zircon

Yes just reply to the sales@audiomidi email address.

Just reply to the sales email... worked for me. Also you don't need to email for the response. Once you download the program and run it, it generates the challenge code. It will link you to the page where you get the response code. No other communication needed.

If you didn't get the download link, email them. I didn't get mine either until I contacted support, at which point I got it in like 10 minutes.

Zero, you should be a bit more fair to some of us... I'm pretty sure we are capable of ending a game before 30 mins. The reason why some of us tend to play carries is that we don't trust our lesser-experienced OCR guys to do that. What's the point of playing the perfect Accursed or Shaman if the guy playing Madman has no idea how to farm, what items to get or how to play him properly? It's better to have a crappy support character than a crappy carry, IMO. I remember a game recently where I was Slither and Bardic was Valk and we ended it pretty early thanks to our shenanigans.

I don't support a ban of Aracha. Tempest and Jera are the only ones who I think are just too powerful. To counter Tempest you need lots of stuns, superior map awareness, and excellent playing (avoiding getting clustered, warding his jungle, etc.) which too many of our players are incapable of doing. It's too hard to counter him. Likewise with Jeraziah. His nukeheal is tremendously powerful but he FORCES you to get a Nullfire, and even then, he can use the bubble so frequently it's not even a true counter (and it doesn't help with his brutal heal or ult.)

A $200 synth plugin, now $15 on AudioMIDI. Buy it. http://www.audiomidi.com/Ultra-Analog-VA-1-BR-No-Brainer-Deal-P12692.aspx

I just reinstalled my operating system and my favorite media player, Winamp 2.95. However, for some reason it's now displaying all of my tagless songs as "-" on the playlist, instead of "filename" (which it should be doing - and was, on my last Windows install.) I can't find the option for this anywhere. Halp!

Panda B-tier? I really don't think so. He has a brutal AOE stun that is perfect after someone like Pesti or Behe initiates in a teamfight. It's also ridiculously amazing early on in a lane with another stun/disable. He scales incredibly well the whole game and has a practically instakill single target disable. Don't forget a blinking, disjointing stun/disable that goes through magic immunity - how could you say that's B-tier?! His only real weaknesses are a crappy attack animation and reliance on mana, but once he gets a Runed Axe his farming ability is off the scale. Get tanking items and he's a fantastic initiator too. Scout as C? Free wards plus excellent ganking, scaling ult, disarm, and AOE silence? He's not a top-tier carry but his new incarnation is very solid.

New tiers (IMO) God Tier - Jeraziah, Tempest S - Madman, Magmus, Behemoth, Swiftblade, Defiler, Thunderbringer, Demented Shaman, Arachna, Plague Rider, Succubus, Hellbringer, Pharaoh, Electrician, Pandamonium, Kraken, Pestilence A - Pollywog Priest, Torturer, Blood Hunter, Pyromancer, Scout, Moon Queen, Wildsoul, Magebane, Predator, Sand Wraith, The Dark Lady, Maliken, Valkyrie, Soulstealer B - Puppet Master, Voodoo Jester, Hammerstorm, Zephyr, War Beast, Glacius, Soul Reaper, Andromeda, Legionnaire, Accursed, Slither C - Armadon, Blacksmith, Devourer, Night Hound, Nymphora D - Chronos, Keeper of the Forest, Wretched Hag Some movement since last time. The big one is that my beloved Soulstealer is no longer S. As much as I like him, against a good team he is too situational. Yes, his nukes are awesome. However, his Ult takes WAY too long to cast. Even if you port in, ANY stun or disjoint will mess it up. This means he pretty much needs 5k+ gold in farm just to be able to use his ult properly, and even then, he's squishy. While he does hit like a truck, and CAN be very powerful due to his amazing farm, I don't quite feel he is as competitive as I originally thought. But maybe I'm wrong. Pesti, Valk and Accursed all moved up for good reason. I needed to play and see them played more to really understand what they can do. Pesti in particular is no doubt an S hero, but I still don't quite get that sense of fear that I would while facing a good Madman or Swiftblade. I also think it might be fun to speculate on the "best" team. Excluding god tier, my vote would be Shaman, Thunderbringer, Behemoth, Madman, Succubus. Hellbringer and Pesti could be exchanged for some of those, too. Another beastly team would be Electrician, Pandamonium, Defiler, Magmus and Arachna.

eZ I would really like some tips on how to become a more competitive player. My PSR is hovering at 1500 and my win/loss is worse than 50%. It seems like I am always well-farmed but I feel like I'm not the 'force' that you (or Donut, etc.) are in games. Even trying to keep in mind what you said about staying in the lane, next time we play, I'd like you to try to give me some pointers on how to step my game up.

