HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAWN! <3

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

team zenith will be holding trials tomorrow and tuesday. taken straight from the irc channel:
"Zenith will be trialing for a player on Mon and Tues. All welcome but pls do not waste our time if u noe u cannot make it. Trials held at #zenithtrial from 6pm onwards"
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next, rapture gaming is having a clearance sale, items up for grabs include a t1000 everglide keyboard going for $19, asus monitor 19inch going for $400, quake 4 at $20, WC reign of chaos at $20... and many more items. so go check your email from RGN. everything is on a first come first serve basis.
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hammy is planning a trip to thailand next mth, from the 19th march onwards.

"4 days accomodation and air tickets total 480 nia."

eMo -hammy- ** baa baa black sheep have you any flower... says:
But ask soon hor.
eMo -hammy- ** baa baa black sheep have you any flower... says:
I need to know.
eMo -hammy- ** baa baa black sheep have you any flower... says:
Book tics and hotel.
furryfish InSanity-* says:
by when?
eMo -hammy- ** baa baa black sheep have you any flower... says:
Hmmm... Tues?
eMo -hammy- ** baa baa black sheep have you any flower... says:
Lol.
furryfish InSanity-* says:
ok i try
>>>>> k i know very soon and sudden, but if want tell him or me k. i think other rgn ppl will be going.

it may come as news to some... but rumours have been flying around for quite a while already.
there's inside info that another gals team is in the works! not asterisk*, another bunch of 5 dota-committed gamer gals! who they are, i shan't reveal until they are confirmed. or i guess they will self expose sometime or other.
so stay tuned and check out the developments!
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yes... i'm working on updating the blogs... and injecting more life... starting with my own site.
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more news, CPL Australia to be held this year, sometime from june on. BIG prize money up for grabs- dota is included. so theres talks of zenith flying up... all the more likely to happen because our long lost musica is there.

http://www.dotasg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=858

HOT OFF THE PRESS.
please check out X3M's new lan sponsor, and do support it! great rates there! esp the CNY rates.
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Chinese New Year Promotion:$10 for 8 hours - every day including weekends and public holidays$30 for 25 hours - every day including weekends and public holidays$50 for 45 hours - every day including weekends and public holidays$100 for 100 hours - every day including weekends and public holidays$200 for 220 hours - every day including weekends and public holidaysExpiry only after 300 days.
***
for more details... go check it out. ^^

*ATTENTION*

sad to annouce, cynthia(wanderz*) and jiayi(blacknails*) have left team asterisk* due to personal commitments/reasons. all the best to them. (:

capl spring season 2007 will be asterisk*'s last compy till december'07, as i'll be off studying for a'lvls from july.

also, clan X3M (clan of asterisk*), is currently doing a recuitment for female dota players.. check this link, http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=128912

meanwhile, tammy, dawn and i will be free to play for any teams. feel free to ask.

@jong: I merely quote my teammates (then discussion mates since I wasn't part of their team) for the Pudge thing. This whole hero log also tries to show that about every damn hero can be used in draft match.

My brother apparently witnesses someone getting AAA for Max 300 on his Campus' DDR machine. That guy can probably 1v5 microing 5 computers at once with his feet.

The referrer bar is kind of wonderful. Makes you realise how many other people out there strife to improve, and then some who play too much without improving.

I realised it somewhere along the time Lone Druid was being popularised, I think it was around April last year or something. Basically there were times where I would be playing Bear and before the game I would tell my teammates "Okay, I'm not in control, I'm not going to do well". Happened often then, and only now do I realise that I actually had that kind of feeling in other games with other heroes other than Lich (and Lich when I was sick during GXL). It was just that microing 2 units made the feeling much more obvious.

It's simply a feeling, but most of the time I didn't end up doing very well in those games I had that feeling. I was basically playing those games mostly by instinct. I had no idea what was going on, where people were missing, etc. etc.

So then I decided to stop playing by instinct. To conciously try to check myself at every moment, realise when I was basically getting lost into the game. It worked for me at least. At this current moment I proudly say that I've progressed quite a lot from one year ago. If I can attribute that improvement to one thing, I'll attribute it to this.

I TRY (and often fail, but I try) to always be concious of what is happening. Unless urgently needed, decisions are planned for rather than jumped into. If something goes wrong, I know what went wrong and correct it, because I'm aware and was in control if that wrongdoing.

And then there is the part where you try to improve on whatever didn't go as you had ideally planned. "I could have escaped from them if I had passed my boots from my Bear to the hero... next time I'll make sure I can and try to do it..." or in the more drastic cases "we would have won if I had gone Skadi on my Morphling... next time I'll get Skadi on my Morphling, or just not play Morphling anymore..." Perhaps this is why I get pissed off easily at things that I can't correct when they don't go ideally, like Chain Frost bouncing wrongly, Bear not getting entangles off, etc...

