DOTA 2 📽 Through the Lens

First and foremost - Happy New Year! 🙌 I hope you and yours have a fantastic year! ❤️

Now, I've done many an article on the state of MOBA games, and the differences between each in the past. Your honor I plead the fifth. 😐 So I thought to myself why not do individual articles on each? Damn right Grock, you are right! Also very handsome and well-spoken. Thank you, I said to myself, I will do just that. 😇

Yes, my next Through the Lens should be about League of Legends - DOTA's arch-rival. In the meantime, I implore you to read this very well-written and researched article on the history of the two games. 😉

I say this not only to shill my work, honest. I say it to inform you that I will solely be talking about the respective games in these articles and not the similarities/differences between them.

As so❗️ In this edition of Through the Lens 🎞, we'll be taking a look at Valve's attempt to restore a giant to its former heights, the daddy of all MOBA games from 2013: DOTA 2, Roll it! 📽

What's weird about recommending this soundtrack is that DOTA has many soundtracks. They sell them as items you can get and equip, changing your entire audio experience. For the sake of consistency, I will link the original score. But just know, you can be listening to many other different sounds while playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p_a1SYs6Gs

I played Dota 1 since 2007. Then, when it was obvious the game was dying as new iterations on the IP were being made, I switched to LoL. Then I got a DOTA2 beta key... and the rest is history...

So I have more than a decade and a half of experience under my belt. I'm not the greatest gamer in the world, but I know my DOTA. SO nothing I say in this article can be questioned!

Now that we got that out of the way...

The original title was Defense of the Ancients. This, in truth, tells you all you need to know about the game. 💯

You and your 4 other teammates pick from a roster of 100+ characters. Each with its own unique abilities, advantages, and disadvantages. You control your character in battle versus the enemy until you destroy their Ancient. And win the game.

Or, as often is the case, lose terribly then cry yourself to sleep.

You have three lanes of reaching the ancient. Destruction of 1 is required so that you can start attacking it. Each lane Has 3 towers that each team has to go through and two barracks at the end. Destroying these barracks will grant you stronger creeps - little minions that spawn twice a minute to march mindlessly down each lane.

Nowadays, this formula is well known, since a lot of other games are using it. But if you aren't familiar with it, it's hella confusing.

And therein lies the first "problem".

DOTA is the hardest team-based game out there.

There might be some niche games that I am not aware of, but it's safe to say that DOTA is the most difficult. 💯

Now, some people wear this as a badge of honor, as if to say I play the most difficult game therefore I'm the superior human. When in fact it's as much of a bad thing as it is a good one. 😅

DOTA's complexity comes from a lexicon of usages that is frankly, unnecessary. I love this game. I wouldn't want it to change in any way. But for new players, it is the most daunting task out there. Learning this game, that is.

The interactions between each hero and their abilities are astounding. This is what makes it an amazing eSport - you get to appreciate the greatness of these players. The time they have invested in learning a freaking video game.

DOTA is like Starcraft in its complexity, like chess. It derives its skill ceiling from knowledge with a little bit of skill. While something like LoL derives its skill ceiling from skill with a little bit of knowledge. I know I said I wouldn't compare the two but it's so much easier to explain these concepts. 😁

DOTA is a free-to-play game which means Valve has to somehow make its money. 😐 They do this mainly through the Steam marketplace where they get a cut of every item sold.

Item, you ask? Well, I'm not talking about the in-game ones. DOTA allows you to make your own skins. Each hero's body part is equipable with an item. This item can be acquired through a plethora of ways, but it can also be sold on the official Valve marketplace. This as you can imagine is very lucrative.

Valve also makes an annual battle pass which supports the game and the biggest and most prestigious eSports tournament in the world: The International. 🙌

Recent years haven't been too kind to this tourney, but trust me, for a while this was where the eyes of all eSports fans were. 👀 It helped that DOTA's personalities, and players, were all carried and interesting. It also helped that the game itself warranted such prestige with its complexity.

All in all, DOTA is pretty fair in its monetization model, especially for a free-to-play game. You literally never have to spend money on it. However, if you want to look good playing it, you'll have to have an oil baron on speed dial. 😆

I haven't said this phrase in a while, and I have missed not saying it, I really have. DOTA will go down in the annals of history. I mean, it created a genre for crying out loud. Any game that does this will forever be remembered. At least, it should be.

Unneeded complexity aside, it is a fun game, sometimes. However, sometimes you spend an hour+ on a match only to be angry and disappointed afterward. This is coming from a season DOTA player as well. 😭 Quitting DOTA was one of the best things I could've done. For real for real.

All that being said, I still watch the pro matches and am invested in the scene. I still love this game with all my heart. All the things that make it great are also its biggest downfall. It achieves what it wants; that is the mark of a great product.

It might not be for everyone, but it is one of a kind in its execution. For that. We commend you. 👏 // or I commend you, my article after all

Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙

If you ere disappointed I didn't go through more of DOTA's history or its storied rivalry with LoL, then you need to read one of the most amazing articles here on Hive. No, for real. It was nominated as one of the most amazing articles on Hive, promise.

Otherwise, ye. DOTA is a religion to many people, and I was once firmly indoctrinated. I'm thankful those days are gone, but when I think about it, I still miss them. So,r regardless of what I say, this game will always be a part of me. And that bears acknowledging. 😌

Thanks for reading! And happy holidays! ❤️

👊 Follow me on my HIVE blog 👊

Hope you had a wonderful year, and here's to an even better one! 🙌

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