Valve describes the game as “a massive sequel for one of the most played games in the world”.
Dota is shorthand for “Defense of the Ancients”, a style of real-time strategy game that requires players to channel and protect herds of computer-controlled minions as they attack an opposing force. DOTA games have been popular since they were birthed as a mod for WarCraft III.
GameInformer.com spilled the first official details, saying that the game runs on Valve’s Source engine and includes voice chat. Gameplay appears to be faithful to the series’ roots, supporting three-lane maps and focusing on multiplayer competition (with artificial intelligence taking over for players whose connections drop.) Graphics are upgraded, though said to follow in the original cartoony style birthed in the original. Steamworks-based achievements will be able to reward players for actions in the player community as well as in the game.
Also intriguing is Game Informer’s description of a coaching system:
By logging in as a coach, veteran players can do their part to help out newer folks. Valve hasn’t entirely decided on the specifics of how newbies and coaches will be matched up, but once they’re together a few things happen. The coach sees the pupil’s screen, and gets private voice and chat channels to communicate with them. The coach probably won’t be able to take control of anything directly (once again, the details are currently under discussion), but information is power in Dota 2 and having a mentor whispering in your ear can make all the difference in the world.
IceFrog, one of the lead developers behind DotA games is making the Dota 2 project for Valve, the company said. IceFrog was hired by Valve last year. IceFrog has been maintaining the most recent version of the core game, DotA Allstars.
Rumours about a DotA game from Valve have been intensifying lately, since the revelation that the company was trying to trademark the DotA acronym, a move that did not go down well with all fans of the genre.
Novangel
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 8:47 AMOh goddamn I read the last line in Gman’s voice.
TadMod
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 8:50 AMDear Valve,
I was conflicted in interests by this announcement. Whilst it meant that I would be able to play Slayer again, I would also be forced to make another purchase. S2 games have recreated DoTA before, and I purchased it.
I resolved this issue when I saw this image on RockPaperShotgun:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/10/oct/dota22.jpg
Valve, you have a dedicated fan in me.
Regards,
Tad
Crillzandskillz
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 9:11 AMNo too happy that the reveal said they were porting all of the characters over. (although there could be new ones)
Dr8k
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 9:17 AMHL2 Ep 3??…… *sobs*
Nazxul360
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 10:53 AM+1
Lyndon
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:22 PMI’m so over hearing ppl whinge about HL2 EP3.
It’s stated clearly with every new Valve game that is based on a mod, they create a new team based on the guys who made the mods usually. It doesn’t take a genius to then work out that resources aren’t being taken away from your precious HL section of the company.
Akra
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 10:07 AMMeh, DOTA2 is HON but on the source engine. I’ll stick to LoL
YoWombat
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 11:12 AMSame here. I hate the source engine, and not a fan of Valve at all. Besides, we already have the original DOTA, HON, LOL, and Demigod… don’t need another one.
Tigerion
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 12:35 PM“with artificial intelligence taking over for players whose connections drop.”
That could be the one deciding factor for me right there. Not an instant loss if you have a leaver
brent3000
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:54 PMLoL FTW :D
MILDLY IRATE VIDEO GAME GUY
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 10:38 AMThen suddenly, two years after release DOTA2 is besieged with unnecessary gameplay changes that undermine the original intent and avatar headgear that encourages distracting trading instead of actually playing the damn game.
Steven Bogos
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:39 PMI SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE BRO!
So you’re talking about valve adding optional weapons to TF2 ruins the balance and undermines the original intent? TBH, most of them are underpowered, and the ones that clearly have an advantage are banned in comp play, or easily countered. I personally like all the variation, as opposed to launch, when engineers would camp all day, soldiers and demo’s would spam spam spam, snipers would sit on the battlements the entire game and spies would… generally be useless
Also, trading stops people playing the game? Whatever man, most of my trades are done with friends while not in game, with the very few in-game trades taking no longer than a minute out of gameplay. It’s not as if a TF2 PUB suffers greatly from two players out of 24 being inactive for a moment.
I think what you MEANT to say was:
“Two years after release DOTA2 is blessed with constant free updates that improve the tactical depth and avatar headgear rewards that encourages contributing to the community and coaching newbies.”
yellow
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 11:25 AMDon’t forget about this:
http://icefrogtruth.blogspot.com/
I don’t play these games but interesting none the less.
Akra
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:13 PMInteresting Article Yellow, thanks for sharing it. Defentally explains a few things. Hopefully the consumers won’t simply buy up DoTA2 because of the name when their are already two more well established products out in the market.
Having AI team mates take over for leavers while it sounds good in practice, they wouldn’t be as helpful at all. AI could easily be ganked and just make losing even faster.
706-2
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:13 PMYeah I actually found this article about DOTA 2 while looking to see if kotaku had written an article in reference to that link. I’m hoping that they will make some comment on it, as I think it should be shared. Maybe email the editor?
Steven Bogos
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 12:15 PMThis is very interesting.
The main reason that LoL is much more successful than HoN, is that HoN is pretty much a straight up DoTA port, while LoL deviates from the formula enough to make it unique. It’s also free, I supposed.
I’m curious to see what direction Valve will take it. If it’s another straight up port, I might pass, despite whatever TF2 hat they offer to people who pre-order. If I can see them try to change it up a bit I might give it a go. I’m especially fond of the AI taking over for dropped players (provided it’s a decent AI), as this is one of the biggest annoyances in current DoTA clones.
PS: Yellow, I read that blog, I think everyone should have a read of it. This is bad for me, not because the guy is a jerk who lies, but because he demanded complete unparalleled control of the project. This says to me that it’s going to be as close of a DoTA clone as possible, with little to no innovation. No TY
clint
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:01 PMI was hoping for something a bit more inspired, not just dota with better graphics.
personally i would be more excited in demigod 2 than dota 2.
caboose
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:30 PMValve – i heard you like mods, we put a mod in a mod and modded that mod to compete with other mods that are modded from the original mod. true story bro
Urh
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 2:23 PMThe most important questions have yet to be answered. Heck, they haven’t even been asked, so I’m forced to do so.
Will there be hats, and how much will they cost?
Jimu_Hsien
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 4:37 PMDamn, I can’t do RTS anymore. I was hoping Valve was gonna do an RPG of some description…
BOO HOO.
boc
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 5:38 PMI think AI taking over for dropped players is a terrible idea.
Has anyone played against the DotA AI bots before? They are pathetically bad.
Worst of all, AI will never be a team player. Guess what one of the fundamentals of DotA games are? That’s right – teamwork.
Fem Grey
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 7:41 PMI’m concerned that with IceFrog at the helm the end-product will be too much of a DoTA clone.
League of Legends is a success because they have taken the elements that work and built on it.
Lets hope DoTA 2 is something more than a ‘new & improved’ DoTA.
lb
Friday, October 15, 2010 at 2:07 AMI believe as it is currently title ‘DotA 2′ it will be very closely linked to dota.
I do not see a problem with this, as from my perspective Valve has provided been a platform for IceFrog to further expand on the game of dota, not excessively change it. You have LoL, if you want a different style of gameplay with some borrowed elements.
I think the main audience for this game will of course be current dota players, so if it stays true to the original then it will do fine.
DotA is still by far the superior game in terms of quality and player base to both HoN and LoL.
p.s. I hope AI taking over is not the only option, as with the use of host bots you can already get reconnection happening on the old wc3 engine.