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Maelk: Want DotA 2 to merge the scenes together

He’s one of the most experienced and illustrious figures within the DotA-scene. Jacob ‚Maelk‘ Toft-Andersen has been playing the game on the highest level for a long time, he’s the long-time teamcaptain of Meet Your Makers and Denmark. In an Interview with readmore.de he talks about the evolution of the scene, the impact of the release of HoN and LoL and his expectations towards DotA 2

readmore.de: You’ve been playing DotA for almost seven years now, do you feel there’s a decline of interest and activity recently?

Jacob ‚Maelk‚ Toft-Andersen: This June it’ll be seven years. I feel the attention from larger organizations has gone back partially due to release of HoN and LoL drawing all of the genres attention, and then of course because they already tried it once without success presumably because of unprofessional teams and the lack of tournaments to promote themselves in.

readmore.de: What are the consequences of the fewer attention from larger organizations? What exactly has changed since the release of HoN and LoL?

Maelk: A lot less live LAN-tournaments despite the online tournaments having a larger prizepurse than ever before. Also, fewer teams get to treat the game as serious as they could have with the motivation it gives having an organization behind them: something I’ve always enjoyed and that has kept me focused. Well, both the new games drew a lot of new players to the genre and suddenly the organizations and sponsors focused their attention on that instead of DotA – in what I can only assume is an attempt to be on the cutting edge of development and trying to be forerunners for new projects.

readmore.de: Would you think the announcement of DotA 2 is helping the scene right now, instead of putting all those games in some kind of waiting loop?

Maelk: I think it will cause sponsors to have DotA on their mind when looking into new ventures rather than putting all their effort into HoN or LoL, the same way it did with StarCraft: Broodwar teams and players months before the release of StarCraft 2. It’s my personal wish that, with DotA2, the scenes are merged together and both HoN and LoL will fade out.

readmore.de: Do you and your whole team plan to switch over to DotA 2 completly once it’s released?

Maelk: Absolutely.

readmore.de: You’ve said already, that organisations are less eager to pick up DotA-squads nowadays, still SK, EG or fnatic are sponsoring HoN-Teams. Do you think the HoN-Players are more professional?

Maelk: No, I just think that they’re the flavor of the month so to speak. Unlike Counter-Strike and StarCraft 2, the respective HoN teams will get the boot when a new game in the genre – in this case DotA2 – comes along. HoN is a trend, nothing more.

readmore.de: Unlike DotA, there is a real developer behind HoN and LoL. It’s assumed that’s what’s missing for DotA, a company to promote and support the game financially. Couldn’t that be a deciding difference that could make them more successful?

Maelk: It could definitely contribute to it, yes, but I believe other stuff such as graphics, matchmaking, rankings and all that stuff that DotA can’t offer on the WC3-engine, to be a bigger contributor. If the entire DotA-community was all placed on the same platform rather than hundreds of different ones, I’m sure the game would be a lot more succesful.

readmore.de: The ESL picked up LoL recently for their featured EPS. It’s endowed with 10.000 Euro Prize-Money, a chance DotA was never really offered. Why did the ESL choose LoL over DotA or HoN?

Maelk: DotA had its chance in ESL, albeit with a lower prizepurse, but never really broke through. Possibly because of severe unprofessionality by the teams. LoL is easy approachable and works great as game for everyone to play without having a steep learning curve nor require particularly much skill thus being very popular – for the time being.

readmore.de: One might think that DotA-players should have made the experience to be looked upon, when there has been a lot of discussion about the amount of skill required to play either Warcraft 3 or DotA. Still, nowadays DotA-players treat HoN or LoL-players inferior. Isn’t that a major problem of the scene?

Maelk: I think the difference lies in the fact that Warcraft 3 and DotA were two entirely different games whilst DotA actually resembles LoL and especially HoN a lot thus being much easier to pass judgement on. I don’t look down upon HoN-players as such, there are some very talented players on the HoN-scene, but I’ve both played and watched LoL-games and it struck me as very different in terms of individual skill.

readmore.de: What exactly differs in LoL from DotA or HoN that makes it require less skill in your opinion?

