The community has once again surprised and caught us off guard by reaching the second Stretch Goal in <a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/15162">The International Interactive Compendium</a> already, adding over $250,000USD to the International Prize Pool. Our original plan was for the International 2013 Courier to be able to ride a small set of mounts, and now the art team knows the community demands more. Here some concepts for some of the new mounts they now have on the to-do list:

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/international_smeevil_couriers.jpg"><img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_smeevil_couriers.jpg"></a>

Given how much faster the community is reaching the stretch goals we set up, we've decided to add some more, based on the many conversations we've seen the community having around the compendium. In particular, the big gap between the 2nd and 3rd is something we're addressing. More on that tomorrow.

Don't forget that the Western Qualifiers for the International 2013 started this morning over at <a href="http://qualifiers.thegdstudio.com/" title="TheGDStudio" target="_blank">TheGDStudio</a>. Good luck to all the teams involved!

The community has once again surprised and caught us off guard by reaching the second Stretch Goal in The International Interactive Compendium already, adding over $250,000USD to the International Prize Pool. Our original plan was for the International 2013 Courier to be able to ride a small set of mounts, and now the art team knows the community demands more. Here some concepts for some of the new mounts they now have on the to-do list:



Given how much faster the community is reaching the stretch goals we set up, we've decided to add some more, based on the many conversations we've seen the community having around the compendium. In particular, the big gap between the 2nd and 3rd is something we're addressing. More on that tomorrow.

Don't forget that the Western Qualifiers for the International 2013 started this morning over at TheGDStudio. Good luck to all the teams involved!

The first Stretch Goal in <i>The International</i> <a href="http://www.dota2.com/international/compendium/">Interactive Compendium</a> has been reached, with a cool $100,000 being added to the International Prize Pool. Everyone who picks up a Compendium before <i>The International</i> ends will now receive the most powerful Battle Bonus we've ever created.

<a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/20169?appid=570"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_compendium_battle_bonus.jpg" width="100%" /></a>

Don't forget that Battle Bonuses improve the Battle Point earning rate of every player in the game with you, so if you've got one, make sure you drag some friends in to share in that sweet, sweet bonus.

The next Compendium Stretch Goal is additional mounts for the International 2013 Smeevil courier. Good luck!

The first Stretch Goal in The International Interactive Compendium has been reached, with a cool $100,000 being added to the International Prize Pool. Everyone who picks up a Compendium before The International ends will now receive the most powerful Battle Bonus we've ever created.



Don't forget that Battle Bonuses improve the Battle Point earning rate of every player in the game with you, so if you've got one, make sure you drag some friends in to share in that sweet, sweet bonus.

The next Compendium Stretch Goal is additional mounts for the International 2013 Smeevil courier. Good luck!

<a href="http://www.dota2.com/tournaments/international/compendium/"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_compendium.jpg" width="100%" /></a>

Each year we spend some of the planning time for The International trying to figure out ways to improve the connection between fans and the players in the tournament. We know that the majority of our viewers will be watching the tournament unfold over the internet, so we'd like to make it easier for an online fan to dig deeper into the event, the teams, and the players. In addition to wanting more detail, we know fans also love to compete with each other at predicting tournament results. This year we're taking our first shot at addressing all of the these concepts, with an additional step that we hope will result in the tournament itself getting bigger and better as a direct result of fan enthusiasm.

Today we're announcing <i>The International</i> <a href="http://www.dota2.com/tournaments/international/compendium/">Interactive Compendium</a>, a virtual book that will keep you fully up to date with the state of <i>The International</i>, and allow you to play games with other fans for fun and bragging rights. In addition to making you eligible for special virtual item drops throughout the tournament, it'll also allow you to vote on tournament-related community polls, such as the selection of which player should receive awards based on their play in the tournament. After the tournament is over, you'll be able to browse your friends' Compendiums to see how successful they were in their predictions.

Finally, to directly tie fan interest in Compendiums to the players themselves, we're going to redirect 25% of the revenue directly into the prize pool. That means the total $1.6 million prize pool for The International is now just the starting point. The Compendium will be available in the <a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/">Dota Store</a> tomorrow morning at 10:00am PDT. For those of you planning to attend The International in person, your ticket purchase will include a Compendium.

Each year we spend some of the planning time for The International trying to figure out ways to improve the connection between fans and the players in the tournament. We know that the majority of our viewers will be watching the tournament unfold over the internet, so we'd like to make it easier for an online fan to dig deeper into the event, the teams, and the players. In addition to wanting more detail, we know fans also love to compete with each other at predicting tournament results. This year we're taking our first shot at addressing all of the these concepts, with an additional step that we hope will result in the tournament itself getting bigger and better as a direct result of fan enthusiasm.

Today we're announcing The International Interactive Compendium, a virtual book that will keep you fully up to date with the state of The International, and allow you to play games with other fans for fun and bragging rights. In addition to making you eligible for special virtual item drops throughout the tournament, it'll also allow you to vote on tournament-related community polls, such as the selection of which player should receive awards based on their play in the tournament. After the tournament is over, you'll be able to browse your friends' Compendiums to see how successful they were in their predictions.

Finally, to directly tie fan interest in Compendiums to the players themselves, we're going to redirect 25% of the revenue directly into the prize pool. That means the total $1.6 million prize pool for The International is now just the starting point. The Compendium will be available in the Dota Store tomorrow morning at 10:00am PDT. For those of you planning to attend The International in person, your ticket purchase will include a Compendium.

