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147-605: Defense of the Ancients ( DotA ) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) and its expansion, The Frozen Throne (2003). The objective of the game is for each team to destroy their opponents' Ancient, a heavily guarded structure at the opposing corner of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes , and are assisted by allied teammates and AI -controlled fighters. As in role-playing games , players level up their heroes and use gold to buy equipment during

294-696: A MOBA with a third-person perspective. Heroes of the Storm was released in 2015, featuring hero characters from Warcraft III and other Blizzard's franchises. Blizzard adopted their own personal dictation for their game's genre with "hero brawler", citing its focus on action. With the expansion of the smartphone market, numerous MOBA titles have been released for portable devices , such as Vainglory (2014), and Honor of Kings (2015). An international adaptation of Honor of Kings developed by TiMi Studios and published by Tencent Games for markets outside mainland China, rebranded as Arena of Valor (2016),

441-497: A commercial success, shipping 4.4 million copies to retail stores, selling over a million within a month. Video game modifications created with the World Editor , such as Defence of the Ancients , led to lasting changes and inspired many future games. In 2020, Blizzard released a remastered version of both Warcraft III and its expansion, The Frozen Throne , called Warcraft III: Reforged . Warcraft III takes place on

588-540: A custom map in Warcraft III , relying on manual matchmaking, updates, and containing no tutorials. Computer Gaming World featured DotA Allstars in a 2004 review of new maps and mods in Warcraft III , and in the following years DotA Allstars became a fixture at esports tournaments. Its refined gameplay and high skill level made the game extremely popular in a competitive setting. It debuted at Blizzard's BlizzCon convention in 2005. DotA Allstars featured in

735-563: A day/night cycle to the series. Besides having advantages or disadvantages for certain races, at night most creeps fall asleep, making nighttime scouting safer; however, the line of sight for most units is also reduced. Additionally, some Night Elf units become invisible at night when not moving. Other minor changes to the gameplay were due to the 3D terrain. For instance, units on a cliff have an attack bonus when attacking units at lower elevations. In addition, Warcraft III adds powerful new units called heroes. For each enemy unit killed,

882-420: A fixed interface in the bottom of the screen that displays a mini-map , the information about the currently selected unit or group of units and possible actions for this unit or building. If multiple units are selected, the game automatically groups them by type, allowing all units of the same type to be given special commands (like using their skills). A small top bar displays the current time of day as well as

1029-457: A friend in ranked matches, Warcraft III offers "Arranged Team Games", where a team joins a lobby, and Battle.net will search for another team; as with anonymous matchmaking, the enemy team is not known beforehand. While campaign games can have many different objectives, the sole objective in multiplayer games is to destroy all the buildings of the opposition. In default melee matches, players can pick their own heroes, and losing one will not end

1176-404: A game, players must establish settlements to gain resources, defend against others, and train units from buildings to explore the map and fight computer controlled foes. There are three main resources that are managed in Warcraft III : gold , lumber , and food . The first two are required to construct units and buildings, while food restricts the maximum number of units that can be possessed at

1323-476: A hero runs out of health points and consequently dies, they are removed from active play until a respawn timer counts down to zero, at which point the hero respawns in their base. The amount of time required to respawn generally increases as the game progresses and/or the players level up. Heroes typically fall into one of several roles, such as tank, damage dealer, and support, each of which having unique designs, strengths, and weaknesses. MOBAs typically offer

1470-408: A hero will gain experience points , which allow the hero to level-up to a maximum level of 10. Progressing up a level increases the hero's attributes and also allows the hero to gain new spell options (bringing role-playing video game elements to the series). Certain hero abilities can boost allied units. All heroes can equip items to increase skills, defense, and other abilities. At level six,

1617-401: A large number of viable playable heroes for the player to choose from – League of Legends , for instance, began with 40, and has continued to add characters over the game's lifespan, reaching 100 in 2012 and 150 in 2020. This adds to the overall complexity of the game as players must be aware of an ever-increasing list of available characters. Choosing the correct character to play is itself

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1764-713: A limited base. The last level of each race's campaign is an "epic battle" in which a large number of enemy foes has to be defeated. The game's multiplayer mode uses the Battle.net network. Players can create free accounts in regional "gateways," which helps reduce lag ; these are Azeroth ( U.S. East ), Lordaeron ( U.S. West ), Northrend ( Europe ), and Kalimdor ( Asia ). Unlike previous Battle.net-enabled games, Warcraft III introduced anonymous matchmaking , automatically pairing players for games based on their skill level and game type preferences, preventing cheating and inflating their records artificially. If players want to play with

1911-558: A major part of worldwide play, including tournaments in Sweden and Russia; however, due to a lack of LAN tournaments and championships in North America, several teams disbanded. Michael Walbridge, writing for Gamasutra in 2008, stated that DotA "is likely the most popular and most-discussed free, non-supported game mod in the world". In pointing to the strong community built around the game, Walbridge stated that DotA showed it

2058-465: A map creator named Meian created a DotA variant closely modeled on Eul's map, but combining heroes from the many other versions of DotA that existed at the time. Called DotA: Allstars , it was inherited after a few months by a modder called Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, and under his guidance it became the dominant map of the genre. After more than a year of maintaining the DotA: Allstars map, with

2205-444: A map of varying size, such as large plains and fields, with terrain features like rivers, mountains, seas, or cliffs. The map is initially hidden from view and only becomes visible through exploration. Areas no longer in sight range of an allied unit or building are covered with the fog of war , meaning that while the terrain remains visible, player caused changes such as enemy troop movements and building construction are not. During

2352-467: A more cartoonish looking world that started with Warcraft III was continued in World of Warcraft which deliberately used less realistic depictions to allow the game to be played on less powerful PCs, thus increasing the potential player-base. The artwork of Warcraft III was hugely influential on a number of other high fantasy real-time strategy games that followed it. Most of the music of Warcraft III

2499-460: A more realistic experience, based on the belief that PC gamers preferred these graphics, leading to Warcraft: Orcs and Humans looking like Medieval Europe . Blizzard allowed classical fantasy properties like Dungeons & Dragons and The Lord of the Rings to influence Warcraft II , adding more fantasy races such as elves, ogres and dwarves, while still keeping a more realistic design. With

2646-471: A powerful sword called Frostmourne. When he is told that his forces have been recalled by the Emissary, he begins losing his sanity and engineers the burning of his own ships to prevent their return. Arthas and Muradin eventually find Frostmourne but learn that the sword is cursed. Disregarding the warning, Arthas offers his soul to gain the sword which leads to Muradin being knocked out (and presumed dead) by

