Now why are we talking about DotA in this page? Well, simple because this custom map game featured in Warcraft 3 of Blizzard has over 10 million players worldwide. And now, Valve has come and announces DotA 2, which will be released in 2011.

It’s odd isn’t it, that something originally from freelance developers goes to Blizzard, and now onto the hands of Valve. We can see how big this market actually is. DotA was a custom map developed by a person nicknamed Eul for Warcraft 3, and carried on by another called Guinsoo. Both have departed from the development of DotA map, and the map itself is being updated by Icefrog. DotA has also being considered by Blizzard as an official map for Warcraft 3.

You can see how big the DotA’s market is, as there’s currently two games derived from the same concept of DotA, called Leagues of Legions (LoL) and Heroes of Newerth (HoN). Both games provide new features that are not possible from the very dated game core of Warcraft 3. Valve, the specialist in first person shooter (FPS) games, also wanted a slice of this big pile money, and hired the current developer of DotA, Icefrog. They’ve even went to the extent of patenting the word ‘DotA’ a year ago.

We all know that Valve has been tinkering with the game with the help of Icefrog. Now Valve has announced that DotA 2 will be coming as a standalone game sometime in 2011. Valve has stated that all of the current heroes will be ported over to the new game, as well as items, skills, and map effectively unchanged. The game itself will be on a new engine modified from SOURCE, so we can expect better graphics and gameplay that was previously limited due to Warcraft 3. Interesting to note is that some hero skills will work slightly better due to being freed from the now-ancient Warcraft III engine.

Another new feature coming to DotA 2 is integrated voice chat, which is very much needed for a game as team-focused as this. Previously you’ll need to set up your own Ventrilo or Skype, which will eat up lots of bandwidth and cause disconnection on some very dated computers.

Once a player disconnect from a game, AI bots will take over. However, there’s no mention of the level of the AI bots, and also if it’s possible for players to reconnect to the game. Since HoN is able to do this, I guess DotA 2 should have such feature. Everyone knows how annoying disconnection is for DotA, as a single disconnected player can turn a tight game into a one-sided game, thus crushing the mood of the players. Also, Valve mentioned that the AI bots will come in “unranked training matches”, which means matches will get ranked for competitions. Will we see HLTV being integrated into the game itself like how Counter Strike works? I think yes, because live streaming is so big in DotA.

The visual style is remarkable for retaining the somewhat cartoony feel that the Warcraft III version of DotA-Allstars is built around, while going in a few different directions. “I think there are functional aspects to the art that are pretty significant to the players,” Johnson muses. The environment, particularly in the forests that fill in the map between the three lanes that the NPC armies follow, uses a de-saturated color scheme to give the colorful heroes and abilities some visual pop. The sizable art team is putting a lot of work into making the shapes and animations of each hero distinct to the point that players will be able to instantly identify any hero they see and quickly gauge the threat level of any situation.

The game will also feature a ton of custom voice work. You’ll get amusing lines from heroes as they deny the enemy team last hits on creeps, and champions who have backstory connections will trade quips when nearby. How this work, I’m also not sure. We’ll have to wait until the real deal comes.

Of course, this is from Valve, so you’d expect this to be a pay-and-download game like all their games in Steam. Valve is upgrading Steamworks (the company’s backend technologies for matchmaking and other gameplay and community-related things) to allow them to create in-game rewards for participating in the Dota 2 community. The idea is to have everything a player does in or out of game tie back into their online identity. Like the improvements to Source, the Steamworks upgrades will be available to third-party developers who choose to use Valve’s tools when Dota 2 launches in 2011.

At a basic level, posting useful feedback or participating in constructive discussions on the forums will contribute to your standing in the community in a visible way. Valve doesn’t have the specifics on how this will work nailed down yet. Will you get points that contribute to a visible ranking, like a Gamerscore? Will your posts need to be recommended by other community members to count for anything? What counts as a constructive discussion? These questions are all being actively explored at the moment. Valve assures us that the designers have a slew of awesome ideas for how to implement rewards in a way that’s visible to the rest of the community, but there are no details to announce yet. “When we talk about this identity that exists inside and outside the game, we don’t think we’re anywhere near it with what exists on Steam right now,” Johnson admits.

But the development does not stop there. For the in-game experience, we’ve always face lots of noobs and newbies, and so does Valve who very much understands this, so the new feature would be very interesting. 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.

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. Alright, how do I sign-up to have Yamateh couch me?