Valve announces prize pool for showcase Dota 2 tournament. (1 million dollars for first place)

[Timmehexas]

So as the title said, Valve announces its 1 million dollar first place prize pool for its first Dota 2 tournament (before the game is even released) I've never actually seen a prize pool for an e-sport this high before. Do you think this will have a huge impact on the competitiveness of the game?

And as I watch a few high level streams for Heroes of Newerth I've already seen quite a few high level competitive players claiming to already want to move over to Dota 2, if any of the tournaments after this one follow its example in terms of prize it will definitely pull in a lot of players who want to attempt to break into the competitive level of the game.

I'm also incredibly tired as I post this so ignore all the bad grammar and anything that doesn't make sense above

 

[Tesral]

Spoiler

Couldn't resist it.

 

[Gralian]

First off, i'm constantly irked whenever i see the title 'DOTA 2'. I thought DOTA was a Warcraft 3 mod made by the community. I wasn't aware Valve owned that mod, and if they don't, it kind of smacks of copyright infringement(?) if they're producing a sequel to IP that doesn't belong to them. Maybe someone can clear all that up for me.

Right, so big cash prizes and competitive play. No, i don't think it's going to pull in a lot of new players and stimulate the competitive scene. Why? Because aside from 'Rommel Syndrome' (the fear that your opponent is essentially untouchable), there's just worlds apart in difference from a hardcore competitive player and average joe. Take Starcraft for example. You might be hovering around in the diamond leagues thinking you're hot stuff, but then you watch serious competitive play from someone like HuK and you realise you'd be liquidised if you were ever in a match against someone like him. So, it might bring the odd one or two fresh blood, but it won't ever bring in a big haul. Might get some more spectators though.

 

[Timmehexas]

First off, i'm constantly irked whenever i see the title 'DOTA 2'. I thought DOTA was a Warcraft 3 mod made by the community. I wasn't aware Valve owned that mod, and if they don't, it kind of smacks of copyright infringement(?) if they're producing a sequel to IP that doesn't belong to them. Maybe someone can clear all that up for me.

Right, so big cash prizes and competitive play. No, i don't think it's going to pull in a lot of new players and stimulate the competitive scene. Why? Because aside from 'Rommel Syndrome' (the fear that your opponent is essentially untouchable), there's just worlds apart in difference from a hardcore competitive player and average joe. Take Starcraft for example. You might be hovering around in the diamond leagues thinking you're hot stuff, but then you watch serious competitive play from someone like HuK and you realise you'd be liquidised if you were ever in a match against someone like him. So, it might bring the odd one or two fresh blood, but it won't ever bring in a big haul. Might get some more spectators though.

One of the creators of the mod is basically heading up the design of Dota 2, and yes they do own the rights to it. So unfortunately that's what the game is called so not much I can do about it irking you

True it is a big leap from good play to competitive play, but it will certainly draw in the competitive players from other moba games which I think would be the main intention.

 

[Torrasque]

First off, i'm constantly irked whenever i see the title 'DOTA 2'. I thought DOTA was a Warcraft 3 mod made by the community. I wasn't aware Valve owned that mod, and if they don't, it kind of smacks of copyright infringement(?) if they're producing a sequel to IP that doesn't belong to them. Maybe someone can clear all that up for me.

Right, so big cash prizes and competitive play. No, i don't think it's going to pull in a lot of new players and stimulate the competitive scene. Why? Because aside from 'Rommel Syndrome' (the fear that your opponent is essentially untouchable), there's just worlds apart in difference from a hardcore competitive player and average joe. Take Starcraft for example. You might be hovering around in the diamond leagues thinking you're hot stuff, but then you watch serious competitive play from someone like HuK and you realise you'd be liquidised if you were ever in a match against someone like him. So, it might bring the odd one or two fresh blood, but it won't ever bring in a big haul. Might get some more spectators though.

One of the creators of the mod is basically heading up the design of Dota 2, and yes they do own the rights to it. So unfortunately that's what the game is called so not much I can do about it irking you

True it is a big leap from good play to competitive play, but it will certainly draw in the competitive players from other moba games which I think would be the main intention.

