Dota 2
Dota 2
N0tail spends a portion of TI9 winnings, buys Ogre Magi in Midas Mode
gabhernandez
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein used a portion of his winnings from The International 2019 to “buy” Ogre Magi for the Midas Mode 2.0 tournament. The hero has had a great 2019 to this point, highlighted by winning The International 2019’s Arcana Vote and enjoying fairly regular use at the event as both a support and offlaner. N0tail seems to be among the hero’s admirers, and he showed it in a hilarious …
Dota 2
Dota 2 player count in 2019 is higher than it’s been in years
Olivia Richman
Despite being six years old, Dota 2 still has a very high player count in 2019. In fact, it’s higher this year than it has been in the past. Dota 2 saw its active player count falling fast in 2018. In July of last year, Steam players logging in hours on Dota 2 hit an all-time low of 700,000. But in January of 2019, that number suddenly started to …
Dota 2
Evil Geniuses, Secret to compete at ONE Esports Dota 2 event
Steven Rondina
The 2019-2020 Dota tournament calendar is looking a lot more crowded than it did last year. While things were sparse outside the Dota Pro Circuit last season, there are a number of interesting events set to take place outside the DPC in the upcoming season. One of the most eye-catching tournaments is the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore. It boasts a strong lineup of teams and a …
Dota 2
Explaining Midas Mode 2.0, the wildest Dota 2 event of the year
gabhernandez
The Midas Mode 2.0 tournament is here and Dota 2 fans are hyped up for it. Moonduck has pulled out all the stops in terms of making the event special, creating a full cast of characters with elaborate backstories, crafting a unique ruleset, and firing off loads of goofy memes. Meanwhile, the Million Dollar Midas Mode project, which allowed fans to sponsor heroes and parts of the map, has been …
Dota 2
Dota Summit 11 minor to kick off new Dota 2 2019-20 DPC season
Steven Rondina
Dota 2 fans now know where the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit season will begin. Dota Summit 11 will serve as the first minor of the new season. The event is scheduled for November 7-10 in Los Angeles, California and will have $300,000 and 660 Dota Pro Circuit points up for grabs. “The new DPC season will begin at Dota Summit 11,” Beyond the Summit announced on Twitter. “This Minor marks …
Dota 2
Kuku exits TNC, joins Raven at Geek Fam for 2019-20 DPC season
gabhernandez
Two players of the famed TNC lineup from The International 2016 have reunited to raise the banner of Geek Fam. Carlo “Kuku” Palad joins former TNC teammate Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto in Geek Fam. In 2016, these two players were able to pull off one of the biggest upsets at The International 2016 when TNC eliminated tournament favorite OG. Geek Fam recently confirmed that Kuku will be a new …
Dota 2
Dota 2 update for new ranked season tackles player bans, smurfs
Steven Rondina
A new ranked season is here in Dota 2 and the game is receiving a significant shakeup as a result. In a lengthy post on the official Dota 2 blog, Valve detailed the changes made to ranked matchmaking this season. The changes are numerous, ranging from how MMR is calculated to a more aggressive approach to punishing players. Many of the changes revolve around role queuing in ranked matches and …
Dota 2
SumaiL discusses his benching at Evil Geniuses, wants to play
Steven Rondina
Syed “SumaiL” Hassan is no longer a part of Evil Geniuses’ Dota 2 roster and the entire Dota 2 community is grappling with that fact. That goes for SumaiL as well. The mid laner discussed what he’s feeling and what the future holds for him in a short statement on Twitter. “It was a wild ride for almost 5 years on Evil Geniuses. The team I started my career and …
SumaiL benched by Evil Geniuses as s4 leaves, new lineup revealed
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
It’s the end of an era for Evil Geniuses’ Dota 2 team. The organization announced the benching of longtime midlaner Syed “SumaiL” Hassan. This ends an almost five-year stretch where he has been a starter for the team. Evil Geniuses is also parting with Gustav “s4” Magnusson. “It is prudent to discuss our departures. S4…and SumaiL Hassan will remain under contract and be open to transfer talks,” Evil Geniuses said …
Kuku, Eyyou leaving TNC Predator as team reveals new roster
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
TNC Predator is going to look quite different next season. The organization has announced the departures of Nico “eyyou” Barcelon and offlaner Carlo “Kuku” Palad. The departures were announced on social media, with TNC CEO Eric Redulfin bidding the team farewell in a video on YouTube. Kuku has been a steady presence for TNC over recent years. Joining the organization in 2016, he helped TNC with its breakout performance at …
Team Liquid Dota 2 roster leave to start their own organization
