Game developer Valve is making "Dota 2" friendlier to beginners with the launch of an update aimed to create a smoother learning curve. The update comes less than a week before the start of this year's The International tournament, which is expected to gain worldwide coverage and draw much newcomer interest to the game.
Launched Thursday, the update seeks to address two of the hurdles that a new player may encounter while learning to play the game, namely wrong choice of heroes, and veteran players that are hostile to beginners.
For the first 25 games, a new player's hero selection pool is now limited to 20 heroes.
"This introductory group consists of heroes that we've learned are very successful in helping new players learn and enjoy the game," said the developers on the game's blog.
Additionally, in order to give new players a better experience, they will now be matched up against other players with consistently high behavior scores.
"It is especially important for a new player to have a good social experience while they are first trying to learn the game," the developers added.
The new matchmaking system will now ensure that new players play with and against other players with the appropriate level of skills and good behavior records.
"Dota 2," while widely popular, is a daunting game for beginners due to its gameplay's complexity, large roster of playable heroes, and equipment effects and interactions. Valve has taken many steps to help newcomers enjoy learning the game, including thorough tutorials, detailed tooltips and simplified item descriptions.
With the new update, "Dota 2" may be able to retain much of the newcomer interest it's expecting to garner as a result of the upcoming world championship.
The game's championship tournament, The International, will begin on Aug. 2 and will continue until Aug.12. The grand prize for the tournament's winning team is $23 million.
