Mar 2, 2018

Dota 2's new rapid update schedule is a positive step for a maturing game

Dota 2

We are deep into Dota 2's mature years. Valve's superlative wizard-clicker left beta almost half a decade ago, and it's been 18 months since it finally achieved parity with (and subsequently overtook) the original Defense of the Ancients mod. Last year saw it unseated from its permanent spot at the top of the Steam charts—and not just unseated but utterly routed, the vast success of PUBG relegating it to distant second place.

It's important to contextualise 'second place'. Dota 2 has lost a few hundred thousand players, but is still comfortably more popular than CS:GO and significantly more popular than the vast majority of games on Steam (and that's a lot of games). It still has more players than six of the ten most popular Steam games combined, a list that includes Rainbow 6: Siege, Grand Theft Auto V, and Warframe. If this deep, strange, ruthlessly difficult game is becoming niche, then, it's still a really big niche.

As long as Dota 2 retains enough players to be viable, a shrinking community is not necessarily a concern: after all, this game has never particularly concerned itself with growth. If it did, it'd be less weird. Other developers have found ways to make DotA's fundamentals more accessible, but Dota 2's guiding star has always been the original mod's community-grown strangeness. As custodians of that strangeness, Valve has taken steps to make Dota 2 more approachable and more contemporary in its presentation. They've made Dota 2 more coherent, if not much more accessible, and this is appropriate as the game's community settles.

If Dota 2 is about anything it's about your ability, individually and a team, to adapt to a complicated and ever-changing strategic situation.

Dota 2's new update schedule, which sees a patch deployed every other Thursday, is a small but significant change that helps build upon the best things about Valve's management of the game—and protect against the mistakes they have frequently made. By comparison to other MOBAs, Dota 2 has traditionally been updated infrequently but suddenly. Valve doesn't talk much, IceFrog less so, and as such the arrival of a game-upending patch is often a surprise: a shock that sends analysts scrambling for their video cameras.

There's always been something exciting about the moment when a patch arrives, but the wait between them can be interminable: and with no fixed schedule, the Dota 2 community has endured long periods where very little seemed to be happening at all. This breeds discontent. If Dota 2 is about anything it's about your ability, individually and a team, to adapt to a complicated and ever-changing strategic situation. I'd argue that this is true of the game in a broader sense, too: what keeps people playing over the course of years is the challenge of developing your understanding of a sandbox that never stops moving. In the long wait between updates, however, both momentum and player enthusiasm can fade. A sort of metagame ennui sets in, with players locked into a playbook according to their skill level. Playbooks aren't Dota: setting playbooks on fire is Dota.

Valve didn't invent the concept of the fortnightly update, but if they're going to take any pages out of the League of Legends playbook I'm glad it's this one. Communication has always been a weakness of theirs: they don't employ community teams or PR agencies, and it seems unlikely that their company culture would ever allow that to change. Guaranteeing a patch every two weeks helps get around some of those issues because the most frequent question a hypothetical Dota 2 community manager would have to field would inevitably be 'when's the patch'. And Valve has always preferred to communicate via patch note: more patches is effectively more communication, albeit in their own specific mechanical way.

With a more manageable rate of change comes more manageable updates. The updates deployed in this way so far have felt, appropriately, like patches in miniature—far less extensive than the overhauls of old, but providing welcome balance adjustments that are well communicated through a new feature that highlights changes to heroes and abilities within the game itself. Dota 2 has always been at its best in the uncertain weeks following a patch, and while these latest updates have been less world-changing than the community might be used to, there's a fresh sense that the metagame is always on the edge of a change.

This is good for Dota 2, and rewards players who are good at parsing the current state of the metagame and coming up with creative ways to break it open—a narrow community, but a skill that every Dota player can aspire to learn. For everybody else, more regular changes means that there's a fixed term attached to on any given flavour-of-the-month hero pick or strategy.

