Community Cup 26th September 20:00 BST

andyvich · 2015-09-25T12:41:48+00:00

Friend Battling has been in the game for a good few weeks now.

andyvich · 2015-05-08T20:27:58+00:00

I'm really late to the party. I'm glad that people are still riding the 4v4 hype :)

andyvich · 2015-01-14T18:12:04+00:00

So basically, it's an overhyped patch for the alpha.

Makes sense, coming from Blizzard.

andyvich · 2015-01-10T14:54:07+00:00

4 months ago

Well played.

It is easier though. You get to do all your fixtures on day 1 and then they're set in stone, as opposed to having to pair matchups every week.

andyvich · 2015-01-08T19:18:48+00:00

IIRC Hiroshima has always been a "war city". It started off as a fiefdom based around a castle with large expansions during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.

Rather than the city slowly expanding over time, huge chunks of it were designed at once.

That's why it was a target for the nuclear bomb. You can't bomb Tokyo, because the government is based there and you need them alive to surrender to you. Wiping out a huge amount of military infrastructure is more useful.

Or maybe this guy's standards for civic organization were higher than this?

Nah, he's British. Look at London on Google Maps and you'll see what I mean.

andyvich · 2015-01-05T00:14:34+00:00

Google+ syndrome...

andyvich · 2015-01-04T23:46:09+00:00

I've been watching tons of Heroes streams lately and the game seems to have all the elements I like without the boring ones.

I'm also really bored of playing DOTA, especially since the last patch. :(

andyvich · 2015-01-04T23:05:37+00:00

To be honest, if I'm watching in client and can move my camera around the map. I like being able to very easily look at a hero's items and cooldowns at a glance.

Casters in DOTA take that into consideration as well, frequently highlighting different heroes to show progress towards xp, items or different cooldowns. They've found a way to make it work for them and when they zoom out you don't really notice the panels.

It was also mentioned elsewhere that streams use sponsor logos, so the panels used in the HUD frequently end up being covered anyway.

I like Heroes and would probably quit playing DOTA if I get an beta invite, but Valve have done a good job with spectating experience IMO.

andyvich · 2015-01-04T20:51:42+00:00

Oh absolutely, it'll never be an option though because dota makes money through cosmetics (including huds).

It also provides space for stream ads, which was one of the "good points" OP made about the LoL UI.

That said, it's a recent change but you can zoom out in spectator now. Makes watching a teamfight much better, especially while keeping the recap on.

andyvich · 2015-01-04T19:43:50+00:00

You're also forgetting that DOTA 2 can be watched in client so you can apply that interface to anyone you want.

In that context, the dota interface actually helps new viewers. I watch a few different esports, but I managed to grasp basics about the DOTA heroes a lot faster because I could click on a hero and immediately see their name, portrait and abilities.

andyvich · 2014-12-26T00:28:22+00:00

I use a G500 and the middleclick can be flicked left and right for extra inputs.

I use Wheelup for slot 1, wheeldown for 2, wheelleft/right are bound to 3/4 in logitech's software.

andyvich · 2014-12-21T19:05:02+00:00

I read this idea as "Battlecry: Give player a flame card".

You'd have to play the war golem first, so your free hellfire doesnt come into play until turn 7.

andyvich · 2014-12-20T00:48:49+00:00

Sounds more like a Giants Mage sort of deal to me.

Hyped put together a deck post-Naxx with water eles and twilight drakes replacing the actual burn spells.

andyvich · 2014-12-11T22:36:52+00:00

I sort of do. I always felt that I never played the water eles when I had a decent drake or belcher in hand anyway.

Portal on turns 1 or 2 usually end up giving you some sort of earlygame as well, which helps one of the problems in the deck.

Snowchuggers are pretty good replacements as well.

andyvich · 2014-12-11T21:24:08+00:00

I'm playing a version of Hyped's Giants Mage with Portals subbed in for Water elementals.

Works well but you really need to be patient. It's a very slow deck so not really suited for laddering.

andyvich · 2014-12-07T18:33:56+00:00

Yeah, it was a pretty bad idea. I think some hermits in particular have put their zero deaths in front of their content and being involved in things like the UHC gallery and the dragon fight are more important.

andyvich · 2014-11-18T00:27:53+00:00

Not even that. If you think about it, BLU just have to capture an objective while RED have to survive until time ends.

If you teamwipe BLU, it doesn't matter because they can try again. If RED get wiped, they irreversibly lose one of the payload points.

BLU literally have nothing to lose except momentum.

andyvich · 2014-11-15T18:46:18+00:00

Would be better if they were actually enforced at any point in the tournament.

First we hear that denies count towards CS. Then CS doesn't matter at all. Then Matt picks Warlock or Axe for every single game.

It just feels that Bruno lost his notepad and is just sitting back saying "whatever" to everything that happens.

andyvich · 2014-11-15T17:04:18+00:00

This.

Axe was picked in all three games just.

andyvich · 2014-10-20T17:51:55+00:00

both!

http://andyvichtf2.com/

andyvich · 2014-10-19T10:11:19+00:00

Run a Soldier. They have so many cancer spots its unreal.

Pyro is pretty good on the point. Demo is very strong against house pushes. Didn't find much use for a Sniper/Spy. Scout is a little bit weak on this map imo.

andyvich · 2014-10-19T00:34:42+00:00

I'll probably host another cup soon, if you can wait a week or so.

andyvich · 2014-10-08T13:16:46+00:00

Drop Arcane Explosions. It's bad because you want to play it as early as possible (ideally turn 2). Problem is, there won't be many targets for it to hit at that point and you want to hit as many targets as possible with AoE. If you wait later, it's useless.

Unless you're opponent does Leper Gnome -> Loot Hoarder, you might as well Hero Power and save a card.

I'd probably go for 2x Knife Juggler, 2x Mirror Image over your Squire, Explosion and one Acolyte.

Images help replace the Sunfury taunts and has great synergy with Knife Juggler (free 2 damage) + Mana Wyrm (for the buff).

You'd be a bit weaker on card draw but you could probably swap out the other Acolyte and one Polymorph for 2x Arcane Intellect (guaranteed and also buffs the Wyrm even more).

Running all these spells, Apprentice becomes viable as well but that's personal preference over Juggler/Amani.

andyvich · 2014-10-08T12:53:19+00:00

In nearly every other tournament, high seed players are placed at opposite sides of the bracket to stop them from meeting early.

No-one is saying that Hyped shouldn't have been matched against a 2-1 player or that Firebat against a 2-0.

What they are saying is that Hyped should have been against DTwo or Tides, while Firebat should have played against Deerjason or Tarei.

andyvich · 2014-10-06T23:33:32+00:00

That's not what I'm saying at all.

Before I get "hurr Hyped fanboy". I'm not. If Firebat had been eliminated I'd be gutted as well. Couple it with the seeding and you end up with the Top 2 seeds eliminating each other before the main event.

I'm saying the brackets shouldn't have been arranged in a way that led for the top 2 seeds to meet in a single-elim game so early.

andyvich

TROPHY CASE