Achieving Your Goals in the New Year
Valve already confirmed that the next ranked season is going to start in the new year and that means it is time to prepare for the new climb towards the top. Today we would like to talk about different strategies and motivations that can help you achieve better results in Dota and enjoy the game even more.
Why Climb?
This should generally be the first question players ask themselves when trying to climb in ranks and increase their MMR and the good thing about this question is that there are no wrong answers.
When I set my goal of reaching Immortal in season 2, the main idea I had in mind was that as a writer and content creator for the biggest Dota 2 website I simply couldn’t afford not to be in the top 1% of the players. Players read my hero and patch analysis, my meta overviews and they should be confident in the credibility of the author.
There was one very important side effect. Once I’ve reached the Immortal rank, I’ve started noticing how much more enjoyable my games became. Teams acted like teams, coordination between individual players got better and the gameplay became more interesting overall: action became more dense and outplays became more complex.
This higher level of play is certainly going to be my main motivation for climbing the ladder next season—I want to experience the best, most intense, smartest Dota I can. For you it might be going pro, like it is for Cptn.Canuck, or reaching a higher rank than your friends for bragging rights. Regardless of your motivation, though, you can be sure that the quality of your games is going to increase and your are much more likely to enjoy the game. That is probably the most important part.
MMR is just a number
People often say that your skill level is going to determine your MMR eventually so a better strategy is to concentrate on improving yourself as a player, rather than trying to climb. That is true for the most part, but there is one caveat.
Your MMR determines the quality of your matches. Based more or less on a single number you get matched with particular people at particular skill level. These particular people at this particular skill level make particular mistakes and make particular plays.
That means that attempts at learning the game in this very specific atmosphere will eventually lead to lower and lower returns on skill level gains, as you are playing with pretty much the same people over and over again.
I propose a slightly different approach, one that will hopefully maximise your learning speed: spam your best meta hero until you can no longer win more games. Climb as high as you can giving it your best, until your best is no longer enough. And only then start to attempt to learn the game in a more holistic sense.
In this case, after climbing as high as your best can get you, you are going to be learning Dota at a higher level and will be forced to improve. Your mistakes and bad habits are going to be exploited more. Your usual maneuvers that allow you to outplay the opponent and get an advantage are going to be less effective, and you will have to think of new ones. You will be learning faster in an environment more brutal than what you are used to.
Your second best hero might not be enough to sustain your highest achieved MMR initially, but sooner, rather than later, you will get them into shape. You will be forced to. Do that with your third best hero, your fourth one and so on and then repeat the process, climbing even higher this time.
We would also like to discourage people from using booster services—you can understand mistakes you’ve made individually or as a team in game where the best enemy player is ~200 MMR above your actual skill level. More than that and you are simply feeding and ruining the experience for yourself and your teammates, without learning anything.
Cool, Calm and Collected
For some reason paragraphs about toxicity in Dota always sound preachy and cheesy, but it is an important part of Dota. Your behaviour score is the second most important number in matchmaking, possibly the first.
There is an idea that you will win 15% of games regardless of what you do and your actions in 70% of games are going to have a direct impact on the outcome of the match. That leaves us with 15% of games you can’t win, no matter how hard you try or how well you play. We want this to go down as low as possible.
Part of getting this as low as possible is having a decent behaviour score—there is lower chance you are going to be matched with teammates who will break their items, tilt uncontrollably or feed couriers.
Speaking from experience of someone who knows how to shut up, not engage in arguments with teammates and uses chat only when necessary, never adding to toxicity if it occurs, I can assure you that it helps a great deal.
In roughly 120 games played I’ve played in the new patch, there were zero instances of someone intentionally feeding couriers, zero instances of teammates feeding and two instances of teammates going afk and breaking their items. There were definitely other games I couldn’t have won due to the skill level difference, mistakes on our side and other factors, but only 1.7% of infuriating, intentional losses attributed fully to one of my teammates is definitely something worth striving for.
Closing thoughts
I love Dota. I’ve played the game for close to 15 years, wrote countless paragraphs about it analyzed every single patch since 6.80 and still find something new and unexpected in most of my games. The depth of Dota gameplay is simply unparalleled.
Because of it, and in stark contrast to most other games, Dota actually gets more and more interesting the better you get at it: players think of more creative threats and more creative answers to those threats. When everyone understands how most things work, it starts transitioning from the characters vs. characters interaction to players vs. players, adding an extra layer on top of an already deep gameplay.
That is when Dota starts to truly shine and we would love if everyone could experience it at its best.
Good article.
great article dude
:)
> Your MMR determines the quality of your matches.
A lot of ppl forget this sadly. Sadly all brackets suffer from griefers to some extend tho
I still confused how to react to toxic ppl in my game. If i'm not talking or response, they feed. If i'm talk even in an appropriate way, they angry then feed or play bad.
This was a particularly particular article.
But ancient is top 1%
if i was good at more heroes than error 404, this guide would be pretty useful
what about sea servers?
Nice, well put.
I just want 7.21 when Mars comes out, this patch is already stale as hell.
Q: what about sea servers?
