Dota Allstars 6.56

Never thought that Dota Allstars 6.56 to be released this quick, just less than a week after IceFrog release the "major" patch 6.55. This map was released this morning if I'm not mistaken, and looking the changelog tells me that there is not much change that can affect the current gameplay brought by 6.55 era.

as usual, get the map at getdota.

Lets see....the exact changelog that get my attention:
* Fixed a very old exploit that was recently discovered with Roshan [Hurl Boulder - 800 range, 100 damage, 2 seconds stun duration, 100 mana, 10 seconds cooldown --> Bash - 15% chance to trigger, 100 damage, 2 seconds stun duration]
so Roshan will not hurl his stun anymore when Leshrac cast Edict near the juke spot at the jungle near roshan. Instead when fighting him, he now can stun you with his passive. ok I suppose.

* Tweaked Sentinel and Scourge tower bounty sharing mechanism slightly
[200/250/300/350 gold bounty to everyone in team (not to killer, halved if denied). 450/500/550/600+Random(2-20) split if Sentinel/Scourge gets kill --> 200/240/280/320 gold bounty to everyone in team (not to killer, halved if denied). 315/350/385/420+Random(1.4-14) split if Sentinel/Scourge gets kill]
-okay, "slight" change.

* Improved Magic Stick a little [12 charges max, 12 HP and 12 mana/charge --> 10 charges max, 15 HP and 15 mana/charge (Don't stack with ally anymore)]
-so uh...now a fully charged Stick will heal 150hp/mana instead of the old 144hp/mana (oh wow...). I still have a mixed feeling about this item... since it is only charged when enemies cast spell, then in a way it can be used as "gank detector", but the usage is pretty much limited.

* Moved the Tavern locations. It's back to the old location, though now the four taverns are arranged in a straight line. So now it does not looks weird anymore, having Scourge tavern on northwest and Sentinel tavern on southeast.

* Various tweaks/nerf to Admiral. Starting strength lowered from 24 to 21, Torrent got a slight mana increase (105 to 120) plus reduced slow (2/3/4/5 to 1/2/3/4). Understandable though, he was deemed to be too powerful when 6.55 was released.

* Added some new juke spots. Haven't try the map yet, so I don't know where exactly are the new juke spots. Juking is always a good thing :)

The Abyss of Nebilim's Crag

Playing Tales of the Abyss, my 2nd playthrough and finally I have reach the very last save point, meaning that Nebilim is now available to be battled. For now I decide to try beating her in Very Hard mode, and if she proves to be less challenging, then I'll retry again later in Unknown mode.

So taking a quick look at my character stats before facing her:

Luke (level 95)
HP/TP: 8735/777
Weapon: Key of Lorelei
Body: Golden Armor
Hand: Draupnir
Accessory: Reflect Ring
Capacity Core: Tutti

Tear (level 93)
HP/TP: 9150/960
Weapon: Blue Crystal Rod
Body: Rare Guard
Hand: Fonic Gloves
Accessory: Black Onyx
Capacity Core: Lunatito

Jade (level 93)
HP/TP: 7973/953
Weapon: Fonic Lance
Body: Fonic Robe
Hand: Angel bracelet
Accessory: Mystic Symbol
Capacity Core: Largamente

Guy (level 93)
HP/TP: 7518/848
Weapon: Jewel of Gardios
Body: Fonic Mail
Hand: Angel bracelet
Accessory: Force Ring
Capacity Core: Grandioz

..........................

Guy and Luke as the main melee attacker/damage tanker, so I equip Force/Reflect Ring to reduce her ridiculous physical/fonic damage. With Key of Lorelei and Jewel of Gardios, they can use their second Mystic rte, Lost Fon Drive and Brilliant Overlord which proves to be even more powereful than their first Mystic Artes. Jade is the main magic damage dealer, hence Mystic Symbol is necessary for him to reduce his casting time further (in addition to AD Skills). I'd rather equip Fonic Lance than Dunamis on him, since the former has higher Fonic Attack. Tear is put in full support mode, using only Revitalize/Resurrection in the whole fight, by disabling the rest of her Artes. Since she's the main healer, it is important for her NOT to die, so I equip Black Onyx to her (HP+30%).

