[peterkouvaris]

Some MOBA history! An early derivative of DOTA, Heroes of Newerth (HoN), came out a bit before DOTA 2 and was at one time competing with LOL for the top DOTA clone. HoN had chosen a much closer to DOTA approach and was for its first 2 years almost an exact clone with a new snappy engine. All the DOTA purists went here and as a result, it was the most toxic video game community I've ever experienced. Great game but it had a very clear impact on one's mental health and attitude.

[Kosirich]

For me DOTA2 flame war experience has gotten much better over the years and is 10 times better than how it was in DOTA1. Perhaps it is the ease of setting up or it's the younger generation who is more chill or it's perhaps Valves banning system... I don't know to be honest. Occasionally DOTA2 still can be used as Russian language (involuntary) learning platform on EU servers. In general, long gone are the days where 10 minutes into the game I would get a comment from a player describing what he is doing or is going to do with/to my mother.