Dota Scientists Determine Ideal Amount of “Try”

A team of scientists working to uncover the perfect methodological approach to Dota have isolated what they believe as the perfect amount of the mysteriously powerful entity known to all players as “try”.

Research indicates that the baseline level of what is termed “acceptable try” by the average pub player is just below how much is needed to win the game. Players at risk of stepping beyond this level should be wary, lest they fall into a category the study describes as a “tryhard [redacted].”

The team based its studies on the exponential increase in the number of these “tryhards” since the launch of ranked matchmaking, frustrating a large proportion of public players who are unused to losing to what they deem “unfair” tactics like smoke ganking and dewarding.

“I was playing mid and the enemy support checked top rune for their mid,” said username. “Some tryhards will do anything to win.”

It was initially believed that the value of acceptable “try” is a constant, like Pi (π), but now scientists believe the value actually varies based on several key factors, most notably whether the player trying is a teammate or enemy.

While not everyone is in danger of crossing the line into the “tryhard zone,” many players have experienced difficulty in recognizing the factors that may contribute toward excessive “try.” Some of these factors include, but are not limited to:

1. Buying and using smoke
2. Ganking middle lane
3. Body blocking creeps
4. Pooling regenerative items
5. Attempting to gank an enemy jungler
6. Using a TP scroll to assist a teammate
7. Picking heroes before creeps spawn
8. Picking a hero others find overpowered
9. Placing observer wards near runes
10. Buying sentry wards
11. Upgrading to flying courier at or near 3 minutes
12. Stacking with friends
13. Coordinating abilities with teammates
14. Split pushing in any way
15. Choosing heroes with blink abilities
16. Purchasing Black King Bar
17. Stacking or pulling in the jungle
18. Calling missing
19. Purchasing branches at the start of the game
20. Repicking into a hero you are good at
21. Retreating after taking a tower
22. Dodging sunstrike, hook, rocket, or other skill shots
23. Activating Black King Bar
24. Picking Earth Spirit
25. Playing Captain’s Mode
26. Pushing with five heroes
27. Randoming a good hero
28. Randoming a bad hero but playing it well
29. Bottle crowing
30. Blocking enemy jungle camps
31. Scouting or warding Roshan
32. Building a Mekansm or Pipe
33. Harassing or zoning an enemy
34. Abusing high ground vision
35. Juking into the trees
36. Using a hero who has a teleport ability
37. Farming faster than enemies
38. Disabling backdoor protection
39. Successfully roaming
40. Learning from mistakes
41. Playing a difficult or high skill cap hero
42. Micromanaging jungle creeps
43. Stacking Ancients
44. Picking invisible heroes
45. Purchasing dust or sentries against invisible heroes
46. Ganking an enemy carry before he is farmed
47. Spending unreliable gold
48. Saving for buyback
49. Purchasing a magic stick
50. Using a magic stick
51. Upgrading the magic stick to magic wand
52. Using a magic wand
53. Baiting the enemy team
54. Buying a Gem of True Sight
55. Not feeding a Gem of True Sight
56. Killing the enemy courier
57. Building a Hand of Midas
58. Dodging projectiles
59. Orb walking or animation cancelling
60. Cancelling abilities that won’t land
61. Picking heroes that lane well together
62. Always carrying a town portal scroll
63. Redirecting tower aggro
64. Diving a tower before 5 minutes
65. Diving a tower after 5 minutes
66. Pausing when a teammate disconnects
67. Reading the guide section
68. Playing with a coach
69. Stacking with players better than you
70. Purchasing items from the side shop
71. Picking heroes with team fighting abilities
72. Picking hard carries
73. Farming well with hard carries
74. Picking supports that have stuns
75. Buying boots early in the game
76. Having a high ranked game MMR
77. Only playing mid heroes
78. Only playing heroes you are good at
79. Playing heroes with summons
80. Denying a teammate who is going to die
81. Accumulating charges on Blood Stone
82. Using Force Staff on teammates
83. Using Force Staff on enemies
84. Etc.

Indulging in one or many of these behaviors could be the first step down the slippery slope of tryhard status, ruining games for all involved. However, while these factors contribute toward the tryhard label, players can avoid the shameful tag simply by remembering the “Golden Rule” of tryhard avoidance as determined by Dota 2 players everywhere:

“If you are winning, you may be trying too hard.”