Dota 2
Dota 2
Team Secret and Liquid qualify at The International 2022 LCQ
William Davis
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov has kept his legacy alive as the only player to attend every International by winning at The International 2022 LCQ. Team Secret and Team Liquid have officially qualified for the main event of TI11. Both squads failed to qualify for The International 2022 through DPC standings or regional qualifiers and have instead earned admission at the on-site Last Chance Qualifier. The ten players carry lots of history …
Dota 2
Nikobaby to retire from Dota 2 following Alliance roster drop
William Davis
Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov has announced his intent to retire from Dota 2 following the Alliance disbandment, and that doesn’t bode well for his former teammates. The announcement comes less than two weeks after Alliance dropped its entire roster, which itself followed a catastrophic Dota Pro Circuit season. While no longer intending to play professionally, Nikobaby could still make Dota 2 content independently or with another sponsor. As for his former …
Dota 2
T1’s Topson and ana bow out of The International 2022 LCQ
William Davis
After a dual T1 comeback at The International 2022, ana and Topson have fallen out of contention at the Last Chance Qualifier. T1 has lost The International 2022 Last Chance Qualifier, and that means no third Aegis for Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen or Anathan “ana” Pham. This early defeat cements that no player will earn a third Aegis of Champions at TI11. It also follows a very high-profile roster switch made …
Dota 2
Dota 2 fans blast PGL for poor stream, in-game Papa John’s ads
William Davis
PGL has come under fire once again for frequent streaming issues at The International 2022, and Papa John’s pizza isn’t enough to quell the Dota 2 community. Dota 2 fans have come out en masse to criticize PGL for poor production quality at The International 2022 Last Chance Qualifier. Players have cited multiple audio issues, camera malfunctions, poor casting, and a generally disappointing atmosphere. Even casual Dota 2 fans have …
Dota 2
Alliance drops Dota 2 roster after abysmal DPC season
William Davis
After missing The International and getting relegated to the lower division, the entire Alliance Dota 2 roster is out for 2023. As of September 30, 2022, Alliance has officially dropped its Dota 2 esports squad. The not-so-unexpected move follows nearly a year straight of embarrassing performances at major events. Alliance is a storied name in Dota 2, winning The International 2013 and competing at the top level until very recently. …
Dota 2
Week 5 mission guide for The International 2022 battle pass
William Davis
Week five of The International 2022 battle pass calls for a new guide for all six tasks and quests. If you love buying Black King Bar on intelligence heroes, week five will be a walk in the park. This week’s missions are all fairly basic with the backdrop of the standard “play matches” quest. However, understanding their quirks and features can help complete them as quickly as possible to gain …
Dota 2
Dota 2 fans appalled by odds for TI11 talent voice lines
William Davis
Talent will make The International 2022 come alive in October, but the voice lines will be a very rare in-game sight. To help support the many casters and analysts attending The International 2022, Valve has released a new sticker capsule with voice lines featuring their names and faces. Many Dota 2 fans are interested in the voice lines, but the odds of opening a specific caster or analyst’s voice line …
Dota 2
Dota 2 gets final 7.32c patch before The International 2022
William Davis
The International 2022 patch may be here, and it will massively shake up the meta for the yearly Dota 2 championship. Valve has released patch 7.32c for Dota 2, which will likely be the game version for The International 2022 next month. The official patch notes include more than 100 buffs and nerfs to various heroes and items, including many fan requests and bug fixes. Only two items were adjusted …
Did the TI10 True Sight leak a new model for Morphling?
William Davis
Dota 2
True Sight gives Dota 2 fans an inside look at the grand finals of The International, but the TI10 edition also gave a sneak peek at a potential Morphling makeover. The True Sight documentary series is a cornerstone of Dota 2 esports. The feature-length films show both teams emotions and strategies during the grand final of The International, the biggest esports event by prize money in history. In the case …
Week 4 mission guide for The International 2022 Battle Pass
William Davis
Dota 2
Week four of The International 2022 Battle Pass is another bonus week, so buckle down and get ready to clear every mission. In the most recent changes to the battle pass, Dota 2 developers explained that they intentionally chose to cram the majority of the levels into the bonus weeks to help casual players. With bonus chests scaling up to 32,000 points, it makes sense for players to wring this …
Dota 2 dev reveals a hilarious prototype model for Lion
William Davis
Dota 2
Lion is one of the most popular supports in Dota 2, but no one would pick him if he still had this ridiculous prototype model. A Dota 2 developer has revealed a very early prototype image from the game’s production. While there’s a lot to be learned from the image, it most importantly features a placeholder model for Lion that must be seen to be believed. Modern Dota 2 players …
Valve adds more free TI11 Battle Pass levels after fan outrage
William Davis
Dota 2
Free battle pass levels are hard to come by, but Valve just added a bunch for The International 2022. Valve has released an update for The International 2022 battle pass. The changes add 36 more free levels and change distribution so it’s easier to get the existing free levels. Part of this is a new way to get battle levels just by playing the game during the week. Here’s what …
Marci is ana’s new unbeatable carry, here’s how to play her
William Davis
Dota 2
Marci is a perfect position four, but a new carry strategy from double-The International champion Anathan “ana” Pham proves she’s a top-tier carry as well. One of the best parts of The International qualifiers is seeing what wacky strats pro players cook up when under that much stress. In the case of T1, which has both ana and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen, there’s not quite as much pressure. Not content with …
We know the Diretide release date, and it’s after TI11
William Davis
Dota 2
The Diretide 2022 release date is designed to keep Dota 2 players entertained after The International, and it will likely let Valve keep a few extra millions of dollars from the pro scene. Diretide is one of the most memetic events in Dota 2. Starting in the early days of the game, it’s one of the few seasonal events that Valve continues to reiterate on. Diretide is confirmed to be …
