Blizzard Dota hits the reset button

Blizzard's internal Defense of the Ancients mod for StarCraft 2, cleverly titled Blizzard Dota, is starting over. Eurogamer reports that Blizzard Dota Senior Game Designer Jonny Ebbert said the title has been "flattened," with what the company showed at BlizzCon last year being "completely rebooted." In May, we were told that the mod had experienced "some massive overhauls."

"One of the important things to note with that space is the DOTA everyone plays on Warcraft 3 is not particularly accessible to the novice," said Blizzard Product Development and Co-Founder Frank Pearce. "One of the game development philosophies we have at Blizzard is: easy to learn and difficult to master. That mod for Warcraft 3 doesn't really fit that description."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the lands of the massively online battle arena genre, Valve is targeting a 2012 launch for Dota 2 and League of Legends continues its ascension with a new mode, expected soon. More official details about Blizzard Dota, along with however it looks now, will likely be shared at BlizzCon in October.