https://www.cybersport.ru/dota-2/articles/toksichnoe-komyuniti-i-naplevatelstvo-razrabotchikov-pochemu-ne-stoit-igrat-v-dota-2

Lack of comprehensive training

To begin with, there is no full-fledged training for beginners in Dota 2. At the start, the game will tell you about the management, basic movements on the map, buildings, about the location of the shop, some items, creeps, and at the end it will ask you to destroy the enemy tower. The developers believe that this is enough for a beginner, and then let him dig into all the mechanics of the game himself.

The newcomer, of course, can practice with bots, but they will not tell him about neutral creeps, teleport, hero talent pumping, etc. – to figure it out on his own. If a newbie has no friends who play Dota 2, can help him and play a match with him as a team, he will start searching and get random teammates and enemies who absolutely do not care that this is his first battle in Dota. Moreover, the beginner can still begin to insult and humiliate, but more on that later.

There are, of course, kind people who, upon learning that you are inexperienced, will help you enjoy the game and have fun. About this case not so long ago told on reddit – then the newbie’s rivals did not take advantage of their advantage and gave him the opportunity to have fun. However, there are only a few such people, and therefore the average beginner after the first match is likely to close the game and find it too difficult. Some, after their first experience in Dota 2, come to reddit and ask experienced users to help them figure it out and play with them, but for which game, other than Dota, could this be considered the norm?

Why can’t the game provide a complete tutorial that will help you understand all aspects of Dota 2? Let it be long, but after passing it, the beginner will at least understand what he needs to do on the map. Dota developers can make new tutorials or expand the current one. In addition, there is the least expensive option for them – just take custom cards with training, inviting newcomers to play on them. Dota 2 has a really high barrier to entry, and without a good learning mechanism, it is difficult for it to attract and retain a new audience.

Toxic community

If you are not a masochist, then you are unlikely to be delighted with the Dota 2 community. Having made a mistake or done something that your teammates will not like, you risk learning a lot of new and unpleasant things about yourself and your family. Accidentally finished off your carry’s creep? Be ready to hear from him about your mom. Did everything he could in a fight, but died? It means that you are crooked and nafidil on purpose.

Insults and humiliation of teammates and enemies can be found on any rating, and even professional players cannot always restrain themselves in certain situations. So, two-time champion of The International Sebastian Ceb Debs one day insulted Russian players in Dota 2 matchmaking, calling them “dogs from a third world country”, and expressed the appropriate wishes to them. Later, the esportsman, of course, apologized for his behavior, but a year later, history repeated itself. Debs insulted a teammate during a rating match, calling him “dumb animal.” And this is not the only professional player who “burned” for teammates in Dota 2, there were many other cases. If even the professionals cannot control themselves, then what about other players?

A bouquet of insults also complements the selfishness of the doters. If you ask politely to give up a line or role, be prepared to be ignored – at best. Most of the time, random teammates absolutely do not care about you and your eagerness to win the match, they will not listen to anyone and will do what they want. In addition, it is better not to try to take away the role of a teammate by force, because then he may start to spoil the game – for example, he will take you on Tiny Airlines or just go to feed.

After a tight battle lost, you can often see the phrases “GG EZ”, “noobs”, “lowskills” and everything like that from the enemy in the chat. Opponents do not care that they were also on the verge of defeat – they will specially write to the chat in order to “set you on fire” even more, while getting pleasure from it.

You can try to “punish” an uncultured player by sending a complaint against him. However, it is unlikely that this will return the spent nerves and lost MMR due to those who, out of harm, decided to ruin the game.

In general, if you are ready to learn a lot about yourself and are able to calmly react to insults, or if you have friends with whom you can form a group, then Dota 2 is worth a try. However, I warn you right away: even people with the most persistent psyche cannot withstand the pressure of toxic players and gradually become part of the problem. Or they simply delete Dota.

Want to relax and have fun? Then Dota 2 is out of your way.

