Introduction

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), which was a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character, known as a “hero”, who all have unique abilities and differing styles of play. A team wins by being the first to destroy a large structure located in the opposing team’s base, called the “Ancient”.

Element Tetrad

Mechanics

Players can control their heroes to move around the map. Hitting neutral units, enemy units or even friendly units for gold and experiences. Players can attack with normal attack or with 4 unique abilities on their chosen hero. Abilities can be further classified into magical damage, Physical damage or Pure damage. With the gold earned, players can purchase items which makes the hero more powerful. Wards can also be planted to provide vision for the player. Destroying the most important structure of the enemy to win the game.

Story

Each hero have their own back story on who they are and why are they involved in the battle. Heroes abilities also complement their story and characteristics.

Aesthetics

The overall colours of Dota 2 are darker and less vibrant with few heroes or skills exceptions. Players can also purchase cosmetics for heroes and change the look of their character or skill.

Lens 2 & 3: Surprises and fun

There are more than 100 unique heroes in Dota 2 currently. Interactions between each individual heroes is different, even if the hero is the same, different players go for different skill build or item build. Since players can move freely around the map, this makes Dota 2 full of surprises because one can hardly predict what is going to happen. This keep the player wanting to play more.

lens 38: challenge

Dota 2 has steep learning curve, learning 100+ unique heroes and 100+ items will take a long time. Different mechanics also take a lot of practices to master. Players are ranked according to their skills, as they get better they are paired with higher ranking opponents to make the game more challenging.

lens 37: Cooperation

Dota 2 is a team game, each of the 5 players have different roles to play and the team will fail if any of the roles are not being carried out properly. Unique hero combinations and item combinations is a key feature of the game. Due to the high team cooperation requirement, this game can often turn strangers into friends or friends into enemies.