The Elder Titan returns to the world he shattered!

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/keyart_eldr_ttn.jpg"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_eldr_ttn.jpg" width="100%" /></a>

The International tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, May 7th, at 10:00am PDT. They will be sold directly through the <a title="http://www.dota2.com/store/" href="http://www.dota2.com/store/" rel="nofollow">Dota 2 Store</a>. This year we'll be putting all tickets up for sale at once, so set your alarm clocks.

We've also updated the <a title="http://www.dota2.com/tournaments/international/announcement/" href="http://www.dota2.com/tournaments/international/announcement/" rel="nofollow">The International Qualifiers</a> with the 16 competing teams. Divided into East and West, these teams will compete for the 3 remaining slots in The International. The West Qualifier will be hosted by <a title="http://www.twitch.tv/thegdstudio" href="http://www.twitch.tv/thegdstudio" rel="nofollow">GDStudio</a> from May 13th through the 19th, and the East Qualifier by <a title="http://www.twitch.tv/beyondthesummit" href="http://www.twitch.tv/beyondthesummit" rel="nofollow">BeyondTheSummit</a> from May 20th through the 26th. All qualifier matches will also be available for free through DotaTV, right inside your Dota client.

Updates notes go <a href="http://www.dota2.com/news/updates/">here</a>.

The Elder Titan returns to the world he shattered!



The International tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, May 7th, at 10:00am PDT. They will be sold directly through the Dota 2 Store. This year we'll be putting all tickets up for sale at once, so set your alarm clocks.

We've also updated the The International Qualifiers with the 16 competing teams. Divided into East and West, these teams will compete for the 3 remaining slots in The International. The West Qualifier will be hosted by GDStudio from May 13th through the 19th, and the East Qualifier by BeyondTheSummit from May 20th through the 26th. All qualifier matches will also be available for free through DotaTV, right inside your Dota client.

Updates notes go here.

Introducing Skywrath Mage!

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/keyart_skywramg001.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone" title="Gyrocopter was caught in the jetwash" alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_skywramg001.jpg" width="576" height="426" /></a>

&nbsp;

Today we’ve shipped some changes to the report system as part of our ongoing initiatives in the community space. We’d like to do what we can to discourage some of the negativity that can go on during games as well as encourage folks to exhibit more cooperative behavior with other members of the community.

To that end, we’ve implemented the following changes:

-- We’re restricting the number of report fields per report to a single field in the hopes of increasing some of the clarity for the specific behavior being reported.

-- In concert with the above change, we’ve combined the ‘text’ and ‘voice’ abuse fields in the report dialog into a single ‘communication’ field.

-- We’re implementing a stricter system of communication (both text and voice) bans for abusive players. The system takes into account reports, in-game behavior, and other factors to determine whether or not a ban is warranted. These bans will be for voice and text communication channels only; they will not affect matchmaking, and they will not place players in the low-priority pool. The bans escalate according to the following scale:
<ul>
<li>1st ban: 1 day</li>
<li>2nd ban: 2 days</li>
<li>3rd (and subsequent) bans: 1 week</li>
</ul>
-- We’re changing the number of report submissions per week to 4 to act as an initial baseline, as we fine-tune the system.

-- We've removed a couple of lesser-used features (like spectators being able to report) that our data has shown not to correlate with accurate reports of bad behavior.

These changes are the beginning of a series of ongoing efforts to make the gameplay experience for all members of the DOTA community as enjoyable as possible. We’re going to be constantly monitoring and improving the system (and running many more experiments) as we go along, and we’re hopeful you’ll find these changes result in an improved experience in-game.

Patch notes are available <a href="http://www.dota2.com/news/updates/" target="_blank">here</a>.

Introducing Skywrath Mage!



&nbsp;

Today we’ve shipped some changes to the report system as part of our ongoing initiatives in the community space. We’d like to do what we can to discourage some of the negativity that can go on during games as well as encourage folks to exhibit more cooperative behavior with other members of the community.

To that end, we’ve implemented the following changes:

-- We’re restricting the number of report fields per report to a single field in the hopes of increasing some of the clarity for the specific behavior being reported.

-- In concert with the above change, we’ve combined the ‘text’ and ‘voice’ abuse fields in the report dialog into a single ‘communication’ field.

-- We’re implementing a stricter system of communication (both text and voice) bans for abusive players. The system takes into account reports, in-game behavior, and other factors to determine whether or not a ban is warranted. These bans will be for voice and text communication channels only; they will not affect matchmaking, and they will not place players in the low-priority pool. The bans escalate according to the following scale:

• 1st ban: 1 day
• 2nd ban: 2 days
• 3rd (and subsequent) bans: 1 week

-- We’re changing the number of report submissions per week to 4 to act as an initial baseline, as we fine-tune the system.

-- We've removed a couple of lesser-used features (like spectators being able to report) that our data has shown not to correlate with accurate reports of bad behavior.

These changes are the beginning of a series of ongoing efforts to make the gameplay experience for all members of the DOTA community as enjoyable as possible. We’re going to be constantly monitoring and improving the system (and running many more experiments) as we go along, and we’re hopeful you’ll find these changes result in an improved experience in-game.

Patch notes are available here.