Dota 2
Dota 2
Here’s why Arteezy just fed mid in a pro match
William Davis
It’s rare to see Artour “Arteezy” Babaev feed in a pro match, but that’s exactly what happened in one of this season’s most important matches. The road to Dota 2 esports stardom is long and twisted, and one of the first necessary lessons is learning how not to feed. Intentionally dying in a pro game is a rare occurrence, and it usually only happens at the lowest levels of play. …
Dota 2
Will Muerta get a buff before Dota 2 7.33?
William Davis
Muerta is in dire need of a buff, but will she get it before patch 7.33? 7.33 is still a few weeks away, but Valve gave Dota 2 players plenty of fun toys to tinker with in the meantime. Muerta is the biggest one, but the tall order from south of the border has had a lackluster win rate ever since her launch. Valve has given out emergency buffs to …
Dota 2
BurNIng returns to pro Dota 2, to compete in China DPC
William Davis
After five years of retirement, legendary Dota 2 player Xu “BurNIng” Zhilei will attempt to rejoin the DPC. Dota 2 fans often use the phrase “Chinese retirement” to refer to pros who quit the game only to hop back in the competitive scene just a year or two later. It was expected that BurNIng would inevitably return to Dota 2 after he announced his retirement in 2017, but for five …
Dota 2
A Dota 2 pro became Herald, here’s what happened next
William Davis
A wild MMR glitch put a pro Dota 2 player into Herald matchmaking, and the results are not surprising. Former Dota 2 pro player He “Inflame” Yongzheng has recalibrated his MMR to 10, placing him at the very bottom of Herald matchmaking. This is likely due to a bug, which has since been fixed. However, this strange phenomenon resulted in an 8,000+ MMR player playing against the worst players in …
Dota 2
How to play Muerta, Dota 2’s newest hyper carry
William Davis
Tens of thousands of players are figuring out how to play Muerta, and these item and skill builds are the most successful. Muerta is a tough nut to crack for Dota 2 players. Her kit seems disjointed at first glance, but there are plenty of synergies to find between her multiple disables. She also has one of the trickiest skill shots in the game with big reward for landing it. …
Dota 2
Where is Dota 2 7.33? Valve says real update is coming later
William Davis
After months of anticipation, Valve is still holding back on Dota 2 patch 7.33. Muerta’s release is amazing for the Dota 2 community, and players of all skill levels will enjoy tinkering with the hero. However, fans are also upset at the lack of a new numbered patch. Patch 7.32e consists of a few dozen hero and item changes, but it does not get the honor of being a real …
Dota 2
Muerta teaser goes live, when will the new hero release?
William Davis
Today is the day for new hero Muerta to release in Dota 2, but what time will the ghastly specter finally appear? March 6, 2023 is the confirmed date for the release of Dota 2 patch 7.33, and it will bring a brand-new hero along with it. Muerta was first revealed at the end of The International 2022 with a brief teaser, and Valve has been laying it on thick …
Dota 2
Beyond The Summit to shut down after 11 years of esports
William Davis
Beyond The Summit, one of North America’s most notable esports production companies, will shut down. In a heartbreaking announcement for the esports community, BTS cofounder David “LD” Gorman has revealed that the long-running production studio will be shutting down all of its esports operations effective immediately. This is a massive blow to multiple major esports, with Dota 2 being especially affected. Here’s the context for the announcement and why Beyond …
“It hurts my eyes,” Dota 2 fans lament Lima Major production
William Davis
Dota 2
The Lima Major has already encountered several production problems on its first day, and the Dota 2 community is already turning sour. The Lima Major represents several firsts for Dota 2. It is the inaugural major of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit Season. It’s also the first-ever international event to take place in South America. But sadly, it is not the first Dota 2 major to be free of flaws. …
40,000 cheaters banned from Dota 2 following massive honeypot
William Davis
Dota 2
Getting a notification that a cheater your reported has been banned is one of the best feelings in Dota 2. Imagine that multiplied by 40,000. Valve has initiated a massive ban wave in Dota 2 that has eliminated approximately 40,000 dishonest players from matchmaking. This is one of the biggest sweeps in the game’s history, and the secretive company has even revealed some details about how it pulled this off. …
