Hello, LightRedemption here. The ultimate aim of this blog would be to gather up people and teach them about the things that would benefit them in DotA/Dota 2 in the long run while hoping to educate the general community in a positive way.
Managing Resources
~Art by sajin0084 on Deviant Art
Alright, I must admit, I did not expect the views to climb that fast in just a few days, especially considering how I spent most of the last 7 days getting drunk, going to parties and getting drunk again. I haven't had much time to think about preparing these things, but never mind that. I have a schedule to keep after all. So, as I've said before, the last blog entry of mine was supposed to be belonged to a series. So here is the next part that I've promised: Management of resource.
Edit: holy crap it climbed by like 200 views while I was writing.
So, managing resources, does it sound simple to you? I'm not trying to make it any more complicated, but I must say that people sometimes (read: usually) mispercept just exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned this. Most of those misunderstandings come from the misconception of the word "resources" as it applies to the DotA game. Now, it being made on the RTS game Warcraft III has given people a definition for resources: wood, gold and food. However, DotA removes wood and food, only offers Gold as the official income of the game, used for several of transactions. It is true that all resources are connected with gold, one way or another, but gold itself isn't all of the "resources" you'd have to manage in this game. The other resources a player has to worry about include, but not limited to:
*Hero Health
*Hero Mana
*Hero Spells cd
*Hero Experience
*Inventory slot (many thanks)
*Time (would be discussed later in the series)
*Territory (would be discussed later in the series)
So, what exactly is Resource Management (RM from now on, bonus points to those who get the reference)? In the simplest of explanations, RM is the efficient and effective deployment of a team's/a player's resources when they are needed. For team RM, you can refer to here (I promise to extend that article in the future). This article would concern dealing with resource at an individual's level.
*Gold:
First and foremost, the resource that is the most recognizable is gold. It signifies your income. There is a variation, gpm (gold per minute, available in Dota 2), that is an indication of your "resource gathering" in a way, since gold is the one of the few resources you can actually "gather" rather than "manage", in the strictest sense. Playing the first game would already tell us how to gather our gold. Gold is offered through time, the killing (last hitting) of hostile neutrals, enemies (creeps, heroes, buildings) or the assist in killing of nearby enemy heroes and any tower. You can also "gain" gold by selling your items, but that's a net loss and shouldn't be considered unless under specific conditions. Gold is spent for items; buy backs and nothing much else actually. How you spent your gold should already be covered and known since your introduction into the game, so I won't drag on about something everybody should already know.
*Hero statistics:
These are certain "resources" that cannot be "gathered" (except for experience, with a cap) only "gained" and "managed". These includes the ever changing variable of the hero (not stats, because those are typically much less flexible). What you have left is hp, mp, cd of a hero's spells (sometimes even passives) and his/her/its experience points.
-HP is up as the arguably most important resource of an individual hero. If she/he/it hadn't any hp left, none of the other resources would have mattered until he/she/it does. You can manage hp by increasing its maximum quota (via increase in strength, hp items or spells) or the regeneration of that quota (strength, hp regen items or spells). What some people don't understand (but is apparent in the higher levels of game play) is that hp has to be looked at and monitored, as well as being weighed into considerations in order to deduct the best action to take at any given time. That's why you usually don't keep your hp low in lane if you have regen to back it up (even if you have a Salve, when the missing hp would make the item a bit less effective than it should be) and you a lot of the times decide to go back and heal before charging into a fight. Your decisions should be based on hp and other resources, not the other way around. Since it is health though, something people deal with every time they play, I don't believe I need to say much more.
-MP: Mana points are probably the second most recognizable part of your hero out there. Mp management itself is a limit onto how frequent your mana costing spells can be casted (there a few exceptions that I won't mention). I don't list spells being resources as a whole because I believe mp and cd cover it up nicely already. So comparable to hp, you do not need mp to survive, but a large portion of the time you need it to be useful. The hero's model is only as good as how his/her/its spells make them out to be. You can't do anything if you can't actually touch anyone, can you? You can manage mp by improving/removing items that increases the maximum quota (int increase, items, spells) or the regeneration (int increase. items etc.). If one could classify max hp and % as "survivability" of a hero, I could classify max mp and % as "practicality". You usually need both. However, the more hp you have the better, while there is a lot of time when max mp goes to waste. Thus, it is highly important to keep your mp "just right" rather than preferably always high like hp. This means using your spells if you can and don't need the mana for a specific amount of time. Mp items in general are also easy to get and use, so you shouldn't fret too much when you run out of mp frequently. Well, it's different with hp. Still, the usage of your hard-earned spells is also limited by one more thing:
-Spells cooldown (cd): Most spells have a recharge time after they have been "used" (channeled, casted, whatever) thus limiting you from using the spell again until the cd has expired (there are spells which has more limitations but I would not be covering them). As you might have guessed, the cd of the spells has little to do with anything but the spells themselves. However, they would be largely noticeable when they either have a high cd or must be saved for dire situations, and it is actually quite straight forward that way: don't use a skill if you might need it later (before the skill itself finishes its cd). There's not really much else to that, since it is rather independent.
