What Does Valve
Bring?
Valve's approach to Dota 2 is unusual in that the gameplay itself
is remaining almost entirely untouched. "Our first reaction is to
assume that [design elements are] there for a reason," project lead
Erik Johnson explains. "IceFrog is one of the smartest designers
we've ever met. He's made so many good decisions over the years in
building the product. He virtually never makes a decision that
doesn't have some reasoning behind it and a way to pick apart the
logic behind it." This approach means that Dota 2 basically is
DotA-Allstars with new technology.
...
A few things will make significant differences to players making
the transition. Dota 2 uses Valve's Source engine, so the game is
much prettier. Source itself is getting a few upgrades, including
improved global lighting and true cloth simulation. Dota 2's
integrated voice chat is a huge step up from having to set up your
own Ventrilo server, and the speed of voice communication is very
nearly a requirement for a game as team-focused as DotA.
AI bots will take over for disconnected players, and will be
available to play against in unranked training matches as well.
However, don't get your hopes up for a full-fledged single-player
game, though. Johnson says, "Our goal with the AI is just that
their experience isn't destroyed just because one person couldn't
finish the game."
...
Riding the Skill Curve
...
At intermediate and higher levels of play, having a poor player on
your team who dies frequently is worse than fighting with a man
down, as the opposite team gets gobs of gold for picking off the
newbie. This has fostered a legendarily newbie-hostile attitude
within large swaths of the DotA community. As fun and rewarding as
the game is when you're in a match of appropriate skill level – and
it can be one of the very best experiences in gaming, without
exaggeration – finding those matches has always been a nightmare.
It doesn't help that the game is so intense that Valve had to
institute a "no talking about the match for an hour afterwards"
rule for its internal playtests. The recent commercial titles that
more or less cloned DotA have ameliorated this to some extent, but
it is still often a huge problem.
Valve believes that the solution to the huge barrier to entry is
threefold. The first, obvious solution is to have excellent
skill-based matchmaking for both individuals and teams. Valve
believes that the work going into Steamworks for Dota 2's release
meets that requirement. Second, interactive guides will allow
players to do more than just read a guide for their favorite hero
that has been deemed helpful by the community at large. Valve plans
to allow guide-makers to tie their work back into the game by doing
things like highlighting suggested item purchases or displaying
useful information during a match.
Finally, a coaching system is being deeply integrated into the
game. By logging in as a coach, veteran players can do their part
to help out newer folks. Valve hasn't entirely decided on the
specifics of how newbies and coaches will be matched up, but once
they're together a few things happen. The coach sees the pupil's
screen, and gets private voice and chat channels to communicate
with them. The coach probably won't be able to take control of
anything directly (once again, the details are currently under
discussion), but information is power in Dota 2 and having a mentor
whispering in your ear can make all the difference in the
world.
Full article at:
http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/10/13/dota-2-announced-details.aspx
If you can't get the page loaded, here's a screenshot of the
article:
http://lx.sg/files/gidota2.png
Source: Game Informer