The Next Level

There are talks in the official DOTA forums about the possibility of LAN tournaments or LAN events so pop over there and throw in your two cents. Of course, speaking about LAN events, us over here in the SEA region have been holding DOTA tourneys for ages (apparently, the very first DOTA tourney was held during Malaysia's 3rd WCG in 2003 if I'm not mistaken) so maybe those DOTA guys might probably want to hear your knowledgable feedback.

This reminds of how, throughout the year, Rapture has been pretty active pulling off inter-school tournaments and I believe that's a step in the right direction. What better way to cripple the minds of the nation's youth than to get them absorbed in computer gaming tournaments. It's even better than MTV.

Meanwhile across the Causeway, the Malaysians have just finished with their WCG qualifier and looks like some team called K5 has won the DOTA competition. Normally, I couldn't care less about which DOTA team had their pictures taken in the nude after getting drunk off too much booze at the after event parties, but I happened to recall PAPASAN recently telling me about a certain Malaysian DOTA team that had been terrorizing the Singaporeans in some online league or something.

No surprise who they are.

It looks like a strong challenger has arrived! With the grand WCG event looming in the background, I can't help but wonder what kind of DOTA we'll get to watch when all the teams are finally assembled. I don't know just how good the top Singaporean teams are but I can tell you this:

Naix is still imbalanced. You'd think that with the new version out and all, they would have given him a good beating with the nerfing stick. But all the did was fix a bloody typo. Just one ****ing typo!

Good News First? Or Bad News First?

Good news is, there is a new DOTA compy round the corner after Singapore's WCG National Final. Bad news is that this compy is....you guess it right, it's version 5.84C.

WHY, WHY, WHY!?!?!?!

The tourney should start to move in directions of DOTA 6.X versions after WCG 2005 National Final. DOTA gamers should evolve and embrace DOTA 6.X and not stay stagnant on lower end food chain waiting to be prey on. If we still do not move on, we will be left behind in the 6.X player's dust trails.

Still don't understand what I mean? Layman's term is"PLEASE MOVE ON TO DOTA 6.X or LATER!!!!!!!!!!" for crying out loud.

Anyway here's the information about HQ's DOTA 5.84C tournament.
Quoted from Focusplay,
"Headquarters will be running a DOTA competition this coming Oct.

Tournament Details

1st prize: $1000 + 100 free hours per team
2nd prize: $500 + 50 free hours per team
3rd prize: $200 + 20 free hours per team

Competition Dates: 9, 16, 23 & 30 October 2005 (Sundays)
Finals will be held on 6 November 2005"
Read HERE for more details.

www.focusplay.com[Focusplay]

DOTA 6.13 released, GET IT QUICK.

Well, DOTA 6.13 has just been release. Get it now at http://www.dota-allstars.com/download.php

Will test it out soon. Stay tuned for write up on DOTA 6.13.

Credit to: http://www.dota-allstars.com

NOOBS! I AM MORE PRO THAN YUO!11

Sometimes, I don't understand what is the big deal about 'not wanting to lose'. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a good idea to have a 'wanting to lose' attitude, and I'm not saying that winning is a bad thing either. But what's the big deal with 'winning' over something.

Just what is there to proove?

Recently, I observed an in-game argument between two Singaporeans in a pubbie. They were both on the same team (the enemy team in fact) and apparently, one of them was getting pissed at the other guy because he kept feeding. Of course, this depends on how you view it. My team, which apparently composed of some pretty decent players, had been executing some well set up good gang bangs sessions. To his team, he's probably feeding because he keeps dying to the opposite side, whereas on our end, he HAD to die no matter what. This can be very obvious, because it's not everyday 5 heroes corner you down at your tower, tear you to pieces before your teammates can even react.

We were targeting this particular player because he was using a Naix, and we all shared the same opinion that a fat Naix, is a fat chance of us winning. And so, we continuously struck at him during the early game phase, resulting in him getting 10 deaths before anyone even hit level 11. Note that this is a very bad idea when facing a well-managed team because leaving your lanes to take out opponent heroes can be more harmful to your game than it would help you. Fortunately, the other team (although decent players themselves) failed to capitalize on our weakness and instead blamed the poor Naix player for this.

I think the comedy started around the 8th time we had just gang banged the Naix. Our poison commandos (PA and Venom) had just stung Naix to a point where his Crystal Maiden teammate was yelling "B LA YOU NOOB" on the public channel because the Naix was still hanging around with less than 100 health. Everyone was so focussed on the Naix that the other team's Zeus failed to realize my Bounty Hunter had disappeared from his lane and was waiting by the 2nd tower for Naix to turn around. He appeared on queue and I took him out with just a hit. To add fuel, the game announcer promptly screamed out M-M-M-M-MONSTER KILL and that's when one of them (the Sven) started cussing on the public channel.

