Southeast Asia: Dota 2 is gradually emerging

With the Kuala Lumpur Major over, it’s time to look back and look to the future on Dota 2’s achievements and potential in Southeast Asia.

Since Valve officially selected four major regions for Dota: Europe, America, China and Southeast Asia (SEA), the last name stands out more. This is an area that covers a lot of countries and has diverse cultures and peoples and is considered the most passionate area.

Since then, the zones have grown from four to six. The skills, faces and success of the players in Southeast Asia have grown tremendously. Let’s take a look at the brightest points so that we can be proud to be a Dota 2 fan of this SEA region.

Major

With the introduction of the Dota Major Championship in 2015, Southeast Asian countries and teams have a new way to attract attention. Since then, only two Majors have been held in a Southeast Asian country, one just ended, and both are hosted by the PGL. But they left an indelible mark. The atmosphere, the production team, the matches and the audience are impossible to reproduce because they are unique and amazing in their own right.

Manila Major

As the third Major Valve event, the Manila Major has a lot to prove (from the previous Shanghai-Shanghai disaster). Since then, however, the standard of a Major has been pushed to new heights. It forces event organizers to do their best to leave a good impression on people.

The Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines has left great moments, thanks to the fire and heat from the audience. The tournament is truly an amazing milestone in the world of Esports.

Kuala Lumpur Major

The Kuala Lumpur Major is only a few days away and we can still feel the tension and excitement in Malaysia. Unfortunately, the tournament had to use patch 7.19, which was almost exhausted. However, the new meta is still evolving in this tournament.

The passion, the frenzied cheers from the Southeast Asian audience were as wild as ever. According to many sources, Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is more than 85% full and the reason is known to everyone. Events like this will give Valve confidence to continue hosting more Majors in Southeast Asian countries.

TEAM

Long ago, we had three names representing the strength of Southeast Asia. They are often present in the main event of The International and constantly challenge the top teams in the world.

Mineski

At the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2018 earlier this year, Mineski became the first SEA team to win a Major. While the roster was almost complete at the time, three members of the team left after TI8 and Mushi also recently left the organization.

It may take a long time for the new lineup to find the right fit, but the talents and achievements of these members are undeniable. Hopefully, Mineski will shine in the upcoming Dota Pro Circuit events.

Fnatic

Fnatic used to be one of the strongest teams, not only in Southeast Asia, but globally in last DPC season. With three non-Southeast Asian members, they bring new tactics and ideas with real potential. Despite leaving TI8 quite early, Fnatic showed that members from different countries and cultures can speak the Dota language fluently.

Acquiring two precious members from Mineski after TI, this squad looks very strong, maybe even stronger than before. With 10K MMR Abed as the leader, fans will continue to support Fnatic wholeheartedly.

TNC

Fans will not forget the moment when TNC eliminated OG – the top contender in the tournament – in the losing bracket of TI6. Although this lineup changed quite a bit after that, Carlo “Kuku” Palad remained loyal and played flexibly depending on the requirements of the team.

As the Philippines team, the boys always have their fans behind them at every event, whether it’s the Major or the Minor. It seems that the team has not backed down, as evidenced by the top 6 position at the Kuala Lumpur Major and a decent amount of DPC points.

Strength

Sometimes, we need to look at the positive aspects of any region with the community and Southeast Asia has no shortage of that.

Passion

If there is one thing that cannot be ignored about Southeast Asian fans, it is the passion for the game. The arenas filled with cheers from fans in previous Majors are testament to their love of the game. The huge fan base in SEA is enough to rival any other region.

Not to mention, sometimes people have to play in extreme weather as well as conditions. Many Southeast Asian countries are always hit by storms, have poor Internet connections and pressure from society. But that can’t stop her passion.

Potential

The number of Dota enthusiasts in the region suffices to show the potential for players and world teams to succeed. Two of those countries have shown they can effectively host Majors, making the region an attractive spot for Valve to host more tournaments.

Meme

The most memorable meme recently appeared in the chat wheel from caster Lon and Dunoo during Secret vs Fnatic.

Included in the ‘Epic Caster Pack’ for those who owned a Battle Pass at level 1205 or higher during TI8, it forever left behind this indelible memory as well as this funny meme.

Weakness

As usual, if there are positives, we also have shortcomings. However, they can be minimized or eliminated.

Lack of stability

The difference between the number of active and inactive teams above shows how quickly teams are formed and disbanded. More teams are inactive than any other region participating in the professional Dota 2 arena. Part of the reason is lack of support. We will dive into this below.

Backlog problems in the server

Server conditions in Southeast Asia, specifically packet loss, high ping, frequent loss of connection and sometimes not being able to find games, are the usual things that have happened in the past year. Lots of discussion on forums, complaining can’t make this problem go away.

Even professional players speak out when it comes to tournament qualifiers: this is a serious problem since other regions aren’t as badly affected. This problem on the Australian server is even worse. And such a large community shouldn’t wait too long for this critical issue to be fixed.

Lack of support

Professional players and teams need adequate funding and support to reach their full potential and potential. Unfortunately, many developing countries in Southeast Asia fall short of that when compared to developed countries in North America and Europe. This makes it easy for players to be “shaken” when participating in match-fixing / match-fixing due to the unstable source of income from playing Dota 2.

The problem mentioned above about the unstable lineup is also partly a lack of capital. However, this is changing, just not very quickly.

Support doesn’t just stop at the financial side. People need to recognize esports as a real career for young people and encourage them to follow their own career path that will make a huge difference. Parents play the biggest role, and only their support can make their children’s dreams come true.

Future

Despite some disadvantages, the future of the Southeast Asian community and Dota 2 is really bright. Although the journey is still long and there are many areas for improvement, Dota has passed the new age of esport. Currently, Dota 2 has a stable player base, the Pro Circuit system is constantly improving, and the prizes are getting bigger and bigger.

Hopefully, we will see a Southeast Asian country host The International in the coming years, maybe 2020. It will certainly be a big milestone for everyone in the region and take SEA to the next level. .

According to GosuGamers