-Hero Experience (exp): Well you can't actually lose exp (not yet) so you only gain it. Usually you gain exp as you get gold, and usually it just comes naturally. You don't actually manage this so much but gaining it. There is, well, Hand of Midas if you want to excessively level up, but that's kind of detrimental. Why am I ranting on about this? Look, exp comes naturally, and the only way to reliably fish for it is to be in a near parameter of a kill made on enemies, bonus if you're the killer. Otherwise this is just here for the sake of listing mostly.
-Inventory slot: Ah yes, for some reasons I actually forgot about this. Big thanks to zwegat85 for reminding me. So, inventory slot is a set amount of item certain units you control can carry. This number can be customized to your own need, though most people use the slots given to them: hero's 6 slots - directly adding effects and passive bonuses to the hero themselves, courier's 6 slots - usually shared by the team and your Circle of power's 6 slots - stationary "chest" type. That equates to 12 personal slots (expand to 18 if you we have Spirit Bear) and 6 team slots. Spirit Bear aside, remember that there are a lot of limitations on how active abilities of items are limited on courier and the nature of the circle of power, thus most of the times the only use your items would see are on your heroes themselves. You are limited to 6 slots this way. That's why you don't see mass Ironwood Branches mid game, even though it's helluva more cost effective than shitty Ultimate Orbs. That's also why there's a time when you're pushed to buy Boots of Travel instead of relying on tp all the time, because you are hard pressed for that slot. Usually, if you're playing the hero that aims for big items fast you're not going to have a lot of trouble with inventory slots early on (despite what a combination of RoB - MoC - Drum - Wand - Boots - Bottle - TP might convince you otherwise). Remember though, this isn't Skyrim, where you can carry an infinite amount of items and only be slowed down because of it. You literally cannot, so don't try to. Instead, one should always aim for the items they complete, not buying something just because they are cost effective. Also learn to use your extra slots at home if you should desire so, since those are perfect for holding items such as ward, dust and smoke and be extracted out with a courier on use.
That sums up the hero's statistics for now actually, as the entry has already went into a rather excessive length. Wrapping everything up, I'd like to point out that RM as a whole is something that shouldn't be taken too seriously within a game itself (unlike a lot of things I've written about before) since it usually just what you always do, only with a new light and a bit more insight into it. It has been, obviously aiming at newer players who usually go all in and don't really have a clue of what direction they would like the game to turn out and how to solve their own problems. I do believe that this article itself was much less complicated and inevitably helpful to a lot of players, but I simply want to have it said. As always,
Total Comments 7
Comments
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Another wonderful blog from you! I have to say I'm impressed by the constant high-quality blogging you've done.
I don't know if you accept suggestions, but the "territory" aspect you mentioned could probably fill up a decent amount of space, so I think that it should have its own blog. There are quite a lot of interesting things you can learn about the territory in DotA, and the acquisition as well as the retention of the land plays a very interesting role in many games.Posted 06-23-2012 at 12:42 AM by magic101 
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@magic101: I do actually plan to make it so actually. Thank you for your opinion regardless.Posted 06-23-2012 at 10:58 AM by CynthiaCrescent
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Inventory Slots are another important resource.Posted 06-24-2012 at 06:08 AM by zwegat85
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Thank you very much. UpdatedQuote:Originally Posted by zwegat85
Inventory Slots are another important resource.Posted 06-24-2012 at 09:12 AM by CynthiaCrescent
Updated 06-24-2012 at 09:22 AM by CynthiaCrescent -
well written, but mostly just what everyone whose ever played dota for 10 minutes (excluding item slots -1hr) already knows, i would suggest going into slightly more detail about strategy, try this its for lol but it applies well. but overall a good guidePosted 06-24-2012 at 10:14 PM by InvokerofTime
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Aside from the fact that this isn't actually a strategy guide, and it's not supposed to be complicated (δ_δ) as I've said directly within the entry. It simply is supposed to be a reminder of the facts, not new things (again, as I've previously stated) so I don't think anything else applies here, unless you can comment on how to expand it.Quote:Originally Posted by InvokerofTime
well written, but mostly just what everyone whose ever played dota for 10 minutes (excluding item slots -1hr) already knows, i would suggest going into slightly more detail about strategy, try this its for lol but it applies well. but overall a good guide
About the video: The voice turns me off (both sexually and interest-wise) and it also has nothing to do with this post, nor I would ever listen to it again actually. If there's a reason that I should, feel free to tell me and I'd reconsider.Posted 06-25-2012 at 12:47 AM by CynthiaCrescent
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I liked this article and I have an Idea for the next one, I will send you a PM, with love Royal_NagaPosted 07-01-2012 at 03:45 AM by Royal_Naga
