Dota Psychology: Irrational Fear of Pushing

Pushing is intrinsic to the game of Dota, since you have to destroy the ancient in order to win. Despite this, a lot of pubs that I've played featured players that are seemingly mortified of pushing, regardless if it's a tier 1 tower or highground, players refuse to push unless they have EVERY conceivable advantage at their disposal.

Take, for example, this video of CLQ channeling his inner BSJ as Slark and despite having a feed Tiny, a wide variety of disables and some of the best ganking potential you could ask for, they relied on the best f**king dota 2 player the world has ever f**king seen to do everything for them.

I'd like to think that I've become good enough at this game to know that taking objectives improve your chances to win. So why is it players are afraid of towers/barracks? Have they been watching too much Chinese Dota? Or do they need a lecture in objective based Dota to boost their pushing gameplay?

Unless you somewhere in trench or in LP, AFK-farming when there is a good pushing opportunity will only get you ping-spammed and flamed, I don't know what "fear of pushing" you are talking about. I'm pretty sure than in 2016 even my cat knows you have to push after a won teamfight.

Yet, so many players simply resume farming after a won teamfight

I don't know if it's always an avoidance of pushing so much as a bizarre psychological addiction to afk farming. Like seriously, you see teams who are seriously outmatched in the late game go passive against ridiculously vulnerable early game teams.

"It doesn't matter if they have Anti-Mage and Medusa, my Hand of Midas Slark will beat them all once I get enough farm".

"But Slark, aren't you a snowballer hero who needs kills to stay ahead, and then we steamroller their farming space and take rax with our massive midgame advantage?"

"Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of me hitting neutrals in our jungle".

*

Players can also be really anal about defending towers. If you're on a team with ****py midgame, you may as well trade a T1 for a T1 than engage in a full 5v5 that loses you both a tower AND all your heroes...for maybe a kill or two and no tower. Delay, evade, farm. Ward the **** out of your side of the map.

</Rocket Science>

This guy frikkin clq groupie.

........


Seriously tho, you need to push after you win or if you are the only survivor out of 10 heroes or your teammates are derps. Just stop grieving about it and eat your towers.

Expect towers, eat them for breakfast.

Thankfully now a days, my team pushes after a teamfight. There was a time when that did not happen. As you guys said, people would just afk farm after a fight. I used to do it too because I did not know any better (in my defense I was in the trench).

I think that apply not only to push towers, but also to taking Roshan, if my team wins a battle in front of the Roshan pit, why not kill Roshan afterwards? I mean they all just die, let´s take the Aegis.

^ you are correct.
I guess it mostly relates to completing definitive objectives after a fight.

I think you all got it right, and it's funny because I recently talked about this with Tim. It's generally difficult for people (specially if lower levels/experience ofc) to look at a game of Dota regarding the big picture, that is, the objectif/strategy part of it. So what happens is, unless you remind them of it, they usually don't think what is strategically better for them in the long run, specially the concept of trading - like Sando said, most players never want to give up a tower, not understanding that may cost them way more than if they let it go and push somewhere else/farm instead (the same for Rosh fights).

If you just play mindlessly and centered on yourself, it's easy to get lost in killing creeps and trying to kill heroes instead of actually going for not shiny objectives like a building. So I think this is actually the answer to your question: most players in Dota are more concerned (unconscienly sometimes) with themselves and their KDA then with improving their real chances of winning. That also accounts for the famous lack of coordination, because if you want to really try hard to win you know you will probably need to direct your teammates, and in order to achieve that a whole mindset of modesty and almost pleading/rewarding system must be used (I have been having good results in these lately with the excessive use of words like "please" and "can you/when possible" and the spamming of the wp button).

^ I have over the past few weeks resorted to doing just the same. I literally beg my team (on mic) to take objectives and it surprisingly works (about 60% of the time).