So it looks like DotA 2 will be Free to play in a way unlike most other F2P games. Every single character is free and unlocked from the start and all items can be found by playing, a la TF2.
"It is important to Dota's competitive design that all players have access to all Heroes and that players can't purchase a competitive advantage."
So yea, finally a game that is Free to play but not also pay-to-win.
http://kotaku.com/5914769/dota-2-is-fre ... n-buy-hats
A bit of a discrepancy regarding item cost: The article has a quote "All items in the store are purely cosmetic" but the Valve article says "We solve that in a simple way, the game is free, all the Heroes are free, and items are earnable in-game." Not really specifying what items means. They do say that players won't be able to purchase an advantage though, so that suggests that anything that affects gameplay will be free.