Perhaps given time the community will get used to this new rate of change and miss the days when you suddenly had to relearn whole swathes of the game: in the meantime, it's nice to be able to load Dota 2 and discover that something interesting has changed. 'Reliability' is a strange concept to apply to a game about managing chaos, but Valve is taking the right steps to make sure that this deeply weird, fascinating game reliably shows its best side. Will that help it reclaim the thousands of players lost to PUBG's wildernesses? Probably not. Is it the right approach for the hundreds of thousands that remain? Yes.

Mar 1, 2018

Dota 2 Update - March 1st, 2018

Dota 2 - Valve

7.10:
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* Enabled Dark Willow in Captain's Mode

* Bounty Rune base gold bounty increased from 50 to 60 (affects runes after the first one)
* Bounty Rune no longer gives XP. Previously gave 0 at the start and increased by 7 per minute.
* Tome of Knowledge XP bonus increased from 500 to 700

* Melee Creeps gold bounty reduced by 1 (reduced from 41 to 40)

* Randoming now gives a Faerie Fire instead of a branch
* Bonus hero count increased from 10 to 12

* Aeon Disk: Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90

* Boots of Speed: Cost increased from 400 to 500
* Boots of Speed: Movement bonus increased from 40 to 50
* Phase Boots: Movement bonus increased from 45 to 50
* Power Treads: Movement bonus increased from 45 to 50

* Animal Courier: Flying Courier movement speed increased from 450 to 460

* Monkey King Bar: Added a sound effect for successful procs

* Soul Ring: Health cost increased from 150 to 170

* Abaddon: Level 15 Talent increased from +50 Mist Coil Heal/Damage to +60
* Abaddon: Level 20 Talent increased from +15% Cooldown Reduction to +20%
* Abaddon: Level 25 Talent reduced from +250 Aphotic Shield Health to +225

* Alchemist: Level 20 Talent increased from +25% Cleave to +30%

* Ancient Apparition: Level 15 Talent increased from -1.5s Ice Vortex Cooldown to -2.5s
* Ancient Apparition: Level 25 Talent changed from 4 Charges of Cold Feet to 900 AoE Cold Feet

* Anti-Mage: Level 10 Talent changed from +175 Health to +10 Strength
* Anti-Mage: Level 15 Talent changed from -2s Blink Cooldown to +400 Blink Cast Range
* Anti-Mage: Level 20 Talent increased from +300 Blink Cast Range to -2.5s Blink Cooldown

* Arc Warden: Level 10 Talent changed from +5 Armor to 8% Cooldown Reduction
* Arc Warden: Level 15 Talent increased from +2s Flux Duration to +3s
* Arc Warden: Level 20 Talent increased from +100 Attack Range to +125
* Arc Warden: Level 20 Talent changed from +10% Cooldown Reduction to -1.5s Spark Wraith Cooldown

* Axe: Level 15 Talent increased from +30 Movement Speed to +40

* Bloodseeker: Bloodrage now heals you for 50% of its value if you do not get the last hit but are within 300 AoE of a dying hero.

* Centaur Warrunner: Level 20 Talent increased from +250 Double Edge Damage to +300

* Clinkz: Strafe projectile dodge count increased from 3 to 4
* Clinkz: Level 15 Talent increased from +15% Evasion to +20%

* Crystal Maiden: Level 10 Talent increased from +200 Health to +250
* Crystal Maiden: Level 15 Talent increased from +90 Gold/Min to +120

* Dark Seer: Level 20 Talent increased from +300 AoE Surge to +400

* Dazzle: Base movement speed increased from 305 to 310
* Dazzle: Level 20 Talent increased from +30 Poison Touch DPS to +45

* Doom: Base Intelligence increased by 2
* Doom: Level 10 Talent changed from +25 Movement Speed to +16% Scorched Earth Movement Speed

* Dragon Knight: Agility gain reduced from 2.2 to 2.0
* Dragon Knight: Level 10 Talent changed from +30 Attack Speed to -20% Breathe Fire Damage Reduction

* Drow Ranger: Level 15 Talent increased from +400 Gust Distance/Knockback to +550
* Drow Ranger: Level 20 Talent increased from +2s Gust Duration to +3s

* Ember Spirit: Sleight of Fist bonus hero damage increased from 25/50/75/100 to 30/60/90/120

