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Wikipedia

Dota 2

January 10, 2023

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character known as a "hero" that all have unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match players collect experience points and items for their heroes to successfully defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's "Ancient", a large structure located within their base.

Dota 2
Developer(s)Valve
Publisher(s)Valve
Designer(s)IceFrog
Writer(s)
Composer(s)
SeriesDota
EngineSource 2[a]
Platform(s)
Release
  • Windows
  • July 9, 2013
  • Linux, OS X
  • July 18, 2013
Genre(s)MOBA
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Development of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of Defense of the Ancients, was hired by Valve to create a modernized remake for them in the Source game engine. It was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux via the digital distribution platform Steam in July 2013, following a Windows-only open beta phase that began two years prior. The game is fully free-to-play with no heroes or any other gameplay element needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked. To maintain it, Valve supports the game as a service, selling loot boxes and a battle pass subscription system called Dota Plus that offer non-gameplay altering virtual goods in return, such as hero cosmetics and audio replacement packs. The game was ported to the Source 2 engine in 2015, making it the first game to use it.

Dota 2 has a large esports scene, with teams from around the world playing in various professional leagues and tournaments. Valve manages an event format known as the Dota Pro Circuit, a series of tournaments that award qualification points for earning direct invitations to The International, the game's premier tournament held annually. Internationals feature a crowdfunded prize money system that has seen amounts in upwards of US$40 million, making Dota 2 the most lucrative esport. Media coverage of most tournaments is done by a selection of on-site staff who provide commentary and analysis for the ongoing matches similar to traditional sporting events. In addition to playing live to audiences in arenas and stadiums, broadcasts of them are also streamed over the internet and sometimes simulcast on television, with peak viewership numbers in the millions.

Despite some criticism going towards its steep learning curve and overall complexity, Dota 2 was praised for its rewarding gameplay, production quality, and faithfulness to its predecessor, with many considering it to be one of the greatest video games of all time. It has been one of the most played games on Steam since its release, with over a million concurrent players at its peak. The popularity of the game has led to official merchandise and media adaptations for it being produced, including comic books and an anime series, as well as promotional tie-ins to other games and media. The game also allows for the community to create their own gamemodes, maps, and cosmetics, which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Two spinoff games, Artifact and Dota Underlords, were also released by Valve. Dota 2 has also been used in machine learning experiments, with a team of bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional players.

Gameplay

See also: Mechanics of multiplayer online battle arena games
 
A game of Dota 2 in progress, showing the Radiant team inside their base at the beginning of a match

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of five players compete to destroy a large structure defended by the opposing team known as the "Ancient" whilst defending their own.[1][2] As in Defense of the Ancients, the game is controlled using standard real-time strategy controls, and is presented on a single map in a three-dimensional isometric perspective.[1][3] Ten players each control one of the game's 123 playable characters, known as "heroes", with each having their own design, strengths, and weaknesses.[1][2][4] Heroes are divided into two primary roles, known as the core and support.[5][6]

Cores, which are also called carries, begin each match as weak and vulnerable, but are able to become more powerful later in the game, thus becoming able to "carry" their team to victory.[5][7] Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their cores, such as providing healing and other buffs.[5][6][8] Players select their hero during a pre-game drafting phase, where they can also discuss potential strategies and hero matchups with their teammates.[2][5][6] Heroes are removed from the drafting pool and become unavailable for all other players once one is selected, and can not be changed once the drafting phase is over. All heroes have a basic attack in addition to powerful abilities, which are the primary method of fighting. Each hero has at least four of them, all of which are unique.[3][8] Heroes begin each game with an experience level of one, only having access to one of their abilities, but are able to level up and become more powerful during the course of the game, up to a maximum level of 30.[2][5] Whenever a hero gains an experience level, the player is able to unlock another of their abilities or improve one already learned.[2][5] The most powerful ability for each hero is known as their "ultimate", which requires them to have an experience level of six in order to use.[6]

In order to prevent abilities from being used without consequence, a magic system is featured in the game. Activating an ability costs a hero some of their "mana points", which slowly regenerates over time.[3][9] Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown period, in which the ability can not be used again until a timer resets. All heroes have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively.[5] Each hero has one primary attribute out of the three, which adds to their non-ability basic damage output when increased, among other minor buffs.[5][10] Heroes also have an ability augmentation system known as the "Talent Tree", which allow players more choices on how to develop their hero.[5][6] If a hero runs out of health points and dies, they are removed from active play until a timer counts down to zero, where they are then respawned in their base with only some gold lost.[11]

The two teams—known as the Radiant and Dire—occupy fortified bases in opposite corners of the map, which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by three paths, which are referred to as "lanes".[1][2] The lanes are guarded by defensive towers that attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight.[2] A small group of weak computer-controlled creatures called "creeps" travel predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes, creeps, and buildings in their way.[2][6][11] Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game in groups from two buildings, called the "barracks", that exist in each lane and are located within the team's bases.[2][6][12] The map is also permanently covered for both teams in fog of war, which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team's heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of themselves or an allied unit. The map also features a day-night cycle, with some hero abilities and other game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle.[5] Also present on the map are "neutral creeps" that are hostile to both teams, and reside in marked locations on the map known as "camps". Camps are located in the area between the lanes known as the "jungle", which both sides of the map have.[6][13]

Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked, and respawn over time if killed. The most powerful neutral creep is named "Roshan", who is a unique boss that may be defeated by either team to obtain special items, such as one that allows a one-time resurrection if the hero that holds it is killed.[2][6][14] Roshan will respawn around ten minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match progresses over time.[14] Runes, which are special items that spawn in set positions on the map every few minutes, offer heroes temporary, but powerful power-ups when collected, such as double damage and invisibility.[5][6]

In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game, players are able to buy items from set locations on the map called shops that provide their own special abilities.[2][6][14][15] Items are not limited to specific heroes, and can be bought by anyone. In order to obtain an item, players must be able to afford it with gold at shops located on the map, which is primarily obtained by killing enemy heroes, destroying enemy structures, and killing creeps, with the latter being an act called "farming".[2][5][11] Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a creep obtains gold from it, an act called "last hitting", but all allies receive a share of gold when an enemy hero dies close to them.[3][11] Players are also able to "deny" allied units and structures by last hitting them, which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience from them.[11][14] Gold can not be shared between teammates, with each player having their own independent stash. Players also receive a continuous, but small stream of gold over the course of a match.[5][16]

Dota 2 features multiple game types which mainly alter the way hero selection is handled; examples include "All Pick", which offer no restrictions on hero selection, "All Random", which randomly assigns a hero for each player, "Captain's Mode", where a single player on each team selects heroes for their entire team and is primarily used for professional play, and "Turbo", an expedited version of All Pick featuring increased gold and experience gain, weaker towers, and faster respawn times.[17][18][19] Matches usually last around 30 minutes to an hour, although they can last forever as long as both Ancients remain standing.[6][20] In Captain's Mode games, an additional "GG" forfeit feature is available to end games early.[21] Dota 2 also occasionally features limited-time events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game's standard rules.[22] Some of these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event,[23] the Christmas-themed Frostivus event,[24] and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of spring.[25] Other special game modes have also been created by Valve, including a ten-versus-ten mode,[26] a Halloween-themed capture point mode "Colosseum",[27] a combat arena mode "Overthrow",[28] "Siltbreaker", a story-driven cooperative campaign mode,[29] and "The Underhollow", a battle royale mode.[30]

The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 also added the "Arcade" feature, which allows for community-created game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve.[31][32] One popular example, known as Dota Auto Chess, had over seven million in-game subscribers by April 2019.[33][34][35] Owing to its popularity, Valve met with the mod's developers, the Chinese-based Drodo Studio, to discuss directly collaborating on a standalone version. However, the two companies were unable to come to an agreement, with them both stating that it was in their best interest to develop their own separate games.[36] Valve's version, Dota Underlords, was released in February 2020 and continued to use the Dota setting,[37] while Drodo's game, Auto Chess, was developed using no Dota 2 assets.[38][39]

Development

See also: List of video games derived from mods
 
Defense of the Ancients, the original mod from Warcraft III that Dota 2 was based on

The Dota series began in 2003 with Defense of the Ancients (DotA)—a mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos—created by the pseudonymous designer "Eul".[40] An expansion pack for Warcraft III, The Frozen Throne, was released later that year; a series of Defense of the Ancients clone mods for the new game competed for popularity. DotA: Allstars by Steve Feak was the most successful,[41] and Feak, with his friend Steve Mescon, created the official Defense of the Ancients community website and the holding company DotA-Allstars, LLC.[42] When Feak retired from DotA: Allstars in 2005, a friend, under the pseudonym IceFrog, became its lead designer.[43] By the late 2000s, Defense of the Ancients became one of the most popular mods worldwide, as well as a prominent esports game.[44] IceFrog and Mescon later had a falling out in May 2009, which prompted the former to establish a new community website at playdota.com.[45] Valve's interest in the Dota intellectual property began when several veteran employees, including Team Fortress 2 designer Robin Walker and executive Erik Johnson, became fans of the mod and wanted to build a modern sequel.[46] The company corresponded with IceFrog by email about his long-term plans for the project,[47] and he was subsequently hired to direct a sequel.[48] IceFrog first announced his new position through his blog in October 2009,[49] with Dota 2 being officially announced a year later.[50]

