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Warcraft III: DotA Allstars (Defense of the Ancients)

dota I was one of the many gamers addicted to World of Warcraft a few months ago. I have recently kicked the habit and have headed back to my Blizzard roots (well, more like my Blizzard upper trunk/lower branches) and have dusted off my Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne cds. But its not to play Warcraft III…

DotA Allstars is my draw to those Warcraft III discs. DotA is a home-made mod for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne that has taken Battle.net by storm over the past few years. Here’s the official DotA site’s description:

DotA stands for “Defense of the Ancients”, it’s a free mod for Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. The purpose of the game is to defend your Ancient and try to destroy the opponents Ancient. The ancients are located deep in both bases, which are located at the top right and bottom left corners of the map. There are over 70 heroes that differ greatly in play style. Each of these heroes have been carefully designed so they are both balanced and unique. The map is updated frequently, sometimes to add new heroes, fix bugs or to make a balance update. The strategies possible with DotA are pretty much endless, choosing the wrong item and hero combination can mean the difference between a win and a loss for your team. The gameplay in DotA Allstars can be classified as relatively fast because as the game progresses any small mistake you make can be fatal to the overall team.

This WCIII mod has picked up enough following that Blizzard – Warcraft III’s creator – hosted a DotA Allstars tournament at their last Blizzcon…thats saying something! :) The mod has been well developed over the years and is currently in the hands of IceFrog (some dude’s alias) and he’s doing some good things. The game seems fairly balanced and new heroes are added every once in a while. I think the real draw to the game is how different each one can be…with 77 heroes and a crap ton of items you can totally suck out one game then turn around and own the next! The key is to find that happy medium and slowly work towards owning every time. Needless to say…I’m not there yet.

The way the game works is this: there are two teams – the Scourge and the Sentinel – consisting of up to 5 players each that start at the top right and the bottom left of the map respectively. Each player chooses a Hero to control, level up, and attack with. The goal is to advance on the opposing team and destroy their Ancient (a large structure in each base). Along the way, players are pitted against a constant barrage of spawned creeps (which originate from the opposing side’s base), enemy towers, other players’ heroes, and world creeps. To aid in the advancement in levels up to 25, players can purchase items from various shops and combine many of them into stronger items.

The game is fast, fun, and addictive…and boy can it piss you off at times. The average game lasts about 45-60 minutes so you play for a couple of hours you can try out a few different heroes in a single sitting.

During the summer, a group of friends – Al, Bude, Keith, Nate, Ryan, Zach, and I – gather together once a week to either LAN it up or play on Battle.net. We stock up on caffeine, chips, and subs, then play until the wee hours of the morning. Good times. Bude and Nate are our best players so are never allowed on the same team…I’m a fairly sucky player so I think I’ll start doing a little strat research and playing more Battle.net games on my own. My goal: To get better so I can start pissing my friends off because I’m good rather than pissing them off because I suck :). We’ll see if I get there…

If you have any interest in trying DotA out, you can get the latest map from here or GetDotA.com. Don’t bother trying to join games without the newest map…you’ll get booted faster than the game prep UI loads.

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169 Responses

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  1. gearld says

    how to download dota allstar

  2. gearld says

    panu magdownload ng dota allstar?

  3. miane sha says

    plz teach me how 2 play dota

  4. JAKE says

    dota is a famous game of teenagers and children some teenagers need gambling so i stop dota so i can not gambling and i miss dota always I LOVE YOU DOTA GAMERS I WILL

1 2 3 4

Continuing the Discussion

  1. BorkWeb » DotA Game Modes linked to this post on June 12, 2006

    [...] « Warcraft III: DotA Allstars (Defense of the Ancients) DotA Game Modes June 12th, 2006 | Digg it | Blink it | Post to del.icio.us [...]