The guy who pretty much made Dota got hired/bought by Valve, and they are making a Dota 2 because they can, and because it'll make alot of money.

Dunno if it'll draw many more competitive players, but the level of skill that people play at, will probably be much higher.
Or you'll see a shitload of bad players who just want any kind of chance at that pot.

 

[deth2munkies]

It's actually a much funnier story than has been told so far, I'm gonna spoiler it because it's a bit "wall-o-text"-y, but here it is:

Spoiler

IIRC (it's been a while) DotA started in WCIII:RoC (pre-expansion) and continued with EX, both from lead developer Eul. Once TFT came out, Eul made DX (I may have switched EX and DX around but whatever), and tons of spin offs shortly followed. You have DotA Darkness Falls, DX, and several other less popular ones competing for players, that is, until Guinsoo showed up.

Guinsoo made a new DotA map called DotA Allstars that combined the best heroes from the original and all the spinoffs with better shop mechanics and some of the more recognized items today. Pendragon became the community leader and started dota-allstars.com. Icefrog (the guy people have been talking about above) took over development of DotA Allstars 2 years later and began adding more heroes and refining the balance significantly. It was after he took over that the community started snowballing (he inherited it, there were no huge changes right when he took over that made it more popular) and it became the huge "e-sport" it is now.

After a while, other companies started showing interest in the DotA brand. Icefrog started by working for S2 games developing what would eventually be HoN without telling anyone and while still technically the lead dev for DotA Allstars. Pendragon, on the other hand, went with Guinsoo to Riot to start up with League of Legends. Icefrog then up and quit developing new versions of DotA Allstars out of the blue. After HoN was well under way in the beta, he began shopping himself out to Riot (to help finish LoL) and to Valve. Riot didn't want anything to do with him because he and Pendragon already had a falling out (read Pendragon's letter on the current dota-allstars.com for details), so he ended up working for Valve AND S2 for a short period of time before he quit S2 to join Valve.

Ever since, there have been horror stories coming out of Valve about how much a controlling asshole he is.

So don't buy DotA 2 because Icefrog is developing it. He largely rode the wave of his predecessors and is a sellout douchebag. I'm not gonna say he's completely worthless, he does know how to run the game, but he's not a reason why you'd ever want to buy it.

The only reason that I'd buy it at this point is because it's a Valve product, and I haven't really been disappointed by those yet.

 

[Twilight.falls]

It's actually a much funnier story than has been told so far, I'm gonna spoiler it because it's a bit "wall-o-text"-y, but here it is:

Spoiler

IIRC (it's been a while) DotA started in WCIII:RoC (pre-expansion) and continued with EX, both from lead developer Eul. Once TFT came out, Eul made DX (I may have switched EX and DX around but whatever), and tons of spin offs shortly followed. You have DotA Darkness Falls, DX, and several other less popular ones competing for players, that is, until Guinsoo showed up.

Guinsoo made a new DotA map called DotA Allstars that combined the best heroes from the original and all the spinoffs with better shop mechanics and some of the more recognized items today. Pendragon became the community leader and started dota-allstars.com. Icefrog (the guy people have been talking about above) took over development of DotA Allstars 2 years later and began adding more heroes and refining the balance significantly. It was after he took over that the community started snowballing (he inherited it, there were no huge changes right when he took over that made it more popular) and it became the huge "e-sport" it is now.

After a while, other companies started showing interest in the DotA brand. Icefrog started by working for S2 games developing what would eventually be HoN without telling anyone and while still technically the lead dev for DotA Allstars. Pendragon, on the other hand, went with Guinsoo to Riot to start up with League of Legends. Icefrog then up and quit developing new versions of DotA Allstars out of the blue. After HoN was well under way in the beta, he began shopping himself out to Riot (to help finish LoL) and to Valve. Riot didn't want anything to do with him because he and Pendragon already had a falling out (read Pendragon's letter on the current dota-allstars.com for details), so he ended up working for Valve AND S2 for a short period of time before he quit S2 to join Valve.

Ever since, there have been horror stories coming out of Valve about how much a controlling asshole he is.