Anyway, in Very Hard mode, Nebilim is pure bitch. In this mode, all her stats are doubled, meaning now she has 640,000 HP, 2628 Physical Attack, 3020 Physical Defense, 1706 Fonic Attack and 2560 Fonic Defense. Damn, that's insane. I heard in Unknown mode her stats are even more terrifying, each base stats multiplied by 3.5. She starts the battle (at least in my battle, she did) with Jade' signature mystic arte, Mystic Cage, dealing 13, 000+ damage to everyone. But it seems like it has the same effect as Big Bang, as none of my character died. Not just this, she also use many other Mystic Artes as well, from Rending Saber, Fortune Arc, Indignition, Radiant Howl and Big Bang. And her own Mystic Arte, Fragmented End is even more painful. There's this time when Guy was kicked out by this move, dealing 60,000+ damage to him. He's dead of course.

The fight was very long, because her defense are obscenely high, physically and magically. A normal physical damage and strike artes can barely affect her HP. Angel's Tear and Resurrect AD Skill are undoubtedly crucial in this match. While Resurrect is pretty random, it does save my ass in several occasions with its occasion resurrection :D Yeah, dying is inevitable in this match even with Tear in full support mode. Sometimes I need to switch character to use item, and most importantly activate Overlimit and use each character 2nd Mystic Arte. Jade' Indignition deals roughly 10000+ damage to her, while Luke' Lost Fon Drive and Guy' Brilliant Overlord deals about 6000+ damage. Tears Fortune Arc is a bit lesser than the rest, but the healing attributes are very useful.

So after about 28 minutes of fighting, I was finally able to beat her. Damn I wish I have something to record the whole battle, it was a nice experience beating her. The fight was really tense, although I admit Ethereal Queen or Freya in Star Ocean 3 are much more difficult to beat. And I was surprised with my record battle, where I gained 85+ grade from this fight alone! Man, the highest grade I ever get before this is just above 30, which is of course another boss battle. I guess I use too much Mystic Artes and FoF Changes, which racks up a huge amount of grade.

Here is a youtube videos which showed similar fight as mine (lol seems like she really start the fight with Mystic Cage). Except seems like this person fight her at even higher average level than mine (ZOMGBBQ lvl 150+ o_O).

Before the Fall

Finally almost all Fall season main series are aired, some even have already reach episode 2. By far there are quite a number of shows that caught my attention, as seen in the Fall series list on the left. These leave behind the shows that have just ended, particularly those Spring and Summer series. Among those series I recently finished watched:

To Love Ru
MAL/official

Okay ending I suppose. I vaguely remember reading similar counterpart plot in the manga when Lala made a failed memory eraser machine. The anime tries to include as much as original anime episode (ok, maybe the term filler is more appriate for some) while still sticking a little bit to the original manga plot. While this adds some excitement (maybe) to watch the anime, some of the original episodes are very dull and boring. The part where Saruyama become the center of episode (about the furry cat Alien) is downright terrible. The introduction of Oshizu was ended with some ridiculous dancing lessons which made me go....wtf? And sometimes I find Yami is being forced into the episode just so that she got some screentime, like school festival part (animal cafe). Nevertheless I still enjoy watching To-Love-Ru as a whole.

Blassreiter
MAL/official

Gonzo. The first half of the series are awesome I would say, with some adapted human knowledge being put into the theory of Amalgam, a lot of fight between the Chosen Amalgam (Blue, Gerd) and the masses, as well as the fall of XAT as well as the city which really remind me of Raccoon City (Resident Evil). Then somehow I find the story to be messed in the second half, especially when Zwolf was involved with the Blassreiter. So, uh...I don't like how the story goes at this point, although it's still enough to keep me watching till the end. And another bad thing is that the only good female Amalgam, Snow only appear in one episode and, then **** This sucks. Whatever. Fine ending though, with lots of sacrifices...