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Team Liquid is now without a Dota 2 roster. According to a statement from the organization, the Kuro Salehi “KuroKy” Takhasomi-led team is set to split off and will look to start their own esports brand. This marks the end of the squad’s time with Liquid, which dates back to 2015. During almost that entire stretch, Liquid has been regarded as an elite Dota 2 team. Since 2016, the team …
Team Secret launches new AFK beer for esports fans
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
Team Secret, which competes in such games as Dota 2 and Fortnite, has announced the creation of a new esports-themed alcoholic beverage called AFK. The organization has teamed up with US-based brewing company Levant Brewery to create the first ever esports branded beer. The announcement describes the beer as a craft beer that will appeal to beer enthusiasts while still not being too intense for the more casual drinker. “Approachably …
Dota 2’s new DPC season brings rules on roster changes, qualifiers
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit season is going to be a bit different from the last one. Valve has released an updated rule set designed to combat some of the issues encountered last season. Most of the changes were well-met by fans, but many griped that the changes did little to address the larger issues that arose during the season and could hurt Dota 2’s long-term viability as an esport. …
Surprise and off-meta Dota 2 heroes from The International 2019
gabhernandez
Dota 2
The International 2019 graced fans with more than a few surprising drafts from some of the game’s biggest and brightest minds. Top Dota 2 teams that battled it out in Shanghai showed fans not just top-tier plays, but also some wild and eccentric drafts. These teams defied the usual meta picks and showed that these heroes, when played in the right way, can do just about anything. Here are some …
Dota 2 hackers arrested in China for creating, selling cheats
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Dota 2
Chinese police have arrested four Dota 2 hacker creators in the country. According to a post Shenzhen’s cyber police have published on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, four individuals have been arrested for making Dota 2 cheat plug-ins and profiting from them. Four hackers, two of whom have jobs at one of China’s universities, and the other two actively studying while majoring in computer sciences, have earned almost 1 …
Fade ends retirement after two weeks, leaves Vici for Aster
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Esports retirements are often short, but Pan “Fade” Yi’s was even shorter than one would expect. Two weeks after stating that he was done with competitive Dota 2, the support player announced that he is back in action. Not only is he back in action, but he is leaving Vici Gaming to join Team Aster. The reveal was made by Team Aster on Weibo, which was confirmed by the player …
Dota 2 fans not pleased with optional strict solo queue
Olivia Richman
Dota 2
Valve is experimenting with the option to turn strict solo queues on and off. Strict solo queues were introduced to help individual players without parties get into better games. In theory, this would make the teams more even and the game more fair, since both sides would have a similar lack of planned coordination. This was seen as very important, since many solo players ended up playing against coordinated teams …
Valve tries to kill core Io, Alchemist in Dota 2 patch 7.22g
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The dust has finally settled from The International 2019, but Valve has made things a bit messy once again. Dota 2’s latest update has arrived in 7.22g. The update tackles many of the most powerful and popular heroes of TI9, as well as a handful of items. The list of changes isn’t as long as some past updates but should heavily impact the meta once the competitive scene heats back …
Fnatic prepares for new DPC season with a new Dota 2 roster
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Dota 2
Fnatic has announced its new Dota 2 roster for the upcoming 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit season. Fnatic’s Dota 2 roster is now joined by Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon and Kam “Moon” Boon Seng, while Abed “Abed” Yusop and Kim “DuBu” Doo-young will no longer be a part of the team. Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong will be returning to the support position. The news of Fnatic shuffling its roster comes as no surprise …
pasha released by Virtus.pro after TI9 flop, joins Na’Vi
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Big changes were expected for Virtus.pro’s Dota 2 team and they have started to arrive. The organization announced the release of longtime offlaner Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov. The news of 9pasha’s release was broken by competing team Natus Vincere, who announced that they had signed him to replace their own offlaner, Evgeniy “Blizzy” Ree. “Pasha is a true veteran and one of the most respected players of CIS Dota,” Virtus.pro GM …
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.
