracked, because this one is too important for CK. Personally I’ve never understood why the need for an ultimate which just spawns images to be so severely punished. Notable for me too, is Furion’s almost global reach. Although not a big improvement, every little ones count. The frog should have finished the act by even allowing Forces of Nature a global cast range too.

League-wise, I don’t expect changes to be seen quickly. Leaguers have a habit of being slow to adapt to change, usually being content with time-tested strategies and going with the flow. Kuroky admitted just as much - I quote him:

“Finding out the real strengths of heroes within the period of one version takes some time, and sometimes it takes a couple of months until heroes get played on their edge.”

So you see people. Leaguers are like the mainstream media - initially they set the trend and the masses follow like the herd, but time will prove me right (as I have been proven right before), that it’s only a while before their judgement on certain issues are wrong. This is also another reason why changelogs are published - to enable the leaguers to continually “set” trends. Yes, a bias on the part of the frog.

________________________________________________________________

Bristleback -> Warpath giving damage = easy last hits = easy items

Drow Ranger -> range bonus is minor, but damage bonus from extra agility and aura = f**king OP. Remember too that Vengeful was also buffed in recent versions, and she can be easily paired up with Drow.

Magnus - Empower buff, early levels of ultimate stunning for longer durations, Blink Dagger buff. Remember, Empower is a bonus damage skill and bonus damage = easy last hits. So don’t come telling me that Magnus cannot farm well.

Nightstalker - yeah yeah I know Loda has used him to great effect. So there you have it, from a leaguer himself.

Queen of Pain - the banshee still requires much skill to be pwning, but because many many leaguers went to bed with her before, you can be assured that buffs her way will be massively welcomed by the league community. Also what I said above.

So until the next version, or my fingers itch to type, adios and I’m off to catch Skandar Keynes and Ben Barnes in action for the next installment of the Narnia series.

Changelog:

* Fixed an exploit possible with Puck
* Armlet recipe now changed to include Quarterstaff instead of Blades of Attack (bonuses and total price unaffected)
* Fixed Wrath of Nature from targeting couriers
* Fixed a bug with Spirit Bear’s entangle and overgrowth
* Fixed Heart icon on the endgame scoreboard
* Undid a couple of the fun names recently added
* Fixed a rare abuse that could cause other users performance to drop