Maybe have a tutorial PVE mode like we have had with the Aghanim's Labyrinth or Siltbreaker etc. Basically going into it in a PVE mode and have other players guide them in a not so competitive surrounding. And they could add a small incentive for veteran players to take part in it, fully well knowing that things may not be "optimal". Maybe some "Ranked Queue" games or Shards or something. So there would be more veteran players there to guide the new people into the nuances of the game. And maybe have it so that the difficulty level slowly ramps up and not just throw them in to the hard mode here.
That would introduce new players into the game and the mechanics quite nicely and seeing different heroes in there and the different abilities and what items do etc. It would certainly be beneficial. And with some veteran players around to ask stuff from it would be a crash course into getting into 5v5 meat of the thing...
Main trouble is matchmaking man. It ruins all experience for newbies, cause they are forced to play with smurfs for the first 100 hours, what is a horrifying experience, cause you get owned by everybody just because he's got a new account, they're hella toxic, will curse you for every mistake you make (and you obviously make a lot as you're a newbie), and the only chance for you not to lose is having a better smurf in your team. Who'd like such a game? No wonder people not coming to dota anymore
Personally, I think it'd be cool to have it so you need to go through a hero-specific tutorial to be able to unlock them to play. It'd keep all the heroes free and available from the get-go, but also keeps the scope limited and focused to prevent overwhelming, while also helping the player improve to a higher level. Then the other tutorials can focus on more generic things, like the position-number system and laning, alongside how to interact with the dota engine and UI.
It'd also be cool to also have tutorials on how to fight *against* each hero, and to have a window on the main menu displaying said matchup tutorials for heroes they've recently lost against! It'd especially help prevent "knowledge check" heroes like bristleback from stomping so many games, since it makes it more likely for people to actually buy wand, silver edge, ghost scepter, mage slayer, armor, and self-dispels when against him, for example.
Smurfing unfortunately feels to me like a cultural issue more than a game issue. It's valuing the win itself over the concept of a win, so instead of focusing on self-improvement or finding joy in playing to win, they just prey on the people below them to pad their stats and boost their ego. The matchup tutorials above would also help stop popular smurf heroes from snowballing or dominating too much, hopfully!
They need to force new players to play tutorials and then match make in a new player only mode until they hit a certain amount of wins. Say 20.
New players can legit get thrown to the wolves if they decide.
Going in blind and having people rage on you for not knowing what you’re doing can’t be fun.
It really comes down to the person themselves, this game caters to new players the best way they can. As a matter of fact over the years they have simplified the game for examples there are 5 couriers now, they show you the stun bar etc. If the player never played MOBA before this game just may not be for them because it takes awhile just to learn a MOBA game and MOBA is a hard genre.
When I started back in 2014 I already had some experience from LoL I actually didnt care for dota and went back to LoL but after spending some time trying out different heroes and winning a couple I got hooked. It all just comes down to the player at the end of the day, they allow access to everything from the jump this game characters better to new players than LoL. As a gaming company thats been going on for this many years there is only so much you can do cause this is a discussion thats been going on for years. Don't hate the game hate the player cause at the end of the day its the community not the game itself. The Community meaning YOU push away new players not the game.
There is the new players mode with only 20 heroes to pick and experienced players can't join.
It's pretty good to learn the game imo.
^it really is.
And they should force newer players to get a certain amount of wins in that mode before moving on.
I couldn’t imagine joining a game as a noob and getting flamed hardcore
Wow this blew up very quickly recently.
I like everybody's perspectives here, but Taliheim's seem like the best, albeit maybe the hardest to implement without help from the community. A full-on tutorial for playing as and against over 120 heroes in the game would most certainly be a huge undertaking by Valve, especially as not only more heroes are introduced, but existing heroes are changed, but the payoff would be perfect for beginners.
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This game no longer seems to care for the new player experience. The new tutorials help a bit, but they only do so much, and usually new players skip them all anyway.
In addition, new players like to play with and against bots, but bots are literally an afterthought for Valve, as they are left to rot. And those that actually went to make their own bot scripts have abandoned them all simply because they base it on Valve's bots which, as mentioned before, are barely ever updated, if at all.
The greatest strength of Dota 2, everything and everyone being available from the start, is now becoming its greatest weakness. If the game wants to draw in more people, they need to make it more new-player-friendly, and not overwhelm them with all these features all at once.
I don't think strictly locking them until new players meet certain prerequisites is needed, but I would suggest they maybe re-add the limited heroes game mode with an updated hero pool that focuses on very simple, easy-to-learn heroes, and even then, I'd even like to see a variation of the game that has a number of aspects removed or altered so that there's less for players to think or worry about (no watchers, no tormentors, no neutral items, no Rosh, no facets, no items/abilities that allow invisibility, etc.), to help players settle into the big picture of the game before they start worrying about the nitty-gritty. And maybe a more intermediate mode which introduces some of the above aspects, like re-enabling invis, neutral items, and facets, with the addition of the more complex heroes, before they feel comfortable to take on the full scope of the game with everything and everyone available to them.
I'd like to hear your thoughts, as well as your opinions on what heroes should really be in the "new players should absolutely try them" category.