Dota 2 News

Dota 2's next hero to drop shortly after Singapore Major

Among a number of equally big Dota 2 announcements, such as smurfing becoming a bannable offense, Valve has revealed when players can expect the MOBA's next hero.

In a short paragraph at the end of this massive blog post - which mainly focuses on an overhaul to the game's core systems to accommodate new players - Valve says that fans can expect hero number 121 in the next update, which drops shortly after the ONE Esports Singapore Major. "We're aiming for the Friday following the Singapore Major as the day the next update ships," Valve says. "The 7.29 update will include the next hero as well as a balance-focused gameplay update." With the Major wrapping up on Sunday, April 4, expect the new update and new Dota 2 hero to drop on Friday, April 9.

We have no official word on what kind of hero we're getting just yet, but excitement is still pretty high. With Valve expecting a high influx of new players from its Dota: Dragon's Blood Netflix series, there's a good chance this will be a more simple to learn and uncomplicated hero, but that's purely speculation at this point.

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Dota 2 gets a new hero and its 7.29 update in April

It's a big ol' day in Dota land. The MOBA game's tie-in anime show Dota: Dragon's Blood has come to Netflix and Valve has dropped a surprise - and enormous - overhaul to the Dota 2 new player experience, making it far easier for newbies to get into the game. But, the news doesn't stop there - Valve has also revealed the release date for the multiplayer game's next big patch, which will usher in a brand-new Dota 2 hero.

Tucked away, right down at the bottom of its mammoth post announcing the new player experience overhaul, Valve has given us an idea of what it's cooking up for Dota 2 next. "We're aiming for the Friday following the Singapore Major as the day the next update ships," the studio reveals. "The 7.29 update will include the next hero as well as a balance-focused gameplay update."

So, as popular Dota community member Wykrhm Reddy has posted on Twitter (below), the Dota 2 7.29 update release date should be April 9, 2021. That being the Friday following the Singapore Major's grand final on April 4.

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Dota 2 update focuses on accessibility for new players

With the launch of Dota: Dragon's Blood on Netflix tomorrow, Valve is clearly gearing up for an influx of new, curious Dota 2 players. To aid the onboarding process, the developer has today launched a huge overhaul of core game systems, alongside a slew of new additions to help players feel at home in the popular MOBA game.

Dota's in-game shop has been in dire need of some quality of life improvements for a while now, especially for newer players who have historically had to rely on third-party guidance to navigate it. The shop will now feature a streamlined iteration for new recruits "that limits the complexity of choices presented, and helps avoid information overload."

Heroes have also historically required third-party guidance to make heads or tails of. After all, there are currently 120 of them, with a new one on the way in update 7.29. Hero briefs have been added to help with this. Furthermore, with guided build paths for each hero now also a thing, players will be able to quickly learn everything they need to about a hero without needing to look elsewhere. More information on the game's mechanics can also be found in the new in-built Glossary.

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Dota 2 makes smurfing a bannable offense

The age old issue of smurfing is the bane of many lower level players' existences across any competitive title. Loading into a game only to be mercilessly rolled by a player several divisions higher than you is one of competitive gaming's greatest frustrations. Meanwhile, a victory gained due to a smurfing teammate always feels hollow.

Some developers have attempted to tackle the issue by introducing dedicated systems for rooting out players on side accounts which, for example, may reward them with bonus points so they reach their actual rank quicker, or may even place them into dedicated queues with others who have been flagged as smurfs. Despite all of these efforts, the issue has persisted.

Now, Dota 2 developer Valve has had enough of playing cat and mouse with smurfs, and has announced that smurfing is now a bannable offence inside the popular MOBA game. The new measure, it says, "will primarily focus on new accounts created after today [March 25] for which we have high confidence in their smurfing and game-ruining behaviour." Players will also be able to report suspected smurfs through the post-game report system.

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Valve overhauls the Dota 2 new player experience as DOTA: Dragon's Blood releases

Today is the day, the big teaming up of Valve and Netflix is out with the DOTA: Dragon's Blood anime series. Since there will be renewed interest in Dota 2 as a game, Valve has also given it a huge upgrade for newer players.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/03/valve-overhauls-the-dota-2-new-player-experience-as-dota-dragons-blood-releases