The Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre has been fascinating to watch grow. Like many popular independent works, it started from humble beginnings with a little mod for a well-known game. I can only imagine that few could foresee just how popular the mod would get.
This appeal resulted in full retail releases of multiple games, taking the same basic gameplay and adding original spins to the formula. Some tried to refine and improve the base to be more accessible, while others went in different directions to have less-than-stellar success. A lucky few have become popular enough to find a spot within competitive gaming.
What of the original source? What of Defense of the Ancients, the mod map for Warcraft III that started the whole genre? Some still consider it the best of the bunch. For the most part though, it still remained in the realm of Warcraft mods, never seeing its own conversion to retail like Counter-Strike.
Thus, Valve shocked many when they announced Dota 2, which skips over the entire process of making a real "DOTA 1" to simply go for the sequel. The big question is, what makes this Dota 2? Is it merely Defense of the Ancients with a nice coat of paint, or is there something bringing it into a new generation of gaming? Read on to find out what I think after spending time with the ongoing beta.
DOTA 2 beta (PC)
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Release: TBA 2012
Those who follow my writing know that I'm a frequent player of League of Legends -- arguably the most popular current-running MOBA game -- and have covered it around the site frequently. I have never played the original DOTA though, so while not completely blind in walking into the beta for this game, I would not be able to tell you for certain what all of the aspects are maintained. From what I could tell, much was held over from the original.
The basic elements of the gameplay remain the same. There are three lanes connecting two bases on opposite corners of the map: one that curves at the top-left corner of the map, one that curves at the bottom-right corner of the map, and the third that crosses the center diagonally. Mindless and automated minions walk along these lanes, attacking the towers and enemy minions as they fight their way into the enemy base. Two teams of five players, each player controlling one hero character of their choosing, help these minions along in an attempt to skew each skirmish to their team's favor.
Dota 2 plays like any other MOBA. It retains the same overhead perspective, and controls much in the same way you would expect an RTS game to. It also offers some RPG flavor as your chosen hero can level up during the match, and you can allocate points into attributes and skills. Finally, there's an obligatory shop where you can buy items to equip using gold gained from kills.
Despite so many similarities, Dota 2 still has some good things going for it. The graphical fidelity is magnificent. Valve certainly has a solid track record of making detailed-looking games that manage to have a simplicity about them, and this is no different here. There is also a matchmaking feature for automatically setting up teams of people, which works really quickly, and seems to set up fair matches.
Should there be someone who quits your team after a match has been made, a helpful rule can save you from wasting time on a loss. If five minutes have passed since said person left, then you can leave as well, and you won't incur a penalty for doing so. Until that point, you could actually deselect your own hero and take over the one that person left behind to try an compensate for the lost player. It's something that I'm sure could be greatly helpful for experienced players if one member of the team has a momentary lapse in their connection, or some other unfortunate circumstance.
There is also a fully fleshed out Spectator Mode, in which any number of people can click on an in-progress match to watch it live as it happens. Perhaps the neatest thing about this is the inclusion of an automatic camera director, which will move your screen around to watch all the areas where the action takes place. There is also a spectator-only chat in this mode, allowing you to talk with other viewers watching alongside you. When making a private room for a game, you can disable the ability for people to watch in on you as well.
Unfortunately, there are also parts in Dota 2 that don't feel quite so good. While the graphical quality is really nice, the general art style and the color choices feel rather bland -- even borderline generic. There are a lot of dark colors, and even on the side of the map that's supposed to be vibrant, there is drab coloring much in the same vein as first-person shooters from three to four years ago.
The character designs also don't ring of any distinct uniqueness to them. Other MOBAs that have drawn inspiration from or pay homage to more famous icons, but here the characters all feel like they could be interchanged with anything from fantasy story-hood. This is also reflected in the lack of naming for each hero. While each character may have a name in their lore, the selection screen opts instead to name them by the closest thing to their "class."
This also hurts the gameplay to some extent. Targeting specific enemies can become hard as they clump up randomly with each other in skirmishes. Targeting enemy heroes can be just as bad considering there is little that distinctly makes them stand out from the minions. Sure, there is a floating health bar that is a bit bigger than the ones over the minions, but there are still plenty of times where lots of minions and screen-obscuring special effects make conditions where you could lose track of all the players engaged in the same skirmish.
The interfacing also hurts the game as well, taking up way too much of the screen for comfort. Given the level of zoom on the action, this can lead to situations where you end up clicking on your HUD instead of a spot on the playfield in an attempt to run away. The ability to deselect your hero is also problematic, as it makes the basic controls of your character slightly more complicated than they really need to be. Although there is a button you can hit to instantly re-select your character, miss-clicking can screw you over. Thankfully, you can bind the command to select your champion to any button, but the camera command only ever remains pressing the selection button twice.
