We all know that the renowned Dota 2 caster Toby ‘Tobiwan’ Dawson was invited to spend a week at the Valve offices in Bellevue last week. Well he is back now and has quite a lot of interesting information for the Dota 2 community out there.
Speaking out in a Q&A session on his livestream earlier today, Tobiwan answered a bunch of questions from his fans regarding his trip. Watch the entire video after the break.
Rather prefer a read? The folks at Reddit got a neat summary up for you guys. Check it out below.
Q&A with TobiWan
Did they use your voice?
Yes! I’m a commentator, they used my voice. I was quite busy working from 8am-8pm every day.
Icefrog's Horn
When Dota2 goes public, will that have any affect on the frequency of your livestreams?
Probably not – in fact the frequency might even go up when it goes public.
Did you meet/touch IceFrog? What does he smell like?
No, I did not meet him but I will in a couple of months before the International 2. Possibly a week before. I did sit at his desk however – In the picture of the horn the phone of the right side is on IceFrog’s desk!
On the development area of Dota2:
It was really cool. All their desks were moveable so no one had a set office. In that office picture the voice guys were working in the back but I don’t think you can see them. I was really surprised that every single person was happy. I have never seen that anywhere else – the staff loved their jobs. There was a cafeteria on every floor and even a massage room where you could go any time!
Dota 2 Development Hub
On the test game he played at Valve:
I played test game Tuesday as Nature’s Prophet. I got 700gpm and the biggest challenge I had was Zoid’s Doom Bringer
Any news on hero release dates?
No – all that stuff is sworn to secrecy. It’s very much a week to week process. Someone on Reddit tried to guess the order of hero release based on the picture I posted with the wall but none of that stuff correlates.
Adrian Finol
How did you watch the Premier League in the US?
There were little TVs around Valve and a room where livestreams are constantly streaming.
Did you meet Gabe? How was he in person?
No he wasn’t there, he was off doing something else, I don’t know. The reaction when Gabe let slip that Dota2 was going F2P was really funny. Everyone seemed to be like ‘Thanks Gabe!’
Did you see any concept art?
I saw so much concept art – there were multiple walls of concept heroes. Finol in the picture of the wall has a list in his hand of when and what heroes they want to release
Any news on Terrorblade?
No. However I was told that by time of The International 2 we should have all heroes apart from 5-10.
Can you confirm/deny that Valve loves hats?
Of course they do – but no one wearing one strangely. Right now in TF2 you can go make a hat and sell it – I may be insinuating something..?
On The International 2:
If you want to compete – secure your roster!! If you change just one player your team will not be eligible. Teams are going to announced earlier than last time. You may be invited if you’re part of ‘upper-class,’ but to be there you must have stable team. What about stability – Chinese teams? Anything about distribution of teams? I can’t say. No teams have been selected or even contacted. I think it depends on quality of teams. No one is 100% confirmed until posted on the Valve website. I think it’ll stick to 16 teams. A lot of people were worried when the prize of 1million was announced – but the scene keeps going with Valve running this big thing every year. It’s really cool because sponsors want to see teams fight. Also, it’s being held in Seattle.
Will there be Russian servers?
I don’t know if servers will specifically be in Russia but I can confirm that server capacity has been increased by 150% over just past week. SEA as well. Server growth is insane and they know it. Dota2 is almost most played game on steam and already has more active users than HoN.
On The Defense 2:
It’s really close – we’re waiting on one team to confirm.
Tidehunter hat for TF2?
I don’t know, I’m not gonna say…
What rank am I?
Sing_Sing is currently the highest ranked Dota2 player in the beta as of this writing. (Synderen says that the fact that he now knows that can’t be good)
Techies?
I can’t say. I think Valve has mixed feelings because half of them hate it and half love it.
You mentioned you had something to show, what is it? First game NextKZ vs mTw you said it was so weird looking at this HUD. Is something is different?
No comment… 
How is F2P going to work?
You already kind of know. As far as the financial side, I think everyone knows how TF2 was created. Regarding bonuses with items that you get (E.g. different weapons in TF2) in terms of stats/effects – I asked if items in Dota2 would have similar effects and the answer was NO!
On easy mode and other modes from Dota:
They are looking at lots of different modes, but I really want a custom maps editor!
Will MMR or something comparable be made visible on release?
I believe it will be made visible but it’s still under discussion.
Mac version?
Didn’t see anything
On DotaTV:
I recommended some changes that should help people doing tutorials.
On Half Life 3:
Nothing to know because I know nothing. But I was asked about it at customs though…
Image Credit: joinDOTA
