Release Notes for 2/27/2014

[GAMEPLAY]
- Fixed the molotov not having the same collision bounds as the rest of the grenades.
- Fixed some grenades allowing radar visibility when they shouldn't and vice versa - this fixes bugs like players showing up on radar through smoke volumes when they shouldn't.
- Increased radarvispow from 0.2 to 0.4.
- Fixed icons on the radar not fading out properly when they should have.

[MISC]
- Fixed frequent connection errors when starting private casual matches with friends on a local server.
- With sv_grenade_trajectory on, the debug overlay boxes now reflect the size of the grenades bounds when they collide and bounce.
- Added an option to the options menu to use raw number keys or weapon binds for selecting players when spectating and voting for maps at round end (spec_usenumberkeys_nobinds, defaults to 1).

[NETWORK]
- GOTV watch requests for matches with significant number of twitch.tv spectators will always get directed to GOTV relays.
- Added convar host_name_store to indicate whether host name is revealed in queries and GOTV. Host name is always printed in status command output.
- Added convar host_info_show, operators can set it to the following values: 0 to block server info queries; 1 (default) to respond with all details excluding identities; 2 to respond with all available details.
- Added convar host_players_show, operators can set it to the following values: 0 to block server players queries; 1 (default) to respond only with max players and uptime; 2 to respond with all players details.
- Server operators can now list game rules cvars in gamerulescvars.txt file, those cvars when marked as FCVAR_NOTIFY will be included in A2S_RULES response packet to server management software and 3rd party clients. The total size of A2S_RULES response packet must be within approximately 1Kb (MTU). File gamerulescvars.txt.example is provided.
- When a server is running with the -nomaster parameter, it will not register on GMS and will not respond to direct queries.

[MAPS]
- CS_Downtown: Fixed bug where players could spawn outside of map in Deathmatch
- DE_Favela: Fixed exploits where players could get out of map, various other polish
- DE_Inferno: Fixed exploit where players could see through roof near Bombsite A balcony

Release Notes for 2/27/2014

[GAMEPLAY]
- Fixed the molotov not having the same collision bounds as the rest of the grenades.
- Fixed some grenades allowing radar visibility when they shouldn't and vice versa - this fixes bugs like players showing up on radar through smoke volumes when they shouldn't.
- Increased radarvispow from 0.2 to 0.4.
- Fixed icons on the radar not fading out properly when they should have.

[MISC]
- Fixed frequent connection errors when starting private casual matches with friends on a local server.
- With sv_grenade_trajectory on, the debug overlay boxes now reflect the size of the grenades bounds when they collide and bounce.
- Added an option to the options menu to use raw number keys or weapon binds for selecting players when spectating and voting for maps at round end (spec_usenumberkeys_nobinds, defaults to 1).

[NETWORK]
- GOTV watch requests for matches with significant number of twitch.tv spectators will always get directed to GOTV relays.
- Added convar host_name_store to indicate whether host name is revealed in queries and GOTV. Host name is always printed in status command output.
- Added convar host_info_show, operators can set it to the following values: 0 to block server info queries; 1 (default) to respond with all details excluding identities; 2 to respond with all available details.
- Added convar host_players_show, operators can set it to the following values: 0 to block server players queries; 1 (default) to respond only with max players and uptime; 2 to respond with all players details.
- Server operators can now list game rules cvars in gamerulescvars.txt file, those cvars when marked as FCVAR_NOTIFY will be included in A2S_RULES response packet to server management software and 3rd party clients. The total size of A2S_RULES response packet must be within approximately 1Kb (MTU). File gamerulescvars.txt.example is provided.
- When a server is running with the -nomaster parameter, it will not register on GMS and will not respond to direct queries.

[MAPS]
- CS_Downtown: Fixed bug where players could spawn outside of map in Deathmatch
- DE_Favela: Fixed exploits where players could get out of map, various other polish
- DE_Inferno: Fixed exploit where players could see through roof near Bombsite A balcony

First available with the <a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/15607">ASUS ROG DreamLeague Season #1</a> tournament, Fantasy Dota is an expansion on features originally included in the International 2013 Compendium. In Fantasy Dota, you join up to 5 of your friends to create a Fantasy League, where you'll each design a Fantasy Team made up of Pro Players. You'll then compete based on how well your players do in matches played in DreamLeague Season 1.

