Phoenixes traditionally symbolise rebirth, but that's not always the case. They also have pretty strong links to death: as seen by the quality of the third X-Men movie, or here, by the deadliness of Dota 2's new Hero. The eternally inflammable bird headlines the Day 3 announcement phase of tonight's New Bloom update. The update won't be completely without the spirit of renewal, however. A newly announced feature will let players Quantum Leap into replays, taking control of the action in an attempt to rewrite history.

"Now you can take control in any replay created after the New Bloom update, then act out the rest of the match from that moment forward," announce Valve on the New Bloom micro-site. "During a replay, hit the Takeover button to create a lobby where everyone can choose which hero to portray. Resume the match, and become the one to turn the tide of a favorite pro play, discover a way to escape an impossible setup, or relive a cherished team fight again and again." My doomed plan: create Takeover games seconds before the end of the match in order to persuade people I'm good at Dota.

Understandably, Phoenix's abilities are heavily based around setting things alight, along with introducing allies to healing rays of searing light. The ultimate is particularly interesting - transforming Phoenix into an enemy-damaging supernova that - as long as it isn't attacked within six seconds - stuns enemies and fully regenerates the bird.

Previous announcements for the New Bloom festivities include a phase-warping Year Beast of deadly splendour, the introduction of Terrorblade, an new Spring map variant, and a giant change list of Hero rebalancing.

New Bloom will be released later today.

Dota 2's holidays are a volatile thing. Diretide was delayed, and Frostivus is constantly cancelled. Will the fledgling celebration of New Bloom fair any better? Probably. After all, it centres around the arrival of a giant, evil beast that must be smashed and bashed to pieces. In this world of lane-pushing wizardry, violence and terror(blade) would seem to be the secret to long-lasting and untampered festivities.

What are the haps for this most horsey of updates? It's the traditionally twisted spin on real-world celebrations - in this instance the Chinese New Year. The Dota 2 variant involves a Year Beast, a monster both horrifying and valuable. "The same source that imbues the creature with terrible power also covers its being in rare materials, ready to be crafted into unique armaments if they can be pried from its body," explains the New Bloom micro-site.

It's not entirely clear what form the Year Beast will take, but, after having consulted with resident Dota fanatic Chris, there are two possibilities that seem the most likely. The first is that it'll be tied to a new game mode, as with the previous Wraith-Night event. The second, more interesting idea, is that the Year Beast will be a random encounter on the map. The last update already set precedence that new map designs are restricted to unranked play. If New Bloom's Spring map follows the same pattern, it could be that the phasing doom-beast will be a feature of it, leaving ranked play as the serious mode for hardcore wizards.

Hero speculation is also rife, with people reading phrases like "reappear refreshed and renewed" as a sign that Phoenix could be making an appearance. What we do know for sure is that Terrorblade is incoming, as he's the star of the Day 2 reveal.

Even more interesting is the planned introduction of ability draft mode, which sounds like pure, undiluted chaos. "Unlocked at level 11, in this mode each player is randomly assigned a hero, and each hero's abilities are placed into a pool. Players then take turns choosing which abilities their hero will bring into battle. Behold the majesty of a Pouncing Pudge, witness Axe fumbling with Psi Blades, and experience the terror of Illusory Orb Magnus."

Of course, this is only early days for the now-customary Valve update teaser process. Who knows, as future updates arrive, the whole bloody thing could be cancelled.

As is it wasn't already obvious, hats are hugely profitable. Back in July 2013, we learned that workshop creators have collectively earned $10 million from their items. This week, on day two of the Valve-hosted Steam Dev Days event, the company announced that content creators made $400,000 in just the first week of 2014.
Here are some more mind-boggling stats that were posted to Steam Database:


484,768 compendiums were sold during The Dota 2 International, which added an additional $1.2M to the prize pool. (This is higher than the $1 million figure we ve reported on previously).
More than 90 percent of Team Fortress 2 content is from the community.
Valve reports that 17 million Team Fortress 2 accounts own items, with 500 million total items.
The Counter Strike: Global Offensive community has created 4700 maps and 20,000 weapon skins.
Portal 2 has over 381,000 user generated maps, which Valve attributes to the easy to use map editor.
Garry s Mod has a total of 250,000 user generated items.
Skyrim has over 19,500 pieces of user generated content.

As we wrote about back in November, microtransactions and free-to-play games may make developers a lot of money, but remain controversial among many players, who often feel like they are being nickel-and-dimed. The most recent, obvious example of this is Forza Motorsport 5 for the Xbox One, which had to reconfigure its in-game economy after and outcry from the community about the pricing on certain cars.
What's interesting here is that Valve has managed to sell the same type of content optional and largely aesthetic without alienating the player community. In fact, according to Steam Database, Valve's presentation at Steam Dev Days plainly stated the company rejects the idea that microtransactions must have a negative affect on the player's experience.
The trick to not angering the community, according to Valve, is to let it take the lead on this type of content. User generated content is a vision of the game not restricted by the developer's resources, it said. People are going to mod a successful game anyway, so it's best to help them out and improve it for everyone."
According to Steam Database, Valve's presentation also stated that user generated content is the very thing that differentiates games from other media. It gives players a way to express themselves and improve the game for other fans, something we can't do to movies or books.