Dota 2 will see more frequent patches in 2018 than in previous years, a senior developer announced on Wednesday. Valve hasn’t fully committed to its new patching schedule (yet), and reserves the right to revisit its policy before year’s end, but the company says fans can expect dozens of smaller Dota 2 updates in the first half of 2018.
Longtime Dota 2 developer Icefrog revealed the news on Twitter. According to Icefrog, who prefers to remain anonymous (thus the handle), the Dota team wants to “try taking a different approach” to updating Valve’s MOBA. Beginning sometime in the near future, Valve will publish new Dota 2 patches every two weeks. The new builds will introduce fewer changes than their predecessors, the most recent being the Dueling Fates update, but will also make it easier for the company to address major problems in a timely manner. New patches will arrive on Thursdays, whenever the program goes into effect, and Icefrog says Valve will stick to that schedule for at least six months.
To make it easier to keep track of changes, we'll also be releasing a new in-game feature to notify you of any recent changes to heroes in your match.
— IceFrog (@IceFrog) February 1, 2018
That’s a pretty significant departure from Valve’s support strategy in recent years. The company has adhered to a two-per-year policy, largely to ensure professional Dota 2 players had time to acclimate to big changes before major events (like The International). Coincidentally, Valve only committed to its new patch strategy through TI8, which is expected to take place some time this August. And the company will almost certainly reverse course if the new schedule reduces the competitiveness of this year’s Dota 2 world championship.
Thankfully, Icefrog says Valve also has a plan to help casual Dota players keep up with a meta that will soon change much faster than before. An upcoming patch will apparently introduce new UI elements that will make users aware of recent changes they, their allies and/or their opponents have selected. It’s not clear how detailed that information will be; however, anything is probably better than the current system: going to YouTube and hoping someone recorded an explainer of recent changes to your favorite character(s).
Dota 2 is currently available for Windows and OS X.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Dota 2 news in 2018 and however long Valve supports Dota 2 in the years ahead.
