Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2 rocked by game coordinator issues during TI10 Battle Pass
Steven Rondina
Playing Dota 2 is seeming harder than it ever has been these days. This isn’t because of any sort of shift to the meta or increase in toxicity in what is already the most toxic player base in online gaming. No, it’s harder than ever because Valve just can’t seem to keep the game coordinator steadily operational. For the third time this week, players reported mass issues with the Dota …
Dota 2
Nigma and Vikin.gg just used double jungling to hide lanes
Steven Rondina
Team Nigma and Vikin.gg are playing Dota 2 on a whole new level, and not necessarily in a good way. While one might think that playing at a new level refers to crafty counters, well-executed rotations, or creative use of trees, the two European squads went in a very different direction. Fishing for a favorable matchup for their cores in the side lanes, both teams opted to run a double-jungle …
Dota 2
B8 vs. Team Nigma BEYOND Epic Europe and CIS betting analysis
Nina Forneloza
Beyond Epic offers fans another regional league for their favorite teams from the Europe and CIS region. The tournament boasts 12 teams vying for their share of the $200,000 prize pool. B8 replaced Natus Vincere in BEYOND Epic, with the latter withdrawing in order to get more practice time. While B8 likely needs practice time of its own after completely overhauling its roster, the team jumped at the opportunity to …
Dota 2
Team Secret wins 5th tournament in a row at BLAST Bounty Hunt
Nina Forneloza
Fans witnessed another incredible feat from Team Secret. Team Secret has won its fifth consecutive championship title. The team walked away from BLAST Bounty Hunt with the trophy and $50,067 in prize money. Goodnight from us at #BLASTDota! ????We hope you enjoyed the show! Think @teamsecret are on the WANTED list of many teams right now ???????? Here are your FINAL BLAST Bounty Hunt Prize pool standings; pic.twitter.com/8M7oGQzj2e — BLAST …
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Alliance BEYOND Epic odds, betting analysis
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
BEYOND Epic is set for an all-Swedish showdown. Or at least, mostly Swedish. Ninjas in Pyjamas is set to take on Alliance in a group stage showdown on June 18. The two teams are in very different places relative to where they’ve been prior to some of their recent showdowns, as Alliance will be looking to stay alive in the event after falling into an early hole while NiP will …
DJ’s Earthshaker just won Fnatic a 0% win probability game
Steven Rondina
News
Djardel Jicko B. “DJ” Mampusti may have just helped his team pull off one of the greatest comebacks in Dota 2 history. Facing Neon Esports in the group stage of the BTS Pro Series SEA League, the Fnatic player leveraged his incredible Earthshaker skills to carry his team to victory. The “greatest comeback ever” label isn’t just talk, either. At one point during the game, Fnatic had a 0% chance …
IceFrog teases big changes, release date for Dota 2 update 7.27
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Valve seems to be poised to change its approach to Dota 2 updates in a newly permanent way. Game creator IceFrog made an announcement to fans regarding Dota 2 update 7.27. On the Dota 2 developer forum, he stated that the plan was for something in line with the initial rollout of the 7.26 update. “We are planning on releasing the first part of 7.27 in a couple of weeks, …
Things fans should know about Beyond Epic Online League
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
Fans can virtually cheer for their favorite teams from Europe, CIS, and China in Beyond Epic Online. Beyond Epic Online League will treat fans to some quality Dota 2 action. Beyond The Summit, along with Epic Esports Events and RuHub, will be organizing two regional leagues for Europe and CIS, and China. The tournament features a $250,000 prize pool. The Europe and CIS league will retain most of the cash …
What is Dota 2’s player count in 2020, and is Dota 2 dying?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Officially, Dota 2 is a juggernaut in the video game industry. The MOBA generates massive amounts of revenue, is home to the most lucrative annual esports event, and was the largest game on Steam for years. Despite all of these grand successes, Dota 2 fans’ feelings on the game have traditionally bounced between doom and gloom. Some of this is just a matter of the game’s persistently toxic community, but some …
The fiery Battle Pass’ Queen of Pain Arcana has released
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
The Queen of Pain Arcana parades Akasha in an all-new blazing look, complete with a fresh voice and other special effects. Battle Pass owners have rejoiced as Valve released Eminence of the Ristul. The Queen of Pain’s Arcana features a new model, items, a loadout pedestal, and voice lines. It has customized animations, effects, and hero assets. The exclusive item comes in two styles, the second being a blue and …
TI10 Battle Pass Collector’s Cache voting features cool new sets
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
Fans once again get to choose what items will appear in the TI10 Battle Pass Collector’s Caches. Valve encouraged fans to weigh in on the selection process of this year’s exclusive treasure with a voting system built into the game. Players can flip through the candidates and give them a thumbs up or thumbs down, which will be used to determine which items get included. Every year, the developer calls …
The new Queen of Pain Arcana has a bug that ruins your games
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
“Pay to win” is a phrase that is thrown around a lot with any free-to-play game, but Valve actually flipped that around in Dota 2 by making the new Queen of Pain Eminence of Ristul Arcana a “pay to lose” affair. The new premium cosmetic from the The International 10 Battle Pass significantly overhauled the game’s resident succubus, giving her a new color scheme, new weapon, and new voice. The …
OG announces release of OG Seed due to conflict of interest concerns
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
OG is pulling back on its plans to operate multiple Dota 2 teams. The organization has announced the release of the OG Seed roster. The squad including Zakari William Lee “Zfreek” Freedman and Omar Mohammad “Madara” Dabachachis is set to compete without a sponsor in the immediate future. “As the new calendar started shaping into regional tournaments, we saw that having two rosters competing in the same tournament created a …
Did Valve just reveal the secrets behind Juggernaut’s face?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
What does Juggernaut’s face look like? Dota 2 fans have asked themselves this exact question on many occasions, as the iconic hero’s mask is central to his character. While Valve doesn’t seem all that interested in actually answering that question, but the publisher has always been keen to keep fans intrigued with Dota 2’s dizziest swordsman. This has come up on a few occasions in the past, but The International …
Sideshop returns to TI10 Battle Pass just 2 days after removal
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Fans can’t make up their mind on whether they like Sideshop, and neither can Valve. Yet another Dota 2 update has shipped, this time restoring the Dota Auto Chess-themed mini-game to the The International 10 Battle Pass. This comes just two days after Sideshop was removed from the game’s front-facing UI and hidden within the game’s console. The quick reversal from Valve comes after widespread backlash from Dota 2 fans …
Team Liquid vs. Team Nigma BLAST Bounty Hunt betting analysis
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The idea of Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi and his crew playing opposite Team Liquid still feels somewhat strange. The squad’s best years were spent as a part Team Liquid, and the new Team Nigma brand hasn’t really taken hold just yet. It’s only a matter of time before they completely divorce themselves from that former lineage however, as this will be the eighth showdown between the The International 2017-winning lineup …
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
