DOTA 2 will be free to play
After conducting the Torchlight vs Diablo discussion for a bit and after reading this, I have to say that Valve, despite being insanely tardy and negligent on the side of their Half-Life property, still know how to release a game.
In summary, it goes like this: “Here is a game, it is of one of the most popular yet least populated (by major releases) genres today. This game is completely free to play. As soon as it launches, you can just go play it. There is an in-game store where you can pay real money for stuff that will make you cooler than others. But if you don’t want to spend money, you don’t have to. The items for sale are just cosmetic, they don’t affect the core gameplay. And you have a creation tool in there where you can extend the game by yourself. We will make your extension official and you will get paid for it if it is good enough.”
And they also have a matchmaking multiplayer system, an AI mechanic in case your opponent accidentally disconnects, and tutorial line ups where masters can teach the newbies. I think the only thing missing from this release is a big fluffy bunny you can put on your lap and pet for the enhanced experience.
Posted in Gaming, Less Interesting News, Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with 3 comments.
It sounds like they learned from other’s mistakes what not to do. I do not wish to play MMOs anymore (4 year WoW is enough for a lifetime), still, I approve of the way they avoided the most horrendous fun killing element of “pay to win” in a free game.
At the moment there’s 2 DOTA games that have this system:
League of Legends
Heroes of northend
Both are free to play, both have an online store where you can buy stuff but that doesn’t affect the core mechanic (you can get champions quicker, or vanity skins), and both are DOTA style games.
I’m playing League of Legends for a month or two – and I haven’t paid a cent.
I love valve, but there’s nothing special with this deceleration.
There might be nothing special from the DOTA point of view because that’s how people expect to play this game.
But looking at other cross sections of the gaming industry (Diablo, Origin, GfWL as well as GOG and Gamer’s Gate), hearing something like this is still very welcome.