Now for some very short hero logs. The ones I feel are nice and cool to talk about... I'll procrastinate.


Hero Log 17/82: Viper

Everyone seems to like Viper but me. Hate this guy. There's something to be said about vulnerability here. He basically owns everything badly in a 1v1 but fails at anything beyond that. Good Vipers are able to make it so that even in a big battle, their fights are not anything more than 2v1s. Avoiding AoE while actually being in some part of the battle to attack someone while not being vulnerable to everything is key to playing Viper well, and I can't really do that.

That and the fact that a good Viper needs INSANE farming. I farm well, I farm safely, but that means my Relic comes about 10 minutes slower than other better Vipers.

I also go for BKB rather than Relic first, because it's my nature to just not like running around with no form of escape and no form of survivability. Other Vipers seem to be just fine with that disability. Meh, I can't catch up to them. Viper is a good hero, but I'll put it to one side.


Hero Log 18/82: Tinker

You know the feeling of lostness I talked about earlier? I get the same thing with Tinker in battles. Basically the frenzy of casting spells and rearming and casting everything again in such quick succession leaves very little time for thinking, which I'm not very favourable to.

Insane farmer and insanely irritating with BoT, unfortunately even with BoT and whatsnot I had serious problems getting him to do anything but spam missile and send people home.

Luckily, given the correct mindset, you can basically keep the opponent off all 3 lanes for a long time. I guess kills don't really matter when you stop them from farming, but they do matter to me somewhat. Not much fun harrassing and not getting kills, though the effectiveness is undeniable from their lack of items.


Hero Log 19/82: Shadow Fiend

Another hero with no escape mechanism. Did I mention that I hate playing heroes with no escape mechanism? Which is why I get lothars on him.

There is much more fun from playing SF to be gotten than from playing Viper though. Shadow Raze is a sick sick AoE spell in a few situations. Those situations don't come often, but are very satisfying when taken advantage of.

Not to mention that Lothar-Requiem instagibbing is also very satisfying. Comes far too rarely though, and there's always the chance that you get caught and die before being able to get anything pulled off. This is a hero I guess I might revisit some day, but for now, he's still rather unstable, since he's easily ganked and only useful in some situations.


Hero Log 20/82: Shadow Priest

New hero++!! Can't say if I'm good at this or if this hero is good or not, although Shallow Grave is perhaps the best support ultimate for your late gamer. Lack of survivability (read: dirt low HP and armor) makes him really a pain to play against teams with a lot of AoE. Considering that his spells are much more effective when he's in battle for a longer period of time (low cooldown and insanely annoying spells too), he's a rather difficult hero to play.

Plus the Shadow Priest has no AoE and no real means of killing things by himself. Good support hero, but that means that he needs a good team to be made fully effective. Until I can play support well AND can find a good team to play this, I'll stay off this hero.


Like I said, really really short hero logs. I didn't actually enjoy playing those heroes much.

just as a reminder for when I ever actually decide to write them:
21: Bristleback (had a few really fun games with it)
22: Silencer (I can't actually think of what to write, but I like playing him anyway)
23: Doom Bringer (I'm actually going to withhold this writeup)
24: Lord of Avernus (had a period of time where I played him a lot, still love him)
25: Treant Protector (had really good experiences with this in IHCS)
26: Bane elemental (just finished a really good game with it, and lots of potential on this hero)

Time for some narcism! Talk about myself omg!

I find that my best role usually is that of the secondary carry, when there are two designated late game carry heroes. I fail badly as the primary carry usually because I can bring everything down to red HP but can't kill.

Not to mention that Tofu or ice usually work much better as a primary carry. They might not farm consistently well (Tofu at least) but when they do their rate of farming goes far faster than the other team, whereas I can never usually get a big farming advantage over the other team's main carry hero.

Most of the games we lose, I'm forced to go from secondary carry to primary carry because the rest of the team isn't farming. I really should go back to a support role, but I'm seriously lacking in that ability now... been practicing old heroes and most of those games have been farmfests, barely any backstabbing from me (a bit, but excessively) until past the 40 minute mark, although this can be attributed to the fact that I've been mainly practicing late game heroes.

The above doesn't actually have any meaning or value past satisfying my narcissitic needs.

Hero log has been increased to a capacity of 82, since new tournament version is 6.41. I'm however, staying adamantly away from meepo until they buff him.