<a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/15607"><img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/blog_image_dreamleaguefantasy.jpg" width="100%"></a>

Buying the ticket for <a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/15607">DreamLeague Season 1</a> makes you eligible to create a Fantasy League, as well as join any Fantasy Leagues that your friends create.

Once you've bought your ticket and created a Fantasy League, you can invite friends to join you and set a time for the Live Draft. During the Live Draft, members of your Fantasy League draft Pro Players onto their Fantasy Team, however unlike the International 2013 Compendium, each player can only be owned by one person. After the draft is completed, the Fantasy League will automatically create round-robin weekly head-to-head matchups, where every week you'll try to earn points to win against one of the other members of the Fantasy League.

Fantasy Team matches will begin on March 3rd, so be sure to form your Fantasy League and complete your draft before then.

Here's some more info:

<strong style="color:#a43827; font-size:16px;">General</strong>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Can I create more than one Fantasy League?</strong>
You can create one Fantasy League for each tournament ticket that you activate. However, after activating a ticket, you can join any number of Fantasy Leagues.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. How many members can be in a Fantasy League?</strong>
You can have up to six members in a Fantasy League. Each will have their own team.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. What if I have an odd number of friends who want to play?</strong>
That's fine! One rotating team each week will get a Bye (basically a free win).

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. What if two Fantasy Teams have the same number of wins? Are they tied?</strong>
Ties are broken by the total number of points scored in the season.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. When does a matchup end?</strong>
Weekly matchups end on Sunday night at midnight in the time zone of the tournament. At that point, wins and losses are assigned for that week, and the next week's matchups begin.

<strong style="color:#a43827; font-size:16px;">Players</strong>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Can a player be owned by more than one Fantasy Team?</strong>
No, players are exclusively owned by a single team.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. What does a player being "Core" or "Support" mean?</strong>
Each player has been assigned a role, based on the role they generally play in pro matches. Players that play mid, off-lane, or carry are grouped under "Core". Players that take more of a support role are classified as "Support".

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Does player role affect scoring?</strong>
No, all players are scored based on the same criteria.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. How are players scored?</strong>
<ul>
<li>0.3 points per kill</li>
<li>-0.3 points per death</li>
<li>0.15 points per assist</li>
<li>0.003 points per last hit</li>
<li>0.002 points per gold per minute</li>
<li>0.002 points per XP per minute</li>
<li>0.07 points per seconds of enemy stuns</li>
<li>0.0004 points per allied healing done</li>
<li>1 point tower kill</li>
<li>1 point per Roshan kill</li>
</ul>

<strong style="color:#a43827; font-size:16px;">Player Rosters</strong>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. How many players can I have on my team?</strong>
You can have 8 players on your team. These 8 slots are divided into types.

Active Roster:
<ul>
<li>2 Core</li>
<li>2 Support</li>
<li>1 Any</li>
</ul>
Bench:
<ul>
<li>3 players of any type</li>
</ul>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. What players can I put in each slot type?</strong>
Core and Support players can only go into "Core" and "Support" slots. "Any" or "Bench" slots can contain players of any role. Note that a player in a Bench slot will not score points for their team.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. How often can I adjust my roster?</strong>
You can set your Active Roster for each individual day. Any day you don’t adjust your Active Roster, the settings in place on the previous day will automatically carry over.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. When does a day's roster lock?</strong>
A day's Active Roster becomes locked at midnight in the time zone where the tournament is located. So for a tournament taking place in Europe such as DreamLeague Season 1, the Active Rosters will lock at midnight CET. This lock time is displayed on the roster editing panel.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. What does it mean when an roster is locked?</strong>
When a roster is locked, you won't be able to make any changes to it. This is to prevent roster changes happening while matches are being played.</li>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. How can I see how Pro Players have done in the past?</strong>
The Player tab in the Fantasy section in the Community tab lists all players and their average stats over the last 100 league matches (all leagues) that they've played.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. What happens if I miss my Fantasy League's live draft?</strong>
The draft system will automatically pick players for you.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Do players get more points if a best-of-three goes to a third game?</strong>
No. In a best-of-three series, each player earns points only for their highest-scoring games.

<strong style="color:#a43827; font-size:16px;">Trading and Free Agents</strong>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Can I remove a player from my team?</strong>
Yes, you can request to drop a player and pick up another that no other Fantasy Team owns (a "free agent"). These requests are all processed nightly. If multiple Fantasy Teams all attempt to pick up the same Pro Player, priority is given to the Fantasy Team with the worst record.</li>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Can I drop and pick up more than one player at a time?</strong>
No, currently you can only have one outstanding drop/add request.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Can I trade players with another Fantasy Team?</strong>
Trading players between Fantasy Teams is not yet supported.

