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CynthiaCrescent

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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.
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Revisiting Dota 2's development

Posted 03-08-2013 at 10:37 PM by CynthiaCrescent
Updated 03-15-2013 at 06:06 PM by CynthiaCrescent

Official art by VALVe corporation.

It has honestly been too long, forever and a day I'd say, since the last time I'd written a blog post. Most of my old writing habits had turned into vlogs, live casts, replay analysis, studying and extensive love-making. If it weren't for a random person reminding me that I used to do this, I would've completely forgotten. I used to write one article per week, get thousands of views and feel good about it. Then other things started to get in the way; I started procrastinating etc. and the desire to write just never hit me again.

Until now.

I've seen people everywhere recently, PD, reddit, jD, dev, TL, you name it. Whether it's the same people or different one, they've talked unitedly about how the Arcana Lina item is pushing the cosmetic "war" a little bit too far. I'm not sure whether I agree with them on that, but I just want to take you a little bit down memory lane, of how things have turned out since the first time I started playing Dota 2, since everything before that has already been said.

I was playing non-serious during a huge course of 2012, mostly solo queue pub stomp or bot games, although I'd never fail to deliver when things started getting serious and I queue first pages. I also don't smurf, not sure if that's an achievement or not. Then TI2 happened. My mind wasn't really there when TI happened, so I did a lot to be able to watch TI2 in its full availability. The beauty of the game still sung to me like a song, fortunately so, as I watch the highs and lows of people's emotions everywhere, longing to find out who's the winner of that $1000000 grand prize. It was when iG've won, taking the grand championship to China is when I realized what this game has become. It's more than just a remake of an old mod (TF2) or an idea game (Portal), but this is VALVe's brain child. They see extreme profit, and attention, and they've done a decent job at catering to the fans so far, as far as I can tell.

Then I started trying to become more active as I finished high school, asking around, getting connections etc. and try to make it by myself, denying all the local opportunities so I don't have to get tangled with random contracts and dead-end deals. It was hard. It didn't work. It was already November, and my life was going through significant changes, and so was the game. I suddenly feel so much less passionate, despite making a decent profit off trading, and extremely successful in random pubs. Maybe it was because I was going to have to separate with my girlfriends soon, there are a lot of reasons to explain my general lack of ambition. I stopped trying to make it, but I still watched VALVe. A close friend of mine, also a fellow forumer, explained to me his extreme doubts about the game's future, or at least the game that he and I knew and loved.

Past tense.

He said that IF and VALVe are doing great job as developers, but the old DotA game won't survive. He wasn't talking about its wc3 form, but its adapted Source engine form. To him, the character sucked, the lore sucked and he couldn't relate to any of the heroes. It just didn't feel fun to him anymore. It felt like a chore that he can't quit. He ended up moving back home, trying to find his piece of mind. I also made my big move to the U.S, with nothing but college in mind. I was thinking of quitting Dota 2 as well.

When I got to the U.S, everything was new and fresh. I didn't have too much to do since it was the first semester and I didn't actually make any friends yet. So I headed back onto Dota 2 just to try out how playing in USE felt.
It was horrible.
It wasn't the 110ms, it wasn't the fact that teammates were horrible or I was solo queuing, it was because of how much I've realized I missed playing this game. I started semi-serious training a little bit, get around with some friends here, do some casting gig here and there. It hasn't been too successful yet, but I know that my passion hasn't actually gone away. Maybe reinventing myself was what I needed to do. And so I did just that.

A month or two later I'm here, writing this. I've never missed a beat of Dota 2 development and even though I don't agree with a large portion of the decisions made by VALVe, I felt that hardly those things that I disagree with would make me enjoy this game less. I'm and oldfag and I know it. The new skin wouldn't affect me one bit, nor the surge of items yet to come, I also enjoy them quite a bit. I'm just going to say "chill out, dude". I'm not saying I've been through tougher things, nor does my opinion worth shit, but think of it this way. If you didn't like the game and how it's turning out you can always leave, but if that was why you even played then maybe you need an intervention as well. The game would always be here, moving forward whether you like it or not. Have anything to say, take it up at the dev forums (I know most of you have already done that) but just relax. It IS just a game, of which I love, and I feel like those who don't are really just missing out. This blog post lacks a definite point, but I didn't promise one either.

