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The Dragon's Gift



We're hard at work on an upcoming update we're calling "Crownfall", and we're excited to get it finished so you can see what we've been working on. We looked at a calendar and noticed it had been more than a few weeks since the Frostivus update, and we didn't want to make you wait until Crownfall before you got any new content. Luckily, the calendar gods came through with another holiday just in time: Happy Lunar New Year!

People who are born in the Year of the Dragon are known for their generosity, prosperity and good luck. Must be nice. For those of us who don't have a magical dragon granting us gift-giving super powers, we've introduced red enveloped-themed Dragon's Gift, available from now through March 7th. These work exactly how they’re named: treasures that can only be given, and opened by whoever you choose as the recipient.

And for those of you who would rather not wait around on the generosity of others, we've got traditional Dragon's Hoard treasures as well. Each treasure or gift contains one of 17 new Lunar New Year-themed cosmetic sets, and a bonus chance for a Dragon's Gift or new unusual effect.

Lastly, every treasure (and gift) has a chance to contain The Ancient Dragon King, the first ever cosmetic for your Ancient, with unique Dire and Radiant styles. Now you'll finally have a chance to adorn your ancient with a mythical dragon, just like, presumably, you've always wanted. Plus, if anyone in your match has one, everyone can see it.

In keeping with this "spirit of giving" theme, we have another gift for (almost) everyone: We've rolled out some new cheat detection code. Well, actually, we rolled it out a few weeks back, and we've spent the time since accumulating quite the set of cheaters. You'll probably notice fewer of them in your games as the automated ban waves roll out.

As is tradition, this update also includes a number of other fixes and improvements:

General Fixes:
  • Fixed a number of issues that would prevent guides from loading in-game (If you manually enabled Steam background downloads to try to work around this problem, you can safely disable it again)
  • Fixed another case where Roshan could go walkabout: Night Stalker casting Dark Ascension while Roshan was channeling a Twin Gate
  • Fixed an issue where already-captured Outposts could be channeled
  • Fixed an issue where the neutral item picker would hide on key release under some Quick Cast modes
  • Fixed Doubloon having only +2 instead of +2.5 mana regen
  • Fixed Eternal Shroud's magic resistance applying to illusions
  • Fixed Eternal Shroud's interactions with Medusa Mana Shield
  • Fixed Safety Bubble's tooltip not mentioning that the barrier bypasses self-inflicted damage
  • Fixed an issue with the effects on Shiva's Guard
  • Fixed Chen's Holy Persuasion not taking Turbo's creep bounty multiplier into account when giving gold on cast
  • Fixed Legion Commander's Aghanim's Shard still giving bonus armor and duration for Overwhelming Odds
  • Fixed Marci's Unleash proccing upon Bloodstone pickup and drop
  • Fixed Muerta's Gunslinger being purgeable
  • Fixed keybind not working to upgrade Ogre Magi's Multicast
  • Fixed a bug that allowed inactive Phantom Lancer's illusions to block Neutral Camps
  • Fixed a rare server crash with Primal Beast's Uproar
  • Fixed column shop layout not displaying Khanda and Harpoon
  • Added magic resistance from Intelligence and increased damage for Universal heroes to expanded tooltips
  • In Turbo, show the "[Hero] was chosen by both teams!" message to everyone, not just the player who tried to pick the already-picked hero
  • Added spell icons for Windranger's Gale Force when using Compass of the Rising Gale
  • Increased performance when displaying many chat messages from global channels
  • Fixed various tooltip issues
  • Updated tips shown during pause for the 7.35b Gameplay Patch