2793-513: A precursor to, or an early example of, the MOBA genre. It uses a similar formula, where each player controls a single command unit in one of two opposing sides on a battlefield. Herzog Zwei ' s influence is apparent in several later MOBA games such as Guilty Gear 2: Overture (2007) and AirMech (2012). Herzog Zwei was also cited as an inspiration to the developers of Warcraft and Starcraft . 1998's Future Cop: LAPD has

2940-529: A rapidly spreading plague , which kills and turns human victims into the undead. Arthas kills the plague's originator, Kel'Thuzad, and then purges the infected city of Stratholme which leads Jaina to part ways with him in disgust. The Prophet, who failed to convince other human leaders to flee west, begs Jaina to go to Kalimdor. Arthas pursues the dreadlord Mal'Ganis to the icy continent of Northrend, where he helps his old friend Muradin Bronzebeard in finding

3087-643: A recreational aspect to Warcraft III . Global scores and standings in matchmaking games are kept on a "ladder". Warcraft III takes place in the fictional world of Azeroth. Several years before the events of the game, a demon army known as the Burning Legion, intent on Azeroth's destruction, corrupted a race called the Orcs, and sent them through a portal to attack Azeroth. These events were previously shown in Orcs & Humans , Tides of Darkness and Beyond

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3234-405: A resounding manner, with the first victory occurring before the five-minute mark and Dendi conceding before ninety seconds had passed in the second match. Open AI returned to The International 2018 , this time fielding an entire team of five AI players in two games against professional players, but ultimately losing both games. Despite this loss, OpenAI continued to work to improve OpenAI Five, and

3381-546: A retrospect published in March 2018, Waypoint calls the game's story "one of the all-time great single-player campaigns in history", specifically emphasizing the Alliance mission "The Culling" in which the player is placed in a no-win situation and forced to help Arthas slaughter his own people before they turn into aggressive zombies . Three years prior, in 2015, Vice called "The Culling" as well as Arthas's betrayal at

3528-681: A score of 92/100, indicating "Universal acclaim". Most critics praised the game's graphics, both the design of the individual units as well as the game world itself, concluding that Blizzard successfully entered the 3-D universe. German magazine PC Games compared the units' appearance to beauty pageant contestants and emphasized many details such as waving capes, knights who balance their weight from one foot to another while standing around and bodies of water colored red when units die in them. The campaign-related cinematics were especially noted, with multiple critics declaring them most impressive feats of video rendering. However, GameSpot noted that

3675-516: A shard of ice when Frostmourne is released. Arthas slays Mal'Ganis with the blade and returns to Lordaeron where he murders his father, King Terenas. Now an Undead Death Knight, Arthas meets with the leader of the dreadlords, Tichondrius, who tasks him with resurrecting Kel'Thuzad. After exhuming his body and killing his former mentor Uther the Lightbringer for his father's urn to transport the remains in, Arthas sets off to Quel'Thalas, kingdom of

3822-430: A single powerful unit and, aided by weak computer-controlled units, compete against a stronger computer. Defense of the Ancients ( DotA ) was created in 2003 by the Warcraft III modding community for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne , with a map based on AoS. DotA was one of the first major titles of its genre and the first MOBA for which sponsored tournaments were held. It

3969-434: A skill in the MOBA genre, as players must weigh the available options to decide which character best suits their skill set, teammates, and opponents. Players usually find at least one hero they excel at playing, often referred to as a "main", and familiarize themselves with the remaining roster. Additionally, each hero is deliberately limited in the roles they can fulfill. No single hero is supposed to be powerful enough to win

4116-436: A strategic "Precinct Assault" mode similar to Herzog Zwei in which players can actively fight alongside generated non-player units. This could be regarded as the first example of MOBA gameplay, depending on the definition of the genre. The Windows version of Future Cop: LAPD allows online competitive play. In the same year, Blizzard Entertainment released its best-selling real-time strategy game StarCraft (1998) with

4263-610: A suite of game editing tools called StarEdit . These tools allowed players to design and create custom maps with non-standard rules and gameplay. A modder known as Aeon64 made a custom map named Aeon of Strife ( AoS ) that became popular. Some of the key features introduced in AoS became the foundation of the newborn genre. In the Aeon of Strife map, players controlled a single powerful hero unit fighting along three lanes which were protected by defensive towers. The terrain outside these lanes

4410-411: A system of "seamless quests ". Some plot development happens in an occasional cinematic, but most occurs in-game with cutscenes. Objectives, known as quests, are revealed during the progress of the map. Main quests are those that must be completed to proceed to the next chapter, but there are also optional side quests that are not initially revealed, but can be discovered and completed while following

4557-464: A team gets, the more capable they are at destroying the enemy team and their base, as well as protecting their own. In most MOBAs, playable characters have assigned classes such as "tank" , "bruiser", "marksman", "mage", "fighter", "assassin", "support" and "healer" , with each classification denoting various different skill sets and proficiencies. During the match, characters can be played in roles such as "carry", "support" and "ganker" ; however,

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4704-546: A unit and an appearing icon collar. In the early stages of development, Blizzard emphasized the role-playing aspect and downplayed base building. Around January 24, 2000 a video from Korea appeared on the Internet; the video showed some aspects of gameplay along with commentary by Pardo. This version already had an interface concept, however most of the interface were placeholders. It had a map, icons for abilities and unit commands and an eye-shaped display for gold. Originally,

4851-399: A variety of tasks. Though the editor has received updates through game patches, it is not officially supported as a product. The Lord of the Rings was a particularly popular subject for modded maps, as a trilogy of movies was released around the same time as Warcraft III . Some custom maps have enjoyed great success, particularly maps based on Aeon of Strife such as Defense of

4998-476: A year of work this concept did not work out and the existing framework was used to create Warcraft III instead. As a result of these design choices, the first version shown at ECTS 1999 had no notable interface, however it did have portraits for the heroes. In first previews, the game's design and gameplay was therefore compared to games such as Myth and Heroes of Might and Magic . Various articles showed that abilities and items were used via right-click on

5145-446: Is an important tactical element of the mod. Blizzard Entertainment 's 1998 real-time strategy game StarCraft shipped with a campaign editor that allowed players to create custom levels, complete with scripted triggers. One such custom map was "Aeon of Strife". Instead of controlling multiple units and managing buildings, players controlled a single hero unit as they fought against waves of enemies. Blizzard followed StarCraft with

5292-413: Is an ongoing topic of research. Similar to real-time strategy games, MOBAs provide a highly complex environment for AI because of their large amount of possible variables, states, and decisions. One of the first known research-based MOBA AI agents was published around 2015 for League of Legends. The agent used influence maps to navigate the map and compute positioning risk. A similar agent to assist players

