Morning internet! It may come as a surprise to none of you that I have always had a keen interest in competitive online gaming, particularly the Warcraft 3 Mod come international gaming sensation Defence of the Ancients (DotA). DotA is a cross between a strategy game and an action RPG; a so called multi-player online battle arena or MOBA because nerds love acronyms almost as much as we hate sunlight. Recently the modders who made the original DotA were taken on by Valve to make a stand alone version of the game running in it's own engine. It is fast becoming a global e-sports phenomenon with huge cash prizes and people playing all around the world to be the very best like no one was before. Also it's crazy anarchic fun:
Below all this crazy team fighting and shouting of commentators there is actually a deep strategic game with almost 100 heroes you can play as, each with their own specific skill sets, strengths and weaknesses. I'm not going to lie to you, the learning curve is so steep it's almost a vertical wall and it can be hard to know where to start but that's where I come in. I've been playing DotA and Dota2 for over 3 years - I'm no expert but I have a vague idea what I'm doing and I have 4 free passes for the Dota2 beta. A full team includes 5 people. I have therefore decided to share this amazing game with you. I am building a Dota2 team made from people who have never played Dota2 before. I call it Dad's Army
A great British tradition
If you want in here are the rules of entry:
You must have never played Dota before. Other MOBAs are fine but the less experienced the better.
You must have a computer that can run Dota2 at better than minimum settings and a decent latency internet connection.
You must speak English at a competent level.
You need to be available at around 8PM GMT every other Monday for team practice and general LULZ.
You must not think the internet is SRS BZNS.
Now you're probably thinking "why would I want to waste my time playing games with you Simon? You're kind of an ass hole" well I have a good answer for this. Late next year Dad's Army will be entering some kind of competitive Dota2 competition and we are going to win. I want to see if in just one year a group of people who don't know each other can become a competitive e-sports team. Are you up to the challenge? Are you up for a laugh? I only have 4 places available so let me know either via Facebook or in the comments if you want in.
You don't know me (no don't delete this post yet), I got drunk with Geraint at Tales of Whatever about a year ago and hence via twitter, the podcast and generally having too much access to the internet I arrived here.
I'm not much of a gamer, mainly because in most social situations I've found it alienating (mainly due to a huge difference in ability levels and insufficient controllers) but I have played games in the past (I even finished one once).
I tend to be busy Monday evenings (although if it's every other that may be doable), but would be able to do something on Wednesdays.
I'm also not sure what specs are needed for Dota 2, but suspect my laptop can probably handle it (it's pretty new and I picked all the highest numbers I could in the shop).
So if you're really scraping the barrel for team-mates I might be able to help.#
If not don't worry, I've probably got other stuff that I should be doing (work, washing up, etc)
You sound perfect! Don't worry about skill levels, I'm planning a training regime to ensure no one feels out in the deep end. if necessary I can move some stuff around so Wednesdays are an option, here are the system requirements for Dota2 (http://gamesystemrequirements.com/games.php?id=1558), I'm going to organise some kind of meet and greet on skype/ teamspeak when the team is at capacity but for now just sit tight. Thanks for your interest, this is going to be fun!
Hello there,
ReplyDeleteYou don't know me (no don't delete this post yet), I got drunk with Geraint at Tales of Whatever about a year ago and hence via twitter, the podcast and generally having too much access to the internet I arrived here.
I'm not much of a gamer, mainly because in most social situations I've found it alienating (mainly due to a huge difference in ability levels and insufficient controllers) but I have played games in the past (I even finished one once).
I tend to be busy Monday evenings (although if it's every other that may be doable), but would be able to do something on Wednesdays.
I'm also not sure what specs are needed for Dota 2, but suspect my laptop can probably handle it (it's pretty new and I picked all the highest numbers I could in the shop).
So if you're really scraping the barrel for team-mates I might be able to help.#
If not don't worry, I've probably got other stuff that I should be doing (work, washing up, etc)
You sound perfect! Don't worry about skill levels, I'm planning a training regime to ensure no one feels out in the deep end. if necessary I can move some stuff around so Wednesdays are an option, here are the system requirements for Dota2 (http://gamesystemrequirements.com/games.php?id=1558), I'm going to organise some kind of meet and greet on skype/ teamspeak when the team is at capacity but for now just sit tight. Thanks for your interest, this is going to be fun!
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