World Destruction: Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin
MAL/official

One of the better Spring series. I wish the original game of which this series is adapted is available in PS2 or PSP =.= Overall I enjoyed watching all episode but 1 (the episode when Morte lamenting about her dead brother right after the great episode 8 when they were trapped inside the Sand Marine). The comedy is enough to make me laugh, especially whenever it relates to Toppi who never admit being a chibi-bear lol. Kirie the main male lead who was first thought to be a mere catalyst to the Destruc Code, conceal his identity in the very last epiosde (kinda late, huh) and show how imortant he actually is in the context of the Destruct Code.(yeah, a bit rushed). Morte, the main female lead, keep trying to destroy the world solely because of her deceased brother. A fairly serious woman till the end, and suddenly changed when she knew the reality of a Destroyed World. And the romance by the end of the episode is so uncalled... Btw I love Lia and her strong voice. Episode 8 is purely win because of her :3

Zero no Tsukaima 3: Princess no Rondo
MAL/official

We can never know when will ZnT will actually ended. 3 seasons already and still ongoing. This third season, while includes better plot overall compared to, say, season 2 (sub-character story do not want), still does not give a deep impact to the audiance. I mean, I'd love to see those epic 1 vs 1000 fights in season 2 again. Fanservice level remains the same (no complains here, every seasons is like that), but one thing that I still can't quite swallow is the fact that Colbert sensei is somehow being pushed into the series again by faking his death. All my grief over his death in season 2 means nothing naw... At least they don't spoil the ending like what they did with season 2 (friggin ED song ruin the mood). So, I wonder how will my tsundere mode act when season 4 is announced. "d-d--don't misunderstand me, i-i--it's not like I'm watching ZnT because I like the series". LOL

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu
MAL/official

Probably the only Summer show that I enjoy the most. Seeing how Haruka and Yuuto being dense to each other in each episode are fun, although sometimes one can't help but being annoyed, seeing their relationship almost going nowhere as each episode passed. But one weak point of this series (at least for me) is that it contain too much cliche and predictable plots. There are many parts full of stereotypes that took away the inrerest of predicting what would happened next. Example: Hazuki acting strange by going out so often and was mistaken when she went to meet the guy in front of the groom shop. Easily predicted as misunderstanding. Another one: Haruka in happy mood went to school to give some cookies to Yuto, but met her and Shina in such unfavorable position. Yet another misunderstanding. And in the final episode, the fact about Haruka grandfather, which has been repeated by many other series (HnG, for example). But being a school comedy romance anime, I guess these kind of thing is kinda inevitable.


And there's also Sekirei, Macross Frontier, Code Geass R2, Ikkitousen Great Guardian, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Chocolate Underground in my finished list which also ended before Fall.

DotA Allstar 6.55

IceFrog has released Dota Allstars v6.55 early this morning, and holy shit, this is another gameplay-changing patch I would say.

As usual, the map can be downloaded from getdota.
And the changelog (very lengthy, including some in-depth explanation on the changes - getdota/changelog.

so after testing a bit of this map (can't play full match yet, my internut speed is throttled until 9th Oct =.=) and reading through the changelogs, my comments on some of the changes:

-Added 2 new heroes, Windrunner and Admiral Proudmoore. Both on Sentinel side. Windrunner is an int-based ranged hero, similar model to drow ranger. Posses some nice suppports/ganking skill. Her piercing arrow (Powershot) rawks (1700 range, cut tree, fast projectile), although it does not has stun like Mirana'. And her ult gave maximum attack speed increment (400%) to a single target for her hext 10 attacks, at the cost of damage reduction. While Admiral is even more awesome, a very brutal AoE str hero, with his first skill (Torrent) that lift the enemies, slow and damage, comboed with his ultimate (lulzy summoning a pirate ship) which give massive AoE damage and buff allies. His second skill Tidebringer give massive damage (free relic at level 4) as well as insane 100% cleave once in awhile. And his third skill (Xmts) is useful in many way, like casting it on a tp-ed enemy hero and he's blinked back to the same sport 4 seconds later. hahaha :D

