The Weekly CourierSupport players get a boost in 7.09, ESL One Katowice kicks off, Merlini and LD step back from casting Dota
Valve Releases 7.09
Support players got a boost in the first mini-patch of Valve's two week cycle. The largest change was that the hero stacking a camp now receives a bonus 15% gold bounty for clearing it. While it can be a boon to mid players who often stack their own camps and support heroes, like Keeper of the Light, who can clear his own stacks later in the game, the resulting gold may not be as great as it seems. We'll be looking back on the impact of this patch with a trends look later this week.
VGJ.Storm Establishes New Roster
VGJ.Storm, after dissolving its roster due to a lackluster start, reassembled this week with Sneyking, Yawar, MSS, SVG, and Timado. Nearly half a year ago we interviewed Timado about his rise from pubstar to the pro scene. Check out his story, which runs from aspiring to be a Starcraft 2 pro, barely making 5k MMR to play in NEL, and then qualifying for TI7 at 16 years old.
ESL One Katowice Begins
ESL One Katowice starts this week in Spodek. ESL has since announced the addition of a 3rd place match to appease fans who were upset that only 4 teams would be featured at the live event. The event features the top teams of the Pro Circuit--Secret, Liquid, and Newbee--and two brand new CIS rosters, Na'Vi and Virtus.Pro.
Merlini and LD Leave The Casting Seat
I have no further intents to cast/analyze Dota 2. I have decided that at this juncture in my life, casting does not align with what I want from my future. I am a bit sad, but we must keep forward facing. Big thanks to all who have supported me, especially when times were tough!
— Ben Wu (@MerliniDota) February 13, 2018
Both Merlini and LD announced their exit from the Dota casting scene this week. The two legendary casters have been part of the Dota pro scene for more than five years. Merlini expounded on his decision in a reddit post, citing financial security and the alignment of life in esports with his personal goals: "And then even heavier issues. What about when I get married? Do I want to see my wife/kids half the month and live out of a hotel the other half? What if I want to purchase a modest house at some point. Can I take on a mortgage in good faith that I’m going to have steady income for 20-30 years?" While Merlini seems to be pointing towards a complete exit from Dota, LD writes that he's transitioning from casters to producer at BTS.
Noteworthy:
- Complexity topples Evil Geniuses 3-2 to qualify for Epicenter XL.
- TorteDeLini continues the painstaking work of updating the changes in standard hero builds.
- Chinese player rOtK sheds light on how Chinese contracts are constructed and why it hinders player mobility in the scene.
good article
agreed
main support players, FeelsAmazingMan starting with WindLace's everygame AAAND giving mid 2 tangos Kreygasm
i got the warning of 6 month ban imminent.
C'mon, you don't get additional gold if you self cleared the camp you stacked. Only if you stack and your teammate farms it.
Read patch notes carefully pls.
If you stack a camp, you don't get the bonus gold if you farm it yourself
Yeah, the bonus is only if someone else farms the camp you stacked. So there will be no change for the mid player if he stacks his camp and farm them himself. The only difference would be if the support stacks them for him, so he could get a little out of mid's farm.
//While it can be a boon to mid players who often stack their own camps and support heroes, like Keeper of the Light, who can clear his own stacks later in the game//
Actually, the player wont get any bonus if he/she stacks himself/herself. The bonus gold is only for supports who stacked for their carries
ld "legendary" that's a good one
@Finbez if you didnt have that tag saying that you've been in the scene for over 3 years then I'd say you missed some of the best casting ever. LD is famous for casting many games that are legendary in the history of Dota. I agree that currently he isn't the best caster, but he definitely is among the best historically.
Also @eggs seriously? Did you not read that Kawaiisocks got roasted over making that gold bounty mistake in his blog post 4 days ago? Please make sure facts are straight before posting acting like you know something.
Kind of an embarrassing misunderstanding of the patch notes... No research or testing out the change, what kind of analysis is that?
No bonus is given if the stack is cleared by an enemy or the hero that stacked it. (New audio is now played once a stack is successful. Stacked neutrals have a buff with the stacker's hero icon on it)
The author, Eggs, didn't play Dota since 2015.
There's some misundertanding about this last patch specific mechanic, it would worth making test and then write about the test you did instead of thorycrafting from your own understanding of this abiguous change.
D