MOBA Monday: Dota 2 Reborn .

Life is clearly cyclical. Twelve years ago IceFrog thought it would be a fun idea to build a Warcraft 3 mod where players would push down lanes and fight each other under towers. That custom mod became one of the most popular Warcraft 3 maps ever created. There have been many standalone, copycat versions of the game produced (Demigod, Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends to name a few) and its successor, Dota 2, eventually entered the fray 10 years after the original. Now Valve is reverse engineering Dota 2 by implementing a “Reborn” version where players can build their own custom game modes. Dota 2 Reborn is now promoting the same environment where the original game was born.

THE POSSIBILITIES

There aren’t very many games in the MOBA genre where players are allowed to construct their own maps. Most allow “custom” games, which generally consist of manipulating the rules already in place. Sometimes this creates cult game modes, such as League of Legends’ Howling Abyss, but normally it’s used strictly for practicing specific mechanics, scrimming, or simply messing around. Valve is finally handing over the toolkit for Dota 2 to allow players to build literally anything they want. This could bring back the days of Pudge Wars, Warlocks, Tower Defense, Footman frenzy, or even a completely brand-new game experience.

Wouldn’t that be ironic? If the development tools for a standalone game, based off a popular mod, bred a revolutionary game experience that surpassed even Dota 2. It’ll be interesting to see how the community runs with this, and while it’s honestly not that likely that something more popular than Dota 2 will be born, there will probably be a few very fun game modes. Valve isn’t simply leaving the wolves to fend for themselves, either. It’s already releasing “Valve-Authored” custom games including Overthrow, which is pretty much just Dota 2 death-match style. They’ve promised new Valve original maps every few weeks, and it’ll be interesting to see how much the sponsored and community maps differ from one another.

LESS TOXICITY

Let’s face it, MOBAs are probably the most toxic places on Earth now that most of the nasty subreddits have been shut down. It honestly doesn’t matter which one you’re playing either; it could be Dota 2, League of Legends, or Heroes of the Storm, but where’s there’s competition, and money to be made, there are going to be very vulgar people. I admit to vomiting out obscenities every now and again after someone on my team “throws” or simply does the opposite of what I think is the best play at a given time. There are people that take that a step further, and completely refuse to play or purposely let the enemy team win when they don’t get their way. Something about the combination of a free-to-play game, an audience ranging from 10 to 40 years old, and assumed, structured gameplay.

A large majority of people play MOBAs to be competitive. That’s why any MOBA without a ranked system has and will essentially fail. Furthermore, there’s a sense of structure that generally consists of a certain lane and team compositions. When players deviate from these norms terrible things can happen, but sometimes off-the-wall combinations actually work under certain circumstances. However, many competitive players will berate fellow teammates with insults if they don’t pick according to how they see fit. This can often times bleed over into casual mode and even bot games when competitive players are warming up or practicing new champions.

This is the game changing factor of allowing custom maps. Toxicity will drop, casual players will find a new home, and the overall player base will probably increase. Back in the days of DOTA, after a bad string of games, there were hundreds of other maps I could take my aggression out on. Did I care if I lost Hero Defense or Diplomacy? Maybe for a few seconds, but not really. I would just find another game to hop into and start fresh because there was no ranking system and no one was truly judging my abilities. If they had a huge enough problem the worst that would happen is they’d leave the game and go play something else. Now if I lose 5 ranked games of Heroes of the Storm in a row I honestly have to find somewhere quiet to sit, or just leave the house altogether. These new game modes are going to give casual players a more supportive environment and give competitive players a chance to chill after a stressful game.

COMPLETE OVERHAUL

When the Dota 2 beta was first introduced I wasn’t a fan. The UI was ugly, the animations were clunky and it was difficult to simply navigate around the game. It has seen some improvements over the past couple of years, but the Source 2 engine is leaps and bounds above the original. The visual adjustments aren’t dramatic, but the images are sharper, textures are better, and the shadows are slightly improved. It’s likely that many players won’t see a difference in the beginning, but a side-by-side comparison shows a noticeable change.

The completely revamped UI is much more obvious and a move in the right direction. The dashboard is much cleaner and easier to navigate. The “Play Dota” option is available on every screen and there are tons of statistics to dive into. One of the more interesting additions is the ability to view your friends’ playstyles. This includes a specific hero MMR, calculated by wins, win percentage, KDA, GPM and XPPM. Additionally, there’s even a graph that breaks down strengths and weaknesses including: versatility, fighting, pushing, farming and supporting. This will give players a more in-depth view of how they play, and many people will probably be surprised at what they find. Chat rooms have been completely redesigned to allow much larger, custom conversations. Finally, the hero pool has undergone a much-needed improvement and includes easier sorting options, customization and an area where heroes can be tested out.

Dota 2 Reborn is just getting started and where it ends up could be a completely different world than what players are used to. Although it’s important to remember the roots of game and not tamper with the core mechanics too much, change can be a very good thing. There are probably a few purists out there hating Dota 2 Reborn, but with it begins an entirely new experience and there’s much more to come. Hopefully the next two years of Dota 2 will be just as exciting as the last two.