Defense of the Ancients (commonly known as DotA) is a custom scenario for the real-time

strategy video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen
Throne, based on the "Aeon of Strife" map for StarCraft. The objective of the scenario is for
each team to destroy the opponents' Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners
of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and
AI-controlled fighters called "creeps". As in role-playing games, players level up their heroes
and use gold to buy equipment during the mission.[2]

The scenario was developed with the "World Editor" of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and was
updated upon the release of its expansion, The Frozen Throne. There have been many
variations of the original concept; the most popular being DotA Allstars, which eventually was
simplified to DotA with the release of version 6.68.[3] This specific scenario has been maintained
by several authors during development, with the current publicly anonymous developer known
as "IceFrog" developing the game since 2005.

Since its original release, DotA has become a feature at several worldwide tournaments,
including Blizzard Entertainment's BlizzCon and the Asian World Cyber Games, as well as the
Cyberathlete Amateur and CyberEvolution leagues; Gamasutra declared that DotA was perhaps
the most popular "free, non-supported game mod in the world". [4] Valve Software is currently
developing an official sequel, Dota 2.

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. [5][6]

Each human player controls one Hero, a powerful unit with unique abilities. In DotA, players on
each side choose one of 101 heroes, each with different abilities and tactical advantages over
other heroes.[7] The scenario is highly team-oriented; it is difficult for one player to carry the
team to victory alone,[8]. Defense of the Ancients allows up to ten players in a five-versus-five
format and an additional two slots for referees or observers, often with an equal number of
players on each side.

Because the gameplay revolves around strengthening individual heroes, it does not require one
to 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; when
enough experience is accumulated, the player gains a level. Leveling up improves the hero's
toughness and the damage it can inflict, and allows players to upgrade their spells or skills. In
addition to accumulating experience, players also manage a single resource: 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 hostile units, base structures, and enemy
heroes.[9] 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". [10]
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 scenario. [11] Item choice also effects play style, as any given
item may increase one statistic (for example, attack per minute) while leaving another (damage
per attack) alone.

DotA offers a variety of game modes, selected by the game host at the beginning of the match.
The game modes dictate the difficulty of the scenario, as well as whether people can choose
their hero or are assigned one randomly. Many game modes can be combined (for example, an
easy difficulty level and a random hero pick), allowing more flexible options

Development
Warcraft III is the third title in the Warcraft series of real-time strategy games developed by
Blizzard Entertainment. As with Warcraft II, Blizzard included a free "world editor" in the game
that allows players to create custom scenarios or "maps" for the game, which can be played
online with other players through Battle.net.[13] These custom scenarios can be simple terrain
changes, which play like normal Warcraft games, or they can be entirely new game scenarios
with custom objectives, units, items, and events, like Defense of the Ancients.[13]

The first version of Defense of the Ancients was released in 2003 by a mapmaker under the
alias of Eul[14] who based the map on a previous StarCraft scenario known as "Aeon of Strife".[12]
After the release of Warcraft's expansion The Frozen Throne, which added new features to the
World Editor, Eul did not update the scenario. [15] Other mapmakers produced spinoffs that
added new heroes, items, and features.[14]

Among the DotA variants created in the wake of Eul's map, there was DotA Allstars, developed
by modder Steve Feak (under the alias Guinsoo); this version would become today's dominant
version of the map, simply known as Defense of the Ancients.[16] Feak said when he began
developing DotA Allstars, he had no idea how popular the game would eventually become; the
emerging success of the gametype inspired him to design a new title around what he
considered an emerging game genre.[17] Feak added a recipe system for items so that player's
equipment would scale as they grew more powerful, as well as a powerful boss character called
Roshan (named after his bowling ball) who required an entire team to defeat. [14]

Feak used a battle.net chat channel as a place for DotA players to congregate,[14] but DotA
Allstars had no official site for discussions and hosting. The leaders of the DotA Allstars clan,
TDA, proposed that a dedicated web site be created to replace the various online alternatives
that were infrequently updated or improperly maintained. TDA member Steve "Pendragon"
Mescon created the former official community site, dota-allstars.com, on October 14, 2004. [18]
Towards the end of his association with the map, Feak primarily worked on optimizing the map
before handing over control to another developer after version 6.01. The new author, IceFrog,
added new features, heroes, and fixes. Each release is accompanied with a changelog.[19]
IceFrog was at one time highly reclusive, refusing to give interviews; the only evidence of his
authorship was the map maker's email account on the official website and the name branded
on the game's loading screen.[4] IceFrog now interacts with players through a personal blog
where he answers common questions players have about him and about the game. [20] He has
also posted information about upcoming map releases, including previews of new heroes and
items.[21]

Defense of the Ancients is maintained via official forums. Users can post ideas for new heroes
or items, some of which are added to the map. Players have contributed icons and hero
descriptions and created the artwork displayed while the map loads, and suggestions for
changes to existing heroes or items are taken seriously; IceFrog once changed a new hero less
than two weeks after the new version of the map was released. [4] Versions of the scenario
where enemy heroes are controlled by artificial intelligences have also been released. Mescon
continued to maintain dota-allstars.com, which by the end of IceFrog's affiliation in May of
2009 had over 1,500,000 registered users and had received over one million unique visitors
every month.[18] Due to their separation, IceFrog announced that he would be further
developing a new official site, playdota.com, while continuing game development; [22] Mescon
closed dota-allstars on July 22, 2010, citing dropping statistics and his new passion for League of
Legends as the reason for its end.

Because Warcraft III custom games have none of the features designed to improve game
quality (matchmaking players based on connection speed, etc.), various programs are used to
maintain Defense of the Ancients. External tools ping player's locations, and games can be
named to exclude geographic regions. [4] Clans and committees such as TDA maintain their own
official list of rules and regulations, and players can be kicked from matches by being placed on
"banlists".[4]