The potential audience of Dota

On a side note, I don’t think Dota will die anytime soon, and I firmly believe that our competitive scene will keep attracting new players.

The pure truth is that Dota is an old game with a pretty steep difficulty curve. We can transform the mechanics and make them more friendly, or revamp all the skills and talents, but we can't alter either the age or the potential audience of the game.

Another Valve’s title, Counter-Strike, is aging better and even scoring new viewership records at each Major. The genre is different: we are talking about an FPS. Honestly, many players don't know how that tactical game should really be played, but you can just load the map, choose your weapon, and have fun.

Changes can push away old players

I will share my personal experience with you all. I have different friends that stopped playing when the talents were introduced. They confirmed that Dota was more enjoyable than ever, but they simply didn’t have the time or the will to learn all the modifications and adapt their gameplay.

Indeed, the adjustments implemented in the past years are crucial for the future of the game. But, the old playerbase is aging. The young boys that played Dota are now finishing their studies or working full-time, and some of them preferred "easier" games for their weekends.

Most of them are now playing Overwatch and PUBG. Yep, the genre is completely different, but those games don't require many efforts to learn the basics.

Lack of objectives and quests

Almost all games nowadays have some sort of grinding mechanic. Many players want quests or objectives to accomplish in order to earn levels and points, usually traded for a reward (skins).

I play Overwatch, and for those that don’t know how the game works, you get a free treasure chest every time you level up. In the past, also Dota had a similar feature, but now one can just randomly - and rarely - find pieces of gear at the end of a match.

We need the same incentives and features brought in by the Battle Pass, but they must be active all year long and free to all players.

Everyone will agree that you feel compelled to play when there is a quest or a daily mission to fill in which can unlock new skins and sets.

Dota must not only attract new players, but also retain them.

The video below explains how levels can be used as a trap by game designers to increase our playtime.