OMG you gotta try QQQQQRWR+EWRRQWWEWQEQWRqwwweE, invoker summons a C++ tab to recode his skills from scratch - so fucking imba.

Ahahahaha.

You joke, but pulling off some insane AoE combo with Aghanims (Tornado->EMP->Meteor->Deafening Blast) on the entire enemy team feels super awesome.

Is Valve just randomly giving out Dota 2 invites now?

I just got an email saying I'm in, and it's sitting in my game library.

If so, why don't they just make the beta open?

EDIT: I installed it. May as well give it a fair chance. Looking at the champion list though, I'm not really feeling any of these guys, though I am kind of confused as to why Lina Inverse is in the game. o_O

educated guess:

dota became rly popular with the advent of the 'allstars' version, which was a compilation and consolidation of countless dota styled maps. also consider that like any other nonstandard wcIII map, dota used to be called a funmap.
so no, not all dota variants had the generic sentinel/scourge goodie/baddie theme going. i distinctly remember a bleach vs. naruto dota.
some of the custom models were really good too.

Didn't know that. I've never played the original Dota.

Still, it's weird that they're getting away with using an almost exact replica of the original Lina Inverse. Just doesn't feel right.

japs like their doujin.

they also like their cease and desists but a little cameo in a popular product is rarely seen as a bad thing, methinks.

There are many more references than that. Rikimaru the Stealth Assassin is a shoutout to Tenchu for example, Vengeful Spirits Magic Missile comes obviously from D&D, Nevermore the Shadowfiend is named after E.A. Poe's The Raven, Lucifer the Doombringer is literally the fucking devil, Zeus is actually THE Zeus from Greek mythology etc.

Juggernauts Omnislash skill should be self-explanatory.

I wouldn't be too bothered by it. WCIII DotA used to be a mess of pop culture references and characters cribbed from the WCIII campaign. Valve obviously can't directly take over Blizzards property but they're at least trying to keep the other references intact.

What's your favorite LoL champ? I can probably point you to a hero that's similar in role/skills.

Talon or Jax

Miss Fortune, Malzahar, and Karma.