If you want to experience free games on Steam, there's, thankfully, a lot that the store has to offer. You can gallivant with your friends on hostile planets in PlanetSide 2 or message your love interest friend in a pseudo-AOL Messenger in Emily is Away.

The best free games on Steam offer a ton of content and have as few restrictions as possible. These 20 titles certainly do that in spades. The monthly active users are based on Steam Charts' stats from the past 30 days.

Apex Legends

• Steam release date: November 4, 2020
• Publisher: EA
• Monthly active players: 104,039

One of the best battle royales in the market right now is Apex Legends. It provides the high-precision gunplay from Titanfall 2 and brings it into the competitive battle royale space. Sliding down hills and using each hero's powers is satisfying to perform in the game. There will be many intense moments as you contend against opposing teams, and the game provides many opportunities to fail or succeed. The free-to-play model is a little on the expensive side if you want cosmetics and more characters, but playing from the base roster is also entertaining to start Apex Legends with.

Brawlhalla

• Steam release date: October 17, 2017
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Monthly active players: 10,369

If you're annoyed you can't play Super Smash Bros. on PC, check out Brawlhalla. It ??features a smooth platform fighter experience that plays great online. It also has a vibrant cast of characters to choose from. Many will be locked behind payments or in-game progression, but there is a regularly updated free rotation of characters to choose from. One of the game's unique strategic elements is switching two weapons available to each player. Each weapon's move set is radically different, and you'll need to decide which option best suits the situation.

The Finals

• Steam release date: December 3, 2023
• Publisher: Embark Studios
• Monthly active players: 14,242

Destructible environments, participating in a game show, and great gunplay all ?combine?? into The Finals, one of t??he latest multiplayer hits on Steam. You’re taking a cash prize and trying to transport it to a capture area. On the way, you’ll have t??o fend off two other teams of three. With an exciting vertical element to each map, The Finals manages to stand out among its FPS competition. Check this game ??out when you can! Oh, ??and it’s crossplay too! 

My Hero Ultra Rumble

• Steam release date: September 28, 2023
• Publisher: Bandai Namco
• Monthly active players: 1,494

Anime fans, rejoice! My Hero Ultra Rumble is a neat battle royale take on th??e beloved anime series. Each hero or villain has their own quirks that change the battle. Deku can pick up allies and run fast to get away from enemies. Meanwhile, Cementoss creates ston??e walls to protect his team and keep the enemy team distracted. If you don’t want to shoot down enemies in Call of Duty Warzone or Fortnite, My Hero Ultra Rumble offers a refreshing take on the genre. 

Emily is Away

• Steam release date: November 20, 2015
• Publisher: Kyle Seeley
• Monthly active players: 11

Emily is Away is a nostalgic journey back into the Windows XP era of communication. There was no Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram. Instead, you used to chat on AOL Instant Messenger. This unique storytelling device isn't just a gimmick, howeve?r. There's a beautifully told narrative about two friends who have grown apart from each other since high school and are try??ing to reconnect. Despite there being no voice acting, all the emotional beats are there, as you await Emily's response. Try this one-hour game out when you can. It's one of the best free games on Steam.

Guild Wars 2

• Steam release date: August 23, 2022
• Publisher: NCSoft
• Monthly active players: 3,367

Can't afford Final Fantasy XIV Online or don't want to bother with the Battle.net client on PC for World of Warcraft? Guild Wars 2 is a good third option for an MMO. You can play the entirety of the engaging core campaign for free. However, there are restrictions you should keep in mind, like locked content until you reach a certain level. Despite that one fault, Guild Wars 2 offers a stunning world en??riched with entertaining MMORPG gameplay.

Farlight 84

• Steam release date: September 21, 2023
• Publisher: Farlight Games
• Monthly active players: 1,817

Tired of Fortnite and want something new? Farlight 84 may be your antidote. It blends the art style of Epic Games�battle royale and mixes it with the ability-based system of Apex Legends. The result is a solid shooter that impresses new fans of the game and isn’t even out of Early Access yet. The weapons feel heavy and powerful, and the overall environments look pleasing to?? the? eye. Just turn off the voice acting; it’s pretty bad!

Disney Speedstorm

• Steam release date: April 18, 2023
• Publisher: Gameloft
• Monthly active players: 262

Want a fun Mario Kart-like game without having to resort t??o emulation? Disney Speedstorm is a great free-to-play substitute. The tracks are immaculately des??igned and based on the films we know and lov??e like Lilo & Stitch, Aladdin, and Pirates of the Caribbean. You’ll be avoiding pillars?? of fire within the Cave of Wonders and giant tentacles from sea monsters in Port Royal. While the items are disappointingly generic for a Disney game like this, the?re is a neat alternate use for most of them by holding down the button. For example, with a boost (mushroom), you can hold it to get three smaller bursts of speed rather than just one. Read my review for more information.

Marvel Snap

• Steam release date: August 22, 2023
• Publisher: Nuverse
• Monthly active players: 4,723

Everyone knows and loves the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so a card game based on the property could be a cheap cash-in. Fortunately, Marvel Snap is a cherished title for fans of card games, and it's free to play. "At work and at home, I just can’t put it down," said CJ Andriessen in his review. "With its structure and speed, it doesn’t feel as tactical as some of the other card games I’ve played, but it finds a way to be satisfying in its brevity." Each match in Marvel Snap also only lasts for three or so minutes, as opposed to Hearthstone, making this quick and easy to play.

Path of Exile

• Steam release date: October 23, 2013
• Publisher: Grinding Gear Games
• Monthly active players: 23,219

Path of Exile, despite it being a free Steam game, is an excellent alternative to the Diablo series if you crave more ARPG goodness. It features a tonne of passives to unlock through the huge skill tree system. It also includes plenty of classes, including the Duelist, Marauder, Ranger, Scion, Shadow, Templar, and Witch. Path of Exile will offer hours upon hours of content for the low, low price of $0, and it also? ??has PvP modes like tournaments and Capture The Flag.

Team Fortress 2

• Steam release date: October 10, 2007
• Publisher: Valve
• Monthly active players: 52,155

A cherished multiplayer game for many Team Fortress 2 is an absolute classic. This team-based shooter has you playing different roles. One can be the Heavy, dealing a lot of damage with h??is mini-gun. Another player can ??send out Sentries and Teleporters throughout the map as the Engineer. There are many options available, so you can find the right playstyle. Despite the game being over a decade old, it still holds up visually with a cartoony art style. Give it a go if you haven't already.

The Sims 4

• Steam release date: September 2, 2014
• Publisher: EA
• Monthly active players: 26,585

Living out your dreams as a Sim doesn't necessarily sound fun, but The Sims 4 somehow sucks you in for many hours at a time. You're building your own house, family, and wealth in the game which will feel rewarding. You also grow relationships with other sims by hanging out with them and performing a variety of activities in the community. All of this is now free to play on Steam, so go ahead and download The Sims 4, if you want a chill simulation game to play.

Warframe

• Steam release date: March 25, 2013
• Publisher: Digital Extremes
• Monthly active players: 45,873

It's been a decade, but Warframe still pulls in players today. This game is extremely fast with powerful guns and delightful swordplay. It's be??en supported thoroughly by developer Digital?? Extremes. The game added an open world, and there is spaceship warfare to be had. The art style is also unabashedly strange as it embellishes its sci-fi genre with pride.