Peace out

This post has deliberately left out the wonderful person I've been spending time with. Much love.
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The Art of War - Part 2

Posted 07-24-2012 at 06:55 AM by CynthiaCrescent

~Art by roguemina on Deviant Art
The Art of War


6. Weak points and strong
Relatively simple, this is. Having played DotA, you should know that there is nothing known as a “perfect team”. You don’t pick your team to be perfect. You pick the heroes to do a specific job, which would generally help you in winning the game, thus completing the objective of playing in the first place. DotA has many, many unique heroes that fulfill different roles, are strong at certain things and weak in various else. Some are stronger in a general sense than others, but that does not mean there should be such a hero that becomes a “must pick” a.k.a clearly doing things too good. Such a hero should not exist nor should be relied on, considering how this is an ever changing game and things from a distant past might or might not hold its relevance as well as it did if put into the context of today’s metagame. What does this mean? Well, judging by the picks of your team, you should be able to realize the strong and weak points in the composition. This also applied to the enemy as well, but different. Perhaps your allied heroes are not good at killing Roshan, for example, be sure to memorize that. It shall easily be the most devastating blow to be Roshan-jacked simply because you were committing too much to be able to accomplish such a task, resulting in severe loss. There is an obvious risk/ratio reward that every player should take note of. See, it is always good to cover up your weak points, just in case your opponent tries to jab you. However, you must understand that conversely, your opponent might be thinking the same thing. If both go all out or play conservatively, the idea of taking the game into your control is lost, and it becomes either a slug fest or a feast fest, both of which you are as likely to come out on the losing end as you are not. Thus, do not only focus on one point. As a strategist, it is better to exploit the opponent’s weakness while fueling the preparation to use your strong ones. Remember that nothing is stopping the opponent from thinking the same. You obviously do not want to jab at a team who has little AoE to defend against summons, yet have prepared themselves for dealing with it. The obvious flaw is often the most deceiving, as it can be easily turned into a trap. So, watch things with an open eye and another behind your back.


7. Maneuvering:
Everyone knows what the DotA map is like, none of it is quite hard to perceive. However, the simple act of walking has extreme importance upon several of other things. Moving is to be done efficiently and secretively. There’s a reason people ward in enemy’s territory, in order to track their movements and therefore predict the enemy’s plan and devise your own to counter that. If you're not taking in Deception; then the act of moving efficiently simply means moving in the shortest route. This is painfully obvious however, as you can be easily percept and caught off guard. The last thing you want to be is predictable, and allowing the enemy to “read” you would turn to disastrous results. If you throw in Deception as previously mentioned; you have a whole new perspective to take in. The shortest route might as well be the most dangerous, but also the most rewarding, since it IS the shortest route after all. It’d get you to where you want to go the fastest, and it depends on where you were going from that determines whether it is the best way to take. If you’ve known of juking, then you should know how NOT taking the shortest and most obvious route can turns to be very beneficial. However, always remember that there’s no assuming that your opponent can be outsmarted. If you were able to think this up, there is no reason for the opponent not to be able to find counter measures. Sometimes, it is perhaps better to simply do the obvious thing; faking your intention can make the most experienced of enemies doubt themselves. Confusion is crucial when your life is on the line; and always thinks ahead.


8. Variation in tactics:
In DotA, you cannot hope to control your soldiers, but you can concentrate the team’s focus through several of interactive means. Going into a game, you know what you are going to do to win. However, things might or might not go your way. It is always better to have a backup plan; something your team can do, even though not as good in optimum conditions as your first plan, but instead can pull a victory from the jaws of defeat. While devising up tactics, there are things you should watch out and not do:
*Recklessness
*Cowardice
*Hastiness
*Doubts
As complicated as that sounds; balance is always best. For if you are reckless; you would not have time to think. For if you are cowardice; you would let opportunities get away. For if you are hasty; you would be susceptible to provocation by the enemy. For if you are full of doubts; then there is no plan you shall accomplish. If you fail, then it would obviously be attributed to one of the aforementioned faults in the design of your course of action. Take those words in to decide what you would want to do, and how you were to set out in completing it. Be cool-headed but risky, as balance is the key.