Maelk: For one, I think they did a huge mistake on removing the denying-factor of the game although I understand their reasoning behind it. I just don’t agree with it. Furthermore I feel the spell-usage is far too easy, not nearly as complex in terms of timing or precisioning as in DotA/HoN. There’s a lot of minor things that all adds up to a different game experience.

readmore.de: Is there a difference between HoN and DotA?

Maelk: Yes, there is a difference in HoN and DotA – anyone having played both, regardless of preference, can attest to this. I can’t specify what it is since like LoL from these games, it’s all the small things that adds up.

readmore.de: Do you think that players could switch from DotA to HoN and contrariwise without losing too much skill?

Maelk: Yes, essentially both ways work as it would most likely solely depend on how well the player adapts and if the game he moved to fitted him better than his original one. A good example of a person swapping game with huge success would be Kai ‚H4nn1‘ Hanbueckers – I believe he was nominated best All-around player of 2010.

readmore.de: He even won, if i remember correctly.

Maelk: You’re right, he did. Well, I’ve always thought of H4nn1 to be one of the most talented European players to ever grace DotA.

readmore.de: The known-names within the dota scene have hardly changed. When looking at the rosters of the recently announced MYM Prime Nations, there are a ton of players who have been around for years now, but very few new faces. What is the reason for the lack of fresh talent?

Maelk: Obviously experience is a personal asset in DotA, as is it in any other game, but I fear it may also have something to do with the exclusivity of some of the inhouse-leagues. I find it hard for players, who may be a diamond in the rough, to further improve themselves if they can’t get to play in a competitive environment rather than simply bashing public games all day long. Some players simply aren’t given a chance, and if so, bad chemistry might cut them off the scene much sooner than actually deserved.

However, I think there are plenty of players who proved themselves talented and are to be considered somewhat newcomers. Most of the Swedish, French and American rosters are next-gen players and I know that Denmark has tried to scout out talents to show forth in the nationscup.

readmore.de: You’re Teamcaptain of Team Denmark once again. What’s your ambition going into MYM Prime Nations Elite?

Maelk: We strive the same goals as we have the past seasons of Prime Nations and ENC: To strut our stuff in the most exciting way we can. We’re not quite happy with the fact that they removed the 3 players-per-team limit, just to please certain nations who aren’t willing to give their talents a chance. Denmark will still obide by this rule, even if it’s not in play anylonger, and hopefully show some diversity in our attempt to secure the gold, and not just a top-3 placement.

readmore.de: You’re voluntarily accepting a handicap following a rule that doesn’t exist?

Maelk: Yeah, I trust our entire lineup – not just the MYM-part of it – and I’ve always believed that Nationscup is where talents gets to shine regardless of their teams. Obviously others doesn’t share my view, and in my opinion that’s regretable not only for up-and-coming players but also the community as a whole.

readmore.de: Still, instead of fresh talent you recently decided to put the established player Misery in the lineup once again. Is he the key-factor for your success lately?

Maelk: We haven’t had Misery in our lineup before – that was the old Ravens with miGGel and Angel – so this was a new experience for all of us. We actually offered him to join back in July ’10, but he declined wanting to give Donald’s team another shot, but I suppose he realized what he needed to do inorder to become the best player he can be. He is definitely a key-factor, his skill is at an undeniably high level and he meshes really well with the entire team. I was worried to begin with, but those concerns are long gone. He’s a pleasure to play with.

readmore.de: Is it more important to have the strongest individuals united under a roof, rather than having a working team based on friendship?

Maelk: No, although it might appear as if MYM has always tried gathering really strong individual players, our primary objective has always been chemistry. Probably one of the reasons to why MaNia, PusH and I are still playing together throughout all these years. To me, both are important, but it might vary from team to team. I’m under the impression that there other teams that are made up of skill first – then develope the friendship along the way.

readmore.de: Demon stated in a Podcast that Misery will fill in the role of a hard-carry. Is having a hard-carry still that important?

Maelk: That’s probably a thing that will never change: In any form, having a keyhero that receives the biggest amount of farm is bound to happen on any team. It might vary which herotypes are the carry – from Drow Ranger and Medusa, to Alchemist and Necrolyte – but I think there will always be one on the team that sticks out more than the rest.

readmore.de: Many amateur teams tend to give the role of the supporter to the weakest link in the team. Later on talented players, when moving up to better teams have to redefine their role, like switching from gank to support. Is there a lack of well-trained support-players?

