Valve continues to add to their flagship MOBA, Dota 2, with their most recent update that was posted today. This batch of changes comes with a few tweaks to items and shopping in particular.
There isn’t a massive amount of content to this patch, though. As a note, Valve updates Dota 2 almost constantly. They’ve already released multiple updates just in 2020, and we aren’t even a full week into February yet. Rather than releasing single large patches every few months as many developers do, Valve opts to release small-yet-constant updates.
The effect is that Dota 2, a seven-year-old game, is constantly changing and evolving. It keeps the title from feeling stale or dated, which is the point that Valve states on the Steam page: “And no matter if it’s their 10th hour of play or 1,000th, there’s always something new to discover. With regular updates that ensure a constant evolution of gameplay, features, and heroes, Dota 2 has taken on a life of its own.”
So what’s in store for this update? Mostly simple things. We’ll list below the updates that they’ve provided:
- Neutral items held by Lone Druid’s Spirit Bear will now be shown as held by Lone Druid in the neutral items tab
- Neutral items that have been consumed will now show as “Consumed”
- Neutral items that have been dropped or are otherwise unaccounted for will be displayed as “Unknown” in the neutral items tab
- If a player opens the shop, the basic tab will open if they had the neutral items tab open last
- The “show popular items” button in the shop is now a saved preference, and won’t default to be enabled when a new match begins
- Toggling the “lock combining” option on items carried by the courier will no longer send the courier back to base
As you can see, it’s mostly quality of life changes that focus primarily on the store. It’s great of Valve to be pushing these small updates out that provide those quality of life changes, though, rather than making players work with an obnoxious system until the next major patch comes along.
It’s an important dedication to make, of course. Dota 2 is the most played game on Steam, in no small part because of its free-to-play model. The title has become one of the driving forces behind modern esports, and the constant updates and maintenance on Valve’s part play a good part in that. It likely won’t be too much longer before we’re here talking about another update bringing a wealth of ease into the life of the average Dota 2 player again!
