Blog Posts from "The Ohcee" - Gameriot.com

[HON] Interview the Dev: [S2]Idejder

no.spam@gameriot.com (Arirang) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:43:50 -0500

I was very lucky to interview Idejder, one of developers of S2 Games. I actually have a bit of personal relation to him because at one point, he was my guild leader. Some of our Gameriot readers would have heard of Clan TAO, one of most fearsome guild back in vanilla days. They were the most dominant Horde guild during the first BG9 generation when cross-BGs were first introduced. Needless to say, I am more than happy to see my former guild leader now employed by one of my favourite game developers.
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Thanks for the great questions, Arirang. Look forward to talking to you more in the future as we develop the game and make it better every day. Feel free to hit me up anytime if you get more questions.

Off to build a patch!

[DOTA&HoN] Skill Builds con't & Ask a HoN Dev!!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Arirang) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:46:19 -0400

Last week I talked about the general principle in effective skill point distribution. I also gave our readers some homework to do: Try and make the most optimal build for Nerubian Weaver or Madman. I apologize since the question itself has a lot of gray area. I completely understand that the builds can change depending on match ups and overall game flow. Nothing is ever absolute. There are always alternatives. However, I was trying to simplify the task.

Thank you for all those that participated in this. I enjoyed looking at various build with different rationales. It's cool to have a peak into our readers' minds. So as promised, I will present my own build which I think is the most optimal. Note that I am not trying to say this is the best build, nor am I saying other builds are terrible. I am simply suggesting that this play is the best fit for my playstyle and what I think of these heroes' role: Carry.
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I have an opportunity of interviewing a dev from now-one of my favourite game developer: S2. I did prepare a questionnaire for this person, but then I thought why should I have all the fun. So, I would like you guys to be part of this. Submit your questions down below in the comment section and I'll pick the best ones and present them.

Shoot away!!

[DOTA&HoN] Science Behind Skill Builds

no.spam@gameriot.com (Arirang) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:38:41 -0400

When a pros play a hero in a league, they have optimized that hero to the core. Item build, skill build and general animation the hero makes. Everything is accounted for. I will be touching on the

I'm interested to see what kind of build you guys are going to come up with. I will post mine next week while I comment on yours on this entry. Make me proud!!

Dota and HoN Personalities, Notable 0.1.48 Changes

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:16:55 -0400

One of the biggest pieces of this patch is the addition of our beloved MERCURIAL...or is it?? First thing that came to mind when I saw that Panda's Flurry no longer silenced was "FIDDLESTICKS!" It was a good nerf to balance Panda, along with the lower damage and slightly longer animation. One thing that gets me wondering is what sound clip they're going to play for the next hero when you pick him, because this one was quite lolz XD. Dark Lady's ult is no longer a global, but she got a damage increase! This patch was more tweaking than changing, I still patiently wait until they decide to port some version of Invoker and my other pub fav Necro'lic =D.

[DOTA] A Gamer's Journal

no.spam@gameriot.com (Arirang) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:12:12 -0400

My psychology professor stated that people spending hours on the net sharing their thoughts via blogging, twitter and whatnot seem all like an act of insecurity of oneself. Ever since that class, that idea had been stuck on my mind. Am I writing all this about myself because of I'm insecure? It didn't take me a long time to conclude with the answer, "no". While the possibilities are there (as there always are), I think it really just comes down to the fact that it's my day to write and I have nothing to write for DotA. So here's a bit of story-telling for you guys.

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I have not been playing DotA all that much lately due to school and some other business. And to my surprise, I am not missing it. It isn't that I lost the love for the game. I still find myself most excited when discussing the game (more on this later). This is something I've not noticed lately about myself, but I never really thought about it. So I figured I just kind of daydream and think about it.

On the note of design of good games. I find every good game has one key element; positioning. I don't think there's a single good game out there that does not capitalize on the importance of positioning. I guess there would be things like map control and whatnot too, but in games like Chess, Xiangqi or Go, positioning is map control. So it's the universal theme. Ah, another really geeky story on this. I know a family friend who's apparently the best Go player in Toronto. He casually visits my parents and I was able to catch him one day. So I, being a naive, insane game enthusiast I am, asked him if he understand the that there are universal elements to be found in every good game, such as positioning. He, in his own respect is a very fine, and an aged gamer. I suppose I thought I could relate to him. He glanced at me funny and then kind of ignored me. I guess he didn't quite understand what I was trying to say. Anyway, I felt kind of awkward so I just quickly left the scene.

Have you guys taken notice of the revolution of gaming communities? For example, WoW. We first have the WoW forums in vanilla days when everything was just so fresh. There were all these little things that people knew that gave them extra edge against others. The forums run wild with little quality control. Ming breaks from that making his own blog (World of Ming) where he attempts to have a better quality of discussion on competitive PvP. From which two main community sites sprout; Gameriot and Arena Junkies. Rest is history. I find that most successful competitive games go through this kind of phases.

Lately I've been seeing another trend within the gaming communities. And that is poker. It seems that lot of competitive gamers are now turning to poker. We are actually witnessing this right now as Arena Junkies have forum section for poker. This had already taken place for the competitive Starcraft community. This is also taking place even within DotA community as I heard that Vigoss had gave up DotA for professional poker. We even have our own hero within this blogging crew partaking on with this trend; Bergson (how you holding up, bud?)

So, as I have noted before, I've been playing games all my life. I am now studying advertising. And guess what my profs tell us? "Advertising is basically a game". And when I heard this, my heart thumped. Games. I've been pretty good at that. Maybe little better than your average Joe. Maybe I can play this game and be pretty good at it too.

[DOTA] IceFrog Joins Valve: The Real Future of Dota and AoS Games, New Developments in the Pro Scene, New Aeon.Int Replay

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:31:43 -0400

Some pretty big news today. IceFrog, the developer of DotA, released news today that basically makes any HoN fanboy **** their pants:

Lately, there have been big changes to some of the top Dota teams. Aeon.Int (formerly Ks.Int) disbanded. Aeon.Int's old roster was as follows:

Puppey
Kuroky
Jolie
TnT
Anthraxx

Unfortunate news, as Aeon.Int was one of the top teams of all time. Kuroky, however, found a new home with the Ravens which became MYM shortly after:

Maelk
Angel of God
Pusher Street
Miggel
Mania
Kuroky

Maelk, the versatile former (and now once more) MYM team leader teamed up with German hero Kuroky? Can't wait to see the results.