5439-540: Is divided into four campaigns, each featuring a different faction. Each campaign is itself divided into chapters, and there is a set order in which they have to be played as the story follows the events in these campaigns. Additionally, an optional prologue campaign that serves as a tutorial can be played before starting the main campaign. Unlike previous Blizzard titles, such as Warcraft II or StarCraft , there are no mission briefings in which plot exposition occurs and objectives are announced; rather, Warcraft III uses

5586-505: Is home to neutral monsters that are hostile to both teams and appear in marked locations on the map known as "camps". Defeating neutral monsters brings various benefits to the players and their team, such as growth in power, buffs, or assistance in pushing the lane. The games are usually played on a battlefield shown from an isometric perspective , but certain MOBAs are played from a third-person or side-view perspective. The battlefield

5733-408: Is much easier for a community game to be maintained by the community, and this is one of the maps' greatest strengths. Former game journalist Luke Smith called DotA "the ultimate RTS ". Blizzard pointed to DotA as an example of what dedicated mapmakers can create using developer's tools. Defense of the Ancients helped spur the development of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre. It

5880-469: Is powerful enough to allow modders to change almost any aspect of the game and create new maps that feature little of the game's original content. Despite its wealth of features, the World Editor was easy enough for players without any coding experience to design new games. Through Battle.net, players can then share these maps with others, increasing the popularity of custom maps. To facilitate modding, Blizzard and third-party developers released tools for

6027-479: Is replaced by a combat-oriented money system; in addition to a small periodic income, heroes earn gold by killing or destroying hostile units, base structures, and enemy heroes. This creates an emphasis on "last-hitting" to land the killing blow and receive the experience and gold for doing so. Using gold, players buy items to strengthen their hero and gain abilities; certain items can be combined with recipes to create more powerful items. Buying items that suit one's hero

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6174-488: Is represented in the interface by the mini-map . A player controls a single powerful in-game unit, called a "hero" or "champion", with each utilizing a unique set of abilities and style of play. When a hero stands near a killed enemy unit or kills an enemy unit, they gain experience points and gold which allow the hero to level up and buy items at a store. When a hero levels up, they grow in power and may strengthen one of their abilities which they typically have four of. If

6321-519: Is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans , after Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness , the third game set in the Warcraft fictional universe, and the first to be rendered in three dimensions . An expansion pack , The Frozen Throne , was released in July 2003. Warcraft III is set several years after the events of Warcraft II , and tells the story of the Burning Legion's attempt to conquer

6468-494: Is used by heroes to buy a variety of different items that range in price and impact. For the most part, this involves improving the combat viability of the hero, although there may be other items that support the hero or team as a whole in different ways. As the heroes of each team get stronger, they can use multiple strategies to gain an advantage. These strategies can include securing objectives, killing enemy heroes and gaining levels by killing computer-controlled units. The stronger

6615-757: The 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards , the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Warcraft III with " Computer Strategy Game of the Year "; it also received nominations for "Computer Game of the Year", "Innovation in Computer Gaming", " Outstanding Achievement in Game Design ", and " Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition ". Warcraft III has been an influence on real-time strategy games, especially

6762-582: The DOTA name trademark. Immediately after the release, Blizzard began brainstorming content for an expansion and development began in October 2002. In January 2003, Blizzard announced that the expansion pack was titled The Frozen Throne and continues the story for the Night Elves, Humans and Undead after the events of the main game while providing a completely separate, role-playing focused campaign for

6909-564: The Malaysia and Singapore World Cyber Games starting in 2005, and the World Cyber Games Asian Championships beginning with the 2006 season. Defense of the Ancients was included in the game lineup for the internationally recognized Cyberathlete Amateur League and CyberEvolution leagues. When the scenario appeared at the 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup , Oliver Paradis, the competition's manager, noted

7056-433: The Warcraft III engine, calling the map Defense of the Ancients ( DotA ). Eul substantially improved the complexity of play from the original Aeon of Strife mod. Shortly after creating the custom DotA map, Eul left the modding scene. With no clear successor, Warcraft III modders created a variety of maps based on DotA and featuring different heroes. In 2003, after the release of WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne ,

7203-438: The World Editor enabled mapmakers to create their own. Taking inspiration from Aeon of Strife and using the expanded capabilities of the World Editor , modder Kyle "Eulogizing" Sommer created the first version of Defense of the Ancients in 2003. The heroes could now sport different abilities and level up skills and equipment. After the release of Warcraft III ' s expansion The Frozen Throne , which added new features to

7350-625: The World Editor , Eul did not update the scenario and made his map code open-source. Other mapmakers produced Defense of the Ancients spinoffs that added new heroes, items, and features. Among the DotA variants created in the wake of Eul's map was DotA Allstars , originally created and developed by custom map makers Meian and Ragn0r, who took the most popular heroes and compiled them into one map. In March 2004, map maker Steve "Guinsoo" Feak assumed control of Allstars development. Feak said when he began developing DotA Allstars , he had no idea how popular

7497-579: The World Editor , or the default multiplayer scenarios. The map editor allows a variety of custom maps to be created, such as a number of tower defense and multiplayer online battle arena maps, the most notable of which was Defense of the Ancients . The game also offers friends lists and channels for chatting, where players can create custom channels or join Blizzard-approved ones. Warcraft III also allows players to band together to form "clans", which can participate in tournaments or offer

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7644-402: The mod highly popular, as its dynamic and unpredictable fights, complex map, and hero-centric gameplay create a more competitive environment and opportunities for outplaying the enemy team. By the early 2010s, multiplayer online battle arena has become a prominent genre in esports tournaments. The genre has seen further growth in popularity since the year 2015 – among the top five esports with

7791-475: The pseudonymous designer known as IceFrog maintaining the game since the mid-2000s. DotA became a feature at several worldwide tournaments, including Blizzard Entertainment 's BlizzCon and the World Cyber Games . Critical reception to DotA was positive, and it has been called one of the most popular mods of any game. DotA is largely attributed as being the most significant inspiration for

7938-446: The Ancients (DotA), which became a tournament item at BlizzCon 2005 and other tournaments around the world. DotA is largely attributed with to being the most significant inspiration for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre. A strong fanbase has opened up the opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon. In 2012, Valve acquired commercial rights to

8085-650: The Burning Legion marching towards Mount Hyjal in their intent to corrupt the World Tree and thus the whole world, Humans, Orcs, and Night Elves form a reluctant alliance to spring a trap on the Burning Legion. They manage to delay the Legion long enough for many ancestral spirits to gather at the World Tree and destroy Archimonde as he attempts to reach it but in doing so, the Night Elves lose their immortality and their power over nature will gradually wane over time, though they do not mind. Peace once again comes to Kalimdor as