The shop system is something that has also been inelegantly handled. There are multiple shops scattered about the map, each with different items in them. It's a holdover from DOTA that was supposed to help separate the different skill level of players, with more "advanced" players knowing what items are bought from where. It feels unnecessary in Dota 2, when the mini-map will ping which shop has the item you're trying to buy. The organization of the items in the shop is also very lacking. The categories are by the type of item, but this makes finding items that affect specific statistics a hassle, requiring you to read all the tool tips and data for each one as you search.
Dota 2 is still a beta product, and it shows. There are a variety of options that are unimplemented, or half-implemented. In private games, you can set up bots to play with, and they feel very reminiscent of how the bots are in Valve's other games. Not many of the characters have bots to play with, and even on the easiest setting, most of them are annoying and hard to play with and against. Bot matches could still become something useful for training and practice, but as they are now, they just feel incomplete.
An option for a tutorial is visible, but remains unimplemented at the moment. There is stat tracking, and you can see what characters you like using, as well as success or failure rates with each. Some form of level tracking is shown, though it's non-functional at the moment, which will probably be used for better skill assessment in matchmaking.
All in all, Dota 2 is a much slower affair than some of the other established MOBA games to have come out in the past couple of years. It feels like an odd mix of a modern game and an antiquated game. It's clunky, and I would not say that it feels very friendly to new players looking to start playing a MOBA in its current form. Depending on how some of these unimplemented features turn out, they could make the game significantly more accessible for new people who are unfamiliar with the genre. A number of the problems I've found are things that can be fixed by the time the game goes out of beta.
As it stands, Dota 2 feels highly aimed at fans of the original, who would claim that the other popular MOBAs are too simplified or too casual. For the most part, I would say that they will be happy seeking a new home in the sequel.
For everyone else, I feel that it is a wait-and-see situation. As for which MOBA game the famous Basshunter will choose as the best, and make a new song about, only time will tell.
Contest:
4:00 PM on 02.08.2012 | 
Other than that, not a bad impression, and yes I do feel rather home at HoN/Dota 2, LoL is just not my thing.
Wow, I had no idea about Aeon of Strife. Guess it just goes to show you just how big the original DOTA was, hehe.
I guess Im the opposite side of the coin from you man. I hate the character design in HoN. Out however many Heroes they have on their roster Ive only ever liked how 1 looked. Every other one just seems like they have too much stuff on em, too much armor, too much shiny stuff.
I agree the menu navigation isnt as clear as it should be, but the Secret shop is important. You probably didnt notice, but if you click other players you can see how much gold they're carrying. So if the guy in your lane is stockpiling the 3600 gold for a Demons Edge(+lots of damage)you can gank him at the secret shop, setting him back by 500gold.
It creates an extra level of stratagey where you have to weigh the risk/reward of going for the expensive item. (many a game of LoL where a squishy carry dies 2 or 3 times while saving for the B.F. sword, in Dota that stratagey is a LOT more risky when you lose gold when you die and the expensive weapons are sold on neutral ground.
Nope.
@andrew5329
I would normally that secret shops are fucking dumb, but now that you mention how they add a different level of strategy, I counter with my observation that gold seems to be amassed faster in DoTA 2 than in LoL. So I dont think its that much of an advanced strategy creator really.
But in all fairness Ive always hated the secret shops anyway. I thought they were unnecessary. And If I had to guess why they were implemented in the first place, Id say it was because the original DoTA needed a way for players to purchase high level items, but the shops near the fountains already had too much inventory for the game to handle.
If you feel like you want a slower, yet more methodical pacing to your game, then yeah, I'd say it's worth checking out as it is. Like I mentioned, it's a game that requires a bit more thought to it, and is a bit more punishing if you mess up. I'd say it's more worth sampling before you decide to quit one game for the other.
effin rejected T__T
I think the default key for focusing on your character is F1. Double tap, and hold it on the second tap to bind your camera to your character, though you gotta keep holding it to keep it focused. It's not elegant in the least, I know, but it's still there.
You. Eat. Trees.... That is all.
Actually, I think a more accurate analogy would be to say that LoL is to Dota 2 as Street Fighter is to Virtua Fighter.
Second, LoL and DotA can be compared with an analogy I came up with. It goes like this: LoL is like using a sledgehammer to break a lock. DotA is like using thieves tools properly to pop a lock open. Can you tell that I don't like LoL? Moving on...
@FFordesoon: If they made it easy to bind the camera onto your hero, it would cripple you. You need to learn how to move the camera and still know where your hero is to be very good at map control and awareness. It would be hard to argue otherwise, seeing as the definition of "bind" is restrictive.
A final note: Anyone else totally sick of random players who think they're so awesome and nothing is ever their fault? I love 'em, in a totally sarcastic and hateful way.
