For the final two years Dota has been getting large, basic updates within the early Spring and this bought us spoiled. After a drastic map measurement enhance two years in the past and the Aspect replace final yr, we hope for one thing related in scope this yr as nicely, and at the moment, as a substitute of concentrating on minor stability points nonetheless current within the sport we wish to dream large and begin a dialog on what this yr’s updates may convey to Dota.
The Nice Confluence was teased for nearly six years at this level and the overall consensus throughout the group on the time was that it alluded to the introduction of heroes from the Heroes of Newerth universe into Dota. This concept may be very… optimistic, however we’re dreaming large at the moment, proper?
There are good causes to consider that it may realistically occur, although. IceFrog did work on HoN again within the day and it’s stuffed with fascinating designs that might work in Dota with minor changes.
There’s in fact the issue of turn-rates and cast-points, which had been a lot sooner in HoN within the early 2010s, nevertheless it’s one thing that may be tweaked in the course of the transition. Furthermore, Dota itself bought considerably sooner over time and turn-rates have been steadily rising since 2015, culminating in a full hero pool flip charge buff again in 2021.
It’s not like Dota gamers are starved for brand new heroes, a minimum of not within the final yr, however when there are dozens of Dota-fitting designs already playtested in circumstances much like Dota, one has to surprise why a minimum of a few of the fan-favorites, like Puppet Grasp, didn’t make it into our favourite sport already.
Lastly, the explanation we even remembered concerning the Nice Confluence and the way it might be, theoretically, associated to Heroes of Newerth is that this very latest tweet. One thing is occurring with HoN universe and as a fan of it again within the day and a large fan of Dota at the moment, I do hope these two universes are going to get much more carefully associated.
The final talks concerning the Nice Confluence began with the introduction of Void Spirit into the sport, as it’s his voice strains that began teasing the idea. Dota has many various, fascinating storylines and since we bought a really lore-focused Crownfall this yr, it’s maybe affordable to imagine that we’re going to get one thing related this yr.
Possibly “assume” is the incorrect phrase, “hope” might be extra apt, as Crownfall was sensible and we are able to’t get sufficient of lore-dumps, although we realise it was in all probability a whole lot of work to do, between all of the writing and all of the mini-games (no extra sand-fishing, although, please).
A Crownfall-style epic journey revolving across the Spirit Brothers might be the one we wish probably the most. All 4 heroes are persistently performed whatever the patch, as they’re simply too enjoyable to play in pubs, whereas having sturdy design identities to at all times discover themselves situationally viable within the skilled scene.
Arcanas for a minimum of a few of the Spirit Brothers are additionally long-overdue, with my private hope that we’ll see the return of the chubbier Storm Spirit from earlier than his beauty rework. In some way he feels significantly extra relatable to me personally.
We’ve talked about potential new beauty content material and potential new hero content material, however these are simply the spice on prime of what makes Dota nice. The rationale most of us love Dota is as a result of it’s an infinitely-replayable, deep and fascinating sport. That isn’t going anyplace and the meta retains evolving regardless of there being no large patches for an extended whereas.
Nevertheless, we wouldn’t thoughts one other large shake-up. Naturally there may be nonetheless a whole lot of work to be performed with the Aspect system. It’s nice, however the greater the extent of play will get, the extra cracks begin exhibiting: typically there’s a “good” and a “unreliable” aspect, versus them being situational and permitting for adaptation. Nonetheless, getting one thing that can basically change the method to the sport, versus stability tweaks, is one thing we hope for this yr.
Right here lies the issue, although: Dota is already an extremely complicated and deep sport and altering its fundamentals is at all times going to be laborious. There are in all probability lots of of assorted variables to tweak and techniques to transform, so guessing what Valve might be cooking is unlikely to yield correct outcomes.
So we’re going to ask you, the group, what concepts and modifications you wish to see in Dota. Personally, some map modifications and a few extra factors of curiosity might be good, and, maybe, one thing might be performed about Impartial Camp blocking, since as a help participant I’m simply bored with continuously paying the Sentry tax in the course of the laning stage.
