First TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019 – DOTA 2

First TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019 - DOTA 2

We ran our first TeleTrip Campus at National University of Singapore’s Yusof Ishak House on 9 March 2019. Despite registration time being set earlier at 9.30am so that the players could set up their laptops for the games, they amazed us again by turning up earlier!

Taking Initiatives Together

Soon it was time for TeleTalk, our signature workshop which aligns the players through teamwork so that they are ready for play. Usually as an icebreaker, the players are encouraged to introduce themselves. It was surprisingly wonderful that the players took the initiative to walk to the front of the room before addressing themselves.

The players broke into their teams after TeleTalk, and Team 6 was incomplete, because their teammate was on the way from Johor Bahru! Instead of panicking or rushing him, they took the time to strategise while thinking about how to share all these information with him when he reaches. He managed to join them just in time for the warm-up match and lunch.

Win or Learn

The teams returned from lunch and found out their opponents for TeleMatch through a live draw. By a (strange) coincidence, they matched against the same opponents from the warm-up match again. This happened previously during TeleTrip Express, which amused the returning players.

The first match was slightly more tense as the winner of that game will proceed. After the match, the teams who lost were recommended to continue playing to work on their teamwork. For the teams that lost, most thought that they lost through draft or skill, but actually it was mainly due to lack of communication, which led to the lack of coordination.

For example, a player disabled the opponent before his teammates could reach and deal damage, resulting in the opponent fleeing without receiving any harm.

The teams diligently worked on their issues, to the extent that after every game, the two teams will discuss what each other could have done better through the replays.

The Importance of Communication: Team 5

Every team had a unique issue that they overcame during TeleTrip. In the case of communication and awareness, Team 5 struggled initially. It was to the point that it took the coach to realise that mid player was having a hotkey issue to suggest a pause. This incident caused the team to reflect and talk things out after the game. As a result, they committed to changing their roles, communicating and importantly to ask and not assume in the game.

It paid off in their third game against Team 1, when they were playing from behind with almost 20k gold difference, which meant that the opponent had a significantly higher killing potential. Despite the bleak situation, Team 5 pressed on and the moment came when they managed to catch the opponent’s mid player before pushing into the base and ending the game.

Embracing Changes: Team 6

Team 6 had a rough start as well, and nothing seemed to be going right with four consecutive losses. It was even more challenging considering that most of them had limited roles. Instead of giving up, the team continued to swap their roles so that everyone could have a chance to learn and experience each role. Surprisingly, their support player who believed that he could not play other roles, played mid very well, better than support.

With that attitude to learn and explore, they eventually ended up taking a game off Team 4, one of the stronger teams in TeleTrip.

Play on the Strengths, Complement the Weaknesses: Team 2

On the contrary, Team 2 had a strong start at TeleTrip. It definitely helped to have an experienced competitive teammate to lead and direct the team. However, it was still important to play according to the team’s strengths and they learnt this in the finals.

During the best-of-three finals against Team 3, Team 2 managed to win the first game after an hour but lost the second in half an hour. There was a deciding game next, but Team 2 seemed to remain focused on their defeat. They had a draft that looked good and should counter the opponents, yet lost so badly.

It turned out that during the second game, Team 2 indeed have a good draft, but they forgot that there were teammates who were not familiar with the heroes’ capabilities. There was a gap between the experienced and inexperienced teammates as the latter was already struggling to perform their roles at a high-stress game, let alone processing information about unfamiliar heroes.

After realising this issue, Team 2 restrategized and found a draft that is good for the team, with heroes that the team was familiar with. This time, the inexperienced teammates felt comfortable and the experienced teammates could focus on leading the movement instead of teaching about the heroes. After another nail-biting one-hour game, Team 2 managed to emerge as the winners of TeleMatch.

It was amazing to see how every team overcome their problems and not forgetting to help the other teams as well with feedback. The winning teams also voluntarily shook their opponent’s hands at the end, displaying sportsmanship. Awesome job teams!

Prize Presentation and Pizza Party

We had five TeleTrip Campus winner tags for the winning team and one “Best Support” tag. We had an additional prize for the “Best Survivor” as well. Every winner received a Sliver mousepad by Aftershock. Besides the winner tags and mousepads, the winning team brought home mouse and backpacks from Aftershock.

After a long day, it was finally time to say goodbye to the players. When everybody was about to leave after getting their goody bags (shoutout to Kangaroo Nuts), suddenly one of the players approached us to ask for a group photo. Thankfully, most of the players were still around and managed to get a group photo!

Again, there were many players who stayed back to talk more about the games but this time, they continued to stay as there was no closing time for the students’ lounge. Till we meet and play again in person… meantime, online works too!

Highlight

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvOy2COhEQh/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Testimonials

Cassey “ReckLesS” LowDespite being a relatively new player to DotA (since 2017), TeleTrip taught me many new things and also helped me discover new points that I can work on such as effective communication to be a better player. I also befriended many players through this platform that I can now play with online. Above it all, it was refreshing to experience such an exciting atmosphere that I thought I could only feel through watching The International ?Zhong Hua “Sibeibudget” LowThe teletrip was an amazing and fun platform for me to foster friendship and play with people regardless of what skill level they are in. Through this workshop, I learned to grow to become a better player be it individually or as a group because we learn to support, motivate and forgive each other even if we had bad games. Furthermore, I also want to thank Ruth for being a good host in organising and planning this event and really enjoyed myself. I hope there’s more these event, so we can keep the dota spirit alive.

Thank Yous!

Thank you National University of Singapore E-gaming Society for providing the venue for  TeleTrip Campus.  Appreciate the support from all our partners, AftershockPC, PEZZO, Kangaroo Nuts, SCOGAEsports Academy and NYC in making this TeleTrip Campus possible. Last but not least, to the gamers who came and made TeleTrip such a fun and memorable day for all of us. =)

Facebook Book Photo Album of TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019: https://www.facebook.com/pg/soos.oio.sg/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2079267272364438

Instastory of TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMzUxNjUzMjczMDY3/?utm_source=ig_story_highlights_share&igshid=i02jiqk4qiy2

Details of TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019:http://soos-oio.com/teletrip-campus-nus-mar-2019-dota-2/

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