Dota 2
Dota 2
New stack and pull timings hit Dota 2 after update 7.23b
gabhernandez
The Dota 2 map was given a massive shakeup in the Outlanders Update with the addition of outposts, the removal of several patches of trees, and the new rune locations. One of the more subtle changes to the map were the changes to neutral camps. The Radiant ancient creeps now spawn in the bottom lane jungle near the tier-two tower, rather than near the tier-one tower mid. This was done …
Dota 2
Fnatic cruises to DreamLeague Leipzig Major, drama surrounds TNC
Steven Rondina
Fnatic, Reality Rift, and TNC Predator are headed to the DreamLeague Leipzig Major. The three teams were the survivors of the Southeast Asian regional qualifiers, which were defined by drama both in and out of game. Fnatic qualifying doesn’t come as any kind of surprise and the team’s journey was fairly smooth. The organization has long been among the region’s finest and the team performed well at the MDL Chengdu …
Dota 2
Team Secret coach Heen discusses TNC after Kuku incident, TI9 trip
gabhernandez
Team Secret’s new coach opened up on his time with TNC Predator. In an interview with Daniel Offen at Position Six Podcast, coach Lee “Heen” Seung Gon discussed the team’s potential and its ill-fated performance at The International 2019. One of the biggest storylines heading into TI9 was whether Carlo “Kuku” Palad would be able to compete at the event due to his use of racist language against Chinese players …
Dota 2
Team Liquid, Team Secret qualify for DreamLeague Leipzig Major
Steven Rondina
Team Liquid and Team Secret shined during the qualifiers to the DreamLeague Leipzig Major. The two organizations earned spots in the event with exceptional all-around performances throughout. They also quell some of the fears about the impact of RNG on the game following the release of the Outlanders Update. Liquid and Secret were both the top performers of their groups. Liquid started off its run in the qualifiers with a …
Dota 2
OG is not competing at DreamLeague Season 13 Dota 2 major
gabhernandez
The back-to-back Dota 2 International Champions will remain on hiatus. Earlier this week, OG announced its plans to launch a separate sister team, OG Seed. The reveal was initially teased in a short video featuring captain Johan “N0tail” Sundstein and coach Titouan “Sockshka” Merloz. The short skit brought laughs to fans when Sockshka slammed a stack of paper with an “Ana + IO = Aegis” drawing. When OG Seed was …
Dota 2
PSG.LGD wipe out in DreamLeague Season 13 open qualifiers
gabhernandez
The Dota 2 world was stunned on Thursday as Chinese juggernaut PSG.LGD was swiftly eliminated from the open qualifiers of the DreamLeague Season 13 major by For the Dream sister team FTD.Apollo. The huge upset happened in a best-of-one game and completely kills off the organization’s chances of competing in the second major of the season. The game began with FTD.Apollo opting for a tri lane bottom to babysit its …
Dota 2
Winstrike Team reveals new logo and promising new Dota 2 roster
Olivia Richman
Winstrike Team announced a new logo and a new Dota 2 roster earlier today. The Russian Dota 2 team’s reveal was met with overwhelming support. Standing for exploration and bravery, the team embraced a rocket as their new logo. Their roster reveal video showcased old footage of Russian space travel between images of the new squad with fresh merch, which made for quite the entrance. “We fly to win! Launch …
Dota 2
Dota 2 patch 7.23a shakes up Outlanders Update
gabhernandez
A day after its release, The Outlanders Update received another set of significant buffs and nerfs. In 7.23a, Valve has heavily shaken up the Neutral Item drop system. Neutrals now only drop three items per tier. The odds were also rescaled to 10% to 5% to 2.5%, to 9% to 6% to 3%. Item drops will also have no end period and higher tier items will always roll first after …
Gabbi honored for MDL Chengdu Major performance with MVP award
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte won the Most Valuable Player award at the MDL Chengdu Major for his role in helping TNC Predator take first place. The MDL Chengdu Major was a blast, especially for Dota fans in Southeast Asia who got to see a local team bring home a major title for the first time ever. Alongside this, Gabbi was crowned not just an MDL Chengdu Major champion but also the …
Team Secret, Nigma not invited to DreamLeague Major qualifiers
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The initial entrants into the DreamLeague Leipzig Major regional qualifiers have been revealed and there are a few surprising additions and omissions therein. All six regions have had their competitors confirmed. All six regions will see 10 teams competing, with eight slots determined by Dota Pro Circuit qualifying points and two slots being awarded to open qualifiers. While this approach makes sense on some levels, this forces the elite teams …
OG announces second Dota 2 team for DreamLeague Leipzig Major
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