But wait! Fnatic decided to fill the void left by Aeon.Int and reformed the latter team! The new roster of Aeon.Int is:

Kwom
Loda
Miracle
Freezer
Misery

That's a lot of S-tier players on one team. Pending any synergy issues, these are probably now the top two European teams. For those who are as hungry to see these guys in action, here's an Aeon.Int replay against DMZ here. I haven't watched it myself, but it's highly rated so looks promising.

Quick Conclusion, LFM

Anyhow, I'm out for now all, CS lab. I'm looking for some new writers to fill in the void of some burnt out staff. You can write about anything AoS related, whether it be HoN or DotA, but I'd like there to be some balance. Send me a private message if interested, as usual.

[HON] Kaz's Interview Corner: OmNomNOME!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:06:35 -0400

Kaz again, with my final interview of the series and this one is with Nome. Nome has quite a lot to share being the Moderator for the Suggestions Forums and Co-Moderator for the Guides Forums. This interview focuses more on the development and community side of HoN, rather than the competitive side seen in my previous interviews. After having talked with Nome I'm pretty excited about whats in store for HoN at S2 and I'm sure after reading you guys will be too.

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Alright guys thats it for this interview, later on down the road when HoN picks up more speed in its development and competitive stages I'll have another series of interviews. It's been fun and I hope you've enjoyed reading the interviews as much as I enjoyed doing them.

(As a side note, If you were wondering whether I had asked THRiCE the questions from the comments in my last post; I'll be putting them in the next one I write)

[DOTA] A Look at the Future of Dota and the AoS Genre

no.spam@gameriot.com (Arirang) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:28:21 -0400

Well, I feel a little saddened by the fact that the community is dividing up. Already, seeing how there are more than 15,000 players logging into HoN daily, it shows that it has effectively chipped away from DotA's playerbase. I would love to have DotA as the international game everyone casually enjoys. It's kind of a cool thought that I can go to any country and enjoy a round of DotA with any gamer there (lol romanticist). At the same time, as a gamer, I welcome these kind of changes. I see it as the evolution of the video game genre, and I can't block the stream with my two hands. HoN will soon take its own path different from that of DotA. And who knows what kind of impact that will make? LoL has already taken a vastly different path than DotA. Who knows what kind of market it will capture? I think despite my petty concerns, it will all end up being "okay". I definitely expect something when SC2 hits the market. But I believe that whatever the change may be, it will shift for the better. I mean, markets like this are really driven by the gamers' wants and needs. So anything that doesn't appeal to the public will die out pretty quick just as various versions of DotA has proven in the past.

So, yeah. The most anti-climatic ending to this long mindfart: It will all be okay in the end.
As always, thank you for reading (lol suckers).

*DotA as a genre.
Whenever I hear the term MOBA used, I cringe a little. I feel like it's such a cheesy term and that, it doesn't fit DotA. Ohcee ripped it apart in the past, I know. Let me just say this though. Doesn't Gunbound, WoW arena, and ...wow..even Quake, all be qualified as a MOBA? Now, if you ask me what genre DotA is, I cannot answer it. I usually describe it to my friends as some type of a siege game. It certainly isn't a genre of AoS as some of you say. You can't name a genre after the first game of its type. Like, you don't call FPS games a MW (maze war). Yeah, I don't know.. But we know that it is a genre of its own that has evolved from RTS. I wonder if it is then only a subset of RTS, so it's still only an RTS? Oh jebus, the technicalities. So unimportant, yet so important!!1

[DOTA] Divine Rapier Replay and More, Pushing Metagame Complete Shift

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:04:58 -0400

Numerous requests for more replays lately, so here are some that I've enjoyed recently.

vs

These guys have seen a significant rise in use for their ability to put out constant, consistent push pressure. Though they do it in different styles, they all essentially output the presence of several lesser heroes in their lane. With the nerf to high end regen items, it makes it much more difficult to defend against these types of attacks, because exerting counterpressure results in your own health being whittled away by AoE nukes.

How to Build a Push Team

I believe the best way is to stack several of the same type of pushers on one team, and using your bans on the types of heroes that counter and negate that strategy. Mix in at least one late game hero and a general support (such as CM) and you've got an incredibly strong push team.

[DOTA] A Series Guide Of Time And Space

no.spam@gameriot.com (Bergson) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:08:42 -0400

Time in space is not one dimensional. If you have two identical, perfectly made clocks and put one above a waterfall and one below - they will tell different times to fractions of a second because of the way time is distorted by space and our planets movement.

In this series of articles I plan to write about the influence that time has in DotA and how to distort it and manipulate it into giving yourself an advantage. Thankfully for us time in DotA is one dimensional and moves at a constant speed with no irregularities, it will work as clockwork and every game it will have the same impact and very similar decisions must be made in order to control its flow.

Looking through warding guides, I noticed a common theme in that no-one actually told you when to ward, of course you think, you must ward all game. Nonono! That is a very simplified answer to a much more complex question.

Warding first starts with who must buy them, costing 200 gold, and a courier 200, two players will have to weaken themselves or one, cripple himself at the start of the game.

To have a lane where one person buys wards and the other a courier is a lane that has 400 gold less than their opponent (if we assume both the enemy have full gold) and therefore, will not be winning that lane. When deciding on lanes, this should be considered in your strategy.

When it comes to actually placing your wards, not only where is important but when. If you wait until about 0:02 seconds(after first creep wave spawn) you allow time for the 3rd rune to spawn in vision(the 6:00 rune) regardless of whether you have managed to get another ward up for the 6 min mark.

Having said this, you should have replaced your first ward so that there is never a time when you do not have the required map vision. When placing your 6 minute wards you want to bare in mind that the enemy have the same plan. At the 6:00 mark you should be watching sides of the river for the common ward placements and be watching the enemy support heroes. 6:00 is the time that the enemy supporters will be placing their wards, most likely about 6:10 or 6:30 , seeing as most do not pay complete attention or they may have had to help a gank, move around the map etc. Because your wards will already be up you can watch the enemy place his wards, and immediately counter his wards. All supporters should be weak at the early game - purposefully giving kills to their carries and taking deaths for them as well as choosing to harras over last hit. To have your enemy's wards immediately countered before the 7 min mark gives your team so much map control and ganking possibilities it is something that every warder should be doing.

