Valve has outlined the changes coming to DOTA 2 in its 2023 Summer Client Update.
First things first, Valve has overhauled the interface to view all your cosmetics. It has now all been unified and integrated into a new section called The Armory. This should make it easier to not only preview items and equip them, but also to buy and sell the moment you decided.
The Armory will also allow you to see how different cosmetics appear when used on your player character together, in what Valve is dubbing DOTA 2’s Demo Hero Mode. You can preview items even if you haven’t bought them yet, so this one should be very useful.
The system has been revamped overall to be easier to use in general. You can highlight individual items, view duplicates to avoid redundancy, and sort items by market value. Of course, Valve has also prepared new cosmetic items and sets for this launch in the Collector’s Cache.
Valve also outlined the new moderation system they will put in place. They did note that there are players that other players may prefer not to play with, but that’s a different category from players who are outright toxic and need to be reported.
So, now any player you give a commendation to will be more likely to be paired with you, while there is a new dislike button so that you get paired with them less.
The new reporting system for toxic players, on the other hand, incorporates looking up player data to corroborate any reporting. Players can report other players at any time, including during and after the game. There are no limits on reporting, and you can report teammates as well as players from opposing teams. DOTA 2’s new reporting system has categories for Toxic Chat, Toxic Voice, Smurfing, Griefing, Cheating and Role Abuse.
Valve claims they will monitor chat in real time, and there will be separate player scores for behavior and communication. Behavior scores can affect gameplay features like item drops, while if you hit low communication scores you can be text and voice muted, with 30 second cooldowns for other communications.
Lastly, Valve is touting new work so that DOTA 2’s maps are rendered with finer detail. They didn’t go into detail on what they did here, exactly, but you can scroll down to the bottom of their update page and you can see for yourself that everything looks just that much finer.
As one of the few games that Valve works on regularly now, DOTA 2 occupies a distinguished position. All these changes are meant to serve an aging and loyal subsection of the gaming community.
