Dota 2
Dota 2
Diretide battle pass out for Dota 2 with Crystal Maiden persona
William Davis
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
Dota 2 player count surpasses 1 million in 2022 for the first time
Olivia Richman
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 …
Dota 2
Three Dota 2 icons have retired after The International 2022
William Davis
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 …
Dota 2
Portal comes to Dota 2 with Cave Johnson announcer pack
Nicholas James
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 …
Dota 2
How to get a free arcana for The International 2022
William Davis
Offering a free arcana is usually how Dota 2 scammers open up conversations, but Valve has made the classic grift a reality. Dota 2 has released a new Swag Bag update for The International 2022 that includes a free battle pass boost, a month of Dota Plus, and a free arcana for every player. While free, players still need to be actively playing during TI11 to claim the goodies. The …
Dota 2
These tricks will instantly raise your FPS in Dota 2
William Davis
There are plenty of tricks to raise FPS in Dota 2, but good luck figuring them out on your own. Dota 2 players can spend years in demo mode tinkering with new item builds, hero synergies, and talent routes. However, few of them take the time to fully optimize the game itself. If you’re looking for ways to raise your Dota 2 frames, here are three tricks that work on …
Dota 2
Week 8 mission guide for The International 2022 battle pass
William Davis
Week eight of The International 2022 battle pass might be the easiest week to speedrun so far. Week eight is a special time for the current battle pass, as players get to enjoy the new set of missions while also watching The International 2022 itself. Valve wants players to have plenty of free time to tune in, so this week’s stars are relatively easy to obtain. Here’s our guide to …
Dota 2
Why do Dota 2 players shave their heads bald at The International?
William Davis
Dota 2 players are shaving their heads bald left, right, and center at The International 2022, but why? One of the best parts of any traditional sport is the weird traditions of seasoned players. For example, Michael Jordan clapping off excess chalk before taking the basketball court, and Wade Boggs eating an entire chicken before every game of baseball. Esports is young enough that we don’t have nearly as many …
Prize pool distribution for The International 2022 revealed
William Davis
Dota 2
The International 2022 may not have the prize pool fans were hoping for, but at least they now know its distribution. Ignoring the money is important when judging the competition at The International, but more than $16 million is tough to forget about. While the prize pool is less than half of the previous years’, it’s still going to be the most lucrative esports tournament of 2022. Valve has finally …
Team Spirit eliminated at 16th from The International 2022
William Davis
Dota 2
Team Spirit is out of The International 2022 after losing a crucial best-of-one. Team Spirit is out of The International at 16th place after losing to BOOM Esports in the first round of the loser’s bracket. The reigning champion will leave the event with just $254,500, a far cry from its TI11 winnings. BOOM will now advance to the next round of the lower bracket, where it will face PSG.LGD …
Ramzes to depart Virtus.pro following TI11 LCQ failure
William Davis
Dota 2
Dota 2 superstar Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev has officially been released from Virtus.pro. Again. The Russian esports sponsor confirmed his departure on social media late on October 18, 2022. The move follows the team’s poor run at The International 2022. VP failed to qualify for the main event at the Last Chance Qualifier. The post-TI shuffle is an honored tradition in Dota 2 esports, but where Ramzes will end up for …
The best bracket predictions for The International 2022 playoffs
William Davis
Dota 2
Our predictions for The International 2022 playoffs include lots of spicy upsets and a classic squad finally taking home the Aegis of Champions. Predicting the exact outcome of The International is a fool’s errand, but with no opportunity cost and the chance to win, every Dota 2 player ought to try. After the tumultuous group stage, the first round of playoffs includes multiple spicy matchups and old rivalries with a …
All the teams and favorites at The International 2022 playoffs
William Davis
Dota 2
The teams for The International 2022 playoffs are set, but only a few squads stand out as favorites. After a thrilling Last Chance Qualifier and a fiercely competitive group stage, 16 teams have qualified for the main event of The International 2022. The event will feature a $16.6 million prize pool, making it the most lucrative esports event of the year. Here are all the teams qualified for The International …
Health outbreak and abandon bug delays TI11 group stage
William Davis
Dota 2
Just three days into the group stage of The International 2022, the tournament has featured both mysterious abandon bugs and a disease outbreak among players. Host PGL has announced that multiple Dota 2 players and staff present at The International 2022 have failed mandatory health tests. The results are punishing players, forfeits, and potential delays further into the event. In addition, a mysterious abandon bug has also delayed the match …
All the changes coming to the 2023 DPC after The International 11
William Davis
Dota 2
Valve has revealed several changes for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit, and it paints a very different picture than the previous DPC season. The Dota 2 competitive scene will undergo major structural changes for the 2023 DPC season. The biggest change will be to tours, which will be just half as long as previous seasons’. The upper and lower divisions will also run sequentially. In addition, Valve appears to be …
Week 7 mission guide for The International 2022 battle pass
William Davis
Dota 2
Week seven of The International 2022 battle pass is here, so expect to see more strange behavior in your pub matches. This week’s missions involve dealing tons of damage to enemy units with your hero and controlled units and popping Magic Stick off cooldown. The reward for jumping through all these hoops is free levels in the battle pass towards all those flashy arcanas. As for Beastmaster players, The International …
The International 2022 battle pass bundle doesn’t offer second copy
William Davis
Dota 2
The International 2022 battle pass bundle has arrived in Dota 2, but longtime fans may notice the suspicious lack of a certain feature. The battle pass bundle is a wonderful occasion for Dota 2 players on a budget, and the 2022 battle pass version is finally up for sale. However, the usually joyous return of the bundle is soured by another unpopular decision by Valve. Unfortunately for pro players, the …
“Definitely not the underdogs” beastcoast talks about form before TI11
William Davis
Dota 2
Our interview with the South American quintet of beastcoast reveals the team’s expectations heading into The International 2022. With top-two finishes at all three tours and fifth place at both majors, South American team beastcoast seems destined for a deep run at TI11. But for all that success, the squad is still overshadowed by powerhouse regions like Western Europe and China. The fourth-place DPC-ranked team will enter the battle for …
Team Secret and Liquid qualify at The International 2022 LCQ
William Davis
Dota 2
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov has kept his legacy alive as the only player to attend every International by winning at The International 2022 LCQ. Team Secret and Team Liquid have officially qualified for the main event of TI11. Both squads failed to qualify for The International 2022 through DPC standings or regional qualifiers and have instead earned admission at the on-site Last Chance Qualifier. The ten players carry lots of history …
Nikobaby to retire from Dota 2 following Alliance roster drop
William Davis
Dota 2
Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov has announced his intent to retire from Dota 2 following the Alliance disbandment, and that doesn’t bode well for his former teammates. The announcement comes less than two weeks after Alliance dropped its entire roster, which itself followed a catastrophic Dota Pro Circuit season. While no longer intending to play professionally, Nikobaby could still make Dota 2 content independently or with another sponsor. As for his former …
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.
