Valve Changes 'Dota 2' Patch Schedule To Avoid Esports Clashes

Valve has announced that it will change the schedule of Dota 2 patches so that there will be no major updates when the final tournaments of the season are taking place. This comes just a few months after Valve announced the Dota 2 patch schedule would become more frequent, with one patch every two weeks that would always be released on a Thursday.

Initially the system worked out pretty well, the increased frequency of patches kept the pro meta varied, something that had long been an irritating factor to some spectators, and made sure that any issues for those playing were cleared up quickly. However the Thursday release date did cause a few issues, with patches sometimes dropping during a top level Dota 2 tournament.

data-param-cid="62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a"
data-player-id="44f947fb-a5ce-41f1-a4fc-78dcf31c262a"
data-playlist-id=9f914deb-4288-4fd7-b59b-0d4d3ca3c704
data-elements-player="true"
layout="responsive"
width="16"
height="9"
>

One of the bigger patches of this year was released on April 26th. The patch made a lot of changes to heroes, totally shaking up the meta to an almost unrecognizable state. Four days on and the pro teams are still figuring everything out.

However, the biggest change for the pro scene was the addition of Techies to Captains Mode, the game mode played at all pro tournaments. Techies has been out of Captains Mode for months, after being reworked a few times. The hero is very controversial and one that can have a big impact on a game. Some thought that the hero may never return to pro play.

But last Thursday Valve added Techies into the pro mix. Now usually this would be an exciting announcement on its own, but what made it even more exciting for fans was that the Epicenter Major, which has a $1 million prize pool, started the next day. Less than 24 hours after the patch, the pro teams were battling it out for massive amounts of money. As you might expect a few pros were not too happy about this.

Now with the end of the season rapidly approaching we have entered a month and a half period where there will be a pro Dota tournament every weekend. These events will not only give away more than $3 million in prizes, but will also decide which teams get a direct invitation to The International 8, which is expected to have the largest prize pool in esports history.

The patch schedule as it originally was would have meant that patches would hit in the middle of some of the most important events of the year, and while a surprise like Techies being added probably won’t happen, having a mid event patch is not ideal with that much on the line. This is why Valve has decided to delay patches until after each event concludes. This is a break from their original plan, but is no doubt a much better solution.

With this change there will be no patches when a Major is taking place, and will mean that teams do not have to worry about their ideas and strategies becoming outdated while they are playing for millions of dollars. It is expected that Valve will return to patching the game on Thursdays after this run of tournaments is over.