DOTA 2 Latest News (wrap up)

A wrap-up of all the latest news of DOTA 2 for the past days! Don't miss it! 
August 24, 2011

Hello everyone! A couple of days after The International and we are still trying to get back to every day life but the thrill and anticipation for DOTA 2 are just not helping!

This post will be a short news update on the DOTA 2 news that we had during these past weeks.

So, let's see that we have!

We saw DOTA 2 gameplay and we loved it!

As you probably now by now, DOTA 2 was shown for the first time during The International and it was thrilling. The game got amazing reviews and people loved it. Some minor negative comments where received for a couple hero models, some visual effects and for the user interface of the game - both of which have been addressed by Valve and as they said they have lots of feedback from the community and they will be making changes on the models and some visual effects. As for the UI they said that it will be reworked as well. The engine, which is the most important thing on the game, was great! The games where smooth, no real bugs or errors and gameplay seemed brilliant!


For anyone that missed it (I have no idea how or why you'd do such a stupid thing but ...meh!)The International is over and Na'Vi are the one million dollar prize winners! Congratulations!

You can read up on all the details of the international here, check the replays from the whole tournament here. Finally, you can check up on the statistics of hero picks from the tournament here.


DOTA 2 will not be shipped before 2012.

This is one of the sad news that we got from Gabe but, at the same time he promised that the open BETA will be live until the game is released. What does that mean? Free DOTA 2 until the game's official release for all. Meh... Delaying the actual release doesn't sound so bad if we can all play the game! :)


Gabe Newell's Interview on GamesCom

Here are the important stuff you need to know about this interview:

• Several Valve developers are avid fans of the original DotA!
• Story driven single-player campaigns are out of the question. Valve intends to focus on the multiplayer aspects.
• Matchmaking algorithms will match players of similar skill level.
• Community contributions such as player guides, coaching system and accessibility etc. will be an integral part of the overall gameplay experience.
• Cosmetic microtransactions are likely going to be implemented.
• Dota 2 will continue the DotA tradition of getting user feedback and suggestions.
• Dota 2 will launch in early 2012 at the earliest. Despite that, an invitation-only beta will start some time after gamescom and an open beta will follow after.

Erik Johnson's Interviews on Gamescom

Here are a few of the important bits, but we'd recommend you watch both interviews:interview 1 and interview 2:

• Dota 2 will have 105 heroes on release.
• Every hero in Dota 2 will have individual backstories, with several videos and comics planned to explore and tell the story of the Dota 2 world.
• You'll be able to join a game with your friends and fight similarly skilled players with friends. Valve is really trying hard to solve the problem of games with imbalanced skill levels.
• Bot training maps, tutorials, and coaching are all confirmed.
• Erik's favorite hero is Earthshaker!
• Feedback on the game from the Gamescom attendees are really positive.
• Beta will eventually go from thousands to hundreds of thousands in order to get more feedback. Player hardware configuration will likely be a criteria in player selection.
• The game can scale down on low end computers, so no worries tight-budgeted players!

Erik Johnson's Interview at Dealspwn

In this new interview, Erik Johnson said that they have plans to hold an event similar toThe International yearly which gathers the best players from all around the world. At the same time, on the same matter IceFrog has confirmed that the prizepool will "be at least as big as the current prize pool" when responding to a fan query on playdota forums.