Orz... I didn't set out tinkering with the map with the goal of balancing it or anything
I should explain that I initially deprotected it to get at the stats. I wasn't too successful at all, but I did get to read the stats off the map at least. Didn't do anything with the map nor did I want to do anything with the map for the longest time, until the devs started dragging their feet on the Yamame bug. Then I learnt some JASS to fix the thing and of course that involved learning a bit more about map deprotection. Then I found DotA templates and vJASS and before my hols ended, I had a working map with Reimu in it, with Fantasy Seal, Evil Sealing Circle, Duplex Barrier and FANTASY HEAVEN, AS SHE SHOULD HAVE DAMMIT. Now I want to learn vJASS.. HELP ME STOP THIS MADNESS. Anyway, I don't know much about all this and Rikter would probably know that I'm also just tinkering with things and figuring things out myself at the moment. I just figured that since others have use of whatever I've figured out over the course of the last two months or so, I might as well share it.
Regarding my opinions on DotS balance, I don't agree with the idea that DotS can be balanced by tweaking numbers around. That's one reason why even though the idea crossed my mind a long time ago, I held off on giving it any more attention. Another reason is that I get the idea that while some of us rage at the game, we don't really care enough about the imbalance since we just cool off and come back for more anyway. It's a silly silly game. But the most important reason is, of course, ethics. That's why I've never shared my full listfile for the map.
Now, maybe number tweaking works for some heros and items, but not all. The concepts behind some heros and items are so bad that I don't think any amount of number-tweaking will help - Satori, Aya, Camera, Katana come to mind immediately. Ace and Rikter are probably finding out that even number tweaking isn't easy and how easy it is to make players rage. It's far too easy to swing things the other way and nerf something from being horribly overpowered to the pits of uselessness with just a few minor changes, e.g. Rumia. That's why I suggested that if they do carry on with this, they ought to get input from a select few experienced individuals instead of opening discussion up to anyone and everyone and do extensive playtesting because some skills are only really clearly broken when put in practice and combined with other skills from the same hero - Wriggle's D wouldn't be so brutal if she didn't also have permanent invisibility that prevented her from being attacked normally. Going one step further involves altering elements of the characters' designs (seriously, the Komeiji sisters need help) and for that, I like to look to Valve's Axiomatic Design philosophy - set a list of principles that the game should adhere to, e.g. hero abilities must show evidence of their canon character design (haha Koishi), or all heros must be pose a significant threat in end game team battles (haha Satori), and ensure that skills/items/stats are designed with that in mind (definitely not easy!) But hey, it's a fun learning experience if nothing else, and who knows, they might even eventually come up with a better Touhou DotA on their own, so why hold back on the knowledge (about map deprotecting) right? I learnt JASS by mostly by staring at DotS triggers myself.
Well, that's a whole load of words with nothing really relevant to the topic, so... /end
