Since I heard about valve was working on a dota/moba-game I was a bit excited about what Valve would do for the rather new genre since I enjoyed DotA for a bit, but League of Legends even more.
Then I read about it in
Game Informer's detailed article. Afterwards disappointment overcame me :(
To sum it up it's Valve copy the DotA-game as it is, heroes, items, map. The whole she-bang! Without adding or
changing anything game-play-wise. I was hoping for Valve to come up with at least something new to the genre that hasn't been seen in any other game in the genre.
The effort from Valve's side has instead been laid on the "ancillary" features that will be in the game. Such as a coach system which allows more experienced players to coach new players and help them climb the very steep learning curve and interactive guides.
Quotes from the article like
The bulk of innovation in Dota 2, however, is ancillary to the gameplay itself.
and
Ultimately, two things will make Dota 2 stand out: the coaching system and interactive guides.
makes me disappointed as the few games in the genre out there is already similar enough (excluding Demi God) and I was hoping that someone as big as Valve would have brought some interesting ideas and innovations to the game-play itself.
From the standpoint of someone new to the genre I think it's going to be a great game with all the ancillary stuff in there
to make it more friendly to the new players and also the graphics which will include "true cloth simulation" :D