Omega Strikers

• Steam release date: September 16, 2022
• Publisher: Odyssey Interactive
• Monthly active players: 375

The precision of the MOBA gameplay of League mixed with the sport of soccer?? doesn’t sound like a great mix, but Omega Strikers certainly proved me wrong. Each character has their own skills to master while you’re trying to score a goal. You can even take out your foes with your abilities by striking them out of the arena. The graphics are gorgeous, the concept really comes throu?gh, and the head-bump-worthy music will keep your heart racing. Check this game out!

Splitgate

• Steam release date: May 24, 2019
• Publisher: 1047 Games
• Monthly active players: 212

If you thought Halo Infinite’s multiplayer was disappointing, give Splitgate a go. This arena shooter offers cool weapons to control and a uniqu??e mechanic that lets you use portals to shoot through or teleport with. In my opinion, the maps are far more interesting than their Xbox-published counterpart. There are m??any modes to choose from as well, and you can create Custom Lobbies with all manner of rules available, including Big-Head mode.

DC Universe Online

• Steam release date: November 2, 2011
• Publisher: Daybreak Game Company
• Monthly active players: 361

We've all wanted to step into the shoes of Batman and Superman, and you can get that power fantasy by creating your own hero or villain in DC Universe Online. Behind it is over a decade of content with plenty of DC stories and experiences to encounter in this free-to-play MMO. Some of the quests are written by DC comic legends Geoff Johns and Marv Wolfman. Unlike others of its genre, the combat's fast and revolves around your choice of superpower. The game might be 13 years old, but it's still getting Very Positive reviews on Steam to this day.

PlanetSide 2

• Steam release date: November 20, 2012
• Publisher: Daybreak Game Company
• Monthly active players: 667

PlanetSide 2 is a massive FPS that spans across wide environments and many players against each other. It's not just about capturing points on a map like the Battlefield series. Instead, Daybreak Game Studios says "The core gameplay of PlanetSide 2 is about holding crucial territories and controlling resources." It also says you'll have to work "strategically as a team to secure tactical positions has long-lasting effects that can shift the tide of battle." There are six different classes to master as well as you go to war in PlanetSide 2.

Super Animal Royale

• Steam release date: August 26, 2021
• Publisher: Pixile
• Monthly active players: 578

Want a fresh spin on the battle royale genre? Well, you can play this cute take on it as you play as animals picking up weapons and trying to be the last remaining. Super Animal Royale features unique 2D bird's eye view angle on the action. The action gets wild with bombs of different types, grenades, and dart guns, in addition to the regular guns you'd expect like a shotgun or SMG. You have a fun, slightly less intense night with Super Animal Royale than the likes of Apex Legends, whic??h needs precision in a reflex-based first person-shooter.

Dark & Darker

• Steam release date: June 7, 2024
• Publisher: IRONMACE
• Monthly active players: 17,458

Those who like sickeningly hard games will find comfort in Dark & Darker. In a D&D-like dungeon, you’re exploring an ancient citadel thwart with many dangers. You’ll be taking on tough monsters and making your way through the depths of this citadel to get the treasure you’re seeing. You can play as a barbarian, a ranger, and a bard in a three-person squad as you turn off lights to get away from enemy detection and utilize magic to gain the upper hand. The game is currently in early access, but it has a Mostly Positive score on Steam right now.

MultiVersus

• Steam release date: July 19, 2022
• Publisher: WB Games
• Monthly active players: 1,735

After disappearing for almost a year, MultiVersus has returned stronger than ever with new characters like The Powerpuff Girls and Beetlejuice taking on the likes of Bugs Bunny and Superman. The Smash-like platform fighter is thrilling with spectacular speci??al moves, funny voice lines, and an overall polished product. Some of the new stages like the Warner Bros Water Tower are also bright, beautiful, and fun to play on. All of the action is cross-play between all of its available systems, so you can play with your pals on consoles.

Previous entries:

• Smite
• Halo Infinite multiplayer
• The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
• Goose Goose Duck
• DOTA 2
• Star Wars: The Old Republic

The post 20 best free games on Steam right now appeared first on Destructoid.

Dota 2 is on a Godlike streak with its latest ban wave, which has arrived courtesy of Frostivus 2023 and already banned tens of thousands o??f smurf accounts.

The world of Dota doesn't have a Santa Claus, but it seems that Wraith King is stepping up to fill his shoes nonetheless, and his "Naughty List" includes thousands of acc?ounts that have been positively unsportsmanlike.

Indeed, the Frostivus 2023 update that rolled out incorporates a hilarious surprise for smurfs and other bad actors in Dota 2. Some of these players were surprised to learn that the specific Frostivus bundle in their Armory was not a gift chest featuring cosmetics and the like, but ??a "highly toxic lump of coal," with punishments ranging from behavior score penalties to main account bans.

One of the players caught in the act is Mason "mason" Venne, whom you might recognize from the Evil Geniuses Dota 2 roster in 2014, or Infamous in 2019. After opening his gift chest, Mason took to Reddit to discuss the ban at length, apologizing to the commun?ity and explaining that his misconduct involved hiring a behavior score booste??r.

According to the Frostivus announcement post, "many tens of thousands of smurf account bans" were targeted, so Mason is not going to be the only one wea??thering this crackdown.

Valve is not relenting in its regulation of smurfs and cheaters

Earlier this year, Valve announced that it was banning a whopping 40,000 cheaters, and followed that up with another ban wave in September, getting rid of another 90,000 smurf acco?unts. Smurfing, if you're unfamiliar with the term, is when a player who would usually be match-made at a higher rank makes a new account, to p??lay against lower-ranked players.

Now, the? Frostivus 2023 event is doubling down on the game's commitment to sweeping unruly players out of the community, so it'll be interesting to see if there'll be even more of these brutal ban waves in the near future.

At any rate, the eponymous update also comes with gameplay patch 7.35, introducing a host of changes and bug fixes that you can check out here. There are als??o Christmas-themed cosmeti??cs, premium sets, and new UI animations, so be sure to check them out when you have a moment.

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Dota 2, bigger than before

A new gameplay update is out for Dota 2, and it's a big one. Seemingly everything, from items to hero att?ribute types and abilities, has been adjusted or altered, and even the map is getting a bit larger.

The 7.33 patch for Dota 2, dubbed the New Frontiers update, hits many points. And though Dota updates have been traditionally massive compared to other live games, this one might be the m?ost game-shiftin?g since at least the 7.0 update.

For starters, ?the map itself is now 40%?? larger. New structures line the lanes, with objectives like the Lotus Pools and their fruit, or the vision-providing Watchers. New runes dot the landscape, and neutral creeps—the monsters that live in the jungle between lanes—have been updated and overhauled.

Alongside a larger field of battle, there's also a significant paradigm shift for the heroes of Dota 2 in a new hero attribute type. As a base, Dota 2 has three stats—Strength, Agility, Int??elligence—that determine things like HP, attack speed, and magical prowess. Each hero's primary attribute would also give them extra damage for more points in their set ??attribute, which generally helps inform players on how to build and play a hero.