Valve adopted the word "Dota", derived from the original mod's acronym, as the name for its newly acquired franchise. Johnson argued that the word referred to a concept, and was not an acronym.[48] Shortly after the announcement of Dota 2, Valve filed a trademark claim to the Dota name.[51] At Gamescom 2011, company president Gabe Newell explained that the trademark was needed to develop a sequel with the already-identifiable brand.[52] Holding the Dota name to be a community asset, Feak and Mescon filed an opposing trademark for Dota on behalf of DotA-Allstars, LLC (then a subsidiary of Riot Games) in August 2010.[42] Rob Pardo, the executive vice president of Blizzard Entertainment at the time, similarly stated that the Dota name belonged to the mod's community. Blizzard acquired DotA-Allstars, LLC from Riot Games and filed an opposition against Valve in November 2011, citing Blizzard's ownership of both the Warcraft III World Editor and DotA-Allstars, LLC as proper claims to the franchise name.[53] The dispute was settled in May 2012, with Valve retaining commercial rights to the Dota trademark, while allowing non-commercial use of the name by third-parties.[54] In 2017, Valve's ownership of franchise was again challenged, after a 2004 internet forum post from Eul was brought to light by a Chinese company known as uCool, who had released a mobile game in 2014 that used characters from the Dota universe.[55] uCool, who was previously involved in a lawsuit with Blizzard in 2015 for similar reasons,[56] along with another Chinese company, Lilith Games, argued that the forum post invalidated any ownership claims of the intellectual property, stating that the Dota property was an open-source, collective work that could not be copyrighted by anyone in particular.[55][57] Judge Charles R. Breyer denied uCool's motion for summary dismissal, with Blizzard filing motions to dismiss all claims against uCool and Lilith with prejudice.[55][58][59]

An early goal of the Dota 2 team was the adaptation of Defense of the Ancients' aesthetic style for the Source engine.[50] The Radiant and Dire factions replaced the Sentinel and Scourge from the mod, respectively. Character names, abilities, items and map design from the mod were largely retained, with some changes due to trademarks owned by Blizzard. In the first Q&A session regarding Dota 2, IceFrog explained that the game would build upon the mod without making significant changes to its core.[48] Valve contracted major contributors from the Defense of the Ancients community, including Eul and artist Kendrick Lim, to assist with the sequel.[60] Additional contributions from sources outside of Valve were also sought regularly for Dota 2, as to continue Defense of the Ancients' tradition of community-sourced development.[61] One of the composers of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Jason Hayes, was hired to collaborate with Tim Larkin to write the original score for the game, which was conducted by Timothy Williams and performed and recorded by the Northwest Sinfonia at Bastyr University.[62][63] Valve had Half-Life series writer Marc Laidlaw, science fiction author Ted Kosmatka, and Steam support employee Kris Katz write new dialog and background lore for the heroes.[64][65] Notable voice actors for heroes include Nolan North, Dave Fennoy, Jon St. John, Ellen McLain, Fred Tatasciore, Merle Dandridge, Jen Taylor, and John Patrick Lowrie, among others.[66]

The Source engine itself was updated with new features to accommodate Dota 2, such as high-end cloth modeling and improved global lighting.[50] The game features Steam integration, which provides its social component and cloud storage for personal settings. In November 2013, Valve introduced a coaching system that allows experienced players to tutor newer players with in-game tools.[67] As with previous Valve multiplayer games, players are able to spectate live matches of Dota 2 played by others,[67] and local area network (LAN) multiplayer support allows for local competitions.[68][69] Some of these events may be spectated via the purchase of tickets from the "Dota Store", which give players in-game access to matches. Ticket fees are apportioned in part to tournament organizers.[70] The game also features an in-game fantasy sports system, which is modeled after traditional fantasy sports and feature professional Dota 2 players and teams.[71] Players are also able to spectate games in virtual reality (VR) with up to 15 others, which was added in an update in July 2016.[72] The update also added a hero showcase mode, which allows players to see all of the heroes and their cosmetics full-size in virtual reality.[73]

As part of a plan to develop Dota 2 into a social network, Newell announced in April 2012 that the game would be free-to-play, and that community contributions would be a cornerstone feature.[74] Instead, revenue is generated through the "Dota Store", which offers for-purchase cosmetic virtual goods, such as custom armor and weapons for their heroes.[75] It was also announced that the full roster of heroes would be available at launch for free.[76] Until the game's official release in 2013, players were able to purchase an early access bundle, which included a digital copy of Dota 2 and several cosmetic items.[77] Included as optional downloadable content (DLC), the Dota 2 Workshop Tools are a set of Source 2 software development kit (SDK) tools that allow content creators to create new hero cosmetics, as well as custom game modes, maps, and bot scripts.[78][79][80] Highly rated cosmetics, through the Steam Workshop, are available in the in-game store if they are accepted by Valve. This model was fashioned after Valve's Team Fortress 2, which had earned Workshop designers of cosmetic items of that game over $3.5 million by June 2011.[76] Newell revealed that the average Steam Workshop contributor for Dota 2 and Team Fortess 2 made approximately $15,000 from their creations in 2013.[81] By 2015, sales of Dota 2 virtual goods had earned Valve over $238 million in revenue, according to the digital game market research group SuperData.[82] In 2016, Valve introduced the "Custom Game Pass" option for creators of custom game modes, which allows them to be funded by way of microtransactions by adding exclusive features, content, and other changes to their game mode for players who buy it.[83]

Dota 2 includes a seasonal Elo rating-based matchmaking system, which is measured by a numerical value known as "matchmaking rating" (MMR) that is tracked separately for core and support roles, and ranked into different tiers.[84] MMR is updated based on if a player won or lost, which will then increase or decrease respectively.[85] The game's servers, known as the "Game Coordinator",[86][87] attempts to balance both teams based on each player's MMR, with each team having roughly a 50% chance to win in any given game.[85] Ranked game modes with a separately tracked MMR are also available, which primarily differ from unranked games by making MMR publicly visible, as well as requiring the registration of a phone number to their accounts, which help foster a more competitive environment.[85][88] To ensure that each player's ranking is up to date and accurate, MMR is recalibrated around every six months.[89][90] Players with the highest possible medal rank are listed by Valve on an online leaderboard, separated into North American, European, Southeast Asian, and Chinese regions.[91] The game also includes a report system, which allows players to punish player behavior that intentionally provides a negative experience.[92] Players who get reported enough or leave several games before they conclude, a practice known as "abandoning", are then placed into low priority matchmaking, which remains on a player's account until they win a specific number of games, and only groups them with other players who also have the same punishment.[93][94] Other features include an improved replay system from Defense of the Ancients, in which a completed game can be downloaded in-client and viewed by anyone at a later time, and the "hero builds" feature, which provide integrated guides created by the community that highlight to the player on how to play their hero.[95]

Dota 2 Reborn

In June 2015, Valve announced that the entirety of Dota 2 would be ported over to their Source 2 game engine in an update called Dota 2 Reborn.[96] Reborn was first released as an opt-in beta update that same month,[97] and officially replaced the original client in September 2015, making it the first game to use the engine.[98] Reborn included a new user interface framework design, ability for custom game modes created by the community, and the full replacement of the original Source engine with Source 2.[99] Largely attributed to technical difficulties players experienced with the update, the global player base experienced a sharp drop of approximately sixteen percent the month following its release.[100] However, after various updates and patches, over a million concurrent players were playing again by the beginning of 2016, with that number being the largest in nearly a year.[101] The move to Source 2 also allowed the use of the Vulkan graphics API, released as an optional feature in May 2016, making Dota 2 one of the first games to use it.[102]

Release

 
Gamescom 2011 in Cologne, where the game was first made playable to the public

Dota 2 was first made available to the public at Gamescom in 2011, coinciding with the inaugural International championship, the game's premier esport tournament event. At the event, Valve began sending out closed beta invitations to DotA players and attendees.[103] Although the game was originally meant to publicly release in 2012, Valve later scrapped that plan as it would have kept the game in its closed beta state for over a year. Owing to that, Valve lifted the non-disclosure agreement and transitioned the game into open beta in September 2011, allowing players to discuss the game and their experiences publicly.[104][105]

