DOTA 2 full launch delayed to 2012, beta soon

Why does this news, Valve delaying a game, not surprise me? Did somebody make another Gabe Newell fat joke?

My opinion is DOTA 2 had to be delayed, there's only 2 choices they could go with and that is to release the game as is with minimal work needed to make it complete and just tweak the animations and sound (plenty have commented it needed a little extra work on animations and sound such as destroying the main building not having any animation at all and it just disappearing) or they can actually do something with it. Lets face it, the game hasn't moved on from DOTA in any meaningful way. The first MOBA by a huge company is just an almost identical but graphically improved iteration with a few more features? Not a great show at all. HoN practically does this anyway just with better (although a completely different style to be fair) graphics, a cleaner HUD and being further into it's life it also has more characters to pick from. Equipment is pretty much the same due to it being a very similar game. For me though I'm a bigger fan of League of Legends, it's not as hardcore but it's a better game in my opinion that actually differentiates itself with getting rid of bad mechanics like denying (simply slows down the game and creates more minion wave micro management) and adds brush for some added strategy. The games more fun and champion focused (ie less minion farming) and since I play a game to fight others that makes sense. It's more intuitive when it comes to last hitting and far more unique feeling and varied characters in my opinion (like Orianna, Amumu, Skarner and Shaco).

lol didnt even know there was a DOTA 1.

what the hell is steam thinking making a tournament with a million dollar price with crappy commentators/camera man, lag everywhere, late replays with no commentators and lots of technical problems of a game that hasn't even been released.

I really enjoyed playing DOTA with the Warcraft III community back in the day. As for this being delayed, I'll be so caught up with all the games coming out in the next 3 months to even care...

LoL ftw

Very disappointing, expected much more from Valve, sticking to HoN thanks.

Too many awesome games available soon to even worry about this.

Why russian accent makes no sense, v cartoonish game , rubbish

lol rubbish CGi with rubbish animations and garbage soundtrack, WOW Cgi intro wannabe

Classic Valve!

nooooo.. why do you do this valve!

I signed up for the beta, heres hoping I get in

@stailcookie They changed how those heroes look, enough so that there will be no copyright infringement.

Come on Valve, the game is finished... We saw it! You can adjust the balance just like Icefrog is doing with the first Dota after the release, I really can't believe you need nothing short than 6 more months to bring it out!

Can rush perfection and the same goes for Half-Life. Only reason why it's still the highest rated game on the PC according to Metacritic. We just have to endure a bit more.

Nothing like a smooth glass of Valve Time to calm the nerves. I hope everyone has been enjoying the Half-Life glass of Valve Time I think it has become a vintage.

Stop trolling Hon players. Graphics are way better than HON and they used TF2 kind of graphic that wont expire in long term.

"But One They Fear, Dragon Born!"

ofc.the game just looks bad compare to HoN. Really expected more from Valve.There is obvious attempts to make the game looks similar to LoL(health bar,towers,voice acting) which i find to be very disturbing.Well will see,for now HoN is the only real dota clone,despite been managed by morons.

I still don't understand how this game is allowed to be. The original is a mod for Blizzard's Warcarft 3. The sequel has some heroes that look identical to that game... Did Blizzard give the dev permission to make this?

Valve time in effect once again :P

good move on valve

what kinda of game is DOTA? i'ma go check.

@SpOOoOOn For sure...I love the direction they've taken with DotA2 (especially the new setting/characters they've come up with to de-Warcraft it, but that is neither here nor there) but there were times during the stream that I could barely tell what was going on - and don't even get me started on the bland "icon art" - skills or items, it doesn't matter - they all lack the flavor that the structures, characters, and terrain are brimming with.

Valve-time... yeah!! But seriously, it will probably be worth it!

@vadicta I hear that next Valve plans to announce the delay of a game that they aren't quite ready to announce yet.

It saddens me that this is being delayed because that means that it only delays the release of the next (STILL) yet-to-be-announced Half-Life installment.

Good call. It's awesome to see the potential, but the animations and spell effects really need some more work.

I prefer that they release a working title later, than a broken one now. I'm sure Valve will deliver, as always.

@vadicta this was announced a long time back only public preview has been done recently

Been thinking about breaking into this genre; it looks like a lot of fun despite the steep learning curve. Looking forward to DoTA2.

Valve time! :)

nah it was announced a year ago to people who stay intact on the Dota scene. Half a year for people in the moba games such as HoN or LoL.

Wasn't this game just announced? How could it already be delayed?