wanted to play dota, had a friend who played 1000+ hours in it. We started slow (first game against bots he told me, all you need to learn now is to last hit the creeps to earn money) so game after game he tought me basics... easiest heroes (bristle, centaur, etc), camp stacking, roles/ position, wards. got to the point where we started playing some games against people and got some wins. It was roughly after 100 hours? I don't play solo. I think it's a team game so it has to be played as a team... found some common friends who all have a lot of experiance in dota (they all used to play years ago when they were students)
now ranked is unplayable. Every time we play ranked We get matched up against people who are WAAAAAAAY higher in skill then me. Regardless of what position i play. Conceptually i understand the rotation, the engagement rules. I'm trying to read the map as much as i can, but getting steamrolled by I guess i might be my own worst enemy since there are couple of things that i refuse to do, such as diving deep into THE META build or getting any coaching sessions or anything like that.
My frieds are telling that this would increase my skill faster, but to me it's like a kindergardener playing football against Messi, ya you will see how ball looks like but you wont touch it no matter how long you play.
i do understand that this game requires serious commitment but at the end of the day.. it's just a game that supposed to bring joy after a long day of work. The solution i see is play without friends solo to be in the same Ranked bracket as the me, but then i would rather play a single player game...