(Part 2) Top products from r/DotA2

The biggest difference maker between a high level player who plays for fun and pro gamers is Deliberate Practice.

If you're going to rise from 1800 mmr to pro level, you'll need deliberate practice, and a lot of it. If you're not familiar with the term, here are a couple books and an article to introduce you to the subject. Learning these techniques will have benefits far beyond dota.

The first goal is to prepare your fundamentals. There are plenty of other comments in this thread to help you there. You should build a working knowledge of every hero in dota. How? Don't just play games. For every single hero in dota, do the following.

• watch a guide video to learn the hero. Learn their combos, playstyle.
  
• watch a pro replay. Take notes.
  
• go into demo mode. CS with no items for 10 minutes. I don't care if it's fucking Techies. You need to know how to lasthit at heroes you want to play. Spawn some enemies and practice the stuff you saw the pro doing. If you're not sure how to do something, find a video that breaks it down.
  
• Play a game as that hero
  
• Go back into demo mode and do no items CS for 10 minutes.
  
• practice some more combos.
  
• play 2-4 more games on the hero.
  
  At this point, ask yourself if you can see yourself playing this hero long term. You should be looking to whittle down the pool from ~115 to ~20. If so:
  
  
• watch your worst replay and take notes.
  
• play at least 10 more games on that hero. Watch replays of the worst ones and take notes.
  
  At this point, you should have 700-800 games of dota under your belt. If you haven't improved to at least ~3.5k during this whole process (yes I know you've been learning heroes.), then pro dota is not in the cards for you.
  
  If you have improved, choose AT MOST 5 heroes, the best heroes you've got, to become your hero pool. Why? Because once you've learned the fundamentals, everything you can improve upon requires playing against better players. The longer you're in the trench, the longer you're solidifying bad habits. You're getting away with stuff that will be punished at higher mmr. Therefore...
  
  The second goal is to gain MMR. Like, at least 5000 higher than your current MMR. One important thing to realize is that it's possible to obtain a high MMR without any concept of teamwork whatsoever. You can begin working on your teamwork now, but KEEP IN MIND that this practice can be counterproductive at low MMR, as many patterns you will learn will change as you get better.
  
  Spam. Get a coach. Tryhard. Watch replays. Get yourself out of the trench. DON'T buy an account. Don't rely on your teammates. Watch replays, take notes. Win at all costs. We want to be playing against better players.
  
  If you actually make it to 6k, I think you'll know enough to be able to know how to take the next step.
  
  Good luck!

> But it objectively does. If you can't see the pattern with this and games falling apart you just aren't paying attention. Bringing negative energy into a game keeps people from having fun. It diminishes their drive to win. It erodes trust between teammates.

Just because positivity works with some people does not mean it is the only way to get results, nor does it mean it's the best way to get results.

Positive thinking actually sometimes increases negative outcome results.. Studies have shown in reality it's a matter of who we already are, or rather how we are conditioned to respond stimulus, that determines whether we respond better to positive or negative stimuli.

Which goes back to what Moonmeander pointed out. In HoN, by culturing a community that learned to deal with negative energy, things were better off overall because you didn't have eggshells players who would tilt if anyone is mean. It is a far more sound strategy for everyone to be prepared to deal with negativity than to expect everyone to be positive.

And, again, I already pointed out that someone has statistically shown that negativity produces positive results in DotA.

Many successful leaders utilize negative reinforcement over positive ones. It is actually particularly note worthy as a strategy in sports, something that has more than passing parallels to competitive video games.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both were notorious for being confrontational, demanding, and "hard to work for/with." And it's that pressure that kept their companies on top. Gordon Ramsay is lauded as one of the best chefs in the world, and he's almost more famous for his mouth than his food. Jeff Bezos from Amazon believes that office "harmony" is overrated and in Amazon he believes that it is appropriate for feedback to be "blunt to the point of painful." Many companies are bucking the trend and finding that "getting along" to try work together better is overrated. https://hbr.org/product/wiser-getting-beyond-groupthink-to-make-groups-smarter/2299E-KND-ENG

I've played neither LoL or HoN, only DoTA. Real dota is going to be the best practice for dota 2 for a few reasons:

• You're going to get a good "feel" for the heroes, like attack speed/animation/cast point etc. This is sooo important for dota since there is so much focus on laning, last hits, denies, half-denies and harass
  
  
• You'll get familiar with the actual hero spells, so you won't get used to playing an odd reworking of clock or lich or something, get reliant on a skill that works differently, and then have to 'relearn' how the hero actually works
  
  
• Its $20 new or $10 used on amazon.com! Seriously! One of the greatest games of all time, and you get the real dota!
  
  
• You'll get to know and hate the Dota community, and then you'll get to actually appreciate the hard work valve's put into improving the new-player experience.
  
  
• Similar, you'll get to see how absolutely shitty dota looks, and it will be so nice when you get to move to dota 2. If you 'start' with lol/hon, you'll miss out on the creamy-jeans you'll get the first time you play dota 2 yourself!
  
  
• If you want someone to play some pub dota with, I'll totally play with you! Really!

meh, confidence is good for your play as well, so take it all in stride. can't play at the level you need to if you don't think you have the ability to do so and set high expectations

just don't forget that you're not special to matchmaking, you're just an mmr value, same as everyone else. that mmr value gets sorted into games, and if you are deserving of vastly more mmr, you'll find those games easy. it's extremely common to make big conclusions from misleading, selective or anecdotal data.

it's not specific to DotA, though:

http://www.amazon.ca/The-Drunkards-Walk-Randomness-Rules/dp/0307275175

leads to dunning kruger perceptions of skill.