Sven: ****ING SH** OUR NAIX IS A FEEDER

Venom: good! keep it up!

Sven: **CK YOU A**HOLE! U SEE IF HE IS ON YOUR TEAM U LIKE OR NOT

Me: *To Team* ehh guys, don provoke them.. it's not even midgame. I wanna get at least my sheep stick before they quit.

Venom: *To Team*Kih kih kih. But they are such noobs

Me: *To Team* noobs or not... we don't want to jeopardize the game

It was a good thing though, that my opponents had been farming relatively well, (since most of us were off our lanes most of the time) and I didn't think Sven would want to quit since he's already got his Mask Of Madness and was halfway to getting a Black King Bar.

Up till then, the Naix had been keeping quiet (or perhaps keeping to Teamchat) until the Sven, being overly confident with his Mask Of Madness and God Strength decided to push his luck and chase after my team's Tinker who had been down to half his health, not realizing that a sneaky Bounty Hunter was closing up on him from behind. As he let loose his Storm Bolt, thinking that he had secured the kill, our Tinker let loose his rocket at the same time as I popped up from behind, giving him a good taste of digitally rendered steel.

There was a moments silence, here I can only fathom whatever went on in the other team's chat, when all of a sudden a flurry of messages started streaming down the bottom left side of my screen which went something like this:

Sven: AHAHAHAHA NOOB

Sven: OH YEAH?

Sven: NOT LIKE YOU NOOB FEEDER

At this point, Naix too began expressing his love on the channel.

Naix: f*** you think you are so great but still die like some noob yourself

Naix: who thinks Sven is a noob, move your mouse.

Sven: WHO THINKS THIS NOOB NAIX IS A RETARD HOLD YOUR POSITION

Sven: EVEN MY MOTHER CAN PLAY BETTER THAN YOU NOOB

Naix: your mother plays dota? no wonder he kid is such a geek

Sven: WTF NOOB DONT BRING MY MOTHER INTO THIS

Me: *To Team* Actually.. he brought his mother into this first...-_-"

Naix: f*** you la. i can play a better sven than you anytime

Sven: NOOB COME 1V1 LA IF U THINK U ARE SO PRO

Naix: come la, you think i scared?

Sven: OK NOOB BRING IT ON HAHAHAHAHAHA

Naix: ***ker STOP CALLING ME NOOB, NOOB!

Ah, the joys of being young, and stupid. Then things began to get ugly.

Sven: OK GAMEANEM IS NAIXTHENOOB COME IN 5 MINUTES

Sven: PREPARE TO GET PAWNED NOOB. I AM MORE PRO THAN YOU

Me: *WTF!* what the hell! where do you think you're going!

********* has left the game.

Everyone: !!!@?!?!?11!oneone1!!?slashoneone?!!???111

Ok, so what's the point, guys? I know there's alot at stake in a game of DOTA, even if it IS just a game, but what I can never really understand is why of all things would someone want to play 1on1 against each other. What's there to proove?

Let's do abit of a study on this. I've joined 1v1 games myself out of purely academic purposes, and what I discovered is that I'm only allowed to play on one lane, usually just the middle one. If that's the case, we can rule out strategic decision making and tactical macro-management since you're only pushing on one lane, which will always be occupied.

Most hero spells in DOTA (or at least the popular heroes) are primarily target based so this means we're not really testing out each other's ability to aim and target well as is the case of FPS games like Quake or Unreal. (With the exception of perhaps the Keeper of the Light or Sand King of course, but meh, who really uses Keeper of the Light in 1v1s anyway? I know there'll be someone out there who'll proove me wrong but STFU dude, I'm just trying to make a point!) I can't say DOTA doesn't require micro skills, but it's certainly not as micro intensive as a normal melee game, (Again with the exception of heroes like the KOTL, but talk to the Hand..|.. if you have a problem with what I write-_-") so I don't think it's about matching micro abilities either.

So just, what are you trying to proove? FFS, DOTA is a team game. I've stressed this so many times in the DOTA forum that it's not even funny anymore whenever I see someone getting a hero like say... Phantom Assassin, and telling the rest of the team, don't worry, we'll win because I have the PA. Five deaths later, that Phantom Assassin players leaves the game.

