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DOTA2: Will DotA 2 Be the Next BIG F2P?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In The Free Zone, MMORPG.com's Richard Aihoshi wonders whether or not DotA 2 will enter the ranks of the free to play. It's an intriguing question and one that Richard discusses from all angles. Check it out and then leave us your opinion in the comments.
Here in North America, it seems as if the popularity of MOBAs hasn't kept pace. Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod that debuted in 2003, gave rise to a number of variants. The main one, originally called DotA Allstars and now usually referred to as just DotA, still has a fairly sizable and quite fervent following. Another title you may know of is League of Legends, which I've mentioned in a couple of previous columns. Released in 2009, it was enough to give its developer, Riot Games, a valuation of around $475 million when it was acquired several months ago by Chinese publisher Tencent. For me, this figure doesn't come anywhere close to correlating with the game's visibility in this part of the world, suggesting that it was based on a perspective with considerably more of an international weighting.
Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: Will DotA 2 Be the Next BIG F2P?
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Comments
I just dont see how a moba can work well long term business wise and not be F2P. If Dota2 is F2P its pretty much going to kill HoN and come down to LoL and Dota2
I think they will both have tough competition from Super Monday Night Combat. Third person shooter version of DotA, yeah sign me up. Just my opinion though.
Steam: Neph
Monday Night Combat in and of itself is/(was - I haven't played lately since friends moved on to different games) a blast.
Uber should do great things with Super MNC.
League of Legends is the game to beat right now. If you are in that genre and NOT free to play, you don't have a chance. Dota 2 will be the final nail in the coffin for HoN most likely.
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Assuming that Dota2 would end up F2P, which makes sense, then I see it and LoL duking it out. They both have followings and imo it will come down to how innovates more inside the genre's specturm.
I'm financially invested in League of Legends, but if DotA2 has a better pricing deal, I'm all over it. If I can buy the game and have access to all champions (and skins), gg! If the pricing structure is similar to LoL, I see no reason for me to jump ship.
so...
Well in all honesty DOTA/HON/DOTA2 are different types of MOBA's than LoL. LoL caters more towards the casual crowd while DOTA/HON/DOTA2 are more towards the competitive hardcore scene.
While the game play is very similar the mechanics are very different. I see LoL and Dota2 being top picks for 2012 both of them doing very well and not really impacting the other as the demographics they are appealing to are drastically different.
Here's a nice interview article with Valve's Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson. Quite a few of the questions pertain to DOTA 2.
yeah Dota 2 will go f2p. For Dota-type games f2p is good model , not like in mmorpg's where it is horrid
SMNC is definitely F2P and is copying LoL left and right. Free champs in rotation with further one's available for purchase. Leveling up within rounds and long term progression, 6 classes (sniper, support, assassin, gunner, tank, and assault), changing turrets to be more DotA in fashion, alt skins available for purchase, etc. You're looking at basically TPS LoL. Considering the absolute amazingness that was MNC (IMO). SMNC just might be a contender in the DotA space.
Oh yeah and the plan is to launch Winter 2011/2012. So Friends and Family Alpha starts in no time if it hasn't already and the game will be out by March of next year at the latest.
Steam: Neph
i do not think that Dota 2 will be a succes or so because. league of legends is here and, Leauge of legends is far more adv and better gameplay then dota 2.
and also Dota 2 looks way to much alike Lol so i think it will be a big fail.
also league of legends i F2P and have no cost at all.
and also they give RP if the server had many problems or so.
and Lol is really 100% free you dont have to buy RP to get new Champs you can just fight other people and earn your IP in that way to get more champion.
Frankly all Dota2 has to do is keep its servers stable after patches and it'll put LoL in the dirt. I've been playing LoL since just about day 1 and you can ask anyone that has played that long and is at least halfway honest that Riot has some of the most craptastic servers to ever epic fail in any online game. Riot can hardly go a week without breaking something in their own client. Hell, there are bugs and glitches that have been known forever that I doubt Riot will ever fix, they're too busy pumping out champs to grab as much cash as they can to do some real work. Anyone recall the magma chamber and project: shiny they hyped so much in PC Gamer? Yea, looks like they had better things to do like give us players champs like Yorick. Yea, epic fail there Riot, gg.
As for the playerbase, I doubt the playerbase in Dota 2 will be any better than the hordes of trolls and 12 year old punks that Riot lets run rampant but if Dota 2 can at the very least keep some form of control over their playerbase and at the very least try to keep them civil you can kiss LoL goodbye. The only thing keeping Riot alive at the moment is the fact that a real game developer that actually gives a damn about their customers hasnt shown up with their own MOBA that knows how to run a online game. The day that happens expect a mass exodus from LoL.