  2. Uber-Geeks » Blog Archive » Warcraft III: DotA Allstars (Defense of the Ancients) linked to this post on June 12, 2006

    [...] I recently posted about DotA over at BorkWeb and figured it’d be relevent here as well. If you haven’t been enlightened: The way the game works is this: there are two teams – the Scourge and the Sentinel – consisting of up to 5 players each that start at the top right and the bottom left of the map respectively. Each player chooses a Hero to control, level up, and attack with. The goal is to advance on the opposing team and destroy their Ancient (a large structure in each base). Along the way, players are pitted against a constant barrage of spawned creeps (which originate from the opposing side’s base), enemy towers, other players’ heroes, and world creeps. To aid in the advancement in levels up to 25, players can purchase items from various shops and combine many of them into stronger items. [...]

  3. Uber-Geeks » Blog Archive » DotA v6.34 Released! linked to this post on June 22, 2006

    [...] I am happy to announce that Icefrog over at DotA Allstars has released the next version of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), version 6.34! You can download it at GetDotA.com. [...]

  4. BorkWeb » DotA v6.34 Released! linked to this post on June 22, 2006

    [...] An article from Uber-Geeks says that DotA Allstars has released the next version of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), version 6.34! You can download it at GetDotA.com. [...]

  5. BorkWeb » Defense of the Ancients (DotA) AI linked to this post on July 19, 2006

    [...] DotA is a great game with many game options. If you are new to this blessed game and wish to expand your knowledge and/or practice, your only real option is to play on Battle.net with human teammates and opponents due to the lack of Artificial Intelligence built in. If you suck, you’re bound to face ridicule for the entirety of a game…which is enough to drive potentially good players from ever playing again. [...]

  6. No Sheep » Defense of the Ancients (DotA) Allstars Items and Recipes linked to this post on July 23, 2006

    [...] Defense of the Ancients (DotA) Allstars is a Warcraft III mod that is insanely popular and equally fun. Currently this happens to be the only online game I play. DotA Allstars, or just DotA, is a mod so popular and well put together that Blizzard has recognized it and even hosted tournaments at BlizzCon! [...]

  7. BorkWeb » Warcraft III: Tech Wars linked to this post on July 23, 2006

    [...] Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is a sweet two-team game for up to 10 players where each player controls a hero and fights off creeps and pushes to destroy their opponent’s base. Well, recently a few of my friends and I have found a different game that can be just as exciting but games last about 15 to 20 minutes rather than the 1 to 1.5 hour games of DotA. The game? [...]

  8. BorkWeb » DotA Allstars v6.35 Released! linked to this post on August 2, 2006

    [...] w00t! DotA Allstars v6.35 was released! You can download it here or here. [...]

  9. Uber-Geeks » Blog Archive » DotA Allstars v6.35 Released! linked to this post on August 2, 2006

    [...] w00t! DotA Allstars v6.35 was released! You can download it here or here. [...]

  10. BorkWeb » DotA Allstars v6.36 Released! linked to this post on August 24, 2006

    [...] DotA Allstars v6.36 has been released! w00t! You can download it here or here. Here’s the changelog: 6.36 ==== [...]

  11. BorkWeb » Bude’s Rip-Out Tunage linked to this post on August 29, 2006

    [...] Bude tells me that he’s been ripping out in DotA and WoW to this song. In fact, here’s a quote from Bude himself: This song is f’n dangerous – it gets you pumped so bad you might actually break shit. When the drum beats hit before the solo – watch the FUCK OUT! So if you want something to listen to while you “Flip out and kill stuff” this is it. [...]

  12. BorkWeb » Warcraft III: Age of Myths linked to this post on September 2, 2006

    [...] I’m a huge fan of DotA…Warcraft III tower defense maps are excellent LAN/Battle.net games. Recently the group of guys that I play DotA on a periodic basis with decided to try out a new tower defense map. (which I have available for download here) [...]

  13. BorkWeb » DotA 6.39 Released! linked to this post on January 2, 2007

    [...] Its been a long time coming, but Defense of the Ancients version 6.39 has been released! Download it here or here. [...]

  14. BorkWeb » April Fools Day DotA 6.50 Release linked to this post on April 2, 2007

    [...] DotA guys have a sense of humor and released an April Fools release of DotA. Awesome. You can download it at the DotA forums. 6.50 Changelog: =============== * Added new item [...]

  15. DotA 6.45 Released! : BorkWeb linked to this post on November 17, 2007

    [...] DotA v6.45 has been released! Download it here or here. Check out the changelog below: [...]



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