Just a few beginner questions...

I have read a few guides and played a couple of matches, but I want to know what I'm doing before I do it. I'm coming over from LoL just to see what all of the fuss is about. I understand a lot of the differences between the two games but I still have a few questions if someone could help me out.

Is there a smart cast option in DOTA?

Is there a way to sort the shop to my own liking? I haven't really learned which items work best for which Heros yet, but sorting the items would help me I think.

What guides or streams do you suggest I watch/read to get a good feel for the game? I am really trying to get out of this LoL grind.

What are the community jokes/references? I'd like to know them now so I don't feel lost later. Like in League there's Teemo's global taunt and Morde's huehuehuehue Brazilian counterparts.

Can you injure your own teammates? Do AOE abilities damage your structures/creep?

Is there a setting where I can adjust the size of the mini map and HUD?

I think that's all for now. If you guys have any other tips you feel are necessary for true beginners to know I'd love to hear em.

Thanks!

You can't injure your own teammates, unless manually pressing "A" and then clicking on:
1- A creep below half HP.
2- A poisoned hero below a quarter of his full HP.
This will make you attack an ally with normal attacks, and if you hit the ally the killing blow, enemies will get less exp and gold.
Here is a good video about denying ally heroes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eRLgdCP-Fs



Another thing you might want to be careful about is spells that have "global" range, there are many of them in DotA, so here is a list of them and their effects:

1- Spells that deal damage (and might put debuffs): Clockwerk's Rocket Flare, Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness(also stuns the target), Zeus's Thundergod's Wrath, Nature's Prophet's Wrath of Nature, Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast(also poisons, and prevents any kind of health regeneration for its duration), Invoker's Sun Strike, Meepo's Poof can deal damage and teleport a Meepo to another one, Centaur Warrunner 's Stampede makes his allies move very fast for nearly 4 seconds and deal damage to anyone who touches them meanwhile, Spectre's Haunt will make an illusion appear and start hitting every enemy of Spectre, Silencer's Global Silence when he has Aghanim's Scepter(also silences) and Gyrocopter's Call Down when he has Aghanim's Scepter(also slows).

2- Spells that allow global teleportation: Io's Relocate can teleport him and any other ally hero(when Tetherered to him) to anywhere on the map for 12 seconds, Nature's Prophet's Teleportation allows him to teleport to anywhere on the map, Keeper of the Light's Recall allows him to teleport any allied hero to him, Chen's Test of Faith (Teleport) will allow him to teleport any nearby ally hero to the base. Storm Spirit's Ball Lightning can teleport him globally, but for a VERY high cost of mana, so it is actually impossible to teleport very long distances with it usually. While Tinker doesn't have a spell to teleport, Boots of Travel are core items for him, which allows him to teleport anywhere at any time, as quick as he wants thanks to his Rearm.

3- Other spells that have global range: Mirana's Moonlight Shadow will make her and all her teammates invisible for 15 seconds, Troll Warlord's Battle Trance will grant him and all his teammates a massive boost in attack speed, Treant Protector's Living Armor will grant one of his allies health regeneration and a shield that blocks some damage for a number of times, Drow Ranger's Precision Aura gives all her allies that have ranged attacks some damage boost of a percentage of her agility points, and finally, Crystal Maiden's Arcane Aura gives all her allies high mana regeneration.

I don't think you will memorise all of them right now, but at least you should know some of the global damage dealing spells.

Welcome to DotA 2 and DOTAFire!

I heard something about smart cast being added, I have no idea though, no one uses it here.

Yes, there's an crayon button at the top of the suggested items in shop where you can customize your build.

Guides from our site, guides from YouTube and considering streams, maybe watching professional matches will help.

You'll find out, keep playing :P

No, you can't injure team mates, however, you can deny them if they are really low and poisoned. Only some AoE abilities damage buildings, like Nether Blast

I don't think so, you can only increase the size of the heroes displayed on the minimap

You can put some items in the "Quick Buy" place under the "SHOP" button by pressing "shift" while clicking on an item in the shop, it might be useful to place some items that are good for the heroes you usually pick, but aren't in the "suggested items".

Also, you might check the available in-game guides for each hero by clicking on the book icon at the top left of the screen, and take a look at each guide's name to know the possible roles this hero can play, and click on them to see some different builds that lead to different events.