Our main priority while warding early game is to gain vision of the runes and gain vision of our enemies movements e.g. where they are trying to gank. We also want to stop the enemy from creep pulling and getting extra farm, controlling the creep position and generally dominating the lane.

Heldarions Warding guide is perfect for showing you warding positions and their purpose so I won't be writing it out here, but in terms of your 2nd set of wards I would recommend the following:

These 2 positions give you the best visibility for counter warding, the top ward spot can be changed with ones to give added visibility to mid lane if needed but is not completely necessary. From here you have both rivers and forest entrances watched and a view of most other warding locations.

Now that you have vision of the map, and your enemy don't because of your counter warding, you can of course expect the enemy team to organize that their own counter wards are purchased and that more Observers are purchased. Because a support hero will be placing the wards, you can safely assume i would say 8/10 times that as scourge the enemy will place their wards at the top side of the map first, and as sentinel bottom first. You generally have your own carry in the safe lane (bot senti, top scourge) so it is fair to assume that you will want to protect them from ganks first via warding.

Now we know where the enemy will be warding we must establish when. If the enemy supporter has just died we have a very good clue to when he will be warding, however most likely the enemy supporter will be in a lane. What is most likely is that a flying courier will deliver the wards to the enemy supporter and he will go for the nearest rune spot, knowing this we can be ready to gank and kill him and then get a pretty accurate idea of when he will hit our next set of wards. At an estimate it will take roughly 10 seconds to have the wards purchased and equipped from the moment a support hero spawns at the longest, and if you have been playing well, they will not have boots at this stage. We can roughly assume that it will take them 34 seconds to reach our wards (without boots), and where they want to place theirs. So from the time they have spawned, we can be ready to intercept a counter warding attempt 36-48 seconds after the hero has spawned.

The next thing to consider is the amount of hits a support hero must do to kill a ward, which is 3 hits not including a 25% miss chance. We know we easily have time to kill the hero before it kills our ward if we have an ally with us and at least one stun.

A refers to where you can wait in ambush for enemy to come, up 2 levels so you can not be seen, B refers to where the enemy will be coming from and in the day time you will have vision of this area.

1, 2 and 3 refer to possible locations of killing your wards, 1 is possible but unlikely since their will be a creep camp there unless the enemy have someone jungling. 2 and 3 are therefore more likely with the possibility of the area directly in front of the ward.

This is the start of a series of articles based on time in DotA, so expect more of the same theme in more and less detail based on various DotA-time related topics.
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Above is a recent video by Black-_-Lotus, all of his work is on youtube and best watched in HD.

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Replay of me playing as Darkseer with my team eMp, we use 2 roamers and I am solo laned against Viper, replay shows lots of kills and thrills with some great maiden play. Only noticeable warding applications are the enemy start wards were at sentinel bottom, a pretty standard location but left their top and mid lanes open to ganks at the start from our 2 roamers who were well aware of where the enemy wards would be.

[HON] Kaz's Interview Corner: [143]THRiCE

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:54:35 -0400

Hey Gameriot, Kazraga here with another interview; this time with [143]THRiCE, team captain of Team 143 winners of Gamereplay's 2nd HoN Tournament. As always leave comments with questions you'd like to see answered for subsequent interviews. I plan on doing 3 or 4 interviews, then I'll revisit this later on down the road if you guys liked the series. Personally, for me, interviewing different people with different goals and interests in HoN has been quite a ride. I can only see good things from S2 as HoN goes progresses further into this beta.

As for this interview I wanted to get the perspective from an aspiring(and successful)HoN 5s team, so enjoy:

[SF4] Super Street Fighter 4: T-Hawk, Dee Jay and Juri Join the Cast, No SSFIV Arcade Version, Where's Dudley?!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:49:17 -0400

Over the past few weeks, rumors have been flying around about 'Street Fighter IV Dash,' the inevitable update to SF4 to bring new characters and overhaul the balance of the game. The Tokyo Game Show finally came and went, with the first official information about Super Street Fighter 4 being released.

From Street Fighter 2: Dee Jay and T. Hawk.
From Street Fighter 3: Dudley, Ibuki and Makoto.
From Street Fighter Alpha: Adon, Cody and Guy.
Plus two completely new characters.

However, at TGS it was revealed that there would be 8 new characters. If so, I have a feeling the SF3 characters won't get priority over the Alpha characters.

[HON] Kaz's Interview Corner: [QuC]Simba

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:32:24 -0400

Hey guys, havn't posted in about a week but I'm coming back with a small series of Interviews from players involved in competitive HoN. This first one is from [QuC]Simba, team captain of Quality Control the runner up in the GameReplay's 2nd HoN Tournament. I plan to interview the team captains of 143, and I'm also trying to interview other high ranking players to give everyone some insight on top level competitive play in Heroes of Newerth. If you liked this interview, leave a comment describing some questions you'd like to see answered by top teams and players. Heres a link if you want to see any of the replays from that tournament.

[DOTA] Poker Stars: The Unexpected Champions, Phase Boots/Treads in 6.64, SF4: My New Love for Akuma and a Pro Honda Player

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:12:53 -0400

It's been a while since I've caught up on CEVO-P news. Two weeks ago, we had Team EG (considered the best American team) facing off against Pz Gaming. Pz Gaming took a win, but a member of Team EG disconnected so it was a 4v5. Unfortunate for EG, but such is the nature of online gaming.

I know I haven't talked about Akuma lately. I recently met some new friends who play SF4 which has revitalized my interest in the game. I've really taken a liking to Akuma, with his fun combos and versatile abilities. His ultra is also a lot of fun and against players of my low skill level it can catch people off guard when they're trying to perform a wakeup on me.

There's a lot of nuance on being able to combo his Shoryuken after his Hurricane Kick. The easiest way is to start at close range and do a LK Hurricane Kick, but it's possible off of MK or HK if you are the right distance (you want the kick to end about right where your victim is standing.