* Enchantress: Nature's Attendants manacost increased from 125 to 140

* Gyrocopter: Improved visual effect for Flak Cannon projectiles
* Gyrocopter: Homing Missile bounty increased from 25 to 50
* Gyrocopter: Homing Missile cooldown increased from 20/17/14/11 to 26/21/16/11

* Invoker: Level 10 Talent from +0.3s Tornado Lift Time to +0.5s
* Invoker: Level 15 Talent from +1.5s Cold Snap Duration to +2.5s
* Invoker: Cataclysm Sunstrikes spawn distance is now slightly closer to each target (from 175-250 distance away to 160-220)

* Io: Tether duration increased from 12 to 14

* Jakiro: Level 10 Talent increased from +25% XP to +30%
* Jakiro: Level 15 Talent increased from +250 Attack Range to +300

* Kunkka: Tidebringer damage increased from 25/45/65/85 to 25/50/75/100

* Leshrac: Lightning Storm manacost rescaled from 90/100/110/120 to 75/90/105/120

* Lich: Level 25 Talent from Attacks Apply 30% MS and AS Slow to 40%

* Lina: Level 10 Talent increased from +100 Cast Range to +125
* Lina: Level 10 Talent increased from +25 Damage to +30
* Lina: Level 15 Talent increased from +300 Health to +350
* Lina: Level 20 Talent increased from +10% Spell Amplification to +12%

* Lion: Mana Drain slow increased from 14/16/18/20 to 16/19/22/25%
* Lion: Level 10 Talent increased from +75 Damage to +90
* Lion: Level 15 Talent increased from +90 Gold/Min to +120

* Lone Druid: Spirit Bear health regeneration increased from 4/5/6/7 to 5/6/7/8
* Lone Druid: Level 15 Talent increased from -8s Savage Roar Cooldown to -12s

* Luna: Level 15 Talent from -3s Lucent Beam Cooldown to -4s

* Lycan: Base damage reduced by 3

* Magnus: Base strength increased by 1
* Magnus: Level 25 Talent increased from +0.75s Reverse Polarity to +1s

* Mirana: Starfall manacost from 100/120/140/160 to 80/105/130/155
* Mirana: Level 25 Talent increased from -70 Moonlight Shadow Cooldown to -80

* Monkey King: Base damage increased by 2
* Monkey King: Fixed Mischief not showing the right particles for the first bounty rune
* Monkey King: Level 10 Talent increased from +150 Tree Dance Vision AoE to +300
* Monkey King: Level 15 Talent increased from +300 Tree Dance Cast Range to +600
* Monkey King: Level 20 Talent increased from +300 Primal Spring Damage to +400

* Morphling: Morph can now be toggled to go back and forth from the original target until the duration runs out. Has a 1 second toggle cooldown.

* Naga Siren: Sleep buff linger time reduced from 0.5 to 0.4
* Naga Siren: Song of the Siren manacost increased from 100 to 100/150/200

* Nature's Prophet: Wraith of Nature cooldown reduced from 70/65/60 to 60
* Nature's Prophet: Level 10 Talent increased from +30 Movement Speed to +40
* Nature's Prophet: Level 15 Talent increased from +8 Armor to +10

* Necrophos: Level 15 Talent changed from +30 Movement Speed to +16% Ghost Shroud Slow
* Necrophos: Level 15 Talent changed from +300 Health to +40 Death Pulse Heal

* Ogre Magi: Level 20 Talent increased from +30 Strength to +40

* Omniknight: Purification cooldown increased from 11/10/9/8 to 11

* Oracle: Turn rate improved from 0.5 to 0.7
* Oracle: Intelligence growth increased from 2.9 to 3.2

* Outworld Devourer: Astral Imprisonment manacost increased from 120/140/160/180 to 140/160/180/200
* Outworld Devourer: Level 10 Talent increased from +200 Health to +250

* Phantom Assassin: Stifiling Dagger Talent now has a 300 cast range buffer for the secondary target

* Phantom Lancer: Level 25 Talent increased from -5s Doppelganger Cooldown to -7s

