The dying art that is DOTA 2

DOTA's The International 10 boasted of an insane crowdfunded purse, amounting to north of 40 million. With that, it became the highest prize in an esports tournament. Even Vladimir Putin congratulated the winners of The International 2021.

Although The International 10 is over, MOBA fans of DOTA 2 are yet to find their place off the global stage. It seems that there is nothing to do but go through the five stages of grief, all over again, while watching their beloved game slowly waste away.

The general lack of regular communication and updates has led the community to conjure up the figure of the Janitor. He is thought of as the sole employee that seems to be working on DOTA 2 and its maintenance.

This reached such popularity that it was acknowledged by Valve itself in a 2019 post. This dearth of content is a telling sign that the developers don’t seem to care or listen to the player base.

---

What is DOTA 2?

The OG song by Basshunter lives in a comfy corner of any hardcore fan of the game. Ignoring the ‘vent’, it was the ‘we’ in the line that has appealed to most of the players in the community. To sit together, or play together, as they try their hands out at a little DOTA.

‘We’re sitting here in the vent and playing a little DOTA.’

DOTA 2 is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients, which in itself was a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Valve hired the lead designer of the mod, IceFrog, to create a modernized remake of the game in their Source game engine.

The title came out to universal acclaim where some considered it to be one of the greatest video games of all time. The gameplay was lauded for its quality and faithfulness to its roots.

There are almost infinite possibilities, combinations, and tactics in playing the game. As BigDaddy N0tail, a two times TI champion with team OG, says:

‘Everything can work’,

---

The popularity of DOTA 2

DOTA 2 rapidly became the most played game by concurrent players on Steam until it was properly dethroned four years later by PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The popularity of the game drove Valve to produce marketable products such as apparel, accessories, and other products.

The game has had tie-ins with other video games and media including Portal, The Stanley Parable, Rick and Morty, Deus Ex, and Fallout 4 custom announcers packs.

The game has also been used in machine learning practices. OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence research company founded by Elon Musk, made a project titled OpenAI Five. It performs as a team of bots that can play DOTA 2 against human players.

The company stated that DOTA 2 has the perfect blend of unpredictability and complexity from which the bot can learn. The game also has a strong need for cohesion and teamwork.

Notable matches include playing and winning against Dendi, one of the most famous Esportsmen, at The International 2017 and later five versus five bouts.

---

The fading relevance of DOTA 2

The question then becomes, with such a cultural presence and legacy, why is it said that DOTA 2 is dying. The answer is in the fact that it feels stuck in a limbo from which the developers are unable or unwilling to wake up.

The game has often been criticized for its steep learning curve and inhospitable atmosphere to newer players. If anyone braves the learning complexity to stick with the game, the toxicity on display turns many of them away. The beginner’s guide section in the game hardly adjusts the players for what is to come.

The community itself has often been called vile and repulsive in its conduct. 2020 saw a number of major figures in DOTA-space being accused of misconduct, like GrandGrant and TobiWan. TI10 has also been followed by the talent roster talking about abuse from the community and gatekeeping against women.

Much like Valve’s other IP, script hacking, griefing and smurfing are constant banes to the well-being of the game. For the longest period of time, Valve has done next to nothing to fix this scenario.

Earlier this year, they introduced the Overwatch system - where members of the community can check videos of reported behavior and decide on whether or not they are guilty. The impact has not been as pronounced or long-lasting as one would hope.

Yet the biggest failure seems the general nonchalance in Valve to promote the game. This reddit post from seven years ago lists a number of issues that the user thinks DOTA 2 suffers from because of Valve’s indifference. Nearly a decade later, all of those still persist one way or another.

Whereas their direct competitor, Riot, peppers their audience with regular patches, updates, new content, and outreach that includes collaborations with global phenomenons like Imagine Dragons. Their recent show, Arcane, emphasizes how much they care to invest in the game and in its universe.

League of Legends was led by developers who had worked on DOTA 2. Riot pushes regular patches, fixes, and content. The first announcement for the game was simply stating that it does not have the issues that DOTA fans had been complaining about.

Years later, Riot has managed to make League of Legends one of the most-watched and popular games around. The student has truly become the master.

While the annual event of DOTA 2 is filled with glitz and glamor, the regional competitive scene barely receives monetary help from Valve. The common complaint from the community has been that since TI continues to break records and line its coffers, Valve does not seem to care about anything other than that.

A recent Reddit post showcased how Valve had given up on Team Fortress 2 even though it was massively played. The chances of something similar happening to DOTA 2 are increasing, fears the user. The post further states the stark difference between League of Legends and DOTA 2 in the developers’ handling.

“League has new player introduction infrastructure, employees to manually ban high report players, they ban streaming boosters, they test updates.”

DOTA has been lacking most of these. One of the most high-profile cases of account buying has surfaced in the last few days. Allegations have been leveled at the players of the organization Virtus.pro, specifically Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin and Danil “gpk” Skutin.

---

A sliver of hope

There has been some sliver of hope. A new feature called New Player Mode has been introduced to help guide potential newcomers to the game. Shops are streamlined and there are special objectives and rewards for new players to achieve.

This coincided with the launch of the Netflix animated series DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. TI10 also saw personalities like Lindsey Stirling and Darude performing a segment.

DOTA 2 was also replenished with their 122nd character, Marci, in October 2021. Fans of the show will instantly recognize her. Her lore ties her with another character in the game, Mirana.

Marci can be played both as a support or a carry role. The animation of one of her four unique abilities, Dispose, will remind one of Brock Lesnar delivering suplexes.

Recently it was announced that esports will make its debut in the 2022 edition of the Asian Games. Among other titles like League of Legends, FIFA, and PUBG mobile, DOTA also features in the list. This provides a good opportunity for the game to enlarge its player base through proper advertisement and hype.

Only time will tell if Valve will get their act together in rekindling the flames of this game. TI, this year, has shown the excitement and fervor of new blood coming onto the scene. It is up to the gods of DOTA to capitalize on that. Otherwise, it won’t be long before the game dies, either with a bang of the Ancients or just a whimper.