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.

Better watch your back, because Bristleback is back! <em>(kill me)</em>.

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/keyart_bristleback.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="If you enjoyed those puns I got a backpack full of more." alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_bristleback.jpg" width="576" height="426" /></a>

Something we're very excited about this week is Anuxi's <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=133304836" target="_blank">Treasure of the Shaper Divine Chest</a>. Look at all that stuff! This marks the first Chest entirely composed of items created by a single Workshop Contributor. We cannot wait to see what else comes out of the Dota 2 Workshop community.

<a href="http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=133304836" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone" title="dat Doom Sword" alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_treasure_of_the_shaper_divine.jpg" width="576" height="426" /></a>

In Tournament news, <a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/101817554" target="_blank">The Defense 3</a> Grand Finals are this weekend and if you happen to be one of the Immortal Highlanders that are still around since the start of the tournament then you are in for a treat! Virtus Pro faces Fnatic in a Best of Five that is sure to produce many memorable moments that should last until the next Defense ends or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe" target="_blank">heat death of the universe</a>, whichever comes first.

Good news to you G-1 League fans! The fine fellows over <a href="http://www.17173.com/" target="_blank">17173</a> have added Inky the Hexapus courier to their <a href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/135034708" target="_blank">tournament pass</a>. Early adopters should find Inky awaiting in their inventories when they log in -- make sure to bring a treat.

Finally, are you in Serbia? Do you like Dota 2? Do you have what it takes?! *insert guitar riff here* KGB-HQ is running a 32 team tournament at their cafe in Belgrade, Serbia. Interested? You can find more info <a href="http://e-frag.net/v2/najavljen-dota-2-turnir-kgb-cm-storm-volume-2/" target="_blank">here</a>.

This <a href="http://www.dota2.com/news/updates/" target="_blank">changelog </a>fell off the back of Axe's van.

Better watch your back, because Bristleback is back! (kill me).



Something we're very excited about this week is Anuxi's Treasure of the Shaper Divine Chest. Look at all that stuff! This marks the first Chest entirely composed of items created by a single Workshop Contributor. We cannot wait to see what else comes out of the Dota 2 Workshop community.



In Tournament news, The Defense 3 Grand Finals are this weekend and if you happen to be one of the Immortal Highlanders that are still around since the start of the tournament then you are in for a treat! Virtus Pro faces Fnatic in a Best of Five that is sure to produce many memorable moments that should last until the next Defense ends or the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first.

Good news to you G-1 League fans! The fine fellows over 17173 have added Inky the Hexapus courier to their tournament pass. Early adopters should find Inky awaiting in their inventories when they log in -- make sure to bring a treat.

Finally, are you in Serbia? Do you like Dota 2? Do you have what it takes?! *insert guitar riff here* KGB-HQ is running a 32 team tournament at their cafe in Belgrade, Serbia. Interested? You can find more info here.

This changelog fell off the back of Axe's van.

Don't feed this guy.

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/keyart_troll.jpg "><img class="alignnone" title="Max is the worst." alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_hero_troll.jpg" /></a>

In happier news, our new Calendar system is now available. Leagues can add events to the calendar making pro games easier to follow than ever before.

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/posts/calendar_full.png"><img class="alignnone" title="Ayesee, on the other hand, is the coolest." alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/posts/calendar.png" width="588" height="537" /></a>

&nbsp;

And what better way of using this new feature than by following the new <a title="LD too" href="http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/120653104" target="_blank">SEA League</a>? That GoDz guy is so dreamy.

&nbsp;

We've also added All Random mode and tweaked Least Played to now hide a player's top 40 heroes.

And unlike last week, I will properly link to the <a title="I hope this woks" href="http://www.dota2.com/news/updates/">changelog </a>this time.

Don't feed this guy.



In happier news, our new Calendar system is now available. Leagues can add events to the calendar making pro games easier to follow than ever before.



&nbsp;

And what better way of using this new feature than by following the new SEA League? That GoDz guy is so dreamy.

&nbsp;

We've also added All Random mode and tweaked Least Played to now hide a player's top 40 heroes.

And unlike last week, I will properly link to the changelog this time.

The Dota 2 Polycount Contest began on October 8th and officially ended this past Monday December 3rd. Over that two month period the <a href="http://www.polycount.com/">Polycount</a> modeling community submitted more than 1,000 entries to the <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/browse/?appid=570">Dota 2 Workshop</a>. We aren’t exaggerating when we say that the sheer magnitude of high quality submissions has blown us away and that judging entries has been difficult because so many sets could have been winners.

<a href="http://blog.dota2.com/2012/12/polycount-contest/">Head over to the official Dota 2 blog to read up on the winners!</a>

The Dota 2 Polycount Contest began on October 8th and officially ended this past Monday December 3rd. Over that two month period the Polycount modeling community submitted more than 1,000 entries to the Dota 2 Workshop. We aren’t exaggerating when we say that the sheer magnitude of high quality submissions has blown us away and that judging entries has been difficult because so many sets could have been winners.

Head over to the official Dota 2 blog to read up on the winners!