8232-414: The Burning Legion's forces wither away in defeat. Medivh, in a final monologue , then states that he needed to teach the world that guardians are no longer necessary to look after Azeroth and that he is satisfied that his task is now complete. Medivh then disappears, stating that he will now take his place amongst the legends of the past. After the success of Warcraft II (1995) and Warcraft II: Beyond

8379-517: The Dark Portal (1996), Blizzard originally planned to continue the story with a point-and-click adventure game called Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans . This game was supposed to tell the story of Thrall from being raised in captivity to becoming the leader of his clan. However, in 1998, Blizzard canceled Lord of the Clans for not meeting the company's quality standards. Thrall's story

8526-616: The Dark Portal , the last in the Warcraft saga, was released in 1996, Blizzard began development of a point-and-click adventure game called Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans , which was supposed to continue the story. Lord of the Clans was canceled in favor of Warcraft III in 1998, which was presented to the public at the European Computer Trade Show in September 1999. The game's design and gameplay

8673-528: The Dark Portal . After many years of fighting, the Orcs were defeated by a coalition of humans, dwarves and elves known as the Alliance; the surviving Orcs were herded into internment camps, where they seemed to lose their lust for battle. With no common enemy, a period of peace followed, but the Alliance began to fracture. The game follows the story of three different heroes: The young and idealistic human paladin and crown prince of Lordaeron, Arthas Menethil , as he becomes more and more corrupted until he joins

8820-612: The Exclusive Gift Set, came bundled with the cinematic DVD, official BradyGames strategy guide, and Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition. At BlizzCon 2018 on November 2, 2018, Blizzard announced a remaster of both Warcraft III and its expansion The Frozen Throne entitled Warcraft III: Reforged featuring remodeled characters and graphics with a prospective release in 2020. It was released on January 28, 2020. Many promised features and updates were not initially included, and several controversial changes were also made to

8967-464: The Legion to be destroyed. Kel'Thuzad opens a dimensional portal and summons the demon Archimonde, who begins the Burning Legion invasion, not before destroying Dalaran. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad are cast aside by Archimonde but Kel'Thuzad reveals to Arthas that the Lich King has already foreseen this and is planning to overthrow the Burning Legion. Thrall arrives on Kalimdor, meeting Cairne Bloodhoof and

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9114-528: The Legion's control. Thrall manages to reach the Oracle, in fact the Prophet, who tells him of Grom's actions. Following the Prophet's directions, Thrall and Jaina join forces and capture Grom, healing him of Mannoroth's corruption. Thrall and Grom begin to hunt Mannoroth and Grom kills him, dying in the process, but in doing so freeing the orcs from the demonic control of Mannoroth. Tyrande Whisperwind, leader of

9261-636: The MOBA genre focuses on the multiplayer battle in the arena-like environment, whereas RPGs typically revolve around a single-player story and exploration of different locations. Some key features of MOBAs, such as control over one specific character in a party, growth in power over time, learning new thematic abilities, leveling and accumulation of experience points, usage of the mana resource, equipment and inventory management, completing quests, and fighting with powerful boss monsters, are also typical of role-playing games. The 1989 Mega Drive/Genesis game Herzog Zwei has variously been cited either as

9408-458: The MOBA genre has moved away from constructing structures, army building, and controlling additional units in favor of hero-centric gameplay. However, some MOBA games have certain heroes which control a few specialized units, but not on a massive scale commonly found in RTS games. As is the case in real-time strategy games, structures and base defense are important, and destroying the main structure at

9555-555: The MOBA genre. American video game developer Valve acquired the intellectual property rights to DotA in 2009 to develop a franchise , beginning with Dota 2 in 2013. Defense of the Ancients pits two teams of players against each other. Players on the Sentinel team are based at the southwest corner of the map, and those on the Scourge team are based in the northeast. Each base is defended by towers and waves of units which guard

9702-527: The Night Elves, is outraged to find the Humans and Orcs violating the forests and blames them for Cenarius' death, so she vows to destroy both. However, she soon finds out that the Burning Legion has arrived on Kalimdor. In order to oppose the Burning Legion, Tyrande reawakens the sleeping Elf Druids, starting with her lover, Malfurion Stormrage, and frees his brother Illidan Stormrage from prison, against Malfurion's wishes. Illidan meets Arthas, who tells him about

9849-422: The Orcs. Among other changes, The Frozen Throne added a new hero for each faction as well as five neutral heroes that can be hired by all factions. After a public beta test that allowed 20,000 players to test the expansion, it was released worldwide on July 1, 2003. Upon release, Blizzard made Warcraft III available with four different box arts, one for each faction, in a limited edition. In addition to

9996-450: The Storm , which features an array of heroes from the company's franchises, including heroes from Warcraft III. The MOBA design DotA popularized also made its way into games that deviated from the mod's top-down perspective, such as third-person shooters and side-scrolling platformers . DotA also typified the MOBA genre's reputation for unfriendly, toxic behavior and difficult learning curve for new players. In October 2009, IceFrog

10143-502: The Storm , and "Monkey King" in DotA 2. Due to the large volume of matches played on a daily basis around the world and the relatively complicated nature of the genre, MOBAs have become a popular target for the application of big data tools to predict match outcomes based on in-game factors such as hero kill/death/assist ratios, gold earned, time of a match, synergy with other players, team composition, and other, more advanced parameters. The use of artificial intelligence in MOBAs

10290-421: The Storm . Blizzard pointed to DotA as an example of what dedicated mapmakers can create using strong developer's tools. DotA All-stars became an important tournament scenario, starting with its prominence at the debut of Blizzard's BlizzCon convention in 2005. Since then, MOBAs have had a big impact on the development of esports , becoming some of the most watched games in the world. The World Editor

10437-710: The Tauren and clashes with a human expedition on the way to find an Oracle. Meanwhile, the Orcish Warsong Clan is left behind in Ashenvale to build a permanent settlement, but angers the Night Elves and their demigod Cenarius by cutting down the forests for resources. To defeat them, the Warsong leader Grom Hellscream drinks from a fountain contaminated with the blood of the Legion's pit lord commander Mannoroth, successfully killing Cenarius, but binding his clan to

10584-513: The Undead and assists with the summoning of demonic forces to Azeroth; the adventures of Orc warchief Thrall as he brings his people to the continent of Kalimdor to escape human captivity and the impending downfall of Lordaeron; and the events involving Tyrande Whisperwind, the Night Elven leader, who has to deal with both the arrival of humans and orcs in their sacred lands and the invasion by