9. The nine situations:
These are the battle situations that you would obviously come across while involving yourself in a game and the tasks should be taken to ensure your chances of winning.
* Dispersive grounds: This is your ground, indicated by territory markers. Territory markers are often the same as “Structure of truth” previously mentioned. They indicate, to an extent, the stretch of the map you are controlling. A fight within these grounds is highly advantageous, for you have your structures as long as undisturbed vision mostly. It is always recommended to fight here should the standings are equal.
*Facile ground: This is the shallow penetration into hostile territory. You are not too deep that enemy structures surround you, while the enemies themselves can approach in several of directions and cut off your exit. This is rather that of the opponent’s jungle, might or might not be vision checked and should be either close to allied territory or neutral grounds with fog for ease of escape. Only fight here if it is necessary.
*Contentious ground: This is where either side, should they be properly positioned, would be greatly favored. This mostly attributes to either jungles when the outer towers have been cleared, or the Roshan area. The one controls the vision and has in his or her hands the right combination of combat prowess to excel in that specific area shall hold great advantage. Fight here when you are able to secure the advantageous positions (usually where your vision isn’t impaired), or else skip.
*Open ground: Fair to everyone, and is usually open to reinforcements from both sides with equal distance. This would usually be the rune spawns and the middle of middle lane, or sometimes the river path hitting the bottom and top lane should the respective nearest tower have been removed. This gives no advantage to either side, so requires no positioning but should not be counted on.
*Ground of intersecting highways: These are usually where the destroyed Structures of Truth are. Claiming vision and control over these grounds usually grand huge territorial advantage to the team. These are, however, very bad places to fight, but only rather to ambush, for they are usually close to the enemy team’s base.
*Serious ground: All your bases are belonged to us! This is when a team has successfully penetrated one of the key paths into the throne/tree and the creeps can now freely engage with impunity. These grounds are under constant battle, be it against creeps to prevent them from harming the throne/tree or opportunists’ attacks strike at the heart of the weakened territory.
*Difficult ground: Where neither team would have any advantage, only hindered fighting here, as opposed to open ground. The secret shops are prime examples of these, hard to engage and maneuver from, yes still prone to enemy attacks and allied misfire (though this isn’t in DotA). One should stay clear of these.
*Hemmed in ground: serious grounds before it became so serious. This is usually deep within territory with terrain acting in favor of the defenders, where the opposition must squeeze through a predictable pathway in order to reach you, but you are freely in control of movements.
*Desperate ground: Where you must save by directly engaging the enemy. There are no two-bits about this one. When your tree/throne is exposed, you must fight the marching opposition head-on, even though they might have much more vision and strategically advantages. There is an exception of throne-race, but that must be handled with care, or you shall immediately lose without delay.


10. Terrain:
Shall be written as an exclusive article.

So that's it, the end of the Art of War. Now it took me a bit longer than usual to write, but I hope that it turns out to be worth it. I mean I didn't give any small talk during the early of this article, blasphemy!
Regardless, it should stay the same, for I haven't much to say except that I'm pretty busy with the Webzine at the moment, and is still appreciating everyone's help should they decide to give it. My name is LightRedemption, and this has been another good day blogging.
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The Art of War - Part 1

Posted 07-04-2012 at 12:54 AM by CynthiaCrescent

~Art by DragonOlong on DeviantArt

The Art of War

It would be excellent if you recognize the title, since it is one of the most influential and well-respected in military history. It should come as no surprise that the principles could be applied with numerous depictions as well. I came here today with the aim of ending the macro-management series in mind, however, that doesn’t mean I can’t expand it should I see fit. This article, of course, would not be a direct appliance of the book into our game’s context, considering how someone already does that (albeit not really a good job at it), and credits is where credits is due. Thus, this would only refer to the most relevant sections at its most fundamental ideals.


