Dota 2
Dota 2
OG, TNC Predator receive invitations to ESL One Birmingham 2020
Nina Forneloza
OG and TNC Predator are among the first invitees to ESL One Birmingham 2020. ESL has started announcing the participants for the upcoming event. The tournament boasts a prize pool of $300,000. Although it is not a Dota Pro Circuit event, the ESL One event series still attracts many of the best teams in the world. Part of this is the ESL One Most Valuable Player Award, which gives top performers …
Dota 2
EternaLEnVy rejoins former teammates on new Cloud9 Dota 2 team
Steven Rondina
Cloud9’s Southeast Asian Dota 2 lineup was short-lived, but fans of the brand should be very excited about the new roster. The organization has confirmed the long-rumored signing of former Fighting PandaS players Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao and Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu, while also revealing the acquisition of former Team Secret and Ninjas in Pyjamas player Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard. The news was broken on the team’s official website, with the new roster …
Dota 2
New MMR system removes Core and Support scores in Dota 2 update
Steven Rondina
Valve is once again shaking up Dota 2’s ranked roles matchmaking. This time, an update brings a new MMR system that functionally gives players separate MMRs for each of the five roles included in ranked roles. “Today’s update features a change to the rank system that replaces the Core/Support separation with a single rank that uses handicaps for each of the five ranked roles, representing your relative strength playing each …
Dota 2
Dota Summit 12 announced for the week before ESL One LA Major
Steven Rondina
Beyond The Summit is hosting the 12th installment of the Dota Summit event series next week. Some might be surprised by this, wondering how they missed the announcement and how it crept up so quietly. Don’t feel bad, though. Because in reality, BTS sprang this on everyone. The popular tournament organizer revealed the LOOT.BET Dota Summit 12 on March 2. The event will run from March 10 to 13. The …
Dota 2
Dota Underlords Season 1 arrives with battle pass, balance tweaks
Nina Forneloza
Dota Underlords Season 1 has arrived, with Valve celebrating the occasion with a launch party featuring prominent Dota 2 personalities including Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg, Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden, and Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner. Valve released an entertaining trailer to commemorate the game exiting its early access phase. The lore behind Dota Underlords was detailed, with the game revolving around a battle to decide the next ruler of White Spire. The …
Dota 2
Dota 2 pros argue on huge DPC changes after The international 2020
Steven Rondina
Valve has confirmed previous reports of a transition from the Dota Pro Circuit to a series of regional leagues. The response thus far from pro players and others in the community has been largely negative. A number of notable figures within the pro Dota 2 community have taken to social media to vent their frustrations over the game’s heavily altered pro scene. Their gripes are wide-ranging, with complaints regarding the likely …
Dota 2
Snapfire and Slardar hit with big nerfs in Dota 2 update 7.24
Steven Rondina
It took Valve longer than usual, but Dota 2 version 7.24b has arrived. The qualifiers for Dota Pro Circuit Majors are often followed by relatively hefty balance updates, but when one didn’t come in the days after the ESL One LA Major qualifiers, fans wondered if Valve was gearing up to give 7.24a a long run on live servers. That apparently isn’t the case, given the arrival of 7.24b. While …
Dota 2
Valve announces Dota 2 Regional Leagues to start after TI10
M Alzamora
Valve announced “Regional Leagues” earlier this evening in an effort to bring structure to an often hectic Dota 2 schedule and provide more consistency to competing teams. According to the announcement, Valve will institute the leagues after the conclusion of the tenth edition of The International in 2020. Valve explained the change in the blog post announcing the Regional Leagues. “We believe the consistency and regularity of the league throughout …
Kyle tears up Nigma for “disrespectful” game in WePlay! Tug of War
Jared Wynne
Dota 2
Caster, analyst, and former Dota 2 pro Kyle “melonzz” Freedman called out Nigma for its “disrespectful” game against Aggressive Mode. Nigma faced Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk’s Aggressive Mode in a lower bracket series at WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon. The elimination series saw Nigma veer away from its usual serious gameplay into full-on meme territory. Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi’s team scored a quick win in game one thanks to Aliwi …
OG discusses new roster’s debut in ESL One LA Major qualifiers
gabhernandez
Dota 2
OG is giving its fans a behind-the-scenes look at its journey to the ESL One LA Major. OG has long been a fan favorite not just because of its exceptional gameplay and strategies, but also because of its goofy attitude. The back-to-back TI championship team is almost unanimously beloved for showing the community that playing Dota 2 at the highest levels can still be fun. In OG’s most recent blog …
