I love DOTA2. But this may be the end. Here's why... 

I found you through your dota 2 streams, and I'll be staying through whatever you decide to play instead because you're just a delight to watch no matter what you're playing. I loved watching you play dota because unlike watching pros playing, I was watching someone who was also figuring out some stuff here and there, someone who tried new heroes and new things that they weren't good at and it was okay! But I know a good part of the community doesn't think the same, a lot of people seem to be more focused on telling you that you're bad instead of enjoying the pure chaos of someone trying to learn a new role or a new hero at high mmr. But again! You're a lovely person and your streams are great, if you're no longer having fun with the game, then don't force yourself! Keep the good memories you made, and we'll move on with you into the next thing! Thank you for everything Grubby, keep up the good work!

I felt that a lot of solo queueing in DOTA was just managing everyone's egos to make sure that no one cooked off unnecessarily and started feeding couriers or throwing. You're spot on your assessment with regard to why people are like that, they have played for so long and it has become their lives. They no longer even enjoy the game, but they feel they have no where else to go, so they stay on the game and lash out whenever there is any discomfort. I found that playing in low priority was much more fun because people were just playing for fun rather than for points and ego

Imagine mobas but people respect each other and are helpful and in a good mood

Mad respect for you and for that decision, dude. I had very similar experience with dota2 and quit for exact same reason (although it was 10 years ago). And don't worry about moving on, I really appreciate your personality and openness, and will watch your content for as long as you will stay true to your values.

You worded this so well. I'm sorry about your bad experiences, it's heartbreaking. Glad you also had a fantastic time as well though!

Dota was my main game for many years, I played it's earliest versions and was instantly hooked. Played customs, the clan tda era and onto the garena scene, then i joined league beta, heroes of newerth then moved on to dota 2 when it started. I saw dotas transformation from a casual custom map to a competitive game with massive tournaments. The level of competition was insane, but at the casual level the increase of competitiveness added a different kind of fun for a few years. But then the community seemed to turn on itself. Just like you said, many games were no longer an enjoyable experience. People didnt want to win, they needed to win. Constant name calling, blaming everyone instead of focusing on what they could do better. This obviously wasnt all players, but it was enough players that I was no longer having fun. I did the pre mute for a while but it just wasnt the same. I decided to take a break and uninstall thinking i would get the desire to play again. It was about 5 years until I decided to play dota again. Obviously I was no longer at the same skill level(i was good, but nowhere near pro level) . I played one game and was harassed by my team starting from my item choice in the load screen. They reported me told me, to never come back, and called me names for the entire 35 minute game. I thought to myself, i didnt have any fun or enjoyment. Why would i spend my free time doing this. That was probably 2018 i think? Ive never played dota since. I used to be one of the biggest fans, but that part of the community has completely ruined the game for me.

I recently tried to teach my friend DotA 2 who was coming from League of Legends. I came out of a 6 year hibernation to play some games with him and absolutely forgot how much patience you need when queuing up without a full team (the last two years I played was only with my college team we were competing in JDL with). It took so much effort to defuse people flaming each other, and sometimes never worked. I ended up finishing our game session emotionally exhausted, and this is exactly why I stopped playing. Many times I was playing diplomacy simulator more than DotA

I understand you truly. This happened on my journey a lot of times, I usually have to take some time to reset and this could consist in weeks or even months without playing. And whenever I return, I fall in love with Dota 2 again. But the thrill only last a limited amount of time. And I've dedicated my adulthood to Dota 2 (playing it since its release, currently 7.2k MMR and done a couple of casts including TI for the Brazilian community). Since I tried to make this my passion/work, sometimes I feel stuck to the game. But you know, that's our sin for loving good games a lot. Take your time, grubby!! we'll be waiting. This is called "saudade" in portuguese and you might miss dota at some point

As a long time league player, I'll never forget when I tried DOTA 2 for the first time and got flamed for dying vs AI by my teammates... who were also playing vs AI. I'm used to league toxicity but this was a really strange experience to me.

He's like a gentleman from a more civilized age.