A: Your Teammates determines the quality of your matches. :)
u mean the 4 fucktards determine the quality of your matches?
in this bracket you simply cant get higher mmr unless you play mid
change my mind.
Report system doesnt work. The only time these people get into low priority is when they abandon or afk.
Sometimes in ranked match, you have archon legend team against legend ancient team. One moment very good teammates, and the next game all rotten people. Hopefully it will be better with the new season.
^ I hoped this 3 years ago. I left hoping.
I got ancient 2 between november and december i am content.
One of my new years resolutions is to play one game of dota per day. That should provide a decent balance of getting practice in vs not playing so much that you become frustrated and find it unfun.
Reading your article since you and I were Ancient, now you are an Immortal and I'm still a Divine. Realize I'm in SEA. *surprised Pikachu*
Nah maybe I'm just bad :x
does CCNC means cool, calm 'n collected?
where has valve said that new seasson starts in january cuz its january and new season still isnt out yet
Immortalы тоже ломают шмотки?!
"Your MMR determines the quality of your matches"
Soooo,
the 'tilted-mid-lane-with-no-reason, failed carry, and support dont WANT to warding' team
againts
The enemy's 'Immortal there, good support(s), outplaying mid-lane, rapist carry' team
is the QUALITY of your matches?
I am STILL blame for matchmaking balancing. But, I am agree with MMR is just a number.
Great article dude, really appreciate the focus on being a "student of the game" type of idea, its what got me into dota too. Good luck climbing in the new year.
What is this all matchmaking disapprove? OP saying the truth because back in DotA1 days, you enter a lobby with Sentinel full of ancient and your Scourge side filled with Herald and Guardian, and you think there is better matchmaking system?
tell me! When did Saruman the white abandon reason for madness?
oops wrong section :p
But still, no matter how you patiently played the game, toxic players will come along the way.
That’s why you need a smurf account. Lol
OMEGALUL
I'm going to interject and advise everyone to NOT waste their life span playing DOTA 2.
KawaiiSocks, you want to talk about how fun DOTA is at the "higher levels?"
Please, make an article about something people don't already know, like how bad the game play is 1,000 - 2,500 rating.
Please, make an article about how DOTA 2 needs to rework their matchmaking system so people don't end up wasting decades of their lives trying to "climb."
DOTA 2 is the only game I've played online out of counterstrike, starcraft, and others, where you're forced to play with the same people who behave the same way in every game over the course of YEARS. Not days weeks or months, YEARS, of the same behavior over and over again.
I been playing these horrible matches for too long to the point where I've forgotten the feeling of teamwork and communication and trippy spell combos. Instead I want to slash my throat and sniff a lot of Slopes as soon as I see the same people that I LOSE WITH FOR YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS FOR THE SAME REASONS. Flooding my brain with hopelessness, depression, self loathing and deprecation, after 8 hours of a shit job that doesn't even pay the bills, is what DOTA does for me in the new year.
The dota 2 matchmaking is so nasty and rigged, for example, when ranked first came out in 2014, I calibrated 2,500 mmr, averaging LESS THAN 100 last hits. I didn't even know top/bot was called safelane/offlane back then, and I played a variety of heroes. In early 2018 a 5k european coached me; I average 150-200 CS as any hero or role, I practice the fucking last hit trainer every day for hours with my BEST heroes, and I REMAIN STAGNANT @ 1,000-1,500 RATING? IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE? EITHER I"M EXTREMELY BRAIN DAMAGED, OR SOMETHING ELSE IS GOING ON
Hmm. New game time?
Wanna get out of 1k mmr? Sniff a lot of ski slopes
Ahhh the sweet, sweet smell of fresh pow
top 1% of players? You're 5k with a 3,600 immortal rank. You're still not out of the hole OP
@c4.drummerguy yo dude
Try to peek into your activity graphs, and compare it with mine, I think you are INDEED played too much, yet you are thinking less.
You need to sit back and relax (this is a game of mind, like chess, but way harsh), watch your own replay, get your thought collected and
repeatleave your mistakes behind in that particular replay.You see in my activity graphs, you will not seeing big BLUE ball in there but yellow or at least purple ( or is it grey?) BIG ball instead, because why? when I'm losing a game more than twice, I'd usually stop and WONDER WHY, next being obvious is watching the replay and comparing it with the winning one, hence I spent time to think rather than playing like ROBOT you are.
I even climbing to legends now but I never start to think that I am a Legend, I have to be aware that I am an Archon scrub and I have to git gut! Not like I am OK hot stuff and my teammates is DUMB and all, we are in the fucking same MMR.
Yeah more like saying "I, Robot" to me
@c4.drummerguy
feelsbadman..
You're right about lower skill returns on lower levels. I remember being upset seeing the same names over and over again.
Well written friend
People should stop practicing hero in rank match, then screwing teammates later...
@Yami person, sup bro? All the quantitative stuff is irrelevant when you're playing with one, two, three, sometimes all four people are intentionally afk, afk farming camps for 45 minutes, feeding courier for 30 minutes, what else? Any kind of behavior that's the opposite of trying to win.
