We are just weeks away from the TI9 main event, and a whole lot is going on in our world of Dota 2. Stay up to date on what’s happening in the game and out of the game, and stay tuned for more Dota 2 news.

1). Content

Mo’rokai

The Mo’rokai Game mode has officially dropped with an almost exclusively negative reception. The hype builds up for this game mode was reaching massive peaks, with players hoping for another rendition of a PVE experience. Players were expecting something similar to Siltbreaker, or Underhollow, which were more engaging and memorable game modes that players loved. What players actually got was another hurdle added to the already complex vanilla All Pick mode. Special powerful units are given to each side, and they assisted you in taking objectives and killing heroes. You could upgrade them throughout the game, and they were imperative to winning. The mode is said to be “lazy” and “unfun”, so if you haven’t given it a try, then it might not be worth your time to do so.

On top of the already underwhelming reception, the game came with an onslaught of bugs and questionable decisions. Firstly, there was an exploit that could be done with Lifestealer using his infest ability. This allowed him to instantly kill any of the strong units that are given to you. These units are instrumental in winning the game, so that was promptly fixed in an update a few days later. Since Mo’rokai is designed over the Vanilla All Pick mode, players complained that the game mode lasts far too long, and are trying to push for Valve to switch it to Turbo mode. (Turbo mode is identical to All Pick, but games last for about half the duration on average.)

Immortal Treasure II

The Immortal treasure II dropped with also a negative reception. Players are complaining that Lions new cosmetic item does not fit the rest of his color palette. They also are getting sick of Valve adding a golden coat of paint to a normal item and making it rare. For the most part, the treasure is not the worst set of items you could have, but players were expecting a lot more than what they bargained for. The cosmetics also lack any new audio changes to abilities, which fans sorely miss.

Rather than having a distinct and consistent color scheme, Lion sports a new RGB color scheme that fans are not happy with.

2). Valve News

Summer Scrub

Valve has officially announced that they are undergoing a “Summer Scrub”. For the uninitiated, the Summer Scrub is Valves way of saying that they’re going to focus on cleaning the game from various bugs, while hopefully adding a few quality of life improvements. In previous years, Valve would do “spring cleaning” during spring, but with the disaster of Artifact and the development of Dota Underlords, they presumably were too busy to give Dota a much-needed maintenance check.

Valve are keenly looking at Social Media and Reddit for any suggestions on bug fixes by the players. If you would like to be a part of that conversation, head on over to /r/Dota2 or contact them directly via Twitter. Among the complaints of bugs, some users have some interesting QoL suggestions, such as a redone shop UI. The menu is very convoluted at the moment, but its current format is presented in a way that many players are used to. Valve could make it possible for players to have a more personalized shop UI should they see fit. Other than that, players are hoping for a customizable hero grid, the return of guilds, addition of a tutorial for newer players, a Dota + revision, among others. Valve have contacted the mods of /r/dota2 directly and have asked them to take down the Summer Scrub Megathread.

3). Esports News

Midas Mode

Midas Mode was finally announced, and fans of the tournament are brimming with excitement. If you’re out of the loop, last year, SirActionSlacks took it upon himself to organize an extremely fun and engaging tournament. He featured many fictional characters presented by various talent and a hilarious hand puppet. The tournament adds a bunch of other objectives and restrictions to a normal game of Dota, incentivized by the need of Moon Bucks(the game modes currency). The objectives range from “do a 360 kill on a hero” or “say a sentence on all chat after killing a certain player”. These objectives make the game incredibly hilarious, and you do not want to miss out on it.

On the surface, Midas Mode is a laid back and fun tournament that players can participate in after TI, but in the background, Nahaz is hard at work making sure the Moon Bucks system is in working order. Nahaz is very informed on the subject of economics, and meticulously prepared the Moon Bucks system that made it fair and fun for everyone. On the other side of things, SirActionSlacks has taken it upon himself to advertise for the event. Here is “MDAS MODE 2: ROSHAN TAKEOVER“: a trailer for the event, an in-depth blog update, and a more general and well-produced explanation video on the venue (below), and how to buy tickets. The tournament will take place between September 24th to October 2nd. If you would like to attend the event, here is a direct link to where you can purchase tickets for yourself.

The International 9 Qualifiers and Moonduck Studios

Teams from around the world are at each others necks for a chance to participate in this year’s TI (The International). So far, the SEA, CIS, and SA qualifiers have concluded, and NA, Europe, and China are still underway. The awesome folks over at Moonduck studios are hard at work casting the games for us over on Twitch. They have all the vods to previous games on their channel, so be sure to check it out if you’d like to watch your favorite teams go through qualifiers.

South East Asia

Mineski have swept opens, since they are the only well known and established team from the region that hasn’t made it to TI yet. Since SEA has only 1 slot, they were able to grab that and have secured themselves a chance at the aegis.

CIS

The CIS qualifiers have been the most… dramatic of the three to say the least. Fans were expecting Gambit to put out another crazy performance at the qualifiers, and make it to the tournament. What actually happened was midlaner Afroninje announcing a questionable GG that effectively knocked them out of the tournament. The Gambit Organization have put out a tweet apologizing to their fans about the incident. Gambit has seemingly disbanded since their loss at the qualifiers. Although it was a sad day for Gambit and the region as a whole, ex fan favorites Na’Vi have successfully made their mark this time, and are going to attend TI! Na’Vi has had years of losses and roster swaps, with the last time they attended the tournament, was during TI6 (2016) and were eliminated with a top 13 finish.

South America

Team Infamous has solidified their spot at TI with a convincing 3-0 final over paiN Gaming. As a whole, the region seems to be the weakest of the 6 and is in dire need of support if they are to continue being relevant in the tournament scene. Infamous are a dark horse coming into the event and have nothing to lose. Although it is unlikely that they will win, they are still a contender and might be able to take a few games off the top teams.