As a person who quit LoL recently (and other MOBAs long ago), I feel absolutely the same. And also as a person who played all those 3 MOBAs, I totally agree that voice chat experience is really cool, but could get toxic really quickly! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Could not agree more. I've basically stopped playing Dota for the last 3 years. Most summer breaks, I give it another attempt to try and recapture the joy of playing the game in the early days. Every time I'm quickly reminded of the same qualities in other people that you're speaking of - and I can't stand it. I'm very competitive and want to win, but I also really enjoy experimenting with off-meta heroes and trying to discover unconventional strategies. I'm always amazed with how closed-minded the players around me are. Often if we're losing, I'm blamed for "griefing" because I didn't pick one of the same 5 support heroes that I'd see every game. Even crazier, when I try playing unranked instead, the people there have the same attitude, like the match they're playing is one of the most important moments of their life and ALL of the 9 other players are actively working to sabotage it. It sucks the life out of a game that should be amazing. Thank you for speaking about this issue - I hope future competitive team games will take these lessons and foster better communities.

Yeah, if ur not a pro and u dont play to have fun then why play at all. Familiarity is a good point. Like someone who goes to college and picks a major they think they would be good at based on familiarity instead of figuring out what they actually enjoy.

I had a reverse situation, played Dota for around 10 years, competed and went to tournaments with different teams and it was a blast. However, after a while I had a break and had no team, so I started playing solo for some time. The difference in the experience you get in terms of fun and improvements is so huge that at some point it felt like a waste of time playing solo due to reasons you mentioned. So, I transitioned to Starcraft 2 and fighting games, as those don't have teammates and it felt amazing competing and improving in those. That said, if you ever feel like returning to dota, I highly recommend playing with a full team for max enjoyment instead of random pubs.

i played the game hardcore for many many years, and then took a much needed almost 5 year-long break in 2018 when i realized i had stopped enjoying it. when i made the decision to come back, i felt like i was better able to enjoy it after experiencing other gaming communities in the time i was away i'm an immortal bracket player so i know first hand how rough this community can be, and while i'm sorry to see you go (been following since before you started dota, and will of course continue after you stop playing), i totally empathize and support the decision. it does feel like this game has permanently rewired some people's brains. they're unable to interact normally with others on a basic level when they're playing the game, and it was really disappointing (though not surprising) to see how little this had changed while i was away. i always, always recommend people take breaks from dota 2 in particular because of how much it (and other mobas) can snare you in this cycle of frustration and desire to improve. if it's not fun, switching to something else is always a good option. happy to see what you play next

On point. Thank you for sharing Grubby

Cheers to you Grubby! I respect you a lot man. Ever since I started watching you, I've always found you as a great positive person who just loved the game and learned it really damn fast. I have seen your streams where people, both in game and in chat were really toxic to you but you still handled them pretty well. I can understand it can get mentally draining to deal with these kinds of people on a daily basis. I used to grind the game as well until I faced the same fate as you and ranked up and found many toxic players who just said the most gruesome shit to me even when sometimes it wasn't my fault. There was no fun playing anymore and it just ruined my mental health, and I can only imagine how much worse it could have been for you as you even had to deal with a toxic chat constantly backseating you. The positive side of Dota will always remember you as a Legend Grubby and I hope you know that we will always support you !

Hey that’s great healthy decision to make. I think the discovery level of you playing DoTA was great, but it’s kind of hard to ignore that chat and players in match are exhausting to deal with. Always happy to see what’s next 🤙

I remember when I found your channel through dota 2. Watching your climb from Herald to Immortal inspired me to try to do the same. Now that I have gotten to Legend I just want to say thank you for inspiring me to become a better player and also getting me back into rts games like wc3 and sc2. Keep up the good work and I wish you all the best.

I just played Axe, I have 515 games with Axe and 58% winrate. I had to lane against MK + Dazzle which are both Lane Counters to Axe. At the start of the game I said I cant lane there and I have to dodge lane and that I would jungle. All agreed but when things got hard they started flaming me for not being able to help. We won the game very easy in the end, i had to mute everybody after 10 minutes and whole team reported me for griefing and I got low prio instantly after the game. My stats were 8/8/28 second most dmg in team, and by far most damage tanked. I also bought crimson and pipe to help my team mates survive. I could also go AFK when they all told me they reported me etc but i didnt because when I win its good for me and i dont have to see those ppl again. Last year I did recallibration and won 8/10 games, got +870 MMR and got 2 times reported for griefing during the games, had 2x low priority and had 6k behaviour score. So algorythm gives me +870MMR but you toxic ppl throwing reports because I dont play like you want me to play send me to hell. Dota always had toxic ppl but somehow it got worse and I think it's because of this infinite report bullshit. When you had 6 reports and u had to carefully choose if it's actually worth to report someone, everything was better. Now the system is actually making to threaten other players because you can report them anytime for anything.