Now, I don’t know what you have been told or have personally perceived, but DotA is a war. It is a war with a definitive aim in mind: destroying the opponent’s Ancient. Now, regardless of what I might have said in my “Walking through the ruins” guide, one should never count on leavers in the enemy team to attain victory. We are moving to Dota 2 sooner or later after all, so it’s best to adapt a sportsmanship’s attitude and mind set. With that settled, as a war you’re going to participate in, you should recognize the main differences between DotA and a real war:

*You have absolutely no control over the soldiers' behavior. You are only the “generals” and the creeps (fighters) are all AI controlled in a predictable manner.
*There is never any question of loyalty of a common cause. Your faction and aim do not change.
*It takes nothing to maintain your army. This is not a RTS, you are not to gather resources to fuel your army, that part is done for you. Conversely, you cannot cut off the enemy supplies.
*The battlefield is relatively small.
*You are not fighting to capture, but to destroy. You are not to preserve an enemy’s base. You either win, or you lose. There is no third choice. You do not win by preserving; you win by securing the annihilation of a structure.
*You cannot use techniques to directly gather intelligence, conversely, your strategy and game plans cannot be directly exposed.


With that out, there are still many options to explore the war-aspect of DotA. Now, I should have said this before, and henceforth shall update this part into the other articles in the series, what macro management is. Macro management is the strategy of the game play, and it is the way you plan the game to unfold, and how to steer it into your favor. It is not what you hero directly impacts, that would be micro-management, but how it makes a difference in the long run. All of this aims towards an individual player. The team articles would come later.

1. Laying plans, waging war:

In DotA, you should always start the game with a plan in mind. This would not affect low level games so much, but when you start to get to high level pubs, a strategic decision and team composition is highly important and will significantly affect the outcome of the game, hence the term “outpick” when it comes to team composition. Since this is an article aimed at individuals, I am not able to tell you just what you need to do to build the foundation of a team. Your 4 teammates decide that along with you. Unless you know them or you are playing a high level pub, you are to fend for yourself when it comes to preparation. Ideally, one should pick a hero with either the ability to fulfill a specific strategy that might be made possible with the existing team components, or able to patch up its glaring weakness. Remember, picking to counter only work in low level pubs, when you are alone. Even if you do succeed in countering the most obvious threat from the opponent’s team, there is a high chance that over exposure would leave yourself vulnerable to the enemy’s counters instead. Then, it becomes a game of cat and mouse that you no longer have the option to assure to come out on top, and the point of countering simply disappear. So, don’t do it. After picking your hero, what you do is to buy your starting items. Once again, if you are aiming to directly confront an enemy and have battle in lane, then buy stats + regeneration to help you triumph. However, if you are to stay clear of combat with the enemy, then other item combinations would have its merits, such as mass consumables for roamers and boots/bottle first opening. Either way, you should buy what you think you’ll need and your lane mate cannot already give you (so no double Ring of Bassilius) and head out. Where you’re heading depends, of course.


2. Tactical Disposition:

As you finish your preparations, you head to war. Whether the creeps have come or not would not matter at the slightest. The game has started, thus the war has begun. Heroes are relatively safe waiting for the creeps to come out from their base, but that is highly unlikely a good way to spend your time (unless the wait time is almost over). If you are to take care of the vision impairing treachery or spying of unknown territory (would be talked about later) you would be smart to head out immediately with those wards. You might not see the need for them, but there are a lot of the time when you wished you had those wards up to counter enemy jungler/watch rune/see incoming gank. The time before the creeps spawn is basically free time, and you would NEVER get it back. Use it to the best of your ability. You can also take yourself to Roshan, with the intention of killing him with a semi-organized teammate support or to watch out should your opponent do so. It’s never a waste of time going around before creeps spawn, but it is if you only stand there for no reason, unless you have creep blocking in mind. Creep blocking might seem natural for some of you, but you must realize that nothing is ever that simple. If you creep block, you are only able to control 1 way of the creep equilibrium. The other side is still up to the choice of the opponent, and unless you are comfortable with whatever combination of those two choices would leave, or you absolutely need your creeps near your tower for whatever reasons, you should just leave the creep wave alone. As the free times tick down, you are to dispatch yourself to your team’s need. This is basically the choice of laning, which I couldn’t possibly cover like this. Just make sure to not confuse your teammates of what you are doing so that your team can at least work out a coherent plan on what exactly you are trying to do.


