Ahh, how I miss Dota 2 patch be aware events. They have been superb affairs that would go on for a number of hours, the place me and my Dota friends would hop on skype and pour over actually tons of of main adjustments to the sport that fashioned a serious a part of our lives. Those mega updates would arrive a few instances a yr, and so they’d combine the video games up a lot that a lot of it must be relearned. Dota would nonetheless get tweaked all year long, however these adjustments would sometimes revolve round stability changes quite than new additions or main reworks.
It seems like these patch be aware events are a factor of the previous, to get replaced with patch be aware… nibbles? Lead developer ‘Icefrog’ has tweeted to say that as an alternative of giant twice-yearly updates they’re going to strive smaller, fortnightly patches for the subsequent 6 months.
Here’s the tweet:
We need to strive taking a special strategy to how gameplay patches are launched. Instead of massive patches a few instances a yr, we’ll be releasing small patches each 2 weeks on Thursdays. We’ll be attempting this out for about six months after which reevaluating.
— IceFrog (@IceFrog) February 1, 2018
He added that they’ll even be introducing “a new in-game feature to notify you of any recent changes to heroes in your match”. It sounds invaluable – I’ve misplaced observe of the variety of instances that I’ve had a plan or merchandise construct foiled by a change that I wasn’t conscious of. Now that vital adjustments are coming each two weeks, it ought to show indispensable.
My ideas are extra conflicted in regards to the adjustments to how usually updates will come, and the way massive they’ll be after they do. The fortnightly updates aren’t going to return near matching the joy that got here with the mega ones, and I’ll miss studying by means of these patch notes the place there’d be a dozen or extra adjustments that might make me sit again and shake my head in wonderment. Each massive replace was a sea change, the place a number of additions and main hero redesigns would feed into one another and make it really feel like the whole sport had shifted beneath your toes.
They have been additionally good alternatives to leap again into the sport, as I discovered with the latest(ish) Duelling Fates update. Getting again into Dota after taking a protracted break is a troublesome course of. You’ll lose not simply since you’re rusty, however as a result of it’s important to regulate every little thing that modified whilst you have been away: enjoying instantly after an enormous replace not less than meant that everybody else was nonetheless adjusting too.
On the opposite hand, I can see the benefits that common updates will carry. While thrilling, having to relearn the sport after an enormous replace is also exhausting. These smaller adjustments ought to be a lot much less overwhelming – however possibly I need to be overwhelmed once in a while.
The fortnightly updates will come out each Thursday, although I can’t inform if which means we’ll get the primary one right this moment or in two weeks time.