10731-519: The action genre are represented in MOBA games. Players with better mechanical skills and quick reaction times typically excel relative to their peers. MOBAs often have a strong focus on micromanagement , involving mechanical abilities such as positioning, dodging, use of combo attacks, kiting , prediction and target selection. Direction-targeted abilities, or "skillshots", require precise aim and good timing in order to hit an enemy. The MOBA genre resembles role-playing games (RPGs) in gameplay, though

10878-425: The addition of role-playing elements and heroes as units. More than the game itself, mods created with the World Editor led to lasting changes and inspired many future games. Defense of the Ancients (DotA) paved the way for the multiplayer online battle arena genre, inspiring the creation of the mod's standalone sequel, Dota 2 , and games such as League of Legends , Heroes of Newerth , and Heroes of

11025-585: The battlefield. The first team to destroy the opponents' main structure wins the match, though some games have the option of different victory conditions. Destroying other structures within the opposing team's base may confer other benefits. Defensive structures, which are usually automatic "towers", are in place to prevent this. Each team is assisted by relatively weak computer-controlled units, called "minions", that periodically spawn in groups at both bases, marching down predefined paths (called "lanes") toward their enemy base. While their charges are counterbalanced by

11172-458: The character models were of mediocre quality, especially when viewed up close during in-game cutscenes. Critics also praised the interface as simple yet powerful and making it very easy for players to effectively control their units. The game's soundtrack was widely lauded as atmospheric and aiding the game's tone, featuring faction-specific music such as heroic hymns (humans) or charming flute melodies (night elves). Reviewers especially noted

11319-609: The character most aligned with their skills and preferences. Playable characters blend a variety of fantasy tropes and often feature numerous references to popular culture and mythology . One such figure commonly represented in MOBAs is Sun Wukong , a legendary mythical figure from 16th-century China. Examples of representation of Sun Wukong in MOBAs in the form of playable characters include "Wukong" in League of Legends , Samuro's "Monkey King" skin (custom outfit/costume) in Heroes of

11466-572: The country's seventh best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Warcraft III received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In France, it sold over 200,000 units by March 2005. The game was awarded the title "game of the year" by GameSpot as well as "best real-time strategy game of

11613-527: The currently owned resources and the current upkeep level. The top left corner displays a portrait of the player's hero(es) for quick access. If worker units have no jobs to do, their icons are displayed in the bottom left corner for easy assignment. Warcraft III features four playable factions: The Human Alliance — a coalition of humans, dwarves, and high elves — and the Orcish Horde — composed of orcs, trolls, and minotaur -inspired tauren — return from

11760-555: The demon forces. The game opens with the Orc leader, Thrall , waking from a nightmare warning him of the return of the Burning Legion. After a brief encounter with a being who is known only as "the Prophet", and, fearing that his dream was more of a vision than a nightmare, he leads his forces in an exodus from Lordaeron to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor. Meanwhile, Arthas defends the village of Strahnbrad from orcs. He then joins Archmage Jaina Proudmoore , who aids him in investigating

11907-507: The different races' campaigns are structured similarly. Each begins with a level involving simple mechanics to introduce the faction and the basic elements of their hero and units. After one or two such levels, the first "building mission" occurs, requiring them to build and maintain a base while competing with one or more enemy forces. The only campaign that breaks this pattern is the Night Elf campaign, whose first mission involves building

12054-746: The domain to Riot Games split the DotA community, and IceFrog announced a new official site, playdota.com, while continuing game development. Because Warcraft III custom games have none of the features designed to improve game quality (matchmaking players based on connection speed, etc.), various programs were used to maintain Defense of the Ancients . External tools pinged player's locations, and games could be named to exclude geographic regions. Clans and committees such as TDA maintained their own official list of rules and regulations, and players could be kicked from matches by being placed on "banlists". While increasingly popular, DotA Allstars remained limited as

12201-552: The end of the Alliance campaign and the destruction of Dalaran three of the seven greatest moments in Blizzard Entertainment's history. The game's multiplayer features were lauded by many critics with GamePro describing them as "addictive" and a fruitful result of long beta testing. Reviewers emphasized that the Battle.net integration made multiplayer games easier than with any other game at that time and lauded

12348-508: The enemy player. Four playable factions can be chosen from: Humans, Orcs, (both of which appeared in the previous games) and two new factions: the Night Elves and the Undead. Warcraft III ' s single-player campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft , and is told through the races in a progressive manner. Players can also play matches against the computer, or against others—using local area networking (LAN) or Blizzard's Battle.net gaming platform. After Warcraft II: Beyond

12495-513: The establishment of a dependable fan base due to the success of the first two games, the creative team behind Warcraft III decided no longer to follow their artistic vision. As such, the game's visuals mark a notable departure from the previous games in the series, using bolder and more vibrant colors and pursuing a more comic book style. Didier also integrated characters he designed for Dungeons & Dragons into Warcraft III , such as Uther The Lightbringer and Illidan Stormrage. The shift towards

12642-669: The fictional world of Azeroth with the help of an army of the Undead known as the Scourge, led by fallen paladin Arthas Menethil . It chronicles the combined efforts of the Human Alliance, Orcish Horde, and Night Elves to stop them before they can corrupt the World Tree . In the game, as in many real-time strategy (RTS) games, players collect resources, train individual units and heroes, and build bases in order to achieve various goals (in single-player mode), or to defeat

12789-483: The final interfaces and units. In April 2001, Blizzard still experimented with different resources and had versions of the game with gold, lumber, mana stones and upkeep or a race depending resource that represented the population like the required food in newer versions. In the middle of January 2002, Blizzard shipped out 5000 beta versions of Warcraft III to randomly selected testers in order to help improve it before being released in stores. The beta release had all

12936-487: The first game and became involved in writing stories and missions in Warcraft II. Warcraft III was the first game Metzen served as creative director for, a role he would continue in for all Blizzard games until his retirement in 2016. As did Warcraft II and StarCraft before it, Warcraft III contains a World Editor program that allows players to create their own custom scenarios and maps. The World Editor

13083-465: The first time, more than 15 years after the game's first release. Warcraft III was the first Blizzard game to be rendered using 3D graphics. Unlike other 3D games of that era, this included all parts of the game, including the menu screens. All characters, including environment units like sheep, have their own 3D portraits when selected that animate when the unit is talking. The game does not use mission briefings like its predecessor but instead tells

13230-420: The focus on resource management and base-building found in most traditional real-time strategy games. Killing computer-controlled or neutral units earns the player experience points ; the player gains a level when enough experience is accumulated. Leveling up improves the hero's toughness and the damage they inflict, and allows players to upgrade spells or skills. The typical resource-gathering of Warcraft III

