Dota 2 beta expanding, 'extra copies' included for friends

It looks like gamers hungry for their shot at Valve's upcoming expansion into the multiplayer online battle arena genre may be satiated soon.

"We've just finished our first significant expansion of Dota 2 server capacity around the world, and that means it's time to kick this thing up a notch," a blog post on the official Dota 2 site revealed yesterday.

How can you get your hands on an invite to Dota 2? "Once you've read today's [comic], make sure you fill out the Dota 2 Survey in Steam to secure your place in the upcoming invitations." The survey, Valve says, allows the company to ensure it invites a "wide spread of players and hardware."

To celebrate its ability to hand out more beta slots to the public, Valve has released "the first part of the official Dota 2 comic, Tales from the Secret Shop."

That's not the only spot of good news: "One thing everyone will tell you is that Dota is a game that's more fun with friends. Because of that, we wanted to make sure everyone we invited could bring a couple of friends." Those given an invite will be offered "extra copies," which users can give to friends using Steam's Trading feature.