Guess the earlier accidental release of Dota 2 wasn’t quite a false alarm: now the game is officially out of beta. Finally!
Here’s how the launch will work according to Valve:
Like we mentioned before, the launch of Dota 2 is going to take on a different shape than products we’ve shipped in the past. Our thinking is that we want the existing audience have uninterrupted access during the launch, in addition to bringing new players into Dota 2 in a way that isn’t frustrating. Simply put, we want to smooth out the traditional launch spike, but at the same time allow anyone to come in and try out Dota 2.
Dota 2’s user base is already larger than any game we’ve ever made, and it continues to grow. Knowing this launch moment was coming, we’ve spent the past year working on getting both the backend infrastructure and new user experience into a state where we can welcome in anyone that wants to give the game a try. With that work now complete, it is time for us to invite anyone and everyone to come play.
If you want to give Dota a try, or you have a friend you want to bring into the community, click the button above and you can get in the launch queue. You’ll see your place in line, and when it is your turn we’ll send you an email letting you know you’re in. We’ll begin sending those emails this week.
We also have an update from our world-travelling server installation team, who in addition to achieving triple diamond platinum/uranium/aegis level frequent flyer status, also have added significant game server capacity. Most of this trip has been to add capacity to Stockholm and Luxembourg, but we’ve also recently added servers to US West and our new cluster in Korea. Don’t worry if your cluster isn’t listed here, we’re ready to add as many servers as needed as the user base grows. Here are some photos from the Luxembourg datacenter:
These servers represent the ability to host an additional 450,000 players concurrently. Figuring out how much capacity to add, and where, is one important aspect of this launch. For the stats people out there, concurrent numbers are more useful when predicting what capacity we need for specific regions, because Dota players in the same region tend to play during similar hours. Our worldwide active user base is roughly twelve times the peak concurrency.
Hopefully the Dota 2 beta has been as fun for you as it has been for us. While it has come to an end, we’ll be building the game for a long time, and listening to what direction to take.
Comments
7 responses to “Valve Finally “Releases” DOTA 2”
Does this mean that I’m going to finally stop getting 400,000 invites every hour? Seriously, I’m drowning over here. Halp.
Also I need more boxes, Valve please increase the drop of boxes? The box per match drop rate is not adequate.
That datacenter looks smexy
Put all 500 of my invites up on the steam market the other day. Now, what to do with my 20c..
Does anyone know about pricing for this? Is it a freebie they are hoping to make money from cosmetic micro-trans? I am sure they said it was F2P previously..
I already have the beta (not to mention 48 or so invites.. ). Will my game listing in steam just switch from beta to full?
The game is full Free to Play. You can purchase cosmetic items in the steam store, they also have a chance to drop at the end of each game. Chests also drop and you can buy a key to unlock it…
Very similar to the way items work in TF2 in steam if you ever played…
Coolio, thanks for that info