<strong style="color:#a43827; font-size:16px;">Scoring</strong>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Do all matches played by a player in my roster count towards my score?</strong>
Each Fantasy League is associated with a specific tournament, and only matches played as part of that tournament count towards player scores.</li>

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Do all Pro Players have the same scoring criteria?</strong>
Yes, all Pro Players, regardless of role, are scored based on the same factors.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Do players in Bench slots earn points?</strong>
No, players on your Bench do not earn points towards weekly or daily point totals.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. Does it matter if players win or lose their matches?</strong>
No, scoring is entirely based on the player's performance in certain categories (kills, gold per minute, healing, etc). Whether they win or lose their match is not scored, though players that win matches will tend to have better individual performances.

<strong style="color:#7d8086">Q. When are scores updated?</strong>
Scores are updated after every match completes.

We’ll be expanding on Fantasy Dota as time goes on, and look forward to your feedback and suggestions!

First available with the ASUS ROG DreamLeague Season #1 tournament, Fantasy Dota is an expansion on features originally included in the International 2013 Compendium. In Fantasy Dota, you join up to 5 of your friends to create a Fantasy League, where you'll each design a Fantasy Team made up of Pro Players. You'll then compete based on how well your players do in matches played in DreamLeague Season 1.



Buying the ticket for DreamLeague Season 1 makes you eligible to create a Fantasy League, as well as join any Fantasy Leagues that your friends create.

Once you've bought your ticket and created a Fantasy League, you can invite friends to join you and set a time for the Live Draft. During the Live Draft, members of your Fantasy League draft Pro Players onto their Fantasy Team, however unlike the International 2013 Compendium, each player can only be owned by one person. After the draft is completed, the Fantasy League will automatically create round-robin weekly head-to-head matchups, where every week you'll try to earn points to win against one of the other members of the Fantasy League.

Fantasy Team matches will begin on March 3rd, so be sure to form your Fantasy League and complete your draft before then.

Here's some more info:

General

Q. Can I create more than one Fantasy League?
You can create one Fantasy League for each tournament ticket that you activate. However, after activating a ticket, you can join any number of Fantasy Leagues.

Q. How many members can be in a Fantasy League?
You can have up to six members in a Fantasy League. Each will have their own team.

Q. What if I have an odd number of friends who want to play?
That's fine! One rotating team each week will get a Bye (basically a free win).

Q. What if two Fantasy Teams have the same number of wins? Are they tied?
Ties are broken by the total number of points scored in the season.

Q. When does a matchup end?
Weekly matchups end on Sunday night at midnight in the time zone of the tournament. At that point, wins and losses are assigned for that week, and the next week's matchups begin.

Players

Q. Can a player be owned by more than one Fantasy Team?
No, players are exclusively owned by a single team.

Q. What does a player being "Core" or "Support" mean?
Each player has been assigned a role, based on the role they generally play in pro matches. Players that play mid, off-lane, or carry are grouped under "Core". Players that take more of a support role are classified as "Support".

Q. Does player role affect scoring?
No, all players are scored based on the same criteria.

Q. How are players scored?

• 0.3 points per kill
• -0.3 points per death
• 0.15 points per assist
• 0.003 points per last hit
• 0.002 points per gold per minute
• 0.002 points per XP per minute
• 0.07 points per seconds of enemy stuns
• 0.0004 points per allied healing done
• 1 point tower kill
• 1 point per Roshan kill

Player Rosters

Q. How many players can I have on my team?
You can have 8 players on your team. These 8 slots are divided into types.

Active Roster:

• 2 Core
• 2 Support
• 1 Any

Bench:

• 3 players of any type

Q. What players can I put in each slot type?
Core and Support players can only go into "Core" and "Support" slots. "Any" or "Bench" slots can contain players of any role. Note that a player in a Bench slot will not score points for their team.

Q. How often can I adjust my roster?
You can set your Active Roster for each individual day. Any day you don’t adjust your Active Roster, the settings in place on the previous day will automatically carry over.

Q. When does a day's roster lock?
A day's Active Roster becomes locked at midnight in the time zone where the tournament is located. So for a tournament taking place in Europe such as DreamLeague Season 1, the Active Rosters will lock at midnight CET. This lock time is displayed on the roster editing panel.

