The biggest event in Dota 2 starts in a few weeks with the best teams in the world fighting to see who raises the Aegis. In preparation, Valve has released The International 2021 Compendium. By the way, this one is available to all players.
This is pretty much a way for Valve to make the TI experience even more fun. Fans can collect player cards and make predictions and even come up with their own fantasy team.
Player Cards are already available and everyone can claim 10 packs for free. One pack is earned per day after winning a single match. There’s also the choice to get team packs, available for $0.49 with half going to the team. One difference is that team packs guarantee the best card inside is from that team.
Supporters Clubs members also get to earn card packs which are:
- Bronze: 1 basic pack, 1 team pack
- Silver: 6 basic packs, 2 team packs (for a total of 7 basic and 3 team packs)
- Gold: 7 basic packs, 3 team packs (for a total of 14 basic and 6 team packs)
Live Audience
It seems Valve had its wish granted with a live audience allowed to watch the Main Event matches. Tickets go on sale beginning September 22. Valve revealed that they made sure the event is safe for everyone. For example, those who want to attend the live event need to be fully vaccinated as well as wear face masks.
Spectator HUD Updates
To improve the viewing experience, the Spectator HUD has been updated. Changes include:
- The top bar now shows smoked heroes and if heroes have Aegis or Cheese.
- BKB duration, Aegis timer, and shared Tango timer now show in the inventory.
- This has been added not only for spectators but even the players.
- Roshan timer now shows a countdown.
- Players can now ping Aegis to broadcast time remaining to allies.
- A Power Rune spawn top/bottom indicator has been added.
- The buyback status indicator now shows in the stats dropdown.
- Items panel now includes neutral items and which players have Aghanim's Scepter and/or Aghanim's Shard.
- Added a combat log entry for when players deny runes.
- Item quantities for sentries/observer wards/smokes now show for spectators when they open a team's shop.
Moving Forward
Valve also revealed that with tech improvements, it’s important to remove support from some older systems and configurations to ensure that the game remains fresh. For example, support for Dota on 32-bit systems is removed. That means players need to have a 64-bit machine and OS to run the game.
Read more about the plans for the future and other changes here.