-Added 4 new items: Magic Stick, Dust of Appearance, Phase Boots and Glyph of Fortification. Magic Stick is... well I can't really figure how is this item useful practically. It is charged whenever enemy heroes cast spells, up to 12 charges. Each charge instantly restore 12 hp and 12 mana when used. 12 hp/mana....wtf? I know it is instant heal, but how much will 12 hp/mana impact the value of spending one item slot compared to, say, tangos? Well not saying its useless, its just that until we see its true potential, I can't be sure how will this item useful. I guess this item shine more in teamfights, where everyone throw their spells.
Dust of Appearance is nice. A fairly good alternative of sentry in fight, if not better. It basically prevent enemy from going into invisible (it does not stop the skill, just that the hero will still visible after the item is used on them). So now your Clinkz/Gondar/Phantom Lancer is more or less can be screwed easier. No more easy escape against people sentry vision.
Phase Boot is another nice Boot upgrade. Give 70 MS, 7 armor, a bit of damage and phase skill (10% increase MS, no collision) at a low cost just above 1600 gold. Coupled with the buff of Boot of Travel, now all three boot upgrade (Power Thread, Boot of Travel and Phase Boot) become viable depending on hero used. 70 ms in no joke. With Phase, the speed bonus is comparable to BoT.
Glyph of Fortification has the effect of the old TP scroll - give massive armor bonus to all structure for 4 seconds. No cost, not going into inventory, a team item with 6 minutes cooldown. With the nerf on TP scroll, now tower-defend need to be carefully planned, since once you used this item, it is not until 6 minutes later when you can use this item again.

-New loading screen, as the images above. Nice screen, Invoker flying high and might, Lina looks as if she's casting Dragon Slave. Drow, Huskar, PL and his images, Void, Sven, Axe.....

-Terrain around sentinel and scourge base is reworked a bit. Now the base entrances are wider and less steep, providing easier way to push into base. Plus, Sentinel World Tree is more center just like Scourge Frozen Throne. More balance, eh? Not to mention there's like a very huge gap separating the base and 2nd tower, especially on the scourge side.... I find this a bit challenging since now we can't rely on the protection from base tower when defending the 2nd tower.

-Changes how bounty system (hero kill gold, first blood, tower kill) works. Nice one, now the value of assist increased even more. And earning gold is fairly easy even for support heroes, since the bounty is divided amongst the assitors in the area.

-Blink Dagger now only get disabled when player is hit by hero-based damage. No more annoying creep hinder your Reverse Polarity, haha. And with 15 cooldown, expect even more ganking style.

-KotL and Enchantress reworked a little. This new KotL no longer has his uber blink pusher Igniss Fatuus, rather now he has a spirit form, which increased his abilities. No longer need to channel Illuminate, annoying 80% blind AoE skill, ally teleport. His mana rupture, while it might seem less useful than the old mana leak, I like how it can stun the enemies if they run out of mana. Enchantress' Impetus is now ultimate, with 0 cooldown at all level. Damn, that's good.

-Nerf on map control. Sentry and Observer ward nerfed, Weaver' watcher nerf, Beastmaster hawk nerf. Not to mention even courier can no longer place wards. Great, jungling is easier now. But ganking is also easier too :3

Man, this will take ages to comment about everything on the change of this patch. Among others include the Aegis change, item change (BKB, Lothar, Manta) and -CM mode. Overall I like most of these changes, although I find it rather "sudden" with how this impact the metagame, since the stable league map (6.52e) has only been released a few months ago, and now we're introduced with some major alteration. But I really can't wait to see this map implemented in tournaments XD
And expect 6.55b to be released soon, I see some tooltips have yet to be filled (like those buff icon for new heroes/items) .

Tag

tagged by mana@rayneholde. k

01. what is the most important thing in your life ?
- hm....my life, my faith...

02. what is the last thing you bought with your own money ?
- lemme check...last time I went out shopping to Asian market to buy groceries for the Eid. 6 kgs of chicken wings.