On another note, I thought E. Honda was a joke character but learned that the championship match in Japan came down to an E. Honda player vs Mago, currently Japan (and likely the world)'s best Sagat player. The following isn't that top E. Honda player but another really solid Honda who is SG ranked:

And he plays with an Xbox 360 controller! Pretty impressive and I really like his style. So far the only charge character I really like is Vega, but sometime I may give E. Honda more practice.

[DOTA] A Triumphant Return from BergsonBear

no.spam@gameriot.com (Bergson) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:39:01 -0400

Greetings.

[DOTA] 6.63 Thoughts, Conclusions and Analysis: The New Metagame

no.spam@gameriot.com (Arirang) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:18:07 -0400

The big patch(6.63 and so on) has been out for couple weeks now, and I still don't like it. I know that as a gamer, one should learn to adapt to the changes and master it. But, it's just I really don't like this patch. I think this is the only patch where I can't agree with a lot of changes made by Icefrog. There were some major changes in the past, but for the most part, I could agree why he made such decisions. However, this patch is a funny one. And let me expand on why I don't like it.

I think the strength carries will make a come back. I expect to see more Dragon Knight, and Sven for sure. And I would not be surprised to see Centaur making an appearance as well. I kind of see the path Icefrog is taking this game to. The outcome of the team battles will be heavily dependent on the abilities of the supports rather than how hard the carry carries. I think the number of "hard carries" are limited now, especially with the whole category nerf to the tank items. So, much more team effort kind of games where everyone chips in.

This is your hour Supports, go out there and shine!!

[HON] Epic Patch Is Epic, Auto Ability Learning

no.spam@gameriot.com (Justinlol) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:07:59 -0400

S2 was quick on it's feet to update HoN to match DotA's most recent patch 6.63 along with many other changes/nerfs/buffs to existing heroes. The patch's spotlight is mostly directed upon the two new heroes: Plague Rider, and Soul Reaper (Lich & Necrolyte). Hero skills and details below!

[Plague Rider]

The Plague Rider has no past and no future, he simply exists. Having wandered the land spreading death without impunity he has somehow been convinced to align himself with the Hellbourne. Raining down death from above, the Rider is someone to fear on the battlefield.

[HON] Patch 0.1.45 It's Christmas!...kinda, My Thoughts On The Changes

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:26:03 -0400

The recent 1.45 patch came with some pretty big changes that are starting to drastically change the way we play HoN. Tweaks were made across the board in favor of balance and heroes have been reworked to have more of a role in terms of utility. Giving heroes more tools will only add new angles to HoN and contribute to the complexity that makes this game fun. The patch notes can be found here, but the following topics are about some of the changes with which I wanted to share my thoughts on.

These babies are finally dethroned and now sit wtih the rest of the mid/late game items. There has been quite an uproar with these changes and I can relate, especially with the reworking of the heart. I think the nerf to the Sac Stone was sufficient, it really brought down Sac Stone down to the level of other late game items. However, the nerf to heart was a little ridiculous; this makes the heart an extremely situational item and probably is going to sentence it to unuse. I can see that S2 is trying to achieve a goal of taking some weight off tanking items but Heart just went from a tank item to a hybrid regen/health&damage item.

Some changes were quite favorable, some not, but I think it's safe to say that I'm quite happy where S2 is headed. This game is going to bring a more official competitive feel to the Dota universe and I can't wait. Take GameReplay's recent HoN tournament for example; just watching live feed from competitive HoN made me pretty excited about what's to come(you can watch the steaming replays here). As long as HoN is in beta I'll never be too upset about any changes; I'll just look forward to more heroes and fun tweaks. S2 has taken the scaffolds from Dota and is now piecing together this awesomely competitive game where the Dota communities can finally unite.

[HON] Surviving The Pub: He Who Destroys His Keyboard

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:58:34 -0400

I'm pretty sure every average/decent player who's played in a pub where they are the "star player" has wanted to demolish his keyboard at one point in time. This second installation of Surviving The Pub is going to focus on observations made that people don't feel like thinking about and things that can help you win a pub solo.

The one surefire way to win pubs solo is to pick a carry hero and get farmed whilst ganking. This formula is not going to change if you're the only decent player on your team. What will change however, is how you go about carrying and you taking a more active role in leading the pub to victory.

If you have to go combat Jeraziah or Puppet Master to blow off steam; that's what lower rated pubs are for. Another thing you can do to take a break from leading pubs is wait for one of your friends to log on and play with them. Synergetic combos will usually ensure some fun teamwork between you and your friend(Elec/Voodoo, Hammer/Pyro).

When pubs go over 1700 PSR, they will start to feel more organized and you can take a back seat on being vocal because there will be other players that you should communicate with, instead of leading. Try to put yourself into this position because in higher skill games you will get better quicker. Also, if you keep playing lower rated pubs you will get very good at winning them, but you will probably develop "Pub Star Syndrome." People afflicted with PSS are often bad at team work and communication.

A good amount of the stuff I write about is easier said than done; but by reading things you don't really think about you can work on improving in those areas. As long as you try and think about what you do in HoN, you will always get better.

Remember to be vocal in leading your pubs to victory, because if you're not vocal you are in danger of this happening to your computer:

[DOTA] 6.63 Released - Analysis on the Biggest Changes & Embracing the New Metagame

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:09:05 -0400

So, 6.63 came out yesterday, and there's a significant number of changes, some of which are rather controversial. First, if you haven't seen the changelog, you can read it here. Now here are my thoughts on some of the more significant changes:

Not the most significant change, but it's interesting that BoTs was buffed while the other boots were changed (and arguably nerfed.) Either way changing it by 5 MS when it gives nearly 100 is a rather odd change.

NOOO CHANGES

Some rather bold moves here. Heart and BS nerfs basically move the game away from the god-tier item arms race. Almost all 'popular' heroes have been nerfed, some to a huge extent (cough Enchantress.) At the very least, it will be interesting to see the new strategies and heroes that come into use. My team has been using a lot of Furion and Windrunner, which makes for very fun games compared to the old push-oriented strats.

[HON] LoL, Dota and Why I Crawled Back To HoN

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:09:41 -0400

I was asked to make an introduction being new to the Ohcee, so here it is:

Kazraga is the name of my Shaman in World of Warcraft, I've been playing for about four years but just stopped recently due to a raiding overload. After taking an indefinite break from WoW I got pretty hard into Team Fortress 2 about a month and a half ago. Since then I am more or less playing semi-competitively(havn't gotten onto a CEVO team yet).

