Valve continues to tinker with the day-to-day experience of the Dota 2 community, as we count down the last few days before The International returns to Seattle, and the latest wave of changes are meant to improve the introductory period for new players. Some of the changes could also have a small impact on existing Dota 2 players. But the updates introduced over the weekend mostly focus on making the game more approachable for potential fans.
Like many MOBAs, Dota 2 includes a variety of game modes for its community, ranging from All Pick -- a standard match in which the entire roster is available -- to Captain’s Draft, in which two randomly-selected members of each team are tasked with choosing the whole squad’s heroes. But new players won’t have those options anymore. Not until after they’ve spent a few hours with some of the easiest heroes the Dota 2 roster can offer. New players will be restricted to a list of 20 heroes for their first 25 games… and it’s probably safe to assume tougher choices like Meepo and Visage probably didn’t make the cut. Valve says all the heroes on the limited roster “ are very successful in helping new players learn and enjoy the game. ” And new players will get access to the rest of the characters once they’ve learned a few of the basics.
The company is also tweaking its matchmaking formula for new players. Going forward, new members of the Dota 2 community will only be matched with/against players with the best (and most consistent) behavior scores. We all know the MOBA genre has a well-deserved reputation for toxicity and the studio says the anger and name-calling frequently seen in team chat can be one of the biggest obstacles for new fans. Valve’s new matchmaking algorithm will do what it can to minimize the number of occasions when new Dota 2 players are exposed to the worst the game’s community has to offer. Instead, they’ll be paired with similarly-skilled players who’ve consistently proven to be considerate teammates.
There’s only so much the studio can do on this front. If there was a guaranteed solution for the toxicity that exists in MOBAs, Valve would’ve deployed it by now. But it’s nice to see the company taking additional steps -- following recent confirmation that the Newcomer Stream will return for TI7 -- that encourage new players to stick around and learn the ropes. And the timing couldn’t be better. The company’s annual Dota 2 world championship tournament is only a week away.
Dota 2 is available on Windows and OS X. The game’s annual world championship tournament, The International, begins on Aug. 7.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Dota 2 coverage in 2017 and however long Valve continues to support Dota 2 in the years ahead.