03. where do you wish to get married ?
- not in Malaysia I guess...

04. how old do you think you will get permanently owned by your lover ?
- as long as she love me

05. are you in love ?
- hm...I wonder~

06. where was the last restaurant you had dinner at ?
- Hungry Jacks @ Main North Road, Adelaide.

07. name the latest book you bought ?
- Probably Gempakstarz Graphic Novel, Juice by Norman Noh. Straight delivery from Malaysia

08. what is your full name ?
- ....revealing full name on the net is not good

09. do you prefer mother or father ?
- mother. period.

10. name a person that you really wish to meet in your real life for the first time
- Kugimiya Rie :3

11. christina or britney ?
- NEITHER.

12. do you do your own laundry ?
- obviously. You prefer your housemate to do it for you?

13. the most exciting place you want to go ?
- Japan and Europe.

14. hugs or kisses ?
- Hugs :3

15. point out five things about the person who tagged you
- a wise man
- tolerable in accepting other people opinion
- workaholic when the time comes
- avid anime watcher. too bad it seems like his work prevent him to watch even more.
- love music.

16. eight things i'm passionate about
- dota
- games
- anime
- football/sports
- internet
- figurines
- constellation. A long, long time ago.
- human physiology

17. eight books i have read recently
- Frederich Nietzsche - The Will to Power
- Frederich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil
- Frederich Nietzsche - Thus Spake Zarathustra
- Alcock J - Animal Behaviour, An Evolutionary Approach
- Dewsbyru B.A. - Comparative Animal Behaviour
- Ringpfeil M - White Biotechnology
- Nature Biotechnology
- Chemistry Central Journal
the last five are due to my assignments -.-

18. eight songs i've been listening over and over again
- Takanashi Yasuharu - Gekisen
- Kanako Itou - Find the Blue
- Karen - Raison D'etre
- Mizuki Nana - Secret Ambition
- Sound Horizon - schwarzweiβ～霧の向こうに繋がる世界～
- Katakiri Rekka - Immoral
- Ayane - Private Place
- Yousei Teikoku - Kokou no Sousei

19. eight things i learned this year
- biotech 2nd year is terrible
- microbiology is sometimes fun and sometimes boring
- biochemistry is the bestest subject in my degree
- miracle is possible in real life. The Turks made three consecutive comeback in Euro2008
- Aussie internet > Malaysia internet
- minimize heater usage in winter. your bill will skyrocket D:
- don't trust your landlord faithfully D:
- that pit lord is not a shitty hero in dota

20. eight people you tag
eh...no one yet.

Ikkitousen Great Guardian Original Soundtrack

Title: Ikkitousen Great Guardians Original Soundtrack
Street Release Date: August 20, 2008

------------------------------------

Tracklist:

1. Mezame yo...
2. Gekisen
3. Unmei no Yokan
4. Kan'u to Ryofu no Tatakai
5. Saji Genpou no Theme
6. Semari Kuru Kiki
7. Ryofu no Kunou
8. Sonsaku no Tatakai
9. Shinobi Yoru Fuan
10. Sonken no Amai Koi
11. Kokoro no Chikai
12. Yasuragi
13. Toki no Tobira
14. Seki Teibyou
15. Kyuusoku no Toki
16. Hitsuu na Tatakai
17. Nakama Tachi
18. Kan'u no Yuuutsu
19. Sekiryou
20. Sonsaku no Kanchigai
21. Ryomou no Fuan
22. Yasashii Tomo yo
23. Kawaii ne, Sonken
24. Keetai Chakushinon "Tokino Tobira"
25. No X Limit! (TV Size)
26. Kage ~shape of shadow~ (TV Size)
27. Ikkitousen DD&CG NON-STOP Dance Medley (DRAGON FLY REMIX) HEART&SOUL ~Garasu no Hana~Tokino Tobira~Kage~shape of shadow~No X Limit!

