[DOTA] Refresher Chieften: There is No God, StarCraft 2 Dota: Rumors, Facts and Speculation

If there are any of you out there who still don't think TC is worthy of autoban/FP, you need not look further than Kebap's Refresher TC.  Used in an IDEC match against pgg, Kebap gave an awesome show of power and why you shouldn't allow any high level player to get their hands on TC.


Tauren Chieften demands a gap closer.

The replay of said match can be found here, and yes there will probably be excerpts from it in the next 2G1P video.  The power of TC is that if you get hit with stomp or his ult, you are basically guaranteed to be hit with the other.  And that's not including any help from your teammates.  It's funny that TC was against ES and Kunkka on the same team (two heroes considered ban/FP worthy as well) because when you watch them face off you get the sense that TC basically does everything both heroes can do in one.



When you throw in a refresher into the mix, an entire team can potentially suffer 70% of their maximum HP in damage on top of stomp and image damage.  And the entire time they're basically stunlocked and unable to do anything.  It's really no wonder at all why TC is autobanned in basically any major league using 6.60. 

Fix What's Broke

So what needs to happen to fix TC?  Well, here are my own thoughts:



-Stomp stun duration needs to be reduced.  Yes, it breaks on damage, but that doesn't matter since it's AoE and allows you to focus down enemies while the entire enemy is stuck in sleep.  Damage or something can be buffed to compensate slightly, but right now a 5 second AoE disable from a base skill is just ridiculous.



-Earthsplitter (ult) needs to deal static damage and have less range.  It simply overshadows every other AoE ult because it deals both massive damage and disables.  Every other ultimate is basically balanced around one or the other. 



-Finally, some base stats/stat growth needs to be nerfed, just like Kunkka and Dirge received.  On top of his amazing early game harassment he is quite a beefy and tanky hero early.  He doesn't have to be super squishy, but at the moment is definitely too strong in terms of stats given his abilities.

So next time you think that letting TC slide in terms of bans isn't too big a deal because you really don't want to face off against NA or Bane, just remember that your actions have consequences.



STARCRAFT 2 DOTA: THE FINAL FRONTIER (UNTIL WARCRAFT 4)

This topic has been brought up a few times in comments, so I think it's about time I addressed it.  There is a lot of speculation around whether or not Dota will migrate to SC2, and the consequences of the hypothetical migration.  As a result, there's a lot of misinformation floating around regarding SC2 Dota, so I thought I'd take this moment to clear things up.

Myth: Because there is no hero or item system in SC2, it's not possible to make a Dota-type map with the SC2 engine.
Fact: Actually, Blizzard already confirmed at Blizzcon '08 that an SC2 Dota would be possible.  The singleplayer and multiplayer are basically completely different games mechanically, kind of like how PvE and PvP are (supposedly) becoming separate in WoW.  It was originally thought that a leveling and inventory system might show up in singleplayer, but it may even just be a map editor only feature.



Nonetheless, after chatting it up with our devs, we found out the ability to allow heroes and units to gain experience is built into the Map Editor, though it will not likely be in single player or standard multiplayer. In addition, those units can also be toggled to have the ability to carry an inventory, which is also a characteristic needed in UMS maps such as DotA. -Xordia

Myth: IceFrog is already working on an SC2 Dota.
Fact: When asked specifically about SC2 Dota and his involvement, IceFrog had this to say:

I certainly plan on playing SC2; I am a huge fan of the original Starcraft. It is hard for me to say whether I will do modding for Starcraft 2 at this point. It depends a lot on what capabilities the editor will have, so it is too early to give an answer right now. In either case though, I enjoy what I'm doing and have no plans to stop development on Warcraft 3 anytime soon. -IceFrog.com


The only known photograph of the mysterious IceFrog.

Speculation: Will an SC2 Dota split the Dota community, like CS and CSS?
Opinion: A large part of that depends on how well SC2 does.  The advantage of older technology is greatly reduced cost and system requirements.  SC2's system requirements aren't neccesarily cutting edge, but one time on an old laptop my graphics card died and for a few months I could play SC on it with no graphics card.  Ya, I don't think that will be happening with SC2.

However, CS and CSS were similar games conceptually, which led to a lot of direct comparisons on things such as hitboxes or weapon recoil.  SC2 Dota will probably end up substantially different than WC3 Dota, and will thus escape the 'better or worse' one dimensional comparison that CSS suffers from.  I'm willing to be that if a community split does occur, SC2 Dota will ultimately win out given equal or better development.


Neilyo is mad cause CSS takes more skill.

Oh, and CSS > 1.6.  Yeah I said it.

Speculation: Will an SC2 Dota hurt the SC2 ladder game?
Opinion: No.  The nerds who play WC3 ladder like to claim that Dota killed their game, but in reality Dota is the only thing keeping it afloat.  WC3 ladder is a joke of a game.  Boring to watch, one dimensional to play.  It lacks the pace, skill and intricacy of StarCraft, hands down.  If the developers of SC2 do their job, then SC2 ladder will be successful with or without the existence of SC2 Dota.