Welcome to Dota 2, the Valve-owned sequel to a Warcraft III mod.
Way back in 2003, which is longer ago than I thought it was, there was a custom map for Warcraft III made by a small group of players. The three-laned map pit two teams of five against each other; by controlling and levelling up whichever of the 112 heroes you selected, you worked with your team to destroy the enemy base – the Ancient. The custom game mode was pretty popular, even having its own tournaments for players to compete in. That’s not too shabby for a player-made mod.
But what next? A few fans wanted to know more about upcoming plans for DotA – it had so much potential for a sequel or at least to be modernised. So those fanse got in touch with the lead developer, known as IceFrog.
Except those fans happened to work for video game company Valve.
By 2010, IceFrog was onboard with the ideas and Dota 2 had been announced. The game was released in 2013, with some legal issues along the way. Since then, it’s been a roaring success with over 700,000 current players.
But that’s just the backstory, what is Dota 2?
Like it’s sort-of predecessor (copyright laws are weird), it’s a multiplayer online battle arena – or a MOBA for short. There are still three lanes, two teams of 5 (now called Radient and Dire, rather than Sentinel and Scourge because, y’know, copyright), and a hero roster for players to pick from. The pool now includes 119, though this goes up every few months as Valve add more.
Dota 2 encourages players to work within their teams cohesively, in order to gain the level and net worth advantage over the other team so you can destroy their various buildings, including their Ancient (because that one escaped the lawyers, I guess). Or, at least, it should do those things. It’s a fast-paced game where small mistakes can be brutally punished. The smallest misclick can turn a whole game, which could last anywhere between about 20 minutes to an hour and a half – or, if you’re really unlucky, five hours.
Because of how dynamic the game can be, it’s really important to communicate with your team, which you can do in-game via ping on the map, voice, or text. Good communication and planning can totally win the game. It’s a shame that every other match seems to include a language barrier, no matter the server you play on. I basically only play on EU West, because I’m in Britain, but you’ll get Russians demanding that you speak Russian, or typing in cyrillic even after you’ve made it clear that you do not understand them. On the plus side, I’ve learned a few interesting phrases in my time playing the game.
It can be a stressful environment at the best of times, which makes it unsurprising that Dota 2 has been called one of the more toxic online games.
But high risks have high rewards.
The Dota 2 pro-scene is massive. It’s common knowledge that esports has blown up over the years in general, but Dota 2 includes dozens of major and minor tournaments through the year – that’s not even looking at the amateur events for the aspiring or non-professionals. The biggest of them all, the crowning event in the year for players, is The International – an annual world championship, where the most recent prize pool hit over $34 million. The winning team, OG, took home around $15 million – not a bad paycheque when the average player was only 24 years old.
$34 million is a weird number though, and that’s because a lot of the prize pool is made up by the fans. Each major has a battle pass, providing daily challenges, points, and cosmetic rewards for players. Money spent on the battle pass – including purchasing it for yourself, others, or even additional levels – goes towards the prize pool. With an expanding player base, the prize pool gets larger year on year.
For a free game, Valve does pretty well out of it. From cosmetic items and battle pass levels to event tickets and merchandise, this free-to-play game makes a killing for the company.
While the game may not have a price, it does cost you time. I mentioned that the game lengths vary, but the game also punioshes people for abandoning game, making you wait to play another round or putting you in low priority queuing – which is basically Dota jail, where you’re trapped in this awful queing system with people who have either abandoned several matches in a row or been reported by other players frequently. You win your way out. It encourages you to keep playing.
You lost your ranked game? Play another round to raise your MMR!
You need to get out of low prio? Play another round, you might win!
Just had a great game? Play another round, you’re on a streak!
Give it a go. Grab some friends, play against bots for practice, or go solo into the unforgiving wild. Just remember:
Good luck, have fun.
GG, WP
Usually I put some affiliate links here, but not today! Instead, I’m going to promote a few streamers who play Dota 2. Go check them out and say hi.
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