I've been playing Dota on and off since around 6.33, and back then I played a few games in DXD but nothing really big. When I got a Heroes of Newerth invite from my friend I was really excited to get back into the Dota universe and see if I could get good enough to play competitively. Always been a fan of competitive gaming and when I stopped playing wow it just freed up a lot more time to play other games.

League of Cute Characters...Not So Cute Gameplay

A couple of weeks ago I received an email invite to the League of Legends beta, so I thought what the hell, why not. Upon starting the game one hero really caught my eye, Amumu, cute little mummy guy with some decent abilities. I played a few more games, choosing different characters each game and slowly started to realize that pretty much all the game had going for it was "being cute."

The whole game is nails on a chalkboard to me, lane control is pretty much my favorite aspect to this type of game. League of Legends takes out denying, gold loss upon death, and really reduces the importance of itemization. Everything is pretty much in your abilities and your "runes" i think its called. After my troubles in that department, the new heroes seem a little one dimensional. People argue that the game is supposed to shine in the team fights but all team fights feel like are both sides running in and flailing their arms until the other guys are dead. Nothing feels very tactical or strategic with League of Legends.

I'm not criticizing this game for not being Dota or HoN, I'm criticizing it for not having any depth. I could make it more competitive by getting 5 people and scrimming against another 5 but what's the point when I could do the same and have more fun in Dota or HoN. At first I thought this new Dota clone would be a nice break from the more realistic Heroes of Newerth but soft images and bright colors could not carry this game for me.

Revisiting Dota

After my dark run-in with LoL I hunted down my Warcraft CDs so that I could play Dota again. After installation I got a warm fuzzy feeling because I'd be able to play my old favorite heroes; namely CK, Pugna, and Invoker.

However, this feeling went out the window when I sat there pressing Q to use CK's stun or when I pressed R to use Invokers ult. Not having the same hotkeys on every character I guess I could get used to; it just felt like "the reason you don't hang out with that friend." I know I can download mods, but I didn't want to go through all the trouble just to play Dota. Having the average 1-2 second delay was frustrating but I could also get used to it.

Learning of and downloading Garena really eased the pain on delay and player base(sometimes). I enjoyed playing a decent scrim with people on Garena; even though I would fail from time to time pressing Q for my first ability. A huge thing I didn't mention about Dota for which I must give it massive prop is the balance of heroes.

I think the reason I came back to Dota was more nostalgia than anything else. If I continue to play Dota a lot I'll download the mods to hotkey items and abilities(hopefully theres that one). If all else fails I'll just log on from time to time to play old heroes.

At the end of my break from HoN I was quite relieved to go back. However, I am not drinking the S2 kool aid, I do have my gripe with HoN as well. My biggest problem with HoN is PSR(Public Skill Rating), it's pretty meaningless since it's only based on your wins and losses. In my opinion they should just take it out until they can find a way to incorporate all your stats into some kind of PSR that is more accurate. As of right now people with low PSR will get ****** out of playing a game and same with high PSR; if its a normal game. PSR has also created a greater motivation for people to team stack. Its more of a carrot for winning games rather than an accurate depiction of skill.

PSR aside, I was quite happy going back to play HoN with my comfy hotkeys and no delay =D. Heroes of Newerth has been pretty successful in the beta phase unlike League of Legends because rather than deviating from what works it has improved upon everything that does work in Dota. I just can't wait till the heroes fill up and adjustments are made in the direction of balance.

All in all, the break from HoN was alright, I did enjoy playing Dota again despite several hiccups. League of Legends I probably won't be playing again; still havn't played Demigod either. I'm looking forward to the great community thats going to be built from Heroes of Newerth and for when it gets supported by the leagues. Until then I will enjoy my time in the beta and start doing some HoN League soon.

[HON] Pro-Tips:Logger's Hatchet, What Patch 0.1.44 Really Means, What S2 Is Working On 9/14 Edition

no.spam@gameriot.com (Justinlol) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:01:17 -0400

The release of the latest patch updated HoN to be on the same level with DotA. Added tons of changes to existing items, adding items that were in DotA but not HoN, nerfing some heroes, buffing some heroes, some terrain tweeks, some mechanic changes, and the list goes on from there. I was excited about one particular item port, and it isn't magic stick, it's logger's hatchet. I see a the logger's hatchet used a lot but not to it's full potential. I'll be sharing just a few tips you can do with the logger's hatchet to give you the slight edge in ganks that you may need.

The logger's hatchet is most useful to the hero: devourer. This is because if you use the tree chop ability on correct placements, then you can get extra distance to close the gap between you and your hook target. Not only is it useful for ganks, but for escape routes using fog of war and smart pathing in between trees.

I'll just include a small scenario for each screenshot that will explain when to use it and in what situation.

*Disclaimer: These are all from a Legion playing point of view. This is mainly because (I'm not too sure how to word this, but I hope you understand it) I prefer hooking up and right instead of left and down*

Logger's Hatchet:

32% increased damage to creeps (melee only)

12% increased damage to creeps (ranged only)

Tree chop (activate)

Legend:

Green Circle=Chop this tree (some tree's are missing in screenshots because I've already chopped them)

Red Line=Pathways

Scenario 1: You're being chased from mid-bot river and you come across this particular area. You have a hatchet and some tangos.

Location: Legion Forest

Coming in from the top, if you have at least 1 tango with your hatchet, you can quickly go in through this route and fog whoever is chasing you.

Scenario 2: Getting chased at top lane? No problem. Go into this pathway to quickly lose your enemy in fog.

Location: Legion Top-Lane First Tower

This pathway is usually a dead-end, but if you can tree chop the right tree, it opens up a whole route that you can exit from.

Scenario 3: Wanna gank somebody that's in mid lane but he's just tower hugging too hard? Well you can take some time to chop down some trees and it will give you a much better hooking angle.

Location: Hellborne Mid-Lane First Tower

You can also chop down the top tree and it opens the pathway for a quick short-cut if it's needed.

