Chapter 727 On the Right Track (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Of course, it wasn't just Song Ren's voice that was desperate.

Beside him, Wang Han and Zhang Yi, including the Pudge and Engineer in the top lane, were all quite desperate.

Although they already knew this AI game was an activity challenge, just like the Despair Mode in the previous Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the Death Mode in Dark Souls back then.

This DOTA AI bot activity was also of the Despair Death level.

But they really didn't expect it to be so strong. Online, there were various small details, such as aggroing and using jungle creeps from the side lane to pull and clear minion waves, which kept the entire minion wave close to the Dire defense tower.

Meanwhile, their last-hitting, like robots, utterly dominated them.

Their skill combinations, in particular, were truly masterful.

Of course, if that were all, it would be fine, but through the AI bot's performance, they saw even more incredibly powerful details.

In the mid lane, Song Ren's Huskar was exceptionally miserable, a level 7 fighting a level 11. The only difference was that having been killed by Shadow Fiend once again, he completely dared not engage Shadow Fiend.

At the same time, he also bought a 550 gold Cloak, and since Shadow Fiend had no crowd control or slow abilities, as long as he cowered completely, it was still unrealistic for the opponent to kill him.

Another point was that the AI bots were not that aggressive towards defense towers.

In a real match against players, Shadow Fiend could actually have teamed up with the catapult early on to destroy the defense tower.

But after all, this was an AI bot mode designed to challenge players, so in the settings, before 15 minutes, the AI bots would not actively destroy towers or dive to kill.

So, although it was miserable, Song Ren and his teammates could still play.

And they could also learn many things from the AI bots.

“These jungle creeps can be pulled like this to clear the minion wave!”

“And using the aggro of actively attacking heroes to pull creeps close to their defense tower, that technique feels very useful too!”

“When using consumables, dropping your equipment on the ground allows you to restore more health and mana. That's way too meticulous!”

Zhang Yi and Wang Han, discovering some of the AI bot's operations, were both very surprised.

Meanwhile, Song Ren couldn't help but grumble: “It's ridiculously meticulous! Selling these 1400 gold Power Treads to Shadow Fiend is a damn waste! Switching to Agility for last-hitting, Strength for tanking damage, and Intelligence for Shadowraze. What the hell is this, buying Power Treads? It's like buying an Ultimate Orb that grants movement and attack speed!”

As one of the basic boots in DOTA, the biggest feature of Power Treads was its ability to switch between three different attributes.

Furthermore, the bonus was 9 points, while the Ultimate Orb was a 2100 gold item that granted +10 to all attributes.

So, it could be said that if Power Treads were used well, it was like getting an Ultimate Orb for free.

Zhang Yi and Song Ren chattered excitedly about their in-game experience.

They were getting crushed in lane; the AI's fundamental skills and teamfight skill combinations were many levels above theirs.

Although this challenge activity wasn't designed to curbstomp players, as time progressed, with players getting better equipment and higher levels, winning wouldn't be too difficult.

But the key point was that Zhang Yi's team was simply unwatchable.

Putting aside their skill for now, the Pudge and Techies combination in the offlane was truly a bit of a joke.

Pudge's hooks on creeps were accurate, but he couldn't hook heroes. As for the newly released Engineer hero, it was clear that their player couldn't play him either.

As for Song Ren's Huskar, it could only be said that in teamfights, he would sacrifice himself by charging in with his ultimate. If he could just cast his first skill, Inner Fire, that was already the most he could do.

The one who played the biggest role was Zhang Yi's hero, Wraith King.

In the current version, Chen Xu had not yet added the revamped Aghanim's Shard from his previous life, but he had added a crucial item for all heroes.

That was Aghanim's Scepter, and all heroes had their unique Scepter upgrades.

And Wraith King's Scepter ability allowed allied hero units within a certain range to have several seconds of active time after dying.

However, among the few of them, only Techies had an AOE skill to clear creeps, yet this player couldn't play him, and his mine-laying skills could only be described as terrible.

After about fifteen minutes, they finally had their main base destroyed by the AI bots.

“We lost even this! The AI bots are too strong!” Looking at the final 7-27 score, Song Ren couldn't help but exclaim.

This was the game where he died the most, almost 30 times.

“Old Song, after seeing your Huskar, I think Shadow Fiend is quite suitable for this version,” Zhang Yi sighed beside him.

He didn't care about the game's outcome at all now; his mind was filled with Song Ren's earlier words.

‘Shadow Fiend isn't suitable for this version.’ ‘I'm not a player who constantly collapses.’ ‘How did that shot hit me?’

It was simply too dramatic!

“Shut up! I have my own understanding of DOTA! Let's play ranked! I'll show you what a true Zhao Yun is!” Song Ren, feigning anger, decisively changed the subject.

After playing an AI bot game, he felt that playing against real players might even be less stressful.

“But no more ranked. Let's play one serious AI bot game, win it, and then go. It's tough early on, but pick more heroes that can defend towers, Sniper and Zeus are good, we can still win.”

“In this game, I'll be Zhao Yun. You, A Dou, don't cry in Brother Yun's arms, okay?” Zhang Yi sighed.

……………………

After the new version was launched, many players engaged in various modes.

Some challenged this new AI bot activity, preparing to get a reward.

Others were eager to challenge the Ladder, to see what their true skill level was.

Of course, more were just messing around in normal matchmaking, and trying out the latest hero, Techies.

At the same time, as more and more DOTA players emerged and their skill levels gradually improved, all sorts of tutorial videos also proliferated.

In particular, some players discovered a feature: this newly released AI bot challenge also allowed for AI bot 5V5 matches.

This immediately led many players to a new discovery; they found that in this AI bot 5V5 mode, it was simply an intense competition among gods.

Starting with Smoke of Deceit to gain vision, five players grouping up to take some high ground, fixed-point pulling and stacking of neutral creeps, along with roaming in lanes, and the late-game teamfight kiting were all maximized!

Furthermore, there were many new strategies that left many players astonished, such as the combination of Io, Gyrocopter, and Sven, which was incredibly powerful.

The combination of Naga Siren and Enigma, moreover, was an unstoppable ultimate combination.

Through the tactics and strategy combinations demonstrated in these matches, and with continuous research and dissemination by more players, no one complained about DOTA having no content or being too simple, as they did when it first came out.

DOTA's popularity continued to soar, and everything was now on the right track.

Amidst the New Year's activities, DOTA's active user count repeatedly reached new highs.

Daily active users successfully surpassed the 17 million mark.

Compared to the previous World of Warcraft, this data also achieved a breakthrough.

But this data, for a PC platform title, was simply incredible.

And even more crucially, DOTA's popularity remained remarkably persistent, even feeling like its player retention was greater than World of Warcraft's.

However, Chen Xu was very clear that this was just the beginning.

Currently, DOTA's initial version and arrangements had already put the game on the right track.

It was also time to continue with the next phase of work.

(End of Chapter) <>