DOTA 2 is now released, but........

..... does that mean we now have to pay or does it still recognise us as users ?

It may well be a silly question because I was playing last night, I dont know (i like asking questions), but I am curious to this because the official annoucement does not seem to answer this question.

Hopefully a simple one guys - cheers.

Dota 2 is free and will stay that way.

Like samukobo said, it is free in Terms of money.

New Players who were not in the beta, or didn't buy an instant access key, will have to invest TIME.

As the announcement said, the new Players will be made available in waves, like the waiting procedure for a free beta-key.

But I think it is totally stupid to not let them download the Client... they should leave it to be downloaded as a spectator-client, and upgrade it to the full Client, like they did before.
(maybe it is like this, but the announcement says: They aren't allowed to download, if i recall correctly)

Everyone who was in the beta, may continue to Play as ususal.
If you have a friend who wants to play, he will have to wait, since the free Access keys we got spammed with are not valid anymore.
(from the >20 the only one i gave away was for my brother xD)

Cheers guys - I guess they aim to make their money from the in game purchases, which I have a couple of favourite heros where I am tempted to buys stuff for - I am old enough to know better :)