Gameplay

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena game in a three-dimensional environment, presented from an oblique high-angle perspective. The player commands one of 109 controllable character "Heroes." Each Hero begins the match at level one and becomes more powerful by accumulating experience points through combat, thereby leveling up to the maximum level of twenty-five. With every level gained the player either selects a new ability for their Hero to learn or enhance their general statistics. Each Hero's method of combat is influenced by its primary property: Strength, Agility, or Intelligence.
Each match of Dota 2 takes place on a functionally symmetrical map that features the strongholds of two warring factions, the Radiant and the Dire. The Radiant is based at the southwest corner of the map, while the Dire is based at the northeast corner; the two sides are divided by a river that runs perpendicular to the central lane. These factions are defended by up to five players. In each stronghold is a critical structure called the "Ancient", a fountain that provide health and lesser structures. These bases are connected by three paths, referred to as "lanes"—two run alongside the edges of the map, while one runs directly between the two bases. The lanes are guarded by defensive Towers, as well as autonomous characters called "creeps", which periodically spawn in groups and travel along the lanes, attacking enemies they encounter.Featured across the map are hostile characters referred to as "neutrals", which are not aligned to either faction and are primarily located in the forests. Located in a tarn on the northeast side of the river is a "boss" called "Roshan", who typically requires multiple team members to kill and drops powerful items.
Dota 2 features items, which the player stores in an inventory. These items are acquired predominantly through purchase with gold, the in-game currency. Items vary in function: some enhance the statistics of a Hero, while others grant additional abilities. The player automatically receives small increments of gold continuously, though they can obtain more by destroying enemies. Killing non-player characters grants gold only to the player who lands the final blow, whereas killing enemy Heroes grants gold to the player's nearby allies as well. Destroying Towers or killing Roshan gives gold to all players on the team. "Denying" is a feature of the game where players inhibit the enemy's ability to accumulate gold and experience by killing an allied unit or destroying an allied structure before the enemy can do so.
Dota 2 features seasonal events, which provide players with the option of playing the game with special game modes that alter the aesthetics and objectives. With the seasonal event game modes, the central focus of the game shifts away from the standard battle composition, in order to focus on new objectives central to the seasonal events. So far, there have been three seasonal events: the Halloween-themed Diretide event, the Christmas-themed Frostivus event, and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrates the coming of spring

 

Design

Early on in development, the goal for Dota 2 was to translate the aesthetic aspects of DotA to the Source engine, while presenting expanded support for the game's framework.Dota 2 features the factions of the Radiant and the Dire in the stead of the Sentinel and the Scourge respectively, with the characters' respective alignment preserved, while also re-establishing their individual character traits in a stand-alone form. Character names, abilities, items, map design and other fine details remain predominantly unchanged, but the Source engine allows for continued, scaled development to bypass engine limitations of the Warcraft III World Editor. The Dota profile matchmaking feature scales a player's automated placement with their estimated skill level, which supports the competitive experience. Unranked practice matches can also be played with other human players, AI bots, or alone. In the debut questions and answers post at the Dota 2 blog, IceFrog stated that the game would serve as the long-term continuation of the intellectual property of the original mod, building upon the gameplay without making many significant core changes that could potentially alter the overall experience.According to Valve, the company contracted major contributors to DotA '​s popularity, in order to assist in developing Dota 2, including the mod's original creator known as "Eul", as well as loading screen artist Kendrick Lim of Imaginary Friends Studios. In addition, the composer of Warcraft III, Jason Hayes, was contracted by Valve to collaborate with Tim Larkin to develop Dota 2 '​s musical score. IceFrog stated that in order to further emphasize Dota 2's premise as a continuation of DotA, contributions would remain consistent from sources outside the main development team.




To accommodate Dota 2, Valve updated the Source engine to include new features, such as high-end cloth modeling and improved global lighting.Dota 2 utilizes Steam to provide social and community functionality for the game, while Steam users can save personal files and settings using the Steam Cloud. In the tradition of Valve's competitive-oriented games, Dota 2 also features multiple ways to spectate live matches. The game host has the option to fill open slots in matches with bots if enough human players are not available.In addition to Steam-based competitive matches, Valve introduced local area network (LAN) multiplayer connectivity to Dota 2 in September 2013. In November 2013, Valve introduced a coaching system, which allows experienced players to tutor newer players with special in-game tools.
Valve added support for tournaments in June 2012. Tournaments are available for spectating in-game via the purchase of tournament tickets in the "Dota Store", which provide an alternative to viewing live streams online. The tickets allow players to watch both live and completed matches; a portion of the ticket fees go to the tournament organizers. In addition, the game's software automatically recognizes groups of players that frequently play together as teams and catalogs them as such in matches.
As part of a plan to create a social network based around Dota 2, Gabe Newell announced in April 2012 that the game would be free-to-play, with player contributions to the community being a cornerstone feature.In June 2012, the Dota development team at Valve formally confirmed that the game would be free-to-play with no added cost for having the full roster of Heroes and item inventory readily available. Income for Dota 2 would, however, be maintained through the Dota Store, where players could purchase various exclusively cosmetic virtual goods, such as in-game items. Until the game's release, players were able to purchase an early access bundle, which included a digital copy of Dota 2, along with several in-game cosmetic items.The Dota Store includes both custom creations developed by Valve and a selection of user-created products from the Steam Workshop that have been approved by Valve. The market model was fashioned after Team Fortress 2, which had reimbursed designers of cosmetic items with $3.5 million of income by the time it had become free-to-play in June 2011.In January 2014, Gabe Newell revealed that the average Steam Workshop contributor to Dota 2 made approximately $15,000 from their creations in 2013.