Ever since Valve introduced the
Compendium (their esports program) for the Dota 2013 International,
they've continually refined and improved the concept. When Valve
revealed the Major Season, a Valve sponsored premium event for each
season and culminating in the already existing International, the
company continued their goal of professionalizing Dota. But the
introduction of the Battle Cup during this year's International
altered how everyday players experience the game.
Dota, except for professionals, is
played in a series of unconnected games. Each game a player
interacts with a different nine other players. While Dota is a game
which requires adroit in-game skills, of equal importance is
communication, and playing with different people each game prohibits
coordination.
Most experienced players have a
conscious set of goals and a way they prefer to play. Some players
prefer to farm, others aim to kill heroes. Some play aggressively,
while others prefer safer play. When five anonymous players come
together they don't know what to expect from each other, and are
unwilling to share their strategies, or even unwilling to talk. Most
commonly, they insult the other team when winning, and their own when
losing.
And then you never see them again.
Battle Cup attempts to bring players
together, so they can experience a truncated professional tournament.
During the summer, Valve allowed players to form teams and compete
in a three round, single elimination tournament. Players immediately
turned to their friends to form teams. I did as well, asking someone
who I had played with recently if he needed a support player. And
during the summer I played three Battle Cups, but was eliminated in
the first match of each. Every time we played with a different group
of people, and the disperate pieces never formed a whole. Everyone
still acted as if they were five solo players intent on doing their
own thing. In one game, a teammate even said the game was lost
before we finished picking our heroes.
As the summer came to an end, Valve
said it was shutting down Battle Cup, and r/Dota went wild,
requesting it as a permanent feature. Valve didn't respond, and
Battle Cup ended, but when they introduced the Compendium for the
Fall Major (in Boston), it was reintroduced.
So last weekend I made another attempt.
Instead of partnering with the same people, I looked on Reddit. In
the Dota subreddit, mods had created a Help Wanted page, where
players looking for a team could list their skills, and teams looking
for players could explain their needs. After posting my
qualifications I received four teams interested in my services.
After reviewing their stats, I chose the one I thought best.
It was my best Dota experience ever.
Though I still don't know how my four
teammates met, everyone seemed friendly, communicative, and helpful.
Even though we fell behind in our first and third game, and almost
threw our second, everyone remained reasonably calm and encouraging.
And when we were in danger of losing, the team evaluated the
situation, and altered the plan if needed.
During the drafting phase, where teams
take turns banning and picking heroes, everyone voiceed their
opinion, the captain listened to the input, and picked heroes the
players felt comfortable with. While there wasn't a discussion of
strategy before or between games, players were open about their goals
during the games. I felt that after three games I was able to
observe each player's individual strategies, identify their strengths
and weaknesses.
Our mid player preferred farming over
pushing or fighting, and did it well. Even though he suffered a
significant number of pick offs in the first ten minutes of each
game, he farmed well and was instrumental for victory. I'll take a
bit of responsibility for not protecting him enough. And as he
became more powerful he became more aggressive, diving much too deep
for my under-farmed Shadow Shaman to come to his assistance. If I
play with him again, blink dagger needs to be a priority for me.
Our carry was also an excellent farmer,
but played much less aggressively. Sometimes he was overcautious,
especially when he was the initiator in the second game as Faceless
Void. But in our first and third game he carried us to victory with
his massive networth and good team-fighting abilities.
The roaming support did a great job
securing us vision and pickoffs, but sometimes was out of position
and died needlessly. In teamfights he was good at creating space,
separating the enemy and ensuring the rest of us space to fight.
(Note: I didn't develop a strong
impression of our offlaner, but considering he had the best KDA
(kills+assists/deaths) as an offlaner, he played amazingly.
And I believe I did well, but I wish I
had someone to offer a critique of my performance. In all three
games I played Shadow Shaman, and in retrospect it seems a weak pick
for the type of game we played. Shadow Shaman is strong early,
especially at destroying towers. But we played a defensive game,
content to farm and push slowly. So I often felt as if there wasn't
much I could do. In addition, I am competent at providing vision for
my team through warding, but deficient in denying the other team by
dewarding. It's a skill I need to work on.
Today I played my first solo game since
the Battle Cup, and its like returning to asdasdasdasd. I tried to
communicate with the other four strangers, but no one replied. We
each wandered about the map, dedicated to implementing our individual
strategies. Like a group of lost strangers wandering in circles in
the woods, we occasionally crossed paths often enough to collaborate,
after an objective we separated again.
Dota has been totally been changed for
me after just a three game tournament, and I'm not sure its a good
thing. Sure, the tournament allowed me to experience the game as the
developer intended it, but now I view all solo games as inferior,
just a shadow of the real thing.
Next week we return to Thief: The Dark
Descent.
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