Q. What does it mean when an roster is locked?
When a roster is locked, you won't be able to make any changes to it. This is to prevent roster changes happening while matches are being played.[/*]

Q. How can I see how Pro Players have done in the past?
The Player tab in the Fantasy section in the Community tab lists all players and their average stats over the last 100 league matches (all leagues) that they've played.

Q. What happens if I miss my Fantasy League's live draft?
The draft system will automatically pick players for you.

Q. Do players get more points if a best-of-three goes to a third game?
No. In a best-of-three series, each player earns points only for their highest-scoring games.

Trading and Free Agents

Q. Can I remove a player from my team?
Yes, you can request to drop a player and pick up another that no other Fantasy Team owns (a "free agent"). These requests are all processed nightly. If multiple Fantasy Teams all attempt to pick up the same Pro Player, priority is given to the Fantasy Team with the worst record.[/*]

Q. Can I drop and pick up more than one player at a time?
No, currently you can only have one outstanding drop/add request.

Q. Can I trade players with another Fantasy Team?
Trading players between Fantasy Teams is not yet supported.

Scoring

Q. Do all matches played by a player in my roster count towards my score?
Each Fantasy League is associated with a specific tournament, and only matches played as part of that tournament count towards player scores.[/*]

Q. Do all Pro Players have the same scoring criteria?
Yes, all Pro Players, regardless of role, are scored based on the same factors.

Q. Do players in Bench slots earn points?
No, players on your Bench do not earn points towards weekly or daily point totals.

Q. Does it matter if players win or lose their matches?
No, scoring is entirely based on the player's performance in certain categories (kills, gold per minute, healing, etc). Whether they win or lose their match is not scored, though players that win matches will tend to have better individual performances.

Q. When are scores updated?
Scores are updated after every match completes.

We’ll be expanding on Fantasy Dota as time goes on, and look forward to your feedback and suggestions!

Release Notes for 2/20/2014

[]
- Started Operation Phoenix
- Operation Phoenix Passes are available for purchase. They provide access to:
-- Eight maps, chosen by the community, available on official CS:GO matchmaking for all game modes.
-- An upgradable Operation Coin, that tracks all competitive matchmaking statistics for the duration of the event.
-- Exclusive access to the new Operation Phoenix Case, with 13 Community-Created Weapon Finishes.

[MISC]
- Teammate Colors:
-- Added convar cl_color to allow players to set their preferred teammate color index.
-- Renamed teammate colors convar to cl_teammate_colors_show and added option to display Color Letters over teammate colors in competitive ("cl_teammate_colors_show 2").
-- Teammate preferred color can now be chosen when in a lobby and displays above player avatars.
- Damage can no longer be done to teammates during a freeze period in any mode.
- Fixed cs_baggage skybox texture.
- Fixed cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1 and cl_teamid_overhead 0 not hiding the overhead player arrows.
- Fixed player flair icons getting cropped on avatars in the lobby.

[Aug and SG556]
- Scope dot no longer fades too quickly during online play.
- Scope dot is slightly more visible against bright backgrounds.
- Scope dot is now tinted using the player's crosshair color settings.

[MAPS]
- Overpass
-- Smoothed out movement on truck in Bombsite A
-- Simplified cover in bombsite B
-- Removed some trees in upper park
-- Smoothed out ground in canal
-- Removed small walls near playground entrance
-- Tweaked cover in playground
-- Small fence at birthday area no longer block bullets/grenades
-- Simplified corridor to CT sniper position
-- Improved player visibility
-- Improved performance

- Nuke
-- Made wallbanging through large metal doors consistent
-- Added back pretty lighting in bombsite B
-- Made it possible to throw grenades through skylights in warehouse
-- Fixed some graphical bugs

[NETWORK]
- Added support for threaded socket processing on clients and servers.
- Significantly reduced the size of client connect packet to be below MTU.
- Optimized split packet processing sequence.
- Client address is no longer transmitted in official game events or saved in official GOTV demos.
- Client P2P NAT requests are now always rejected when connected to a game server.

Release Notes for 2/20/2014

[]
- Started Operation Phoenix
- Operation Phoenix Passes are available for purchase. They provide access to:
-- Eight maps, chosen by the community, available on official CS:GO matchmaking for all game modes.
-- An upgradable Operation Coin, that tracks all competitive matchmaking statistics for the duration of the event.
-- Exclusive access to the new Operation Phoenix Case, with 13 Community-Created Weapon Finishes.

