DotA (Defense of the Ancient) - The Most Popular Custom Map for Warcraft 3390492

DotA, Defence of the Ancient, has become tremendously popular over the past few years. There are reports which claims that the custom map for Warcraft 3 have over 20 million players worldwide. Yes, I said custom map because that is what DotA really is. The concept "custom map" within the gaming world means that the map wasn't made by the developers whom produced the game, Warcraft 3 in this case. The map is instead made by a fan who enjoyed the game enough to create his own map and implement his own ideas.

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A Warcraft 3 map, any RTS(real-time strategy) map for that matter, is kind of like a digital gaming board. Fill it with water, trees, narrow passages, rippling rivers etc. and you will have yourself your own custom map for any RTS. Blizzard, the creator of Warcraft 3, shipped the game with a very powerful map editor, free for anyone to use. A smart move from their side, it has made the lifetime endless. Nowadays people tend to play custom maps, the fan-made maps and DotA in particular, more than they are playing the maps that Blizzard sent with the game.

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The gameplay is very basic. There are two teams, the Sentinel and the Scourge, five players in each. The team who destroys the opposing teams Ancient first wins, the Scourge's ancient is called the Frozen Throne and the Sentinels ancient is called the Tree of Life. The relics are located in each of the teams bases. There are three ways leading to the bases, each of the ways are filled with defensive towers and NPC's(non player controlled characters) defending the way to their teams base. The ways are more commonly known as "lanes" in DotA. Each of the players can choose one of around 100 different heroes at the beginning of the game. The heroes have different skills and attributes, some of them are best at dealing damage while some others have the ability to heal wounded teammates.

The game is about making your team and your hero strong enough to get through the enemy base, and then destroy their relic. Your hero gets stronger by buying items for him/her or by gaining levels. You gain level by acquiring experience points, which you get by being nearby when an enemy hero or NPC dies. You will be rewarded with gold when you kill an enemy NPC, an enemy hero or destroying one of their buildings. The gold can be used to buy items for your hero or buy yourself back to life if you have been killed.

One thing you should have before you start playing DotA is DotA Hotkeys. It will let you bind more keys on your keyboard to DotA functions and items, it's really a must have for top players.

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