So many things have been going on that it has been a rush of excitement lately, surrounding Aerie of Ruin and otherwise. I launched a new version of my portfolio here (flash cs3 is the devil!). My girlfriend landed her dream job! It also seems like everyone I know is having their birthdays so there have been lots of positive vibes too.
I conducted a series of private playtests with people with a variety of experiences: some had never played warcraft, some had never played dota, some played dota a lot! The feedback was good and only a single small bug popped up.
I addressed the major concerns and rebalanced, then released the map to the public last weekend as Aerie of Ruin 0.99 Public Beta. A few of the release sites:
http://war3.incgamers.com/?p=mod&m=11176
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/resource.php?t=99161&prev=status%3Dg%26search%3Daerie%2520of%2520ruin%26d%3Dlist%26r%3D20
http://clanmapz.com/forum/showthread.php?p=953#post953
http://www.epicwar.com/maps/68603/
It's been great playing public games on battle.net. The feedback seems consistent...about 1/3 of the players absolutely love it, and are vocal with praise. 1/3 of the players hate it, and usually drop out within the first 5-15 minutes. 1/3 of the players are silent but play the game to the end (and usually the high scorers).
Since they usually skip the cinema and tutorial, bnet players tend to be confused about the creep upgrade system, and unaware of Fate and artifacts of power. I think this turns some DotA players off, since they are unware of how to really customize and blow out their heroes.
The Darkling's silence really demoralizes some people. Some DotA players really like how tough the spawns are. I think they welcome the micro-ing challenge. Some DotA players don't like how much the spawns effect the balance. I think they miss the easy farmings.
The dual aura heroes are scorned by dota vets. I'm seeing why too, and plan on merging the auras to provide those heroes with active skills.
I've learned some interesting things about the map and genre in general by playing with strangers and getting quality feedback from forums. I've only seen 2 game breakers so far...Twist Fate and the Gravity of Will rush (very creative!).
There is a lot more but I have to go...I'll upload the 0.99 -> 1.0 changelist soon!
