2. Dota 2

Dota 2 has a day/night cycle that changes the effectiveness of some heroes

Dota is another example of a mod that took the world by storm. The original game was just a mod for Warcraft III, but it became so popular that the mod creator entered into an agreement to let Valve design Dota 2, you know the guys who are making Half-Life 3? Just kidding, that won’t happen.

Dota was the moba that laid the groundwork that all other mobas have built upon. There are two teams of five players on the map. There are three lanes, and you need to push down the objectives in each lane and destroy the opponent’s base. As Dota evolved, several key features were added that made the game more complex and added depth to the gameplay. The ability to kill your own creep meant that you could deny your opponent farm, and a night and day cycle meant that you needed to be aware of the time because certain heroes were stronger at night. 

Are you prepared to fight?

If you remember back in the day when Warcraft III battle.net was the biggest thing to play, then you might gain an understanding as to why this game became so popular. Much like how Half-Life led into CS, Warcraft became Dota. There was already a huge player base that loved Warcraft III, but the battle.net play was rapidly switching from RTS style games to custom adventure style maps or tower defense games. Out of all this came Dota, and thus the moba genre became mainstream and popular.

Dota 2 offers some of the most nuanced and complex team based combat in video games. While the game has a steep learning curve, it is also very rewarding to play. It will be difficult to return to many of the simpler mobas out there after playing this game. It is an adrenaline rush which price tag is deceiving, the game will cost you hundreds of hours.