Playing On Tilt
Dota games can be won or lost in the first ten minutes, and it’s not always about which team is snowballing. It all depends on the team who tilts first. Go gank the midlaner, all-chat taunt them (e.g. gg, easy mid), and watch the recriminations tear apart the enemy team’s chemistry, which was already fragile to begin with, considering everyone is a stranger.
The report feature and low priority exists primarily as a deterrent to our reflexive tendencies to tilt when the game goes sour. It’s there for players who, after a poor start, resign to feeding couriers, walking their own hero into enemy towers, or spend more time flaming teammates than playing the game. Anyone who plays or watches Dota knows that it’s a game that has its peaks and valleys. Poor starts can be disadvantageous, but there are always opportunities to turn it around. So why do people give up so early?
Everyone Is A Pro
No one is the perfect Dota player, especially in a pub game, but the expectation is there. That’s the fascinating thing about esports. It’s that great play is so easily accessible, via stream, replays, or in game, and at least in Dota it seems physically feasible to do. I’ll never dunk a basketball like Lebron, but I can pull off the same juke I just watched Arteezy do.
That’s how finger pointing begins when mistakes inevitably occur over the course of a Dota game. Something happened that shouldn’t have happened, and it wouldn’t have, if you were a better player, like me. There are only a handful of players who can say that. Most of the time, it comes from people who aren’t as good as they think they are.
Playing a Dota game is a continuing battle with expectation vs reality. The expectation is that a pub MMR game somehow should emulate what a professional Dota game looks like, and yet the reality is that it is nothing like it. From the get go, it’s a game with 10 strangers who have their own ideas of how to play, which most of the time doesn’t involve picking support heroes.
A pub game instead feels more like a free for all, where each player plays their own game in a silo, each with their own ideas of what they will do throughout the game. The issue is that individual success and team success is intertwined, and when one of those fails, very rarely will players blame themselves.
Your Team Is Against You
It’s not your fault that your mid-laner is oblivious, your carry is unable to last-hit, or your support player is never in the right place in the right time. Things happen in Dota that are completely out of your control, yet it’s these situations where team chemistry completely dissolves.
Most players are amateurs, in the strict sense of the word. They don’t make a living playing Dota, nor are they playing, living, and breathing the game everyday of their lives. But when they feel like they’re the only competent person on a team with terrible players, they lose trust in their team’s ability to turn a game around. Sure, this game can still be won, but just not with this team.
Players who resign early after a disadvantageous start fail to realize that the other team is just as bad. Our teammates are just as imperfect as their teammates. Everyone makes mistakes. Instead of dwelling on them, the rational choice would be to figure out what went wrong and see what steps you and your team can make to fix it.
The Game Is Against You
Yes, Lina is essentially immortal now starting at level 10, with her -30 reduction in respawn rate. Dota has always had its share of imbalances, and the rotation of meta heroes is what has kept the game interesting over the years. Sometimes a loss in the lane can just be chalked up to a bad matchup, so it doesn’t have to be the sole reason why a game is going to be won or loss. Just thank Volvo and move on.
What pub players can take from watching professional Dota is how the most successful teams have been able to adapt. First of all, that means being humble and open enough to accept new strategies. Metas constantly change, not just from patch to patch, but even through the course of a LAN. Even the best players are able to realize there isn’t one way to play the game.
It’s frustrating, and frankly a waste of mental effort, to be constantly criticizing teammates for subpar play, when that’s actually par for the course. Pub games aren’t pro games, and they don’t have to be. Most of the time, people just want to play their favorite hero. If that’s the expectation, then we'd spend less time tilting and more time actually enjoying a game of Dota.
1ый епта
Good article
Третий, ыыыы
ez 4th
There's a typo in the first paragraph...it is (gg EZ mid)
Люблю лузстрики, ммм))))
6th
Having a good communication and (preferably) a voice chat really helps. I had a few games where our mid gets solo killed twice or thrice and had the tendency to tilt but I would tell him "Hey, you're doing fine. You'll get them next time". Some of the time it will be someone that would tell you to fuck off but most of the time it will help him think about the better choices he had.
There's this guy who was talking in his native tongue (this one's in SEA, mind you) and I asked him to speak in English. He did not at first (I knew later on he was talking to his stack) but then communicated to the team well and after a few deaths, and a bit of a comeback, we won that game. There will be those people who will not listen and go full tilt but it always help to help those guys to not tilt.
valve needs low priority
i am one with the tilt and the tilt is with me
i can post a comment, wow
No kidding if my team just follow my plans I will win the game xD
Hey dotabuff, it would be really nice if you could answer a specific comment here. I guess you guys don't like disqus, but this section needs some work still.