Being stuck in a losing match for a really long time is poison for player behavior. And seeing your teammate make a mistake gives you flashbacks to the times you were stuck in your base for 40 minutes because you fell behind early on. Games dragging on for that miniscule chance for a comeback is hype for e-sports, but matches that resolve faster are much better for the vast majority of games.

I played dota WC3 and after Dota2 for many years than I stopped. I was quite good (around 5k mmr) back then. I restarted to play about when you started your Dota 2 career and after 2 games I uninstalled. People are so toxic. There is no place to new player or returning player in this community.

Grubby, thank you for your content and your attitude, you described literally the same thing happened to me, so 4 yeara ago I just started to play full mute, and it is simplier than communication with people who can't enjoy the game itself

Ive known who you were grubby since i saw you compete in SC2 wings of liberty. I was super happy you started bringing back WC3 hype so long ago, but I had always wondered why you never played dota since you were a hots guy and a WC3 guy. I even asked you once on your stream, if you would ever play dota and you replied something like Ive never played dota before or you never considered it. So I was super happy when, years later, you decided to finally pick it up and take that journey. Dota 2 is easily one of the most complex games ever made, and also one of the most hyper competitive at almost every level of skill. So it doesnt shock me that the community tends to be as toxic as it is at times, dota 2 and Overwatch for me are the two most toxic communities in any game ive ever seen I think. regardless of that, Im glad you enjoyed the game itself and can appreciate it and had fun playing it, it truly is a masterpiece when it stands on its own, and like all games we enjoy at some point we probably have to put them down, even if its for a little while (or a long while). But its all about the journey in the end. so happy you gave it a chance and was able to enjoy it.

I find myself enjoying HotS so much more than other mobas simply because no one tells me I'm a horrible player for my mistakes. And if they do they're not as unhinged as some people in LoL

Fair enough! I have enjoyed watching your DOTA journey, but I also look forward to you exploring other games in the future!

I remember I used to play dota2 a lot back in the day and tried to introduce dota2 to my friend. Every game we tried to play 3 other players talked trash so much about my friend, then i discovered devs even turned off the chat for new players untill you get level 20 or something.

I played today for 7 years straight and stopped for 2 years. I never knew you before you started dota, but watching you discover the game for the first time re-ignited my love for the game and I couldn't help but play again for the past year or so. I uninstalled the game yesterday, maybe because you weren't there to inspire me during your break - lol. I'm actually super happy you're moving on. Like you said, this is maybe one of the greatest games ever, but can have a very negative effect on mental well-being. Glad it introduced me to your channel and I'll keep looking to you for new and interesting games that won't devour my soul.

Voyboy staircase video vibe all over again. That's the reason I stopped playing league actively and now play other games. It's exhausting.

@3:30 this is it! Absolutely on point. Players who became 'vengeful spirits', who can't process loss. Dota2 (but also some other games) can be an incredible toxic swamp, and it's good to leave.

Hey Grubby, i understand how you come that decision and I wish you a lot of fun and success in your future games. Personally, I really enjoyed following your Dota journey. At first, for seeing how the game is viewed through the lense of a talented newcomer. Later, as a benchmark for myself as you closed in on my MMR. Seeing you closing in on my MMR so quickly tickled my pride, so I - exclusively playing 5-people party queue every since I started Dota - found a reason to play solo queue to not let you surpass me - naturally unknowing to you. This personal race started at around 4800 MMR for me (you must have been somewhere in the 4k range) and due to being an underranked party queuer I could keep a reasonable distance between us for a long time despite your fast learning speed and my more limited time to play. In the end, I barely managed to stay ahead. As my winrates dropped closer to normal levels, you caught up to me and surpassed me for short instances a few times. It was a lot of fun, using your journey as a motivator to grind this game again and actively pursuing to get better. I hit Immortal draft two weeks ago and I found a lot of enjoyment in playing Dota at a high level. But playing on WEU as well, I also encounter the inhumane behaviours you describe and how they can both worsen my mood and create hateful generalisations. For now, the enjoyment of my progress and the game at a high level outweighs my frustration with immature and vile players. But Valve will have to punish vile behaviour soon because if these entities are continued to be allowed to steal time from decent people, I don't see myself playing solo queue much longer as well.