I used to play basketball before i started smoking, and later doing drugs after my parents abandoned me at age 14. In basketball, which is really similar to dota, the equivalent is your point guard or center rebounding the ball, running to the opposite end of the court, and dunking the ball in the wrong hoop, on purpose. What would you do IRL? First you'd ask what the fuck the guy is doing, then when he does it over and over, you wouldn't get angry? Angry your time is being fucking wasted on a daily basis for the same reason?
So here's what I'm gonna do. The only way for me to quit playing DOTA, is to get greater than 5,000 behavior score, and still experience these CONSTANT, CONFOUNDS. Then I can be 100% sure it's the disgusting matchmaker, and not my own brain damage that's preventing me from making "progress" in this game.
If I spent forty thousand hours learning coding, or hand rudiments for drumset, I'd be somewhere right now, I wouldn't be five thousand dollars in debt to my home, the place I live, being broke 24/7, and wishing I was dead as soon as I wake up in the morning.
Here;s what I'm gonna do. I'm gona live stream and record FORTY games of AVERAGE MMR 1,000, BEHAVIOR SCORE C- (less than 1,000 / 10,000), here : www.twitch.tv/cardiac4rrest
I could care less about followers, views, or streaming anymore. I want PEOPLE TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND HOW HORRIBLE THE GAMEPLAY IS, COMPLETELY OPPOSITE OF A "RANKED" FEEL OR ENVIRONMENT.
There shouldn't be a "1k mmr" if the people playing want to waste their time and the time of other people.
From speaking with players at the professional level, playing with ppl from 1k to 6k I've figured out DotA.
1. If you are New or inexperienced to the game, your account is worthless. By the time you are decent - you will never leave the lower brackets. Sure - ppl that are really great at the game can 1v9. But not everyone is like that. The lower brackets are hell.
2. You need to learn how to trick the system. When I first started playing DotA I had no idea you had to have high gpm, high kda, or so the other hidden measurements that exist to determine your future.
3. You need to just make a new account once you learn the ways to cheat the hidden mmr. Then you can play.
4. DotA has become more toxic the more changes were made. The problem? Removing mmr. None cares about losing a "badge" mmr is the only number that matters. If there is no mmr display why not feed and be toxic and game ruining.
5. Language barrier. DotA is the only game where communication is vital yet 50% of my games im paired with ppl I can't understand.
@Gethsemane That's the point my brother from Adam, you spent too much hour in this game, DOING it, instead, I leave it when it becoming stressfull, ENJOYING my life, LAUGHING at my replays (this is where you goes wrong) which consist of 10 man clashing.
Now tell me, since this matchmaking doesnt make you the chosen one of such unfortunate, it happen to you all (in your bracket, so you're not pointing at other bracket being not, blah blah) so how did :
The other team winning?
Now after you answer this question, know this : sometimes they are not! (you'd already know this because offcourse it happen in your opposite team as well)
Hell, even the blue stars here would agree with me : some GAMES are unwinnable
Now that you know this, I am trying to relieve you from your stress, how? FIND the winnable one (again) how? study your enemies when they have those cancer, what are they doing to win the game? it may be joke, but sometimes destroying the FUCKING ANCIENT is a sincere answer of truth (find youtube videos "the perfect blackhole" to help you understand this) but in other times it takes you so many possibilities which you have to figure out.
Again, my bad for your experience in this game and it's harsh environment, we played with human afterall. So please, have a life, play less, relax more.
lol so true, cant believe how ignorant people be, and when they speak their own language acting like whole world speak theirs, I speak mine, hopefully awaken their awareness. Else they end up despise my race. This act is not working on native English speaker though XD
Your other points are also true
>reads KawaiiSocks fresh, positive, motivating New Year article
>proceeds to play Dota after a week off from the holidays
>instantly lose 4 straight games despite being positive and driven to achieve goals in 2019
FeelsBadMan
@Gethsemane always blame yourself. It's your fault if you are 2k mmr.
I was 2k now 3.8k. I always blame myself (and people a bit), evaluate myself, take a break if you have lose streaks. This is important. Yoy are REALLY need take a break if you have lose streaks and especially you are playing on SEA server.
Take other role. I was mid and offflane player and now I am playing supports.
естественно в новом году, потому что 1 день оставался до НГ, что за бред...
The main problem to gain mmr is toxic people who going play ranked for fun . I play dota more than 15 years my max rank 4600 for 2 years i up 1000 and going down 1000 . If you have brain dead human in team its become imposible to win . Have more than 6k games now rank 3900 after calibration i have people in my team with 3600 rank with 300games how can they play good if they just started ... also busters and smurfs .. how can i climb up if i play in 4k with booster who have 7k? . In my opinion how many games you play with thous people you must play if i play 6k games i must play with atleast 4 5k maybe than will be normal maches no busters or smurf . If you diside to get new acc you will play with people who started to play . so no boosters will be or smurf easy to make better to play.
Pogchamp =D
"That means that attempts at learning the game in this very specific atmosphere will eventually lead to lower and lower returns on skill level gains, as you are playing with pretty much the same people over and over again."
This is a non-sequitur, masked as deductive reasoning. Reader beware.
Good article sir