But you should already know that, don't you? This is after all DOTASG, and it's catered to all you pro-gamer wannabes. Well, at least I hope you do. It's better to flush that "I'm more pro than you because I can win you in 1v1 dota!" mentality out of your systems.

So anyway, to conclude the story:

*Game continues for another 15 minutes*

Me: *Eh.. strange..* Uh.. Naix, you're still here?

Naix: why? you want me to leave isit?

Me: *ACK!* Oh nonononoono, stay. by all means. please:):):)

Naix: that Sven is still pestering me to join his game

Naix: as if i'm that dumb. i just wanted his items.

Naix: i told him i go toilet for a moment first. wonder how long he's going to wait there.

Me: AHAHAHAH! OMG ROFTLOL! PAWNED!

Naix: indeed.

And thus, Naix did indeed take the Sven's MOM and BKB, and proceeded to pwn my team regardless of how well we did at the start of the game. 5 on 1 all die.

The moral of this story?

KNNMCB... Naix is bloody imbalanced. Dammit they should do something about Naix!

DOTASG invaded by spam bots. Time to fight back.

If you all have taken note of the previous post's comment, there were two comments left by some unknown advertising companies' spam bots.

To counter that and prevent more comments of such types, I have enable the word verification function. So anyone who wants to leave a comment will be shown a picture with some distorted but readable words, then follow those words and key them in for verification. That will verified that you are not one of the mindless robo spam bots from the evil spam advertising empire, you comment would be updated.

Sorry for the trouble and inconvenience caused.

Battle Report from SMU.

On the 19th of Aug, somewhere in our peaceful island of Singapore, a great battle was taking place. They are team TEG vs Gunners in the final round of Samsung Campus Gaming Festival DOTA compy @ SMU.

Let's congratulate Gunners for their win in SMU and have snatch one of the 8 available spots in the upcoming Tertiary Final at Nanyang Poly on the 31st of August.

Here's the coverage for that game.

Team Gunners heroes (Scourge):
Sven
Magnataur
Lich King
Magi Orge
Techie

Team TEG heroes (Sentinels):
Centaur Warchief
Sand King
Silencer
Queen Of Pain
Anti Mage

Battle Summary:
During the first 15 mins there were not much actions, the heroes were just farming for the golds they needed. The action started when the Sand King from Sentinals engaged opponents Sven. Sven with support from teamate manage to get a first blood from Sand King, however himself died in the process by Sand King's reinforcement. Sentinels side tried to fast push mid lane with Silencer as the main hero blowing up towers very fast. Sadly, the fast push attempt was successful till the door of Scourge's base. The hero which is the main character in foiling Sentinels'push is the Techie. With his mines and ward all over the mid lane, he had weaken the effectiveness of attacks from Sentinels in the mid lane. Scourge heroes bravely defended their mid entrance and manage to push back the assault and eventually mount a counter attack at a point where they kill all assaulting Sentinals' heroes. This counter attack is the turning point of the game as the Scourge heroes manage to bash their way down the mid lane clearing the 2 outer towers. They eventually pushed right pass the mid entrance of Sentinel side, and down the tower inside the mid of Sentinels base. The end come very fast as a second and their push from Scourge destroy the middle of Sentinels' base. The side went down very fast with a powered up Sven supported by his team mates. Sentinels were completely destroyed and victory goes to the Scourge, team Gunners.

DOTA SG PAPA has been a lazy boy.

Guys, sorry for letting DTOASG grows some cobwebs the past few days. It had been pretty quiet.

Had been held up by work and finally managed to dig out a little time at last to update some news.

Thank you all for checking out DOTASG regularly.

Will continue to bring quality news and updates to all of you.

Samsung Campus Gaming Festival @ SMU

Once again the tour at the tertiary institutes will reach SMU tomorrow.

There will be 10 DOTA teams tomorrow meeting head on. Who will be the champion of SMU and what kind of brilliant battle tactics they will be using?

Stay tuned to find out more from our battle report.

More details can be found at WCG Singapore's website.

SG.WORLDCYBERGAMES.COM[Rapture Gaming]

Secret Revealed. DOTA 6.12b compy @ Funan.

Finally, I have received some confirmed information.

There will be a DOTA 6.12b compy at Funan tomorrow.

It's organise by a new cyber cafe located on the fifth floor of Funan. Interested gamers, please proceed down to Funan by 11am tomorrow and register your team at the cyber cafe.

Some rules information I have on hand are:
All Pick Mode.
"Fastest finger wins" heroes selection.
No Pooling and Passing of Items.
Can substitute in 1 reserve player.

Good Luck Have Fun.

:D

VIRUS on Newspaper.

