Analyst and streamer Yaroslav «NS» Kuznetsov expressed his thoughts on the development of Dota 2. According to him, Valve has created a game that bears a striking resemblance to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.
«Dota has started to acquire some MMORPG traits, but in a condensed timeframe: a large map, aspects. If you're new to World of Warcraft, you need to level up, which takes some time. Then dungeons appear, you allocate talents during leveling up, farm, get gear from dungeons or bosses in the open world, and then go fight. Some engage in PvE, others in PvP. In Dota, it's like you have to engage in PvP, but overall, it's a super condensed session over a few days or weeks in one game».
«I think people really enjoy playing at low ranks, where there's not many try-hards or super competitiveness. You pick Jakiro and buy Mask of Madness with Gleipnir. You walk around, choose items, and go fight bosses with friends. Dota needs more bosses on the map. Roshan is boring, there should be a new boss alongside him who spawns void zones».
«Dota really looks like a game for casual players. It's not because it's simple; on the contrary, there's a lot to it. It's like WoW: you can level up here and there, in parties, dungeons, or solo. Go on raids, search for them, do quests. You can choose not to do this and not level up much. Develop professions or mess around», — Yaroslav «NS» Kuznetsov.
Earlier, NS stated that high-rank pub players are not the main audience of Dota. The overwhelming majority of players are at low ranks and spend time in Turbo and Ability Draft modes.
On May 23, 2024, Valve released patch 7.36. The update introduced two new mechanics: aspects and innate abilities for all heroes. Four days later, a literal update with character nerfs and buffs was released.