Valve has managed to disappoint even those with no expectations. The developer has always been quick to remind fans that Dota 2 is a passion project for them whenever its back is against the wall, but it feels more like a chore at this point, especially after the brutal gutting of the battle pass.
In June 2023, it was revealed that there would be no battle pass for Dota 2 in 2023, a major red flag after TI11’s prize pool fumbled and failed to surpass 2016 levels of $20 million. The problem in 2022 was the late release of the battle pass, though it still offered substantial content in terms of cosmetics and events.
For TI12, the battle pass was replaced by the Compendium, a heavily nerfed version of the original Compendium from the 2010s. Lacking playable content in terms of events and cosmetics, the Compendium was also released weeks before TI12. When it comes to crowdfunding the event, the Compendium was destined to fail from the beginning, already performing worse than 2015 and 2021 by a large margin.
While some may dismiss the uproar as mere frustration over a lack of cosmetics, the issue runs deeper, mainly in the name of culture. TI has traditionally been the Christmas of Dota 2 players, featuring events, mind-blowing prize pools, and many other customizations that constantly reminded players that they were playing the game during an extraordinary time of the year.
This year, Dota 2 players woke up on Christmas morning and found coal under their trees. Despite the soul-crushing Compendium, Valve also delivered quality-of-life updates throughout 2023. The Dota 2 summer patch implemented a massive reporting system, armory, and visual changes, and Valve also banned 90,000 Dota 2 accounts to combat smurfing.
These changes improved the quality of the game, and a minority of fans have expressed that they would be fine with sacrificing the TI spirit as long as more updates like these followed.
However, a question lingers: Why can’t Dota 2 have the best of both worlds? Valve’s been making it look like putting together a battle pass with cosmetics is the most complex and time-consuming task in the world, when in reality, there’s lots of community-made content ready to be integrated into the game. The Workshop is filled with fantastic content, and Valve could have organized an epic TI event by bringing back Diretide or Aghanim’s Labyrinth alongside a few community cosmetics.
The empty Compendium also comes after an underwhelming birthday event for Dota 2 as players strongly disliked the “disappointing” new 10-Year Anniversary content, which was merely a chest filled with low-effort skins and cosmetics.
Now that the Dota Pro Circuit is gone as well, it’s becoming clear that Dota 2 might have turned into more of a chore for Valve than a passion project. The developers’ diminishing love and respect for Dota 2 are apparent, reflected in their detachment, as indicated by the outrageous TI12 ticket prices and format changes for Dota 2‘s The International.