It's really important for people to see folks like Grubby who are emotionally evolved learning and enjoying the game, and being the opposite of toxic. I'm grateful for the time you've spent playing DOTA 2 for us, and I've watched every one of your DOTA 2 videos. I hope you'll come back soon! Thanks for being what you want to see - modeling good behavior is so critical ❤

I love this videos lol, feels like hearing a friend chit chatting about life

There is an interview from 2019 just before TI9 where N0tail was asked to give a message to fans and DOTA players, his words resonate with me to this day whenever I feel bad and stressed. He said: "Just remember why you sat down to play for the first time and why you keep sitting down to play. I mean maybe you forget along the way, I have forgotten along the way but it's a game that I truly love and I'm sure that I'm not the only one, there's so many players. Just the good parts again, focus on the positivity, enjoy the games enjoy your teammates. Don't queue for the next game if you're in a bad mood and you know it's going to be a bad game. Q if you're looking for the fun, if you're looking for something good, if you're looking for that nice game or nice experience and that DOESN'T MEAN WINNING, some of the best games are still spent losing and yeah some people get caught up in that as well. Play for fun, have fun, enjoy it."

I'm looking forward to get back to dota after some time but I can share my last experience with you. Sometimes I win the game but it feels the same as loosing. Crazy

I had the same realization plus i became a part time vengeful spirit... playing with positive friends with a similar mindset might be the fix but i enjoyed your journey and you playing different games. so just do whats best for you!

I quit dota 2 a year ago and started to explore and play singleplayer games. Best choice so far. I still watch the esports scene and some streamers tho.

I've never played or heard of a MOBA that isn't viciously toxic (especially as you rank up). There's too much at stake for players (rating) and the game archetype encourages min-maxing metagaming since there are 5 potential points of failure or weakness to ruin what is at stake. Fundamental game design flaw with the genre, IMO 🤷‍♂

I can perfectly relate. In Dota there's such a wonderful depth; details and big picture both engage and matter. It just tickles everything I want from a competitive teamgame. And then there's the playerbase. Some of my best matches were, and probably still will be, losses. I wish more people could also take it that way, to enjoy the process and not fixate on the results. But it is easy to lose it even if one has it in the beginning. I enjoyed watching your journey with dota, you were a breath of outdoors air in this scene. Will probably continue watching your streams! I just want you to know that there indeed are other people who would (or atleast try to) just love to enjoy the pure learning and trying and experimenting without the layer of toxicity. Maybe some day the scene is mature enough to do it. All the best to you!

Exactly the reason I stopped playing Heroes of the Storm. It was such a great game once. Back in 2015 to, let’s say, 2019, the community was great, it was a delight to play. So many great memories. Nowadays, only people flaming and griefing. One moment someone on your team deems you did a mistake is enough for them to screw the game for the whole team. And just like you I recognized: I don’t have to do this. I don’t have to play this. There are so many awesome games out there, let’s invest my time in these.

thank god. after 5 years of playing dota on and off I realized exactly the same thing. what you're saying is extremely resonating. I don't have to do this. I hope more wc and other variety is coming our way from you Grubby.

I love Dota. Best game I've ever played. But I always set a strict rule for myself: As soon as I lose a game, I log off. I find that it's very easy to ignore flame/toxicity on my first match of the day, or if I'm already on a win-streak. But if I just came out of a losing game, I'm a bit tilted, and my team starts flaming at 10 minutes, I'm much more likely to give up myself or even be toxic. This has been very helpful and has actually helped me gain MMR much faster since I only play when I'm in a strong mental state.

