Valve's long awaited Dota 2 has been confirmed to follow a free-to-play model when it releases later this year. That's right: you won't have to pay a penny to get in on the full experience of the upcoming action RTS, according to Gaming Blend.

Now before you say, "Hey, League of Legends is free-to-play too! What makes Dota 2 so special?",  well,  Valve has actually made their model even better. Not only will all of the characters be available right when you start the game, but the game's shop will feature items that solely affect the player's appearance and will not give any player an statistical advantage over another player.

Valve also revealed  a Steam Workshop for the game, where creators can submit their item concepts to the game's developers, where by decision, they'll feature the item in the game's store and the creator will receive a portion of the revenue each time their item sells. Also, players will be able to trade items directly through Steam like in other free-to-play games on the service.

Sign-ups for the beta are still available on Dota 2's official website, and purchases made during the beta will carry over into the official release of the game.

Is this move enough to bring you League of Legends/Heroes of Newerth players over?