I've really enjoyed The Defense so far, and I'm looking forward to the next DOTA 2 International.

Yep, The Defense has been really awesome. Valve has said that they'd like to organize events like The International each year. If JoinDota is to be believed, the next one's in Seattle?

Yes sorry about the rage, the article is good. But we cant play your game. D:

It's supposed to have a $1 million prize pool each year, too.

Yep, forgot to mention that. Valve has the means to do it and they don't seem to be shying away from it.

Their business model for Dota2 is same as that of TF2, so a ton of updates and content. Can barely wait for the release.

I think its terrible that its so hard to get a betakey, im almost at the stage of rage where ill refuse to buy the game if it ever comes out, out of rage.

i agree, chen. you're even a hero, you should get beta for free, before everyone else.

The tards should just relase it and add content along the way. Instead of keeping people out that want to play.

yup, completely agree. they gain nothing by having a large crowd left ouside of the game, especially after having let people outside of the pro-scene into the game. few months ago i would have jumped at a betakey, now im not so sure anymore. ofc i still wanna play, but cant really say im signing up for every betakey-release game they make.

maybe its a matter of being able to support a bigger crowd ingame with servers etc :/

All the tease, steam and hype from last tournament is already out the window because ordinary people cant play dota2 yet.

Such a waste :d

yap. can only hope valve comes to their senses and make it open beta or release the game soon

dont know how you are gonna feel about this but, i just recieved my betakey :I

It's not that hard, especially if you have a little money. I sold my two extras for ~$35/each in the TF2 market.

I got one (non-tradable, sorry) and I don't even really play/like it. It was pretty recent, so maybe they're sending out a new wave.

Maybe fun to play but it's so fucking dull to spec.

Nice read, have a plus.

I could never get into those kinds of games. All my fucking mates are playing it (most of them play HoN), and keep bugging me to play it. Fortunately, whenever i try, something bad happens to my pc, preventing me from doing so (like, installing ventrilo for comm while playing, windows crashes, have to reinstall. Getting around to starting a game, turns out my gfx card is bogus and hangs up the pc max. 5 minutes in to the game. Installing a different card, my system hdd derps out and locks itself in PIO mode, making the game load for literally 20 minutes each time. THESE FUCKING GAMES ARE CURSED I TELL YOU).

Seems like you need to find some different friends.

just got mine beta key today, looking forward to play :)

Anybody has an extra beta key here? Would appreciate it!

can someone explain to me how is it fun to play and where is the skill ?

MOBA games and MMOs are a mystery to me as well.. why are people so into them?

It's not an epiphany but progress. We all know how Starcraft started in S.Korea and that perhaps says it all.

The popularity of some games can be attributed to the fact that they just happened to be around at the right time. RPG and RTS games usually have much more depth than FPS games. That's probably because of leaderboards, rankings, factions, levels and the diversity in gameplay itself.

It's just my opinion though.

no man, i simply don't understand the gameplay and the fun behind it
especially the spectating value since the LoL streams have a billion viewers

It's actually a moot point because inevitably these kind of discussions end up becoming genre face-offs.

Personally, I always stuck to less challenging games like Dawn of War because the sheer skill required in SC2 was intimidating. Being an ardent fps player myself, I realized that my mental block about the RTS and MOBA genre had a lot to do with my opinion about their gameplay. IMHO, RTS/MOBA games even if not played competitively are mass-market compared to the fps games out there and that's their biggest appeal.

Put RTS players in a tactical QL CTF or TDM game and they'll have no clue either. They might love the pace of a game like Quake or totally lose it. What further adds both to the appeal as well as viewership is the fact that most of these games are team based and everyone wants to see how the mix works.

Another factor is how these games and their publishers/devs go about promoting the game. It was a smart move when HoN had a stream embedded for their tournament on the login page of each person that had an account. Many people signed up just to catch the live games with their friends. Result - 4 million viewers!

no, i totally understand the appeal of mechanics and the competitivity of RTS games. i watch StarCraft2 semi-regularly and even if i don't play it AT ALL i'm ejoying it a lot.

in MOBA games on the other hand, i don't understand where's the tension, the build-up, what's the general progression of the game? for me it's just clicky-clicky in super aglomerated screens with rainbow colours. guys with better stats and team composition win, hurrah. everything seems canned and rigid.

do you have an example of a really nice match that would open my eyes for the game (be it DOTA, HoN or LoL)?

For anyone still looking for a key, /r/sharedota is a nice place to look for free keys. They disappear very fast, as you can imagine.

If you have some money, DOTA 2 keys often trade in the steam market (/r/steamtrade), and they also sell pretty fast.

If you have any valuable TF2 items, it occasionally pops up on /r/tf2trade. The going trade for DOTA2 is about 1 buds (14 keys @ $2.50/ea) minimum, but it can certainly go higher.

I personally play HoN, but I have tried DotA 2.

Excellent game, but I prefer HoN. :| faster game, and all my friends are staying there.

Wonderful read OP.