I think one of the most fascinating things of DOTA is the little time tunnel you have between DOTA and DOTA2.

I did not play the original DOTA much, but I did play lots of Warcraft III which uses the same engine. It's something unique to play a game for so long and suddently you see all the models updated to a new engine, but still being the same game.

Even with Valve quality, there is always some fan favorites which resist the test of time. I really like the original Lich for example.

Can you imagine if DOTA resist for more 10 years and we have a 3rd version? I can see the old farts telling their kids about the time Tidehunter was green and hated Kunkka...