I’ve always been very, very intimidated by Defense of the Ancients. I never really caught wind of it until a few years ago, and by then if you were not in on it, you could never hope to catch up. Stories are legendary of the game’s community and, and… I’m afraid to play it, OK? So with some mild trepidation I went to play Blizzard DOTA today at Blizzcon, and really liked it. In fact as soon as I turn in this preview I’m going to go back to get in a few more matches.
Blizzard DOTA takes the same formula of picking a Tank, DPS, Support, or Siege unit type and face off in a 5 v 5 match across a single map that has a variety of routes to the enemy base. The goal is for your team to knock out the enemy towers (that fire on you) while defending your towers, all the while making your way to the enemy base to destroy it. You’ll have mercenaries you can rally to your cause as long as you capture their camps located on the map. Sounds simple in theory but is incredibly complex in execution, especially if your teammates don’t work together.
“Part of this is to make the game faster, more accessible,” explains Kaeo Milker, senior game producer on StarCraft 2. “We don’t want you to get in there for 60 to 90 minutes. That’s because in the traditional sense of the Dota-style games, they’re really tense, and there’s a lot of bickering. Even on your own team they’re yelling at you and it’s not a very pleasant experience.”
