The patch notes for Dota 2 update 7.35d have been released and they bring some very interesting changes to hero bans and matchmaking. But that hasn’t stopped fans from being annoyed at the size of the patch, as many were expecting the promised Crownfall patch to launch this week. Instead, it has been pushed back to mid-April.
The 7.35d patch notes bring two big changes to systems in Dota 2 and both should have big impacts on the overall quality of your matchmaking games. The first is that hero bans in most modes, including All Pick, have been removed. Instead, you can select four heroes to be a part of your ban pool for every match, and at least one of these heroes will be banned in every game you play.
This is a change to try and combat the cheats that have become prominent in recent months in Dota. These cheats would show an enemy your most played heroes, giving them a chance to ban them knowing that you were likely to pick them. Now, with no bans in the most common modes, they won’t be able to do this, which should help players with smaller hero pools.
The other big change comes in the form of a new Dota Labs feature that shows you a number of factors the match-making algorithm took into account when finding the match. The information shows the skill range of players in the game, the ping you have to the server, and the behaviour score of the players involved. If you don’t like what you see, you can decline the match without a penalty, so if the behavior score looks a bit below what you would hope for, you can dodge the game without repercussions.
Of course, the 7.35d patch notes also bring with them a fair few balance changes. Heroes that have dominated top-level play in recent months such as Chen have been nerfed, while some others have been buffed. None of the changes are massive, and certainly not on the scale many were hoping, but it should freshen up Dota for a few weeks while we wait for the next patch.
Some items have also been changed, with the Divine Rapier getting perhaps the biggest change in its history. Now it provides a base +100 damage and has a toggleable ability that will give you either an extra 250 damage or +25% spell amplification.
Of course, the most controversial patch of the patch came at the end of the blog post, when Valve announced that the highly anticipated Crownfall update would not launch until mid-April. With many fans expecting the Crownfall update to arrive this week, it is certainly a blow to many who were hoping to see a massive, game-changing, update and the release of new hero Ringmaster. But at least now we have a better idea of when it will actually launch, instead of just community speculation.