Following nearly two years of beta testing, Dota 2 was officially released on Steam for Windows on July 9, 2013, and for OS X and Linux on July 18, 2013.[106][107][108] The game did not launch with every hero from Defense of the Ancients. Instead, the missing ones were added in various post-release updates, with the final one, as well as the first Dota 2 original hero, being added in 2016.[109][110] Two months following the game's release, Newell claimed that updates to Dota 2 generated up to three percent of global internet traffic.[111] In December 2013, the final restrictions against unlimited global access to Dota 2 were lifted after the game's infrastructure and servers were substantially bolstered.[112] In order to abide by the standards set by the economic legislation of specific countries, Valve opted to contract with nationally based developers for publishing. In October 2012, Chinese game publisher Perfect World announced they had received distribution rights for the game in the country.[113] The Chinese client also has a region-specific "Low Violence" mode, which removes most depictions of blood, gore, and skulls in order for the game to follow censorship policies of the country.[114][115] In November 2012, a similar publishing deal was made with the South Korea-based game company Nexon to distribute and market the game in the country, as well as in Japan.[116] Three years later, Nexon announced they would no longer be operating servers for Dota 2, with Valve taking over direct distribution and marketing of the game in those regions.[117]

In December 2016, Dota 2 was updated to gameplay version 7.00, also known as "The New Journey" update.[118][119][120] Prior to the update, the Dota series had been in version 6.xx for over a decade, marking the first major revision since IceFrog originally took over development of the original mod in the mid-2000s.[120] The New Journey update added and changed numerous features and mechanics of the game, including adding the first original hero not ported over from Defense of the Ancients, a reworked map, a redesigned HUD, a pre-game phase that allows for players to discuss their team strategy, and a "Talent Tree" ability augmentation system.[119][120] In April 2017, Valve announced changes to the game's ranked matchmaking system, with the main one requiring the registration of a unique phone number to a player's account in order to play them, an anti-griefing and smurfing practice they had previously implemented in their first-person shooter game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[88][121] Further changes to the game's matchmaking were brought in an update in November 2017, where the old numerical MMR system was replaced by a seasonal one based on eight ranked tiers that are recalibrated around every six months, a move that brought the game's ranked system closer to ones used in other competitive games such as Global Offensive, StarCraft, and League of Legends.[122][123][84]

For most of 2018, Valve decided to handle gameplay balance updates for the game in a different way. Instead of releasing larger updates irregularly throughout the year, smaller ones would be released on a set schedule of every two weeks.[124][125] Around the same time, the game also introduced the "Dota Plus" monthly subscription system that replaced the seasonal battle passes that were released to coincide with a Major tournament. In addition to offering everything battle passes previously did, Dota Plus added new features such as a hero-specific achievement system that reward players who complete them with exclusive cosmetics, as well as providing hero and game analytics and statistics gathered from thousands of recent games.[126]

Esports

 
The largest Dota 2 tournaments often have prize pools totaling millions of dollars. Shown here is The International 2018, a $25 million tournament hosted at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

To ensure that enough Defense of the Ancients players would take up Dota 2 and to promote the game to a new audience, Valve invited sixteen accomplished Defense of the Ancients esports teams to compete at a Dota 2-specific tournament at Gamescom in August 2011, which later became an annually held event known as The International.[127] From The International 2013 onward, its prize pool began to be crowdfunded through a type of in-game battle pass called the "Compendium", which raises money from players buying them and connected lootboxes to get exclusive in-game cosmetics and other bonuses offered through them.[128][129] 25% of all the revenue made from Compendiums go directly to the prize pool, with sales from the 2013 battle pass raising over US$2.8 million, which made it the largest prize pool in esports history at the time.[130][131] From 2015 until 2021, each iteration of the International surpassed the previous one's prize pool, with The International 2021 peaking at $40 million.[132][133]

During its beta phase in the early 2010s several other esport events would begin hosting Dota 2 events, including the Electronic Sports World Cup,[134] DreamHack,[135] World Cyber Games,[136] and ESL.[137] By the end of 2011, Dota 2 was already one of the highest-paying esport games, second only to StarCraft II.[138] At E3 2013, South Korean company Nexon announced the investment of ₩2 billion (approximately US$1.7 million) into local leagues in the country, which coincided with their distribution partnership with Valve for the game.[139] In February 2015, Valve sponsored and held the Dota 2 Asia Championships in Shanghai, with a prize pool of over $3 million raised through compendium sales.[140][141] In total, professional Dota 2 tournaments had earned teams and players over $100 million by June 2017, with over half of that being awarded at Internationals, making it the highest earning esport game by a margin of nearly $60 million at the time.[142]

 
 
As with traditional sporting events, most major Dota 2 events feature pre- and post-game discussion by a panel of analysts (left), with in-match casting being done by play-by-play and color commentators (right).

From late 2015 until early 2017, Valve sponsored a series of smaller-scale, seasonally held tournaments known as the Dota Major Championships, which all had fixed prize pools of US$3 million.[143][144] Their format was based on the tournament series of the same name that Valve also sponsored for their first-person shooter game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Including The International 2016 and 2017, which were considered to be the cumulative Major of their respective seasons,[143][145] the series had five other events, which were the Frankfurt Major,[146] Shanghai Major,[147] Manila Major,[148] Boston Major,[149] and Kiev Major.[150] Following the International 2017, the Majors were replaced with the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) format due to criticism by teams and fans for Valve's non-transparent and unpredictable nature for handing out International invitations.[151][152][153] In the DPC, teams are awarded qualification points for their performance in sponsored tournaments, with the top twelve earning direct invites to that season's International.[154] To avoid conflicting dates with other tournaments, Valve directly manages the scheduling of them.[153]

The primary medium for professional Dota 2 coverage is through the live streaming platform, Twitch. For most major events, tournament coverage is done by a selection of dedicated esports organizations and personnel who provide on-site commentary, analysis, and player interviews, similar to traditional sporting events.[155][156] Coverage of Dota 2 tournaments have also been simulcast on television networks, such as ESPN in the United States,[157][158] BBC Three in the United Kingdom,[159] Sport1 in Germany,[160] TV 2 Zulu in Denmark,[161] Xinwen Lianbo in China,[162] Astro in Malaysia,[163] and TV5 in the Philippines.[164]

Reception

Dota 2 received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic,[165] and has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time.[175][176][177][178] In a preview of the game in 2012, Rich McCormick of PC Gamer thought that Dota 2 was "an unbelievably deep and complex game that offers the purest sequel to the original Defense of the Ancients. Rewarding like few others, but tough."[179] Adam Biessener, the editor who authored the announcement article for Dota 2 for Game Informer in 2010, praised Valve for maintaining the same mechanics and game balance that made Defense of the Ancients successful nearly a decade prior[16] and Quintin Smith of Eurogamer described Dota 2 as the "supreme form of the MOBA which everyone else working in the genre is trying to capture like lightning in a bottle".[168] The most frequently praised aspects of the game were its depth, delivery, and overall balance. Chris Thursten of PC Gamer described the gameplay as being "deep and rewarding".[172]

Martin Gaston of GameSpot complimented Valve for the artistic design and delivery of Dota 2, citing the execution of the user interface design, voice acting, and characterization as exceeding those of the game's competitors.[169] Phill Cameron of IGN and James Kozanitis of Hardcore Gamer both praised Dota 2 for its free-to-play business model including only cosmetic items in contrast to other games such as League of Legends, which charges to unlock better "heroes" to play as, with Kozanitis stating that Dota 2 was "the only game to do free-to-play right".[170][180] Nick Kolan of IGN also agreed, comparing the game's business model to Valve's Team Fortress 2, which uses a nearly identical system.[181] Post-release additions to the game were also praised, such as the addition of virtual reality (VR) support in 2016. Ben Kuchera of Polygon thought that spectating games in VR was "amazing", comparing it to being able to watch an American football game on television with the ability to jump onto the field at any time to see the quarterback's point of view.[182] Chris Thursten of PC Gamer agreed, calling the experience "incredible" and unlike any other esports spectating system that existed prior to it.[183] Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica also praised the addition, believing that the functionality could "attract serious attention from gamers and non-gamers alike".[184]

While the majority of reviewers gave Dota 2 highly positive reviews, a common criticism was that the game maintains a steep learning curve that requires exceptional commitment to overcome. While providing a moderately positive review that praised Valve's product stability, Fredrik Åslund from the Swedish division of Gamereactor described his first match of Dota 2 as one of the most humiliating and inhospitable experiences of his gaming career, citing the learning curve and players' attitudes as unwelcoming.[185] Benjamin Danneberg of GameStar alluded to the learning curve as a "learning cliff", calling the newcomer's experience painful, with the tutorial feature new to the Dota franchise only being partially successful.[186] In a review for Metro, Dota 2 was criticized for not compensating for the flaws with the learning curve from Defense of the Ancients, as well as the often hostile community.[187] Peter Bright of Ars Technica also directed criticism at the ability for third-party websites to allow skin gambling and betting on match results, similar to controversies that also existed with Valve's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[188] Using Dota 2 as an example, Bright thought that Valve had built gambling elements directly into their games, and had issues with the unregulated practice, which he said was often used by underage players and regions where gambling is illegal.[188] Australian senator Nick Xenophon had similar sentiment, stating that he wanted to introduce legislation in his country to minimize underage access to gambling within video games, including Dota 2.[189] In response to the controversy, Valve and Dota 2 project manager Erik Johnson stated that they would be taking action against the third-party sites as the practice was not allowed by their user agreements or API.[190]