Scenario 4: Similar to Scenario 3: That ****** at top lane is tower hugging like a *****. Well no problem, cutting some trees down gives you the perfect angle to hook that nig for a kill.

Location: Hellborne Top-Lane First Tower

Another bonus is that you'll most likely being in XP range while you wait for that bastard.

Scenario 5: You're waiting for a hero to come into the side-shop to kill him but he's taking forever. So **** it, chop some tree's down and hook him to you.

Location: Legion Bot-Lane Outpost Shop

Another thing is that you can chop 1 or 2 tree's and you have a new route opened up to ambush somebody from behind

So far that's it. I didn't have all the time in the world to compose a full-on guide about the logger's hatchet but I hope you get the general idea. Be creative, there are lots of different combo's of trees that you can cut to open new pathways.

Patch 0.1.44: What It REALLY Means

With the patch fixing and adding items to the game, HoN is basically on the same level as DotA now. All that's left are a few more tweaks to the terrain on both sides and a more bloated hero pool. After that's done what's next? The patch just really means that they are that much closer to being on-par with DotA in terms of item/hero/and balance wise. I think I read somewhere that S2 plans to branch away from DotA eventually and go in their own tangent. How will this affect players?

All I'm excited for, is the map editor feature. I hope they release it in the next few patches because I'd like to play around with the map editor and dick around. My map-editor skills were very poor in starcraft and warcraft, and I don't really expect to be good in the HoN version, but there are other players with exceptional skills that may be able to create some unique maps.

Maybe some crazy new maps that introduce the gameplay on a whole different level. Games such as 3v3v3, 4v4v4, or a 5v5v5 map can easily be created (given the tools to do so) as well as different maps with themes.

Some examples I can think of are like:

Different seasons, like snowy/frozen terrain
Maybe an earthquake happened. Destroyed terrain
The river flooded somehow. Watery themed terrain
New creeps. Both regular and neutral.

The 2nd and 3rd idea are kind of far-out but somebody might be able to make it work.

What S2 Is Working On [9/14 Edition]

Quoted text in yellow, commentary in pink.

[DOTA] Decisive Disqualified, Then Get Beat Down by Evil Geniuses, CEVO-P Week 3 Replays

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:05:55 -0400

Last week was a rough one for Decisive Gaming, a very successful Dota team that was in Division 2 of Dota Pick League (basically there's divisions 1-5, with 1 being the cream of the crop teams.) Initially, they were disqualified from pick league for the following reasons:

Both of these teams are high caliber and currently undefeated (3-0) in CEVO, but most people are predicting an easy win for EG as they are currently on a huge stride. If PZ plays perfectly they may have a chacne to break EG's momentum, but that is unlikely. Either way, this match will probably be shoutcasted live, and I will be sure to provide you all with the appropriate links when they surface.

[HON] Surviving the Pub: The True Underdogs

no.spam@gameriot.com (Kazraga) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:14:01 -0400

I've always wondered why there were never any guides or articles on how to win a pub without the help of a partner. People will criticize that pubs are weak and don't need any explanations, but those same people have been in a situation where someone else on the other team is fed and its never their fault. This series is to help the newer play and the average player contribute to their team winning the pub. This first installment is geared towards teaching newer players what they need to know to be an asset to their teams and win pubs.

Do Your Research

Equally important as not feeding is not kill stealing from your carry. If you're not sure who your carry is then don't steal from the guy with the best score. Kill stealing is doing extra abilities or waiting to use abilities to ensure you get the kill. There is a fine line between what is a kill steal and what isn't. If someone was going to kill an enemy hero by himself and you arrive there as Succubus just in time to nuke him for the kill, thats a kill steal. If you and your lane partner are going to kill someone and you wait to use a nuke to finish him off, it isn't a huge kill steal. Just never kill steal from your carry, don't intentional wait on your abilities to get kills. Again, everytihng you learn in HoN is refined with experience. With each game you play you will get better evey game, even if you don't notice it.

This concludes my first installment of "Surviving the Pub." Don't give up guys, this game is huge fun once you start to get better at it.

[HON] 1.44 Released: Introducing Maliken, Magic Wand and More!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:20:12 -0400

Version 1.43/1.44 of HoN came out yesterday, bringing a whole slew of balance changes and additions to HoN. The full patch notes are as follows, with commentary in yellow:

1.43/44 also added a new hero, Maliken, who borrows elements from several heroes including Puck.

I haven't seen him much and haven't tried him out myself, but he looks like a fun hero who's a weird hybrid between Huskar, Puck and Terrorblade. Certainly one of the more balanced new heroes to be added, unlike the initial craziness that was Magmus with unstoppable ult.

[DOTA] Possible Competitive Heroes & Potential Streams

no.spam@gameriot.com (Arirang) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:43:24 -0400

How metagame shifts in DotA is interesting because it isn't always relied on patches and changes. If certain group of heroes that share the same trait are dominant. People will try and figure out how to counter such playstyle or strategy. This often calls for new heroes to the scene with different strategies. The metagame of DotA is like an on-going evolution that never stops. Now, while so many heroes have had their glory in the past, there are still loads of heroes that are decent-great, but have not yet seen the spotlight. In this entry, I will introduce these heroes that are eagerly waiting to see their share of the spotlight.

Chaos Knight

It's rather puzzling why Chaos Knight has never seen the spotlight. I can't recall where CK was picked or banned game to game. Chaos Knight just about has everything that a top tier hero could have. Let me list some basic stuff:

Highest default movement speed in-game
One of the heaviest hitters at level 1, last hit king!
Has a way to shorten the gap, critical attribute as a melee hero
Has a target stun, possibly one of the most lethal stuns in game
Can stun twice at level 2 with right build (something most heroes of his kind cannot do)
Scales very well late game due to images and crit
Has great stat gain

For some odd reason, he always gets outpicked by Sven. I never understood this. Until the recent change, Sven used to be an "okay" hero. Okay at best. But still, Sven would get picked over CK. Why?

I know that some people complain that CK's stun is "too random". I can understand the damage portion of it. But the stun damage matters little by mid-late game anyway. The randomness on his stun duration is not a valid argument. For one, it's minimum of 2 seconds. Sven's stormbolt lasts 2 seconds. And you know what, Sand King's stun lasts 1.65 seconds. Minimum 2 sec is just fine. The normalized duration is 3sec. You can't even dodge CK's stun because it's instant.

