Captain Planet (Part 2)

Wrooks: if you were to improve that system of how the suggestions forums work how would you change it?

Captain Planet: that’s a very open ended question. my views are also probably somewhat…controversial and time costly as well both to implement and to police but a while ago I wrote up a series of proposals that would enforce a pre-post filter much like how Balance Debates used to operate. each thread, before being made visible to other members, would be moderated by forum staff and either approved or rejected based on a number of principles. I’ve still got it on my blog. essentially it was a quality control system aimed at reducing the number of useless/ridiculous suggestions mostly in the hero suggestions forum “quantity is no substitute for quality” kind of thing

Wrooks: Suggesting is fun and all but have you ever considered any other parts of the dota scene such as the proscene, lore making, shoutcasting or video making? In other words, Dota has many other areas in its world a player could be a part of, what brought you to the suggestions forum?

Captain Planet: I’m not very good at making lore in that sense. the hardest thing I find in my own hero suggestions was writing the backstory. I try to follow the pro-scene as best I can. when I have time I’ll catch up on replays in the Dota 2 client or watch vods from a friend and I did some practice casts with replays a little while back and they went pretty well but having the terrible internet that Australia has, streaming is more or less a no-go. I *am* part of a team, but it’s completely non serious so I have no professional aspirations, either.

Wrooks: Lets get down to business, What heroes do you consider to be needing of a serious change?

Captain Planet: well, first and foremost and this will come as no surprise to anyone who’s seen me in DotA Chat: Treant

Leech Seed is a rubbish and unfitting skill for both his lore, his hero concept and from a balance point of view there is nowhere in fantasy lore where you will find Treants who have abilities that direct harm others, aside from when you make them made and they go pounding you with their limbs

but that aside most of his problems arose simply due to the fact that a few people complained he was boring and wanted him to be more active. which is also completely counter to a Treant’s nature. just listen to Rooftrellen’s voicework in Dota 2. nothing active or offensive about it Leech Seed is a massive balancing issue as well his invis has been nerfed into the ground to accommodate it and his armour has been dumbed down. his ulti is, actually, pretty decent because it has a large AoE, a good duration and is excellent in counter-initiation if used properly. I think he needs to be balanced around a 0 damage output concept if he is to become as stable as he was prior to v6.68

him aside

I think Drow needs a complete rework. she’s a useless hero who’s good for nothing else other than pubstomping. she’s seen less professional use than Spirit Breaker. I think Crystal Maiden needs some minor buffs. +10 to her base MS would be enough, i think. I think Spirit Breaker’s Charge of Darkness needs to have its Magic Immunity feature returned, because one lucky right click from Sniper and BAM no more charge. I think his aghanim’s upgrade needs to be incorporated into his STANDARD ultimate. when I mentioned Charge of Darkness, you wouldn’t become magic immune immediately. the way it USED to work was you would get faster the further you charged and when you hit maximum movement speed you then became magic immune. with the hero turning a very dark hue (hence the name). there aren’t that many heroes, actually, who are in serious need of a big change

Drow, Treant and Spirit Breaker are probably the only 3 I can think of off the top of my head (although the changes I’d like to see on SB are more balance changes than wholesale remakes)

Wrooks: if you were to keep anything the same about drow what would it be?

Captain Planet: hmmm probably Frost Arrows. their simplicity allows them to be incorporated into any number of potential remakes while maintaining her theme as an icy ranger. thier simplicity makes them flexible in the creation of something new. extra effects can be added. inter-skill synergy with any debuffs the arrows might place. there are lots of possibilities with such a simple ability

Wrooks: Concept wise though would you keep her squishy if she had a total skill remake?

Captain Planet: almost certainly. you pick any RPG or similar game and you’ll find that rangers are squishy, stealthy and deal plenty of ranged damage. they’re also relatively light on their fight, or mobile if you prefer. these, I feel, should be at the core of a god drow remake

but again, that’s only personal opinion

Wrooks: Though the problem with that is that ranger’s sometimes have pets  for comfort instead of humans and are not always archers or ranged attackers

Captain Planet: well yes indeed. my current Neverwinter Nights character is a bit like that. however again I say, those criterion were merely my personal opinion. I guess then one could say “ranger” is the wrong word to describe what I’m imagining

Wrooks: Frost archer?

Captain Planet: well that’s the general idea, but then when one is going to flavour “ranger” sounds better than the generic “frost archer”, doesn’t it? it brings with it connotations and images of such things

This may be an unpopular thing to say, but I think that Ashe, from League of Legends is a far better hero (or champion) than Drow has ever been in Dota 2

better design concept

better abilities

more utility

yet an almost identical theme; yet an almost identical theme

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