Comparisons of Dota 2 to other MOBA games are commonplace, with the mechanics and business model compared to League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm.[181][191][192][193] Contrasting it with League of Legends, T. J. Hafer of PC Gamer called Dota 2 the "superior experience", stating that he thought the game was "all about counterplay", with most of the heroes being designed to directly counter another.[194] Hafer also preferred the way the game handled its hero selection pool, with all of them being unlocked right from the start, unlike in League of Legends.[194] Comparing Dota 2 to Heroes of the Storm, Jason Parker of CNET said that while Heroes of the Storm was easier to get into, the complexities and depth of Dota 2 would be appreciated more by those who put in the time to master it.[195] Further comparing it to Heroes of Newerth, players from the professional Dota 2 team OG said that most Heroes of Newerth players were able to transition over easily to the game, due to the strong similarities that both games share.[196] Similar to other highly competitive online games, Dota 2 is often considered to have a hostile and "toxic" community.[197][198][199] In 2019, a report by the Anti-Defamation League found that up to 79% of the game's playerbase had reported being harassed in some way while playing it, which topped their list.[200]

Awards

Following its reveal in 2011, Dota 2 won IGN's People's Choice Award.[201] In December 2012, PC Gamer listed Dota 2 as a nominee for their Game of the Year award, as well as the best esports game of the year.[202] In 2013, Dota 2 won the esport game of the year award from PC Gamer[203] and onGamers.[204] GameTrailers also awarded the game the award for Best PC Game of 2013,[205] with IGN also awarding it the Best PC Strategy & Tactics Game, Best PC Multiplayer Game, and People's Choice Award.[206][207] Similarly, Game Informer recognized Dota 2 for the categories of Best PC Exclusive, Best Competitive Multiplayer and Best Strategy of 2013.[208] The same year, Dota 2 was nominated for several awards by Destructoid. While the staff selected StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Dota 2 received the majority of the votes distributed between the nine nominees.[209] Dota 2 was later nominated for the best multiplayer game at the 10th British Academy Games Awards in 2014, but lost to Grand Theft Auto V,[210] and was nominated for Esports Game of the Year at The Game Awards at its events from 2015 to 2019,[211][212][213][214] while winning the award for best MOBA at the 2015 Global Game Awards.[215] The game was also nominated for the community created "Love/Hate Relationship" award at the inaugural Steam Awards in 2016.[216] In the late 2010s, the game was nominated for Choice Video Game at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards,[217] for Esports Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards,[218][219][220][221] and as IGN's best spectator game.[222]

Legacy

 
A fan cosplaying as Juggernaut, one of the game's 123 playable characters

A month prior to its official launch, Dota 2 was already the most played game on Steam with a concurrent player count of nearly 330,000, which outweighed the number of players for the rest of platform's top ten most-played games combined.[223][224][225] It remained as the most played game by concurrent players on the platform for four years,[226][227] having a peak of over one million and never dropping below first place for any extended period of time until being surpassed by PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in 2017.[228][229][230] Viewership and followings of professional Dota 2 leagues and tournaments are also popular, with peak viewership numbers of some events reaching upwards in the millions.[231][232][233] Some Asian schools and universities, such as the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation in Malaysia, have held courses teaching students the fundamentals and core skills to use for the game.[234][235] Dota 2 has also been a part of multi-sport events in Asia, such as the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and Southeast Asian Games.[236][237]

 
The Aegis of Champions, awarded to International winners

The popularity of Dota 2 led Valve to produce apparel, accessories, figurines, and several other products featuring the heroes and other elements from the game. In addition, Valve secured licensing contracts with third-party producers; the first of these deals concerned a Dota 2 themed SteelSeries mousepad, which was announced alongside the game at Gamescom 2011.[238] In September 2012, Weta Workshop, the prop studio that creates the "Aegis of Champions" trophy for winners of The International,[239] announced a product line that would include statues, weapons, and armor based on characters and items from the game.[240] In February 2013, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced a new toy line featuring hero-themed action figures at the American International Toy Fair.[241] At Gamescom 2015, an HTC Vive virtual reality (VR) tech demo based around the shopkeeper of the game's item shop was showcased, allowing participants to interact with various items and objects from the game in VR.[242] The demo, known as Secret Shop, was later included the following year on The Lab, Valve's virtual reality compilation game.[243] After the conclusion of The International 2015, Valve awarded the Collector's Aegis of Champions, a brass replica of the Aegis of Champions award trophy, to those with compendiums of 1,000 levels or more.[244] Valve awarded the Collector's Aegis again the following year for The International 2016, as well as selling a limited edition Dota 2 themed HTC Vive virtual reality headset during the event.[245][246] In July 2017, an 18-track music soundtrack was released by Ipecac Recordings, including a version on vinyl.[247] A digital collectible card game based on the universe of Dota 2 and designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and Valve, Artifact, was released in November 2018.[248][249][250]

Promotional tie-ins to other video games and media have been added to Dota 2, including custom Half-Life 2,[251] Bastion,[251] Portal,[252] The Stanley Parable,[253] Rick and Morty,[254] Fallout 4,[255] Deus Ex: Mankind Divided,[256] and Darkest Dungeon[257] announcer packs, which replace the game's default announcer with ones based on those franchises. In addition to announcer packs, well-known musical artists have written music packs that can replace the game's default soundtrack, such as electronic music artist deadmau5 and Singaporean songwriter JJ Lin.[258][259][260] To coincide with the Windows release of Square Enix's Final Fantasy Type-0 HD in August 2015, a bundle containing a custom loading screen, a Moogle ward, and a Chocobo courier were added the same month.[261] In April 2016, Valve announced a cross-promotional workshop contest for Sega's Total War: Warhammer, with the winning entries being included in the game later that year.[262] In 2017, a cosmetic set based on the Companion Cube from the Portal series was released as part of that year's International battle pass for the hero known as "Io".[263] In December of the same year, the character Amaterasu from Capcom's Ōkami was included as a courier for those who had pre-ordered the PC release of the game.[264]

 
Physical props, based on items from the game, being sold as merchandise at The International 2012

A documentary on the game and its professional scene was produced by Valve and released in March 2014. Known as Free to Play, the film follows three players during their time at the first International in 2011.[265] American basketball player Jeremy Lin, who was a media sensation at the time, had a guest appearance in the film and called the game "a way of life".[266] Lin later compared the game and the esports scene in general to basketball and other traditional sporting events, saying that there was not much of a difference between the two,[267] while also comparing various NBA all-stars, such as Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, to different heroes in the game.[268] Starting in 2016, Valve began producing an episodic documentary series titled True Sight, a spiritual successor to Free to Play.[269] The first three episodes followed the professional teams Evil Geniuses and Fnatic during the Boston Major tournament in late 2016.[269] Several more episodes have since been produced.[270][271] Valve have also endorsed cosplay competitions featuring the game's heroes, which take place during downtime at some Dota 2 tournaments and feature prize pools of their own.[272][273][274] Creation of Dota 2-themed animations and CGI videos, mostly created by the community with Source Filmmaker, also take place.[275] Similar to the cosplay competitions, Valve holds short film contests every year at The International, with winners of the competition also being awarded prize money.[276][277] In addition, Valve have created free webcomics featuring some of the heroes, further detailing their background lore.[278][279][280] A physical collection of the comics was released as Dota 2: The Comic Collection by Dark Horse Comics in August 2017.[281] An anime streaming television series based on the game, Dota: Dragon's Blood, premiered on Netflix in March 2021.[282] The series was produced by Studio Mir and Kaiju Boulevard.

