I can’t believe I’ve spent a whole decade binge playing this game. In so many ways it is the best moba there is, has been, and will be for the foreseeable future. No other comes even close.

The sheer complexity of this game is hard to wrap my mind around, and more so how well balanced it is and continues to be after each massive update overhauls the stats and mechanics every few months.

Its learning curve is extremely steep at the beginning, which is one of the reasons the game fails to grow its playerbase. It really pays off however to learn the mechanics and become a better player. Managing to keep your team alive or successfully planning elaborate strats and coming back from an unfavorable match feels extremely rewarding and satisfactory, and so does realizing how one’s grasp of the ever more complex mechanics increases on par with their ranks progression.

There are two more aspects of DotA 2 for which I would like to commend the game, albeit I’m confident these two specific things contribute to less players getting hooked to the game once they try it.

First, anything that affects gameplay, including every hero, is free and completely accessible from the very beginning. Money can only purchase cosmetic items, which in turn translates in less players ever spending a dime, even though it is proven that “investing” any amount of money in a game makes the player more likely to come back to it. I commend the game for that.

The other aspect is the aesthetic design of its characters. While other MOBAs and other GaaS insist on sexualizing its characters to increase the game's appeal, DotA 2 dares to use fantasy designs which range from monstrous beasts and elemental entities to warriors with normal, believable proportions.

In any case, I wouldn’t lightly recommend DotA. However there is a certain amount of people with an itch for intense action and strategy who are in for an amazing ride.