There has been lag once in the game I'm watching. We don't know the cause for it so we can't judge it.

This isn't a fail.

The graphics do a good job of allowing easy reading of the situation. The characters all seem to have retained their looks from WC3.

The character control looks extremely crisp and responsive.

The UI is clean and easy to read at a glance. Most importantly, HEALTH BARS aren't retarded like in HoN and LoL.

LOS and juking is implemented flawlessly. Creeps and towers look to be behaving like they should.

This game just ended at 33 minutes without a forfeit.

If you guys want graphics, go play HoN. If you want 12 minute games, go play LoL.

This is everything it was advertised to be. Dota on a dedicated engine with the freedom to expand and get better.

New captain's mode format is pretty interesting. When did they add a 2nd round of bans after the 1st 3 picks?

Pretty awesome that you can do some counterbanning after seeing their 1st 3 heroes in addition to your blind bans to start.

Gunna be watching this all week.

That CM mode has been out for a while now. They did tweak it a bit for the beta. You are initially suppose to ban 3 each and then an additional 2 later on. I think they feel that 5 bans on both sides would really hinder the game play since not all the heroes are available.

Found a recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVx7...embedded#at=24

Bans took like 10 mins lol.

Also, it seems that there were 1.5 MILLION viewers of the stream, which they say was causing lag issues for the spectators.

Not sure of the technical aspects of that, but if that number is legit, holy ****.


Edit: 1.5M not 2.8M

CM mode is obviously much longer compared to the usual pub modes. The Chinese especially really take their time with the ban / pick. They really like to analyze into counter picking and whatever.

I only recognize a few players from my glory days which ended in around 2006. Mania, Maelk, Dendi, LightofHeaven. This is when North Americans just started to play regularly with Euros in IHCS. Nobody played with Chinamen(No racist ban, Im Chinese American).

I used to play with fear a bunch in IHL/IHCS when coL was at it's peak and even after they disbanded. Dunno if this is true or not but, kind of weird how Merlini/fear joining MYM was probably the beginning of the end for American DOTA.

Ugh no sound/commentary for this match.

Edit: NVM. Yay for sound/commentary

well Fear is doing well so far. his team is 3-0 as of now.

I played Dota on and off for around 7 years now. I just started following the competitive scene however. Most Asian teams never play with Euro teams even in tourneys from older replays that I've seen. I guess it has to do with a convenience factor. I think that will all change in Dota 2 though. From what I know Dota was never popular in America. That is why there are a few Americans playing on these Euro teams.

Ok.nirvana.int is doing better than projected. I feel like what some of the rumors that were said were true. Supposedly all of the teams excluding the stand ins have been practicing dota2 for a few weeks now, however, some of the Asian teams have been playing Dota 1 to prep for a dota one tourney instead of practicing. Tyloo a team that they beat has been thriving recently competitively although their hard carry player Seaking is on the Chinese Nirvana team now so that could be a factor as well. It is a bit surprising that they managed to beat them.

I think they face CCM (iG) tomorrow. If they beat them they are definitely a scary team.

apparently the beta is open for signups, but lots of news sites says that the signup page has been taken down for these tournaments. Anyone here heard differently?

I think the aggressive nature of European DOTA also benefits quite a bit more for a new game like this where things aren't totally figured out and imbalances abound.

The beta was open for signups yesterday. I am not sure about now.

Yea the euro scene is known for the ganks where as the chinese mainly were known for farming. I think that is a factor in what messed up CCM (iG) earlier today when ehome suddenly decided to go with a ganking strat. I think another factor is that not all of the heroes are available. I know that the chinese like to play a small core of specific heroes whereas the euros are used to playing more heroes. A lot of the heroes the chinese like are not in dota2 yet. I have rarely seen sven played in an Asian game yet he is already being played in this tourney multiple times because of the limited number of heroes.

iirc MYM were pretty much the best around back in the day, but theyve been unimpressive in the two games i've seen.

Don't recognise names other than those from m5/navi/mym, so i'll have to root for them. Really suprised at the number of asian teams, they were definitely inferior to the euros a couple of years back but i guess i'll have to wait and see what they can do!

I don't think the Chinese scene farms that much anymore, they just don't engage unless if they are fairly certain they can win.

With regards to Sven, the Malaysian/Singaporeans use Sven alot but yeah its hardly ever seen in Chinese DOTA.

I think teams facing the top 3 European teams should definitely ban Chen, Enchantress, Prophet. Those 3 are just wreaking havoc.