Dota 2 promises to take the unique blend of online RTS and RPG action that has made Dota popular with tens of millions of gamers and expand upon it in every way. This is a competitive MOBA game of action and strategy, played both professionally and casually by millions of passionate fans worldwide. Players pick from a pool of over a hundred heroes, forming two teams of five characters. Radiant heroes then battle their Dire counterparts to control a fantasy landscape, waging campaigns of cunning, stealth, and outright warfare.
Put a few hundred hours into a game and you'll normally have its mechanics down pat. You may not be the greatest player ever, but you can usually expect to be at least competent and able to make a valuable contribution to your team's efforts. Sure, some teenager all hopped up on Mountain Dew and pubertal rage is still going to have faster reactions than you, but you'll get by.

Until you pick up Dota 2. In Dota 2 you can play for a hundred hours and still be the most useless n00b to ever play the game, a let down to your team, an embarrassment to friends and family. It's a brutal game. But if you get into it—and not everyone will—it can make a full-on heroin addiction look like nothing more severe than a mild hankering.

Dota 2 promises to take the unique blend of online RTS and RPG action that has made Dota popular with tens of millions of gamers and expand upon it in every way. This is a competitive MOBA game of action and strategy, played both professionally and casually by millions of passionate fans worldwide. Players pick from a pool of over a hundred heroes, forming two teams of five characters. Radiant heroes then battle their Dire counterparts to control a fantasy landscape, waging campaigns of cunning, stealth, and outright warfare. Put a few hundred hours into a game and you'll normally have its mechanics down pat. You may not be the greatest player ever, but you can usually expect to be at least competent and able to make a valuable contribution to your team's efforts. Sure, some teenager all hopped up on Mountain Dew and pubertal rage is still going to have faster reactions than you, but you'll get by. Until you pick up Dota 2. In Dota 2 you can play for a hundred hours and still be the most useless n00b to ever play the game, a let down to your team, an embarrassment to friends and family. It's a brutal game. But if you get into it—and not everyone will—it can make a full-on heroin addiction look like nothing more severe than a mild hankering.