Nice article.
IceTea has a blue star now? What is happening...
Ёбаные первонахи, словно вернулся в 2007-й
This is something I actually realised a few months ago, where it had been a long time since I played any ranked games because I just couldn't win. I would see 5 core teams beating me, the perfect draft on my team losing to a stomp, getting destroyed by players with waaaaay less game experience than me (probably smurfs but for the sake of self-improvement, its important not to consider that). So what it comes down to, is the harsh truth, the lower the mmr of a person, the worse of a person they actually are. Its not just about mechanical skill or game knowledge (though of course it is, I think these things really start to matter only in 5k+ games and for serious gamers), but its about your ability to communicate to a person what you want, what you expect and to respect them for their opinions. This is the main reason why people will complain about Russians, Peruvians and Pinoys on their team, its not really about their lack of skill, because clearly, we're in the same mmr bracket, but its about the difficulty we face communicating our thoughts to each other due to a language barrier.
This is the core problem that results in racism in today's world, its not about colour of the skin or appearance, its about the insecurity of people being misunderstood by others speaking a different language, though I'm diverging here. I'm not trying to insult anyone of a particular race, or even mmr bracket here, I play in the normal skill level, so there you have it. What I'm trying to say is, Dota is a team game, and its ridiculous when every player has their own plan but clearly the objective is the same. You can say the chat wheel is the solution, but its not. I have the most keys on my keyboard dedicated to messages and positive comments like 'Relax, you're doing fine' or something simple like 'Well played', but its not enough. Even pinging that your TP is on cooldown usually goes unnoticed and the 4 on 5 teamfight will be lost before you can get there. Using a mic instead of having to type can make a huge difference, but not everyone can, or wants to. So tell me this, why are casters like Sheever and SirActionSlacks 4k and 5k? I've seen them get flamed in Twitch chat and Reddit all the time, but no one ever notices that they use mic and keep communication extremely positive. Slacks even goes an extra step and keeps it funny and entertaining, which can put a losing team in a good mood. Really, it comes down to how good you are with people, even those that don't speak your language, and that's where the true challenge lies. There's only so much you can do to try to pair with teammates from your own country, but in the end, you're gonna have to be nice to them and listen to them.
Just to conclude, I'll say thanks to eggs for this post today. I think its a crucial point about Dota and people's mindset in online gaming in general. I would have liked to hear more on the solutions rather than the problem though. This also goes back to the old posts on 'The Psychology of Rage' and 'Not Caring: The Secret to Ladder Anxiety'. I hope on reflection, I can make myself a better player and a better person, no matter how strong the dark side is.
^TL;DR
1st xDDDDDDDDDD
not first
Holy shit JadedAndroid, I just loved your comment. But there is something I have to disagree. I think you are generalizing too much when saying that the amount of MMR is equal to the ability of a person to communicate in a good way. I have a friend that I think he is better than me but has much less MMR than me (more than 1000 MMR difference) but at the same time he NEVER flames anyone even if he is tilted and, just like you, spams the "Well played" wheel button whenever it is good to say it.
There is a huge psychological aspect to Dota. Few players have the stomach to mute and not get derailed by a cancerous player.
Thanks for reminding me that i can tilt enemy if i can't play the game i play the players kek
"play your favourite hero" - sure just don't waste 9(or at least 4) other peoples times when they actually tryhard :)
Normal games are meant for those "having fun" games, once you queue ranked you are seemingly expected to give a fuck and try your best.
There's something aui_2000 said and I quote. "Players who are in the same MMR bracket as you who you think are toxic and sour probably make up for it in the mechanical or game-knowledge aspect". Just try to identify your teammates' strengths early and play to it.
Btw I just wanna say that I haven't missed any dotabuff article since May 2016. These articles always make my day since I can't always play due to stuff out of my hands.
gj and God bless ^_^
Playing on tilt doesn't makes you better. It makes the ennemies worse than usual and you take adventage of their mental and abuse it.
When i carry my team i either full tilt forcing them to make more errors or blame allies and force them to play with me.
but blaming allies should be done with advices and not making them look like shit
I absolutely love theory crafting, but I totally give up on playing from time to time, because there is a 10-20% chance of enjoying a game. Dota isn't fun often.
thats my secret, im always tilted *insert avengers hulk meme*
i just jungled invoker coz i was done with ppls bullshit and i won, tilt works out sometime
im a more mild player i rarely get tilted and now that i reached 4k mmr i can see my mistakes clearer .. not to mention i feel like i belong to 4k mmr no more no less, and as for throws and stuff im trying my best to help someoen in the team that has trouble getting killed over and over aagin .. i know how it feels it has happened to me so many times..
