No, I'm all for digital distribution and with Blizzards new "Enter your CD key with your blizzard accoutn and download games whenever you want" deal it makes it all the more easy.

See the main difference with DotA characters and Demigod characters is DotA are 100% thought work (Stats, skills, balance stuff, what model I use) and programming. Demigods are thought work, programming, model work, animation work, lore, VO work, particle and spell effects, testing, more testing because a payed product can't have anything broken and reworking menus so the character fits in. Notice how much bigger the second list is? 

Then play custom or skirmish

I think wbobeirne meant to show how much more difficult it is to produce a new Demigod than a new Dota hero, effort-wise. This explains the disparity in quantity of Demigods vs Dota heroes. Furthermore, while Dota has effectively a limitless budget and no deadline (IceFrog/Guinsoo/Eul did their work on Dota unpaid and with no time constraints), Demigod is done by a working company in business, with paid engineers, artists, producers, etc.

To top it off, Dota has had a longer history (discounting its early days as a Starcraft custom map) of development.