Your dota videos are amazing! Its unfortunate that a lot of people (including my friends) have to either play a lot or absolutely not at all. However as a streamer i understand it is different than what we people experience. Furthermore for a player like u who i would say has learning and ranking up as a major enjoyment in playing dota, i imagine it becomes less interesting once u get really good. In a way u have gone through what most of us are still going through (and hopefully enjoying). I myself dont play Dota often but i wont deny any invite from a friend asking to play Dota, nor am i looking to get into other game that is as intense as dota. All i wish is when u find urself randomly playing a dota match on a wednesday night, maybe offstream, that u can share how its like playing from a perspective that a lot of us (and more of us should!!) have: a not regular, a not warmed up, a not having the highest possible personal rank, a not spectated and backseated, a not having to win and queue again, a casual Dota enjoyer :)

Thank you so much man i have been watching you a couple years back i learrned alot from you on how to play orc and knowing you tried dota 2 which also my game made me more happier to see you play and experience a game where mutiple unit controlled is a feature. I'm sad to see you leave although you had your reason which is toxicity in community. Thank you for everything.

Unfortunately I believe this is a universal phenomenon, teams are toxic on all games now, people are getting toxic everywhere even out of the games

When Grubby said "love the details of complex games", I immediately thought about PoE and PoE 2. The complexity of PoE is sth that i miss in other games. I have yet to find another single player game that has as much depth and theorycrafting as PoE has.

It was such a joy watching you stream, and the toxic portion of the community really is annoying. I pivoted to party games and enjoy the game so much more but i do agree that there is some joy in solo queueing as well. Hope to still see you in dota but also hope that it only gives you good experiences and vibes. And also love your general vibes and will enjoy your streams for other games too

Very sad of course. But thanks for all the great content, it was really fun watching you explore and play one of my favorite games.

Honestly Grubby I peaced out during your DotA 2 phase. It's just not the game for me. But I'm so excited to see you going back to WC3 and variety streams. I love the Dune content and can't wait to see more! Would love to see you try Age 4 again, now that it's in a much better place, or just whatever you're passionate about! I guess what I'm saying is, I like this move, and I'm excited to see where you go from here.

Grubby seriously. You are one of my absolute favorites. I love your story and have followed it for many years. Your passion for eSPort is unimpeachable. Never watched much Warcraft 3, but was also a huge fan of your Starcraft days. Brilliant in what a short time you stood up to the pros and competed and did well in scene relevant tournaments. When I happened to see that you were playing Dota, I was mega hyped. It's amazing how quickly you managed to grind 6000MMR. But what I actually wanted to say was: Stay the way you are - an enrichment for the eSports scene. You don't need to justify yourself for anything. These people don't begrudge others anything. It's a waste of time responding to all the haters. These people haven't mastered the art of trolling, they're just annoying. I would also be happy about your Dota content and the fact that you now also stream games like Rimworld is also really good. Just an honest thank you from me

good to hear you had a lot of fond memories with the game. but also sad to hear that the more toxic players have also infected DotA2 I started since beta and got to 4k before quitting, it was no where near as toxic as recently, and I probably won't make a return any time soon either I'll just keep all the good memories i made along the way let's hope it gets better for any community

You see even pro level games where people in public matches are throwing and doing really dumb stuff consistently. At lower brackets if matchmaking is in theory even, if one team is using overtuned patch meta heroes, and the other isn't, or one team is all counterpicking the other, or players refuse to build in a way that will enable them to deal with a hero or do what is needed to win early if the other team is all hard scaling and the other isn't(or a combination of all these factors), you will almost be guaranteed to lose. When games last 30-45 minutes on average, it's extremely frustrating. That's even before you get to the toxicity and hate, or petty spite you frequently encounter. Just makes the game unplayable unless you're willing to put thousands of hours into it, and willing to endure all that for as long as that takes. The game is also very team-focused, where muting can be helpful in many ways, but not being able to coordinate with your team makes the game even more difficult and dependent on your own individual skill somehow surpassing the matchmaking balance. Not worth it. I played original Dota, and during the Dota 2 beta, and even long after. Can't do it anymore. Most I'll do nowadays is watch Wagamama or SingSing, that's it, and tbh I've gotten to a point where I only tend to watch even them when there's a new major update until the novelty wears off.

This means you'll play League again? :D

We are waiting for you in Ability Draft.

