Hey gang,

So, I've just reinstalled DOTA, thinking I could get back into it after 2 years off.

I wish I hadn't bothered.

I picked Omniknight, a hero I used to enjoy, thinking I could play a low impact hero, and start to learn the game again. I bought wards, dust, courier, all that good stuff.

The people on my team berrated me nonstop, for the entire game. I was constantly called a noob, an idiot, and that I was the most useless person on the team. I understand that I haven't played in a long time, and getting back up to speed is gonna take time, but Jesus wept, the people who play this game are awful.

Is there an easier way to get back in where I won't just be harassed nonstop? I've only played one game back and I hate it

Mute chat and jut play the game? I don't know it's the best I can come up with and something I constantly have to do in all MOBA's I play.

Ask them for polite, helpful, constructive and patient advice on what you can do to better assist your team. (ha!)

Just going to reword the title for you for accuracy -

The people that play this game are animals

The people that play every game are animals

Your best bet is probably putting a group together of people who know you're getting back into things and won't be dicks about it, if you wanna keep chat on. Otherwise, mute chat I guess. Oh and report those people for being assholes, if that's an option.

Pick a hero. Pick Torte de lini's guide. Play it a few times against AI. Play unranked with it.

If you have friends that play dota, team up with them.

If you play a totally new hero, at least go in the demo mode to see what the skills are like.

While there are a ton of toxic people in this online game, i've had thousands of awesome teammates as well. Just make sure you mute the negative ones and don't talk back so you don't get reported. Lowering your behavior score will only lead to you meeting more and more toxic people, while not responding to negativity will only make your behavior score go up over time and end up with better teammates. I can assure you that we are not all animals. Woof.

As soon as people start berating you, mute. It might go against the team spirit but there's no problem when the others have already destroyed that themselves. Best way to enjoy getting back into it is to play with some friends, though. Also, work on getting your behavior score raised. I remember someone in here complaining about players one time and they had the worst player score I've seen, that I didn't even think was possible to get so low. Lower the behavior score, the more likely it is that you'll get matched with more toxic players.

@sombre: I recommend playing Turbo Mode. It's a new gamemode that was added while you were away. It expedites Dota by making lots of things faster and easier. Good if you're rusty and want a refresher, or if you're a new player looking to dabble in the game, or if you merely want a quicker and lower stakes way of playing Dota.

I'm a pretty regular Dota player and honestly I find you can diffuse the situation pretty quickly but mentioning that you're new, or haven't played in forever, and throwing out a sorry. Some people will continue to be assholes but I'd say like 80% of the time, it helps. I have a few friends who I've queued with who are totally new, and they get flamed until they say "sorry, I'm new and trying to learn" and then it's fine.

Uninstall it and move on to a new game. Nothing is worth the harassment and you don't owe these people the time of day to try and put up with them, or sacrifice your time and patience.

If the game is so must-play that nothing else can uplift/give you positive relaxation or whatever other reason you play games for, then follow advice given elsewhere. But, seriously. Uninstall it. Uninstall and move on from anything that gives you this kind of stuff. There are so many other games out there, so many other positive experiences.

I should add that I have a group of friends (most IRL but some online buds too) who play on the regular, there's probably ~10 of us and we get a 3-5 stack most nights. We are extremely chill, never flame, always try and win (we don't usually cheese or fuck around if that's your cup of tea) but don't really get pissed about losing either. We're normal human beings is what I'm trying to say. Feel free to PM me for steam/discord info, we'd be happy to have more people to play with.

@bladededge: I mean, to rule out any negativity from other people is to rule out just about any successful online competitive game. I get what you're saying and I agree that if that sort of negativity has a large impact on somebody's enjoyment of the game, it should be totally avoided. For me, Dota 2 offers something which no other game could in a single player environment, and definitely justifies the occasional bad apple for me. But my opinion may be colored by the fact that I do often play with friends.