It seems that IceFrog and the Dota 2 team at Valve are keeping a close eye on the game’s competitive scene even during the coronavirus pandemic, as a quick little update has shifted the game in a few big ways.
Gameplay Update 7.26 is not focused on heroes, items, or any other core element of the regular game, but rather introduces a few systematic changes to prepare for future patches that will be dropping soon.
While this might be the smallest full numbered patch in the game’s history, it appears the goal of the developers right now is slowing down the game. It looks like Valve is making these changes in order to see what will break the game in small doses rather than overwhelming the community with massive changes all at once.
- Attributes no longer provide Magic Resistance, Spell Amplification and Movement Speed for Strength, Intelligence and Agility respectively.
- Gold bounties reduced by 10 percent (affects buildings, lane creeps, neutrals and heroes)
- Kill streak gold is reduced by 50 percent
The reduction of gold is going to hit farming heroes hard, which is likely the biggest reason Valve outright said these changes will need to settle before the follow-up hero and item-specific adjustments are released.
This is not likely a direct reaction to all the sub 25-minute games happening in the professional scene, but this should at least prolong some of the games over the next week or so just through sheer net worth reduction. The Attribute nerf also looks like it might affect INT and STR heroes in some negative ways, but it will take some time to see the overall impact.