In the New Frontiers update, Dota 2 adds Universal heroes. These existing heroes now draw on all attributes. Characters like Enigma, Io, and Venomancer may have received changes already, but I'm curious ??to see how this shift in the basic building blocks changes all the newly Universal heroes. Then you start to add on hero changes, new items, a completely new distribution method for jungle items, and even changes to the ranking system, and the scale of this update starts to dawn on you.

There are, frankly, too many updates in this patch to explore in a single blog. It's enough that I wonder how content creators like Purge will even get through all the data. There's actually a Dota 2 tournament being held right now, and the teams are about to enter the playoffs playing ??on a brand-new patch from the one the tournam??ent started on.

It's a bit chaotic, but hard not to love. Though I'm a bit of a lapsed player, I'm excited to see?? teams try to pick apart the notes and theorycraft on the fly this weekend. There's something about the massive overhauls of these patches that almost make it feel like you're playing a completely new game. And with everything from heroes and items to the map itself changing, it really might as well be a new game.

The post Dota 2 New Frontiers update expands everything, even?? the map appeared first on Destructoid.

Walking right over the minefield sign

Valve confirms it has permanently banned over 40,000 accounts associated with a known cheat in Dota 2. And it did so by creating a trap l??a??????????????????????????id specifically just to lure users of that specific cheat out.

In a blog entitled "Cheaters Will Never Be Welcome in Dota," Valve outlines how exactly this came to be. The company doesn't name the cheat or what it did, but does confirm that the software was able to access information used internally by the Dota 2 client that "wasn't visible ????during normal gameplay."

Though fixing the cheat was important, Valve also decided to remove those using the cheat from the active playerbase. So as soon as ?the studio understood the methodology behind the cheat, Valve issued a patch that created a honeypot. A section of game data inside the client would never be read during normal gameplay, but it could be read by the cheats.

As you might imagine, this?? cordoned-off area created a ledger of users who were using the exploit. Valve says it has "extrem?ely high confidence" that every ban was "well-deserved."

The ongoing fight with cheats

As Valve highlights, the tussle between developers and cheat-creators wages ever-on in the shadows. While some efforts get the spotlight, especially when they head to court, it's fascinating to see beh??ind the curtain a bit on how Valve identified and trapped a bunch of chea??t-users.

"We expect ?that some players will continue to develop and use new exploits, to continue to try to gain unfair advantages at the exp??ense of other players," reads today's blog. "As before, we will continue to detect and remove these exploits as they come, and continue to ban users who cheat."

Right now, the Dota 2 Lima Major is taking place, and a new update is set to be unveiled on March 6. For those who decide to jump back in, they can do so knowing there are r?oughly 40,?000 less cheaters in the pool.

Related: Dota 2 fans call out Lima Major organizers for subpar produc??tion quality on Dot Esports

The post Valve catche?s, bans over 40,000 Dota 2 cheaters with honeyp??ot patch appeared first on Destructoid.

Press X to blink?

Valve has launched the Winter Battle Pass for Dota 2, filled with shiny new cosmetics to collect and a new game mode to take part in. But amongst the usual festivities, a new feature was added to Dota 2: controller support.

The latest Dota 2 update includes experimental controller support, with an emphasis on experimental. In an FAQ about the feature, Valve notes that the option is in active development, and they're looking for feedback. So if you want to opt in, you can follow the instructions on the page and do so. "We don't think controller support is ready for everyone yet, but if you're curious ??and willing to offer feedback we'd love to hear what you think!" the FAQ reads.

Any controller supported by Steam Input should work. This includes Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch Pro, and PC gamepads, as well as the Steam Controller. (Remember the Steam Controller?)

There's a rundown of the controls on the FAQ page, and it seems reminiscent of other MOBAs with controller options. Keep in mind, Dota isn't the first to tackle this problem. But for a game like Dota 2, there are definitely a bit more modifiers and options needed to manage the breadth of potential inputs and actions called for in a Dota 2 match.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuR9Bf5-034

The FAQ specifically notes some cha?racters, like the many-hero Meepo or complicated spellcaster Invoker, saying all of them should be playable with a controller. And you can also, at any point??, drop the controller and pick up the mouse and keyboard to resume regular play.

It might seem a bit outlandish for a complicated game like Dota 2 to get controller support, I think it's an interesting step—at least for accessibility, if nothing else. I'd be curious to see something like the Adaptive Controller take on Dota 2, and?? see how it all maps out. Will someone just try and hook up? a flight stick or racing wheel? Yeah, probably. But the potential of this feature could be really good for some folks.

And while you're testing out Dota 2's experimental controller support, you can also work on those Battle Pass points playing through the new version of Aghanim's Labyrinth, a recurring seasonal mode that's a bit like a co-op dungeon crawler. That spectacular Drow Ranger Arcana at Level 333 and Dota: Dragon's Blood-insp??ired Mirana Persona aren't going to earn themselves.

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Quake III pulls ahead, wait a minute!

I'm a huge proponent of gaming history and preservation. I lived through a lot of eras of gaming, and remember it all. The LAN cafes and people going crazy over Quake III. People in my area trying to make it big in the fighting game community in local tournaments, and the bourgeoning Halo regional scene. And of course, the national phenomenon of StarCraft overseas. It was all fascinating to watch, but this very quick and enlightening esports grow?th chart visual aid really drives home how big some of? these games were, and currently are.

Posted on Reddit by PieChartPirate, the esports growth chart starts at 1998 and ends in the present era, cataloging prize pools. At what is essentially the dawn of esports, Quake II, QuakeWorld (now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time), and StarCraft Brood War were at the top of the charts. In just one year Brood War completely shoots ahead, followed closely on its heels by Quake III Arena, which was gaining massive popularity with the rise of online play. Amazingly, Quake III pulls ahead, but the ominous Counter-Strike appears.

In just several years, starting around 2003, Counter-Strike pulls ahead by a long shot and dominates by at least a million dollars (if not more) until 2014. At that point its reign is over, as League of Legends, StarCraft II, and Dota 2 are all in position and gaining popularity. From then on, given the massive amounts of cash Valve injects into the latter, it's Dota 2's game to lose. CS Go enters the fray as the second-highest total prize pool placeholder, followed by Fortnite in third and League in fourth.

There are so many stories told in this esports growth chart: each of which probably deserves its own symposium. One of my favorites is the low-key appearance of Age of Empires II in the early 2000s, and the fact that Descent 3, a game I played mostly alone, had a $50,000 ?prize pool. It's also sobering to just sit down and realize how much money Valve makes in a day, and how their chokehold over the esports scene has lasted? nearly two decades.

//www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/po68o2/oc_top_15_esports_by_total_prize_pool_since_19?98/

The post This esports growth chart on how dominant Dota 2 has become is kind of insan?e appeared first on Destructoid.

Grab the Illusion rune and make it three

Netflix's Dota 2 series premiered fairly recently, and it's already been locked in for another season. The Dota 2 Twitter account has confirmed that Book 2 of Dota: Dragon's Blood is on the way.

A tweet today says the second season of Dota: Dragon's Blood is in the works. No more details have been provided, though it also notes that Free to Play—a documentary following several professional Dota 2 players through the first International—is now on Netflix as well, with an updated end? credit sequence.

Book 2 is com??ing! The second season of DOTA: Dragon's Blood is in the works.

