2 weeks in, requesting any advice

A lot of thought can go into choosing the right items to build. You're almost never going to play several consecutive matches and build the exact same way each time. Something i recommend is, while waiting for a game, go to the "Learn" tab and just read up on the items. There's a whole lot of them, and they each have their own set of pros and cons. An item thatgives great stats is typically very expensive. Or a cheap item may only be beneficial to a small handful of heroes. You need to be able to know what you need and when you need it.

What you're doing by randoming is both great and bad, as explained by a couple people before me. You're learning new heroes and new roles, but you're not really becoming proficient at any given hero. Pick a small handful, maybe one from each tavern (dire/radient, str, int, and agi [6 heroes]). That way you'll most likely have a pretty nice mix or roles in your repetoir. Your team needs a support? No problem, cus you've practices Earthshaker until you were blue in the face! A nuker/disabler? How does a Lina who never misses her stun sound? It's impressive to see someone who can play every hero. It's more impressive to see someone truly dominate as a single hero, especially when odds are not in their favor.

As you play more bot games, you'll see more people playing different heroes, sometimes in new and unusual ways *cough*Lone Druid Medic Bear*cough*

But in the end, the best way to learn the game is to keep on playing. Also, try watching a replay of yours or two, and try to analyze each of hour deaths. Who killed you with what spell. Where they came from. How they bypassed your wards. Or if you even had wards up at the time. It's not enough to know where you went wrong, either. You have to actively try to change.

Practice makes perfect, as they say.

Also, on the subject of watching people play in order to learn, i personally recommend Purge, since he talks about what he's doing and why in his videos. He may not be the greatest player, but he certainly goes in depth with his videos.

I like this. Though there are 100+ hereos, I'd like to at least try them all out before I decide which to play more regularly. I'm never going pro, I am in no rush to get to my dota 2 ability "end-goal."

This thread has proved very useful for me. A lot of good advice which has helped me jump into real games and be successful for the most part.

Your Catch 22 is not quite as insolvable as you think it is, friend.

There's this radical new idea called "positioning". You seem to be lacking it, and that's why I'm telling you to go get some!

A key to DOTA 2 is understanding your hero and more deeply, understanding how frail or tanky your hero is. For example, if you're playing Axe, you might want to jump in with a Blink Dagger, and understanding that you can do that and possibly come out alive is a big deal. Another example is Sniper. I see a common trend with newer players (especially my friends -_-), in that they have some right-click hero, and they totally misunderstand the concept of "maintaining position". They get off one hit, and then charge forth, and auto attack some more, and then channel their Assassinate in front of the enemy tower and miles ahead of any allied tanks, and then wonder why they die. Which I don't mind; it's hilarious to me EVERY TIME XD.

So yeah, that's what's holding you back. Could I post links to positioning guides? Yeah, probably, but then, what would be left for you to do?

GL ;)

-MM