Too much shit talk guys, just rate the bloody map and say why...
I'd rate it 5/5. In my opinion it is already perfect. I strongly disagree with any arguements that the terrain is lacking. Too many maps place too much emphasis into terrain and the end result is massive waterfalls, huge trees that take up large portions of your screen, etc. It looks beautiful, but lets not forget its a COMPLETE distraction from the actual game. Harder to see your character, etc. Dota has simple but effective terrain. Being basic but still nice to the eye.
I feel dota is well made simply because it excels in its genre. There are a lot of heroes to pick from, with every one being unique, logical, interesting and fun to play. The mapping allows lane phases, ganking, stealth and more. I'd also like to mention there are very few to no bugs and no lag. It provides a nice scoring system, and scoreboard, etc. It has nice extra features like a timer to record the eclapsed time and things like selecting the music and weather you want to play on top of the game.
There is so much dota can do and it does it very well. Before you cry about balance, I think Icefrog does a good job. I can even argue that it's more balanced than the bigger games like LoL and HoN. Balance is not easy to do, and the topic can get very subjective.
I fully agree for everything you said (especially about the terrain).Dota is about the gameplay and not the damn terrain and graphics.
There is also a lot of commands to modify your gameplay (change water's color, play music, change weather...) and a f*ckton of game modes.I also heard (and saw in videos) that you can change the terrain's look(ashvale, northreand, barrens, sunken, etc.).
The only reason I stopped playing dota, after almost 2 years, are players.
1.you play with/vs. noobs/leavers/nerds/afkers/hackers/trolls/etc.=0 gameplay
2.you play with/vs. normal players (aka pros for some)=normal (nice) and fun game
3.you play with your own team (lan, friends, etc.)=epic game
Reasons that people hate it (I suppose) are the credits (What if I told you that some people make models for dota on purpose?
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/members/infrisios/#userresources), gameplay (if you don't like it, don't play it.it's gona stay the way it is) and overrated (I kinda agree for this one).
I can't judge the codes, since I have no idea about them, but as long as it's lag and bug free, they are good enough.Few times there was deep lag for some spells, and Icefrog would instantly release a new version with a fix.(Void's timewalk, Phoenix's sunray)
Balancing?Every hero has its cons and pros and great combos.
In the end I would give it a 6/5 for all years of hard work, balancing and improvement through the time.It's not uberly modified as Mass destructionm Requiem or Paranoia, but if you want dota to have better graphics, just go and play dota 2.
Haters gona hate.
