Look... DotA as a subject is just.. complicated. The fanbase are crazy, the community as a whole can border on toxic af at times (inherent part of the game style, especially in solo play) and smurfing is definitely a serious problem. Buuuuuuut - this is a game that has survived in various incarnations successfully as an esport for over 10 years now. It is still evolving, new things (even outside of meta shifts) are being discovered all the time, and if you are looking for a game that will challenge you for a long period of time (realistically, unending challenge if you aren't in the top 5-10%) then look no further than DotA.

This is the game that created the MobA genre. LoL, Smite, HotS - hell, even HoN (which the creater of DotA 2 helped work on) were all inspired by this game. And putting aside any bias, this is still, to this day the consistently most difficult game to master in the genre.

Don't go into DotA blind: you are going to experience some toxicity from people as you learn the game to begin with, even if you come from a MobA background outside of DotA... But eventually, if you persist and learn what/where you can, you will start to understand things you didn't before. All of a sudden you will find yourself consistently stacking and pulling as support, warding in anticipation of an enemy ward attempts/ganks or hell - getting a rampage on the core you've spent a month getting to know. The payoff is good - tis true what they say: "The harder the victory, the sweeter the prize" (p,s, quick edit to add, there is an amazing community of people that post videos to help with learning the game and the strategic side etc... USE THEIR STUFF. Don't try and do it alone.)

Also - use the mute function liberally. They put it in an easy to use location for a reason. Don't hesitate to mute someone that is being toxic - end of the day, it is a game. Every single rank has people that take it just a little too seriously, and hell, at times even I have been one of em. Just make sure you enjoy yourself, and enjoy learning/playing arguably the hardest competitive truly skillbased multiplayer esport out there. It's fun. It's really fun :D

Look... DotA as a subject is just.. complicated. The fanbase are crazy, the community as a whole can border on toxic af at times (inherent part of the game style, especially in solo play) and smurfing is definitely a serious problem. Buuuuuuut - this is a game that has survived in various incarnations successfully as an esport for over 10 years now. It is still evolving, new things (even outside of meta shifts) are being discovered all the time, and if you are looking for a game that will challenge you for a long period of time (realistically, unending challenge if you aren't in the top 5-10%) then look no further than DotA. This is the game that created the MobA genre. LoL, Smite, HotS - hell, even HoN (which the creater of DotA 2 helped work on) were all inspired by this game. And putting aside any bias, this is still, to this day the consistently most difficult game to master in the genre. Don't go into DotA blind: you are going to experience some toxicity from people as you learn the game to begin with, even if you come from a MobA background outside of DotA... But eventually, if you persist and learn what/where you can, you will start to understand things you didn't before. All of a sudden you will find yourself consistently stacking and pulling as support, warding in anticipation of an enemy ward attempts/ganks or hell - getting a rampage on the core you've spent a month getting to know. The payoff is good - tis true what they say: "The harder the victory, the sweeter the prize" (p,s, quick edit to add, there is an amazing community of people that post videos to help with learning the game and the strategic side etc... USE THEIR STUFF. Don't try and do it alone.) Also - use the mute function liberally. They put it in an easy to use location for a reason. Don't hesitate to mute someone that is being toxic - end of the day, it is a game. Every single rank has people that take it just a little too seriously, and hell, at times even I have been one of em. Just make sure you enjoy yourself, and enjoy learning/playing arguably the hardest competitive truly skillbased multiplayer esport out there. It's fun. It's really fun :D