Hero Log 12/82: Morphling

This bugger can't die without being ganked by a lot of people with a lot of damage output and a lot of disables. Attribute Morph is basically an insane self heal, add that to waveform to escape from hot spots and that replicate enables any prepared morphling to just go halfway across the map with one button, and it's really impossible to hunt down a morphling.

That being said, this bugger really can't kill much either. He has no form of slow or disable, and to top that off, has a ridiculously short range, and requires a lot of good support from teammates, dumb enemies, or a slow from S & Y or Skadi to kill anything. Either that or insane damage output so you don't even have to chase anything, though with your range you'll need really insane output.

Replicate is really one of my favourite spells though, because it's really fun to use. I use it first as a precautionary measure when I think I'm going to get backstabbed. Replicate, move replicate to another lane, and suddenly when 5 heroes approach you, you disappear to another lane. Second, obviously, replicate is good at deceiving opponents by replicating the correct hero, or simply just replicating a big fat tank and watch how slowly it dies. Replicate also works as a free TP scroll back home. Replicate something, send it back to your fountain, and move to it. The best thing is you can TP back immediately after healing.

Sort of like this hero, but would play it excessively if only it had a range buff...


Hero Log 13/82: Beastmaster

Here's something fun. 3 creeps to micro! Plus a stun that almost lasts forever!!

I tried this hero when trying to improve my catching. It works wonders during catching. First, hawk is almost a maphack so you know when backup is catching and who to backstab. Next, that quillbeast has a really ridiculous slow, and axe is really quite a good AoE spell. The most ridiculous part though, is the ultimate, because the Stun is not only really long ranged, it also lasts for far too long, and coolsdown far too fast. I mean, this is the kind of thing that's so long ranged and has such a long duration that you can literally catch QoPs from the front before they have a chance to blink away.

Perhaps I'll prefer this hero more when I try to play him as a farmer instead of a catcher. Right now, he works well as a catcher, sure, but I find myself not too well farmed and generally not that useful in battle after using all my spells. Plus he's a melee hero with practically no damage output past his spells, unless enough items are farmed. It takes ages to take down anything if you don't have your spells.

The best thing though is the absurd amount of sight that hawk gives you. It's invisible, it flies, and it sees about everything you need to see in that area.

Unfortunately, I actually have problems microing the hawk with the quillbeast. I've developed a habit of grouping the hero in one group and everything else in the other, then left clicking to micro individual units. It usually works for Chen, Visage, or Bear, but with Beastmaster, when hawk and quillbeast are often half a map away from each other (I use it to spot for my allied farmer), I often get their control groups fuddled up. I could work on improving that, but for the time being I'll stay off Beastmaster.


Hero Log 14/82: Lich

This brings back memories. I've gone from being only able to use Lich, a paper easy to kill hero that shouldn't farm much, to using stuff that is hard to kill and farms a lot.

By and large, I should like the Lich, for reasons unknown to me. I guess the main reason would be that hitting a good Chain Frost feels really good, and being able to basically use Frost Nova endlessly also gives me this feeling of power.

Unfortunately, the Lich is also really easy to take down. Any non-paper hero above half HP can usually rush the Lich and pwn it before level 6, and with luck can do so after the Lich reaches level 6. It's still a good hero and I should like it. In fact, the main reason why I hate it so much is because of how much it sucks compared to last time.

Ritual and deny nerf hits really hard, because the Lich basically loses its advantage at the point where it is most powerful, the first 2 levels. That and the fact that the Lich has been nerfed to have 500 range instead of 600, makes it really difficult to control enemies in those crucial levels. Last time, sufficient control of enemy heroes in the first two levels usually meant that they were majorly screwed over until their teammates from other lanes came to help them. The 30 second or so nerf on ritual and the lack of attack range really screws that up big time.

Plus EVERYTHING can rush a Lich now. Viper, QoP, RK, Beastmaster, etc. the list goes on. Add that to the popularisation of mass creep heroes like Chen, Bear, Visage, and the Lich's most powerful aspect, Chain Frost, can be possibly nullified in battles.


Hero Log 15/82: Vengeful Spirit

This will be short. Essentially the best catcher in the game assuming that you have an advantage in numbers, because the Vengeful Spirit has the longest catching range in the entire game. Basically the only hero that can hit you from the front from behind the fog of war. Really the scariest damn hero when you're being pressured.

This will be short though, because I played the Vengeful Spirit as a farmer. Skadi in under 30 minutes, mostly with the help of techies (gay gay gay gay gay combo). Swap was still really useful though, since it enabled me to catch running heroes or put them into my range when they weren't expecting it.

I'm quite proud of this hero though, because I was suggesting it to be used for about 1 year, all the way back in version 5, and continually insisting on it, until it finally was used.

