Dota 2 officially turned 10 years old last month, and to celebrate Valve has released a 10th anniversary update that gives away iconic skins and cosmetics from previous years. But as is often the case, fans are somewhat disappointed at how underwhelming the celebration is, especially considering its delay.
The update, which launched overnight, introduces a new treasure that you will get for winning matches between now and September 7. The treasure features 13 items, one from each year of Dota 2’s life (including its time in beta) that have some kind of historical significance.
In the treasure there’s an updated Alpine Ursa set, which back in the early days was controversial as fans thought it broke Valve’s guidelines for skins that should not change the theme of a hero. Then there’s the Mirana anime personality that released to celebrate the launch of the Dota 2 anime on Netflix. There’s also the first ever tormentor skin to celebrate their recent addition to the game.
Overall the cosmetics are pretty cool, especially some of the rarer sets that are now easily available. However some of the items expire after the 10th anniversary event ends, which is a bit of a disappointing realisation that you can only play with these iconic skins for a few weeks.
Dota fans are also somewhat underwhelmed at the size of the update, especially considering it was delayed a month because Valve wasn’t ready to release it for the actual anniversary on July 9. Many were expecting something more than just some reworked skins, perhaps a celebratory game mode or even returning features from years past.
However, it is worth remembering that just last week we got a massive gameplay update, which fits with Valve’s statement earlier in the year that they would be focusing more on the core game of Dota and less around the extras outside of that experience such as cosmetics and limited time game modes. While it would have been nice to have something new to play, having the core Dota experience be updated more frequently will always be the preferable option even if it can be disappointing at times.
This statement also revealed that there would be no battle pass this year, and that there would be a new funding method for The International. However with the tournament now a couple of months away there is still no sign of a crowdfunding mechanic for it yet. The qualifiers for The International 12 are already underway, so time is running out for Valve to get the prize pool up to its usually multi-million dollar standard.
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