Valve aquires Icefrog

A huge unseen announcement was made today regarding the popular Warcraft 3 mod Dota (Defense of the Ancients). According to his blog (http://www.playdota.com/forums/blogs/icefrog/264/great-news-dota-fans/), Icefrog will be leading his very own team at Valve. Not many details are given but hints at future projects that still involve Dota.

"My goal and top priority in the future is to solve the surrounding issues that affect the DotA experience in order to allow it to reach new heights. Addressing these issues will enable us to further enjoy aspects of DotA such as the gameplay, mechanics, and in-game feel that currently work well and ought to be maintained. As I've said many times in the past and especially after today's developments, I am very excited about DotA's future!"

Im excited to see what they do with the formula. Whether this means a brand new creation of heroes similar to Heroes of Newerth, or some kind of expanded mod out of WC3 remains to be seen. Valve is known for their strong mod support and digital downloads. Im hoping for a standalone digital release but I can dream. Here's to Icefrog!

Heroes of Newerth: Beta Impressions

I consider myself to be a hardcore Dota fan. When we have Dota gatherings in my garage every week, it may seem like we gather for cult followings quite often. My dedicated group of friends are quite picky when it comes to playing anything else actually. When I recently introduced them to Heroes of Newerth, their Dota foundation was shaken to its very core.

Heroes of Newerth is an updated remake of the popular Warcraft 3 mod, Dota. Currently being developed by S2 games, Heroes of Newerth is almost an exact take on the game. This was of course taken into account since the development team has received permission to actually do so from Icefrog, Dota's one-man development team. Since Demigod released, it seems the gates have been sprung open for many other developers looking to capitalize on the underground following. HoN seems to be taking the lead when it comes to the 1 to 1 iteration, but does it still innovate? My time with the beta so far has me thinking "yes".



Dota games are notorious for their leavers. It is a tiresome habit and it ruins most games because the game heavily depends on teamwork. The odds quickly shift with the loss of a teammate. There are times when players simply disconnect unintentionally for one reason or another but the team still suffers. Players have taken it upon themselves to use third party programs to ban these leavers and give them an exact date and time of said loss. HoN has built-in a great leaver protection system that allows players to reconnect and jump back into the game(even after a computer restart). I myself found this to be an issue when I accidentally unplugged my ethernet cable, and I reconnected with no problems. This kept me in the same game with my friends and I wasn't banned for being a leaver. For the people that do purposely disconnect there is an experience penalty and an average that keeps track of your leaver percentage. It is tacked onto your profile stats and helps to point out who is really there to stay, and who will quit after being "first blood".



HoN will have 60 heroes on launch day and thats far more than League of Legends' 30 and Demigod's 8. Most heroes are familiar such as the devourer which is very remeniscent of Pudge, but you will also play as cosmetically different heroes like the Poliwog Priest who plays exactly like Rhasta but looks extremely different. For the most part, the heroes will also have the same skills. I ran into the Tidehunter who is now called the Kraken and had his regular Dota skills with a different ultimate. The item creation also feels intact but I found myself a little lost since this was my first time going through all the shops. S2 games has helped to alleviate this by allowing you to click on an item and immediately see the items needed for the recipe, as opposed to looking through all the shops to find the correct items. This was a very noob-friendly transition as I knew what I was supposed to be doing but didn't know where the items were. The game's performance is spot on and overall I am content with the pacing of the game. The 30 to 40 minute games are still there.



HoN also offers many other unique features that Dota cannot due to its mod nature. Sever side hosting provides some very much needed lag-free gameplay. Lag has been a heavy issue as well since every attack, spell or click matters in the game. HoN also includes new maps so that the original Dota map isn't the only field that players can take part in. There is even an anti map-hacking system which will detect any third part programs that allows players to see the other teams through the fog of war. This was another big issue with games as it ruined the fairness for the other players. Throw in some familiar Dota features like denials, last hits, assists, different modes (Single Draft, Random Draft, All Random, Easy Modes), stat tracking, new auto-balance features and you have yourself a game worth staying for. The best part about all of it? The game is only 30 bucks with preorders giving you some added goodies.

What is Dota?

Defense of the Ancients is a custom scenario for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The objective of the scenario is to destroy the opponents' "Ancient". The two teams' ancients are heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called "creeps". As in RPG's, players level up their hero and use gold to buy equipment during the mission.

Defense of the Ancients pits two teams of players against each other: the Sentinel and the Scourge. Each base is defended by towers and waves of units which guard the main paths leading to their base. In the center of each base is the "Ancient", a building that must be destroyed to win the game.






Each human player controls one Hero, a powerful unit with unique abilities. In Allstars, players on each side choose one of ninety-one heroes, each with different abilities and tactical advantages over other heroes. The scenario is highly team-oriented; it is difficult for one player to carry the team to victory alone. Nevertheless, some heroes, given enough time, can change the outcome single-handedly, while countering the opposing team's heroes. Defense of the Ancients allows up to ten players in a five versus five format and an additional two slots for referees or observers, often with an equal number of players on each side.

Because the gameplay revolves around strengthening individual heroes, it does not require one to focus on resource management and base-building, as in most traditional RTS games. Killing computer-controlled units earns the player experience points; when enough experience is accumulated, the player gains a level. Leveling up improves the hero's toughness and the damage it can inflict, and allows players to upgrade their spells or skills. In addition to accumulating experience, players also manage a single resource: gold. The typical resource gathering of Warcraft III is replaced by a combat-oriented money system; in addition to a small periodic income, heroes earn gold by killing hostile units, base structures, and enemy heroes. Using gold, players buy items to strengthen their hero and gain abilities. Certain items can be combined with recipes to create more powerful items. Buying items that suit one's hero is an important tactical element of the scenario.

Allstars offers a variety of game modes, selected by the game host at the beginning of the match. The game modes dictate the difficulty of the scenario, as well as whether people can choose their hero or are assigned one randomly. Many game modes can be combined (for example, an easy difficulty level and a random hero pick), allowing more flexible options.





In June 2008, Michael Walbridge, writing for Gamasutra, stated that DotA "is likely the most popular and most-discussed free, non-supported game mod in the world". In pointing to the strong community built around the game, Walbridge stated that DotA shows it is much easier for a community game to be maintained by the community, and this is one of the maps' greatest strengths. Defense of the Ancients has been credited as one of the influences for the upcoming Gas Powered Games title Demigod, with the video game publication GameSpy noting the game's premise revolved around aspiring gods "[playing] DotA in real life".



Post edited courtesy of Wikipedia.