The Dota 2 esports scene has always been special in esports. It has The International, the biggest prize pool event in esports history. This has overshadowed other third-party tournaments spread throughout the year. The International is a massive event which is essentially the pinnacle and showcase of the Dota 2 Calendar year. But due to its huge prize pool and the fame associated with it, it has also caused several problems for other tournaments throughout the year.

The DPC season just finished its first year and it inevitably had some problems. With the season coming to an end with TI8, we will see more modifications and changes to the scene for the upcoming year.

The Dota Pro Circuit Season was supposed to solve all problems

The DPC circuit was Valve’s idea to formalize and control the Dota 2 esports scene. With the DPC, they laid down the rules and created a uniform framework for Dota 2 esports. The third party tournaments were steps that the teams had to take in order to be invited to The International. This assigned more value to the third party tournaments enforcing teams to play these tournaments on a serious note in order to secure their chances of attending The International.

Prior to the DPC, Dota 2 faced a lot of instability in the scene. Rosters were constantly changing and it was difficult to even for an avid fan to follow the scene. Frequent roster changes caused the scene to look extremely volatile, with the Pre-International period being a time for a shuffle. Teams would break apart without notice and the scene looked very shaky. This was worrisome for team owners who had invested in the teams and player salaries. But without a stable roster, there was no uniformity in results and no guarantee of a good performance. The Dota Pro Circuit was announced in July 2017 and allowed for the scene to provide a fixed schedule throughout the year.

With the DotA schedule i tweeted out saying i was jelly, i wasnt really jelly about the amount, but knowing when an event will happend — Jesper Wecksell (@jwCSGO) August 1, 2017

It is a welcome change for players, and we see players from other esports titles also praise the format and the pre-scheduling of events.

Valve solves a few problems for DPC 18-19

The Dota Pro circuit has completed just one year in existence. With it came several problems, but they are not problems that cannot be fixed. Right before TI8, and before teams have to worry about anything other than their upcoming matches, Valve has revealed further details for the next season.

There will only be 4 qualifier slots for TI9

This year, there was an unequal distribution of slots for the TI8 qualifiers. The Americas received 3 qualifier slots and sparked a debate about the distribution of qualifier slots.

The International 2018 Teams – Direct & Qualifier Invites | https://t.co/bvyX0crt3i pic.twitter.com/lmI7pkWWNq — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) June 10, 2018

This year, there will be one slot for each region, inadvertently providing only six qualifier slots to TI9. Each of the following ‘big’ regions in the Dota 2 scene will receive one qualifier slot

China

Southeast Asia

Europe

CIS

North America

South America.

The even distribution of qualifier slots solves two problems with one move. The first and direct impact it will have on the Dota 2 scene is to create a semblance of parity amongst the teams and regions. With each region receiving only one qualifier slot, there can be no question of inappropriate distribution of qualifier slots. The debate about which region should receive more slots, because they have the better teams would never be a question.

The second problem that it inadvertently solves to an extent relates to the entire DPC season. With only 6 qualifier slots, it means that there will be 12 directly invited teams to The International 2019. This year, we saw 2-3 teams qualify for TI8 well before the completion of the season. Indeed Virtus Pro qualified for TI8 months in advance and yet they played the remainder of the season. Their reasons varied from wanting to stay abreast of the meta as well as to earn the prize money. With 12 slots available for a direct invite for the next year, every tournament will be competitive right till the end of the DPC Season. There will still be teams which secure their invite weeks or months in advance. But the fact that there are 12 different direct invite slots means that that the competition amongst the rest remains intense.

The current DPC season saw some dud tournaments towards the end, which was mainly because most of the available eight slots were already taken. But with available slots for the upcoming season, it will be interesting to see which teams can push themselves through to be a part of one of the most prestigious events in esports.

A wider spread for points distribution

Another complaint with the current DPC format was the fact that only the top four teams in a tournament received any DPC points at all. Now the problem with this format was that unless you are in the top four, you do not have anything to take back from the tournament. A team which finished 5th receives 0 DPC points as against to a Top ¾ team.

With the best teams in the world participating in almost all the Dota 2 tournaments, the points went to a select few teams. So while the Virtus Pros and Team Liquids started accumulating DPC points, the rest of pack were left languishing. With the new system, we will see more teams having a stake in the DPC season. Teams will look forth to securing better placements, even if not a tournament victory. It will provide for a more competitive environment, one that will only serve as a spectacle to viewers and provide for healthy competition.

Should the DPC points go to the Top 6 or the Top 8?

Currently, there are only 3 to 4 teams in a tournament that can secure DPC points. But with the promise of a wider points spread in the next season, it would only mean that either 6 or 8 teams will be able to earn points. Valve will hold meetings in the future to clarify further details.

This number would probably have to be decided in consultation with the tournament organisers. The formats for the current tournaments do not allow segregation from the top 4. The objective of the tournaments is to move the top four into a playoff bracket. So there might be the need to play more matches in order to establish the top 6 or top 8 teams. All the Dota 2 minors for DPC season 17-18 ( except ESL One Genting ) had only 8 attending teams. Since many minors had direct invites to their events, assigning DPC points to top eight would be a poor decision. It would allow for collusion between the tournament organisers and the Dota 2 teams. Having the top 6 teams receive DPC points for Minors still doesn’t make sense. It would put a lot of weight on the direct invites to Minors.

We assume that Valve would approach the Minors and Majors differently. Since we cannot expect tournament organisers to change their entire business model on the whims of Valve, it would only be apt that the top 4 in a Minor receive points.

The Majors are a different story altogether. Since Majors usually have at least 16 teams in participation, it is much easier to grant the Top 6 ( or even Top 8 ) teams DPC points. It would essentially award teams for moving forth from the Group stage.

Betting websites Sponsorship money

According to a report by VPEsports, Valve has also advised teams to stop accepting sponsorships from gambling websites. Valve’s crackdown on gambling websites and skin betting websites have been a continuous process.

With the latest diktat, Valve hopes to shut down one of the last few sources of revenue for these betting websites. With diminishing traffic and less exposure, they would simply not have the numbers necessary to say afloat.

The International 2018 starts on August 15th and will continue till the 25th of August. The prize pool for TI8 is inching closer to last years prize pool. Meanwhile, you can prepare yourself for the International by watching the official International Lowdown 2018.

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