Helping New Players

The launch of Dota: Dragon’s Blood, a Korean-American anime TV series based on the popular MOBA, has attracted much attention from the community and the gaming media alike. Whether it ends up being an artistic success or not, it has certainly generated publicity for Dota 2, tempting new players and veterans on break alike to pick it up.

With a slew of impactful updates arriving over the recent months, now may indeed be a good time to start playing the game. However, its sheer complexity and occasionally unintuitive rules may give those would-be players some pause. To address this problem, developers Valve introduced a range of features near the end of March which are meant to help new players get their bearings before they’re ready to run the gauntlet with the best of those already playing.

Smoother Entry​​​​​​​

The biggest addition to the game is the New Player Mode – an improvement on the previously-used Limited Heroes Mode designed specifically for new arrivals. It lets them familiarize themselves with the gameplay basics through matches that always feature easy-to-use heroes from the same restricted pool. The mode’s other features include:

• A streamlined version of normal game rules inspired by the tweaks in Turbo Mode, such as faster drafting and quicker gold and experience collection;
• Solo queue matching novice solo players with each other, rather than allowing pre-made groups or veteran players to join;
• Capped queueing time ensuring that games start without too much delay and replacing any unfilled player slots with bots;
• Pre-made party queue pitting beginners at different skill levels against bots;
• The ability to leave a match in progress without incurring any penalty and with the player being replaced by a bot.

Bots are critical to the mode’s design, as their use lets players avoid frustrating wait times in the queue while providing controlled conditions to prepare them for the solo MMR climb. The developers have tweaked their behavior extensively for this mode and others, letting them make full use of new mechanics. The bots in New Player Mode should provide a reasonable level of challenge without overwhelming the players. Bot AI in other modes has also been affected by the changes, though, and should be more difficult to deal with.

Official Tutorial

Taking a cue from the community tutorial mod that may be accessed through the Steam Workshop, Valve introduced a system of “player objectives”. Each objective focuses on a specific concept, such as team fights or playing with friends in duo MMR games. While pursuing an objective, players will watch videos, receive special tips, and play through isolated scenarios designed to help them, master mechanics. The objective system also comes with four progression tiers that unlock cosmetics and currency awards, adding another incentive for engaging with it besides getting a better understanding of the game. The developers have also promised to integrate popular training mods with the system as they come out.

Gearing Up

Equipment is often called out as one of the more daunting systems in the game right now. It is easy to see why. There are more than 200 items available for purchase during matches. Their use, and the synergy between them and different hero abilities and team compositions, can be decisive for securing a win, especially in more competitive games like the Weekly Battle Cup. Valve’s solution has been to present rookies with a simplified version of the store screen that only displays some of the item options at first, gradually revealing others over time. It is designed to guide buyers along optimal routes for their characters, freeing them from choice paralysis.

Hero Builds

The character selection in full modes is another potential pain point for inexperienced players. After all, there are over 120 champions in the game, each one with different stats and unique powers. Understanding one’s own character isn’t enough. Knowledge of enemy heroes is essential for victory, but keeping track of all of them is nearly impossible for all but the most dedicated gamers. Valve has several solutions for mitigating this issue:

• More user-friendly and up-to-date default guides for each character, including their ideal leveling and gear progression;
• Hero briefs about abilities and playstyles showing up in loadout and pick phase screens;
• Reworked Heropedia offering more in-depth information on characters, including stats and preferred roles, in an accessible format.

Coaching Enhanced

The developers have upgraded the coaching integration system, making it easier to seek out and provide assistance. Players can request coaching in ongoing matches via an external dashboard or from inside the game itself. Eligible coaches from among experienced players can see a list of players requesting help. This list may be filtered based on specific heroes, enabling more narrowly focused mentors and pupils to find each other. Coach-student communications – including text, voice, and ping options – are separate from the main communications stream, avoiding any inconvenience for other players in a game.

The Little Things

New players can benefit from a number of other features and bonuses:

• Flashy and dynamic “Wizard tips” that show up during matches to warn rookies about potentially dangerous situations that appear during play, like being low on health, near traps, or exposed to enemy ambushes;
• An in-game Glossary that explains various common terms provides data on heroes, enemies, and objects, and explores Dota concepts in more detail;
• A streamlined dashboard with a different default layout and tips aimed at less experienced users;
• Free two-month access to the Dota Plus premium service, with benefits including added chat option, matchmaking benefits, automated progression suggestions, and extra rewards from various sources including the Battle Pass (when active);
• A separate New Player Chat supervised by respected community figures and accessible to both newcomers and veteran players with a track record of good behavior. This channel would be used as a safe space in which new players can receive help from others without having to worry about uncivil behavior due to strict rules and permanent chat bans for those who violate them.

The Return Experience

The changes are not only aimed at complete newcomers. Returning player accounts are subject to a special form of calibration that accounts for the time spent away from the game and any differences in skill level between current and past performance. This calibration will influence matchmaking, directing the return players towards appropriately challenging games and providing a smoother return to competitive play.

Conversely, the developers have decided to crack down on the practice of smurfing – experienced players pretending to be new using extra accounts that trick the MMR algorithms. This is now a bannable offense that all players are encouraged to report using the new post-game feedback option. Confirmed smurf accounts, as well as primary accounts of players engaged in such activities, will be banned. However, the developers admit that they seldom can tell for sure if someone is engaged in smurfing or similar “game-ruining” activities. When there is no full certainty, suspected accounts may simply be nudged towards playing with other suspects until they are either returned to normal matchmaking or banned.

Conclusion

All parts of the new player experience described above are purely optional. It is possible to opt out of them at any time. Nevertheless, they promise to be of big help to newcomers or even old hands who have fallen out of touch with the game. It is not yet clear if the anime will result in the predicted mass inflow of new fans. Even if it doesn’t, though, Dota 2 remains a major part of the MOBA scene and will surely continue to attract a larger audience. Continued updates and the next Battle Pass should add more incentives to join in the near future. In that light, reducing the barrier to entry for new users is definitely a good move on the developers’ part.