While you wait, revisit the story of the tournament that started it all — FREE TO PLAY is now available on @netflix with an updated end credit sequence. pic.twitter.com/CINeVNlheM

— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) April 19, 2021

I'm pretty pumped about this news. The first season of Dota: Dragon's Blood was solid, and it left some threads hanging that I'd love to see tied off. Also, there are a ton of weird Dota characters that would be a blast to see animated. I kno?w Pudge and Rubick are obvious favorites, but I would love to see what Storm Spirit or Enigma would look like in a series like this.

This also adds to the pile for Netflix's video game adaptations. Castlevania's final season airs next month, even more Witcher is in the works, and Resident Evil's CGI movie lands in July. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of video game series, and now that includes some more Dota.

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Let the hammer drop

Winter's over and the dawn is here. There's a new Dota 2 patch today, which means a lot of balance changes to the map, item shop?s, individual heroes, and more, but also a new hero: Valora, the Dawnbreaker.

Dawnbreaker is the herald of th??e light, traveling across the uni??verse to fight the shadows. She's all about light, illumination, and healing, while also swinging a giant hammer.

The dark days of winter are finally behind us as today's update heralds the break of radiant dawn. Introducing an all-new cosmic hero, Dawnbreaker, and the 7.29 Gameplay Update.//t.co/BSMzhoXu0i pic.twitter.com/YVKEoQOrPq

— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) April 9, 2021

Her abilities include swinging her weapon around and hammering it down on foes' heads to stun them; chucking the hammer and recalling it like Thor with Mjolnir; healing on successive attacks; and literally leaping across the map to her allies' aid, healing them and harming foes. She's described as a durable melee carry, with life-giving Strength as her?? main attribute.&nbs??p;

Elsewhere in patch 7.29, the map has been reworked to move the ??spots of several ward locations and the outposts, as well as the foliage surrounding towers and reducing the number of Bounty Rune spawns to two every three minutes.

Dota 2 players know that numbered patches like 7.29 can get pretty lengthy, so I won't list ev??ery change here, but there are a few that caught my eye right away:

• Heroes now spawn with only one TP scroll, but get one scroll on death. Free trips back to lane!
• You can deny your own wards if they're blocking a camp, so now no one will see your shameful ward placements.
• Necronomicon is no longer in the game. My condolences to Lycan mains.
• Shared Tangos expire after 40 seconds, though your mid player will still ask for them.
• Broodmother got a pretty sizeable rework. Still don't like giant spiders.
• Both Davion and Invoker got balance adjustments, while Mirana gets no anime buffs.

There's also reworked Aghanim's upgrades—including new ones for Hoodwink—and a boatload of numbers adjustments. It will take days to sort through how all this meshes together, but that's part of the fun of Dota 2. With a new patch and some added help for newcomers, it'll be fun t??o see if a bunch of folks start hopping back on this weekend. I know I'd like to give that big hammer a try.

The post Dota 2 adds hammer-swinging new hero Dawnbreaker appeared first on Destructoid.

Do you love me?

One of the best things I can say about Dota: Dragon's Blood, the latest animated video game adaptation to hit Netflix, is that it's completely watchable for newcomers. In just eight episodes, it manages to cover a breadth of?? lore and overcome other adaptatio??ns' stumbling blocks, largely thanks to its characters.

Dota's impermeability can be a boon, as its mechanical complexity has kept players—myself included—playing for literal decades. The lore, on the other hand, isn't as tightly woven into the game's framework. It's largely relegated to item descriptions and hero bios, and over the course of thousands of hours of Dota 2, I don't know that I've ever stoppe?d during a match to read about how the Heaven's Halberd I just bought from the shop got its name.

It's refreshing, then, that Dota: Dragon's Blood makes very few assumptions. Yes, there are plenty of callbacks and cameos that will appeal specifically to people who have spent hours upon hours in the Dota 2 client. But at its core, it's also a solid fan?tasy setting that, most importantly, has room to grow.

Dragon's Blood starts out with the basics of Dota 2. There is the primordial mind, split into Dire and Radiant, that will eventually involve the cosmos in its battle. There are fundamental elements, ancient dragons, and literal gods that roam the land. Most of this early table setting is to inform you that yes, the world of Dota is magi??cal, but there are also a lot of n?ormal humans who get caught up in it.

Davion, an up-and-coming Dragon Knight who travels to different towns and cities to d??eal with any dragons terrorizi?ng the locals, serves as the more grounded viewpoint. He's talented but human, or at least he is until his blood mixes with the ancient eldwurm (the oldest and most powerful kind of dragon around) Slyrak's, fusing the two together. The ensuing discovery of new powers, and their terrifying consequences, serve as a human basis to the story.

Mirana embodies the other half of the story, as a loyal attendant of the dark mo??on goddess Selemene who is searching for a rebel elven girl—Fymryn—who stole some of the goddess' lotus flowers. The ensuing conflict can get muddy in using too many proper names and places, but it's a standard story of the loyal followers of two different deities waging war on one another, with both Mirana and Fymryn seeking a resolution that benefits their side.

Both have their reasons to fight, though Fymryn's story of loss and revenge is a bit stronger than Mirana's quest to return to Selemene's good graces. One of the larger stumbling blocks in this first season is that Selemene is characterized as a goddess that mends the broken, instilling unyielding obsession for h??er in the process; yet we rarely see the kinder side of Selemene. She's frequently scheming and manipulating, and one scene in particular—where she chides her general Luna for committing an atrocity she gently encouraged—made me wonder how Mirana manages to stay on that side of the conflic?t.

The heart of the story, and the real surprise of the series thus far, is the Invoker. In Dota 2, he's a?? boastful mage who gained renown for memorizing a litany of spells. Where most talented mages can master th?ree or four spells in the course of their life, Invoker has an arsenal of magic at his disposal.

Dota: Dragon's Blood expanding on Invoker's backstory and history, with both the world and with specific characters like Selemene, is where it really shines. In flashbacks, he's shown as both the intense scholar and as a doting father, and his tireless efforts to cure his daughter of an unspecified illness explain his cold demeanor in the present. I never really thought the? posterboy of toxic mid-lane players would be my favorite character in the animated series, but well, here we are. Invoker's story is well-told, and his place as both the behind-the-scenes manipulator and ??grieving father is a highlight.

There are also plenty of fights, and with Studio Mir—known for its work on, among other series, The Legend of Korra—animating them, it should be no surprise that they're excellent. What's impressive is the breadth of battles that happen: everything fr??om a clash between an eldwurm and the superpowered Dragon Knight Kaden to small bouts where Mirana's bodyguard Marci gets to flex her impressive martial arts skills form a wide?? range of action sequences.

There's a special kind of excitement in seeing a Dota hero's abilities animated so well. During one fight late in the series, I was genuinely excited when the demonic Terrorblade—a demon so bad that hell made another hell just for him—used his R??eflection ability and seemed to Metamorph mid-fight. Mirana's Starfall ??is fittingly dangerous, and I have a newfound appreciation for Luna's Lunar Beams and Eclipse, which are essentially the fantasy version of an orbital ion cannon.

Even if you don't get giddy about seeing a Gem of True Sight, there's still a lot to enjoy about Dota: Dragon's Blood. Alongside Invoker, Fymryn's character arc has a strong star??t and leaves her as another presumptive protagonist for future seasons. The jokes don't always land—Marci's expressio?ns got the most laughs from me, and despite never speaking a word in the first season, she still ends up being one of the more memorable side characters.

