A new Dota 2 update is finally fixing the new player experience in the long-running MOBA title, and releases today to coincide with the DOTA: Dragon's Blood anime adaptation's premiere on Netflix. Dota 2 is one of the most popular MOBA titles in the world, a genre that combines elements of tower defense, team-based fighting, and roster drafts to create a dynamic multiplayer experience. While League of Legends remains the prime example of the viability of the genre, Dota 2 realistically isn't that far behind, with a competitive scene that's featured some of the largest prizepools in esports history.
For new players, however, the Dota 2 experience has been notoriously difficult. The game has undergone several dramatic changes over the course of its existence, some of which have fundamentally altered the way Dota 2 is played. For years now, the Dota 2 tutorial has failed to keep up with the changes that have come to the MOBA experience, making the game nearly impossible to parse for new players interested in learning more. The situation had become so bad that Dota 2 personality SirActionSlacks helped rally the community around creating its own new tutorial for players interested in the game after the DOTA: Dragon's Blood anime began airing.
In an announcement yesterday on the official Dota 2 website, Valve clarified that it would be doing the heavy lifting on a new player update in sync with Dragon's Blood. The announcement revealed that a totally revamped new player experience is launching today, March 25, and will make some important changes to how newbies are introduced to the game's myriad mechanics. The biggest addition is New Player Mode, which will lock in a small hero pool for users to learn from and prevent them from being overwhelmed by the over 100 characters in the title. Revamped bots will also make learning against AI much more palpable, while in-game wizard tips - featuring an assistant wizard puppet - will helpfully explain basic strategy when its relevant in a game.
Another major change to the Dota 2 landscape comes in the form of smurf banning. "Smurfing" is a term used to refer to a high-level player intentionally using a new account to scrim against people of a much lower skill level, allowing them to easily run away with a game. It's a frustrating experience for new players especially, so the Dota 2 update will now make smurfing a bannable offense.
There are plenty of other changes coming in the Dota 2 new player update, all of which seem carefully crafted to make good on the promise of Dragon's Blood attracting new users to the scene. If successful, it would be a major boon for a game that's rarely had major quality issues outside of its steep learning curve and abysmal tutorial system.
Source: Dota 2