Why Arkosh forfeited in The International 2022 NA qualifiers
William Davis
Dota 2
Arkosh Gaming may be an icon of North American Dota 2, but the squad won’t show up at The International 2022 after a sudden qualifiers forfeit. The International 2022 qualifiers are the most stressful time of the year for professional Dota 2 teams. With massive stakes and numerous opponents, there’s a lot to worry about. In the case of Arkosh Gaming, the team chose to not even try. Here’s why …
TI11 qualifier team penalized for player’s racist courier name
William Davis
Dota 2
A courier is supposed to be a trusty battlefield companion, but one Dota 2 pro has paid a steep price for giving it a racist name. South American Dota 2 team Infamous received a penalty in the qualifiers for The International 2022 for using a Name Tag item to apply a racial epithet name onto a courier. As a result of Leonardo “Leostyle-” Sifuentes’s poor name choice, Infamous completely lost …
Week 2 mission guide for The International 2022 Battle Pass
William Davis
Dota 2
Our mission guide to week two of The International 2022 Battle Pass will get you all the bonus boxes as fast as possible. Week two is especially important as it’s a designated bonus week. Every time players reach a star milestone, they will be rewarded with up to 8,000 battle pass points. This makes it an amazing week to grind The International 2022 Battle Pass, so here’s a guide to …
How to play Doom, the breakout offlaner of Dota 2 7.32
William Davis
Dota 2
Learning how to play Doom is a great way to earn some MMR as an offlaner in Dota 2 7.32. While the most impactful changes of the newest patch will be discovered at The International 2022, 7.32 has definitely shaken up the metagame. Heroes that were almost unplayable are now enjoying healthy win rates above 50%. Doom is one of those lucky few. Doom immediately jumped up 3% in win …
Some The International 2022 casters will cast event from home
William Davis
Dota 2
Multiple casters and personalities set to attend The International 2022 may have to settle for a video call instead of an actual trip to Singapore. The International is a celebration of Dota 2. Pro players get to flex their skills on the biggest stage while instantly recognizable commentators guide viewers through the action. While The International 2022 will still feature top-tier commentary, it appears that the iconic voices will be …
Dota 2 streamers won’t be showing TI11 qualifiers, here’s why
William Davis
Dota 2
Looking forward to watching The International 2022 qualifiers with your favorite streamer? Well, don’t get too excited because not many prominent streamers will be broadcasting the TI11 qualifiers. The most important qualifiers of the Dota 2 season have started with South America and Eastern Europe as the first regions to brawl. While the official stream is present as expected, big Dota 2 streamers have barely touched the event. This is …
Few games have proven to have the resilient popularity enjoyed by Dota 2. The multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA for short, has been among the biggest and most successful projects released by gaming giant Valve, and it continues to enjoy great popularity to this day.
That popularity has endured despite a great number of changes that have been made to both the game itself and to the communities surrounding it. The competitive title’s history reaches all the way back to another game created and published by another developer, but with Valve now leading the way, Dota 2 seems primed to last well into the future.
From Blizzard to Valve, Dota 2 continues to evolve
While know today as one of Valve’s key game properties, Dota 2 has its origins in a real-time strategy game developed and published by famed video game company Blizzard. One of the franchises that keyed Blizzard’s success and reputational growth in the games industry is WarCraft, which today is best-known for the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft.
But prior to the success of World of Warcraft, the high-fantasy franchise was experienced through a series of RTS games. The third main title in that series, WarCraft 3, provided players not only with a great experience right out of the box, but also with the opportunity to heavily modify the game and its functions, and to play modified versions of the experience as custom games online with other players.
The most popular of these custom game modes was arguably Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. This custom game mode saw two teams of players face off against each other with strong individual champion characters, as opposed to building out complex home bases and developing broad armies of diverse units.
It was an entirely different way to play the game, and it proved so popular that would eventually give birth to an entirely new genre of video games: the MOBA genre.
The continuation of the original DotA became Dota 2, a project developed under the guidance of famed developer and publisher Valve. Flush with success from online marketplace Steam and its own franchises including Half-Life and Portal, Valve was more than willing to invest in this new and innovative game type.
The International sets Dota 2 apart
While there have been many other competitive games created and released since, including other popular MOBAs such as Riot Games’ League of Legends, Dota 2 has stood apart for remaining true to its roots and for massive competitive events like The International. First held in 2011 for the purpose of bringing together disparate competitive teams from all around the world with more than $1 million on the line, the esports tournament quickly grew into the biggest such event of each calendar year.
One of the main drivers behind that immense growth was the upwards trajectory of the tournament’s prize pool. Partially funded by Dota 2 players and esports fans, the prize pool for The International began increasing in 2013 and eventually ballooned to a massive total of over $40 million by the time 2021 rolled around. For the groups of players and coaches who climbed this mountain and won its top prize, it was a truly life-changing event.
For varied reasons, Valve eventually soured on running the event itself and on the idea of having so much money filtered into one specific event. Prize winnings were dropped significantly in 2022, and even further for the 2023 and 2024 events. But despite the prizes on hand no longer being quite so astronomical, The International still boasts a prize in the low millions, and it remains the biggest event on the Dota 2 competitive calendar and arguably on the greater esports calendar across all games.