Dota 2 has also been used in machine learning experiments, with the American artificial intelligence research company OpenAI curating a system, known as the OpenAI Five, that allows bots to learn how to play the game at a high skill level entirely through trial-and-error algorithms. The bots learn over time by playing against itself hundreds a times a day for months in a system that OpenAI calls "reinforcement learning", in which they are rewarded for actions such as killing an enemy and destroying towers.[283][284][285][286] Demonstrations of the bots playing against professional players have occurred at some events, such as Dendi, a professional Ukrainian player of the game, losing to one of them in a live 1v1 matchup at The International 2017.[287][288] A year later, the ability of the bots had increased to work together as a full team of five, known as the OpenAI Five, who then played and won against a team of semi-professional players in a demonstration game in August 2018.[289] Shortly after, OpenAI Five then played two live games against more skilled players at The International 2018.[290][291] Although the bots lost both games, OpenAI considered it successful as playing the bots against some of the best players in Dota 2 allowed them to analyze and adjust their algorithms for future games.[292]

Notes

  1. ^ Source prior to September 2015

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External links

 
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  • Official website  

January 10, 2023
dota, 2013, multiplayer, online, battle, arena, moba, video, game, valve, game, sequel, defense, ancients, dota, community, created, blizzard, entertainment, warcraft, reign, chaos, played, matches, between, teams, five, players, with, each, team, occupying, d. Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena MOBA video game by Valve The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients DotA a community created mod for Blizzard Entertainment s Warcraft III Reign of Chaos Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character known as a hero that all have unique abilities and differing styles of play During a match players collect experience points and items for their heroes to successfully defeat the opposing team s heroes in player versus player combat A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team s Ancient a large structure located within their base Dota 2Developer s ValvePublisher s ValveDesigner s IceFrogWriter s Marc LaidlawTed KosmatkaKris KatzComposer s Jason HayesTim LarkinSeriesDotaEngineSource 2 a Platform s WindowsLinuxOS XReleaseWindowsJuly 9 2013Linux OS XJuly 18 2013Genre s MOBAMode s MultiplayerDevelopment of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog lead designer of Defense of the Ancients was hired by Valve to create a modernized remake for them in the Source game engine It was released for Windows OS X and Linux via the digital distribution platform Steam in July 2013 following a Windows only open beta phase that began two years prior The game is fully free to play with no heroes or any other gameplay element needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked To maintain it Valve supports the game as a service selling loot boxes and a battle pass subscription system called Dota Plus that offer non gameplay altering virtual goods in return such as hero cosmetics and audio replacement packs The game was ported to the Source 2 engine in 2015 making it the first game to use it Dota 2 has a large esports scene with teams from around the world playing in various professional leagues and tournaments Valve manages an event format known as the Dota Pro Circuit a series of tournaments that award qualification points for earning direct invitations to The International the game s premier tournament held annually Internationals feature a crowdfunded prize money system that has seen amounts in upwards of US 40 million making Dota 2 the most lucrative esport Media coverage of most tournaments is done by a selection of on site staff who provide commentary and analysis for the ongoing matches similar to traditional sporting events In addition to playing live to audiences in arenas and stadiums broadcasts of them are also streamed over the internet and sometimes simulcast on television with peak viewership numbers in the millions Despite some criticism going towards its steep learning curve and overall complexity Dota 2 was praised for its rewarding gameplay production quality and faithfulness to its predecessor with many considering it to be one of the greatest video games of all time It has been one of the most played games on Steam since its release with over a million concurrent players at its peak The popularity of the game has led to official merchandise and media adaptations for it being produced including comic books and an anime series as well as promotional tie ins to other games and media The game also allows for the community to create their own gamemodes maps and cosmetics which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop Two spinoff games Artifact and Dota Underlords were also released by Valve Dota 2 has also been used in machine learning experiments with a team of bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional players Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Development 2 1 Dota 2 Reborn 3 Release 4 Esports 5 Reception 5 1 Awards 6 Legacy 7 Notes 8 References 9 External linksGameplaySee also Mechanics of multiplayer online battle arena games A game of Dota 2 in progress showing the Radiant team inside their base at the beginning of a match Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena MOBA video game in which two teams of five players compete to destroy a large structure defended by the opposing team known as the Ancient whilst defending their own 1 2 As in Defense of the Ancients the game is controlled using standard real time strategy controls and is presented on a single map in a three dimensional isometric perspective 1 3 Ten players each control one of the game s 123 playable characters known as heroes with each having their own design strengths and weaknesses 1 2 4 Heroes are divided into two primary roles known as the core and support 5 6 Cores which are also called carries begin each match as weak and vulnerable but are able to become more powerful later in the game thus becoming able to carry their team to victory 5 7 Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their cores such as providing healing and other buffs 5 6 8 Players select their hero during a pre game drafting phase where they can also discuss potential strategies and hero matchups with their teammates 2 5 6 Heroes are removed from the drafting pool and become unavailable for all other players once one is selected and can not be changed once the drafting phase is over All heroes have a basic attack in addition to powerful abilities which are the primary method of fighting Each hero has at least four of them all of which are unique 3 8 Heroes begin each game with an experience level of one only having access to one of their abilities but are able to level up and become more powerful during the course of the game up to a maximum level of 30 2 5 Whenever a hero gains an experience level the player is able to unlock another of their abilities or improve one already learned 2 5 The most powerful ability for each hero is known as their ultimate which requires them to have an experience level of six in order to use 6 In order to prevent abilities from being used without consequence a magic system is featured in the game Activating an ability costs a hero some of their mana points which slowly regenerates over time 3 9 Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown period in which the ability can not be used again until a timer resets All heroes have three attributes strength intelligence and agility which affect health points mana points and attack speed respectively 5 Each hero has one primary attribute out of the three which adds to their non ability basic damage output when increased among other minor buffs 5 10 Heroes also have an ability augmentation system known as the Talent Tree which allow players more choices on how to develop their hero 5 6 If a hero runs out of health points and dies they are removed from active play until a timer counts down to zero where they are then respawned in their base with only some gold lost 11 The two teams known as the Radiant and Dire occupy fortified bases in opposite corners of the map which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by three paths which are referred to as lanes 1 2 The lanes are guarded by defensive towers that attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight 2 A small group of weak computer controlled creatures called creeps travel predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes creeps and buildings in their way 2 6 11 Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game in groups from two buildings called the barracks that exist in each lane and are located within the team s bases 2 6 12 The map is also permanently covered for both teams in fog of war which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team s heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of themselves or an allied unit The map also features a day night cycle with some hero abilities and other game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle 5 Also present on the map are neutral creeps that are hostile to both teams and reside in marked locations on the map known as camps Camps are located in the area between the lanes known as the jungle which both sides of the map have 6 13 Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked and respawn over time if killed The most powerful neutral creep is named Roshan who is a unique boss that may be defeated by either team to obtain special items such as one that allows a one time resurrection if the hero that holds it is killed 2 6 14 Roshan will respawn around ten minutes after being killed and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match progresses over time 14 Runes which are special items that spawn in set positions on the map every few minutes offer heroes temporary but powerful power ups when collected such as double damage and invisibility 5 6 In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game players are able to buy items from set locations on the map called shops that provide their own special abilities 2 6 14 15 Items are not limited to specific heroes and can be bought by anyone In order to obtain an item players must be able to afford it with gold at shops located on the map which is primarily obtained by killing enemy heroes destroying enemy structures and killing creeps with the latter being an act called farming 2 5 11 Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a creep obtains gold from it an act called last hitting but all allies receive a share of gold when an enemy hero dies close to them 3 11 Players are also able to deny allied units and structures by last hitting them which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience from them 11 14 Gold can not be shared between teammates with each player having their own independent stash Players also receive a continuous but small stream of gold over the course of a match 5 16 Dota 2 features multiple game types which mainly alter the way hero selection is handled examples include All Pick which offer no restrictions on hero selection All Random which randomly assigns a hero for each player Captain s Mode where a single player on each team selects heroes for their entire team and is primarily used for professional play and Turbo an expedited version of All Pick featuring increased gold and experience gain weaker towers and faster respawn times 17 18 19 Matches usually last around 30 