If you want to explore other competitive 1v1 games instead of more team games, then I would highly recommend fighting games if you have any interest in it. You have the right mindset about processing losses and learning from them after all the years that you've competed in 1v1 RTS. That kind of skill and mindset would carry over really well to learning fighting games as well (and also zero toxic teammates to ruin the experience for you ofc, it's just you and your single opponent).

Lots of support for you Grubby. Thanks so much for putting this out there.

3000 matches in 1.5 years is way too much.

Nothing will beat the classic dota

Man, I feel you. I haven't played a ranked team game for ages for basically this reason. I play Pokemon Showdown now as my main competitive outlet and it's great.

Hey man, I've been following you since 15 odd years ago watching your WC3 contents. As I grew older, I switched to MOBA along with my friends, and was pleasantly surprised you picked Dota2 up. You'll always be an inspiration to audience in picking new games, analyzing with an individual framework, and just enjoying the journey. Cheers from Thailand!

League is pretty bad as well. Except you can’t talk to each other anymore (riot said so.) So they’ll just silently try to ruin your game out of nowhere, which I feel is worse lol

As a dedicated fan of Grubby's Dota 2 streams, there's something I want to bring up. Sometimes, Grubby picks heroes he's not familiar with in ranked matches, even when viewers suggest trying unranked mode. Then, when he struggles with these heroes, he insists it's a game and he has a right to play any hero he chooses and says any possible reports are illegitimate. But here's the thing: many of us don't have the luxury of playing tons of games every day. We try hard to climb ranks in the limited time we get. So, when a teammate picks a hero they don't know and messes up the only match I get to play for the day, it's frustrating. I think it's fair to report them for ruining the experience. Personally, if I want to try out a new hero, I stick to unranked matches. Despite this issue, I'm still a loyal fan. Whenever Grubby plays Dota, his stream is my top priority.

Most people I know who quit Dota 2 left for similar reasons. It seems those "vengeful spirits" (perfect characterization) are growing in number across competitive games and communities and poison the well so speak.

I remember I was 10 when I started dota, now I'm 30 still playing and still love this game casually. Even though there were times where I completely stopped playing for months, and I still came back and always enjoyed playing like it's my first time.

Im smelling weakness

So basically he rage quit like the average daily redditors cause he got bullied online. so much for the PMA god everybody made him out to be

Wonderfully said! Cant wait to see what else the future will bring for you, and you for us! Here are a few random suggestions - Might and Magic Heroes 5.5, Baba is You, Deus Ex, Beyond All Reason !

Long ago I was doing QA testing for a friend's Steam game. They asked how they could make AI more fun. In my feedback I told him that the AI could every now and then flame the player. They put in that feature, lol.

Trash game

Now I'm 36, that's why I mostly don't play ranked anymore at any game really. I was the UK number one when it was played all the way back on GameSpy. I think I was around 300 overall at red alert 2, I think I was the only soviet player in the top 400-500 as Yuri was so busted. But the more I worked the more I dipped off. I couldn't get higher than platinum in smite. Or past 13k MMR in hearthstone battlegrounds. It doesn't really bother me though. I know only playing 2 times a week is going to get results like that. I mute all the randoms, and just duo queue games with brother. If the rest of the gamers are just NPCs nowadays I find it more fun that way.

I didn't play solo queue for the reasons you mentioned in your video. Playing Dota 5 vs 5 party queue was really fun, especially after learning everyone's strength /habits of your regular teammates, you learned to adapt / work with them. I stopped playing Dota 2 over 5 years ago and watched your stream occassionally for WC3, but when you picked up Dota, it was very fun to watch you start in herald and make it all the way to immortal.

The random people coming together thing is one of my favourite things, I always join random guilds on my alts in wow and try to help them do better in raids etc. One of the most enjoyable things when you all achieve more than you thought possible at first.

I started playing dota recently and even in casual games people are flaming each other hard, legit 10 hours of gameplay and somehow I need to know all matchups, builds and interactions to not get flamed and called the most absurd words

I had the same journey. I switched from WC3 to Dota 2 a while back, played a few years, then stopped and reverted back to WC3. Like you I don't miss it and find it hard to watch tbh. I love your streams but tbh, when you were playing Dota, I would not watch. Now that you play more WC3, I'm super happy :D NB: The highest point in my WC3 life was when we played together 4v4 during COVID lock down. Much love!

