DOTA 2 Beta Impressions: Bigger, Badder, More Complex

Valve is shaping something big here. They’ve taken what a few fans did with a Mod for a Blizzard game and have expanded on the idea.

And so far…it’s for the better.

From my experience so far, Defense Of The Ancients 2 is a much deeper, and more competitive game from the original mod. The overall gameplay has been left the same. You have your standard classes for heroes: Carry, Support and Ganker. But there many more characters to play with this time around.

78 are playable in the beta right now, but the final number is supposed to be 108.

Veteran players should be very pleased at the new strategies each character brings to the table. I usually play a carry role. And my favorite character so far is Dragon Night. A melee warrior who, once he levels up, can turn into a dragon capable of dealing massive damage to both attacking units and buildings.

DOTA 2 is a game where mere milliseconds matter. And this goes for everything. From using your powers, to timing your attacks. And each character is different. Some characters attack very fast while others attack more slowly.

This matters when engaging enemy creeps as you want to make sure you get the “last hit.” Meaning you want to score the finishing blow on an enemy creep to gain the gold and experience. Or, score the last hit on one of your own units to keep the enemy from getting that gold and experience.

The shop also comes into play with many more items to customize your hero than were available in the original mod.

Players have to be smart with their purchase to make their character as optimized for combat as they can throughout the game.

There’s something for everyone’s style of attack. Whether you prefer ranged or melee.

Valve is also making it easier for newcomers. There are some characters, such as “Lich,” who are perfect to learn with.

Valve has added another feature I wish more games would adopt. They’ve added the ability to watch other games live right from the game’s main menu!

Now I know other competitive games are broadcast over the internet. But you usually have to go to a website of some sort to watch them. This saves time, and the browsing feature can help you find a game with the characters in play that you want to see in action.

This is great because, if you’re not sure of how to play a character, you can search for a live game with someone using them.

This will give you an idea of how that character is used next time you play.

Now, keep in mind, the game is still in beta. So a lot of things could still change between now and the games actual release.

For example, you have the ability to play against bots to practice with. But even on the lowest of difficulty settings, I’ve found that some of the enemies are annoying and near perfect in combat situations. Some seem to almost always know the perfect time to strike. But hopefully this will get smoothed out before the games release.

The game plays very well overall. Which is good considering they’ve been holding national championship games since the beta’s release. Still no release date for the full game at this time. But we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as it’s announced. And when the game finally does come out, we’ll be here with a full review.