Dota 2
Dota 2
WePlay! Esports General Producer talks about upcoming DPC Minor
Steven Rondina
WePlay! Esports is about to hold the first big Dota 2 tournament of the year 2020, and the esports organizer has been around in Dota 2 for a very long time now. The organizer hosted some of the largest online leagues of the game’s formative years and helped teams like Natus Vincere and Alliance build their legacies. WePlay! still does so today, giving teams like OG and Ninjas in Pyjamas …
Dota 2
All of the best and worst in Dota 2 in 2019
Steven Rondina
Unless something absurd happens, Dota 2 is done for 2019. This has been an up and down year for the game at both the professional and casual levels. There were some very high highs as new teams posted some memorable performances and old favorites found new heights of success. Unfortunately, there were also some low lows brought about by a player exodus and mismanagement from developer Valve. Let’s take a …
News
Top talents revealed for Dota 2’s WePlay! Bukovel Minor
Steven Rondina
WePlay! has revealed the list of broadcast talent for January’s WePlay! Bukovel Minor, and it’s a strong one. The tournament organizer revealed the list of hosts, casters, and analysts for the event, and there are few surprises for Dota 2 fans as the event is largely comprised of familiar names. The Bukovel Minor will bring together some of the most recognizable broadcast talent in the game, as well as some …
Dota 2
Vici Gaming win ONE Esports, look like early TI10 favorites
Steven Rondina
Vici Gaming are the champions of ONE Esports’ inaugural event. The Chinese squad took first place at the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore, defeating Evil Geniuses 3-0 in the grand finals. The victory gives Vici Gaming the $200,000 top prize and their fourth prominent live tournament victory of 2019. Game one revolved around Vici Gaming carry Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun. Playing safelane Magnus, he reared back and farmed …
Dota 2
Valve suing tournament organizer GESC for owing more than $750,000
Olivia Richman
Not too long after it was revealed that StarLadder was withholding payment from tournament talent, it’s come to light that another tournament organizer, GESC, has also failed to pay talent and give out prize money. But this time something is being done about it. Unfortunately, prolonged wait periods for checks in the esports industry is not unheard of. But Valve Corporation has decided to file a lawsuit against GESC after …
Dota 2
Evil Geniuses beat Gambit Esports, head to ONE Esports finals
Steven Rondina
Evil Geniuses is positioned to win its first live tournament in well over a year at ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore. The popular squad has taken a spot in the grand finals by defeating Gambit Esports. The team now gets a day off and waits to see how the lower bracket of the event plays out. Evil Geniuses has been very strong throughout ONE Esports Singapore. The …
Dota 2
NiP kicks Skiter, adds new player before WePlay! Bukovel Minor
Steven Rondina
Valve implemented new rules to try and prevent Dota 2 teams from kicking players after they’ve qualified for Dota Pro Circuit events, but that’s not stopping teams heading into the WePlay! Bukovel Minor. Oliver “Skiter” Lepko has been kicked from Ninjas in Pyjamas just three weeks out from the start of the event. He has been replaced by Vikin.gg mid laner Jason “TANNER” Weedon. With this addition, NiP mid laner …
Dota 2
ESL UK loses much of its staff in restructuring shakeup
Nina Forneloza
Tournament organizer ESL’s UK branch of operations has announced that staff whose roles were under risk have accepted voluntary redundancy. Earlier this month, an internal memo confirmed that a number of roles were at risk at ESL while the company broadly entering into a period of global change. ESL UK was put under assessment as a part of this process. In just a few weeks, over 30 staff have since …
Dota 2 update brings more changes to ranked matchmaking
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Valve continues juggling different interests when it comes to improving the ranked matchmaking experience in Dota 2. In a relatively low key Dota 2 update, strict solo matchmaking returned to the game as an option for players in fast queues. This came alongside another change to ranked matchmaking that changed the parameters surrounding how parties can be matched with one another for a single game. Strict solo matchmaking guarantees that …
ONE Esports Singapore Major revealed as the fifth DPC major
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
ONE Esports is quickly becoming a major player in the professional Dota 2 scene. The tournament organizer is now in the middle of its Dota 2 debut with the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore, but is already set for a huge step up in its next event. That’s because they’ve been confirmed to be hosting the fifth and final major of the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit season …
Evil Geniuses picks Techies, beat Team Liquid at ONE Esports