Really, this first season is a foundation. By the end of Book 1, the party has been split in disparate directions enough to explore the world at large, and that's likely to be the more exciting content. The world of Dota is filled with some real wild characters—giant spiders and centaurs, living rocks and trees, a Greek god, and a gnarly butcher to name a few—and I'm hopeful future sea?sons find some time for one-shots to delve into the side content.

Pacing is? the one major issue, as some storylines drag on a bit as characters move into place or dialogue wears on. The scene where Davion is arguing with the other eldwurms in the spiritual plane drags, and hampers the urgency of what's happening in the corporeal world.

Where it's at, though, Dota: Dragon's Blood is off to a good start. It's not quite Castlevania, but it's thankfully not Dragon's Dogma either. Pacing issues aside, there's a fair bit to enjoy in Dragon's Blood's relatively short runtime, and it leaves off on a strong note. If you've ever been interested in the lore behind the game, or just in seeing some cool magic and gorgeous Studio Mir-animated battles, Dota: Dragon's Blood is appro??achable and entertaining, wi??th room to grow.

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Who calls the Dragon Knight?

Netflix's Dota 2 anime debuts for the public later this week, and with it, there will probably be at least a few people jumping into the game for the first time. Learning Dota 2, as many will tell you, is pretty tough; so some modders and community members have banded togeth?er to create their own tutorial.

Under the custom game title "Dota Tutorial," you can simply install it through the Steam Workshop or in-game through the Custom games tab, and you're off to the races. The project was launched as an IndieGogo campaign and has made almost 300??% of its targeted goal by the time of this writing, with still 11 days left in the campaign. It features voice acting, scripted tutorials, little minigames, and even links to resources for further learning.

And I have to say, as someone with currently way, way too many hours played in Dota 2, it's a really good starting point. Hosts SunsFan and SirActionSlacks walk you through everything from simple moving and attacking to last-hitting, stacking creep camps, and denying allied units. There are even a few pretty good j?okes, and plenty of cameos from popular community members and? esports casters.

By the end of it, they even touch on some deeper facets of the game, like hero attributes and positions on a team. Mostly, it's encouraging and well-paced. In lieu of any official tutorial from Valve, playing through this makes the learning a little more engaging, and will definitely save your Dota friends some breath in explaining all the spinning cogs happening in a single match. Dota 2 has a massive knowledge barrier for new players, and this tutorial certainly e?ases the curve.

It does have one major snag though: currently, Valve places a limit on accessing custom games until your account has played 30 games of Dota 2. While that makes sense to block off bot accounts, it's a little counterintuitive to play that many Dota 2 matches before getting into t??he basics of? the game.

The mod makers a??re petitioning for an exception to the rule, and we've reac?hed out to Valve for comment on the matter.

Right now, it's a little bit more of a quaint, fun romp for veterans who might not have played in a while. (It will certainly help if you're coming b??ack after a year or more away and are confused by those weird outposts.) Hopefully it can get an exception though, ??as any onboarding will definitely help everyone across the board.

The Dota 2 anime, meanwhile, premieres on Netflix on March 25.

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'The story you've been waiting for is finally here'

Netflix has announced the coming of a brand new anime series based on epic strategy franchise Dota. As revealed in a new teaser trailer, which you can check out below, DOTA: Dragon's Blood is produced in as?sociation with the publisher Valve and will premiere on t??he streaming service March 25.

Produced by Studio MIR (Netflix Voltron, The Legend of Korra) The eight-episode animated series will follow the adventures of the Dragon Knight, Davion, (a legitimate Dota 2 character class), who becomes embroiled in world-changing events after an encounter with the Princess of the Moon, Mirana. Showrunner Ashley Edward Miller describes DOTA: Dragon's Blood as a?n "epic, emotion??al, adult-oriented story" sure to please franchise fans with its variety of recognizable characters and events.

Valve's Dota joins other gaming legends such as Castlevania, The Witcher, and Dragon's Dogma to receive a Netflix-produced anime adaptation. Whether this new series will meet the expectations of the video game's enormous fanbase remains to be seen, but given the depth and breadth of the Dota universe, there's certainly a lot of s??ource material to pull from. 

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Valve: 'We’ll play something we love or meet some people we’re inspired by and then figure out a way to work together'

While the tech and nuances may change, Dota 2 is pretty much the same MOBA concept that was crafted eons ago and kicked the whole genre off. Naturally over time fanatics are going to search for new ways to play and spinoff potential, which is where the mod Dota Auto Chess slots in. The idea is that you choose individual units to send off into a tiny battleground (with counters aboun??d), who duke ?it out for dominance.

People have really been taking to its strategic fast-paced gameplay, including Valve itself. They even went so far as to fly in the creative team from China (Drodo), and despite "not work[ing] directly with each other for a variety of reasons," they did agree to "each build [their] own stand-alone version of the game, and support each other to the fullest." Drodo is doing a non-Dota mobile standalone edition (in beta) and Valve is working on a standalone game that will serve as an official release from the studio. Drodo will also continue to support the original Auto Chess mod.

This is all very Valve and quite strange, as it'll technically be their first studio game after Artifact, which is yet another foray into the Dota universe.

Dota Auto Chess [Dota 2]

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Bad news for smurfs

At the weekend, Valve announced that they had made a mass sweep of player accounts within their mega-popular multiplayer title Dota 2. In all, over 17,000 player accounts were reset for trespasses such as cheating, or being re-sol?d ??or alt-accounts.

Games such as Dota 2, and online multiplayer titles in general will always be plagued with problems as people bend the rules to protect their stats and streaks, Although Valve's steps this weekend will make a heavy dent in some of Dota 2's cheating issues, it's obviou??sl??y not going to eliminate the rule-breakers entirely.

Still, it's always good to see a developer taking an active stance against such chicanery, and given the responses to the tweet below, the community is very happy with the purge.

Dota 2 is available now on PC.

Today we reset roughly 17,000 accounts that were found to be abusing m??atchmaking to get into ranked. These techniques were mostly used by smurfs or account buyers.

— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) January 11, 2019

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He's on fire

With one of the biggest communities in gaming, odds are any inkling of momentum for a DOTA 2 announcer pack will be on the grid: and with nostalgia in its corner, the potential NBA Jam pack has instant cachet.

The original announcer himself Tim Kitzrow is now pushing a campaign to get his pipes in the game. You can find the landing?? page on the Steam Workshop, with a target goal of launching this fall. Kitzrow is currently taking fan suggestions on his Twitter page, which could help shape the eventual pack, if it happens. The vide?o below gives us a taste of what might come, a beta version? if you will.

I think all of us have a favorite NBA Jam line, but I for one would love to see Bill Clinton in DOTA 2. Go the extra mile.

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From Seattle in recent years

In case you haven't been paying attention to one of the biggest eSports tournaments of the past seven years or so, Valve has been running Dota 2's International event for a while now. It kicked off in Cologne, Germany back?? in 2011, and every subsequent year it's been held in Seattle in either July or Augu?st.