The attached scanned pic is hijacked from the ZhaoBao from a few days back.

Hmm...who is that handsome guy in the article. WOOT....it's Virus. Guess most of you guys know who he is.

Anyway, those of you who don't know what the article is talking about. To sum it up, it is an interview with Virus on gaming and also about views and support from his parents.

Enjoy.

Hot Hot Hot News.

Remember a previous post mentioning about DOTA 6.12b compy? Seems like there is another piece of rumor about an upcoming DOTA 6.12b compy. Details are not know yet but will keep you guys and gals updated if I get the hang of any confirmed information.

So keep a look out here for more updates.

Meanwhile, if you have a free time and is currently crazy about DOTA 6.12b, please send an email to dotasg@yahoo.com.sg with your (a)Name, (b)Clan, (c)Contact number and (d)Game nick. Those with team or clans and is leader, please include your members information too.

You rewarded for sending the email might be some super duper precious information. Heehee...

Darkhorse Heroes

Sometimes I think that the word "Allstars" in DOTA Allstars is really a lie. Not all the hero there are stars. In fact, if you follow the tournament scene enough, you'll see the repeat of heroes like Medusa, Sven, Centaur, Lina, Luna... the usual bunch. Don't you think it's boring? Is it because DOTA players have no creativity? Or because the game is unbalanced?

Well, for every overated star around, there's always someone outside of the spotlight that is just as good, or even better. Let's go through the list:

TideHunter

Wow, I don't understand the DOTA community. We are looking at one of the best borderline imbalanced support heroes. His upkeep is low; you just need to get him an oblivion staff at the start then he can start harrassing anyone on his lane with his non-stop Gushomatic. His kraken shell means people like Rhasta, Lion or those pesky poison dart throwers will be ineffective, and his swing is great for farming.

In major battles his ultimate is serious business. Don't forget to include the time taken for you to bounce up in the air and land as being stunned. That's enough time for the team to set up a nice attack position while your team is still stunned. Imagine if he had a refresher. And a Crystal Maiden. Being a strength hero (with Kraken too) means he can take quite alot of beating so he'll make a great tank as well.

Heck, I'd go with this guy in my team over the other stunners like Slardar or Centaur any day.

Naga Siren

Hmmm, I sense some racial discrimination here. Maybe the DOTA community has something against merfolk? I bet if it wasn't because the enemy has a Centaur, no self respectable team would want to be seen with a Slardar either.

But to pass up the naga... is nuts. Her Net ability is one of the best early game disablers around. The fact that it goes through Black King Bar is enough reason to keep her in your team; especially against pesky pumped Svens who like to charge into battle after taking their God Strength serum.

Put her with a Rhasta and you've got one of the most vicious team ups since Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. No hero will ever escape the both of you... alive.

Everyone should know by now how painful Mirror Images with x3 Criticals are but if you don't, you only need to get netted by a Naga Siren to find out. The best spell here is of course her ultimate, which is great for full scale rax pushing. Get her a refresher in late game and no one will be able to bother you while you happily beat their raxes into rubble. 18 seconds (14 for heroes) of sleep is no joke!

DOOMbringer

Ah, this is a hero after my own heart. Since everyone is lame and plays 5.84c, I can't express how IMBA scorched earth is, but you don't really need Scorched Earth to win your games if you have this hero. Just a Refresher Orb will do.

Sometime back, I was in a kopitiam having a nice quiet cup of tea when I overheard this argument between a bunch of schoolkids at the table behind me about which hero is the best disabler in the game. One guy kept saying Rhasta and the other two were determined that it was Lion.

Finally I could take no more and put my teacup on their table as I sat down and said, "Screw you all, Doombringer is the best disabler."

Their eyes stare in disbelief. WTF is this old fool talking about. DOOMbringer where got disable spell?

"Read his name carefully," I told them. "DOOMbringer."

The fact that they named a hero after his ultimate should say alot. Doom straight away puts any one hero of your liking out of any battle. If you don't like Sven, fine, DOOM him. If you think Medusa is pissy, or that irritating Omniknight is going to cast Guardian Angel at a crucial moment, DOOM his sorry behind back to his base while the rest of your team deal with the other 4 heroes. Now, what if he's got a refresher... no major battle will be the same again.

Also, the lame 5.84 versions Rain of Chaos deals damage to buildings so that's quite an added plus. Let him buy a Dagger of Escape and he can hide behind trees while pouring his hot love over the enemy towers. It's not hard to see why you shouldn't not have a DOOMbringer on your team anymore eh?