beastcoast talks 7-0 tour, old meta, and 7.33 before Lima Major
William Davis
Dota 2
In our exclusive interview before the Lima Major, beastcoast Dota 2 opens up on its flawless tour record, desired patch notes, and playing for $500,000 in South America. The second major of the DPC will be the first Dota Pro Circuit international event held in South America, and the chosen city is Lima, Peru. With all five beastcoast players hailing from the region, the team will enter with a major …
Dota 2 patch 7.33 and Muerta release date confirmed by Valve
William Davis
Dota 2
Dota 2 patch 7.33 finally has a release date, and the first pro games will start just six days later. After months upon months of waiting, Dota 2 developer Valve has finally confirmed the release date for both patch 7.33 and the likely release of new hero Muerta. The announcement comes after the longest patch in Dota 2 history, with 7.32 to last a total of 195 days. Here’s the …
The Steam account with the most games only plays Dota 2
William Davis
Dota 2
If most players had a Steam account with all games, they would probably jump from high-end title to AAA blockbuster all the time. Not this guy. The public Steam account with the largest number of registered games on it has more than 33,000 titles in its library. However, it seems that the owner isn’t interested in any of them besides one. The most-played game on the account by far is …
Dota 2 Berlin Major dates announced for 2023 DPC
William Davis
Dota 2
The Dota 2 Berlin Major has finally been announced by ESL, and here’s all the juicy info. A major is a time of celebration for Dota 2 esports fans, with teams from all over the world meeting just three times a year before The International. Valve has already revealed the major cities for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit, but details on anything past the Lima major have been scarce. That …
The top 3 favorite teams to win Dota 2 Lima major
William Davis
Dota 2
The favorites for the Lima Major dominated their respective regions, and now they’re gunning for the rest of the planet. With the first tour of 2023 completed, the Lima Major will mark the first global Dota 2 event since The International 2022. However, gauging the relative strength of Dota 2 teams across the world is no easy task. With the competitive scene once again split up by region, it can …
Dire win rate soars over Radiant at 2023 Winter DPC
William Davis
Dota 2
The win rate for the dire side has exploded in the Winter Dota Pro Circuit season, with two regions surpassing 60%. The differences between Dire and Radiant may seem small to newer players, but Dota 2 veterans know to take advantage of their half of the field’s perks. Radiant has historically held an advantage over Dire, and that remains true for public matchmaking in patch 7.32. However, the pro scene …
Leaked Dota 2 items will probably amount to nothing
William Davis
Dota 2
New items have leaked for Dota 2, but will they really be added to the game? Dota 2 fans have discovered a new set of strings that grants access to unreleased items in offline game modes. These new items give an interesting glimpse into the development process of Dota 2, and the fact that players can access them has led some to believe that they’ll be added in the long-awaited …
Puppey’s Team Secret falls to Div 2 in Western Europe DPC
William Davis
Dota 2
Team Secret and its legendary captain Clement “Puppey” Ivanov will spend a season in the minor league after bombing the Western Europe DPC. Team Secret has just pulled off one of the biggest nosedives in Dota 2 esports by earning silver at The International and then getting relegated to the lower division. The legendary squad lost every match of the winter DPC tour, ending with an anticlimactic forfeit to go …
Could the Dota 2 Lima Major be canceled due to unrest?
William Davis
Dota 2
Some Dota 2 pros are theorizing that the Lima Major may get canceled, putting a big damper on the 2023 DPC. For now, Valve is set on hosting the first major of the 2023 DPC in the Peruvian capital city of Lima. However, political unrest in the city could result in changes to the $500,000 event. Pro players and journalists have proposed that the event could get canceled, which would …
The easiest way to take Rosh solo as OD in Dota 2
William Davis
Dota 2
Outworld Destroyer isn’t the first hero most Dota 2 players think of when it comes to taking Rosh solo, but OD is now a member of the exclusive club. Whether you plan to go Meteor Hammer or Moon Shard, OD is one of the best mid lane heroes to play in solo ranked. He has a great matchup spread and can quickly snowball to a victory against feeble-minded opponents. His …
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.
