TI4 Welcomes DOTA 2 Beginners With Newbie Broadcast!

Newcomers to the world of Dota 2 rejoice! The International 2014 (TI4) has created a “newbie” broadcast on Twitch.tv apart from its regular broadcasts, allowing Dota 2 newbies to enjoy one of the world’s biggest e-Sports events with special introductory commentary.

Dubbed as the largest e-Sports tournament in history, TI4 boasts a whopping prize pool of over $10 million – the largest prize pool to date for a video gaming tournament. Vying for the championship win are 16 top tier teams from around the world, who are pitted against one another in Dota 2, Valve’s most popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game.

While the competition itself may prove very interesting and tempting to watch for Dota 2 players and non-players alike, fully understanding every move and decision made in the game can take up to hundreds (or even thousands) of hours of gameplay.

Each game features a five on five battle between various heroes with different skill sets and abilities. Given that there are over 100 heroes with a total of over 400 unique abilities to choose from, making sense of Dota 2’s many statistics and strategies can prove to be a highly daunting task.

To avoid overwhelming newcomers with all the information involved in Dota 2’s gameplay, TI4 has created a stream dedicated to explaining everything going on in a match without ruining its flow. This “noob stream” walks players through the whole game – from the picking of heroes and initial game stages up until the very last moments of a team’s victory.

The stream’s commentators will explain the decisions behind hero picking, discuss the items players buy, and walk viewers through each clash in an action per action basis – explaining the moves and decisions made by the teams before, during, and after every brawl.

Luckily for the newbie watchers, the casters are able to break down everything about the game to the simplest possible form while still making viewers feel and enjoy each gripping, action-packed moment.

The stream is casted by some well-known Dota 2 personalities, the two most notable being Purge, who is best known for his “Welcome to Dota, you suck” noob guide, and Sunsfan from DotaCinema, a Youtube channel that produces hero guides for players. Other casters include Pyrion Flax, Blitz and shaneomad, who are also popular casters within the game’s community.

TI4’s 16-team stage ran from July 9-14, determining the eight teams who will be competing in the main championship event this July 18-21. The newbie stream has been very successful ever since it began broadcasting this July, garnering many positive reviews and attracting thousands of viewers during matches.

Of course, nothing beats learning the game through personal experience. But for those looking to learn about Dota 2 while still enjoying the TI4 action, the newbie stream is a good place to start!