13377-457: The franchise's intellectual property rights after being contested by Riot Games for the DotA trademark. In 2012, Activision Blizzard settled a trademark dispute with Valve over the usage of the DOTA name and announced their own standalone game which was eventually named Heroes of the Storm . Dota 2 was released in 2013, and was referred to by Valve as an "action real-time strategy" game. In 2014, Hi-Rez Studios released Smite ,

13524-519: The franchising of Dota by Valve. The legal dispute was conceded in May 2012, with Valve gaining franchising rights for commercial use to the trademark, while non-commercial use remained open to the public. Dota 2 was officially released in July 2013. Multiplayer online battle arena The first widely accepted game in the genre was Aeon of Strife ( AoS ), a fan-made custom map released in 2002 for StarCraft , in which four players each control

13671-477: The game even for players who did not purchase Reforged . This led to mixed reception from critics and negative reception from fans , resulting in Blizzard offering refunds. The release of Warcraft III: Reforged resulted in the termination of the original titles Warcraft III and its expansion The Frozen Throne being supported any further. On review aggregator website Metacritic , Warcraft III received

13818-422: The game was chosen for the high level of community support behind the scenario and its worldwide appeal. The mod's extreme simplification of the real-time strategy formula made it more accessible for players who enjoyed the spectacle of the battles characteristic of the genre, but did not want to manage the demands of trying to control every part of the experience. The scenario was extremely popular in many parts of

13965-511: The game was found to be balanced enough that no faction is overpowered. GameSpot emphasized positively that the game adds some variety compared to other real-time strategy titles because it forces players to go exploring early on while simultaneously building their base, lest their hero does not gain sufficient experience to win in later battles. The review also noted that each faction has safeguards in place to prevent one player from rushing their opponent too early. GamePro also highlighted that

14112-506: The game was planned to be released at the end of 2000. At E3 2000, Blizzard showed a first gameplay trailer that included an interface with some elements of the final design. Then from E3 2000 around May 12, 2000 to ECTS 2000 the game was not changed very much. Gameplay footage from 2001 reveals a polished version of the interface seen in the E3 2000 trailer. Back in November 2000, the game

14259-538: The game without support from their team. This creates a strong emphasis on teamwork and cooperation. The genre rewards players that are capable of cooperating with their teammates to execute an effective strategy, enabling full potential of their individual abilities and mechanical skills. Each player typically receives a small amount of gold per second during the course of the game. Moderate amounts of gold are rewarded for killing hostile computer-controlled units and larger amounts are rewarded for killing enemy heroes. Gold

14406-425: The game would eventually become. Feak added a recipe system for items so that player's equipment would scale as they grew more powerful, as well as a powerful boss character called Roshan (named after his bowling ball) who required an entire team to defeat. Feak used a Battle.net chat channel as a place for DotA players to congregate, but DotA Allstars had no official site for discussions and hosting. Subsequently,

14553-406: The game's genre as a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). Also in 2009, IceFrog, who had continued to develop DotA: Allstars , was hired by Valve , in order to design a sequel to the original map. In 2010, S2 Games released Heroes of Newerth , with a large portion of its gameplay and aesthetics based on DotA: Allstars . The same year, Valve announced Dota 2 and subsequently secured

14700-641: The game's units and races, however, it was only playable over Battle.net; single player games and LAN play were not playable on the beta version of the game. Warcraft III was first released in the United States and Australia on July 3, 2002 and in Europe on July 5, 2002. Blizzard continued to maintain WarCraft III , regarding technical issues and compatibility for newer operating systems. In April 2018, Blizzard integrated widescreen support for

14847-495: The game. DotA has its roots in the " Aeon of Strife " custom map for StarCraft . The scenario was developed with the World Editor of Reign of Chaos , and was updated upon the release of its expansion, The Frozen Throne . There have been many variations of the original concept, the most popular being DotA Allstars , eventually simplified to DotA . The mod has been maintained by several authors during development, with

14994-420: The game. To make the game proceed more quickly, by default the map is fully revealed but covered in the fog of war. Warcraft III , like Blizzard's previous title StarCraft , allows for single and multiplayer replays to be recorded and viewed, allowing a game to be played at slower and faster speeds and viewed from the perspective of all players. Players can also host custom games, using maps either created in

15141-419: The genre's overall popularity. Players are able to download and play AAA -quality games at no cost. These games are generating revenue by selling cosmetic elements, including skins, voice lines, customized mounts and announcers, but none of these give the functional gameplay advantages to the buyer. As of 2012, free-to-play MOBAs, such as League of Legends , Dota 2 , Heroes of the Storm , and Smite were among

15288-402: The heart of the enemy base typically serves as the ultimate victory condition of a given match. Players can find various friendly and enemy units on the map at any given time assisting each team, however, these units are computer-controlled and players usually do not have direct control over their movement and creation ; instead, they move forward along the map's lanes. Many defining elements of

15435-407: The hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the three other spells that the hero possesses. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and markets in which the hero can purchase usable items. Often, hero units become the deciding factor in determining a winner. Warcraft III ' s campaign mode

15582-478: The high elves. He kills Sylvanas Windrunner , the Ranger General of Silvermoon (only to resurrect her as a banshee), corrupts their sacred Sunwell and revives Kel'Thuzad as a Lich. The Lich informs him of the Burning Legion, a vast demonic army who are coming to consume the world, as well as about his true master, the Lich King, who was created to aid the Legion with his Undead Scourge but in truth wishes for

15729-444: The impending release of an update that significantly changed the map layout, Guinsoo left the development to his adjutant Neichus in the year 2005. After some weeks of development and some versions released, the latter turned over responsibility to a modder named IceFrog , who initiated large changes to the mechanics that deepened its complexity and capacity for innovative gameplay. The changes conducted by IceFrog were well-received and

15876-470: The individual units' sound effects, the realistic battle noises and mystical magical effect sounds as well the units' humorous comments. The voice acting was praised by many reviewers, with GameSpot finding that it "conveys each personality distinctly and vividly". While IGN also praised most of it, they also noted that some voice acting was mediocre and very few voices actually bad. While each faction has different units with strengths and weaknesses,

16023-463: The largest prize pools, three have been MOBA titles for three years in row. Distributed prize money in MOBA tournaments reached over US$ 54 million in 2017. A year later, prize pools continued to grow reaching over US$ 60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. 2018 League of Legends World Championship had the biggest prize pool out of all League of Legends esports championship finals, awarding almost $ 6.5 million. MOBAs are some of

16170-546: The leaders of the DotA Allstars clan , TDA, proposed that a dedicated web site be created to replace the various online alternatives that were infrequently updated or improperly maintained. TDA member Steve "Pendragon" Mescon created an official community site, dota-allstars.com. Towards the end of Feak's association with the map in 2005, development of the map changed hands to Neichus and then IceFrog. The new author, IceFrog, added new features, heroes, and fixes. IceFrog