3. Energy

See Managing Resources

4. Attack by Stratagem:

If you have vision and a good sense of prediction, there is a good chance your opponent’s choice of disposition would have become clear to you, and you are able to react in a way that is positive to your game plan. However, never forget that you are not playing against AI bots, but human players. There is no stopping them from reading you as you suppose you’ve read them and response accordingly, turning your apparent advantage into a disadvantage. You should always arrive first upon the field to have a good control of sight (unless you have wards). Remember, you don’t actually have to do anything but move. Encounters in extreme early game are generally discouraged unless one has a decent amount of supports. You can win, but the risk is usually too high for the reward. Think of it this way. If you just stand there and last hit, the enemy must response to you. This makes their actions transparent, and being predictable is the last thing anyone wants. With that said, you also risk over exposure, because you are within the vision of the enemy. This means, you KNOW what the enemy are going to do should you choose to await the enemy by acting absolutely ignorant. The enemy MUST response to you in a predictable manner (there are only so many routes in a lane and so many heroes to be missing at once) and thus you have practically imposed your will on the enemy themselves. Of course, doing this you must have a way of responding to what your enemy will do, or else it would be a complete waste. You should only attempt something like this if you are sure to come out on top should a skirmish breaks out, otherwise there is a different method to take (chapter 5). With your constant movement, whether during laning or pushing, defending, Roshan-ing or anything of the sort, you are to consider all possible enemies’ interference and act accordingly. If you push and the enemy comes back to defend, such a thing might become clear soon, and thus you dispatch heroes to take advantage of the enemy’s absence in other parts of the map. Matters not your strategy, you should never, in turn, become predictable, or else you would have to act according to the enemy’s will. Always attempt to take the upper hand and force fights and movements through beneficial context and if able, monitor the enemy’s reaction. This used to be the best thing one could do in order to take control of game flow. That is, until, Smoke of Deceit happened.


5. Deception

Deception is the key in war. Now, this used to be a hard thing to exploit with the prevalence of wards, summons & illusions(a.k.a spies) and towers (structure of truth). However, as Smoke of Deceit is introduced, strategy has changed dramatically. Sight has now become a war of deception and true vision. Your team (and don’t forget the enemy team too) can now hide under the cover of smoke and duck through your apparently clear control of vision and strike where you’re the weakest. The only things you can trust are the structures of truth (towers, ancient, fountain) and the more vulnerable expandable outposts (combination of high terrain Observer Ward and Sentry Ward, Necronomicon 3 summons or a hero with Gem of True Sight) that is highly more mobile but risky. Always remember the great impact of impaired vision. A Beastmaster with a Hawk flying over his head with Gem of True Sight in his inventory is still limited to the expense of the methods themselves. The Gem has a set AoE, and it wouldn’t save him from mass Blink smoke gank coming out of nowhere. Why, because he was not doing anything to shroud himself from the enemy vision. Remember that vision is scared, so you should never count on your enemy not being aware of something that you are doing within their sight of vision. The so-called “vision war” prevalence in many old games are the tug of war between both teams trying to control the amount of information the enemy can gather while stopping them from limiting yours. These wars had taken a nose dive in happenings, due to the sheer power of Smoke (of Deceit, of all things). You can now actively “feed” enemy false information with it, or duck under the radar and lead the enemy into a false perception of your plan. Smoke is a frequently used item when you get to the higher levels of the game, but it is far from the only deception you are able to do. Terrain, time and spies are also means of deception readily available in the game, and one should always try to incorporate them into their strategy to the best of their abilities, even though it might seem like only a small part. It comes to a time where everything you do count, and every advantage you can get is of at most importance to obtain.