Dota 2 requires effort, reaction and a good understanding of a whole range of mechanics. If your goal is simply to relax after work and enjoy the game, then this is unlikely to be done here. The exception is those cases when you do not strive to win, but such situations are extremely rare. Of course, you can just mindlessly run around the map and have fun with your friends, but the goal of any game is to win. Especially if you are looking to increase your rank. To do this, you need to think over the draft, press the buttons well, try-hard on the lane, trying to finish off every creep and not die, analyze what the enemy heroes are capable of, what items you need to buy against them, in which situations it is better to retreat and when to attack … In general, a whole science! Therefore, it is better to refuse Dota 2 as a rest after work.

Dota 2 surprises don’t end with toxic players

Dota 2 has a special category of players that includes smurfs and boosters. Smurfs are users who create a new account in order to play at a lower rating or not to drain their high one. Boosters are experienced players who help others increase their MMR for money. Both Smurfs and boosters prevent ordinary gamers from enjoying Dota.

In any match at low ranks, you may come across a smurf who will pick, for example, Meepo and by the 15-20th minute will erase everyone on the map, after which he will quickly demolish the base. You are often not to blame for such defeats – you are just not as experienced as a Meepo player. Most likely, on the main Dota 2 account, he has played over 10 thousand hours and accumulated over 6 thousand MMR. He just came for fun to humiliate low-rated players and increase his self-esteem or help his friends earn a victory.

The second also applies to boosters, which “pump” other people’s accounts for money. They can be paid to increase the MMR, for example, from 2,000 to 4,000. It turns out that if you have money, you just need to turn to a booster and effortlessly rise in the rating. But here, too, everything is not as rosy as it seems at first glance. The game level for 2K and 4K MMR is significantly different. Without proper experience, not only the player who bought the boost will suffer, but also his teammates. They will have to drag the match in the minority, since the players with the increased rating usually simply do not understand what exactly they need to do. In addition to this, a neglected player will hear a lot of insults from teammates and ruin the impression of the match for others, since it is very difficult to win in such a situation.

The developers added the ability to send a complaint about a smurf or booster, and also created a system for detecting such accounts. However, so far the effectiveness of these measures is very low.

Updates problem

If you are not familiar with the Dota 2 developers yet, then meet Valve. Fans of this company’s games have been waiting for full updates for months. By that, I mean big changes, not mini-patches that add +1 to Juggernaut’s armor.

In-game events are rarely held by developers, in addition to this, they are not always successful. The players mainly got good impressions from Siltbreaker and Frostivus 2017.Since 2013, many have been waiting for the return of Diretide, which Valve once again delighted fans only in 2023, but here it was not without nuances…

Dota 2 developers also do not always carefully check the new items that they release. For example, players have found many explicit shortcomings in the lasso for Queen of Pain, which was available in Battle Pass 2023, – bugs with attack animation, an unfinished model, as well as the similarity of the second style of the item with the standard appearance of Vengeful Spirit.

Valve “can not“ in marketing

The PR issue applies not only to Dota 2, but to most of Valve’s other games as well. The company does not advertise its titles and novelties in any way, as other developers do. Sometimes there are major announcements at The International, as was the case with Artifact, but this is rather an exception to the rule. At the same time, Riot Games, for example, sends out newsletters about its new products, collaborates with streamers, liaises with the community, and creates game cinematics. The studio even has its own virtual music group made up of League of Legends characters.

At this time, online Dota 2 has been in stagnation for several years: the peak of more than a million players has not been observed since March 2019, and the average online only once exceeded the mark of 700 thousand users – in the distant 2016. It seems that the same people have been playing Dota 2 over the years, some just come back to the game after major updates to try new things, and then forget about it again.

Aside from PR issues, Valve lacks community connection. Players have no way of contacting company representatives, complaining about problems, or suggesting anything good, so the only thing left for them is to use reddit in the hope of being noticed. If Dota 2 developers care about their game and want to attract a new audience without losing the old one, then they need to reconsider their policy and listen to the community.