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Liquid already had a rough go of things at ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore, but Evil Geniuses added insult to injury. In its final game of the group stage, the North American squad closed things out by picking Techies. The hero is reviled in public matchmaking games because of his ability to draw things out for an indefinite length of time, but is rarely used in …
The International 2020 date, location revealed
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Fans can start booking their tickets for The International 2020. Valve has officially announced the dates for the largest Dota 2 event of next year. According to Dota 2 community manager Wykrhm Reddy, the main event will run from August 18 to 23, 2020. The event is scheduled to take place at the Ericsson Globe arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The International 2020 is the 10th installment of the tournament and …
Frostivus returns alongside Ogre Magi arcana in Dota 2 update
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Frostivus has arrived in time for Christmas and it brought an extra special gift with it. Dota 2’s holiday-themed event is back in 2019, bringing with it a number of rewards for players. While there is no limited-time game mode attached to the event, it offers up a slew of rare cosmetic to excite players. The event revolves around the Frostivus rewards line, which gives players rewards for winning public …
StarLadder reportedly didn’t pay Dota 2 minor talent for six months
Olivia Richman
Dota 2
StarLadder is reportedly failing to pay talent employed at a Dota 2 minor six months ago within a reasonable frame of time. The Valve-sponsored ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 2 ran from June 12 to 16, and some members of the talent team recently told Dot Esports that it took more than six months to get paid for their services. It’s unfortunately become common knowledge that the esports industry is …
Team Liquid, PSG.LGD among first losers at ONE Esports Singapore
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore is underway and things have not been going according to plan for some teams. The group stage has wrapped up and with that, four of the 12 participating teams have been eliminated. The teams heading home include Team Aster, Team Liquid, J.Storm, and PSG.LGD. While ONE Esports Singapore is not part of the Dota Pro Circuit and carries no stakes when …
Dota 2 update 7.23e removes XP talents, nerfs Void Spirit, Snapfire
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The dust is yet to settle from 7.23d, but that isn’t stopping Valve from shaking things up even more. Dota 2 update 7.23e has arrived, accentuating some of the changes that were added to the game in 7.23d. The patch brings a number of different changes to the game, but primarily reduces players’ access to means of boosting XP. Outposts have been nerfed once again, with XP boosts arriving every …
MidOne returns to Team Secret as sub for One Esports Singapore
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Secret will be using a substitute at the the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore, and it’s a fairly familiar name for the team. Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat will not be competing at the event with his team. Instead, former Team Secret mid Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng will step into the team’s No. 4 spot. The organization revealed the news on Twitter. No explanation was given for why …
Philippines wins first esports gold medals in SEA Games 2019
gabhernandez
Dota 2
The Southeast Asian Games 2019 featured a mix of competitions that included esports tournaments taking place alongside traditional sports. The SEA Games 2019 featured Dota 2, Starcraft II, Hearthstone, Tekken 7, Arena of Valor, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. This marks the first esports medal event in a multi-sport competition approved by the International Olympic Committee. Sanctioning esports as a medal event at the SEA Games could be the IOC …
Dota 2 update 7.23d nerfs Outworld Devourer, Drow Ranger, outposts
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
One of the more subtle nuances of the massive Outlanders Update was a variety of features designed to shorten the length of games. Judging from the recently released 7.23d Dota 2 update, Valve felt like those measures were a bit too effective. A number of changes to the Outlanders Update have arrived that make gold and XP a bit more difficult to come by. Though the patch notes for 7.23d …
Guides & builds for new Dota 2 hero Void Spirit mid & offlane
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Void Spirit is one of Dota 2’s most enigmatic heroes. Two of his abilities suggest that he is a roaming support that sets up kills. The others suggest he is a pursuit-focused carry built around his basic attack. In reality, the hero is something else entirely. Early signs indicate that Void Spirit’s greatest strength lies in his AOE magic damage potential. Top players have been looking to amplify his abilities …
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.
