 |
| [1] |
The Game
Dota 2 is the sequel to a very popular Warcraft 3 mod called DotA (Defense of the Ancients) and in traditional Valve fashion they hired the creators of the mod to create their own game. The game is completely free to play and is at the moment played on just the one map, but I will look into both of these in more detail later.
The objective of the game is simple, 2 teams of 5 must battle it out to destroy the opposing team's Ancient, or for the uninitiated, the big glowie building sitting in each base. You however can not just assault this building right from the start, you first must take down the enemies tiered defences. At the start of each match you pick a Hero from the ever-growing pool of 105, each with their own set of unique spells and during each game you can buy items to add another layer of choice and strategy.
 |
| The Ancients |
So that's over 100 Heroes, each of them can synergize with other Heroes, each of them counter different Heroes with the chance to change what items you buy and what skills you build. This makes each game unique, no matter who you chose to play.
One Map to Rule Them All
Like I said earlier Dota 2 is played on mainly one map. There are other maps released on occasion, like currently there's a new game mode and a new map out for the Christmas holidays, but the core game is one map and one map only.
Whenever I tell people the game is played on one map, they always reply with "How do you not get bored?", I always answer by mentioning Counter-Strike and despite being around for almost a decade all people want to do is play de_dust. I feel games don't need 15 maps with another 20 coming in DLC, a hand full of maps that have been thoroughly designed with tactical depth will last much longer and this is exactly what the Dota 2 map has.
The map seems simple at first and the basics can be learned quickly, but hidden all over are paths hidden in the trees, because of player vision too there are even more, smaller, hiding spots that can be used to get out of a sticky situation. This is just a small example of the depth of this map, because once you begin to factor in the effects items and spells can have, the entire thing becomes like a complex chess board.
Free to Play, not Pay to Win
I've never been a big fan of Free to play games, the majority of them are either lacking in polish, feel way too grindy or are simply pay to win. However Dota 2 doesn't contain any of these negatives, as soon as you download the game you're on the same playing-field as everyone else. There's no must-have stat to grind away, no rubbish starting weapons to try and replace and there's certainly no limited-hero pool.
Dota 2 makes its' money from cosmetic items and that's it. If you like a hero enough you can buy items to make it stand out from the rest, or you can buy a fancy courier or maybe just a different HUD skin. None of this is required though, you could play for a year and never need to throw money at the game. The free to play model has been on the up lately in general, with games like Path of Exile also offering a high quality experience with no need to put money in it.
The World has Weight... mostly
The visuals are, for me anyway, one of the biggest highlights in Dota 2. Everything in the game carries a weight, from the simple trees in the forest to each hero, everything feels like it has purpose and it is all textured in a vibrant, painterly style.
Each hero have had some serious design time dedicated to them, each with a unique look and silhouette and when considering how many heroes there are this is quite an achievement! A number of heroes have had multiple redesigns too, while some are currently waiting, but each of them have great personalities and are animated beautifully. When you throw all this into combat with all the spell effects, the game can be quite a sight to behold.
For Balance
Not wanting this post to become overly biased I thought I'd write down some of things that I think are wrong or just bad, after all, without this I'd be saying Dota 2 is near perfect, when it obviously isn't. The very nature of the game is "snowbally", meaning if one team make enough mistakes the enemy team can push the advantage hard, leaving the other team in a corner for 20 minutes just losing with no hope of coming back, which isn't fun. Add this on top of the inevitable losing streaks and your morale for the game can drop pretty hard.
Being an internet based game the community can have bad members, but I guess this just comes with the hobby. The servers can be a bit wonky at times and while the menus are functional they feel a bit sluggish in places, the option for more player statistics would be great too. Lastly, some of the cosmetic items don't match up to the quality of others, but this is because most of the sets are made by the community. A lot of the things mentioned in this paragraph could all be addressed through patches, which Valve push out at a decent rate.