Fans love WePlay! as Nigma beats Secret at Tug of War: Mad Moon
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Sometimes, Nigma looks like the best Dota 2 team in the world. Other times, they look like anything but. At WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon, they looked like the former when they posted a reverse sweep against Team Secret in the grand finals of the event. This gives Nigma the $130,000 top prize along with a much-needed boost of morale. The series started inauspiciously for the ex-Team …
Streaming site caught up in alleged Dota 2 match fixing attempt
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Match fixing in Dota 2 was already known to be a big problem, but it might be even more serious than initially expected. Chinese streaming site Huomao announced it had fired a member of its Dota 2 branch for attempted match fixing. The individual allegedly reached out to forZe regarding an upcoming event. “On February 19, 2020, HuomaoTV was told that one of our Dota 2 team staff, Haotian Xu, …
EternaLEnVy suddenly leaves Fighting PandaS alongside Sneyking
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Fighting PandaS may have qualified for the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3, but that didn’t stop the roster from being suddenly blown up. Carry player Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao and offlaner Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu announced their decision to step away from the team. They revealed the news on Twitter in separate posts with EternaLEnVy simply saying “I have left Fighting Pandas” while Sneyking wished the remaining players luck moving …
Winstrike Team reveals new Dota 2 team for EPICENTER Major qualifiers
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
It didn’t take very long for Winstrike Team to find its way back into Dota 2. Just a few days after dropping its entire roster, the organization announced the signing of the ex-Modus Unity squad. The acquisition marks a serious change in direction for Winstrike, as they transition from fielding squads comprised of CIS veterans to a younger up-and-coming team. The new Winstrike Team roster consists of the following players: …
ppd talks how coronavirus could ruin DPC, The International 2020
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Peter “ppd” Dager dropped some real talk about the state of the Dota Pro Circuit on his Last Word podcast, and what he discussed should worry every Dota 2 fan. The former TI winner, alongside professional player Mason “mason” Venne and caster Grant “GranDGranT” Harris, touched on a wide range of hot topics within the Dota 2 community. The hottest the trio dove into is the effect of the coronavirus …
Winstrike Team drops Dota 2 team after LA Major qualifier flop
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Winstrike Team isn’t satisfied with the results its Dota 2 team has been posting and is making big changes as a result. The organization announced the release of every member of its Dota 2 roster. This includes all five players,= as well as coach Arsenij “ArsZeeqq” Usov and manager Marie Gunina. “I do want to apologize to those people who were supporting our Dota 2 roster. There is only one …
Gambit Esports, Alliance favorites for StarLadder Minor Season 3
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Some of the teams that fell short of the ESL One Los Angeles Major are getting a chance at redemption in the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3. Before these teams could step onto the big stage, they had to brawl in the regional qualifiers. Though 24 teams competed, only eight managed to take a spot in the event. The list of teams set to compete in the StarLadder …
Match fixing allegations hit StarLadder Dota 2 Minor qualifiers
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Match fixing scandals have been a bane of esports’ existence, and Dota 2 hasn’t been immune to this. The latest example is an eruption of controversy around a series between Newbee and Avengerls. Facing off in a series in the Chinese qualifiers to the StarLadder Season 3 Minor, a number of fans and pro players are crying foul about Avengerls’s performances during their 2-1 series loss. They are honing in …
WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon features 8 top Dota 2 teams
gabhernandez
Dota 2
The WePlay! Bukovel Minor was a big event for WePlay! and the company is following up with Tug of War: Mad Moon. The event is set to include a number of top teams facing off for their slice of the $300,000 prize pool: Nigma Virtus.pro Aggressive Mode B8 Ninjas in Pyjamas Infamous Team Secret Gambit Esports WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon is not attached to the Dota Pro Circuit …
Build to TI10 kicks off with Collector’s Cache, merch Call to Arms
gabhernandez
Dota 2
The countdown to The International 2020 in Stockholm, Sweden has officially begun. Valve has announced The International 2020 Call to Arms for the TI10 Collector’s Cache and merchandise. Notably, Valve did not tip its hand regarding the theme of TI10. Last year’s Call to Arms hinted at an overgrown, enchanted jungle theme which was eventually realized with the Wrath of the Mo’Rokai game mode and Jungle Expedition portion of the …
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.
