Valve has put a stop to an Overwolf add-on that allowed Dota 2 players to gain an edge in matches by checking their opponents’ most-played heroes. The program had previously raised concerns among community members who considered it cheating.
The addon was operating in a gray area as it was using publicly available data to provide draft assistance. While this let players detect smurfs and act accordingly it also led to beginners not getting to play their favorite heroes for a long time.
After years of discussion, Valve has taken action and disabled the program’s ability to track players’ Dota 2 history during the picking stage.
With a small patch, Valve made it so third-party tools couldn’t access profiles during picking, meaning the bans and picks will now commence without any assisting tools. When players load in, however, their profiles will once again become accessible.
The draft help was the main advantage of these add-ons, and with Valve shutting the door, the uninstallation numbers may start piling up.
Though Valve’s update made it sound like the Dota 2 developer may have disabled a feature to make profiles inaccessible during picking stage, add-ons continued to work for a short time after the patch went live.
They have since stopped working in picking stage, Dot can confirm.
Published: Feb 28, 2023 07:38 pm