How many of us when we are still a little, scrawny kid dreamed of playing video games to earn money? Admit it, you thought of it even just once in your lifetime. Sitting for hours just doing nothing but clicking the joystick or keyboard while screaming your lungs out while beating your friends or opponents, then collect your paycheck. It is like a daydream. But times have changed, people today can actually be millionaires, heck even is billionaires just by playing video games like DOTA 2 all day! Welcome now to reality, welcome to eSports!
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Rise to the top: the Dota 2 Story
Just like a fantasy, DotA 2 was born. It came and conquered odds and became one of the most exciting, popular, and profitable eSports of our era. DotA 2 or Defense of the Ancient 2, is created by Valve and is free-to-play, which means as long as you meet the system requirements, you can download and install the game and play it online with over a million players worldwide.
The game is a sequel to the game DotA(Defense of the Ancient) created by IceFrog for Blizzard Entertainment company who also created games like Diablo III and Overwatch. DotA 2 system requires a minimum of Windows 7, with a memory of 4GB RAM and 15GB free space as well as other requirements, which you can see at their site.
DotA 2: Gameplay, Heroes and Update/Patch
Defense of the Ancients 2 is a team-based online game and it played on matches between two teams with five (5) players each. Each team occupies and defends its own bases called the Dire and Radiant. The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy’s “Ancient” which is located in the upper-middle location of the team base. Each of the ten players can choose a hero from the hero pool, which has different and unique abilities that can help the team to execute their game plan. During a match, players can level-up and earn gold by killing “creeps/neutrals” and enemy heroes. The gold is used to buy in-game items that best fit their heroes and help them win the match.
DOTA 2 Heroes
In regards to heroes, DotA 2 currently features 117 heroes. Most of the heroes are based off on pre-existing heroes from the old DotA. Heroes are separated according to their main attributes, which are Strength, Agility, and Intelligence. Different heroes have their own different roles in the game. There are heroes like Anti-Mage, Lifestealer, Juggernaut, and Meepo that can carry a game when farmed and got its items.
They are like your sort of LeBron James, the game’s heavyweights. Then there are heroes like Strength heroes like Centaur War Runner, Doom Bringer, Dragon Knight, and Bristle Back which can be your frontline, the one who’s not afraid to take damage, as it is their job to take hits.
Take one for the team. Just like your Shaquille O’Neal. Big, strong, and bulky that can help you dominate the lane and the game. Then last but not least are your intelligence heroes, mostly your support. They are squishy and easy to target but can have burst damage and help sustain fights and turn the tides in your favor. They are also tasked with buying consumables like healing salve and smoke. And oh, do I also mentioned that they are usually the buyers of Observer and Sentry wards?
One of the most important items in DotA 2. This can help you see the map, get information, and plan your next move? You can also see invisible heroes that are planning to take you down. These unsung heroes like Lion, Dazzle, Crystal Maiden, and Disruptor are like your Derek Fisher and Steve Nash, willing to help you and do the dirty work for you to focus on getting strong and hopefully carry the game and win it for the team.
Do you smell the NBA analogy here?
Similar to basketball and other sports, teams must execute their strategy; utilize their individual skills and teamwork to win the game.
DotA 2 is updated from time to time to balance or add heroes, items, and change the metagame to make the game more exciting and unpredictable. The latest version 7.22 which was widely anticipated by the DotA community, is the current version and is patched which is now at 7.22h. There is also a dedicated DotA 2 wiki page called Liquipedia where you can see all the schedules, player movements, and standings. The community maintains the wiki page and it is the DotA 2 encyclopedia of the community.
DotA 2: The International 9 or TI9 lookback
Just this August, The International 9 or TI9 took place in Shanghai, China. It has a whopping prize pool of US $34,330,068. It is the largest prize pool in the history of eSports at that time, surpassing Fortnite. The prize pool is crowd-funded, and from sales of Battle Pass, 25% of revenue goes directly to the tournament prize pool. The top 12 teams from the pre-qualifying tournaments (Minor or Major Tournaments) are directly invited to TI9, and six (6) qualify by winning their respective regional qualifiers.
Teams gutted it out during the group stage up to the Main Event. The top four (4) teams from their group advanced to the Upper Bracket while the bottom 4 started their journey from the Lower Bracket. Tournament favorites like PSG.LGD and Team Secret battled it out against dark horses TNC. Predator and Evil Geniuses.
The lower bracket is no pushover either. Teams like fan-favorite Team Liquid and South American Team Infamous showed the world that they belong to the TI9 stage by winning their BO1 matches. Mineski and Royal Never Give Up(RNG) won their own BO1 matches.
TI9 - Full of excitement and entertainment
Of course, the drama is part of the TI9. No one saw it coming when Virtus. Pro, consistent top finishers of each Major and Minor got eliminated from Round 2. Mineski almost eliminated title favorites Team Secret before TS got into the driver’s seat and win the next two (2) games. All TI9 Main Stage games are full hype and storylines that will put any telenovela to shame. Add up the casters and commentators that gives color and voices to the game, it becomes necessary to watch and must-see games for all ages.
OG surprised everyone by winning all its games en route to the Grand Finals while Team Liquid grinded out from a miracle Lower Bracket run to set a BO5 with OG for the prestige of being TI9 champion.
After the dust settles, OG came up victorious with a 3-1 victory and came away with $15,620,181 while Team Liquid goes home with $4,462,909. Team OG wrote itself in the history books by not just winning two (2) TI’s Aegis but also consecutively. No other team OR player has won TI twice, let alone do it back to back. Not bad for just playing video games, huh.
So whenever you hear your parents telling you to do not play video games or you’ll get nothing by playing it, show them this article and the faces of the guys who made it to the top. Who knows, maybe one day you are the champion of TI10. The scrawny little kid to an immortalized champion.
FAQs
? What does DotA 2 stand for?
DotA 2 stands for Defense of the Ancients 2. A person known only as IceFrog created it for Valve Corporation. It is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA) which is a mod for Blizzard’s Warcraft III and Frozen Throne Expansion Pack. It is a free-to-play game, which offers micro-transactions to its community.
?? How many GB is DotA 2?
You need at least a minimum requirement of 15GB to successfully install DotA 2. It is also recommended to leave an additional 5GB for further updates, so you need at least 20GB in total. DotA 2 world is so huge and ever-changing that there is constant update or patch from time to time.
?? How does DotaA 2 make money?
DotA 2(or Valve as its developer and publisher) makes its money through micro-transactions. DotA 2 store or Steam Community Market Place sells purely cosmetic items, which is created by a large community of creators, aside from items released officially by Valve. Valve gets a cut of certain cut from those transactions.
As the community grows, Valve offered more bundle to its players like battle passes and subscription-based DotA Plus.
?? What is the latest version of DotA 2?
At the time of writing, DotA 2 is currently played at 7.22h which balanced several heroes and items. Its release date was last September 9, 2019. No further news for incoming patches or updates.
?? Who are the richest gamers for Dota 2?
Based on an e-sports earning site, the richest gamers for DotA 2 are the players from Team OG with collective earnings of almost $28 Million USD. Led by No.1 earner Johan Sundstein(IGN: N0Tail), OG won back to back The International 8 and The International 9 where their majority of earnings come. They also won several DotA Majors in the past which also earn them part of the prize pool.
?? Is DotA 1 still updated?
DotA 1 is no longer supported or updated by its original creators. However, it is still getting mods and updated by some freelancers, unofficially.