That changes in 2018 though, as Valve has moved the tournament to Canada. It'll take place on August 24-25 in Vancouver, so if you're planning on attending get your passport sorted now! Tickets will go on sale on?? March 23 on Ticketmaster's Canadian branch, and will run you $125 CAN for the first four days, with the finals ticket priced at $250.

It's great to see Canada get some love! Seattle is one of my favorite places in the world, but spreading Dota 2 around is probably great for the game.

The International 2018 Tickets and Venue [Dota 2]

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$3.99

Valve is testing the waters with a $3.99 monthly subscription service to Dota 2, which is priced low enough where any dedicated, daily player will probably bother to buy into it. It's called "Dota Plus," and will take over the previous Battle Pass, providing players with a shard currency, as well as new tiers of badges, chat wheel responses, and re??wards.

One controversial aspect is the "Plus Assistant," which uses aggregate data to tell players what to do. This extends to both item building and general strategy, which to some people means pay-to-win. After a great free launch that provided ever?y player with the ?full roster, Valve has been slowly adding in more microtransactions that are mostly cosmetic in nature -- though this one may be taking it too far.

We'll be monitoring the rollout of the assistant and testing it ourselves to see how it goes -- but as it stands, this is something that should be available in beginner and AI?? games only.

Dota Plus [Valve]

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Jerax with the Earth Spirit ruse

DOTA 2 is fun to watch both from a casual and hardcore perspective, especially if yo??u have skilled casters breaking down the action at hand. This play by Jesse "Jerax" Vainikka at the PGL's Bucharest Major this week makes a very good case for why ??said explanatory provisions are important.

A huge part of many MOBA titles involve "wards," items that are typically invisible and stationary, which allow players to scout out certain zones like a security camera of sorts. The thing is they cost money, wh?ich is a huge commodity in the early game when there isn't a whole lot to go around.

Jerax, using the mobile hero Earth Spirit, manages to fake out his opponents into thinking he planted down wards, before quickly warping back and resuming his normally scheduled soaking. The opposing team, assuming he planted wards, ends up spending cash on two anti?-wards, hurting their early-game. Jerax's party would go on to win this matchup.

It's subtle things like this play that make MOBAs worthy of this? sort of examination. Even if you can't stand the genre, its complexity transcends above last-hitting and soaking.

PGL_DOTA 2 [Twitch] Thanks Jack!

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Very special delivery

Anyone checking out the Steam Workshop for global smash DOTA 2 may be surprised to see a fa?miliar spiritual canine making an appearance in the battle-arena title.

Capcom have officially submitted a courier design to the free-to-play title, none other than the lovable Amaterasu, star of cult PS2 title Okami. A hero of Japanese folklore, Am??aterasu is a sun goddess who takes the form of a beautiful white wolf in order to save the world from a gat??hering darkness.

This isn't the first time Amaterasu has appeared in another title, in the past she surprised many fans with an appearance in crossover fighter Marvel vs. Capcom 3. In her role as a  DOTA 2 courier, Ammy would collect items ??and skill?s requested from the store and bring them to the team in the thick of battle.

Yes, you'd essentially be using a sun goddess to play "fetch".

Amaterasu is viewable now on the DOTA 2 workshop,? where she can be "faved" and added to your colle?ction. You can also vote for her to receive official support from Valve.

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Act 1 of Siltbreaker is out now

When I bought into Dota 2's $9.99 Siltbreaker campaign (which includes a host of convoluted The International 2017 Battle Pass extras), it felt like I was taking a step into a timewarp when "use map settings" custom games ran supreme in Starcraft and Warcraft III.

That trial by? fire-esque unforgiving atmosphere is what the MOBA genre thrives in, but it was a tad surprising to see that philosophy carried over in 2017. In its current incarnation, I don't see it expanding beyond the hardcore crowd.

Having paid little attention to the development process of Dota 2's story mode (which only has a roughly one hour first act, of two, at the moment), I sort of expected it to be a bridge between the tutorials and ranked play, but was sorely mistaken. Seconds into the game our party of four was?? shoved into a situation where we had to come up with a composition, a scenario that went to shit after we hit a language barrier and two others declined to talk -- great start.

Luckily we ended up with a fairly balanced group (myself as the Drow Ranger for her crowd control, a melee tank, a healer, and a mage), but it didn't help much, as half our group consistently died at the first boss Lucius Longclaw, a werewolf with crushing melee swipes, 20 minutes in. This is after our tank suffered a series of five deaths leading up to that encounter. For those of you who don't know the intricacies of Dota's item meta or the con?cept of stutter-stepping (moving in such a way where you're always in motion and attacking), Siltbreaker is going to be bru?tal. 

Enemies do a ton of damage, traps do even more, and bosses/elites have plenty of one-hit kill attacks. If you're a frail ranged character you absolutely need to kite, as even standard mobs can whittle your health down to nothing. While there is the option to buyback (for heaps of gold that you could be spending elsewhere) it's not recommended as your teammates can resurrect you, but given the sheer numbers of enemies thrown at you it's often hard to get one in during a sticky situation. Sometimes you can zone in w?ith a composition that simply can't handle the horde, and you're basically done for (tip: a character like the Drow Ranger is a good fill pick).

Oh, and that hour long length I mentioned earlier for the first act? If you screw up and have a team wipe at any point it's back to the home screen -- no checkpoints. In that sense it feels like an MMO raid, a move that I can appreciate having had plenty of experience in the field, but alienating to a bunch of other folks who are going to assume that they can jump in and "learn" Dota through this experience.

Concessions like the curation of DOTA heroes (with alterations to make their abilities more PVE friendly) from a giant overwhelming pool to a small selection are a good start, but I don't see many players partaking in a "start to finish" journey unless some tweaks are made. While I'm mostly fine with it as-is, a casual difficulty setting would do wonders for cutting down on queue times, as would better rewards (they're all very inside baseball at the moment). In the meantime if you're intent on clearing it, grab three friends who know what they're doing instead of randomly taking a?? chance on wasting an hour or so.

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The first act is available for Battle Pass owners

I don't play Dota 2, but the prospect of a four-person cooperative campaign for this type of game sure is enticing. As previously detailed, Valve is putting out a two-act "Siltbreaker" campaign for Battle Pass owners. The pass is still $10, and as of today, Act I: The Sands of Fat?e is available on Steam.

Aside from th?e story incentive, the??re are rewards, too:

"As you battle through multiple play zones in search of Rhyzik, you'll earn comple??tion stars based on your performance level. The first time you complete a zone with one or two stars will net you Battle Points rewards, and delivering a three??-star zone performance will grant a treasure from Siltbreaker himself.

Each Siltbreaker Treasure includes a chance to receive an indescribably-rare ??Immortal Desert Sands Baby Roshan courier, and Battle Pass owners with Battle Level 165 or higher will receive double the treasures for each three-star zone they complete with the reward bonus active. You'll also?? have the opportunity to unlock achievements that grant even more Battle Points."

You won't nee??d to scrounge up three pals to play through the campaign -- there's also queuing.

The second act??, A Vault in the Deep, is scheduled for July.

Exclusive Battle Pass Campaign — Siltbreaker: Ac??t I [Dota 2]

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Valve? Making games?!