"LOL Ant don't draft shit heroes plz. Use VS? Might as well say use Pudge and hook pple over lolol."


Hero Log 16/82: Goblin Techies

Hohoho. Fun hero. It used to be one of those heroes that I simply couldn't play. It's now one of the heroes that I'll rather not play because after seeing dodo play techies, I figured it'll take me a few decades of training to be as good as him and I don't have that much time or patience.

Really, the amount of patience required to play a good Techies is gargantuan, and I don't have that much.


I'm actually planning to leave Bristleback, Silencer, and Doom Bringer till later, especially Doom Bringer because I have a lot to talk about him.



To be updated:

17: Bristleback
18: Silencer
19: Doom Bringer
20: Viper (should be short because I suck badly at it)
21: Tinker (should be short too because I'm not too good at it either)
22: Shadow Fiend (should be short because my SF is mediocre at best and it isn't really a very fun hero)
23: Shadow Priest (short too, because I haven't played him enough to say anything and I don't actually plan to, support doesn't suit me very well)
24: Lord of Avernus
25: Treant Protector

For my own sake, I've kept a nice picture to visually summarise which heroes I have played and which I haven't. I'm actually going to revisit those heroes I've already played in draft match but not after I started the hero log, just to see how much differently I play them.

There are some heroes I'm actually not looking forward to playing, most likely they'll be played last. Chiefly I'm not looking forward to playing Slayer because really she is reliant a lot on her stun and I can't hit that for nuts. Paper stuff like Naga, Phantom Lancer, Broodmother, and Phantom Assassin, I'm keeping till last too. I'm actually pretty fine with Naix or Troll or the like. Nerubian Assassin I don't really hate but mass catching isn't my thing. Spectre as well requires a bit too much patience for my liking. Unless I suddenly see some draft which they are insanely powerful in, I probably won't play those heroes I mentioned in this paragraph for a long time.

Ok! I'm back.

!Looking for last for Inter School Challenge held @ Funan from 12 - 18th March. NO NERDS. NO NOOBS. TP Students only. Prefebly those we know. PM me WandeRz- or my team mate L-Toonz in IRC.

*edited*

Found last already =)

My previous post is just to show some appreciation k!

I find it quite... good... actually, that we've come to a point where not winning actually becomes more of an event than winning.

Long posts are usually a result of a lack of anything better to do or a desire to postpone some other chore. Thus, this post is short.

I do want to try to keep track of what heroes I've played though, just to see how far I've come along since hero logging at the start of the year.

12: Morphling
13: Beastmaster
14: Lich
15: VS
16: Bristleback
17: Goblin techies
18: Silencer
19: Doom Bringer

Wheee. Almost 25% done! Fun fun. Plus I cleared techies. Never thought that would happen.

Will update specifics later... or never...

Been wanting to Panda but somehow can't get the right draft for it.

some housekeeping before i get into my post-
1) i'm glad that Ant can still post, somehow. i've been missing reading his writing. heard he upgraded his blogger to the new google one. in any case, i think i shall be upgrading soon. warning to the other 9 members of this blog.
2) awaiting response regarding training on fri before i actually get down to confirming it with the other teams. please leave a note here since i'm rarely online after starting work.

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into the post.
this thread in dotasg makes for a good read, although it has some flaws. for example, the author fails to realise that wrath* and geminga* are practically the same team, with just a couple of different faces. the fact that they both have a * behind their team name (and in game, they have a * behind their nicks) should signal that they are have the same core players. (ok, so asterisk has a * as well... but you get my reasoning anyway rite.) some notable teams are not mentioned as well, Etny for one, FOW also, Foosa! etc etc. lol.
but it is interesting to see asterisk and zenith in one post.
go read it and comment on what you agree on and dont agree on.
worth a read. at least most of it sounds quite true.
http://www.dotasg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=817

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on yet another note...
i shall keep this for another day.
^^

anyone from pjc wanna join funan interschool? :D:D

or anyone's coming to pjc for JAE?

I am often defensive.
I have never known my teammates to not accept good criticism.

I often give up on improving.
I have never known my teammates to not try to improve.

I have never known my teammates to quarrel, to scold each other.

I have never known my teammates to backstab each other.

And though they will definitely disagree, I have never known them to get angry for insults to their skill.

And though they are notorious latecomers, I have never known them to get us DQed.

Thus I consider myself very lucky.

There are some things I'll never want to know.

this fri training with vaizards team. anyone on?

Hi girls! Training tonight 9pm. Tomorrow @ EGames 7pm. All to be there with the exception of Dawn.

Looking for teams for match @ EGames tomorrow @ 7pm and 9pm. PM me WandeRz- on MIRC Galaxynet #mvp