The release of League of Legends: Dominion made me wonder what the other big players in the MOBA world have been up to, particularly the good people at Valve. Valve has always been known for the glacial pace of its development, but the word on the street was that DotA 2 would be out this year. Apparently that was never Valve’s plan.
According to an official blog post made late last week, DotA 2 was originally slated for a year-long beta, beginning this fall. During that time, Valve was planning to slowly increase the number of available heroes until it matched the original title and only then would the game be released.
It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which releasing DotA 2 a year from now would make any kind of sense. Granted, DotA players are a loyal breed, but the options for filling the MOBA need are ever-increasing. As Dominion has shown us, there are also emerging models for arena-style gameplay that stray from conventional base-killing. Also, why hold a high profile tournament for a game that won’t release for a full year? In short, DotA can’t keep MOBA players interested forever. Pushing that interest for another 12 months seems like a surefire way to kill the game.
Luckily, Valve has changed its plans. The new schedule has DotA 2 coming out as soon as possible with the set of heroes that were playable in the International tourney. From there, Valve will be rolling out updates with more heroes along the way.
Weirdly enough, I think their terrible initial plan will turn into a really smart release cycle. DotA 2 will be a tough change of pace for players who never played the original. Even veteran DotA players, like myself, might have trouble adjusting after being away from the game so long. That adjustment period is only compounded by the number of new champions and mechanics a player has to learn. By launching with a limited set of champions, DotA 2 will probably be much more approachable than the version we would otherwise see a year from now.
With Gamescom up and running, the DotA 2 International tournament is in full swing, with teams competing for the first place purse of $1,000,000. This is also the first time the world at large has seen DotA 2, a game that, in my opinion, looks fantastic. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed DotA on a very visceral level. It was somewhere in the back of my mind, but as soon as I saw Valve’s take on some of my favorite champions – Windrunner, Beastmaster, Dark Seer, Night Stalker – I felt the excitement of playing the game again.
I think Valve has done a really nice job with the graphics. Honestly, with as good as DotA 2 looks, I don’t think HoN really stands a chance. HoN’s big selling point up to this point was that it was DotA with “better” graphics. For some reason, though, they changed the names of the items and the champions and made the graphics look all sorts of crazy. DotA 2 actually is DotA with better graphics and, from the looks of things, everything is still the same. I can’t decide if that’s a good or bad thing on the whole, but I’m willing to say it’s a bad thing for HoN
I think the key to quick success is for Valve to release at the right time and the right price. No doubt there will be plenty of current DotA players making the switch. According to the livestreams today, some 1.5 million people were watching the International tournament. But I would like to see a vibrant DotA 2 community, including newplayers. I know a few friends who will be playing DotA for the first time in DotA 2, and it is a very different game. Without a fresh community, those newer players will have a frustrating time getting acclimated to the game.
With the beta just getting started, I could see a DotA 2 launch as late as the end of November. As for price, I’m hoping it’s free-ninety-free, but I also wouldn’t mind seeing a buy-in price. It would hopefully keep smurfs from being too much of an issue and encourage players to be a bit more careful with their accounts. I’m also not sure if Valve is planning any sort of skin system or microtransaction model. If interest is high enough around the game, it makes plenty of sense to do a box cost and then follow it up with microtransactions down the road. Valve could easily make back development costs and then look for more ways to turn the game into a mint.
Did you watch any of the footage? Are you excited for DotA 2 or content to chug along in LoL? Think you’ll be playing both? Let me know in the comments.
Valve quietly mentioned that DotA 2 was fast approaching just yesterday. The message appeared at the bottom of a press release about the Steam content delivery system. “Soon, Dota 2 will be delivered using [the new system]” was all it said, but there’s a little more info circulating the web. Apparently MYM, one of the most popular DotA teams in the world, is headed over to Germany during Gamescom along with several other European and Asian teams, supposedly to play in a promotional tournament at the event.
It’s no secret that Europe and Asia both have exploding esports scenes, particularly with regard to the MOBA genre. Gamescom seems like an excellent place to showcase the most anticipated entrant in the MOBA field. As for release dates, Valve hasn’t said anything, but Gamescom runs from August 17-21. I would imagine we won’t see the final product for at least another month, which puts us at late September, early November, just like roughly every other game you’ve been hearing about for the past three years.
Personally, I’m excited for DotA 2. I really enjoy Valve games and I have faith in what they can bring to the genre, especially with regard to multiplayer features. As much as I enjoy League of Legends, the game is way behind in terms of social features. If Valve can deliver core technical features players have come to expect, it could see incredible growth and visibility in this sector of the industry.
That said, I also think DotA 2 could miss the mark with a lot of casual players. The strength/agility/intellect system from those games feels opaque and archaic, even as someone closely familiar with the game. I could absolutely see people who are accustomed to the AP/AD system get frustrated with learning a whole new system for categorizing champions and choose to stick with LoL.
