Source
r/DotA2•
Chronomasc-R

Speculation: Will TF2's item rental system be a part of Dota 2?

I was thinking about what Dota 2 might cost upon release, and whether it would follow some style of freemium model, and I considered this.

Imagine if Dota 2 was free. As free to the point DotA is now. But in the future, there will be new heroes, and new game modes, and those have to earn something. This is where I think TF2's new item rental system comes into play. I'm thinking Valve will announce 'seasons' for their updates, encapsulating a time period of content updates and selling it for a flat price. For those who don't pay, they can borrow whatever they need for the rental period, whether it be heroes, maps, or game modes for the seasons they haven't paid for on a trial basis, instead of following the current trend of content rotation other games are starting to employ. Maybe there would be a more piecemeal method of purchases as well, or maybe the seasons would be further broken up into smaller packs of heroes.

Any thoughts? Am I crazy for reading into Valve's Great Experiment that everyone loves? Did I miss something from the Manniversary that might be more important to Dota 2? There is that karma system to consider. Maybe that, combined with what I have is something?

And all of this is worthless, sure, but I got to get my mind off of beta keys somehow.

Posted Oct 17, 2011, 1:33 PM UTC

07
flip4life•

Valve will NEVER charge for heroes.. Jesus DOTA iS NOT LoL

7
Cyborgmatthttp://steamcommunity.com/id/cyborgmatt•

Or HoN.

1
Cyborgmatthttp://steamcommunity.com/id/cyborgmatt•

I don't think Valve is the kind of company that will want to charge for heroes.

They'll make enough off cosmetic items tbh.

6
grimlock123•

The only problem with your suggestion is it kind of goes against Valve's policy of software as service.

Separating maps is usually a bad idea for a multiplayer game because it artificially divides the community. Even playing a nominal 5 dollar charge on a new maps will divide the community. Despite the general hate that goes to F2P players, F2P players are important for generating media content such as guides, videos and message board posts. In the past Valve has never charged for maps even in their single player campaign. So it would be a major shock if they started to

The Never charge for heroes mentality dota2 reddit while extremely vocal, is not with out justification because of Captain pick and the focus in Dota2 on it. League of Legends doesn't allow a player to engage in Ranked matchmaking (Or Captain pick match making.) until they've player between 100-200 games. The reason is that if a player started off with only 10 free to play heroes and went in a Captain pick game it's possible for him not to have a hero to pick simply because all the F2P heroes will get picked or banned. After 100-200 games it's likely that the player has purchased enough heroes that he'll have one to play.

As for you suggestion about the items. A rental system is extremely likely for these items simply because a rental system tend to cause people to buy items more. Steam is a master of the discount sell. Giving people the option of paying a small amount and then be given a discount if they purchase the real thing (Or for that matter give it to them for free and have them the option to buy it after a set time.) are all ways of selling more merchandise. In the store setup files there is specific code identify text that has a positive attributes and negative attributes so it's possible they might be doing a side grade system but it might simply be used to say this item can not be worn with this item or if the attributes will be like the strange weapons from TF2 (I.E. this weapon changes it's visual appearance and or title depending on the number of kill it's gotten over it's entire life time.)

2
Chronomasc-ROP•

Ooooooo, a detailed, valid counterpoint. I like.

You bring up a rather good point with the map fragmentation. Even though Dota isn't known for new maps, it's agreed that Valve wouldn't go to that length.

I'm still seeing rental periods for heroes though. It wouldn't especially interfere with CM too much, at least in my model, because all the core heroes are still available (and that's quite a big pool to pick from), and any new heroes picked and given could incur the rental period from a given player (as unlikely as that would be. The captain could be a jerk).

But this is just fun conjecture here and there.

1
grimlock123•

One of the argument brought up which always get's down voted is they might make certain items you can buy/acquire in game effect the heroes in a side grade way. And these items be purchase able in store like Teamfortress 2.

So for example if Sniper were to get a item that would say modify Shrapnel to do less damage but over a wider radius. Or for Headshot to become Maim and lose it's ministun and instead act as longer duration slow. These would be examples of what designer could do. These items could be acquired through random drops or purchased in store. Since the items would be random the majority of item you received would be for heroes you didn't play so you could trade them for item that you do use. And the community could create 3d model for items in much the same way as they did for TF2 as well as trade in game items between games.

The problem is as soon as people bring this up they immediately reference Pay for Power schemes. While this is a valid concern it's important to remember that very few items in TF2 are used at a professional level. It would create a balancing nightmare but arguably so would a pay for heroes system so it'll be interesting to figure out how Valve monetizes everything.

1
kryptonez•

well the way steam works is progressing.. it will spread its wings into dota2 definitely. but saying u can 'rent heroes' is like saying you can play only only 3 classes in tf2 free version and you can get the rest from store. stop creating a zion around the way hon and lol are advertising their supposed to be f2p games.. the way valve will do it, will be so perfect that it will bring dead back to life, like it did on tf2. my grandpa is playing tf2 in the attic right now

1