16317-473: The main paths leading to their base. In the center of each base is the Ancient, the building that must be destroyed to win the game. Each player controls one hero , a powerful unit with unique abilities. In DotA , players on each side can choose one of more than a hundred heroes, each with different abilities and tactical advantages. The scenario is highly team-oriented; it is difficult for one player to carry

16464-423: The main questline, oftentimes granting benefits that help with those main objectives. Through each race's campaign, the player retains control of one or more heroes who slowly grow in experience as the levels progress, which is carried over to subsequent missions, allowing the hero to become more powerful throughout the course of the campaign. While different in terms of story-line and precise gameplay, all of

16611-511: The most popular PC games. The success in the genre has helped convince many video game publishers to copy the free-to-play MOBA model. SuperData Research reported that the genre generated over $ 2.5 billion of revenue in 2017. Similar to fighting games , MOBAs offer a large number of viable player characters for the player to choose from, each of which having distinctive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. With such wide varieties available, players have numerous choices from which to find

16758-436: The most watched games in the world. Major esports professional tournaments are held in venues that can hold tens of thousands of spectators and are streamed online to millions more. A strong fanbase has opened up the opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon . A free-to-play business model, which is used by the largest MOBA titles, have contributed to

16905-441: The number and type of roles can differ depending on the game. The carry role is expected to scale and itemize themselves to do the most damage against enemy characters and objectives, but may also require protection and assistance from their team members. Supports assist their team with abilities that aid allies and disable enemies, rather than dealing damage directly. Some supports have healing abilities which can be vital factor in

17052-500: The number of users on the Dota: Allstars forum is thought to have peaked at over one million. DotA is widely attributed as the most significant inspiration for the MOBA genre in the years to come. By 2008, the popularity of DotA had attracted commercial attention. Since the format was tied to the Warcraft property, developers began to work on their own " DOTA -style" video games. A Flash web game, named Minions ,

17199-419: The opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon. Each match starts with two opposing teams typically composed of five players. Players work together as a team to achieve the ultimate victory condition, which is to destroy their enemy's base whilst protecting their own. Usually, both teams have main structures, located at the opposite corners of

17346-416: The opposite team's minions, players can aid them which turns the minions into a useful army for striking the opponents' defenses. There are typically three "lanes" on the battlefield that are the main ways of getting from one base to another. The lanes are known as top, middle and bottom lane, or, in gamer shorthand – "top", "mid" and "bot". Between the lanes is an uncharted area called "jungle". The "jungle"

17493-415: The original Defense of the Ancients ( DotA ), each player controls one powerful unit rather than a large army. While it still kept the large scale, core mechanics, and goals of the real-time strategy games, DotA attempted to avoid "clickfest" gameplay in which high actions per minute scores are mandatory for efficient playing, changing focus to the actual teamwork, coordination, and tactics. This made

17640-410: The particular lane they are focusing on, such as "top laner", "mid laner", and "bottom laner", or by their role in a teamfight, such as "frontliner", "damage dealer", "healer", "flex", and the "offlaner". As a fusion of real-time strategy (RTS), role-playing , and action games , MOBAs have many elements of preexisting genres while still offering unique gameplay. In general, the design philosophy of

17787-544: The powerful "Skull of Gul'dan". Consuming the Skull and becoming a demon-elf hybrid, Illidan uses its power to kill Tichondrius but is banished from the forest by his brother as he is now part demon. Meanwhile, the Prophet summons Thrall, Jaina, Tyrande and Malfurion, and reveals that he used to be Medivh, the Last Guardian and the betrayer from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans , returned to make amends for his past sins. With

17934-620: The previous games while the Undead Scourge and the Night Elves were added as two new factions. As in StarCraft , each race has a unique set of units, structures, technologies, and base-building methodology. The game also introduces creeps, computer controlled units that are hostile to all players. Creeps guard key areas such as gold mines or neutral buildings and, when killed, provide experience points, gold, and special items that can be used by heroes. Warcraft III also introduced

18081-475: The project's advancement soon became evident: one year later, at The International 2019 , OpenAI Five defeated The International 2018-winner OG , becoming the first artificial intelligence system to beat the reigning world champion team at a video game. Warcraft III World Editor Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a high fantasy real-time strategy computer video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment released in July 2002. It

18228-402: The real-time strategy game Warcraft III in 2002. As with Warcraft II and StarCraft , Blizzard included a free World Editor in the game that allows players to create custom scenarios or maps for the game, which can be played online with other players through Battle.net . Warcraft III also featured powerful hero units that leveled up and could equip items to boost their abilities, and

18375-571: The regular game, a limited Collector's Edition Warcraft III bundle containing a Warcraft III cinematic DVD , including behind-the-scenes features and the cinematics of all prior Warcraft games; a Collector's Edition Soundtrack ; a Collector's Edition instruction manual ; The Art of Warcraft book; and lithographic prints was released. Blizzard also released the Warcraft Battle Chest , which contains Reign of Chaos bundled with The Frozen Throne in one box. Another version,

18522-432: The same time. Additionally, a new "upkeep" system means that producing units over certain amounts will decrease the amount of gold one can earn, compelling players to focus on playing with a limited number of units to avoid penalties. The game displays units and buildings as well as the environment from a classical top-down perspective with a slight angle that can only be zoomed and rotated slightly. The game features

18669-446: The signatures of Blizzard games are the unit quotes: If a single unit is clicked four or more times in a row, the unit's voice samples become increasingly comical. The unit may start getting angry at the player, or make allusions and references to other games, film or jokes. Most of the game's missions and background story was written by Chris Metzen , who also provided the voice for Thrall. Metzen had previously contributed artwork to

18816-410: The story using cutscenes rendered using the game's 3D engine. These cutscenes show the characters using a side-view camera, zooming in to the models. Additionally, each campaign features pre-rendered cinematics that show the outcome of the campaign. According to Samwise Didier , Blizzard's art director for Warcraft III , the company, when developing the first game of the series, attempted to create

18963-450: The team composition's success, giving health and sustenance to their allies while limiting the enemy's options in terms of play patterns. Ganker roles are flexible, as they have both carry and support skills that are used to disrupt and eliminate enemies, thus giving their teammates an advantage over their opponents. Gankers can "act as a strategist, decision-maker or supporter depending on the team's needs." Player roles can be classified by

19110-475: The team to victory alone. DotA allows up to ten players in a five-versus-five format. DotA offers a variety of game modes, selected by the game host at the beginning of the match. The game modes dictate the difficulty of the scenario, as well as whether players can choose their hero or are assigned one randomly. Many game modes can be combined, allowing more flexible options. Because the gameplay revolves around strengthening individual heroes, it does not require

