Defense of the Ancients - DOTA - Pravin

 Defense of the Ancients, more commonly known as DOTA, is perhaps one of the most captivating and long lasting games to hit our shores. 

Dota is actually a custom map made for the game Warcraft III and is not an official map by Blizzard (the creators of Warcraft III). However, the map has established for itself an ever-growing cult following of gamers and I'm not surprised to say the least.

In a nutshell:

- The nature of the game is multi player and can be played across LAN and web.

- Two teams are present at the start of the game

- A maximum of 10 players are split across the 2 teams 

- Each team has it's own base where a heavily guarded 'Ancient' lies

- The bases are heavily guarded with towers (that inflict heavy damage on opponent forces)

- Each player controls a powerful unit known as a Hero

- Other units are controlled by AI and are known as creeps

- Creeps attack enemy forces by default and spawn at intervals from the base

- Gold is attained from slain enemies/creeps and can be used to buy items for the player

- The team that destroys the other team's ancient - wins

The Map

The map is divided into 3 lanes. Dota players affectionately refer to them as the top, center and bottom lanes. The two bases are located at the Southwest and Northeast corners of the map respectively.

The Southwest base is known as the Sentinels and they protect their ancient known as the Tree of Life. The Northeast base is known as the Scourge and they protect the Frozen Throne.

The Heroes

Unlike Campaigns in Warcraft where players must build unit producing structures, towers, etc, etc, in Dota, players only have to worry about controlling their Hero. An example of a Hero is found here below.

Heroes revive after they die. The time they take to do so depends on their level. Higher level heroes take longer times to revive.

In this example, the player controls the Lich King. Each Hero comes with 4 skills that a player can choose to 'pump up'. A player obtains the ability to do so when he levels up. A level 25 hero is the maximum that one can go in Dota. A level 25 Hero has all 4 skills pumped up to Level 4 each. 

In the case of the Lich king, the player can pump up the following skills:

- Frost Nova (Hero shoots out a frost blast which damages other heroes/creeps and slows them down for some time)

- Frost Shield (Gives extra armour to the player and slows down non-range enemies that attack it)

- Dark Ritual (Kills a friendly enemy and exchanges its life for Manna - which is needed to summon spells)

- Chain Frost (Sends out a frost nova which bounces off enemies dealing very high damage)


All skills have hotkeys assigned to it making gameplay much easier.

The fourth skill is also known as the Ultimate as it is the most powerful one.

Multi-player Aspect:

Team members must cooperate well with each other to kill enemies. Players typically choose to attack in swarms and coordinate their attacks to better increase their chances of bringing down an opponent or enemy structure. The game is extremely intense and lasts for roughly an hour each. The best teams often cooperate well with each other.

Also, it is key to note that not all Heroes are good for killing. Some heroes are also known as Pushers or Support Heroes.

Pushers:

An example of a pusher is shown below:

While not the best pusher, the Death Prophet has certain skills which make her an ideal Hero to bring down enemy structures.

The Ultimate skill for the Death Prophet unleashes up to 16 spirits which roam around dealing damage to buildings and enemy units. The spirits lasts for a limited time when summoned and cannot be destroyed unless the hero is killed. The Death Prophet also possesses a skill which unleashes a wave of damage at oncoming enemies. Very useful indeed in clearing out swarms of creeps.

Support Heroes:

Support heroes possess skills which make them ideal in helping out other heroes. They may possess skills that allow them to Heal other players, give them armour, silence them (prevents them from conjuring spells) and many more.

The Goblin Techies seen encircled above is an example of a support hero. This Hero can plant mines around the map which can also be remotely triggered. The hero can also blow himself up dealing immense damage to the opponent Heroes. Unfortunately, when you blow yourself up, you die too. Makes sense doesn't it.

Tanks:

Tanks are heroes that have high life and take lesser damage due to increased armour. They generally are controlled to go into battle first and serve as a 'forced distraction' to enemy heroes while other heroes attack the enemy heroes from behind.

Encircled above is the Treant Protector. This hero has high life, takes lesser damage, moves really slowly but serves relatively well as a tank at times. 

Items:

Players can buy different items to increase their stats and damage. 

- Items that add more intelligence gives the player more manna to conduct spells. This is good for heroes that are spell-based.

- Items that add more strength gives the player more life.

- Items that add more agility gives the player faster attack speed and evasion.

- Other items may give the Hero other special attacks/talents/damage.

Players typically buy for their Heroes items that correspond to their Hero's make. 

For example, the lich king is an intelligence based hero and thus would function best with intelligence giving items.

What keeps this game captivating:

If I said that Fun and joy were the only emotions that came up during gameplay, I'd be lying. One can expect high levels of competitiveness, frustration, anger, disappointment together with happiness and the feeling of accomplishment. This game basically evokes the entire chain of emotions to run in you. Except maybe love. I really don't know how that would fit in here and I really wouldn't want to sit anywhere near you if it did anything like that for you.

Initially, the game is frustrating as too many things may appear to overwhelm you. So my advice is - play with newbies first. One needs time to learn the game but it grows on you eventually. I've seen this game transform the quietest and most introvert people into screaming idiots. Perhaps, it's the mission based and cooperative aspect of the game that keeps things interesting. I've played this same map many times over and I'm not sick of it.

Perhaps the most fun part is the fact that all over the world, players head to LAN shops or link up over the internet to play together and against each other. After an intense game, it is not uncommon to find players discussing the game and tactics that were used. The combinations are endless and the tactics needed keep the game extremely engaging.

Verdict:

The game is an immediate success. Maps have been updated and new heroes have been added routinely by independent parties. The game is played at the World Cyber Games Expo and is regarded as one of the benchmark games of our time.

Do not forget, Warcraft III was released in in 2002. That's 8 years ago. The game however is still running strong and is played by hundreds of thousands of people everyday in different gaming centers all across the world. The graphics are still regarded as acceptable by many even up till today - 8 years later.

Truely, Dota is one of the most epic mods to have ever been made. I recommend everyone to give this game a go. Though it may be frustrating to pick it up initially, get the hang of it and you'll find yourself engaged in one of the most exciting game mods to have ever been made.

Rating: 9.5/10

Pravin Mahtani