So I take it you are trying to tell us that you are amazing at LoL then? Im not sure why you say LoL isnt a challenge, when as a multiplayer, Player vs Player game there will Always be a level of challenge. At some point you will run up against teams better than yours, people who can out lane you, or with better builds, etc. And that doesnt have to be applied to only MOBAs, things like that happens in any multiplayer game, fighters, shooters, rts, you name it.
I want to support Valve but I don't want to get in the way of an experienced DOTA player and have them cuss me out. Niche games are fine, not everything has to be for me but Valve has really been playing this one too close to chest when it comes to accessibility. Don't dumb it down but at least let people know if it is going to be aimed at hardcore fans of the genre and no one else.
You're wrong.
Now, I'm in the DOTA 2 beta and I love the game. I was surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, but I think it has the best mix of features/gameplay.
DOTA 2 is not at all slower then LoL, it just isn't.
Honestly, fuck them. I'm sick of my games being streamlined like fuck to the point of loosing any challenge.
You do realize the challenge comes from playing against other REAL people, not just the game right?
It's hard to explain.
Besides, I think the Steam stats speak for themselves.
Given how I've noticed matches in both games last roughly the same amount of time, I might be inclined to believe that claim.
Of course, I still think that Dota 2 feels slower. The laning phase feels more obsessed with managing gold amounts, and last hitting/denying minion kills than actively trying to engage and force opponent champions away. I feel that the buildup to actively engaging enemy champions feels too drawn out, and it is tedious until you get there. Having to walk back AND forth to the shop manually(or have a donkey walk manually) also adds extra downtime. Having to walk back to your fountain to get full health or mana made it feel less like getting a quick refresh on my health, and more like an equivalence to the time penalty from death. This is even considering that there are items which let any champion teleport around the map freely. It feels too drawn out, and not in a good way.
Gold is very important for some heroes early game, particularly snowballing heroes like, say, Tinker. But many heroes, especially lanes like Witch Doctor + Juggernaut/Stunner will focus almost entirely on killing you from level 1. They will do it too, unless you're very careful. Also, middle lane should be running to the side lanes to gank at 2 minutes and 4 minutes with the rune. It's only slow if the teams are not doing what they could be doing to win.
I'm only a little bitter :P
I also hear the strats are different, something about LOL is just the same 3 lanes or something whereas DOTA 2 has multiple routes inbetween lanes and you can destroy trees to make a path to another side. I'm just going by what some people have told me, and that's why I simply jumped into DOTA 2 first.
Unfortunately, it does seem difficult to play with people who will explain things instead of rage and throw insults at you for not being accustomed to the huge demand of patience and skill required for this game.
I also hope that Valve will get some kind of matchmaking working so I can fight people of equal skill or close to it, and some balance after they finish adding all heroes.
It is true that DotA has a much higher learning curve than LoL. It is far more punishing for dying, not last hitting, and denying minions. Compared to LoL, DotA games can snowball out of control much faster, with certain champions easily able to win 2 on 1 fights, or even three consecutive 1 on 1 fights. While a strong carry will do well early game in LoL, team fights ultimately decide which side takes home the prize. In DotA, one or two strong heroes completely win the day.
Anyone familiar with caster heroes "Ability Power" stat in LoL may also seem lost in DotA2. With the exception of certain heroes' ultimate spells, there is virtually no way to make your fireballs or AoE spells do more damage in DotA2. Because of this, most caster heroes are forced into support roles late game. Sure, your Zeus may be picking people off early game, but end game, you're reduced to purchasing crowd control items and just supporting your team.
This preview is spot on about the in game interfaces. LoL gives you a simple, intuitive menu to find what type of item you are looking for. In DotA2, you either need to be familiar with the items, or spend your time reading tool tips (subsequently wasting time farming your lane or fighting enemies). As someone who knows what items have what properties, I was still lost trying to find specific items in the menus.
As for the pace of the game, don't expect to win a DotA2 game in 20 minutes or less, unless of course you play a team of leavers. This brings up another issue I have with DotA2 is the simple lack of a surrender system. I have had bad games on LoL where the game was decided 18 minutes in. Thankfully the game gives you the option to surrender at 20 minutes to move on. DotA2 forgoes this and forces you to play out the remainder of an unwinable game. Worse, is that most snowballed games usually take about 35-40 minutes to finish, longer if your opponents are happy just farming and ganking without the want to push.
Graphics are all opinion based, but I still prefer the colorful look of LoL. LoL makes it easy to distinguish heroes apart while running smoothly. DotA2 bizarrely chugs on my machine. The terrain looks clay-like and drab, and the (mostly) shameless ports of classic DotA heroes doesn't translate well to their character design in DotA2 (Nature's Prophet is one clear example, he looks atrocious in DotA2).
