Dota 2 is Free to Play

Dota 2, which has had people excited at the very prospect of existence, has been announced as free to play, though Valve has made a point of saying it isn’t “pay-to-win”.

An official Dota store has opened way ahead of the launch of the game later this year, offering both official and player-crafted items for sale. Those with access to the beta are able to buy items already, which they’ll later be able to use in the final retail edition. It’s possible to buy access to the beta if you get the Early Access Bundle.

“With support for the Steam Workshop, the majority of the items made available on day one were created and being sold by members of the community,” said IceFrog. “By making the game free to play, we hope to give gamers the ability to decide how – and how much – they want to invest in the game.”

An official blog post from Valve addressed worries about players buying their way to success, reading: “Dota 2 will not be a pay-to-win game. All the items in the store are cosmetic, and don’t affect gameplay.”

Valve went on to point out that heroes are to be free of charge: “We believe restricting player access to heroes could be destructive to game design, so it’s something we plan to avoid,” reads the post.