Why are so many DOTA2 keys being given away free??

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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I was kindly gifted a DOTA2 key a while ago by a member on here and yesterday I received an e-mail saying I had 13 free passes to give away myself! :eek:

My question is, since this game is £23 to buy on Steam, why are so many "free" copies being given away??

I mean, I've not really had much time to try it out and I've been given 13 to give away so I'd imagine quite a few people have had the same - that's an awful lot of freebies if it is worth £23 a pop!?!?! :confused:
 
NZXT30 said:
its a f2p game in beta
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So the £22.99 on Steam is to buy a game in beta testing stage!?!? - The question still remains though, if they are trying to sell it (either now or when its actually finished) then why give so many free copies away??
 
I think the keys are for the beta only - when it comes out of beta you'll have to pay for it.

So it makes sense really - give everyone free keys, get them hooked, and then when they have to pay to carry on playing, they will.

It's a bit like a dealer throwing in some free crack with your weed order, you get hooked and then he starts charging you for it :p
 
The game is going to be F2P when live.

The Steam key gets you into the beta + gets you £30 (IIRC) worth of points to spend in the dota 2 store.
 
It's also partly an exclusivity marketing strategy, and a modern Word of Mouth transaction strategy, not that dissimilar to having free version and paid version apps in your favorite App Store, or temporarily giving the app away free. Giving it away free creates demand, and soon as you see demand increase, you restrict free availability creating more sales. As soon as sales dip bellow some threshold, you increase free availability again to generate more untapped demand.

Person A hears about dota2 being given free by person B. Person C hears this story from person A, but there are no more free keys left, but person A and B say its a great game, so person C buys it anyway. Repeat. Once market share is high enough to be self sustaining, you remove free passes altogether, until the market starts dipping again.
 
I also randomly got one of these from v1bez off here (cheers mate!!), but a friend of mine said it was a very unforgiving game and the community hates noobs thanks to the game mechanics, so I wasn't sure whether to give it a go.
 
The game is in beta. They are giving beat keys out like candy lately. The reason for this is because Valve do not have enough server capacity to put the game live so giving out invites for the beta (which valve has already said is the full game minus a few heroes, yet to be released).

so basically every wave of beta keys you see if Valve doing more stress tests on the increasing numbers on the servers.
 
Devrij said:
I also randomly got one of these from v1bez off here (cheers mate!!), but a friend of mine said it was a very unforgiving game and the community hates noobs thanks to the game mechanics, so I wasn't sure whether to give it a go.
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Give it ago, the community isn't that bad. People rage, but match making will put you at people your level (so technically they are as bad as you, just elitist). Just read up on the basics and you will be fine.
 
Thanks all, I just couldn't get my head around the fact it was £23 and yet they were giving the keys away like candy!

A mate of mine says it's essentially the same game as League Of Legends - which do people on here prefer??
 
StevieP said:
A mate of mine says it's essentially the same game as League Of Legends - which do people on here prefer??
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Whilst they are both MOBAs, they have pretty different mechanics, preference will be wholly subjective rather than based on true merit.

I've not played DOTA2, but LOL is supposed to be more pick up and play with not at steep a learning curve.
 
StevieP said:
Thanks all, I just couldn't get my head around the fact it was £23 and yet they were giving the keys away like candy!

A mate of mine says it's essentially the same game as League Of Legends - which do people on here prefer??
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I prefer LoL, but then it is a more simplistic game that I was playing before DOTA2 was available so I'm perhaps a little bias.

My biggest bug-bare with both LoL and DOTA is that the games can last absolutely ******** ages if you get a couple of people unwilling to give up. A typical match in DOTA can easily reach an hour+, and as such it can take a long time to learn new mechanics / characters / item builds.

I've been playing LoL casually for around 2 years and I'm still learning the game - I don't want to commit the same amount of time to learn a new game.
 
@StevieP

Dota 2 has every hero available from the beginning whereas LoL doesn't and you get new heroes without any extra charge.

It also has many more intricate mechanics and can be seen as an entirely different game to some.

Also, the charge associated with the beta key is to do with the cosmetic items included with the purchase which are entirely for aesthetic purposes.
 
You could sign up for the DOTA 2 beta for free, those that got in (and I was one of them) get given some free keys from time to time to give away.

If you can't get hold of a key, you need to buy it.

It's the same game, it's not that the "free" version of the game is beta still.

I never really got into it personally but I've not even tried to give away the keys, there's so many floating around that anyone that wants one doesn't have to look very hard to get one from someone.
 
Devrij said:
I also randomly got one of these from v1bez off here (cheers mate!!), but a friend of mine said it was a very unforgiving game and the community hates noobs thanks to the game mechanics, so I wasn't sure whether to give it a go.
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Haha no problem fella, i get these sent to me so often i just send them to anyone that doesn't already have it on my friendslist!
 
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