Hidden Advantages in Demigod
I'd like to see a bit more innovation in pub games where possible. It seems like most players follow this formula:
1. Capture flags early and hold them where possible
2. Kill enemy Demigods without dying
3. Hold lanes and farm grunts
4. Destroy enemy towers
5. Buy Equipment and choose skills for your DG which allow you to do all of the above better
6. Buy Priests thru Catas and lock opponent portals
7. Profit!
And this works just fine, for what it is. Most teams don't need or care to develop their strategies further than doing all of that better than the other guy. But there are ways you can change the balance of play that go beyond this and that are mostly invisible that we haven't explored as a community yet.
For example: The experience flag increases your team experience gain by 20%. What happens when you prioritize that flag (where available) and pour all of your team upgrade budget into the experience upgrades? With equally matched teams, you end up at level 13 when your opponent is at level 9, is what happens.
That doesn't count the skill points the higher-level UB has invested that his opponent doesn't have access to. It doesn't count his ability to farm kills, towers, and grunts more efficiently, at a rate which only increases his experience gain further. And it doesn't count his allies, which are similarly over-levelled compared to the equivalent opposition.
Of course, you are spending gold on xp that you could use elsewhere, but if your team has a cumulative advantage of 8-15 levels it most likely won't matter that your opponent has an extra mana helm or two. You can still apply your 7 Steps of Victory, you just have a hidden sword you can use to make that victory faster and more brutal.
Another example: edited 7/15 - I was saying something similar about currency, but as Primal Zed points out in reply 3 the numbers aren't adding up
What are some other examples? What do we think of the above example? Anyone want to run the numbers on a team with Gold III and a neutral goldmine vs a team with base gold and then Gold I and no neutrals?