Since Dota 2's inception, Valve has held a massive event, named The International, to highlight the best players of the game in a gigantic battle for supremacy. Players form teams and duke it out for a chance to win an insane amount of money (the first pot was $1.6 million). Starting in 2013, Valve let fans contribute to the prize pool by offering a digital compendium for sale through Steam. Along with offering some cosmetic items for players, sales of the compendium woul?d contribute to the prize pool for that year's tournament. 2016 had a pool of over $20 million, for instance!

While that amount may be crazy, it looks like Valve isn't content with just offering a simple compendium this year. In promoting The International 2017, Valve has announced that all purchases of the $10 2017 compendium will receive a brand new co-op campaign for Dota 2. Titled Siltbreaker, the campaign will task parties of th??ree to battle through two acts with varying landscapes and monsters. The first act will be available in the coming weeks with act II launching in July.

One of my biggest problems with MOBAs is the steep learning curve for competitive play. Randomly jumping into a match is a great way to get berated for being an idiot, but having a campaign focused challenge sounds a lot more pleasant to me. I'm not sure if I'll blindly buy it, but I feel more inclined to actually give Dota 2 a shot, now.

As for the other bonuses that come with this year's compendium, the list is pretty massive. I really and truly don't know much about what these things are, so I'll link you to this wiki that has everything listed out.

Dota 2 gets a co-op campaign this month [Eurogamer]

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'Hello, Valve customer support? Hello?'

In an effort to combat smurfing (more on that in a sec), Valve has implemented a new feature for Dota 2 -- if you want to play ranked mode (the be all end all for pros and upcoming pros), you'll need to give them your phone number to authenticate your ??accoun?t. This change will take place on May 4, so get yourself situated.

For years games that are highly predicated on ranked tiers have been trying to figure out ways to combat the act, which very simply involves creating a brand new account in the effort to play outside of the matchmaking ranked imposed on your original account. In other words, pro players can register a smurf, then join a "newbie" queue and stomp people?? of lower skill level. It's not just for pros either, as some players who contend they're stuck in "ELO hell," (read: low r?anks where they feel they don't belong, playing with others who are below their skill level) often smurf so they can attempt to place in a higher rank, then abandon their original account.

As someone who has known many smurfers in their time (the practice never really interested me, as I typically place high enough in ranked where I'm happy), I'm torn on the issue. On one hand, it really sucks to be a new player in a lower league, trying to make your way up, only to find that you're actually battling a smurfed Grandmaster top 1% player on the other side -- it deters the hell out of you from climbing the la??dder. On the other, people who do smurf contend that they can play the game any way they want, and they should be able to make a new account as it doesn't break any major rules (and they frequently spend money on burner accounts to progress quicker).

Ultimately it's up to the content provider to decide how they want to enforce their terms of service (TOS). For some games like Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard has a lax view of the practice and doesn't really enforce any sanctions. League of Legends has sort of a middle of the road view on it, allowing it but making some exceptions, and now, Dota 2 is directly fighting it. 

It isn't going to step folks from getting a burner phone for $5 (or creating a Google Voice/VOIP numbe??r) and smurfing, but it's a marked attempt to t??ry. Like most Valve ultimatums, it'll probably end up failing and they'll retract it in time.

Matchmaking Update [Dota]

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Allegedly Valve is paying out less

Going back as far as the '90s, there has been a small collective of modders in the community that either have a successful side hustle, or a full-time gig providing content on top of what the development team already offers. Valve is pretty much the perfect mark, as they have a built-in audience of millions and facilitate that content creator/overlord relationship, but that's changing with Dota 2, and people aren't happy about it.

Over on reddit one post is getting a lot of traction. The chief allegation is that Valve is paying out less cash for items that are sold on their marketplace, and haven't told people ahead of time that the change would take place. Originally that involved getting a 25% cut, but that changed to 12.5% (with a 12.5% cut for Battle Passe??s), and now, supposedly 12.5% across the board without concessions for passes.

Another issue is that Valve has made the space even more crowded with this cut, so people are competing like crazy to make ends meet. Content creators also state that immortal items ruin the market, as players who obtain immortal items (including Axe players, who has an immortal in every equippable slot) won't buy anything else. In case you were w?ondering, yes some folks make a living off of these mods, so this alt??eration has been pretty life-changing for them.

Even if you aren't remotely interested in Dota 2, MOBAs, or skin economies, the entire breakdo?wn is a fascinating ?read. We've reached out to Valve for comment and will update if we hear anything back.

Dota 2 [Reddit]

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This is gonna be a, you know, fascinating transition

I'm uhh, not even sure where to begin here. Fresh off of the Boston Major, Valve has just released the update page for Dota 2's newest patch: 7.00. The communi??ty has anxiously been awaiting the patch just for the brand new Hero of Monkey King, but everyone also knew that this patch would shake things up,

Holy cow, this patch changes everything.

One of the biggest changes that immediately caught my eye is the new talent tree, similar to Heroes of the Storm. It's hard to grasp all of the details since the website is currently in Chinese and being translated by?? Chrome, but it looks like at levels 10, 15, 20, and 25, players ??will choose an "either or" upgrade to their Hero -- damage increases, stat changes, etc. 

Monkey King looks ridiculous, as he can jump onto trees and also turn into them! He's probably the closest thing to a Spy character Dota 2 will ever have, and that makes me very excited. It's going to take me a while to parse through all of the changes (and for the website to actually be able to display them), so for now just stare with your mouth agape at the update page.

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No more bullshot!

Valve has put out some new guidelines for the upcom?ing "Discovery 2.0" update to the Steam store and misleading screenshots will no longer be allowed.

The guidelines specify that all screenshots must be from actual gameplay. Valve won't be allowing concept art, FMV stills, or any kind of award notifications. This applies to all products on the Steam st??ore, not just games; any software (and films, I assume) sold on the service will be under scrutiny.

In a message sent out to developers and publishers, Valve even pointed out how it is at fault of its new guidelines with Dota 2. Turns out, most of the screenshots for that game were artwork and had little to do with the actual game (something that has been?? remedied before I could post this??). Good to see Valve is following its own rules.

Bullshots, though, were not specifically called out. One would assume this is an action to prevent false advertising (in the case of No Man's Sky), but a bullshot is technically still something that can happen during a game. I think this is mostly going to combat something like Aliens: Colonial Marines using an entir?ely different version of the game in trailer??s and screenshots.

Steam ?Will Soon Require All Game Pages to Show Screenshots, Bullshots Not Specified [GameSpot]

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It looks rad

Valve just put out a new trailer for all of the upcoming Steam experiences on its "Steam VR" landing page, and it involves Dota 2 in some capacity. The video initially pans in on the virtual screen showing the action in front of the player, ?before looking to the side to see a representation of the character's picked, complete with animated avatars and their loadouts. It then pans to a 3D map in the center of the screen that's being updated as the match plays out.

Combined with Virtual Desktop, Valve basica??lly wants to make it so you can use your entire system with a headset on. I'm kind of okay with that, as long as the games can keep up.

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Where have we seen this before?

Recently, Valve introduced paid-for passes for custom games in Dota 2, where for $1 players are given extra content or features to some of the most popular custom game-modes on official Valve servers. It’s very similar to Valve’s paid mod scheme, which fell apart last year after it was discovered that one of the first mods to be sold used content from other mod developers without permission.

Guess what? History's repeating itself, as the first paid custom game for Dota 2 has stolen content too!