So don't buy DotA 2 because Icefrog is developing it. He largely rode the wave of his predecessors and is a sellout douchebag. I'm not gonna say he's completely worthless, he does know how to run the game, but he's not a reason why you'd ever want to buy it.

The only reason that I'd buy it at this point is because it's a Valve product, and I haven't really been disappointed by those yet.

Really, he's not so much a sellout as he is a business mastermind.

Help out two different companies to build up their own games, then quit and work with one of gaming's juggernauts (no pun intended) to create a game that will dominate the MOBA genre as much as it's predecessor did, possibly sucking a lot of customers away from LoL and HoN.

Plus, as the first public reveal of the game, he stages a large-scale tournament at a relatively important gaming convention, awarding the largest amount of money that any gaming tournament has given away.

I wouldn't know for sure, as I'm still in high school, but it sounds like a very solid business plan to me.

 

[Jdb]

Heh. Looks like we finally know where the budget for Episode 3 is going.

 

[Twilight.falls]

Heh. Looks like we finally know where the budget for Episode 3 is going.

Exactly, towards Episode 3!

 

[Cymen]

It's actually a much funnier story than has been told so far, I'm gonna spoiler it because it's a bit "wall-o-text"-y, but here it is:

Spoiler

IIRC (it's been a while) DotA started in WCIII:RoC (pre-expansion) and continued with EX, both from lead developer Eul. Once TFT came out, Eul made DX (I may have switched EX and DX around but whatever), and tons of spin offs shortly followed. You have DotA Darkness Falls, DX, and several other less popular ones competing for players, that is, until Guinsoo showed up.

Guinsoo made a new DotA map called DotA Allstars that combined the best heroes from the original and all the spinoffs with better shop mechanics and some of the more recognized items today. Pendragon became the community leader and started dota-allstars.com. Icefrog (the guy people have been talking about above) took over development of DotA Allstars 2 years later and began adding more heroes and refining the balance significantly. It was after he took over that the community started snowballing (he inherited it, there were no huge changes right when he took over that made it more popular) and it became the huge "e-sport" it is now.

After a while, other companies started showing interest in the DotA brand. Icefrog started by working for S2 games developing what would eventually be HoN without telling anyone and while still technically the lead dev for DotA Allstars. Pendragon, on the other hand, went with Guinsoo to Riot to start up with League of Legends. Icefrog then up and quit developing new versions of DotA Allstars out of the blue. After HoN was well under way in the beta, he began shopping himself out to Riot (to help finish LoL) and to Valve. Riot didn't want anything to do with him because he and Pendragon already had a falling out (read Pendragon's letter on the current dota-allstars.com for details), so he ended up working for Valve AND S2 for a short period of time before he quit S2 to join Valve.

Ever since, there have been horror stories coming out of Valve about how much a controlling asshole he is.

So don't buy DotA 2 because Icefrog is developing it. He largely rode the wave of his predecessors and is a sellout douchebag. I'm not gonna say he's completely worthless, he does know how to run the game, but he's not a reason why you'd ever want to buy it.

The only reason that I'd buy it at this point is because it's a Valve product, and I haven't really been disappointed by those yet.

Very little of that is actually true as VALVe confirmed when that fake IceFrogTruth-blog went up. Pendragon just wanted to generate bad press ever since HE sold out to Riot and left the DotA-community with "try LoL".

 

[WolfLordAndy]

I much prefer LoL over both DoTA and HoN, its helped simplify and streamline a game to make it easier for newbs to learn, while still keeping alot of the high end play (as shown in the last dreamhack!)

If what I've heard about DoTA2 is true, that its literally going to be an updated version of the original, then I'll probably give it a miss as I just found the item system overly fiddly and the maps a little too ill-defined. I may give it a go if they go the free to play route (which I'd bet they probably will seeing the success of LoL over HoN), and that will no doubt crush HoN's last figures.

But it will be interesting to see how DoTA 2 and LoL fight for players, I imagine LoL's F2P model has brought alot of people into the genre that had never played or heard of DoTA before.

Arg, so many acronyms >.<