Never played dota before too but you can pick up the basics quickly.
http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showtopic=151015 is helpful
Remember that the characters are balanced for 5v5 so while a character may seem crap in 2v2 or 3v3 they actually may have some use in the metagame. Some cool characters (imo) scout , madman , magebane and swiftblade.

My first Hero was the Mummy dude, but I couldn't really get the hang of him at all. I played with the Scout afterwards, and he is pretty much a clone of the Blademaster from WC3 so I did a bit better, but not by much. I could take off many a quarter of somebodies healthbar before they turned on me and hurt me bad

Its difficult finding games at my level. Even the "noob only" games have DOTA players in and its a nightmare trying to read all the text on the items/abilities etc.

Yo guys i used to be awesome at dota so this game looks pretty exciting. Have any of you got a spare invite going? Email is - Jputtick (-at-) gmail (-dot-) com

I have no invites.. however I have obfuscated your email slightly to stop any unwanted mail.

I should be getting invites soon.

If you don't have an invite yet, I could give you my last one. The email starts with Jputtick and not -Jputtick, right?

NTrailz sorted me out with an invite and this game really is fun but there is a very steep learning curve. Granted I'm probably rather thick when it comes to this type of games but after having played around 4 games and made a complete fool of myself I managed to find a noob friendly game where a guy was teaching two of his friends the basics. Until that the only advice I had was basically 'DONT EVER FUCKING PLAY HoN AGAIN YOU MOTHER FUCKER' which really did not help much.

Basically dying is bad as it gives the other team loads of cash and exp. Luckily the other team can be avoided most of the time by keeping your eye on the mini map as you can see non stealthed players. Exping is rather easy by killing the creeps from the opposing team and also the neutral creeps.

The first Item I buy is 'Marches' which boosts my running speed. I try and upgrade these to steam boots or the other boots for more speed. Also really important to get some decent regen gear for more mana/health without running back to base all the time since this will make you lag behind in exping. Those two tubers in the secret shop are good and once you both they merge into one item whose name escapes me.

Apperently on level 6 your ultimate skill (the 4th) is unlocked and you should buy it straight away or you will be asked to leave the server.

Has anyone figured out the requirements for levelling skills btw?

Figuring out which equipment to buy is rather hard I thought to start with so please post advice.

Another thing I struggle with is how to control my character. I find it really awkward to navigate with the mouse especially when I am trying to escape. Is there a way to run with WASD or similar? My last game yesterday I stopped using the arrow keys to scroll around which seemed to help a bit with actually getting some spells off to target opponents. I still find it very hectic to actually hit the opponents and I am mostly dead before I get the chance

Nuh uh as zephyr i dont get me ulti until ive got 1st and 2nd to full and 3rd unlocked as its crap but occasionally handy, i then dont upgrade it againt till lvl 23 adn 24

Just play pyromance against mad man to get your casting aim up he runs so fast you have to stun him, blast him then use your 950 damage ulti to finish him off

Yeah thats correct no - at the front of the email

Idiot had an invite from DJ last night though?