* Phoenix: Level 15 Talent changed from +40% XP Gain to +500 Health
* Phoenix: Level 20 Talent increased from +1s Supernova Stun Duration to +1.25s

* Pudge: Rot slow reduced from 20/24/28/32% to 17/22/27/32%

* Razor: Static Link manacost increased from 50 to 65

* Riki: Level 15 Talent increased from -5s Smokescreen Cooldown to -7s

* Rubick: Level 15 Talent increased from -35 Fade Bolt Hero Attack to -45

* Shadow Demon: Level 10 Talent increased from +25% XP Gain to 30%
* Shadow Demon: Level 25 Talent changed from +5s Disruption Banish Duration to 2 Charges of Disruption

* Shadow Fiend: Shadow Raze damage increase per stack reduced from 80 to 50/60/70/80

* Skywrath Mage: Level 15 Talent increased from -6s Ancient Seal Cooldown to -8s

* Slardar: Level 10 Talent increased from +20 to +25 Damage

* Slark: Level 10 Talent increased from +8 Strength to +10

* Spectre: Level 25 Talent increased from +20% Haunt Illusion Damage to +40%

* Sven: Level 15 Talent changed from +30 Damage to Storm Hammer Dispels Enemies
* Sven: Level 20 Talent changed from Storm Hammer Dispels Enemies to -5s Storm Hammer Cooldown
* Sven: Level 25 Talent changed from -9s Storm Hammer Cooldown to +0.75s Storm Hammer Stun Duration

* Terrorblade: Base HP regen reduced from 3.25 to 3.0
* Terrorblade: Reflection no longer reduces attack speed

* Tinker: Laser Scepter bounce radius reduced from 650 to 400
* Tinker: Laser manacost increased from 95/120/145/170 to 110/130/150/170
* Tinker: Level 20 Talent from +100 Damage to +10 Armor

* Tiny: Tree Grab cooldown increased from 18/16/14/12 to 24/20/16/12

* Treant Protector: Level 10 Talent changed from +35% XP Gain to +2 Living Armor Block Instances
* Treant Protector: Level 15 Talent improved from 3s Tree Respawn Time to 2s
* Treant Protector: Level 25 Talent changed from +6 Living Armor Block Instances to 700 AoE Living Armor (heroes and buildings)

* Troll Warlord: Level 10 Talent increased from +200 Health to +250
* Troll Warlord: Level 15 Talent increased from +50 Whirling Axes Damage to +75

* Undying: Level 10 Talent increased from +100 Cast Range to +150
* Undying: Level 15 Talent increased from +20 Decay Duration to +30
* Undying: Level 20 Talent increased from +3 Tombstone Attacks to +4

* Ursa: Fury Swipes Roshan duration increased from 6 to 10

* Venomancer: Level 15 Talent increased from +150 Cast Range to +200
* Venomancer: Level 20 Talent increased from +6s Poison Nova Duration to +7s
* Venomancer: Level 25 Talent increased from +600 Poison Nova AoE to +800

* Visage: Soul Assumption Talent now has a 300 cast range buffer for the secondary targets
* Visage: Added secondary ability on Visage to make the nearest Familiar land each time it is clicked.

* Warlock: Level 10 Talent increased from +125 Cast Range to +150
* Warlock: Level 15 Talent increased from +40% XP Gain to +60%
* Warlock: Level 20 Talent increased from +250 Shadow Word AoE to +300

* Weaver: Level 10 Talent increased from +25% XP Gain to +35%

* Windranger: Shackleshot Manacost reduced from 90/100/110/120 to 70/85/100/115
* Windranger: Level 20 Talent increased from +0.5s Shackleshot Duration to +1s

* Winter Wyvern: Arctic Burn manacost reduced from 120/110/100/90 to 90
* Winter Wyvern: Level 10 Talent increased from +50 Damage to +60

* Wraith King: Level 15 Talent changed from +5 Max Skeletons to +25 Skeletons Attack Damage
* Wraith King: Level 20 Talent changed from +30 Skeletons Attack Damage to 2x Skeletons Spawned

* Zeus: Level 25 Talent increased from +200 Cast Range to +275