minutes to an hour although they can last forever as long as both Ancients remain standing 6 20 In Captain s Mode games an additional GG forfeit feature is available to end games early 21 Dota 2 also occasionally features limited time events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game s standard rules 22 Some of these included the Halloween themed Diretide event 23 the Christmas themed Frostivus event 24 and the New Bloom Festival which celebrated the coming of spring 25 Other special game modes have also been created by Valve including a ten versus ten mode 26 a Halloween themed capture point mode Colosseum 27 a combat arena mode Overthrow 28 Siltbreaker a story driven cooperative campaign mode 29 and The Underhollow a battle royale mode 30 The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 also added the Arcade feature which allows for community created game modes with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve 31 32 One popular example known as Dota Auto Chess had over seven million in game subscribers by April 2019 33 34 35 Owing to its popularity Valve met with the mod s developers the Chinese based Drodo Studio to discuss directly collaborating on a standalone version However the two companies were unable to come to an agreement with them both stating that it was in their best interest to develop their own separate games 36 Valve s version Dota Underlords was released in February 2020 and continued to use the Dota setting 37 while Drodo s game Auto Chess was developed using no Dota 2 assets 38 39 DevelopmentSee also List of video games derived from mods Defense of the Ancients the original mod from Warcraft III that Dota 2 was based on The Dota series began in 2003 with Defense of the Ancients DotA a mod for Blizzard Entertainment s Warcraft III Reign of Chaos created by the pseudonymous designer Eul 40 An expansion pack for Warcraft III The Frozen Throne was released later that year a series of Defense of the Ancients clone mods for the new game competed for popularity DotA Allstars by Steve Feak was the most successful 41 and Feak with his friend Steve Mescon created the official Defense of the Ancients community website and the holding company DotA Allstars LLC 42 When Feak retired from DotA Allstars in 2005 a friend under the pseudonym IceFrog became its lead designer 43 By the late 2000s Defense of the Ancients became one of the most popular mods worldwide as well as a prominent esports game 44 IceFrog and Mescon later had a falling out in May 2009 which prompted the former to establish a new community website at playdota com 45 Valve s interest in the Dota intellectual property began when several veteran employees including Team Fortress 2 designer Robin Walker and executive Erik Johnson became fans of the mod and wanted to build a modern sequel 46 The company corresponded with IceFrog by email about his long term plans for the project 47 and he was subsequently hired to direct a sequel 48 IceFrog first announced his new position through his blog in October 2009 49 with Dota 2 being officially announced a year later 50 Valve adopted the word Dota derived from the original mod s acronym as the name for its newly acquired franchise Johnson argued that the word referred to a concept and was not an acronym 48 Shortly after the announcement of Dota 2 Valve filed a trademark claim to the Dota name 51 At Gamescom 2011 company president Gabe Newell explained that the trademark was needed to develop a sequel with the already identifiable brand 52 Holding the Dota name to be a community asset Feak and Mescon filed an opposing trademark for Dota on behalf of DotA Allstars LLC then a subsidiary of Riot Games in August 2010 42 Rob Pardo the executive vice president of Blizzard Entertainment at the time similarly stated that the Dota name belonged to the mod s community Blizzard acquired DotA Allstars LLC from Riot Games and filed an opposition against Valve in November 2011 citing Blizzard s ownership of both the Warcraft III World Editor and DotA Allstars LLC as proper claims to the franchise name 53 The dispute was settled in May 2012 with Valve retaining commercial rights to the Dota trademark while allowing non commercial use of the name by third parties 54 In 2017 Valve s ownership of franchise was again challenged after a 2004 internet forum post from Eul was brought to light by a Chinese company known as uCool who had released a mobile game in 2014 that used characters from the Dota universe 55 uCool who was previously involved in a lawsuit with Blizzard in 2015 for similar reasons 56 along with another Chinese company Lilith Games argued that the forum post invalidated any ownership claims of the intellectual property stating that the Dota property was an open source collective work that could not be copyrighted by anyone in particular 55 57 Judge Charles R Breyer denied uCool s motion for summary dismissal with Blizzard filing motions to dismiss all claims against uCool and Lilith with prejudice 55 58 59 An early goal of the Dota 2 team was the adaptation of Defense of the Ancients aesthetic style for the Source engine 50 The Radiant and Dire factions replaced the Sentinel and Scourge from the mod respectively Character names abilities items and map design from the mod were largely retained with some changes due to trademarks owned by Blizzard In the first Q amp A session regarding Dota 2 IceFrog explained that the game would build upon the mod without making significant changes to its core 48 Valve contracted major contributors from the Defense of the Ancients community including Eul and artist Kendrick Lim to assist with the sequel 60 Additional contributions from sources outside of Valve were also sought regularly for Dota 2 as to continue Defense of the Ancients tradition of community sourced development 61 One of the composers of Warcraft III Reign of Chaos Jason Hayes was hired to collaborate with Tim Larkin to write the original score for the game which was conducted by Timothy Williams and performed and recorded by the Northwest Sinfonia at Bastyr University 62 63 Valve had Half Life series writer Marc Laidlaw science fiction author Ted Kosmatka and Steam support employee Kris Katz write new dialog and background lore for the heroes 64 65 Notable voice actors for heroes include Nolan North Dave Fennoy Jon St John Ellen McLain Fred Tatasciore Merle Dandridge Jen Taylor and John Patrick Lowrie among others 66 The Source engine itself was updated with new features to accommodate Dota 2 such as high end cloth modeling and improved global lighting 50 The game features Steam integration which provides its social component and cloud storage for personal settings In November 2013 Valve introduced a coaching system that allows experienced players to tutor newer players with in game tools 67 As with previous Valve multiplayer games players are able to spectate live matches of Dota 2 played by others 67 and local area network LAN multiplayer support allows for local competitions 68 69 Some of these events may be spectated via the purchase of tickets from the Dota Store which give players in game access to matches Ticket fees are apportioned in part to tournament organizers 70 The game also features an in game fantasy sports system which is modeled after traditional fantasy sports and feature professional Dota 2 players and teams 71 Players are also able to spectate games in virtual reality VR with up to 15 others which was added in an update in July 2016 72 The update also added a hero showcase mode which allows players to see all of the heroes and their cosmetics full size in virtual reality 73 As part of a plan to develop Dota 2 into a social network Newell announced in April 2012 that the game would be free to play and that community contributions would be a cornerstone feature 74 Instead revenue is generated through the Dota Store which offers for purchase cosmetic virtual goods such as custom armor and weapons for their heroes 75 It was also announced that the full roster of heroes would be available at launch for free 76 Until the game s official release in 2013 players were able to purchase an early access bundle which included a digital copy of Dota 2 and several cosmetic items 77 Included as optional downloadable content DLC the Dota 2 Workshop Tools are a set of Source 2 software development kit SDK tools that allow content creators to create new hero cosmetics as well as custom game modes maps and bot scripts 78 79 80 Highly rated cosmetics through the Steam Workshop are available in the in game store if they are accepted by Valve This model was fashioned after Valve s Team Fortress 2 which had earned Workshop designers of cosmetic items of that game over 3 5 million by June 2011 76 Newell revealed that the average Steam Workshop contributor for Dota 2 and Team Fortess 2 made approximately 15 000 from their creations in 2013 81 By 2015 sales of Dota 2 virtual goods had earned Valve over 238 million in revenue according to the digital game market research group SuperData 82 In 2016 Valve introduced the Custom Game Pass option for creators of custom game modes which allows them to be funded by way of microtransactions by adding exclusive features content and other changes to their game mode for players who buy it 83 Dota 2 includes a seasonal Elo rating based matchmaking system which is measured by a numerical value known as matchmaking rating MMR that is tracked separately for core and support roles and ranked into different tiers 84 MMR is updated based on if a player won or lost which will then increase or decrease respectively 85 The game s servers known as the Game Coordinator 86 87 attempts to balance both teams based on each player s MMR with each team having roughly a 50 chance to win in any given game 85 Ranked game modes with a separately tracked MMR are also available which primarily differ from unranked games by making MMR publicly visible as well as requiring the registration of a phone number to their accounts which help foster a more competitive environment 85 88 To ensure that each player s ranking is up to date and accurate MMR is recalibrated around every six months 89 90 Players with the highest possible medal rank are listed by Valve on an online leaderboard separated into North American European Southeast Asian and Chinese regions 91 The game also includes a report system which allows players to punish player behavior that intentionally provides a negative experience 92 Players who get reported enough or leave several games before they conclude a practice known as abandoning are then placed into low priority matchmaking which remains on a player s account until they win a specific number of games and only groups them with other players who also have the same punishment 93 94 Other features include an improved replay system from Defense of the Ancients in which a completed game can be downloaded in client and viewed by anyone at a later time and the hero builds feature which provide integrated guides created by the community that highlight to the player on how to play their hero 95 Dota 2 Reborn In June 2015 Valve announced that the entirety of Dota 2 would be ported over to their Source 2 game engine in an update called Dota 2 Reborn 96 Reborn was first released as an opt in beta update that same month 97 and officially replaced the original client in September 2015 making it the first game to use the engine 98 Reborn included a new user interface framework design ability for custom game modes created by the community and the full replacement of the original Source engine with Source 2 99 Largely attributed to technical difficulties players experienced with the update the global player base experienced a sharp drop of approximately sixteen percent the month following its release 100 However after various updates and patches over a million concurrent players