[MISC]
- Teammate Colors:
-- Added convar cl_color to allow players to set their preferred teammate color index.
-- Renamed teammate colors convar to cl_teammate_colors_show and added option to display Color Letters over teammate colors in competitive ("cl_teammate_colors_show 2").
-- Teammate preferred color can now be chosen when in a lobby and displays above player avatars.
- Damage can no longer be done to teammates during a freeze period in any mode.
- Fixed cs_baggage skybox texture.
- Fixed cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1 and cl_teamid_overhead 0 not hiding the overhead player arrows.
- Fixed player flair icons getting cropped on avatars in the lobby.

[Aug and SG556]
- Scope dot no longer fades too quickly during online play.
- Scope dot is slightly more visible against bright backgrounds.
- Scope dot is now tinted using the player's crosshair color settings.

[MAPS]
- Overpass
-- Smoothed out movement on truck in Bombsite A
-- Simplified cover in bombsite B
-- Removed some trees in upper park
-- Smoothed out ground in canal
-- Removed small walls near playground entrance
-- Tweaked cover in playground
-- Small fence at birthday area no longer block bullets/grenades
-- Simplified corridor to CT sniper position
-- Improved player visibility
-- Improved performance

- Nuke
-- Made wallbanging through large metal doors consistent
-- Added back pretty lighting in bombsite B
-- Made it possible to throw grenades through skylights in warehouse
-- Fixed some graphical bugs

[NETWORK]
- Added support for threaded socket processing on clients and servers.
- Significantly reduced the size of client connect packet to be below MTU.
- Optimized split packet processing sequence.
- Client address is no longer transmitted in official game events or saved in official GOTV demos.
- Client P2P NAT requests are now always rejected when connected to a game server.

<a href="http://www.freetoplaythemovie.com/"><img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/f2p_teaser.jpg" width="100%"></a>

Experience the first International through the eyes of players who lived it. <em>Free to Play</em> is Valve's feature length documentary detailing the efforts of three Dota 2 players as they battle to win the first million dollar grand prize in the history of competitive videogames.

<em>Free to Play</em> will be available for free on Steam March 19th. When the film is out, you’ll be able to show your support for the featured players by purchasing the Free to Play Competitor Pack, which will be available through the Dota 2 Store and Steam. With the Competitor Pack you’ll receive several in-game rewards including pro player item sets for Pudge, Doom, and Sven. You’ll also obtain a <em>Free to Play</em> courier, a special ward, and a custom HUD skin. Plus a portion of each purchase will go toward the players featured in the film: Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, Benedict "HyHy" Lim, and Clinton "Fear" Loomis.

Visit the <a href="http://www.freetoplaythemovie.com/"><em>Free to Play</em> website</a> to watch the trailer and learn more about the film.

Experience the first International through the eyes of players who lived it. Free to Play is Valve's feature length documentary detailing the efforts of three Dota 2 players as they battle to win the first million dollar grand prize in the history of competitive videogames.

Free to Play will be available for free on Steam March 19th. When the film is out, you’ll be able to show your support for the featured players by purchasing the Free to Play Competitor Pack, which will be available through the Dota 2 Store and Steam. With the Competitor Pack you’ll receive several in-game rewards including pro player item sets for Pudge, Doom, and Sven. You’ll also obtain a Free to Play courier, a special ward, and a custom HUD skin. Plus a portion of each purchase will go toward the players featured in the film: Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, Benedict "HyHy" Lim, and Clinton "Fear" Loomis.

Visit the Free to Play website to watch the trailer and learn more about the film.

<img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/yearbeast_lastchance.jpg" width="100%">

With a defiant roar, the Year Beast prepares to make its final stand. This battle will mark the end of the Year Beast's reign, so spend all your Ingots and show it what you're made of! After the beast has departed, remember to redeem your Jade Tokens. Next Tuesday (February 25th), unused Ingots will vanish, and all unspent Jade Tokens will automatically be redeemed toward New Bloom rewards. Good luck, and good hunting!

With a defiant roar, the Year Beast prepares to make its final stand. This battle will mark the end of the Year Beast's reign, so spend all your Ingots and show it what you're made of! After the beast has departed, remember to redeem your Jade Tokens. Next Tuesday (February 25th), unused Ingots will vanish, and all unspent Jade Tokens will automatically be redeemed toward New Bloom rewards. Good luck, and good hunting!