Ignore game hours, I played over 3000+ in original launcher. I came to this game long time ago, it was great! The community is cool and it contains many unique machanics that not a lot of games will probably ever have. The game really pulled me in and wouldn't let go. I played the game for years and joined a really good guild 'ForeverNever'.

Sadly the game went dead when publishers(suba) introduced overpowered battle pets, leading it to be an "pay to win".
Even without GM's the community has kept it going for years.

Whenever I log back in the loading screen, soundtracks makes me feel nostalgic. In all these years never found an RPG better than this.

10/10 would lose virginity again.

Update: The commerce has collapsed, the game seems to be on barter system now (o(
The license has officially expired, suba is milking the last of us....
There seems to be no hope for private server as it was handed over to other Chinese party.
Apparently now they are indeed making p-server and are open to donation.
Guide- https://v1.steam.hlxgame.cc/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2092803948

I started playing Dota 2 back in 2016 without knowing anything about MOBAs. Before that, I had only played MMORPGs casually, so the game genuinely felt impossible to understand. I quit almost immediately because it was so hard.

A couple years later, I dragged my friend Elvin into learning the game with me. Back then we had this mindset that watching tutorials was for noobs, so we tried learning everything ourselves. Item builds, warding, power spikes, hero matchups — all through trial and error. We probably ruined hundreds of games figuring things out.

It took us nearly 1000 hours before we could confidently say we actually understood Dota.
And honestly, that’s what made the game special.

It became part of our routine. Long Discord calls teaching newer friends how to play, convincing one local friend after another to install it, explaining mechanics to Ashbel & Richard like maniacs. The ones who stayed got addicted just like we did.

Poly and I would watch TI together. Even during periods where we “quit,” we always came back. One reinstall. Then suddenly it’s 1 AM and you’re arguing with Killer over whose fault it was.

The game is also incredibly toxic, racist, unfiltered rage every match. Weirdly enough, it became a place to dump frustration after a bad day. Flame some pinoy dogs with voice lines. Dota had this chaotic atmosphere that no other multiplayer game really replicated.

Years later, we're busy, less time to play — but somehow Dota still the constant. The gaming addiction has evolved into gambling as you can see below