Dota 2 invite for sale in Dota 2 store
 

Anybody interested in Dota 2 can buy an invite thru the Dota 2 store, although its a seperate site its linked via Steam.
Dota 2 will be free to play later on when released to the grand public.

http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetai...9587?appid=570

$39.99 ouch

You do get nine items also, but still ... ouch

Oh i was going to get this but if its going to be free on release i think i might just wait it out.

When is it released?

I was excited for this game when it was first announced, but seeing it's going to be F2P with an item store - I don't think I'll ever bother playing.

The idea of paying for access to items/equipment in a competitive multi-player game just seems wrong to me. Also, stats have shown that for the most part, it's like 3% of players who make up 98% of the revenue from these games (info I've been told first hand from aussie facebook game devs who use identical revenue models in their games) - which is akin to the stats most poker/slot machines produce - preying on that few % of people who can't control themselves. It just seems wrong.

Well, TF2 is F2P now and it is still enjoyable. If the purchasable items only affect the way players look it would still be fair.

Have you never played TF2? It will be the same as that, cosmetic stuff. Probably hero unlocks too.

yeah it will basically just follow the same price plan as LoL i imagine. Skins and extra Heroes to play with i imagine.

All heroes are free, you pay only for cosmetics

You only pay for cosmetic items and you get them as well from playing randomly. If you haven't checked out the game at all there's good competitive play to watch.

Here's what they've said about items: (sorry for the colour, it's cut/paste from the Steam news section)

"players who don't want to buy things from the Dota 2 Store will be able to earn them in a variety of ways, such as by simply playing the game, increasing their Battle Level, or by trading with other players."

“Dota 2 will not be a pay-to-win game. All the items in the store are cosmetic, and don’t affect gameplay.” “All of the heroes will be available free of charge. We believe restricting player access to heroes could be destructive to game design, so it’s something we plan to avoid.”

Also, they've said that the release of the item store is their final push to release so it may be that they're waiting just on a few more heroes and The International 2 tournament.