~To be Continued in part 2~
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A DotA [Life] Story

Posted 06-28-2012 at 06:47 AM by CynthiaCrescent
Updated 06-28-2012 at 07:00 AM by CynthiaCrescent

~Art by bamuth on Deviant Art

If you didn't notice, my last article did not reach anywhere near the required quota of 1000 views yet, thus this entry isn't going to be about any strategic complexity/explanation of any sort. It's just something that I suddenly feel like writing. I'm going to, just for reference, share with the people who would like to read, my near 4-years journey after I started playing DotA. Of course, this is DotA-related, and not my life story, so there's no lesbians, no underaged sex, no drugs and no money. It's just... experience, mostly. I also didn't want it to turn into some kind of self-interview, so yeah.


2008 - We all have to start somewhere

I'd be lying if I said I remember clearly the events of 4 years ago. I was 14, so I don't think I'm expected to anyways. It all started when a friend of mine asked me to play with him and his friend, custom map of Warcraft 3. Well, I haven't played Warcraft 3 since I was 10. so I basically just shrugged and said "Yeah". It was around late September if I recalled correctly. Anyways, it was a game against AI bots. Needless to say, I got thrashed, but from a future perspective looking back, I didn't fail that bad. You could only do so much when the only item you could build was Sange & Yasha and the only hero you knew half way back then was Terrorblade, with the channeling Soul Drain. It was hilarious, truth be told. I, basically, was fascinated to no end. It was also, evidently, the start of my last year in middle school, so I had to deal with that too. Still, I found the free time I needed to play. I don't want to use the word "train" because I had little idea of what I was doing, so I just played. After an intensive few days of 1vs1 with another new player, I learned a few of the heroes, some of the items, and learned to stack Wraith Bands on something if things turned to shit. It was fun, but I know I was ready for something else. It was winter break at the end of the year, so I went into playing intensively. I didn't have much of a social life when I was 14, yeah, I blame a lot of things, but never mind that. Basically, the rest of 2008 was me trying to get my knowledge together and play with real people (on Garena, hwe hwe hwe) for once.

2009 [First Half] - Friends... what can you do without them?

Apparently, a lot. It is just so convenient that a lot of the guys in my class at school play DotA too, and they were much better than me at the time (most have been playing for 1+ years) and I was just starting to understand what was going on most of the time. I hated them, but I don't really have much of a choice for an "organized game" of sort. I took games with them anyways. The first half of 2009 (the last semester of my middle school life) was mostly spent playing with those guys, losing most of my matches and got blamed for them. It was alright though, I was an outcast anyways, and I don't mind the flaming that much, considering how I didn't really care much, mostly to improve. I had all of those people on my Garena friendlist though. I didn't know it at the time, but it actually helped me later. We'll get to that. For now all you need to know is that I was not only struggling with school but with things outside school as well. At the very least, my competence and command of the English language got me together with an online group of 4, which I came across while lurking on DA (which was pointed to me by that original friend who introduced me to DotA). We had a plan of online training once I got out of school and graduate. In the mean time, I was even more shunned within my own class. I was under constant depression, so yeah. The first half of 2009 ended with my having complete knowledge of a pubber. However, I was also aware enough that there is higher level play, albeit I can't seem to mimic them.

2009 [Second Half] - The birth of DotM, and PlayDotA

Ah yes, I finally got out of middle school. High school hasn't started yet, but I haven't much hope for it either. I was still very much a teenager back then (I still am now, but my hormones seem to disagree). During the summer of 2009, a lot of things happened: PD was created, which I picked up after continously lurking in DA (if anyone knew my old account on DA, I could give that person a beta key right now). The 4 friends that I was playing with formed a team with me, named it DotM (again, anything for the person who could point out what it stands for). Lastly, and no doubt most importantly, I got myself a girl friend. It was the best summer I ever had. Even though I didn't expect much from high school, I must say I went into it with my head held high. Surprisingly enough, there was a lack of DotA players (only ~4 people have played DotA before), so I was set out to spread its influence. Since I got back to school, DotM disbanded. If any of you guys, ChaoS, Elder, Ignitus or Sakura could be reading this right now, say something, I miss you. I also found out that after almost a year of intensive (yes, it was the most intensive I ever played anythng) training, I realized I have improve tremendously, even to at least hold my own in most of the pub games, if not out right winning them. That fact became evident after I started playing with my new classmates, who I, astounishingly, do not despise. I still didn't have much of a social life, but at least I had my girlfriend. It took some measures to try and get a few new classmates to join the game, and it worked to an extent (a few of them could be seen on this forum right now). All in all, the later half of 2009 was a success.