Trust me, once 6.12b takes foot, this guy is going to shine more than your pesky Svens and Medusas.

Venomancer

This has got to be the ugliest hero model next to the Timestopper, but unlike the Timestopper who gets the 'Best Competition Support Hero' award, the Venom is stuck in the 'Nobody Gives A Shit'-list of heroes and that is aggravating because this hero, is actually another major battle decided. Armed with a Lothars or Dagger of Escape, you can smack poison at your opponents lowering their health to practically nothing, making it a walk in the park.

His only setback is piss poor health and his ultimate needs some clever positioning to actually work. Nevertheless, he farms better than a Timestopper early game and late game his ultimate recharges so quickly you can clear creep pileups easily with it.

Lifestealer (Naix)

If Naix had feelings he'd probably be the most bitter hero around. Heralded as one of the Public Game Stars, come competitions, he's never picked. Not even in the Reserved lists. It's not hard to see why though. His petty health and poor farming skills at the start make him the brunt of any joke whenever it comes to competitions. If I were Naix, I'd dig a deep hole and hide myself in shame.

Well, not anymore though, because Naix is the best hero when your opopnents decide to go All Times Win and pick a star like Medusa or Sven. The key to winning with a Naix is to keep him a level or two above everyone else. Once he's fat enough to farm on his own, you can sit back and start pushing lanes while he starts picking pieces out of the enemy heroes. You know those Pubbie myths where a lone Naix can easily take apart 5 heroes without batting an eyelid?

They're true.

Updates for Samsung Campus Gaming Festival @ NTU.

After two days of intense DOTA battles, one team has finally emerged victorious. Congratulations to Team AZ for their beautiful win, wish them all the best in the tertiary final held on the 31st August @ Nanyang Poly.

Team AZ


Team AZ's Heroes (Sentinels Side)
Medusa
OmniKnight
Slithereen Guard
Magnataur
Rouge Knight

Team NJD's Heroes (Scourge)
Centaur
Morphling
Faceless Void
Death Prophet
Vengeful Spirit

Short Summary: During the early part of the game there wasn't too much action happening. It is the usually farming for gold and a few occasional successful attempts by both teams to kill off opposing heroes. The action started from mid game when AZ started the push with their well equipped Medusa and tagging along behind is the trusty Omni Knight waiting to provide healing and support. Their push was stopped by the opposing heroes waiting at the base's door entrance. AZ's Medusa and Omni pulled back after some initial hit and run to enemy's base. Not long after, NJD also attempted to break down the defense of AZ but was not too successful. Eventually their heroes were also stopped by AZ's defending heroes. Near end game the same combination of Omni and Medusa tired to break down the defense of NJD. That push was a success and opened up a big hole in NJD defense. From that point onwards, AZ rides smoothly all the way to victory.

*Sorry guys and gals, XiaoXin's pic was taken down at his request. :D *

For more pictures, please visit our Gallery

Some Pics from NTU.

Here are two pictures take at NTU's leg of Samsung Campus Gaming Festival event in NTU today.

Bird's eye view of the event gaming area.


Promising DOTA team call VSV from NTU.


Do come back again for more photos and coverage of the semi and final for DOTA at this event.

New Family Members addition to DOTASG.

It's my pleasure and honor to announce the addition of two members to DOTASG's editorial team. They will be helping to provide interesting articles relating to DOTA and Gaming.

Announcing the arrival of MightyAppleCat and XiaoXin. Let's give them a round of applause.

Extra Extra: DOTASG Rumor!

Well, I heard there will be some upcoming DOTA 6.12b or 6.XX dota competition coming up. Hmmmm.....is it real or is it some plain rumors?

Let's all keep our eyes open our ears sharp.

Cheers.

DOTA SG's Gallery is up. ------------------------>

Check out the Pictures Gallery Link by the right hand side. At the moment there are a few pictures only but more will be added in the future. If you have new interesting pictures that you wanted to share please do feel free to send them email to DOTASG.

GXL's Season 3 DOTA 5.84C League.

GXL has recently made an announcement that their season 3 leagues game has already started. However, for those of you who is still thirsty for some online DOTA compy but have not registered yet for GXL's free DOTA league, there is still hope. You can still sign now with your team (min 5 members) and wait for your schedule and match ups by GXL's admin and you are good to go. Their league will accept registration even when the league games had started and is still going on. After your registration is confirmed. All you have to do is to win as much games as possible and accumulate enough points to earn your way into the final of Season 3. Great chance to quench your thirst for blood and bring home so battle loot. Good Luck and Have Fun.

GamesXtremeLeague[Playworks]