No, he was on MY team - Blacksmith just really sucks Even if you know what you're doing, he's very hard to play. No real AOE and luck-based burst potential, plus he's a melee INT.

And as Zero pointed out, it's not a useful 2k item otherwise, and that's a lot of gold to counter ONE hero. He's way too powerful, and every pro/competitive league agrees. If a ban exists in a league it's probably going to be even worse for us since we have a big skill gap among our players. Anyway, I'm one to complain about hero picks or team balance that I think is unfair, but I don't ever ragequit (under any circumstances). Be sportsmanlike, guys. It's easy to get frustrated since you can play well and still lose, but give it your all anyway.

Interesting, but that's a 2k counter, and a stun would work just as well. ANY character or ult can be disrupted via a stun, but the risk/reward of Tempest is way better than any other character.

Yes... exactly. For example in the last game we played, we frustratingly lost (I think - I had to go by the end) to a team with Tempest, played by Hemo. I was Magebane. We were wiped or nearly wiped in about three teamfights by Tempest's ult. Other than that though I didn't see him playing particularly well - no amazing usage of other abilities, no brilliant escapes or positioning... just standard portkey or juke in and ult. Yawn. Had he been playing, say, Wretched Hag, I think I would have overpowered their team more easily. The problem with Tempest is that he is simply too damn powerful. ALL of his abilities are amazing, I can't say this enough. He is one of the best junglers in the game. He can push towers better than perhaps anyone else (at very little risk to himself.) He has a massive, scaling AOE damage spell. He has an instant ranged nuke/stun. He has huge mana gain. He has the best ult in the game (or one of them.) Can you counter him? "Sure, just know where he is or stun him." Durr. The same can be said of literally any other hero. NO hero has foolproof ults or escapes, so that isn't really a good argument. Look at Chronos. He is the hardest carry in the game, an incredibly weak character in early and even midgame. His "gamebreaking" ult is quite similar to Tempest's, but I would argue it's worse since it affects your teammates as well (and is thus harder to use, position), doesn't do damage to people in it, and basically has no utility besides allowing YOU to auto-attack. Compare that with Tempest's ult which combos perfectly with every other AOE in the game, does damage AND comes on a character far better than Chronos in overall utility. The guy is just bullshit, and I hate losing to him because I never know whether I lost because of Tempest (probably the case), or whether my team was outplayed. Saying there are counters is NOT a good argument to not ban him. Every character can be countered, some more easily than others. Tempest is hard to counter compared to others, and this is not offset by anything. On a side note (tiers) I'm increasingly unimpressed by Legionnaire. Is this guy really worth picking? He has one ability that is practically deadweight, his taunt doesn't last that long, and his damage doesn't scale. Furthermore, his ult just steals kills from your carries, giving him money that he doesn't need (there is never ANY reason to attack Legionnaire in any teamfight - he can't do anything if he blew his taunt, as his auto-attack is pitiful, he has no stun/slow and no abilities to help the team.) His only role is that of an initiator, but honestly, he provides so little utility beyond that, that I think he really only deserves B-tier. Zero, what do you think? Another side note: Panda's new Flick is broken. It's way too strong. It disjoints/cancels spells being cast (including SS ult), it can be used on characters to follow their jump/blink, it goes through any kind of magic immunity or protection and effectively acts as a 1-1.5s stun. And now it has RANGE?! I died to it several times earlier. Panda at the moment is just too strong with this. I can dominate with him in almost every game as is, thanks to his amazing damage scaling, and once he farms Runed Axe he is an AOE farming machine that has no mana problems. I even use him to initiate!

Ugh, again I reiterate we have a soft-ban on Tempest for inhouse games. I vote Jera should be added to that short list as well, but we'll see. Tempest is simply too powerful and too hard to counter for players of our average skill level.

