I do not want to "improve" on your terms, any longer.

[brain damage from dota 2]

I waited 10 years to have a fair experience, and didn't get it. What did I learn? To stay away from things like this.

For the record, the idea of pooling immature and thoroughly measured mentally ill players together is pretty absurd, and I stuck around hoping it would change. Furthermore, stripping players of their communication ability based on some arbitrary unmoderated punishment system is beyond ridiculous. Thus, I'm removing myself from this environment.

Going to be spending my time learning a new language, improving my IQ, practicing drums again, and building a future for myself. All of THESE things actually lead to positive results, instead of damaging my cells with excess cortisol and adrenaline, trying to compensate for the ineptitude of 4 losers and generate some fake dopamine release as a result.

I think over the years, I've blocked at least 5000 accounts through Steam who log on to waste time instead of actually play the game. And with an average of 350,000 players at any time, there's about 15,000-50,000 players/accounts that log on to waste time. No thank you!

Do I really wish to quit DOTA 2? Yes, wholeheartedly so ! :)

[AIR]

Quitting Dopamine overloaders is hard.

You will always feel the draw to come back to it unless you find something else to replace. The second you accept the Sunk-Cost Fallacy you are describing to be in, that is the time you will be able to move on.

All the things you mentioned as "things to do instead of Dota" are Serotonin producing activities that require a lot of time put in, and provide a feeling of general and lasting well being instead of an immediate reward: they are paid as the journey goes. Dota rewards you only Dopamine, the feeling of achieving right now... and clearly, you are addicted to it.

You played the game for 10 years as you said, and the only things you draw from it are your bad results, the bad behavior of people and a lot of loathing. And that sure is a bad thing, since most people look back and remember playing across multiple patches, learning multiple heroes, playing with friends or even climbing higher to a level they can say "Been there, done that."

Just look at Grubby, for instance: former WC3 champion, spammed Dota having a good mental attitude and being coached by some of the best players in the world. He got to immortal, and then he noticed the grind and try hard actually start there, he felt he did not want that in his life, and he quit Dota after achieving a long term goal - that is Serotonin, and can be achieved in Dota as long as you have goals, know yourself, and value your time.

The thing is...

Dota makes you feel good. That is why you spend so much time hating on it. The problem is that it makes you feel so good that you rather not do your other activities and just spam the games instead. Then you don't get the results you believe you are entitled to, and because you like the game so much you protect it and yourself - it's always other people fault, right?

And it's scary to just quit, because you linked this game so hard to your identity, you feel like you can't let go.

Removing yourself from Dota and then starting to live your life is the wrong way to approach it, because you will just end up repeating the cycle. The first step is to accept you value this game way more than you should, and that is you are allowing it to take away your options in life. The second would be to also accept that you need this Dopamine rush, as a person, and that you need to slowly reduce or replace this "Win every 40 min" you crave so much with more everlasting rewards.

Dopamine is complicated. Back when we were hunter-gatherers, we would get a Dopamine shot for hitting an arrow and hitting a deer, or by finding some mushrooms. In Dota, you get a Dopamine shot everytime you hit a creep that was contested, everytime you dodge a gank and so on. That's overloading, and it's the same thing as the Slot Machine - in your brain.

If you can't do it by yourself that is absolutely fine: there is a lot of research, professionals and wisdom being spread to help you overcome your addiction.