OG won’t be competing at the DreamLeague Leipzig Major, but also they will be. That was the confusing message delivered to fans of the two-time major-winning organization in a short video on Twitter. The team clarified what their plan is in a post on their official website, announcing plans to sponsor a second Dota 2 team, OG Seed. “Today, we’re proud to announce OG Seed and we hope that it can …
Outlanders update hits Dota 2, brings two heroes, big changes
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The Dota 2 Outlanders Update is here and the game has been turned completely upside down. Though the update was largely advertised around new Dota 2 heroes Snapfire and Void Spirit, the biggest changes come with a completely new courier system, a heavily overhauled map, and major shifts to the economy. Naturally, this is going to heavily shake up the meta and how players approach the game at even the …
Former Liquid Dota 2 squad reveals new Nigma team, organization
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The ex-Team Liquid Dota 2 roster finally has a name, and not everyone is a fan. The squad helmed by Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi is now going by the name Nigma. The revelation was made on Twitter by the players, which was accompanied by a short video that expands on the teases made with short GIFs a day prior. The team also used the tagline “the end of one journey …
MidOne forms new team before DreamLeague Major after Secret split
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Secret may have told a bit of a fib when it announced that longtime mid Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng was taking a break from Dota 2. The Malaysian player’s name has appeared on the official Dota 2 Major Registration page with a new team called the SEAMonkeys. The team’s roster is currently listed as follows: Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross Jr. Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng Nicholas “zeal” Lim Eng Han Lee …
New 4 Euros 1 Murica roster forms before DreamLeague Leipzig Major
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
A new and predominantly European team has come together ahead of qualifiers for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major. 4 euros 1 murica has come together on the official Dota 2 major registration page, pulling players from a number of different organizations. The lineup includes a number of veterans that have competed in both Europe and North America: Omar “Madara” Dabachach Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin Zakari “Zfreek” Freedman Andreas “Xibbe” Ragnemalm Petu “Peksu” …
Ex-Team Liquid tease new Dota 2 brand before DreamLeague Leipzig
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi and the rest of the former Team Liquid squad are set to return to action in the near future. The squad that took second place at The International 2019 took a well-deserved break from competition during the MDL Chengdu Major cycle. The team is set to return for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major, but the big question for the players is what banner they will be playing …
TNC win MDL Chengdu Major, likely earn spot in The International 2020
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
TNC Predator have won the MDL Chengdu Major. The Southeast Asian staple survived a lower bracket showdown with Invictus Gaming, and closed out the event with a 3-1 series victory over Vici Gaming. The win earns the team 4,850 qualifying points towards a spot in The International 2020, as well as $300,000. It also established TNC as a possible elite Dota 2 team for the first time in the organization’s …
Evil Geniuses eliminated from MDL Chengdu Major after iG loss
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Evil Geniuses may have broken its third-place curse, but not in the way it was hoping to. The North American team has been eliminated from the MDL Chengdu Major at the hands of Invictus Gaming. EG lands in fourth place, securing 1,350 Dota Pro Circuit Points and $80,000 for their efforts at the tournament. The series started with a strong win from iG. The Chinese squad took control early and …
Natus Vincere shows roster for DreamLeague Leipzig Major qualifier
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Natus Vincere has completed its new roster for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major qualifiers. The team adds Illias “illias” Ganeev to the roster to replace Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev, who was benched by the team in October after the squad failed to qualify for the MDL Chengdu Major. Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov will serve as the team captain moving forward. Illias, also known as 1ls, is likely a new name for even diehard …
Evil Geniuses eliminate Team Liquid from MDL Chengdu Major
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Evil Geniuses are still alive in the MDL Chengdu Major. The North American team made fairly quick work of Team Liquid in the fourth round of the lower bracket. This guarantees Evil Geniuses a top-four finish at the event and a minimum of 1,350 Dota Pro Circuit qualifying points. The win was a fairly straightforward affair for Evil Geniuses. Game one saw Evil Geniuses absolutely crush Liquid in the laning …
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.