I quit for good after too many teammates not playing seriously, like drow mid picks vs traditional mids. Played since 6.3x Dota 1 but the community has gotten so bad it's not worth it.

You see this was my experience as well. Ive been playing the game for a lot of time, but then I stopped in 2018. So the other day I decided to play a game or two again, game is changed, and its like i never played it. The second game I was immediately reminded why i stopped. I just don't want to deal with some toxic terminally online person. I turned it off and don't plan on coming back again.

I used to be a dota 2 veteran. I started playing dota since almost the start of dota in wc3. I was playing with some pro players since dota in Darer client and i dont remember the name but maybe it was RGC. Then i got a beta key i was so happy, i was playing in high mmr with many pro players such as Dendi, Demon, Playmate, xboct, comewithme, Misery, Mania, wagamama, Maelk, N0tail and many others. I managed to hit 4.9k mmr in 2014 right before i quit. I was really enjoying the game! Then suddenly the infamous patch is released the broodmother that can get out of the map. Out of nowhere you can see EVEN in normal games people spamming broodmother. Me and 2 of my friends that we have been playing the game since dota 1 transitioned to League Of Legends. Honestly the best decision we made! I often miss shadow fiend, invoker and storm spirit. I tried twice to give dota 2 a try but it is really toxic... people rage quitting 9/10 games and dota 2 isnt the game i knew for more than 10 years.

Good job. Looking forward to your HotS content :)

I can't agree more with this, miss the moment of playing when watching the tournament, but in game we met those who are very toxic and the mood dropped like 90-100% to play again. Thanks a lot for the insight and it really inspires me big times. All hail Grubby the god of WC3, all the best for you man

Didn't you play 2v2 in warcraft 3 long before HotS? What was it like playing with ToD?

Very sad hearing this. There are not many streamers with your gaming experience, eloquency, talent, chill and cool personality. I have been watching all your journey through Dota 2. Since the A to Z, casual games and your ranked mmr ascensión. I anso played 2-3 with and VS you when you were Ancient. You have been a great company and distraction for me with my personal journey too, my kid born a month or two after you started with Dota 2. Long nights watching you with my baby in my arms sleeping when he was few weeks of age. I tried watching but I really dont enjoy your other content as much. Thank you Grubby! I hope they make soon a game where we can both enjoy.

Me and my friends have played League a fair amount over the last 10 years but a lot of the time we have to remind ourselves to just have fun at the end of the day because we get so riled up with each other, so definitely understand the experience of needing to take a break from an environment that causes you and your mates to become toxic to each other.

Can you play more heroes 3 hota on jebuss cross template????

Something I've really come to like when playing Backpack battles recently, that I always was against for no real reason, is having mmr based on what class (would be champion in dota) that you are playing, rather than just a general mmr for all of them. This incourages players to try more champions out and in general have more fun.

Honestly i played the game and undestand it since it launches but yeah i agree i love watching someone going through the learning and enjoying it ,i know a lot of guys think theyre just better and not enjoy the game anymore but honestly watching you play is a real pleasure and probably helping for a lot of newcomers or guys being stuck and its just a pleasure youre kind and enjoyable person to watch i really hope youre still playin dota 2 sometimes. Cause communities need personnality with youre exposure like you whatever the bad and toxic people i think the more the game is hard the more toxic guy who thinks theyre better you got ,but theyre really good people too in here wo are kind to share and learn and give their knowledge. (sorrry im not a master in english) but i was really happy to saw you come into this game since me and my friends were fan of you since war3 even tho one my friends played you a couple of times in war3 and told me if we could play one game together in dota2 could be awesome telle me if ur in to make him happy :D. much love and respect grubby

HUGE respect for this. I know it may be hard putting a game you love down like this especially after building a viewerbase aswell but I think its for the greater good, I have largely quite MOBAs due to your exact reason aswell, I only play them casually occasionally. You clearly have a big viewership still that can see you play not just RTS and warcraft but an assortment of things. I look forward to the new era of Grubby.

i played dota a ton in wc3 and on dota 2 release. I tried to pick it up against last november and... it was dead? like it said 600k playing. But I sat in queue for AR or SD for 10 minutes and got nothing. Finally had to queue AP and it just wasn't fun, one teammate was just calling everyone else names the whole time. I don't know what happened, maybe only foreigners play it now. Should add, the SD and AR modes are what I liked to play to just have fun, didn't have to win. Seems like nobody wanted to just have fun anymore.

