Defence Of The Ancients(DOTA)

After the Computer Games seminar, personally I was expecting this to be the very first post up in our blog. Perhaps everyone else was thinking the same and thus we overlooked this insanely famous game? :D

Nonetheless I shall provide some background info on this game and hopefully let the non-DOTA players understand the charm of it.

First up, some background!

Despite many of us always using words like, "Lets play DOTA"," DOTA Time!", there is actually no physical game out there in the market called Defence Of The Ancient/DOTA.

In fact, DOTA is a custom map that is developed off it's base game engine, Warcraft III- The Frozen Throne.

There are many different types of DOTA out there, for example Dota-Darkness, DOTA, Dota-Ultimate.

But mainly i'll cover on Dota-Allstars, which has been brought popular over the recent few years and is a popular favorite in WCG now.

Concept:

The basic idea behind DOTA is that everyone is in control of one hero. Max number of players in a full game is 10. Both teams start off at their respective bases where there are shops and "Fountain", where essentially they get free healing and mana regeneration.

The two sides are divided into Sentinel and Scourge.

The map is mirrored on each side with some slight differences in between. There are 3 major lanes and "creeps", essentially infantry soldiers of your side, are evenly generated on both side over time to walk down these lanes. Money, or Gold in this game, is generated from killing either heroes/creeps. A basic amount is also generated over time but it is significantly low.

The 3 lanes are marked out from a sky view.

Heroes

Till date, there are over 50 different heroes and with each new patch, some attributes of them is constantly being modified in order to balance out the potential strength of each of them.

Below is just a small sample of the heroes available.

Each of the individual heroes have unique skills and ability which makes the game ever-interesting.

There are also different camps of Neutral creeps scattered all over the map, which provides an additional source of income for the players.

But just like in Lord of the Ring where one ring rules it all, there is one neutral creep that rules it all in DOTA.

ROSHAN

Usually a well mannered giant who stays in his own sweet corner and ignore the rest of the game, Roshan can become extremely fierce for those who stumble into his lair.

Rewards for taking down the impossible is extremely rewarding.

1) there is a gold bonus for ALL your teammates(Yes ALL. This includes the slackers who was at home base watching u take it down all by yourself)

2) Roshan drops this item called Agies of the Immortal, which grants u divine protection to prevent one death.

But Roshan is never gone for long..

After he is taken down, he will revive in 15mins time, but this time even stronger and tougher than before. Same benefits follows his defeat, except this time he drops and additional piece of incentive, THE Cheese.

This amazing piece of cheese instantly replenishes 2500HP and 2500Mana upon use, which are big numbers in DOTA.

The game ends when either the World Tree(the final building for Sentinel) or the Frozen Throne( the final building for Scourge) is taken down.

The World Tree The Frozen Throne

Of course the game is much more complicated than this but thats precisely where it is fun. Hopefully for the non-players, through this post u have gained some basic knowledge and ignite the fire within you to Defend your ancient!