Maelk: I think the support-role seems very simple and easy to figure out, and is an easy way out for the players that doesn’t want the responsibility of having to carry the game on the later stages or aren’t fully capable of finding farm and essentially lasthitting properly. I do feel a lot of support-players takes for granted that they are good, simply because they are the only ones willing to play that role, but in truth it does require a lot more than simply placing wards and trying not to feed. I doubt anyone could support our team other than PusH – even when I try to do so, the others aren’t quite satisfied – so he’s a very valuable asset. On the other hand, a lot of teams has players on support who just isn’t at the same level as rest of the team. These teams might have been forced to take in anyone wanting to play that role, or the support-player contributes in other ways like chemistry or captaincy. However, they would probably be more succesful if they found someone willing to play that role, who were on their own level.

readmore.de: So being a good support-player is usually determined over one’s ego, rather than skill-level?

Maelk: No, but that particular role takes a bigger man so-to-speak than any of the other roles. I still think the skill-level should be the same as rest of the team inorder for it to be truly successful. You can’t compare players like MiseRy and PusH, simply because neither of them could play the other players role nowhere near as good.

readmore.de: Who do you think are your team’s toughest opponents in Europe right now?

Maelk: Na’Vi, GG.net and potentially DTS if they stick out the hardship. Which I think they will. Despite a lot of people thinking the competition has never been further apart, I think it’s closer than ever. To stay at the top of Europe, you do have to put in a lot of hours of practice. There’s maybe 12-16 teams that could upset eachother in BO1 matches, though BO3 should still be dominated by the favorites.

readmore.de: In one of your recent matches vs. GG.net at Pick League, you used furion with crow to teleport right near the opponents fountain to kill the opponent’s chicken. Is this really cost-effective, or was there a specific reason for this strategy?

Maelk: It’s definitely worth the investment. You effectively put back their support, who is most likely far away from the fountain and out of gold to fund a new chicken, so you cripple their lanes until they do manage to get a new one. Ironically, the longer it takes for us to kill one of their heroes, the more we gain from having killed it.

readmore.de: Why wasn’t this used earlier?

Maelk: It was. As much as I’d love to, I can’t take credit for that brilliant idea. I first saw it when the old lineup of the Brazilian team CNB did it, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. Furion is a very situational hero, but with the recent popularity of Clockwerk his utility has improved a lot.

readmore.de: There is a new item, smoke of deceit. Will it be a viable option for tournament play?

Maelk: Yes, it’s really effective to set up ganks or lure the enemy into being outnumbered. Especially useful against teams who wards a lot. It’s only a matter of time before the item is used 24/7 throughout the entire game. Basically it makes you invisible until you are within 900 range of an enemy and you cannot be seen by wards either.

readmore.de: The tournament maps seem to change rather fast. Often the latest map is used right away instead of sticking to the stable one. Is this increasing the viewerability by pushing the variability, or is this hurting tournament-play because teams have less time to prepare and adjust to newer versions?

Maelk: Well, you could argue that everyone is on even ground in terms of preparation, but I do feel it could hurt teams who are still active in leagues- and tournaments that are using the old stable version, but yes, the public is probably more interested in watching games of the version they play themselves rather than the old competitively accepted versions.

readmore.de: Thanks for the interview.

  1. myc #1
    Schönes Interview, bin allerdings nicht ganz so optimistisch wie Maelk in Bezug auf Dota2 und die Vereinigung der versch. Szenen..
    dimsch #2
    vlt etwas zu lang das iview und nicht gut genug gegliedert, aber sonst ganz nice.

    ein wenig dota content schadet ja nicht.

    btw <3 Pocast
    pille^ #3
    keep it in english only below this line

    __________________________________________________ ________________
    phyK #4
    "LoL is easy approachable and works great as game for everyone to play without having a steep learning curve nor require particularly much skill thus being very popular - for the time being"

    I already hear the LoL-fanbois raging
    #5
    #4 There was a reasonable explanation why it is easier i.e. ;)
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