were playing again by the beginning of 2016 with that number being the largest in nearly a year 101 The move to Source 2 also allowed the use of the Vulkan graphics API released as an optional feature in May 2016 making Dota 2 one of the first games to use it 102 Release Gamescom 2011 in Cologne where the game was first made playable to the public Dota 2 was first made available to the public at Gamescom in 2011 coinciding with the inaugural International championship the game s premier esport tournament event At the event Valve began sending out closed beta invitations to DotA players and attendees 103 Although the game was originally meant to publicly release in 2012 Valve later scrapped that plan as it would have kept the game in its closed beta state for over a year Owing to that Valve lifted the non disclosure agreement and transitioned the game into open beta in September 2011 allowing players to discuss the game and their experiences publicly 104 105 Following nearly two years of beta testing Dota 2 was officially released on Steam for Windows on July 9 2013 and for OS X and Linux on July 18 2013 106 107 108 The game did not launch with every hero from Defense of the Ancients Instead the missing ones were added in various post release updates with the final one as well as the first Dota 2 original hero being added in 2016 109 110 Two months following the game s release Newell claimed that updates to Dota 2 generated up to three percent of global internet traffic 111 In December 2013 the final restrictions against unlimited global access to Dota 2 were lifted after the game s infrastructure and servers were substantially bolstered 112 In order to abide by the standards set by the economic legislation of specific countries Valve opted to contract with nationally based developers for publishing In October 2012 Chinese game publisher Perfect World announced they had received distribution rights for the game in the country 113 The Chinese client also has a region specific Low Violence mode which removes most depictions of blood gore and skulls in order for the game to follow censorship policies of the country 114 115 In November 2012 a similar publishing deal was made with the South Korea based game company Nexon to distribute and market the game in the country as well as in Japan 116 Three years later Nexon announced they would no longer be operating servers for Dota 2 with Valve taking over direct distribution and marketing of the game in those regions 117 In December 2016 Dota 2 was updated to gameplay version 7 00 also known as The New Journey update 118 119 120 Prior to the update the Dota series had been in version 6 xx for over a decade marking the first major revision since IceFrog originally took over development of the original mod in the mid 2000s 120 The New Journey update added and changed numerous features and mechanics of the game including adding the first original hero not ported over from Defense of the Ancients a reworked map a redesigned HUD a pre game phase that allows for players to discuss their team strategy and a Talent Tree ability augmentation system 119 120 In April 2017 Valve announced changes to the game s ranked matchmaking system with the main one requiring the registration of a unique phone number to a player s account in order to play them an anti griefing and smurfing practice they had previously implemented in their first person shooter game Counter Strike Global Offensive 88 121 Further changes to the game s matchmaking were brought in an update in November 2017 where the old numerical MMR system was replaced by a seasonal one based on eight ranked tiers that are recalibrated around every six months a move that brought the game s ranked system closer to ones used in other competitive games such as Global Offensive StarCraft and League of Legends 122 123 84 For most of 2018 Valve decided to handle gameplay balance updates for the game in a different way Instead of releasing larger updates irregularly throughout the year smaller ones would be released on a set schedule of every two weeks 124 125 Around the same time the game also introduced the Dota Plus monthly subscription system that replaced the seasonal battle passes that were released to coincide with a Major tournament In addition to offering everything battle passes previously did Dota Plus added new features such as a hero specific achievement system that reward players who complete them with exclusive cosmetics as well as providing hero and game analytics and statistics gathered from thousands of recent games 126 Esports The largest Dota 2 tournaments often have prize pools totaling millions of dollars Shown here is The International 2018 a 25 million tournament hosted at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver To ensure that enough Defense of the Ancients players would take up Dota 2 and to promote the game to a new audience Valve invited sixteen accomplished Defense of the Ancients esports teams to compete at a Dota 2 specific tournament at Gamescom in August 2011 which later became an annually held event known as The International 127 From The International 2013 onward its prize pool began to be crowdfunded through a type of in game battle pass called the Compendium which raises money from players buying them and connected lootboxes to get exclusive in game cosmetics and other bonuses offered through them 128 129 25 of all the revenue made from Compendiums go directly to the prize pool with sales from the 2013 battle pass raising over US 2 8 million which made it the largest prize pool in esports history at the time 130 131 From 2015 until 2021 each iteration of the International surpassed the previous one s prize pool with The International 2021 peaking at 40 million 132 133 During its beta phase in the early 2010s several other esport events would begin hosting Dota 2 events including the Electronic Sports World Cup 134 DreamHack 135 World Cyber Games 136 and ESL 137 By the end of 2011 Dota 2 was already one of the highest paying esport games second only to StarCraft II 138 At E3 2013 South Korean company Nexon announced the investment of 2 billion approximately US 1 7 million into local leagues in the country which coincided with their distribution partnership with Valve for the game 139 In February 2015 Valve sponsored and held the Dota 2 Asia Championships in Shanghai with a prize pool of over 3 million raised through compendium sales 140 141 In total professional Dota 2 tournaments had earned teams and players over 100 million by June 2017 with over half of that being awarded at Internationals making it the highest earning esport game by a margin of nearly 60 million at the time 142 As with traditional sporting events most major Dota 2 events feature pre and post game discussion by a panel of analysts left with in match casting being done by play by play and color commentators right From late 2015 until early 2017 Valve sponsored a series of smaller scale seasonally held tournaments known as the Dota Major Championships which all had fixed prize pools of US 3 million 143 144 Their format was based on the tournament series of the same name that Valve also sponsored for their first person shooter game Counter Strike Global Offensive Including The International 2016 and 2017 which were considered to be the cumulative Major of their respective seasons 143 145 the series had five other events which were the Frankfurt Major 146 Shanghai Major 147 Manila Major 148 Boston Major 149 and Kiev Major 150 Following the International 2017 the Majors were replaced with the Dota Pro Circuit DPC format due to criticism by teams and fans for Valve s non transparent and unpredictable nature for handing out International invitations 151 152 153 In the DPC teams are awarded qualification points for their performance in sponsored tournaments with the top twelve earning direct invites to that season s International 154 To avoid conflicting dates with other tournaments Valve directly manages the scheduling of them 153 The primary medium for professional Dota 2 coverage is through the live streaming platform Twitch For most major events tournament coverage is done by a selection of dedicated esports organizations and personnel who provide on site commentary analysis and player interviews similar to traditional sporting events 155 156 Coverage of Dota 2 tournaments have also been simulcast on television networks such as ESPN in the United States 157 158 BBC Three in the United Kingdom 159 Sport1 in Germany 160 TV 2 Zulu in Denmark 161 Xinwen Lianbo in China 162 Astro in Malaysia 163 and TV5 in the Philippines 164 ReceptionReceptionAggregate scoreAggregatorScoreMetacritic90 100 165 Review scoresPublicationScoreDestructoid9 5 10 166 Edge9 10 167 Eurogamer9 10 168 Game Informer9 10 16 GameSpot9 10 169 IGN9 4 10 170 PC Gamer US 92 100 172 Polygon8 5 10 171 USgamer 173 VideoGamer com9 10 174 Dota 2 received universal acclaim according to review aggregator Metacritic 165 and has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time 175 176 177 178 In a preview of the game in 2012 Rich McCormick of PC Gamer thought that Dota 2 was an unbelievably deep and complex game that offers the purest sequel to the original Defense of the Ancients Rewarding like few others but tough 179 Adam Biessener the editor who authored the announcement article for Dota 2 for Game Informer in 2010 praised Valve for maintaining the same mechanics and game balance that made Defense of the Ancients successful nearly a decade prior 16 and Quintin Smith of Eurogamer described Dota 2 as the supreme form of the MOBA which everyone else working in the genre is trying to capture like lightning in a bottle 168 The most frequently praised aspects of the game were its depth delivery and overall balance Chris Thursten of PC Gamer described the gameplay as being deep and rewarding 172 Martin Gaston of GameSpot complimented Valve for the artistic design and delivery of Dota 2 citing the execution of the user interface design voice acting and characterization as exceeding those of the game s competitors 169 Phill Cameron of IGN and James Kozanitis of Hardcore Gamer both praised Dota 2 for its free to play business model including only cosmetic items in contrast to other games such as League of Legends which charges to unlock better heroes to play as with Kozanitis stating that Dota 2 was the only game to do free to play right 170 180 Nick Kolan of IGN also agreed comparing the game s business model to Valve s Team Fortress 2 which uses a nearly identical system 181 Post release additions to the game were also praised such as the addition of virtual reality VR support in 2016 Ben Kuchera of Polygon thought that spectating games in VR was amazing comparing it to being able to watch an American football game on television with the ability to jump onto the field at any time to see the quarterback s point of view 182 Chris Thursten of PC Gamer agreed calling the experience incredible and unlike any other esports spectating system that existed prior to it 183 Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica also praised the addition believing that the functionality could attract serious attention from gamers and non gamers alike 184 While the majority of reviewers gave Dota 2 highly positive reviews a common criticism was that the game maintains a steep learning curve that requires exceptional commitment to overcome While providing a moderately positive review that praised Valve s product stability Fredrik Aslund from the Swedish division of Gamereactor described his first match of Dota 2 as one of the most humiliating and inhospitable experiences of his gaming career citing the learning curve and players attitudes as unwelcoming 185 Benjamin Danneberg of GameStar alluded to the learning curve as a learning cliff calling the newcomer s experience painful with the tutorial