Over the last few weeks I've been a bit mystified. My winrate had dropped a bit, and I couldn't figure out why I was dropping games, I kept feeling like I had little control over the outcome of a match.

However, this evening I had a bit of a revelation.

The current patch and meta has ever so sneakily shifted me away from all the heroes I am great at and has left me with the ones I'm only average with. When I look at a hero pool now I don't see my early/mid game favorites of Lifestealer, Drow Ranger, Dragon Knight, and Huskar. No, I immediately go towards Troll Warlord(sorry), [[Juggernaut]}(really sorry), or some other late-blooming carry.

Now it's not bad for my group of preferred heroes to change, I just can't expect to get the same results trying out a new build on Troll to the results I get with my Drow or DK of a few patches ago.

I suppose the point of this is to encourage others that may be having the same experience. Don't just blindly remember that Jugg is good, figure…
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For several years I was completely immersed in following college and professional sports. I could tell you stats, names, schedules, and trades for year after year.

But then all of the sudden I was immune to it. I only saw it as this continual cycle of wins, losses, trades, and scandals(by no means am I bashing the following of sports, just sharing my experience with it). I couldn't get an interest going in it, so my attention gradually shifted toward games--eventually leading to DotA.

Since grabbing my attention, dota has held it firmly. But why?

Balance Patches.

These amazing things allow us to play vastly different games than those of the previous patch were, and the next patch will cause things to be just as different. Sure those strategies can rollover a bit and still be effective, but here's to hoping TI5 will be waaaay better that its predecessor. And if it is, we will have balance patches to thank for it.

Every game of dota even within a patch is markedly different, but a b…
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