To understand the history of DotA ,one must begin from Starcraft. In the early days of Starcraft, there was a Use Map Settings (UMS) map called Aeon of Strife (AoS) made by a modder called Aeon64 that featured a cooperative game with four heroes facing off against endless waves of computer-controlled creeps in four lanes. The players would have endless computer-controlled creeps on their side as well, except these were weaker than the enemy creeps. The familiar game mechanic of the player who last-hit an enemy unit being rewarded with money can be found in this map. The game would end once key buildings on either side were destroyed or with the deaths of all four player-controlled heroes. A second version was made so that four players faced off against each other in a 2v2 fashion with endless creeps on both teams.
Once Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos was released on July 3, 2002, Aeon of Strife was ported over to Reign of Chaos where free of the limitations of the Starcraft map editor, a much more interesting game could be made. Players could gain experience alongside money, gain levels, learn more powerful abilities and buy equipment. Many of the game mechanics in modern DotA can be found in maps from this period.
The first Aeon of Strife-styled map that took advantage of the ability to design custom spells provided by the powerful Reign of Chaos World Editor was Valley of Dissent made by a modder called Karukef. Another modder called Eul borrowed some ideas of his predecessors to create an Aeon of Strife-styled map called Defence of the Ancients (DotA), which would become one of the most popular UMS maps on Battle.net.
When Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne came out on July 1st, 2003, Eul made a version called DotA 2: Thirst for Gamma in TFT, but it wasn't successful in replacing the original DotA that had been ported into The Frozen Throne. Eul then disappeared, but not before making his code open-source.
At this time, many people modded the The Frozen Throne version of DotA. These derivatives of DotA started becoming popular on Battle.net. During this time, DotA wasn't called DotA Allstars, but instead the EX series. This was the version of DotA optimized by a modder off of the Reign of Chaos version. Other well-known series were the "DotA DX Series", "DotA Unforgiven" and "DotA Outland".
These ancient DotA maps led to DotA becoming one of the most popular maps on Battle.net and created very good conditions for DotA Allstars to flourish on its release.
defence of the ancient
(dota)
Defense of the Ancients pits two teams of players against each other: the Sentinel and the Scourge. Players on the Sentinel team are based at the southwest corner of the map, and those on the Scourge team are based at the northeast corner. Each base is defended by towers and waves of units which guard the main paths leading to their base. In the center of each base is the "Ancient", a building that must be destroyed to win the game.
Each human player controls one hero, a powerful unit with unique abilities. In DotA, players on each side choose one of 112 heroes, each with different abilities and tactical advantages over other heroes. The scenario is highly team-oriented; it is difficult for one player to carry the team to victory alone. DotA allows up to ten players in a five-versus-five format.
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Because the gameplay revolves around strengthening individual heroes, it does not require focus on resource management and base-building, unlike 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. In addition to accumulating experience, players also manage a single resource of gold. The typical resource-gathering of Warcraft III 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 has caused emphasis on a technique called "last-hitting," which is when the player attacks a hostile unit when "its hit points are low enough to kill it with one blow". 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 is an important tactical element of the mod.
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The game is a blast and depending on the players, heroes chosen, items acquired, and game settings enabled – the game can be drastically different each time. When hunting for a good game to join on Battle.net, its important to watch out for the various game modes being advertised as these modes change the way the game is played from a strategic standpoint and you don’t want to go into it blind. So Chose wisely!