JadedAndroid is on point, on a 5k acc i wont lose more than 4 games out of 10, but on 3k acc i wont win more than 4 out of 10... its mental health and ability to communicate well with retards rather than skill when its under 6k level
Iam always tilted
MAIN PROBLEM WITH DOTA 2 PLAYERS: Always make the wrong items for the game. Dota 2 is about "ADAPTING" to the game! Most players try to copy builds from pro dota 2 players, builds each are use in pro games. And that is wrong. And thats why most of dota 2 players are stuck in 2k or 3k rackets. Most of them never question their selfs like "what item should I build" or "what item is good for this game". I can give quick examples; You are playing against a lot of magic damage and dont build a BKB or never buy pipes, you are playing against medusa or omni and dont buy difusal, p+laying against a PA and dont buy mkb, and so on. The problem with supports and semi supports is not buying AURA items! And list about never buy the correct items goes on and on. But the thing each piss me off more, is that kind of player each start the game and try to build late game item right away lol. Like go straight aghanim or radiance, or something like that. You have early game items, mid game items and late game items. You should never but never build late game item !!! Instead if you are alchemist of course.
Comunication is everything, it is rly like that. On every fucking bracket starting from 2k to 9k, good comunication and countering enemy heroes always help. And you need to be positive even you have some dumbass retards in your team (almost always they playing hard carry) becouse they think they are good but they arent. Skill is also important, if you are high skill you can win tne game alsmost allone, but to do that, your skill must be at least for 1k mmr higher than mmr bracket you are currently in. GL all in next games. Be positive and work on your game, tne day will come when you will be in tne bracket you want to be.
Meanwhile in SEA HAHAHAHAHA
alll fucking low win potential heroes .... its not tilt or some shit u lose when u pick bad thats all
@1-IceTea i just got cancer playing with u
I already cheered up my team, helping my team, outlaned the enemy safelane carry. But you know what? SEA Server is full of shit
RIP lina lv 10 -30s talent
I have recently taken to being the one to take all the punches, if we are losing it is my fault (secretly I know we all make mistakes but it is easier to tell my team I am making mistakes as soon as I make them) at that point most people are either silent, or start saying it is all their fault. I very rarely see ragers at this point.
If we are winning I am just silent, who cares about mistakes if we are winning. Sometimes they are game losing but then I just switch to being the self proclaimed worst player. If we suddenly start winning because we all agreed to suck less and then proceeded to I take note of this, complement my team, and return to being the strong silent type.
Not sure if my last few months of dota I just only played with nice people, or if this genuinely helps. But I would like to think the second.
Also, any lineup can win against any lineup from any position in the game. Some wins are just harder to pull off, or require the enemy to play worse. I have played a lot of brood recently in the midlane, she generally dominates it. And then I go for what may seem like the weirdest build ever, orchid tp boots bloodthorn bkb deso and then whatever it feels like you need. those first 5 items can come in many orders, but this build has pretty much always been a nice build to go for. And even though it is weird my team has never raged at it or blamed our loss for me going brood mid. But I also never attempt to take mid if there is a "better" mid.
P.S. I actually lost most of my games with brood mid because the rest of my team lost lanes, I blame this on the fact I did not pay attention and help them. Though they might have won other ways, this is OBVIOUSLY the most likely, not like taking two towers was not a meaningful contribution.
P.P.S. more seriously I think that brood mid is underrated and maybe that is why people have not raged, they see me being successful with something weird and are just like: Wow, that is cool, I want to try that.
i'm being nice to my team but then i realize i'm in sea server..look at my profile picture and u will know how i feel
Lina just got nerfed in 7.05
hey 1k 2k 3k play deep and u get what u want :)
)
wew playing on tilt
But it seem less and less likely I will play with you again because my mmr keep rise and yours keep maintain there HAHAHA xD
Fish's comment is spot on for me.. i generally am a pretty cool headed player, but when i see in ranked play a Necro with a heart of T / an Omni with a shadow blade / any support building only midas, AGS and dagons rather than mech/GG it is beyond frustrating.
Grabbing a support / offlane and building ridiculous items rather than actually helping a team is just silly imo, save that for unranked.
Great article, the game has become more of a chore these days with everyone just doing what they want to, and blaming/flaming each other when expectations collide. This also highlights the mentality of most people in pub games at normal skill - they feel there must be a jungler in every single game, even when dual laning the enemy safelane can actually help control the tempo and seal the opponent position 1's fate in the early stages of the game.
Arc Warden Will Raise Again(from a arc player in top 20 dotabuff)