19257-477: The variety of factions as well as the balance between those factions. Warcraft III sold one million units in the first month after release, becoming the fastest-selling PC video game in history at that time and surpassing a record set by Diablo II. The NPD Group declared it the third-best-selling computer game of 2002. In the United States, Warcraft III sold 1 million copies and earned $ 49.4 million by August 2006, after its release in July 2002, making it

19404-480: The various mechanics, such as heroes and upkeep, offered more tactical possibilities than ever before. Many reviewers praised the game's campaign for creating an epic storyline that avoids typical stereotypes and provides a nuanced portrayal of the different factions. Gamecritics.com concluded that Blizzard had finally succeeded in fleshing out the story-line of the first two Warcraft titles, giving each side its own motivations and differences beyond cosmetics. In

19551-471: The world, especially in Europe and Asia. In the Philippines and Thailand, it was played as much as the game Counter-Strike . It was also popular in Sweden and other Northern European countries, where the Defense of the Ancients -inspired song " Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA " by Swedish musician Basshunter cracked the top ten singles charts in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. LAN tournaments were

19698-427: The year" by PC Gamer and received a number of other awards and accolades from critics. In 2018, Rock, Paper, Shotgun declared Warcraft III to be the 34th best strategy game of all time. German magazine GameStar ranked Warcraft III as the best strategy game and the second best PC game of all time in 2018, noting that the game and its expansion pack received scores higher than any other game since. During

19845-579: Was at one time highly reclusive, refusing to give interviews; the only evidence of his authorship was the map maker's email account on the official website and the name branded on the game's loading screen. Defense of the Ancients was maintained via official forums. Users posted ideas for new heroes or items, some of which were added to the map. IceFrog would quickly update the map in response to feedback. Mescon maintained dota-allstars.com, which by May 2009 had over 1,500,000 registered users and received over one million unique visitors every month. Mescon's sale of

19992-408: Was composed by Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes, and Glenn Stafford. The Limited Edition of Reign of Chaos came with much of the orchestral music on a separate CD. Each of the four playable races has different music: monastic music for the humans; ambient and Native American -sounding music for the Night Elves; warlike music for the Orcs; and fast, haunting music for the Undead. One of

20139-423: Was created by The Casual Collective in 2008. Gas Powered Games released the first stand-alone commercial title in the genre, Demigod (2009). In late 2009, Riot Games ' debut title League of Legends was released. It was initially designed by Steve Feak, one of the original creators of DotA: Allstars, who went on to apply many of the mechanics and lessons he learned from the mod. Riot began to refer to

20286-575: Was followed by two spiritual successors , League of Legends (2009) and Heroes of Newerth (2010), as well by a standalone sequel, Dota 2 (2013), and numerous other games in the genre, such as Heroes of the Storm (2015). By the early 2010s, the genre had become a big part of the esports category. In 2018, prize pools reached over US$ 60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. Major esports professional tournaments are held in venues that can hold tens of thousands of spectators and are streamed online. A strong fanbase has opened up

20433-475: Was hired by Valve to lead a team to develop a standalone sequel to Defense of the Ancients , Dota 2 . The gameplay hews closely to DotA . In addition to the pre-conceived gameplay constants, Dota 2 also features Steam support and profile tracking, intended to emphasize and support the game's matchmaking and community. The marketing and trademark of Dota as a franchise by Valve faced opposition from Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment, who legally challenged

20580-586: Was instead worked into Warcraft III , whose development began in early 1998. The game was announced as a role-playing strategy game (RPS) on September 5, 1999, at a press conference by the game's lead designer Rob Pardo inside the Henley-Suite at the European Computer Trade Show 1999. According to Pardo, Mike O'Brien , the game's lead programmer, originally planned a strategy game—tentatively titled Warcraft Legends —with few units to command, over-the-shoulder camera and no base building. However, after

20727-527: Was nearly vacant. In early versions of the game, hero units did not have any particular special abilities. Instead, players spent gold on weapon and armor upgrades. In 2002, Blizzard released Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (WC3), with the accompanying Warcraft III World Editor . Both the multiplayer online battle arena and tower defense subgenres took substantive shape within the WC3 modding community. A modder named Eul began converting Aeon of Strife into

20874-478: Was one of the influences for the 2009 Gas Powered Games title Demigod , with GameSpy summing its premise up as aspiring gods "[playing] DotA in real life". Feak went on to apply many of the mechanics and lessons he learned from Defense of the Ancients to the Riot Games title League of Legends . Other " DotA clones" include S2 Games ' Heroes of Newerth , and Blizzard Entertainment 's Heroes of

21021-535: Was published in the same year. Two years later, artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI developed the AI project OpenAI Five , which was first showcased at the Dota 2 World Championship, The International 2017 , during a 1v1 demonstration. In this demonstration, OpenAI Five faced off against Dendi , one of the most prolific and popular DotA players of all time. In this 1v1, OpenAI Five defeated Dendi twice in

21168-1028: Was released in the western market in 2017. In 2021, the Pokémon series released its first MOBA game in Pokémon Unite . During the last half of the 2010s, video game developers and publishers , following the success of League of Legends and Dota 2 , tried to be part of the next-generation MOBA wave by putting their own twist in the genre, releasing games such as Battlerite (2017), and AirMech (2018). After years of development, many games which were supported by large publishers have not been fully released or their servers were shut down shortly after release. The most notable examples are Dawngate (2015) by Electronic Arts , DC Comics-based Infinite Crisis (2015) by Warner Bros. , Arena of Fate (2016) by Crytek , Gigantic (2017) by Perfect World Entertainment , Master X Master (2018) by NCSoft , and Paragon (2018) by Epic Games . In

21315-431: Was set to feature five playable races (with the addition of demons) and only a single resource to be mined. In January 2001, Blizzard announced the Night Elves as the last race as well as the conversion of demons into an NPC race. The next major changes came between ECTS 2000 and E3 2001, when a different interface and the Night Elf race was revealed. The versions demonstrated at E3 2001 and ECTS 2001 already contained all

21462-401: Was significantly altered during development, with the final game sharing little similarities with the originally presented version (see similarities to StarCraft ). The game received acclaim from critics, who praised the game's presentation and multiplayer features. It is considered an influential example of RTS video games and one of the greatest video games ever made . Warcraft III was

21609-452: Was used as a tool for creating many popular tower defense custom maps that served as inspiration for the standalone tower defense games, such as Plants vs. Zombies . Many of the characters, locations and concepts introduced in Warcraft III and its expansion went on to play major roles in Blizzard's World of Warcraft (2004), which became the world's most popular MMORPG by player count of nearly 10 million in 2009. They also took

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