While the game is still in beta and has not had its leveling system implemented, DotA2 does not have the addictive metagame progression that LoL has. No IP gains to work on unlocking sets of runes, no masteries, ect. In the end, DotA's progression is simply locked to the yet-to-be implemented level bar.
In conclusion, I see the games in this light: DotA2 is a reboot of the original with a new coat of paint. LoL is actually a sequel in that it makes design changes for the improvement of the game. Also, LoL has Dominion! :)
I wouldn't consider being low on mana to be "forced out", though I would still consider it enough to warrant a trip to the fountain instead of a potion(not that I always do it though). Also times when you get out of a mid of late game team fight, but are badly hurt after. It all adds downtime in total still.
@JayCee:
Meh, I think learning just the basics of a MOBA in general is harder than anything. After that, the differences in DOTA and LoL come down to little nuances. I've noticed that the harshness of the communities are bad on each though, unfortunately. I'm really interested to see what post-beta Dota 2 looks like, and how they manage to make the tutorial mode and the proper matchmaking.
-sigh-
But hey, its your opinion right.
I personally LOVE the art style of Dota 2 and think the multiple shops really add to the game. I have no experience with Dota though so I can't really comment on how it will be for old players. Give this game a chance, but don't go into it expecting something based on your experiences with other MOBA games. If anyone gets the game just PM me here and I can help you learn the ropes!
"Despite so many similarities, Dota 2 still has some good things going for it." What the hell is that supposed to mean? similarities too what? dota 1? Thats obviously what its going for... but thats a bad thing?
"Dota 2 is still a beta product, and it shows." How is it showing? Its basically a complete game. They have about 30 or so heroes and 3 or 4 hero selection modes to add and its finished. Save a tutorial button not working Idk what the hell your talking about.
"There are multiple shops scattered about the map, each with different items in them." No shit. It adds tact that isn't found in stupid games like LoL. Having all the items available in one spot in the game is dumb as hell.
"The interfacing also hurts the game as well, taking up way too much of the screen for comfort." This doesnt really make sense. Takes up exactly the same space as WC3, which isn't bad at all.
"the general art style and the color choices feel rather bland"... I'll bet you and the double rainbow guy have a lot in common. A lot of appreciation for bright colors... The grass is green. the water is blue. wtf are you expecting?
"As for which MOBA game the famous Basshunter will choose as the best, and make a new song about, only time will tell." Basshunter's not a dumbass. The song is called dota for a reason.
Theres probably more stuff that I missed but Fire02 is exactly right. Learn to play a game before giving it some shitty ass review.
"Despite so many similarities, Dota 2 still has some good things going for it." What the hell is that supposed to mean? similarities too what? dota 1? Thats obviously what its going for... but thats a bad thing?
"Dota 2 is still a beta product, and it shows." How is it showing? Its basically a complete game. They have about 30 or so heroes and 3 or 4 hero selection modes to add and its finished. Save a tutorial button not working Idk what your talking about.
"There are multiple shops scattered about the map, each with different items in them." It adds tact that isn't found in stupid games like LoL. Having all the items available in one spot in the game is dumb and has no penalty.
"The interfacing also hurts the game as well, taking up way too much of the screen for comfort." This doesnt really make sense. Takes up exactly the same space as WC3, which isn't bad at all.
"the general art style and the color choices feel rather bland"... I'll bet you and the double rainbow guy have a lot in common. A lot of appreciation for bright colors... The grass is green. the water is blue. wtf are you expecting?
"As for which MOBA game the famous Basshunter will choose as the best, and make a new song about, only time will tell." Basshunter's not stupid. The song is called dota for a reason.
Theres probably more stuff that I missed but Fire02 is exactly right. Learn to play a game before giving it some shitty ass review.
"Despite so many similarities, Dota 2 still has some good things going for it." What the hell is that supposed to mean? similarities too what? dota 1? Thats obviously what its going for... but thats a bad thing?
"Dota 2 is still a beta product, and it shows." How is it showing? Its basically a complete game. They have about 30 or so heroes and 3 or 4 hero selection modes to add and its finished. Save a tutorial button not working Idk what your talking about.
"There are multiple shops scattered about the map, each with different items in them." It adds tact that isn't found in stupid games like LoL. Having all the items available in one spot in the game is dumb and has no penalty.
"The interfacing also hurts the game as well, taking up way too much of the screen for comfort." This doesnt really make sense. Takes up exactly the same space as WC3, which isn't bad at all.
"the general art style and the color choices feel rather bland"... I'll bet you and the double rainbow guy have a lot in common. A lot of appreciation for bright colors... The grass is green. the water is blue. wtf are you expecting?
"As for which MOBA game the famous Basshunter will choose as the best, and make a new song about, only time will tell." Basshunter's not stupid. The song is called dota for a reason.
Theres probably more stuff that I missed but Fire02 is exactly right. Learn to play a game before reviewing it...