The latest Dota 2 patch introduces Team Matchmaking, allowing teams of five to search for other teams for a more competitive game. Alongside the matchmaking tech, Valve have also developed a team rating system that calculates how your team performs as a whole; arguably more important that individual statistics. The last addition to the matchmaking system is the ability to search for specific languages to try and make communicating with your teammates easier.
The team system has been in Dota 2 for a while now, allowing you and up to four friends to formally do battle while waving your flag. Past that however, you still had to set up friendlies against other teams beforehand if you wanted to settle a score. Your team rating works in a similar manner to your hero rating, but Valve have already expressed an interest in redoing the entire system.
But thank goodness for the language barrier. Communicating with a team of multiple languages has been a nightmare in Dota. Matches boil down to rudimentary grunts and over exaggerated sighs, alongside aggressive pinging. Now you can search for matches with a specific language in mind, increasing your odds of finding more co-operative team mates. Currently there’s only English, Russian and Chinese, with more to follow in future updates.
Smaller features include the new Lotus Treasure Chest finally getting a key, allowing you to plunder its treasures. Along with a bunch of new community cosmetics you also have chance to receive a courier with a new “Lotus Blossom” effect. On unreleased hero watch, Tusk is still the prime candidate for the next hero to be released.
Check out Cyborgmatt’s full patch break down, and check out the developer patch notes below:
– Added Team Matchmaking! Teams have a public rating based on their performance against other Teams.
– Added Language setting for Matchmaking!
GAMEPLAY
– Alchemist: Fixed Unstable Concoction AOE and Self impact behavior when there is a Magic Immune target.
– Batrider: Fixed Sticky Napalm being applied to Magic Immune units.
– Batrider: Fixed Sticky Napalm being removed by Magic Immunity.
– Bloodseeker: Fixed Rupture damage interval.
– Bloodseeker: Fixed being able to use potions during Rupture.
– Dark Seer: Fixed being able to cast Ion Shell on special units like Spirit Bear and Warlock’s Golem
– Doom: Fixed Doom’s interaction with MKB and Truestrike.
– Dragon Knight: Fixed Dragon Breath sometimes missing at very close range in Elder Dragon Form.
– Dragon Knight: Fixed Dragon Breath travel time being too slow.
– Gyrocopter: Fixed Call Down first and second impact slow values being swapped
– Keeper of the Light: Fixed Recall going off if Keeper died during the delay.
– Lone Druid: Fixed Spirit Bear’s Entangle working against Ancients and Creep Heroes like Familiars and Warlock’s Golem.
– Medusa: Fixed Split Shot hitting Nightmared units.
– Medusa: Fixed Mana Shield not blocking damage from Death Ward, Plague Wards, Serpent Wards and Wildkin’s Tornado.
– Morphling: Fixed Morph transformation stopping if Morphling gets purged or cycloned.
– Shadow Fiend: Fixed Shadow Fiend gaining souls while dead
– Shadow Fiend: Fixed Shadow Fiend gaining souls from killing illusions.
– Spectre: Fixed Spectral Dagger sometimes creating invisible paths of targets it hit.
– Troll Warlord: Added Pseudo Random support for his Bash.
– Troll Warlord: Fixed Whirling Axes interaction with Roshan.
– Visage: Fixed Cleave hitting Familiars.
– Warlock: Fixed Flaming Fists hitting ethereal units.
– Weaver: Fixed various buffs Time Lapse did not remove.
– Witch Doctor: Fixed Paralyzing Casks bouncing off of couriers.
– Courier: Fixed courier not responding to deliver orders after having received a hold or stop order.
– Courier: Reduced stash interaction ranges to fix the courier not filling a bottle when entering and exiting the fountain area in a short time.
– Courier: Fixed the Deliver Items breaking if you used speed burst on the way to the stash.
– Fixed direct unit target spells having 24 less effective range.
– Fixed Dark Pact and and Kraken Shell not removing Sticky Napalm, Shadow Strike, Venomous Gale, Poison Nova and Viper Strike.
– Fixed Day/Night cycle duration as well as initial state being a bit off.
– Fixed some ability Backswing timing issues (Kunkka, Clockwerk, Timbersaw, Meepo, Pudge, Spiritbreaker, Sand King, Riki, Nyx, Lion, Pugna, Shadow Demon, Batrider).
– Orb of Venom now has the same stacking behavior with Lifesteal that Eye of Skadi does.
– Fixed Veil of Discord not getting applied to Magic Immune units.
– Fixed Veil of Discord getting dispelled by Purge/BKB/Cyclone/etc.
– Fixed Bloodstone charges incrementing while you are dead.
– Dropped, non-sharable items can no longer be destroyed by teammates.
– Fixed dominated units continuing their previous channeling spell.
– Enabled Silencer in Captain’s Mode for Latest Version (will be enabled in Tournament Version the following week).
UI
– Added Language option for Matchmaking. You will find players when matchmaking that have selected the same language(s).
– Fixed buff refreshes not showing the correct swipe.
– Made Keeper’s two Spirit Form abilities always visible but just disabled until he uses Spirit Form.
– The dota:// URL handler now supports lobbyid=
– Fixed autocast ability border not hiding when moving from a friendly unit to querying an enemy.
– When using smart tab switching, fixed not being able to cycle to controllable units if your currently selected using is dead.
– Players that play on a league game will now have access to that league pass.
– Fixed being able to pick or random an already repicked hero.
– Added an error message when pressing the courier deliver button and there are no items to be delivered.
WEBAPI:
– Added Team query to WebAPI. Query is GetTeamInfoByTeamID, params are start_at_team_id and teams_requested.
LEAGUES:
– Players that participate in Leagues will now have access to watch all games for said league in the tournament tab.
BOTS
– Made Necrolyte bot more likely to use Death Pulse to heal himself.
– When considering purchasing an item and determining whether there’s room in their inventory, bots will now consider whether the item will stack with an existing item.
– Bots will no longer sell a situational item in order to retrieve a situational item from their stash (fixes purchase thrashing).
– Witch Doctor will no longer use Maledict on non-hero units.
– Slightly lowered the maximum desire to attack a non-hero unit.