I wasn't interested in the first one...number 2 looks just as lame.
I'd disagree.
The reason LoL will be fine is that those who haven't played the original 'Dota' found 'DOTA' type games through LoL.
LoL has the largest concentration of new-DOTA players.
It is a bit like WoW. Everyone and their dog's first MMO is WoW. It is just how it is.
I doubt people will suddenly move to DOTA because they have LoL.
Despite all the new things other non-WoW MMOs brought to the market, people just didn't 'mass exodus' from WoW.
I think DOTA2 will do well and I can definitely see a large portion of the WAR3-DOTA community moving across. LoL though? Not really.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
why not ask a different (retorical) question , instead?.... does valve make f2p games?
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pointless article... realy
... my ... and ALOT of other players ... first MMO was NOT WoW. MMO's have existed for a LONG time prior to WoW.
Except for the fact that blizzards games arent broken from day one and stay that way for years on end. Oh and I also dont recall blizz breaking their own client with EVERY SINGLE week either. How about the fact that blizz actually makes its players abide by their rules of conduct? Gee, maybe thats just a few of the reasons why players have stayed with WoW? Blizzards knows what it is doing maybe?
You guys ever played dota? I think theres no way a f2p model can be implemented. Its just not right thing to do. Unless they calculate some massive income from that model the game will be a 'Buy to play' like it should, for a lowered price perhaps. But Valve said it will have different price models so who knows really.
As for will it kill LoL? Maybe some will make a switch but no, its a different game. HoN on the other hand is done for.
"To be a rock and not to roll..."
Richard you really need to preface your acronym with the actual name as the majority of readers here probably are not going to be familiar with what DOTA means, this is a MMO forum.
That said these MOBA's are a dime a dozen and people only play them until the next one hits. Anyone expecting long term income of any kind from a game like this, is living in a fantasy world.
As a former WoW/current Starcraft2 player, I can tell from personal experience that the above post is NOT true.
Ask any former WoW what happened on 'patch' tuesday and how long it lasted.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
You want to ask a WoW player? Well, here is one since beta and at no time whatsoever do I ever recall Blizzard epic failing like Riot does just about EVERY SINGLE WEEK. And the few times that issues have come up this is what happens......
1. Blizzard actually says there is a problem up front and right off the bat. None of this Riot bullshit of posting that the game is up and running while thousands of players are posting all over the forums that the client is broken.... again.
2. Blizzard actually keeps their playerbase informed as to what the problem is and exactly what they are doing to fix it with realistic time frames which they almost always meet or pretty damn close. Unlike Riot, which usually either A) totally pretends that nothing is wrong till usually hours have gone by an their forums have turned into a moshpit of pitchfork wielding players. Or
They post some half ass post basically saying they have no idea what the hell is going on then leave everyone in the dark for hours and with their last epic fail I belive it was almost a full day of little to no updates at all.
3. And finally, unlike Riot, Blizzard actually FIXES the problem. I'm sorry but anyone that has played LoL for any length of time will tell you that they have the absolute worst client and servers ever and the problems are only getting worst not better.
And frankly anyone that compares the kinds of stress that Blizzards WoW servers have to go through on a daily basis to that of LoL is just laughable at best. I belive at last count Blizzard had 236 realms with each realm running 6 servers at a grand total of 1416 servers...... and thats just for the US alone. Unfortunately, I couldnt really find any hard numbers on just how many servers Riot has..... but I did find this video which pretty much sums up just how the LoL playerbase feels about Riots handling of what servers they do have, lmao!
Enjoy,
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yYzsdBzzho
In terms of sheer players, LoL has WoW beat actually.
I'm not a fan of Riot or Blizzard but from an objectivity point of view, both had their technical issues and both had their comm issues. But in terms of community, WAR3 DOTA community is really really awful for a new player.
LoL community is not the best but at least it is people/players know what to expect. You see a level 2 LoL player and you know what's what.
Not in WAR3 DOTA .
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Looking at my current +9000 posistion 30minutes queue time to log into LoL, I feel more confident on the success of DOTA2, and will be playing it instead upon release.
In my opinion if it has no masteries and runes and something more unique then it will end up like hon while LOL will keep conquering the dota style enviroment
1 of 3 gamers with 57% of them buying 1 item/month = ~18% of gamers buying 1 item per month.
Number obscuring attempt fail