Ability Draft Fixes:
  • A number of previously unavailable Scepter/Shard abilities are now granted, some abilities are accessed by toggling auto-cast on the base spell:
    • Glacier granted with Marksmanship
    • Crystal Clone granted with Frostbite
    • Parting Shot granted with Pierce the Veil
    • Work Horse granted with Stampede
    • Burning Barrage granted with Skeleton Walk
    • Friendly Shadow granted with Shadow Walk
    • Counterspell Ally granted with Counterspell
    • Lightning Hands granted with Arc Lightning
    • Burning Army granted with Death Pact
    • Unrefined Fireblast granted with Fireblast
    • Poison Nova granted with Noxious Plague (Poison Nova passive ability is hidden)
  • Chemical Rage now grants Greevil's Greed. It will appear as a buff instead of on the ability bar.
  • Fixed Spirit Bear not having any abilities.
  • Fixed Blinding Light not appearing as a draftable ability.
  • Fixed Alchemist have 4 basic abilities at draft, which would push other abilities off by one.
  • Cloak and Dagger Shard no longer grants Sleeping Dart.
  • Ravage Shard now grants Dead in the Water instead of Tendrils of the Deep.
  • Invoker Ability Draft Shard updated to the new EMP Shard instead of the old Meteor Shard.
  • Proximity Mines now grants Minefield Sign as an additional ability.
  • Fixed Shadow Wave and Dream Coil's Scepter attacks not working on melee heroes.
  • Fixed Spirits working on illusions when you have a Scepter.
  • Fixed Ogre Magi getting Multicast instead of Dumb Luck as an innate.
  • Fixed Primal Spring, Pulse Nova, Rot, Infernal Blade, and a number of other abilities not granting stacks of Fiery Soul.
  • Fixed Talents not appearing for Starbreaker, Cinder Brew, Phantom Rush, and Power Cogs when the ability is drafted on their original hero.
  • Fixed Death Seeker not being togglable with hotkey.
  • Fixed not being able to toggle Call of the Wild Hawk to switch between Hawk and Boar.
  • Fixed Hairball appearing without a hotkey until it is toggled.
  • Fixed Chemical Rage Scepter not giving bonus damage and spell amplification.
  • Fixed Horn Toss being given by Shard instead of Scepter.
  • Fixed Rain of Destiny being given by Scepter instead of Shard.
  • Fixed Hunter's Boomerang and Decoy being given with either Shard or Scepter.
  • Fixed Timbersaw getting Second Chakram with Scepter. It now is only granted with the talent if Timbersaw drafts Chakram.

Dota 2 Update - 1/8/2024

Some items from the Frostivus 2023 Treasure Chest were missing unusual variants. Those have been added. Over the next couple days, unusual items from these sets that should have been dropped will be granted.

In addition, over the last few days we've addressed several gameplay issues:
  • Fixed Frostivus wards not being selectable/attackable
  • Fixed an issue where pinging certain items in quickbuy could cause the game to lag for teammates
  • Fixed an issue where Arc Warden Tempest Doubles could gain gold by selling Midas
  • Fixed Doom Devour Neutral abilities not leveling up automatically at the time when neutral abilities would scale
  • Fixed Lina permanently gaining Fiery Soul stacks until she casts another spells if she was broken when supercharging with Laguna Blade
  • Fixed Tiny Tree particle showing at the wrong time
  • Fixed a rare server crash with motion controlled abilities (e.g. Spirit Breaker Charge of Darkness)
  • Fixed an issue with Profile Showcase where items could appear floating before the rest of the hero loaded and fixed an issue with anchor points on ultrawide monitors
  • Added missing descriptions for various recipes
  • Fixed some bugs in the tutorials in the Learn tab caused by the 7.35 Gameplay Patch

7.35b Gameplay Patch

Patch 7.35b is out now. You can check the notes here.

Over the last few days we've also addressed several gameplay issues:

  • Fixed tabbing through selections being in creation order, rather than reverse creation order
  • Fixed the combat log not displaying instances of damage that occurred on the same frame from the same source to the same target
  • Fixed Block of Cheese not entering cooldown when receiving damage
  • Fixed Parasma going on cooldown when denying
  • Fixed Granite Golem's Granite Aura not correctly adjusting health when removed
  • Fixed Batrider's Sticky Napalm applying damage from Mage Slayer
  • Fixed Centaur Warrunner keeping the Work Horse ability after selling Aghanim's Scepter
  • Fixed Centaur Warrunner's Hitch A Ride ability being in the wrong slot if applying Aghanim's Blessing
  • Fixed Medusa having any damage shield making Dagger items unmuteable
  • Fixed Meepo's Earthbind talent not giving the intended 2.5s cooldown reduction
  • Fixed Meepo levelling Divided We Stand on a clone not giving Meepo the correct stats
  • Fixed Muerta's Dead Shot interrupting some movement abilities on units that are debuff immune
  • Fixed enemies being able to see Slardar's Bash of the Deep modifier stack count changing when he's hidden in the Fog of War
  • Fixed Storm Spirit's Attack Range when Overloaded talent not working correctly with Aghanim's Shard
  • Fixed Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap barrier not being refreshable
  • Fixed Viper's break particles being shown incorrectly
  • Fixed Wraith King's Skeletons following invisible units
  • Fixed inconsistencies in Spell Amplification/Damage tooltips