2010 [First Half] - PlayDotA Garena Group

I got into a bit of trouble with my academic performances (the last time) so needless to say my DotA AND girlfriend time was cut short. it was highly frustrating, but there was also something else that caught my attention. On the PlayDotA forums, I finally stopped being a lurker and started mildly partcipating in forums activity. At the time, PDGG (PlayDotA Garena Group) seemed like a great choice for an international playground and place to meet new people. My general aim was to get in it, and got in it I did. It was, by all means, the place where I missed the most. I met so many great people there, most of which had already disappared by the time this was written. Infi, Zesty, Cell, Arch, Ghuy, Kikoni, Moe, claniraq, Supersheep, iser, Swiftkick, Zepphird, Dark Medina, CvP, Solet Luna, Dragon Fist, STR1D3R, shortail, fodminah, Cp6, Justin... I can't even name them all. It was just... so great, and I actually felt quite happy, despite the horrendous ping holding me back most of the time. My academics didn't take that huge a hit (not that it mattered, 2 years later looking back) and I got the DotA surge in my class up front and center. It was a force, and it was extremely good for my self-esteme. The first half of 2010 ended with a great note, as I went into summer, with mostly up beat thought in mind.

2010 [Second Half] - Great Depression

All good things have to end sometimes. As I was pulled into a new school year, the time I had to DotA was greatly decreased (and it actually never returned), PDGG was actually, regretablly, dying. I basically took a long hiatus from the PlayDotA forums. During this time, I heard that PDGG died and turned into PDIH instead, but I wasn't aware of it until I came back. The greatest depression of all, however, was the fact that I was no longer in a sexual relationship (I was 15, sue me). The break up did a number on me, and I went into a long period of depression, taking up mostly writing to pass my time. My DotA skill took a steep drop and went into a slump. I was barely playing, only slightly in pubs. Yeah, I was still playing with the people in my class, but I'd rather make fun maps and write novellas than playing DotA at anymore than random intervals. It was a long few months, but since it had little to do with DotA and since I play little DotA at all, I'd just skip ahead.

2011 [First Half] - For the love of lesbians

Ah yes, 2011. It was a new chapter. I was suddenly extremely social and comfortable after I got over (sort of) my depression. I was all over the place (irl) and pumping up with frequent games with mostly friends. It was a great way to bounce back. It was during this period that I met Lapis and she started taking care of my account for me. For nostalgia sake, I came back to PDIH (PlayDotA InHouse) sometimes, but only to see most of the members I've come to know now gone, replaced with a whole sleuth of rather hostile newcomers, per se. Those who started with PDIH obviously did not recognize me, but since I was only there for the people, not the game, I didn't play much and moved on. This was also the time when I made a breakthrough in my DotA skill, and into a whole new realization of just where I stand and what I'm looking forward to. It helps a lot while playing a game as a hobby, considering how my being social gave me a lot of other things to do with my time. It warrants me to not fall back in terms of understanding and new contents even if I do take a break, and would always be that guy who knows what he's doing. Of course, I was busy as well, so I barely got anytime to play. If you're wondering why were lesbians mentioned, it's because they were, simple as that. It has little to do with DotA, so just leave it at that.

