Lack of Competitive Spirit in DotA 2

Yes, yes, I know.  TI3 just happened and it was the biggest e-sports tournament of all time.  I watched every game I could and loved every second of it.  I'm talking about a lack of competitiveness for amateur gamers.  The pubbers who are skilled but maybe don't have the patience to compete on a team or in tournaments.  I think that Valve's decision to hide each players ELO was a big mistake.  One of the best things about LoL or HoN is watching your ELO go up and seeing yourself rise on the ranks of the player ladder.  It's even more aggravating when you go on a loss streak and hemorrhage away ELO, but it comes with the territory.

So far DotA 2 doesn't have any visible way to gauge who is the best of the best based on match making.  Yeah, you can look at the live games and see which ones are on page 1 or who is playing in "Very High" skill level games but that isn't enough information.  I play in Very High pubs and I definitely shouldn't have anywhere near the rating of actual great players.  I think in order to give more attention to skilled players, who aren't currently on a team, and to foster the amateur DotA 2 scene, there needs to be a player ladder and visible ELO or MMR.

DotA was birthed in WC3 and the player ladder was a huge deal in that game.  Valve's decision to cater to the mass population of casuals, who will get upset when their ranking doesn't get as high as their ego demands is a mistake.  You already see a lack of new players entering the professional DotA 2 scene.  The only way to make a real name for yourself right now is by playing in IHL's which isn't always the best atmosphere.  I've had mixed experiences playing in IXDL, where you can lose a game in the lobby when ego's start to clash.  I realize this can happen in match making as well, but IHL's seem to attract people with huge ego's since it's these confident players that want to show their skill and try to make a name for themselves. 

DotA Buff created their own MMR algorithm back in the early spring and right away its popularity soared with people talking about who was at the top and who was playing in what division.  It became so popular that DotA Buff was going to start charging for premium access to their site.  This prompted Valve to turn off automatically sharing of stats to 3rd party sites, effectively ruining any legitimate chance that DotA Buff had of running a player ladder.  The fact that so many people immediately started discussing the Dota Buff MMR and ranking system shows that their is an actual desire for for this in DotA 2.

If Valve wants to keep the game casual friendly, they can always go the route of League of Legends and have ranked match making and non-ranked match making.  Non-competitive players can stick to the un-ranked games or people can play it when they want to try out a new hero.  People that want to get better and prove themselves can play in the ranked games.  This would be an easy fix that would foster the growth of the amateur scene and hopefully bring in new blood to the professional level.

-HellFire