As I mentioned yesterday, I’m finally a part of the DotA 2 beta. You know what that means: crazy amounts of new content to explore and report on. As a long-time DotA fan, I’m loving the chance to get back to that familiar map and a mechanic set that feels very different from League of Legends.

Not to worry, LoL fans. I will continue to write about the League of Legends scene in detail. If you aren’t interested in DotA news, you can opt-out by pointing your browser to the League of Legends category of the blog. Same for you DotA fans. If you’re done with League of Legends or new to Fearless Gamer, hit up the DotA category here for the latest and greatest.

I know comparisons can be a bit pointless, but I do think there are enough similarities between League and DotA for plenty of discussion. I will try to keep the two worlds separate when they don’t match up, but I’ll trust you guys to keep me honest on that. I’m not looking to bash either game. I’m truly interested in the development of this genre.

Some of you may recognize the name Jon St. John. Yeah, he has a badass name in real life, but he’s also done voice acting for one well-known and incredibly delayed badass: Duke Nukem. Well, Jon St. John has a new project, and one that could be of interest to LoL players. He’s doing voice acting for Valve’s version of DotA.

I don’t really have any details, and frankly, the DotA moniker comes from JSJ, not from Valve. What we do know is that Valve hired IceFrog (the mind behind DotA (along with Zileas)) to make something to please DotA fans. Jon St. John posted to his Twitter account this weekend that he has been doing voice work for DotA at Valve Software. I’m not sure why he would call out the name of the game without hearing it from Valve, and if they didn’t give him the go ahead, you can bet he wouldn’t be talking about it.

This doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot for the LoL community, but it could be bad news for any HoN fans out there. I’ve played a bit of HoN and been completely unimpressed, so it’s not like the name DotA will kill a game like LoL. It could kill HoN, though, especially with the kind of money Valve has. What could be a problem for LoL is just that – the money.

Valve could very easily sweep in on LoL territory with more bank, more developers, but more importantly, more support. With better server uptime and the bankroll to back a quicker development cycle, Valve could make a dent in the LoL player base. That’s not to say Valve will do that, just that it could with the resources it has. Valve was notoriously slow with some of the TF2 developments, though, even if TF2 has a massive player base. Let’s also not forget that IceFrog did work on HoN, and we can all see how well that’s going.

In short, I think it’s totally possible that Valve is working up a DotA clone and it has the potential to make a bit of a stink for the big players in the MOBA world. There are so many variables, though, that Valve has a long way to go before

I’m a big fan of DotA, so Icefrog’s announcement that he’s now leading a team at Valve is pretty incredible. For those of you who don’t know, DotA is a mod of Warcraft 3 called Defense of the Ancients. It has a huge community base that has recently seen some revival with sites like throneit.com.

Icefrog didn’t have anything definite to say about the new position. “I finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love” he said. He also confirmed continued development on the popular mod, but hopefully Valve’s backing will create something truly incredible. For now, Icefrog has said he will be working on balance improvements for DotA in 6.64 with the potential for new characters/remakes in 6.65.