Earn 3 victories in the Least Played game mode.

After getting all 3 of your wins, tweet @ZephyrDota with #NixeusChallenge and link to your DotaBuff. You have 48 hours to complete this challenge. One random challenger will win a Zephyr Courier & Zephyr Earphones.

***

EDIT: Congrats to @Just_Me661 for winning our Rapier NixeusChallenge

If you don't want to waste a lot for a mouse I recommend this. It's cheap and great for it's price, Had it since 2015 and still using it to this day and won't change unless it breaks.

As mentioned unless you need the portability of a laptop, go with a desktop- you will get a better performance for cheaper.

17" ROG laptops (only used options coming under $1000):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B07BPB3FL5/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all&qid=1566942762&sr=1-14

or

For cheaper option (worse GPU 1050 Ti)-
https://www.amazon.com/GL703GE-ES73-i7-8750H-display-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B07H7XT48T/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=Gaming+laptop&qid=1566943364&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A9647486011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A13580790011%2Cp_n_size_browse-bin%3A7817234011%2Cp_36%3A2421890011&rnid=2421885011&s=pc&sr=1-7 -
Not sure sure if you want under $1000 including tax (im not from US) but I have a higher spec version of these which I am very happy with. I recommending always using a separate monitor, keyboard and mouse where possible, even though most ROG laptops do now have 120Hz or 144Hz built in displays. Laptop screens are just generally bad for posture unless you can use a separate mouse and keyboard and raise your laptop to a better viewing height.

I use a Logitech G13, mostly because it lets me move the camera with the analog stick on it and it has way more buttons than any other of the similar devices that Razor puts out (and changeable back light colors, a screen, and better software).

My map for the G13 stems from my roots in League of QWER DF and 123456, it looks like this screenshot, ctrl, shift, tab, and alt all do their default things; I have my voice and chat wheel on my side mouse buttons (as well as another way to quick buy).

Absolutely right - there were campaigns during Korea and Vietnam to do this and it's persisted in today's culture. Some of the ignorant commentors that think these stereotypes come up because people are 'petite' 'or effeminate' are clueless. I can specifically recall a chapter of a book where they discuss this.

edit: I believe it was this one but not 100% sure - there were a few really interesting books on this and there might've been another that I can't remember that was purely focused on American influence in body image.

Amazon!

But the awesome part is the autographs he got from TI2.

I use a Logitech G600 combined with my Logitech G13 and I love every minute of it.

Please don't buy one with integrated graphics card. That's if you don't want to play at 30 fps with medium-low settings. This is way better: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421016614&sr=8-1&keywords=lenovo+y
(this was the result of a 2 second search on amazon)

edit: also found this:http://www.amazon.com/GL551JM-DH71-GeForce-GTX860M-Optimus-Technology/dp/B00MMMMMX2/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1421016869&sr=1-4&keywords=asus

> You do realise how expensive colour comics are to print right?

Yes, they cost almost nothing.

https://www.amazon.com/Smaug-Unleashing-Dragon-Hobbit-Desolation/dp/0062326090/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495534860&sr=8-1&keywords=Smaug+book

• Hardcover
  
  
• Full colored high quality pages (103)
  
  
• Exclusive content that you don't find online
  
  
• $9

After looking at reviews on amazon just now for the deathadder, it really doesn't seem to be the exception at all. Look at any of the low star reviews and they all say it's an amazing mouse that's going to break in 6months http://www.amazon.com/Razer-DeathAdder-Ergonomic-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B00AAS888S

The point was not to get functioning Linux system, the point was to learn how operating systems function at the lowest possible level.

Trying to set up Arch linux is, from what I hear, a good way to do so. Alternative is to read something like Operating Systems by William Stallings.

Of course. But I didn't make any retarded comparisons between two completely different engines.

Read a book or something and then come back so you don't sound completely idiotic.

I recommend:

https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-American-Writers-Thesaurus-Auburn/dp/0199829926/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1539383135&sr=8-3&keywords=thesaurus

Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Ultimate

Mouse: Razer Deathadder 2014

Headset: Astro A40

Just ask away if you want a quick review of those.

I found it on amazon, I think this is what you've got

http://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-Siberia-Full-Size-Gaming-Headset/dp/B005LUVLRU

http://www.amazon.com/Warcraft-III-Battle-Chest-Mac/dp/B00009ECGK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319490620&sr=8-1

This is the mouse I have been using for 2 years its really great

Also get one of these if from EU or these if from NA.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MMMMMX2

Dude earned a Ph.D. in combinatorial mathematics.. I'm going buy his book https://www.amazon.com/Characteristics-Games-Press-George-Skaff/dp/026201713X

@Nixeus

> 2014-11-21 20:55 UTC

> Early #BlackFriday Deals on #Nixeus & @ZephyrDota Earphones on Amazon!

> Limited Quantities!

> http://www.amazon.com/Nixeus-ERZPLE14-Headphone-Headset-Microphone/dp/B00M3F447A/

>[Attached pic] [Imgur rehost]

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https://www.amazon.com/DOTA-2-The-Shopkeeper-Lithograph/dp/B00GGJ7890/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501724646&sr=8-1&keywords=dota+2+shopkeeper


this is the poster. that seems to be the actual print of it. but i am no artist

> People are weird as shit with their needs.

Poop's not weird, man