I think your source counting is off. First of all, the very beginning parallels the very beginning of the source. Same chords and voicings - it's just slowed down, but the source is definitely there. So that's 0:00 through 0:16. :16 to :18 is source (0:11-0:13 in the source) except with extra embellishments added, OR you could look at it as the prelude. Either way, it's definitely interpreted source material. At spots like 1:00 to 1:03 you're being extremely picky for no good reason. That is just an inversion of the source melody he just played. Are we only counting literal interpretation of the source as arrangement now? It's a clear connection, and a creative one. 1:07 through 1:14 can be viewed as either an arrangement of the prelude, or an arpeggio based on the beginning progression of Decisive Battle. 1:16 through 1:27 is straight-up source, how did you miss that? Same exact progression and voicing, just like the beginning of the remix. The section following 1:28 uses the same progression from the source repeatedly as well as the rhythmic motifs and often borrows from the melody in short spots. At least a few seconds of this can be considered source, but with the way you're breaking it down, it's unreasonable to say second X is source and Y isn't, when you have to look at the entire phrase in context. 2:00 is obvious though, again it's the beginning of the source used quite clearly. It's not JUST the same chords, it's the same voicings and timing too, which places the source melody note at the top. 2:08 is original, I guess. 2:17 to 2:39 could be called prelude but once again he IS referencing the beginning of Decisive Battle. 3:07 is a drawn out version of :39 in the source. 3:45 is the beginning of the source, same as the other times it was used in the remix. Clearly more than 50% usage here - the arrangement is very creative and well-done, interpretation is certainly there in spades, production/performance is fine. YES

Sand Wraith seems really solid. Probably S-tier from what I've seen, due to amazing gank/escape potential and teamfight utility. On a related note, I played a mean Kraken today. He's a fairly beastly hero. 28% move slow + 310 base move speed + e.marchers + tsunami charge makes him an awesome chaser, Whirlpool is just fantastic all around, and Splash pretty much gives him +180 damage every 3 seconds and lets him farm very well. In a recent game, I built him as a hybrid between carry and tank, loading him up with Behemoth/HotBL, Brutalizer and Wingbow. Using him just for the ult seems like kind of a waste considering how he can definitely pull off respectable damage with Splash.

Why is Magebane not getting mana a big deal? He doesn't really need mana for that much.

Brutalizer might not be bad also... AOE stun?!

New Dark Lady is awesome, but her lategame abilities are similar to her lategame abilities pre-buff. She WAS a very hard carry before too, but now she's more viable earlier as well. I think the biggest buffs to her are the increased mana pool and mana gain and decreased mana costs. Tainted Soul is now a viable harass and distance nuke/disable.

I apologize for my extended raging last night. I didn't quit but I gave Hemo and Wes some unneeded flak since we were playing SD in 3v3, not AP. I was just frustrated after a day that included many losses due to teams and heroes. I guess I just don't like non-RD/AP modes on 3v3.

atmuh we play all the time - just come in to #ocrhon !

I had never played DotA either!

I'm adamant that BD is fine. Either team can do it, and it puts your team at a disadvantage (teamfights become 4v5) not to mention homecoming stones are a good counter. However, I still feel VERY badly about Arachna in 3v3, same with Succu. Only in 3v3. The way the heroes are designed is simply not suitable for 3v3 imo.

But the counters to Arachna and Succubus are much harder to come by in 3v3. Yes, if you have full health when Arachna hits you with the ult, you MIGHT be able to escape. But at level 6, many players are in the midst of laning, with lower mana and HP. A single spider plus Arachna's auto attacks will kill almost any character at that level, and for a good time thereafter, especially as she gets more and more farmed. "But just hit the spider." With what team? In a 3v3 that is much harder to coordinate. Likewise with Succubus. I don't think Panda and MQ are as big of an issue because Panda is not ranged, and MQ's ult is messed up by creeps. Sure, if you run into her in the forest you might be in trouble, but Arachna can kill almost anyone in a lane no problem, even with the creeps around. Furthermore, she has debilitating slows and magic immunity. MQ has her ult and the occasional moonbeam... that's it. No other defense. If you don't believe me that Arachna is OP, I'm going to pick her intentionally in the next few AP games just to show you how rough she is. Oh yeah, and while I've heard complaints about Thunderbringer, I REALLY don't think he is ban material. First of all, a 400 gold item reduces the effectiveness of everything he throws at you by about 15-20%, and finishing the recipe will cut his damage in half. He doesn't scale into lategame, he's fragile and his attack range is garbage. A great nuker, sure, but I would rather lane against him than Arachna anyday.