Roshpit Champions is a popular custom game-mode, and the first to be included in Valve’s new scheme. However, eagle-eyed redditors have noticed art used for the mode may have been lifted from other items on Dota 2’s Steam Workshop page.

For example, the icon for the Adamantine Samurai Helmet item can be found on the FrozenYoroi Warrior set by EasRay, and the Admiral’s Boot’s icon is actually the Treads of the Resolute Seafarer by Sylei. All in all, 1??5 different things appear to h??ave been nicked from other workshop contributions.

Best of all, there’s one other item: the Crusader Boots. This icon isn’t taken from another workshop entry, it’s taken from a low-res, colour-changed version of this World of Warcraft art. The boots bel??ong to NPCs Darion and Alexandros Mograi?ne.

ChalkyBrush took to reddit to defend themselves, claiming that as the original content was also made for Dota 2, it’s fair ?game to use. Their answer to the Crusader Boots can also be boiled down to ‘we didn&rsq??uo;t think we’d be caught’:

Hi, I just saw this thread. I'll address each? class of issues:

Workshop Art Anything submitted to the workshop is Valve's property and can th??erefore be used in Valve's game. Roshpit Champions is subject to the same rules, making the game also a property of Valve's. You can use any of the code or concepts of Roshpit ?Champions within the bubble of Dota 2 as well. If there were a way to add proper credits, maybe that would be a good way to show appreciation.

Crusader Boots OK, I didn't think a low-res screencap of a screencap would be an issue. The picture is awful anyway and probably needs a replacement.?? Does blizzard care though? In the end, Blizzard is the only one with the right to complain about this low quality image existing in this little sub-realm of Dota 2. If Blizzard or Valve informs me that this is an issue, I will replace this image…

… Everything here was put together i??????????????????????????n the name of making a fun game and there is no shady intent of screwing people out of what's theirs. Moving on, I will be careful in making sure that all assets can fairly be used.

This is where it gets complicated.

The Steam Workshop agreement says that Valve is granted a non-exclusive right to any content uploaded to the platform. Both the creator and Valve are free to give anyone else, even outside of the Workshop ecosystem?, the right to use the work in any way.

Th?is agreement doesn’t give ChalkyBrush, or any other Workshop creator, the right to other people’s creations just by virtue of being on the same platform. That right to must still be granted to them by either Valve or the original creator. So the question here is whether Valve gave ChalkyBrush permission to use the material, or did ChalkyBrush slip it past Valve unnoticed?

Legality aside, profiting off of other peopl??es’ work without giving them payment, or even simply credit, is a shitty thing to do. If ??a piece of work is good enough for you to use, it’s good enough for you to at least acknowledge the person who made it. Better yet: pay them!

We have contacted Valve for a comment on this, and ?will update shoul?d we hear back from them.

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It's a way for select creators to make money

Valve famously "didn't understand exactly what [it] was doing" when it tried letting people charge money for their The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mods on Steam. There was enough of a backlash t?hat those plans quickly fell through, and refunds were issued, but the company hinted that it would experiment with paying community creators again in the future. That time is now.

The company has introduced Custom Game Passes, a new method for rewarding the folks behind popular Dota 2 custom games. The games themselves will continue to be free, but players will be able to buy passes to receive "additional content or featu?res" on a 30-day basis, with revenue split between the creator and Valve just as it is for full games sold on Steam.

The first and only pass available at the time of writing is for Roshpit Champions, and it costs $1 per month (note: passes won't auto renew). In the developer's ow?n words, these are the benefits:

• 8 more character save slots
• 18 more stash slots
• A 50% immortal drop rate buff and 10% EXP gain. This buff is shared with all party members and stacks with other custom game passes.
• A gold kill counter at the top of the UI to show who is a premium player.
• Most importantly, purchasing a premium ticket supports the game and allows us to build content better, faster, more consistently.

Not just any game can sell a pass. "The process will be curated by the Dota team," says Valve. "We will be carefully selecting which custom games are able to offer a Custom Game Pass, selecting only games which have already established a sizeable community and are mature enough to offer good value to customers. Ultimately, players will help determine which games are right for a pass by choosing to play and engage with growing communities, and the Dota team will contin?ue to work with the custom game community to ide?ntify good candidates."

Valve has also talked through its plans in an interview with PC Gamer. The outlet brought up pay-to-win incentives, which is one of the biggest concerns, to which Valve replied: "If we see custom game developers designing Custom Game Pass rewards that are hostile to custom game players, we will work with the developers to improve their design. If necessary, we will remove the custom game's right to sell Custom Game Passes. We believe it's unlikely that custom game creators who have successfully created and continuously maintained ??a high-quality custom game would knowingly destroy both their game and their community with a badly-designed premium reward scheme."

The off??icial line is that "Creators should focus on rewards that provide prem??ium value to pass owners without harming the experience of users who have not chosen to purchase a pass."

Additionally??, re??funds are available within the first 48 hours after paying for a Custom Game Pass.

This system does sound like an improvement over the paid Skyrim mod situation, but I don't know that Valve has had the best track record when it comes to curation. We'll have t?o see how it goes. If you're curious, maybe consider flipping some Steam Trading Cards and trying it ??out.

Supporting Custom Game Developers [Dota 2]
Valve to add paid Custom Game Pass to Dota 2 [PC Gamer]

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Calls host 'an ass'

Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve and patron saint of Steam, has taken to reddit to address the Dota 2 subreddit's complaints about the Shanghai Major tournament cu?rrently taking place in China.

"Two things:

1) James. We've had issues with James at previous events. Some Valve people lobbied to bring him back for Shanghai, feeling that he deserved another chance. That was a mistake. James is an?? ass, and we won't be working with him again.

2) As long as we're firing people, we are also firing the production company that we've been working with on the Shanghai Major. They will be rep?laced, and we hope to get this turned around before the main event."

The tournament host James '2GD' Harding was let go only a day and a half into the event. PC Gamer reports that James, "was irreverent, sometimes openly mocking of certain pro players, and included off-color humor and langu??age." Though no specific reason has been given.

The production company running the tournament, Perfect World, was also let go, which according to reddit had poor production values including delays, lag, audio issues, not providin??g players appropriate equipment, ??and other issues.

I've ??always pictured Gaben as a big friendly Santa-like character, and seeing him publicly fire people like this is a side I've never seen before. I appreciate when upper management can lay down the law and hold people accountable instead of refusing to admit they made a mistake. Bravo Gabe, keep up the good work.

Update from the Shanghai Major [reddit]

The post Gabe Newell fires Dota ?2 host and produ??ction company during live tournament appeared first on Destructoid.

Radiant just wiped out the Roshan guy!

The announcer packs for Dota 2 are easily some of the best purchases available within the free-to-play game. Personally, I go back and forth between the Stanley Parable and Bastion announcers. Not only are they high quality, but the games themse?lves ??are amazing!

Another soon-to-be fan favorite announcer is now available for purchase: the Rick and Morty announcer pack. PyrionFlax, a popular Dota 2 figure, helped write the lines while Justin Roiland provides the voice for both characters. I've only just begun watching the televisions series, and it hasn'??t quite won me over yet. Maybe one day if it does, this will be my go-to announcer pack.

The pack is $7.99 and includes both announcer and mega-kill lines. You can buy it here or in-game.

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