I could quite easily double the size of this post discussing things in Dota 2, but I won't, I feel I have covered all the necessary points in what makes this game great and the influences it can pass on. In my future work I hope I can replicate some of the design choices made by Valve, especially in character design, as Dota 2 is a real showcase for fantastic character design work. As for playing the game itself, I'm slowly approaching my 400th game and I can't wait to see what the another 400 have in store for me!
 |
| The Dota 2 map, without the team structures [2] |
The map seems simple at first and the basics can be learned quickly, but hidden all over are paths hidden in the trees, because of player vision too there are even more, smaller, hiding spots that can be used to get out of a sticky situation. This is just a small example of the depth of this map, because once you begin to factor in the effects items and spells can have, the entire thing becomes like a complex chess board.
Free to Play, not Pay to Win
I've never been a big fan of Free to play games, the majority of them are either lacking in polish, feel way too grindy or are simply pay to win. However Dota 2 doesn't contain any of these negatives, as soon as you download the game you're on the same playing-field as everyone else. There's no must-have stat to grind away, no rubbish starting weapons to try and replace and there's certainly no limited-hero pool.
Dota 2 makes its' money from cosmetic items and that's it. If you like a hero enough you can buy items to make it stand out from the rest, or you can buy a fancy courier or maybe just a different HUD skin. None of this is required though, you could play for a year and never need to throw money at the game. The free to play model has been on the up lately in general, with games like Path of Exile also offering a high quality experience with no need to put money in it.
 |
| Left: The standard Warlock Right: Warlock with a cosmetic set |
The visuals are, for me anyway, one of the biggest highlights in Dota 2. Everything in the game carries a weight, from the simple trees in the forest to each hero, everything feels like it has purpose and it is all textured in a vibrant, painterly style.
Each hero have had some serious design time dedicated to them, each with a unique look and silhouette and when considering how many heroes there are this is quite an achievement! A number of heroes have had multiple redesigns too, while some are currently waiting, but each of them have great personalities and are animated beautifully. When you throw all this into combat with all the spell effects, the game can be quite a sight to behold.
 |
| Things can get pretty chaotic during teamfights |
The only thing that I can't get on with is the lore. I know in a game like this the lore isn't as important as in say Mass Effect or Skyrim, so I should be happy that Valve have taken the time to try and explain the world and the heroes, but the number of heroes that have just popped out the ground is a bit much. Some of them have stories intertwined with other heroes, which for me adds believability to the world, yet a good number of them have the "mysterious unknown power" thing attached to them and this reduces the credibility.
For Balance
Not wanting this post to become overly biased I thought I'd write down some of things that I think are wrong or just bad, after all, without this I'd be saying Dota 2 is near perfect, when it obviously isn't. The very nature of the game is "snowbally", meaning if one team make enough mistakes the enemy team can push the advantage hard, leaving the other team in a corner for 20 minutes just losing with no hope of coming back, which isn't fun. Add this on top of the inevitable losing streaks and your morale for the game can drop pretty hard.
Being an internet based game the community can have bad members, but I guess this just comes with the hobby. The servers can be a bit wonky at times and while the menus are functional they feel a bit sluggish in places, the option for more player statistics would be great too. Lastly, some of the cosmetic items don't match up to the quality of others, but this is because most of the sets are made by the community. A lot of the things mentioned in this paragraph could all be addressed through patches, which Valve push out at a decent rate.
 |
| A festive version of the standard Dota 2 map |
I could quite easily double the size of this post discussing things in Dota 2, but I won't, I feel I have covered all the necessary points in what makes this game great and the influences it can pass on. In my future work I hope I can replicate some of the design choices made by Valve, especially in character design, as Dota 2 is a real showcase for fantastic character design work. As for playing the game itself, I'm slowly approaching my 400th game and I can't wait to see what the another 400 have in store for me!
References & Notes
[1]http://www.dvlzgame.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DotA-21.jpg
[2]http://www.devilesk.com/dota2/images/dota_minimap.jpg
All other images were taken by me, in-game
[2]http://www.devilesk.com/dota2/images/dota_minimap.jpg
All other images were taken by me, in-game
No comments:
Post a Comment