Dota 2 Update - 12/18/2023

Over the last few days we've addressed several gameplay issues:
  • Fixed Bloodstone Area of Effect bonus still active on passive abilities if it was dropped or sold
  • Fixed Bloodthorn mana regen being 3.0 instead of 3.5 from the sum of its components
  • Fixed Butterfly not counting hero's base attack speed for its bonuses
  • Fixed Cleave not working on magical attacks (i.e. Revenant's Brooch)
  • Fixed a rare server crash when toggling Doubloon
  • Fixed Khanda not doing lethal damage correctly
  • Fixed Khanda and Phylactery not sharing cooldowns
  • Fixed Tree Throw, Toss, Snowball, Soul Assumption and Sticky Bomb not triggering Phylactery/Khanda
  • Fixed incorrect interaction between Phylactery/Khanda and and Spectre's Spectral Dagger
  • Fixed Phylactery/Khanda working on illusions
  • Fixed Meteor Hammer incorrectly giving more Agility than Intelligence
  • Fixed Parasma not granting 1.5 mana regen from its components
  • Fixed Revenant's Brooch incorrectly giving true strike
  • Fixed a server crash caused by interaction between Abaddon's Aphotic Shield expiring, Safety Bubble, and Blade Mail
  • Fixed Arc Warden's Tempest Double not cloning Royal Jelly
  • Fixed Dawnbreaker's Starbreaker sometimes not going in the targeted direction
  • Fixed non-ranged units getting true strike benefits of Drow Ranger's Glacier
  • Fixed some cases where Drow Ranger could get stuck trying to leave her Glacier
  • Fixed Chen's Penitence granting bonus attack range to Chen's melee creeps
  • Fixed Chen's Divine Favor regeneration not applying to Chen's creeps
  • Fixed Chen's level 10 talent Divine Favor Teleport Delay not applying correctly
  • Fixed Invoker not being able to pick up Lotuses from the Lotus Pools
  • Fixed Juggernaut's Blade Fury attack rate not updating if Juggernaut's attack speed changes.
  • Fixed Juggernaut's Omnislash/Swiftslash not damaging ethereal units even with Revenant's Brooch
  • Fixed Juggernaut's Blade Fury incorrect interaction with Harpoon
  • Fixed Lich's Chain Frost not being affected by AoE increase
  • Fixed items in the Bear's stash becoming lost when Lone Druid upgrades the Bear
  • Fixed Omniknight's Guardian Angel charges not updating properly upon acquiring and dropping Aghanim's Scepter
  • Fixed Pangolier's Shield Crash damage type not being correctly changed to Physical damage
  • Fixed a rare serve crash with Pudge's Dismember
  • Fixed Silencer's Last Word dealing less damage to creeps than intended
  • Fixed Black Dragon's Splash Attack not working correctly
  • Fixed a few server crashes
  • Fixed various tooltip issues
  • Re-added Hero Names as an option for heroes on the minimap
  • Fixed minimap settings preview not scaling the arrow when scaling the icon
  • Fixed a bug where previewing Persona items would sometimes show them on the base model (or vice versa) in Armory / Loadout

Valve hands out lumps of coal to naughty Dota 2 players

In possibly one of the funniest moves I've seen from Valve recently, they're handing out lumps of coal when banning Dota 2 players.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/12/valve-hands-out-lumps-of-coal-to-naughty-dota-2-players