Dota 2
Dota 2
Week 13 mission guide for the Diretide battle pass
William Davis
Our Diretide week 13 mission guide recommends slapping your teammates and committing vehicular assault in the name of free levels. While Diretide week 12 had an air of tiredness to it, it seems that Valve is doing a “greatest hits” method for the last week of the battle pass. Some of the more straightforward and easy quests are back, and the Diretide-exclusive mission is much easier to pull off. Expect …
Dota 2
Post-TI11 interview with Tundra: “Tusk is a normal mid for us”
William Davis
Our interview with Tundra reveals some lesser-known parts of The International 2022’s champion’s dominant victory. By winning The International 2022, the five players on Tundra immediately catapulted themselves into esports superstardom. With the grand prize of $8.5 million split between them, they now rank as the highest-earning esports pros of 2022. As it has previously done, the Tundra roster graciously took the time to answer some of WIN.gg’s questions about …
Dota 2
Collector’s Cache with Marci skin out for The International 2022
William Davis
The Collector’s Cache for The International 2022 is finally here, and it’s no surprise that the Marci skin is a rare. Valve has finally released The International 2022 Collectors Cache featuring hero skins voted into the game by the community. The collection includes 18 new sets for a variety of heroes along with four higher-rarity sets. The ultra rare for the chest is unsurprisingly the space-themed Astral Origins set for …
Dota 2
Week 12 mission guide for the Diretide battle pass
William Davis
The Diretide battle pass has reached week 12, and it really seems like Valve is running out of ideas. While last week’s set of missions included one of the hardest we’ve seen yet, week 12 turns things down a notch considerably. Most of the missions in this week can be completed by just playing the game as normal, though our mission guide can get you through week 12 in as …
Fly and cr1t tease new North America team with Arteezy
William Davis
Dota 2
The former Evil Geniuses of North American Dota 2 may be sticking together after the kick, and that could mean a new team for Artour “Arteezy” Babaev. Evil Geniuses performed well below expectations at The International 2022, which triggered a mass kick for the entire squad and staff. High-level talent is a valuable asset during the traditional post-TI shuffle, but some of the very best in North America will stick …
New Razor arcana Voidstorm Asylum out for Diretide
William Davis
Dota 2
An arcana for Razor was teased at the start of The International 2022 battle pass, and players can finally get their hands on it. Dota 2 has finally released the second arcana of the Diretide battle pass. Voidstorm Asylum gives a complete makeover to Razor, transforming his whip into a sword and shield that highly resembles his original Warcraft 3 model. The new arcana also comes with an unlockable upgraded …
Dota 2 Week 11 mission guide for the Diretide battle pass
William Davis
Dota 2
Diretide week 11 is here, bringing a new batch of challenges and stars to match. Valve appears to be running out of mission ideas, but with eight more weeks to go, Dota 2 players ought to just grit their teeth and bear it. With that in mind, Diretide week 11 includes one of the most challenging missions in the game’s history. Aside from that, it’s business as usual. These are …
Week 10 mission guide for the Diretide battle pass
William Davis
Dota 2
The Diretide battle pass officially beings as of week ten, and our mission guide will keep the ball rolling into the new Dota 2 season. Valve has repeatedly stated that it wants the period after The International to be the best time to play Dota 2 all year. By giving everyone a free arcana and battle pass, Valve has already succeeded in its goal. Now all players have the chance …
Dota 2 major cities leaked for 2023 DPC season
William Davis
Dota 2
The Dota 2 major cities for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit season have been revealed. The International isn’t the only time of the year that Dota 2 goes global. The majors are a chance to build global rivalries and storylines by inviting regional champs to compete against each other. Majors have always styled themselves after their host city, so the 2023 major cities being leaked has big implications for the …
Diretide battle pass out for Dota 2 with Crystal Maiden persona
William Davis
Dota 2
The Diretide battle pass has brought a new game mode, immortal treasure, persona, and source of free arcanas to Dota 2. Part two of The International 2022 battle pass has been released on its expected date of November 3. The content update keeps levels from the previous battle pass while adding the Diretide game mode, a new set of immortals, and new ways to get free cosmetics. Here are all …
Dota 2 player count surpasses 1 million in 2022 for the first time
Olivia Richman
Dota 2
It looks like Valve’s The International Swag Bag is paying off as Dota 2 surpasses 1 million for the first time since 2019. Valve introduced The International Swag Bag a week ago, giving Dota 2 players a free Arcana, Battle Pass, and Dota Plus. This has unsurprisingly led to a spike in players. But what wasn’t expected is the sheer amount of gamers flocking to the nearly decade-old MOBA. A …
Three Dota 2 icons have retired after The International 2022
William Davis
Dota 2
Your favorite Dota 2 pros have have just retired now that The International 2022 is over. While The International 2022 was a celebration of Dota 2, the event has also closed the curtains on some of the game’s most illustrious players. Multiple pros announced before and during the tournament that they intend to retire once the $19 million Dota 2 tournament finds its champion. Now that Tundra Esports has claimed …
Portal comes to Dota 2 with Cave Johnson announcer pack
Nicholas James
Dota 2
Valve has announced a crossover between two of its biggest properties, bringing a Cave Johnson announcer pack to Dota 2. Dota 2 has a variety of alternate announcer packs for purchase, replacing the iconic narrator with a variety of personalities and characters. The latest of this will bring Portal’s boisterous founder of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson, to Dota 2 with an appropriately nonsensical auditory reskin. The latest character that players …
Tundra stomps Team Secret in a 3-0, wins The International 2022
William Davis
Dota 2
After three stomps in Singapore, Tundra Esports is the winner of The International 2022 grand final. Tundra has officially won TI11 by running over Team Secret 3-0 in the grand final. The squad’s upper bracket run included wins over OG, Team Aster, and two triumphant series over Team Secret. With this victory, the mixed European squad has become one of the most storied rosters in the history of Dota 2. …
New Dota 2 hero Muerta announced at The International 2022
William Davis
Dota 2
A new Dota 2 hero named Muerta has been announced at The International 2022, but almost everything is still a mystery. Dota 2 is getting a new Dio de Los Muertos-themed hero named Muerta in 2023. The roster addition was announced at The International 2022 right before the event’s grand final. In traditional Valve fashion, the teaser was extremely brief. However, it did include a few details that hint at …
Week 9 mission guide for The International 2022 battle pass
William Davis
Dota 2
The International 2022 battle pass week nine is a great opportunity to show off your flashy new cosmetic. Tons of Dota 2 players have returned to the game to claim their free arcana, but smart gamers can multitask by completing the weekly challenges at the same time. Week nine also marks the final mission guide of The International 2022 battle pass part one, as The International 2022 finally wraps up …
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