feature new to the Dota franchise only being partially successful 186 In a review for Metro Dota 2 was criticized for not compensating for the flaws with the learning curve from Defense of the Ancients as well as the often hostile community 187 Peter Bright of Ars Technica also directed criticism at the ability for third party websites to allow skin gambling and betting on match results similar to controversies that also existed with Valve s Counter Strike Global Offensive 188 Using Dota 2 as an example Bright thought that Valve had built gambling elements directly into their games and had issues with the unregulated practice which he said was often used by underage players and regions where gambling is illegal 188 Australian senator Nick Xenophon had similar sentiment stating that he wanted to introduce legislation in his country to minimize underage access to gambling within video games including Dota 2 189 In response to the controversy Valve and Dota 2 project manager Erik Johnson stated that they would be taking action against the third party sites as the practice was not allowed by their user agreements or API 190 Comparisons of Dota 2 to other MOBA games are commonplace with the mechanics and business model compared to League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm 181 191 192 193 Contrasting it with League of Legends T J Hafer of PC Gamer called Dota 2 the superior experience stating that he thought the game was all about counterplay with most of the heroes being designed to directly counter another 194 Hafer also preferred the way the game handled its hero selection pool with all of them being unlocked right from the start unlike in League of Legends 194 Comparing Dota 2 to Heroes of the Storm Jason Parker of CNET said that while Heroes of the Storm was easier to get into the complexities and depth of Dota 2 would be appreciated more by those who put in the time to master it 195 Further comparing it to Heroes of Newerth players from the professional Dota 2 team OG said that most Heroes of Newerth players were able to transition over easily to the game due to the strong similarities that both games share 196 Similar to other highly competitive online games Dota 2 is often considered to have a hostile and toxic community 197 198 199 In 2019 a report by the Anti Defamation League found that up to 79 of the game s playerbase had reported being harassed in some way while playing it which topped their list 200 Awards Following its reveal in 2011 Dota 2 won IGN s People s Choice Award 201 In December 2012 PC Gamer listed Dota 2 as a nominee for their Game of the Year award as well as the best esports game of the year 202 In 2013 Dota 2 won the esport game of the year award from PC Gamer 203 and onGamers 204 GameTrailers also awarded the game the award for Best PC Game of 2013 205 with IGN also awarding it the Best PC Strategy amp Tactics Game Best PC Multiplayer Game and People s Choice Award 206 207 Similarly Game Informer recognized Dota 2 for the categories of Best PC Exclusive Best Competitive Multiplayer and Best Strategy of 2013 208 The same year Dota 2 was nominated for several awards by Destructoid While the staff selected StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm Dota 2 received the majority of the votes distributed between the nine nominees 209 Dota 2 was later nominated for the best multiplayer game at the 10th British Academy Games Awards in 2014 but lost to Grand Theft Auto V 210 and was nominated for Esports Game of the Year at The Game Awards at its events from 2015 to 2019 211 212 213 214 while winning the award for best MOBA at the 2015 Global Game Awards 215 The game was also nominated for the community created Love Hate Relationship award at the inaugural Steam Awards in 2016 216 In the late 2010s the game was nominated for Choice Video Game at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards 217 for Esports Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 218 219 220 221 and as IGN s best spectator game 222 Legacy A fan cosplaying as Juggernaut one of the game s 123 playable characters A month prior to its official launch Dota 2 was already the most played game on Steam with a concurrent player count of nearly 330 000 which outweighed the number of players for the rest of platform s top ten most played games combined 223 224 225 It remained as the most played game by concurrent players on the platform for four years 226 227 having a peak of over one million and never dropping below first place for any extended period of time until being surpassed by PlayerUnknown s Battlegrounds in 2017 228 229 230 Viewership and followings of professional Dota 2 leagues and tournaments are also popular with peak viewership numbers of some events reaching upwards in the millions 231 232 233 Some Asian schools and universities such as the Asia Pacific University of Technology amp Innovation in Malaysia have held courses teaching students the fundamentals and core skills to use for the game 234 235 Dota 2 has also been a part of multi sport events in Asia such as the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and Southeast Asian Games 236 237 The Aegis of Champions awarded to International winners The popularity of Dota 2 led Valve to produce apparel accessories figurines and several other products featuring the heroes and other elements from the game In addition Valve secured licensing contracts with third party producers the first of these deals concerned a Dota 2 themed SteelSeries mousepad which was announced alongside the game at Gamescom 2011 238 In September 2012 Weta Workshop the prop studio that creates the Aegis of Champions trophy for winners of The International 239 announced a product line that would include statues weapons and armor based on characters and items from the game 240 In February 2013 the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced a new toy line featuring hero themed action figures at the American International Toy Fair 241 At Gamescom 2015 an HTC Vive virtual reality VR tech demo based around the shopkeeper of the game s item shop was showcased allowing participants to interact with various items and objects from the game in VR 242 The demo known as Secret Shop was later included the following year on The Lab Valve s virtual reality compilation game 243 After the conclusion of The International 2015 Valve awarded the Collector s Aegis of Champions a brass replica of the Aegis of Champions award trophy to those with compendiums of 1 000 levels or more 244 Valve awarded the Collector s Aegis again the following year for The International 2016 as well as selling a limited edition Dota 2 themed HTC Vive virtual reality headset during the event 245 246 In July 2017 an 18 track music soundtrack was released by Ipecac Recordings including a version on vinyl 247 A digital collectible card game based on the universe of Dota 2 and designed by Magic The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and Valve Artifact was released in November 2018 248 249 250 Promotional tie ins to other video games and media have been added to Dota 2 including custom Half Life 2 251 Bastion 251 Portal 252 The Stanley Parable 253 Rick and Morty 254 Fallout 4 255 Deus Ex Mankind Divided 256 and Darkest Dungeon 257 announcer packs which replace the game s default announcer with ones based on those franchises In addition to announcer packs well known musical artists have written music packs that can replace the game s default soundtrack such as electronic music artist deadmau5 and Singaporean songwriter JJ Lin 258 259 260 To coincide with the Windows release of Square Enix s Final Fantasy Type 0 HD in August 2015 a bundle containing a custom loading screen a Moogle ward and a Chocobo courier were added the same month 261 In April 2016 Valve announced a cross promotional workshop contest for Sega s Total War Warhammer with the winning entries being included in the game later that year 262 In 2017 a cosmetic set based on the Companion Cube from the Portal series was released as part of that year s International battle pass for the hero known as Io 263 In December of the same year the character Amaterasu from Capcom s Ōkami was included as a courier for those who had pre ordered the PC release of the game 264 Physical props based on items from the game being sold as merchandise at The International 2012 A documentary on the game and its professional scene was produced by Valve and released in March 2014 Known as Free to Play the film follows three players during their time at the first International in 2011 265 American basketball player Jeremy Lin who was a media sensation at the time had a guest appearance in the film and called the game a way of life 266 Lin later compared the game and the esports scene in general to basketball and other traditional sporting events saying that there was not much of a difference between the two 267 while also comparing various NBA all stars such as Stephen Curry Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to different heroes in the game 268 Starting in 2016 Valve began producing an episodic documentary series titled True Sight a spiritual successor to Free to Play 269 The first three episodes followed the professional teams Evil Geniuses and Fnatic during the Boston Major tournament in late 2016 269 Several more episodes have since been produced 270 271 Valve have also endorsed cosplay competitions featuring the game s heroes which take place during downtime at some Dota 2 tournaments and feature prize pools of their own 272 273 274 Creation of Dota 2 themed animations and CGI videos mostly created by the community with Source Filmmaker also take place 275 Similar to the cosplay competitions Valve holds short film contests every year at The International with winners of the competition also being awarded prize money 276 277 In addition Valve have created free webcomics featuring some of the heroes further detailing their background lore 278 279 280 A physical collection of the comics was released as Dota 2 The Comic Collection by Dark Horse Comics in August 2017 281 An anime streaming television series based on the game Dota Dragon s Blood premiered on Netflix in March 2021 282 The series was produced by Studio Mir and Kaiju Boulevard Dota 2 has also been used in machine learning experiments with the American artificial intelligence research company OpenAI curating a system known as the OpenAI Five that allows bots to learn how to play the game at a high skill level entirely through trial and error algorithms The bots learn over time by playing against itself hundreds a times a day for months in a system that OpenAI calls reinforcement learning in which they are rewarded for actions such as killing an enemy and destroying towers 283 284 285 286 Demonstrations of the bots playing against professional players have occurred at some events such as Dendi a professional Ukrainian player of the game losing to one of them in a live 1v1 matchup at The International 2017 287 288 A year later the ability of the bots had increased to work together as a full team of five known as the OpenAI Five who then played and won against a team of semi professional players in a demonstration game in August 2018 289 Shortly after OpenAI Five then played two live games against more skilled players at The International 2018 290 291 Although the bots lost both games OpenAI considered it successful as playing the bots against some of the best players in Dota 2 allowed them to analyze and adjust their algorithms for future games 292 Notes Source prior to September 2015References a b c d McDonald Tim July 25 2013 A Beginner s Guide to Dota 2 Part One The Basics PC Invasion Archived from the original on August 11 2016 Retrieved August 1 2016 a b c d e f g h i j k l This Is Dota Video YouTube dota2 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