14 DAY TRIAL // Valve has just rolled out a fresh update for Dota 2, its massively popular multiplayer online battle arena title, which overhauls the item drop system at the end of a match, while removing battle boosters and fixing a few bugs.
Dota 2 saw some major events in the last few months, starting with the hugely popular The International 4 eSports competition and the release of a new hero in the form of Techies, and concluding with the long-awaited patch 6.82 that made massive changes to the gameplay mechanics, map, and many heroes in the game.
A fresh update is now available for the popular game
Now, after confirming that there will be no Diretide Halloween event this year, as Valve wants to focus on the next big gameplay update, the studio has launched a fresh patch that also brings a few core modifications.
First up, it seems that Valve isn't satisfied with the item drop system that awards certain items to players after a match concludes. As such, it's decided to overhaul the whole mechanic, shifting its core focus from the level of a player to the time passed since the last drop.
"The current item drop system doesn't function well as a reward mechanism. It drops many items on players who aren't interested in them (the items are extremely common, or they're for a hero the player doesn't play), and in the process dilutes the value of the items," the studio explains on its website.
This is just the first change in the planned overhaul, as Valve wants to listen to feedback from the community while devising a new mechanic.
"We'd like to get to a place where dramatically fewer uninteresting items enter the economy. We don't have a complete solution yet, so we're going to move forward step by step, taking feedback from you as we go."
Battle boosters have been removed
Besides this change in the drop system, the new Dota 2 patch also removes battle boosters altogether. Players who had an active battle booster will receive the new Treasure of the Rotted Gallows that's also included in the update. Those who had an unused battle booster in their armory will get a free Treasure Redemption token that can be exchanged for various active treasures found in the official store.
Last but not least, a few bug fixes relating to customized Pudge chains, alternate hero icons, and the buyback button have been implemented in the game thanks to the current patch.
The new Dota 2 update is already live and available for download via the Steam service. It weighs in at around 125MB.