Valve is celebrating Dota 2’s tenth anniversary with a serious break with custom. Though the sport has obtained a battle cross (initially known as a Compendium) to accompany and fund the prize pool for yearly’s Worldwide match, Valve has determined there will not be one this 12 months. In actual fact, it is dramatically ratcheting down how a lot it focuses on battle cross content material basically, and pledges as an alternative to concentrate on different, extra common updates that may be skilled by your entire Dota 2 playerbase.
In a publish to the Dota 2 weblog titled “Studying from the Previous, Trying to the Future,” Valve stated that the Dota 2 battle cross had grown “to embody nearly any content material we produce for Dota over the 12 months”. That created “a tremendously thrilling time in Dota,” however it meant “the remainder of the 12 months [felt] barren by comparability”.
So Valve ran an experiment. The studio took improvement sources that will, in some other 12 months, have gone in the direction of growing the battle cross for The Worldwide 2023 and “as an alternative put them in the direction of extra speculative updates, together with options and content material that could not match right into a Battle Cross”. That experiment bore fruit within the type of Dota 2’s New Frontiers replace, the patch that was so huge it made the sport “mainly Dota 3 now,” within the phrases of PCG’s Jody MacGregor.
“Most Dota gamers by no means purchase a Battle Cross and by no means get any rewards from it,” stated Valve, however “each Dota participant has gotten to discover the brand new map, play with the brand new gadgets, and unintentionally die to a Tormentor; each Dota participant advantages from UI enhancements and new shopper options”. The optimistic neighborhood response to the New Frontiers replace has given Valve “confidence that working much less on beauty content material for the Battle Cross and extra on quite a lot of thrilling updates is the precise long-term path for Dota as each a sport and a neighborhood”.
It is a bit stunning to listen to that almost all of gamers by no means even purchase the battle cross anyway, however it is sensible. It is not unusual to listen to that vast chunks of microtransaction income for video games are pushed by a comparatively small variety of very dedicated gamers (“whales,” because the widespread and unflattering parlance goes). Dota 2 clearly is not any totally different.
Valve remains to be loads eager to promote you all kinds of wondrous cosmetics and overwhelming particle results, thoughts you. “We’ll nonetheless ship a spread of cosmetics over the 12 months,” says Valve, “however we’re additionally going to ship extra numerous updates for all Dota gamers to take pleasure in”.
It feels like that may kick off with an “[International]-themed replace” this September, which can concentrate on the occasion itself, the gamers, and the video games that happen, and whereby “new beauty gadgets will not play a notable half”. “To make it clear that we’re shifting focus in the direction of the occasion and away from the large reward line of cosmetics, we’re deliberately not calling this replace a Battle Cross,” says Valve. Just like the battle passes of yore, gross sales from that replace will contribute to The Worldwide prize pool, although it is probably it’s going to be a little bit decrease this 12 months with out the singular glitz, glamour and FOMO that the battle cross normally brings.
It is not clear from the publish whether or not this can be a full cease for the battle cross system in Dota 2, or if Valve is simply skipping it quickly in an effort to return with a lighter, much less dev-intensive model in future. I’ve reached out to the corporate in an effort to discover out, and I will replace this piece if I get a reply.
For now, you possibly can stay up for a celebratory tenth anniversary replace for Dota 2. Valve hasn’t stated when that’ll come out, besides to say that it positively will not be on the precise tenth anniversary (July 9) of Dota 2. “Sure, we’re engaged on some enjoyable stuff for it; no, we’re positively not going to hit the July ninth date listed on Steam,” says the corporate. Take coronary heart, Dota followers, some issues by no means change.