I can go on and on about how great CK is.
And I really hope this hero can soon see his spotlight.

Venomancer

This hero is quite underrated. I think it's because most people play him wrong. His presence early game can be absolutely ridiculous. A good Veno can make early game a hell for lot of heroes. He does have a glass jaw though, so I think it requires specific kind of players to really play him right. I've always put this hero on the same league as VS in terms of a roamer. I suppose VS is more versatile because she has a stun. But Veno can deliver DPS. So maybe Veno can see his light some day.

Huskar

Again, another underrated hero. I can see why this hero is not picked as much. I think he has a good potential. I mean, this guy can be a beastly babysitter. While I think he's a decent hero, it would be a while for him to see the spotlight. Probably because his mid-late game presence is not all there. Still, interesting hero.

Bounty Hunter

Having this guy can grant huge map control to the team. Extra gold flow due to his ult is also nice. Any hero that has a passive crit and evasion has a pretty good late game potential. He even has a passive click-evasion, which is like, super awesome. I would put him in the same league as Night Stalker, but I think I prefer Bounty more because he's more reliable, and more flexible (between soft-carry and support). As a starter, laning with Keeper of the Light wouldn't be a bad idea.

Windrunner

One of my favourite hero. She has a solid range, great animation, and great abilities. Good nuke, ridiculously long stun, escape mech, and one of deadliest single target DPS ult. It's not easy to play her right though. This hero definitely has some learning curve (all of her abilities require some knowledge to use it properly). But she's great. Her stun is somewhat difficult to use, but when used right, it's really powerful because it lasts so long at a very short CD. She can fill the role of support or semi-carry. I mean, anyone who's spent a decent amount of time trying to figure her out would know what kind of hero she is. She's just really all around a solid hero. 'Nuff said!

Obsidian Destroyer

There was one time when he was considered overpowered (still very powerful). He was then picked, but still not picked enough. This was when his build was primarily stacking as many mystic staves as possible. You would one shot the entire team with the ult. The mystic staves would then slowly become an aggy, one by one. That phase is kind of over.

But he's still a very strong hero. His orb remains to be the hardest hitting orb in the game. The kind of damage he can put out puts Silencer and Enchantress to shame (although, her damage is not really gear dependant). Being gear dependant also has its benefits as OD scales very well with items. Perhaps it's because he has a glass jaw that he's not picked too much? But with Abaddon expecting to be more popular, I hope to see the era of Obsidian Destroyer.

Witch Doctor

I've always had a thing for Witch Doctor. Maybe because I love the concept art of this unit itself, I don't know. Witch Doctor had tasted his glory a bit in the past when the Russian team picked him along with Stealth Assassin. But that was only one game. I can understand why he's not picked enough. He can be a huge deadweight if his spells are not used at the right time. His curse absolutely cannot miss, and his flasks must be used at the right time. It's the curse that really makes the hero though. Easily one of the most hated abilities of the game. You can't kill someone? Well, no worries, the curse will. I think WD can be used with certain line up. His aura is like a moving fountain too. So, we'll see. Are the players creative enough to build a team that can fit Witch Doctor?

Maybe the heroes above will never see the light. And maybe, they will get their chance to 15 minutes of fame. No one knows. Rhasta for one, was considered a dead hero because of his lack of finesse. But we know that Rhasta have become incredibly popular lately (well, it's kind of moving on now). Some heroes just get called to spotlight by the shift in metagame. It's often these unorthodox, obscure, not-really-picked heroes that suddenly become highly popular though. So yeah, you never know!!

NDA is lifted, which means I can start streaming some games. Not that I am the most amazing player ever nor would I be engaged in one of most intense matches ever. But you would be able to see some of lane control skill stuff I've been talking about in the past. If I ever stream, it will be broadcasted via xfire (as long as it doesn't kill my computer). So, if anyone is interested, you are welcome to drop by and watch. My xfire username is pjlworld. And of course, my HoN allias is SunBhie.

[HON] Open Beta TBA Soon, Encyclopedia Mod, What Is HoN's OC?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Justinlol) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:20:25 -0400

A Facebook status update today quotes the following regarding HoN's open beta:

So if you don't have a key, the best chances of getting one is in the upcoming facebook key giveaway, so make a facebook if you don't have one and become a fan and check for updates on it.

[UI Mod] Encyclopedia

I was browsing the Mod Repository page and it's been updated with a few mods over the past week or two and one caught my attention: the Encyclopedia.

About this Mod:

This mod adds a small encyclopedia window to the Clan & Community Panel (the "F6 screen") allowing to quickly access detailed information about heroes, items and chat terms anywhere in the game.

This mod targets players transitioning from DotA by translating between DotA and HoN terms and pointing out changes, as well as those who never played DotA e.g. by providing basic builds for heroes.

This mod is highly recommended for starting players that are in the stage of learning the game and developing their skill. Since it uses the Clan & Community Panel, it doesn't clutter your screen with info. Quick and easy access as well as a clean interface.

Basically the pictures make the mod self explanatory. I would highly recommend this to any starting HoN player.

Does HoN have original content?

Not really. You may have your own opinions, but this is mine.

The only form of OC that HoN has are the 2 new maps and some new heroes. Other than that, HoN doesn't have any OC. It's just DotA with better graphics. So how long with HoN last? Everybody that I know that plays HoN has burned out since they first started playing, me included. I used to play a lot when I first got it because it was just so cool and new and flashy, but more recently I've been sort of burnt out and haven't been playing it as often. Why is this? It's most likely because it has no OC what so ever (I'm not saying this makes the game bad, it's a good game). Sure, it's better than DotA, but it's the same game (in a sense).

The reason why Warhammer/AoC/etc. all failed was because it's the same ******* thing as WoW. It has barely any OC of its own because most of it is just a copy of WoW gameplay. This is why WoW is so much better than any other MMO. Each expansion adds a **** ton of new content.

So this leads me back to my question of how long will HoN last? Will the lack of OC be HoN's downfall? Maybe when the map editor comes out, more "new content" or at least better existing content will be made.