2011 [Second Half] - VALVefrog and the chaos of beta keys

Aside from the fact that I was starting to write quality guides during this time of the year (up until now, although the waiting period extends horrendously), the most entertaining news I have going into the summer was the iminent first tournament of Dota 2, and I can finally get a taste of the game and what it looks like. Honestly, it didn't catch my eyes at first. It was dark, which I liked, but it was also very bad due to my flawed eye sight. I could barely tell what's what. I was rather disappointed with "the International"'s results as well, since anyone could have seen how unprepared and uncomfortable the teams were with the new game, trying their best to not get lost. This was even more evident to the S.E.A teams, having significantly less practice time. I'm not QQ-ing though, since Na'vi did earn their title, no doubt about that. The big introduction of Dota 2 and its tournaments also made me realize I have little love for the competitive anymore (I have been following it since 2009 up to this point) and just gave up on doing so. At the end of August was when I got my beta key, but I could not use it to great effect considering how shit my pc is, and how IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE INTERNET ACCESS (actually it still doesn't now, but that's unimportant now). What I could observe, however, was the great influx of new players crashing into PD, along with the Betakey draw, which invited even more. I can't say I'm happy with how that turned out, but it's not my place to comment because I couldn't have thought of anything better, personally. Around October, though, was when I finally got my social life covered to an extent, and another thing: I now have internet access in my house! Believe it or not, my parents ban me from using the internet, despite their not knowing what to do with their own high-end pcs. It was on my phone, lol, but at least it gave me a chance to be active for once in my life. I gave up my old account to Lapis, letting her manage the guides for me (which I occasionally do so myself) while I move on to this account. It signifies my participation on the forums while still staying social, my academic credits avoiding the short end of the stick and I was still able to be active, albeit not much DotA. All in all, it was a very great year.

2012 [First Half] - AMD and the projects

Oh boy was I ambitious. I still am, but I know where I stand. The first six months of 2012 were when I had a chance to severely broaden my horizon, even though I did take a hiatus some time during the early February (lol 4chan) I was still very aware of what was going on. I started writing blog entries after I realize how great it can be used for reference. I also expand my reach onto other parts of the forums that I used to ignore, and I got a ton of new, well, acquaintances would be the right word. My DotA playing quota took a huge nose dive, but I was still able to stay on top of the pubbers and the occasional semi-competitive teams that call me in as a bonus player. Overall, it was a very exiciting period that created many great memories. Most of it was not DotA-related, so I'll spare you the details. I have to say I'm quite surprised with just how active I'm being though, despite the fact that I barely get 10 hours of computer with internet a week. I also got to play Dota 2 a bit more now, getting myself familiar with the upcoming title to replace DotA. Admittedly I'm finding it rather hard to adjust to, but that would mostly be attributed to the fact that I've only played a few matches (even though my win rate is kind of unexpected). I have to say that VALVe is doing great things for this game, and I appreciate it. More or less, I could see how the older people of the community was slowly disappearing from activity, but I won't fret. I take it as a sign of a new generation, and the best thing is, I would still be here when the wave hits.

2012 [Second Half] - Speculations

I obviously don't know what would happen yet, since I'm writing this during the last few days of the first half of 2012, but I know what to expect. First, would be a completion of a community project (hopefully soon) that you probably wouldn't know about unless you're participating. Also, at the end of July, I would push out the PlayDotA magazine project that I have been keeping behind the shadows all these times. If you want to be a part of it, then there's still time, just send me a pm or something, I'll know if you contacted me. Thirdly would be "the International 2". I have high hopes for this tournament, despite the fact that I'm only here for the entertainment value and NOT rooting for any team in general. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do next, but I'm still young after all, I have my whole future ahead of me.

You can obviously comment, but I don't think any suggestions is in order :P
Mostly it's just a read for reference, since the DotA part of my life really isn't the most exciting one. I also just realized that this was actually the ONLY blog-like entry I've ever written, lol. As always, I am LightRedemption, and this has been another good day blogging.
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Old

Managing Resources

Posted 06-22-2012 at 01:00 AM by CynthiaCrescent
Updated 06-24-2012 at 09:23 AM by CynthiaCrescent
~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, rates & reviews comments & suggestions are always welcome, especially on subject such as this. I am LightRedemption, and this has been another good day blogging.
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