download link: here

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

this is Nipponsei release of Ikkitousen Great Guardian Original Soundtrack. I've long been waiting for this OST, particularly because of the awesome final battle music in episode 12 (track no.2, Gekisen). One of the best anime OST I've listened to this year.

ps: can't find any cover album for this ost...need some more time D:

ESNation TV - SK vs MYM (PDL)

this match was held almost a month ago, the final playday of MYM Prime Defending League. Featuring the top two team of the table at that time, MeetYourMakers (MYM) and SK.Gaming (SK).

match details:
-general match news@MyMYM
-matchticker@MyMYM
-full VOD download of ESNation TV

to be brief about the match;

match 1: MeetYourMakers vs Sk. Gaming

Bans: (MYM First) / / / / / / /
Picks: (MYM First) / / / / /

MYM, Sentinel
[leoric] MYM|slahser (Top)
[leviathan] MYM|MaNia- (Top)
[lion] MYM|Merlini (Middle)
[lich] MYM|PusHer (Bottom)
[terrorblade] MYM|H4nn1- (Bottom)

SK, Scourge
[qop] SK.Loda (Top)
[luna] SK.Minitito- (Middle)
[warlock] SK.Hailo (Middle)
[puck] SK.Akke (Bottom)
[beastmaster] SK.Tompa (Bottom)

......................................................................................................................

match 2: Sk. Gaming vs MeetYourMakers

Bans: (SK First) / / / / / / /
Picks: (SK First) / / / / /

SK, Sentinel
[lich] SK.Hailo (Top)
[beastmaster] SK.Tompa (Top)
[earthshaker] SK.Akke (Middle)
[morphling] SK.Loda (Middle)
[zeus] SK.Minitito- (Bottom)

MYM, Scourge
[qop] MYM|slahser (Top)
[warlock] MYM|PusHer (Top)
[luna] MYM|Fear (Middle)
[pitlord] MYM|MaNia- (Bottom)
[puck] MYM|Merlini (Bottom)

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I almost don't remember the detail of these matches, since it happened almost a month ago. But one thing I clearly remember is that Fear rapes in game 2, and his Beyond Godlike streak was ended partly thanks to ancient creeps :3

but that's probably not the talking point of this match, as winning or losing matters little to both team since they are already the top two team at the table, and whoever wins more does not change the seeding much for the playoff.
The best thing about this match is the fact that it was shoutcasted by MYM captain Maelk and another MYM crew Aurora live on ESNationTV. That match happened the morning when I had early class, so I had no choice but to sleep early and watch the replay later. Fortunately the shoutcast is available for download, but its friggin HUGE video at almost 1GB in size. Yeah, I'm willing to spend 1GB out of my 100GB monthly download quota for this video.

Worth it? For me yes, it really is worth it. I'm really amazed with this commentary by Maelk and Aurora, they really bring the fun out of watching DotA match live. Aurora, being an ex-cs woman player with only a fair bit of knowledge about dota, made a perfect combination with Maelk, arguably one of the best Dota strategist in the world. Every now and then, Maelk will explain every aspect of dota in relation to the game in general (love his early explanation about tidehunter and beastmaster), as well as explaining what happened in the game when something occured. He explains why bans and picks are important in league match. Why this or that hero are good or bad for competitive scene, why they are first picked than the other. And when it comes in the match itself, Maelk never missed most of the scene to comment. Yeah he did missed one or two deaths but he pretty much covered them up by analyzing what hero was killed by which hero, and made a good assumption on what really happened.

But there are a few weaknesses need to be addressed and improved should they decide to make another video shoutcast. First, this video is a freaking 4 hours long video, with no playback feature! So what does that mean? There's no way you can rewind it unless you view it from the beginning. This can be improved in the future by editing the video. It's not hard to cut the video into two parts, one part for each match (since this video covers both matches in a go). They can also remove the unnecessary advertisement, it really is a pain in the ass to wait for the ads to end (no seekplay, right).
Nevertheless overall the VOD shoutcast was really entertaining to watch for dota fan. A good material to introduce dota to the beginner, as well as non-player.