On the other hand, we have LoL which has the very basic idea of DotA, but the game is pretty much a whole different game. You have the talent-like system, rune system, unlocking of heroes, and it's just plain different. This may be why LoL is not popular because DotA players (like myself) go into the game expecting it to be similar to DotA but when they find out it's not, they become disappointed and they lack effort to learn how LoL works. I may one day decide to actually play LoL. I may need somebody to teach me though because it seemed REALLY confusing.

So although HoN is more popular right now, you may never know. Suddenly everybody may start playing LoL instead.

[DOTA] Invoker Madness; League of Legends NDA Lifted more than a week ago

no.spam@gameriot.com (Pwyff) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:19:41 -0400

Hello Ladies and Gentlemensies. I've been posting later and later in the week because I've been spending too much time meandering about the outside world being young. In addition to this, I've also been playing a copious amount of Champions Online due to the fact that we'll be reviewing the game soon, and no legitimate review is possible unless you've played the game until you're puking. Personally speaking, I do love the character creation system in Champions Online, but like any other superhero MMO, they give you waaaay too much, way too soon. I'm level 15 now (having rerolled four times because of their ultra ****ty, ultra expensive respect system), playing the female version of Protoman (nicely named "Proto Pwyff"), but with a metal bikini instead of the standard affair.

...

Perhaps I really should get to writing on my other blog.

Anyways.

I've also been enjoying the next generation versions of DotA, HoN and LoL, for their respective features. HoN is great as a solo game; especially the fact that it loads up and plays faster than DotA. On the other hand, I really have to respect and appreciate League of Legends for the balls it takes to strike out on your own and try to create something new from something old. Either way, the League of Legends NDA was lifted on September 1st, so I'll talk about that next week (as I just realized that Invoker takes a lot of writing). For now, let's get on over to my hero of the week:

Max Wex and whatever other spell you want to play with. I typically do Exort, then leave Quas for the end.

Fun times Invoker can really be summed up as being a retarded hero with stupid amounts of annoyance factor. I typically build my 'fun times Invoker' quickly during early game by stealing kills via Sun Strike (so satisfying) and then using the gold to purchase stupid items like Yasha. Fun times Invoker is really just about enjoying yourself whilst zooming around the map and looking funny. Abuse Ghost Walk + Ice Wall, and if necessary, toss out a Hellforge Spirit with Cold Snap and see if you can smash them with Alacrity up (W-W-E).

Have you ever grabbed Radiance with a speedy Invoker with maxed out Ghost Walk? It translates to the slowest death ever, but it's totally a death. This Invoker also has a great deal of fun by moving wickedly fast around the map (I believe he can hit the speed cap with +90 movement speed from BoT, +20 movement speed from Eul's, +10% from Yasha and +21% from maxed Wex). Just wander around and find people, and then grief them like mad. If they get Dust or Wards, get a Gem of your own and pick up a BKB so that you'll be basically unkillable, and you'll just force them to spend more and more money trying to catch you.

---

OK NOW MY HANDS HURT SO BRB GOING TO GO OGLE MY IRON PANTY PROTO PWYFF IN CHAMPIONS ONLINE.

P.S. Invoker is entirely, incredibly anally screwed by Silencer, because Silencer's proc procs on EVERY element toggle that Invoker uses. This translates to WOW WHAT THE ****. Be careful of that.

[HON] 400,000 Beta Key Giveaway, Is HoN Turning Into Wc3?, My Steps To Calm Yourself In Pub's

no.spam@gameriot.com (Justinlol) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:13:20 -0400

Alright so this week is kick started with 200,000 existing beta accounts receiving 2 invites each for a total of 400,000 keys in total. Phew, that's a lot! Only last week did they give away 75,000 and they are already adding on another possible 400,000 people. If you're an individual that needs a key, you're BOUND to find one from a friend because S2 is just handing them out, and if you STILL can't find one, you can hope to e-bay a HoN key (last I heard e-bay doesn't allow the selling of keys) and you can find them for about $5 bucks. I know that there have been several comments on my articles of people wondering how everybody BUT them have a HoN key, so if that's you, now you know.

Even with these huge key-give aways I've only seen a very slight average population increase. (that or I just haven't been playing much. Which I haven't) It averaged about 12,000 to 14,000 before the 75k facebook give away, and now I see it sitting at around 15,000 to 18,000. Now 3,000 people is a lot, don't get me wrong, but 3,000 out of 75,000 isn't much at all. I think S2 is giving out all these free keys because they are hoping for pre-orders because I don't see how they can supply enough funding for the game as of right now.

Is HoN moving towards Wc3 Custom Maps?

So HoN is great, it's like DotA, just with better graphics, mechanics, and engine, but there's been a lot of talk recently about adding "mini-games" or "side-games" to HoN. Some of these mini-games are things like Pudge Wars (A map in Wc3 based off the hero Pudge played for ****'s and giggles), Footmen Frenzy, etc. all mostly based on current Wc3 custom map games. Isn't this just some what ironic?

With the map editor coming out soon I'm not sure how they plan to restrict map creating/editing and how the map's become submitted or tested to make sure that they are strictly DotA based. Because with some basic triggers and editing, you can easily turn a game of HoN into a hero wars, or something like that.

Let's have a quick history lesson on DotA:

[DOTA] IceFrog Talks Dota 6.63: Return of the Ganking Game? Kuroky's Ideal Dota Version

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ocedic) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:29:30 -0400
With the recent string of 6.62x releases dealing with the latest WarCraft 3 patch, it comes as a bit of a surprise that 6.63 is far into development. He posted on his blog:

In terms of making the game more interesting to watch, Kuroky certainly has the right idea. A few of the suggestions seem to echo notes from Ice Frog who pointed out potential changes to items like Heart and Pipe. Personally, I think the old Dagger was far too powerful. Perhaps a recipe cost to make it act like the old Dagger would balance it out for the heroes that really need it such as Zeus.

Kuroky wants the old Dota back!

Pipe is indeed very strong, and I'm not sure if it's an item that really has a place in Dota considering the existence of Hood and Mek already. Kuroky seems to hate the farming --> endgame style, but honestly killing that portion of the game would make leveling and farming irrelevant in general. Manta Style is definitely too cheap in its current form.

So what are your own thoughts on changes you'd like to see in 6.63? And what do you think IceFrog's surprise is?