Dota 2 invites for some, miniature American flags for others

[Stan "The Boy" Taylor]

I was given two Dota 2 invites to give to people so I figured I'd offer them here. I'd like for them to go to people who really want to play the game/maybe will play with me and/or some other Gameological people.

Also talk about Dota stuff in here I guess? Whatever. I'm not sure how many people play it here, but I would be up for helping you get into it, which can be stupidly difficult to do if you don't have someone helping you.

[Destroy Him My Robots]

I defeated a passive bot once!

[Buffalo Puss Puss]

I got an invite a month or so ago but haven't found the inspiration to really get into it yet. My problem is that I like to watch Dota games so I'm aware of how much there is to learn. I don't know if I have that much time and patience for one game.

A Gameological Dota 2 team would be pretty neat. I've got a few invitations too if anyone's interested in giving it a try.

I watched the International this year and it was pretty impressive. Valve really loves this game, it seems. A lot of the Valve people play it. Apparently, Gabe has like 2000+ hours on it and still sucks.

[Stan "The Boy" Taylor]

A lot of people expressed interest in today's What Are You Playing This Weekend. I' sure we could get five of us together for a full team if we wanted, sounds like a lot of us have spare invites too.

These weirdo forums on here would be a good place to get together, and I'd recommend joining our chat room on here if you're looking to play with people.

[LogicalJoker]

I'm not sure why Valve never sends me additional invites, given how much I play, but yes, if anybody wants to join up for a Gameological team, let's do it. As you can see from my name, I already made a faux "clan" for us.

But yeah, just add me/message me on Steam and I'll always join a fellow Gameological reader for some Dota 2.

[Buffalo Puss Puss]

Another experienced player told me that he never receives any extra invites. I don't know the logic behind it. Maybe they want some very specific type of data and some algorithm thinks that certain people are more likely to give it to them.

Or maybe Valve just feels I should get some friends.

I'm definitely interested in playing at some point. No real experience in this type of game but I've learned some things from watching Blitz and Purge and the rest of Santa's reindeer on Twitch.tv. I consider Pyrion Flax my patron saint. Check him out on YouTube.

[Emperor Norton I]

I justs downloaded it, and am trying to get the game to work. A bit of a problem with video settings at the moment. Totally new to DOTA, but I put 3-4 months into LoL, so I figure I should be at least vaguely familiar with the game in general - though the equipment system looks a lot different. Add me as a friend, and on the odd occasions I'm around I'll try to be available to play.

[LogicalJoker]

So... maybe we should set up a Dota 2 night? I'm generally free Tuesday nights, as early as tomorrow night, now that this Diretide event is finally ending.

[Buffalo Puss Puss]

I'm interested, provided that the time difference doesn't make it impossible for me. I've played two games against humans with the Venomancer and we won both, so I'm basically awesome. I let Drow Ranger do most of the work but I could have jumped in at any moment and just taken over.

Playing with more experienced players would put me against better opponents, but I guess I would learn more. Maybe we could get a few new players together.

[Buffalo Puss Puss]

Actually, it seems I've played three games, but the loss shouldn't count because everyone abandoned the game. Technically I'm not undefeated but morally I am.

[Buffalo Puss Puss]

Another abandoned game. Are there really this many failed matches on the lowest level?

[LogicalJoker]

Sadly, yes. Regular games of Dota 2 (as opposed to Diretide) can take between 30-60 minutes, depending on how evenly matched the teams are. I'm hoping they'll add a regular "fast play" mode that speeds up EXP/money gain as in the special holiday events, but until then, if you're playing with randoms, you'll occasionally wind up with players who rage quit once they assume there's no way for them to catch up.

Remember that Dota 2 is in beta, though. I fully expect Valve to continue to improve matchmmaking and to find better punishments for those who abandon, especially on a regular basis.

In any case, I've friended you and I'm around, so if anybody wants to play tonight, just IM me on Steam.

[Stan "The Boy" Taylor]

@illogical joker, the original DotA had EM, or easy mode, with increased exp rates and gold bounties. I'd imagine they'll port that over eventually.

ALSO, everyone should join chat channel "gameological" in the Dota 2 client when they get on. Could be an easy way to throw a group together.

[LogicalJoker]

You can also join the Gameological party (you don't have to add a [GLOG] to your name); I created it like I did for MP3 (and the upcoming GTAV), so I just need to invite you, if you want.

[Buffalo Puss Puss]

In every game people abandon. And everyone blames everyone else. Every game.