Fair commentary. Selfishly would love to see you back in AOE4 again, but of course you've got to play what resonates with you!

Can feel where you're coming from. Some people tend to forget that it's just a video game and it's normal to lose a lot. Recently I played the game for only 1 or two times a week and never get the feeling of missing the game throughout my downtime. Great having you while it lasted. Hope to see your future endeavors.

Grubby, I have been following you since the early Warcraft days and I played tons of dota (too much), and I couldnt have said it better. you have my deepest respect, that you climbed all the way up and you share my opinion about this game.

Funny that I actually quit Dota and just happened to see Grubby's videos and how enthusiastic he was. The positivity was quite refreshing and I felt that I can just be a "Grubby" and come back to the game. That I tried and did. But what's interesting is just a month in I already knew Dota doesnt fit with my life anymore if I wanted to use my time and energy towards building myself for the future because of how toxic the community is. Seeing this video validates this decision for me and I'd like to thank you Grubs for making me experience both spectrums.

I get you 100% Mr Grubs. This is how i feel the last 5 years. So I have been playing Dota on and off like a bad relationship. Would be nice to see you on the South-African server. Most of the time friendly people are there. Would suck to loose you as well. So many good people are being bullied out of the game. It is not fair. I wish Gaben could resolve this issue with the POWER of AI.

Very much love, Grubby. I completely agree with you! Get some rest time for yourself!

After seeing Grubby playing LOL, made me wanted to play again after 5 years, first ever game I got in as support, my ADC started to flame me super hard Went to another game, the same ADC got in my team, started to flame me again but this time I abandoned them and went roaming, I didnt fed like last time, helped some others and ended with a positive KD/a, but still, that person alone reminded me why I stopped playing the game, they were one in many playing that MOBA, and the higher is your rank, the more of them you meet

I’m totally sympathetic to your point of view. I’m perhaps a bit less healthy in my relationship with the game - so for me to quit is giving up something that hits my dopamine centers like no other game has. But I have taken extended multiple year breaks myself because of toxicity too. It sometimes just reaches that point.

I recently started playing dota again after a 4 or 5 year break or something and I am actually enjoying it way more now. One of the reasons is probably because i know im not that good anymore and can enjoy it more that way

I'm a Brazilian gamer and I have 9k hours on Dota 2, I got to Immortal rank 2000 mostly playing (believe it or not) off meta... I liked to pick Silencer mid, Windranger offlane, Visage offlane and weird stuff like that, but I had results, otherwise I wouldn't have reached this rank... But when I reached Immortal rank it was simply impossible to have a good game, people on my team reported me before the game started just because of my pick and they refused to play correctly because they thought I was trolling the game, and this was happening almost EVERY game... It came to a point that I couldn't find games anymore because I was reported by most Immortals, I needed to queue for like 30 min to find a game... I had to unnistal the game and move on... It really is an amazing game but the community is too imature and toxic, I rather have a good time playing something else... such a shame.

Thanks for openly sharing your thoughts on this. That's valuable.

Yo Grubby ik snap je gevoel helemaal! Ik ben zelf op een dota break van inmiddels 2 maanden. Ik kijk nogsteeds content zoals jou kanaal en esl, maar zelf queuen heb ik al tijden niet meer gedaan. Ik heb 1 potje tegen je gespeeld toen ik net van een break kwam (daarvoor was ik legend 5) en in herald terecht kwam, jij was net begonnen. De impact die je toen al had in de game was duidelijk merkbaar en ookal had ik 30 kills op disruptor, tegen jou clinkz speelstijl was niks te beginnen. Geniet van je break en ik denk oprecht dat je potentie hebt om esl te spelen (mocht dit überhaupt iets zijn wat je ziet zitten). Welke keuze je ook maakt, ik wens je het aller beste en je bent een top gozâh zoals we in dh zeggen 😋

I got insta-kicked from a 12v12 match. Then in another game 2 players at top lane immediately alt-clicked my Pounce when I missed it. They're waiting to strike on their own allies.