After a two year period where community feedback fed development, Valve has officially ended the beta as announced and is finally releasing Defense of The Ancients 2. Don't expect to jump on those servers anytime soon, though, as they are releasing the game to players in batches.
In a post on their official blog, Valve talks about reaching a monthly user base of 3 million players, with as many as 300,000 active users at any one time. They feel that the feedback they've accumulated within this time has helped them produce a game that can be played by anybody.
Over at the official sign up page, Valve explains that they have been preparing for the imminent launch for almost a year. Given the size of the existing user base, they expect that number to only grow, and have been looking for a way to facilitate the launch in such a way that they can avoid common pitfalls. In particular, they want gamers to be able to play through this period uninterrupted, and to make it enjoyable for beginners.
They then share that they have also been busy setting up the necessary infrastructure across the world. They mention clusters in Luxembourg, Stockholm, West US and Korea, and also give assurances that more clusters will be set up in other regions. As is, the clusters will be able to handle 450,000 concurrent players.
Consequently, DOTA 2 Early Access has been discontinued. Unused passes can no longer be redeemed and they have pulled the passes from the market. Valve also reveals they will have to delay launches in China and Korea, and Mac and Linux versions are still in development.
Sign ups are available at the DOTA 2 Steam page.
