The Start to DoTA

Hi everyone, seeing as this section of the forum is named "New Player Help", I thought it would be appropriate to post this here. If not, apologies. Recently my friends have gotten me into playing DoTA 2 specifically, as I didn't play DoTA 1 with much understanding at all. Nevertheless, DoTA 2 seems like a much more advanced version, and being forced to choose between League of Legends and DoTA 2, I chose the latter. I hope much of the community would be able to make me feel that I've made a good decision (of course comes down to personal opinion).

Anyway, enough about that.

Being a new DoTA player, yes, I have already taken the time to read some of the beginner guides on this site. Despite being a beginner's guide, there's still many things I'm unclear of.
The very first question that comes to mind is pretty simple: where do I start in DoTA? Of course, I could always just follow the guides and experiment each myself, however I feel I do not learn best this way. So I figured by asking what I'm currently unsure of, plus additional help you guys would like to share would be the most efficient way to get the hang of it.

Now because most guides I have read so far insist on having basic knowledge on supporters, how should a beginner play support? The idea of runes/wards and such is sort of confusing and I'm not sure exactly when or where to place them. Although at the very least I have a general idea of what they do.

After getting the hang of supporting/being a beginner at DoTA, where should I head off next? Once again, my friends have suggested all these Heros sounding OP and all, aside from choosing which one is best for me through experimenting, how should they be played? For example, say I chose Anti-Mage to begin with (one of the Heros I played in DoTA 1), how should I begin to farm, know when to switch lanes or engage in team battles etc.

What are the differences between the types of Heros? (carry, support, gank, nuker etc.)

To those who took their time reading all that, I appreciate it and hope you could help in some way.

TL;DR I'm noob pls halp me in Dotarrr.

Thanks in advance! And hoping to see some of you in game (:

It's kind of difficult to say really - everyone has their own style and preference for particular roles/heroes (even if you don't know it yet).

Start by doing the tutorial (sure you already have), then move to bot games, either alone or preferably with friends. I'd recommend you start with a category of heroes that you like the look of, but avoid anyone who requires skill shots, big micromanagement skills etc. Limit yourself to maybe 2-3 heroes to start with so you can get to grips with the game.

Play some bot games until you feel reasonably confident that you have a rough idea what you're doing and can give vs humans a go. There's lots of guides on here that explain the differences between roles, types, etc. Have a look in the General Strategy Section.

Buy a Cloak and don't listen to Pu12e about dagon :D In all seriousness there are a lot of guides you should read, and then get someone in game to help mentor you.

#killsecure

Play at least one bot game with all of the Limited Heroes pool.
This way you have at least some idea of how they all function.
Then pick 2 or 3 you like and play some Limited Heroes games with people.
After you play maybe 10 of those, then the best thing to do is start hitting Random Hero every match, Alt+Tab and look at the basic layout of the most popular guide for that hero.
You will eventually learn what items generally work, how to build your basic Intelligence Support, Strength Carry, Agility Ganker, etc.
Then just find some heroes you like and HAVE FUN.