Valve Announces Dota 2

RulerOf writes "Just over a year after hiring IceFrog, the lead developer of the wildly popular DotA Allstars mod for Warcraft III, and the speculation surrounding Valve's recent trademark filing for the 'DotA' name, Valve has officially announced Dota 2. Gameplay of Dota 2 is being ported 'exactly' from the current DotA Allstars and includes every hero, but vast improvements are being made to the game including VoIP, a coaching system, in-game rewards, and AI that takes over for disconnected players. Lastly, it all runs on top of the Source engine. (GameInformer's website appears to be struggling right now though, as they had an exclusive on this story.)"

Comments

Acronym courtesy missing...

[cbope]

What the hell is a DotA?

Please, if you are going to use an acronym in a news post, especially one that may be a mod many are not familiar with, follow common courtesy and spell it out the first time it is used.

I had to click on the link and visit a page with information about a mod for a game I haven't played in YEARS.

Re:Acronym courtesy missing...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_the_Ancients [wikipedia.org] is the 1st thing that comes up when you google DotA. See, that's what adults do, when they don't know what something is they look it up, not expect to be spoon fed.

Right, it has nothing to do with the fact that the "editors" on /. couldn't e bothered with linking or explaining what "DotA" refers too. See, that's what editors (are supposed to) do.

Re:Acronym courtesy missing...

[mythandros]

Let's ignore the fact that spelling out acronyms upon first use is one of the most basic elements of good article writing. If I Google for DotA, I don't know that the first hit resolves to the intended acronym unless I already know what DotA stands for in which case I wouldn't have needed to Google it in the first place.

What players want? I think not.

[ifrag]

DotA is dying, and it's dying because there are already next generation replacements for it. A few years ago, the entire custom game list on Warcraft III would have been almost full of DotA and maybe a couple other games hosted here and there. These days it can take several minutes just to get a full game setup.

For those who actually enjoyed the way DotA played and the associated content there is already a complete replacement with Heroes of Newerth. Which pretty much is what Valve is talking about making here. And for those who were actually looking for something different than a straight DotA clone, League of Legends actually makes an effort to change the game up in meaningful ways. Most significantly by throwing out the Warcraft III stat system.

So despite Valve's track record, I'm not optimistic in their approach on this. I really doubt people want DotA yet again with a few enhancements. I think a 3rd generation sequel would have a lot more chance than a 1st generation remake. Unless they make more than trivial improvements in infrastructure this is not going to draw the players who are already in this market. Maybe they stand a chance for getting some new players, those not already involved in the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games. It would have been nice to see Valve actually do some research before trying to jump blindly into this.

Re:better title

[Narishma]

How can it be delayed when they've never announced a release date?

Re:Icefrog

[Rysc]

True or not, I don't care. Icefrog could be an asshole for all I care as long as the result is that DoTA 2 copies DoTA and does not try to change things. DoTA works, changing it damages it (see LoL and to a lesser extent HoN). Sometimes we all dislike icefrog but if he's developing and defending DoTA then no other wrongs he does matter, IMO.