Dota 2
Dota 2
Team Empire reveals new roster for BTS Pro Series Season 3
Fariha Bhatti
Team Empire has officially pulled the plug on its “promote the academy roster” experiment. The organization announced a new roster that would see it part ways with offlaner and captain Alexey “Mastery” Vinchevskiy and support Dzhama “jAMES” Abdurashitov, while former carry Alexey “Smiling Knight” Sviridov has been temporarily benched. Support players Sergey “Ecnart” Slobodyanyk and mid laner Alexander “lightless” Potapenko are the only remaining members of the previous roster. lightless …
Dota 2
PSG.LGD signs EHOME roster, EHOME rebuilds around Sccc
Steven Rondina
Chinese Dota 2 is undergoing an enormous roster shuffle and two more teams are starting with a clean slate as a result. EHOME and PSG.LGD have completed a blockbuster trade that will see both teams boasting all-new lineups in the 2020-2021 Dota Pro Circuit season. The change will see the bulk of EHOME’s roster making up the new core of PSG.LGD. In exchange, EHOME is acquiring the services of PSG.LGD’s …
Dota 2
Is Valve extending The International 10 Battle Pass end date?
Steven Rondina
Officially, The International 10 Battle Pass is set to wrap up later this week. Unofficially, that might not end up being the case. In theory, The International Battle Pass is exactly that. A battle pass that begins with the push towards The International and ends upon the event’s conclusion. But for one reason or another, Valve has consistently found a reason to push out its end date. Valve has already …
Dota 2
Vici Gaming announces Eurus departure, reveals new roster
Steven Rondina
More changes have come to Vici Gaming’s Dota 2 roster. The organization has revealed its new Dota 2 roster while also confirming the departure of longtime carry player Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun. The new roster retains three members of the 2019-2020 season’s roster while adding two somewhat surprising names. The new Vici Gaming roster stands as follows: Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang Ren “eLeVeN” Yangwei Xiong “Pyw”‘ Jiahan Ding “Dy” …
Live Dota 2 events are back with China’s Dota 2 Pro Cup
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The first live Dota 2 events since the cancellation of the Dota Pro Circuit have been revealed. The China Dota 2 Pro Cup will feature 10 top Chinese teams battling for a prize pool worth approximately $74,000. The event stands out as the first Dota 2 event to take place in a LAN setting since March. Eight teams will be invited to the event, with the current list standing as …
Ex-Alliance players 33 and Fata form new team in BTS Pro Series
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
A new contender has been revealed in the European region. The BTS Pro Series Season 3 Europe and CIS event is set to feature a number of familiar faces including Ninjas in Pyjamas, B8, and Vikin.gg. Also listed is a new team named mudgolems, a squad made up of a number of proven veterans. The lineup listed for BTS Pro Series stands as follows: Oliver “skiter” Lepko Duško “BoraNija” Boranijaševic …
Fnatic drops Jabz, adds ex-TNC eyyou due to iceiceice hiatus
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Fnatic’s Dota 2 team has had possibly the most successful year in its history, but the global shuffle is forcing some changes. Support player Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong is officially out of the Fnatic roster. Replacing him is former TNC Predator Nico “eyyou” Barcelon, who is coming off a yearlong hiatus from competitive Dota 2. Jabz being replaced by eyyou follows the addition of Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto in July …
TI champion Fear announces hiatus from competitive Dota 2
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Business Associates is set to continue without its in-game leader. Clinton “Fear” Loomis’ took to twitter to address rumors of his departure from the current lineup of Business Associates. BA’s hard support player and in-game leader Fear’s tweet was a reply to fans questioning his absence in the BTS Pro Series Americas Season 3 lineup. Three players from BA were seen playing the match along with two new additions in …
TI10 prize pool hits $36 million, pads record for largest esports prize pool ever
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The International 10 continues to add to its prize pool, and it’s hard to imagine any other esports event matching its incredible sum. The TI10 prize pool has officially surpassed the $36 million mark, piling more money onto the record-breaking amount. This follows the launch of Windranger’s Compass of the Rising Gale arcana skin, the fifth and final premium skin exclusive to players with highly leveled TI10 Battle Passes. 36. …
Team Secret runs through OG, wins Omega League EU Immortal division
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Secret has won the Omega League Europe Immortal division, an event that will likely go down as the largest Dota 2 tournament of 2020. Entering Omega League as the consensus best team in the world, Secret lived up to that billing with an almost flawless run through the event that saw them drop just two maps along the way. Secret locked up the $200,000 top prize with a 3-0 …
Geek Fam cuts Dota 2 team due to cancellation of DPC, Raven leaving
Fariha Bhatti
Dota 2
Only a few days after Reality Rift ceased operations, another Southeast Asian organization has released its Dota 2 team. Geek Fam announced that the organization has released its roster due to the cancelation of the 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit. “With the cancelling of Dota 2 Minor and Major tournaments of the season due to safety concerns, it is very difficult for us to continue with the indefinite delay for TI10 …
Was the return of Diretide just leaked in latest Dota 2 update?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Valve has a big surprise in store for fans, but it might have just let it slip early. The last Dota 2 update included a series of secret files that were discovered and subsequently discussed on Reddit. Data miners sifted through them and found a few interesting tidbits, particularly a line that reads “Event_ID_Diretide_2020.” This has many believing that the classic Halloween game mode is set to return to Dota …
Valve has a new proposed date, location for The International 10
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The International 10 has been left in limbo for a long while, but Valve has a rough idea of when the event might actually happen. As part of a larger update regarding the future of the Dota 2 pro scene and the return of the Dota Pro Circuit, Valve gave an estimate regarding when and where The International 10 might take place. The news of TI10 still taking place in …
Windranger arcana arrives in TI10 Battle Pass, players love it
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The International 10 Battle Pass has seen its last premium limited edition skin arrive, and it’s a good one. The Compass of the Rising Gale arcana for Windranger has launched in Dota 2. This was the last of the five premium limited edition skins available for owners of high-level battle passes. The official Dota 2 blog gives an interesting lore explanation of the skin, discussing how Windranger isn’t actually a …
Valve gives update on TI10 being canceled, how DPC will return
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Dota 2 is in the worst place it ever has been, and Valve is finally willing to talk about it. Valve released a blog post entitled “Update on Competitive Scene” that provided more information on the indefinite postponement of The International 10, the cancellation of the Dota Pro Circuit, and the future of the competitive scene. Though it does little to answer the fan outcry that has become increasingly loud …
Bloodseeker surges after zai’s epic Omega League performance
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Secret is a trendsetter in Dota 2 and fans have gotten a great example of that over the last couple of weeks. During the Omega League Europe Immortal group stage, Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg raised eyebrows by locking in Bloodseeker. The hero has been struggling for relevance since being reworked in version 7.27b, but that didn’t stop zai from using him twice as Secret scored quick victories over OG. Dota …
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.
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
