The players talk about 6.60

Mirsad 'DeMeNt' Djokovic (Reality):

"From my point of view the new 6.60 is an awesome public version, but it got too many changes for the competitive scene. Many balances are needed to get a kind of stability into this version and if the common leagues are going to use the 6.6x that fast is really questionable. Personally I like the changes because there is a lot of variety in the picks now and at least we already had quite some fun in this version.

I hope for an asap upate from Icefrog, so heroes like TC don't have to be the firstban in every game. But overall IceFrog brought back some life into the game and everyone knows that you simply can't see the same heroes in Clanwars over and over again! I am looking forward being able to play this map in the next season of the Pick-Legue because we are very comfortable with 6.60."

Jimmy 'DeMoN' Ho (Evil Geniuses):

"The new 6.60 map is a very funny map especially for league games. But I personally don't think that it is ready for competitive play yet due to bugs and imbalance on certain heroes. What I like about the new map are the new items, new juke spots (my favorite I still need to learn) and mainly the buffs on the old useless heroes with the huge scepter upgrade for all intels and other heroes.

What I dislike about it is that I still don't know what the two new heroes Tauren Chieften and Batrider do! I've never played those heroes and they just seem so imba! I wouldn't really say dislike though, I just don't know what they do. (laughs) I personally think this is the funniest map IceFrog has made, and I hope he balances some of the heroes like Razor a bit, so we can start putting the new map into competitive play!"

Tom 'scream' Kunze (diamondZ):

"In my opinion the amount of changes which took place from .59 to .60b could have easily been divided up into three or four versions. There have been good changes like bringing heroes like Viper back into competitive, nerfing Rhastas Ulti or the rearm restriction of BKB on Tinker. But there have been some useless buffs as well, e.g. for Lord of Avernus who is now even more unkillable due to the new items. The new heroes are way too overpowered (especially TC) and I hope that they will be nerfed dramatically. Due to the massive changes I don't think that the version is yet ready for competitive DotA but with some balance, it could lead to cool and mainly shorter games."

Martin 'AngeLofGoD' Olsen (Ravens):

"I think it's great that more heroes got viable of picking in the new version 6.60b; some new items as well, which can be very useful in the right situation. Take for example Pipe of Insight, which removes spells damage of all heroes around the one using it, just imba. But there are a couple of heroes like TC and Razor who need a nerf I would say, TC is just N/C. But all in all a great version with lots of opportunities."

Eduard 'EDE' Birkle (no-Excuse):

"In my point of view the version .59d is a lot better than the new one. I think that this version will bring DotA back to the late game and turtle based playstyle because late gamers profit a lot from items like cuirass, pipe or heart. Moreover the Quelling Blade is another item for late gamers, especially the melee ones to make them farm better. I don't like that the enemies can now recognize the type of rune one got into his bottle. The two new heros are not bad but the TC needs a nerf."

Frank-Marian 'aHCoS' Eilers (onetrick.pony):

"Basically I like the new version a lot. IceFrog did a good job in most parts, for example with the balance of the heroes or items. But not everything is alright because this mentioned balance did not go that well concerning some heroes. The new heroes are pretty strong, but perhaps only because you may not know at the moment how to handle or the counter them. IceFrog is on the right way. I especially love the fact that nowadays nearly every hero can be played in clanwars. Now of course the focus has to be on balancing."

Jan 'Wolfi' Kramer (onetrick.pony):

"What I like best at the new map are of course the new items and heros because there will be a huge amount of new strategies (time will tell if there really will be so many) and that there is new motivation to play DotA. We may see Forcestaff on supporter or gankers and I think Pipe is going to be used a lot. Moreover it's a plus that the item prices were adjusted - that increases the game speed and will probably make farm games more interesting. The negative aspect is that the balancing is totally screwed and heroes like TC are a standard ban or will need 1-3 versions until you can see them in competitive matches. Maybe the few beta testers should have taken more influence into this. Additionally I think that Icefrog did a solid job by making more heroes more playable and nerfing too strong heros. There are still some bugs in it, e.g Batride in Firefly can't be targeted by frostbite, but this will be changed for sure and hopefully until the new DotA-League PL season starts. Moreover it will show if the new Quelling Blade is going to make more melee heroes being able to solo.

I like the new Agha best and it may become the first item on variour heros. The new ability of Monkey King Bar is very interesting as well, even if I doubt that you can get it so fast being able to counter the Evasion because the new Talisman which one strength hero could use in this inventory, is even cheaper. I am still not familiar with the new item arrangement which everybody can see when once more I need 20 seconds to find the crow (laughs). But it makes sense and should be useful. I really like the new Vacuum and the Ion Shell buff of the Dark See because playing this Hero makes a lot of fun now."

Jonathan 'Loda' Berg (The Last Try):

"I think the new version is really funny and it brings a bigger variety into the games being played. The things that have to be reworked are TC and the new imbalanced Quelling Blade. That item is like autoaim at Counter-Strike and makes the game stupid and too easy to play with certain heroes like bloodseeker etc.!"

Jon 'The13abyKnight' Andersen:

"I think the new version is great. It allows you to choose more heroes, since IceFrog buffed a lot of unused heroes and balanced heroes such as Necrolyte, Undying, etc.. I think that drafting in the new version will be a lot more interesting too, and I also like the new heroes. But I think that it still needs a bit of balance ... the Tauren Chieftain as an example is just too strong."

Martin 'PusHer-Street' Mogensen (Ravens):

"What I like about the 6.60 version is the fact that a lot of heroes are now completely viable in competitive play, so the people who think outside the box are now rewarded more than ever. The change in agha and the fact that a lot of heroes can now use it isn't a bad thing to be honest. People just have to get used to it, and adapt on how to play vs. it – possible counters etc.. What I dislike about the current version is so far only ogre – 60% multicast with no items is just retarded. I don't see why the old ogre was changed, now he multicasts more than he did with agha before. It's just so goddamn annoying at the level 6-15 stage of the game."