Valve takes measures against smurfs, tweaks balance

Valve takes measures against smurfs, tweaks balance
posted by SmittyW.,
On the weekend, Valve released another minor balance update. With the patch, the developer will also start taking actions against smurfs, after they completed their test run of their new anti-smurf system. Adjusting smurf accounts is only one of many measures Valve is taking to improve matchmaking in Dota. With the latest patch a new detection algorithm for smurfs is finally going live. Over the past weeks Valve collected data from thousands of matches in order to be able to detect smurfs more easily. According to the Dota 2 maker, they are now confident enough to apply their findings to the live servers.

On Reddit, Valve said: "The system searches for players that frequently perform significantly above their current skill bracket, and applies an MMR increase [...]." They players get their MMR readjusted until "they're no longer over performing." The developer will monitor the changes and make adjustments in the future.

The Valve employee who posted on Reddit also called for your action: if you have played a game with someone who was clearly smurfing, you are encouraged to provide the Match ID to Cameron.

Balance changes






Apart from the measures against smurfing, Dota 2 received a minor balance patch, too. Here are the changes:

Patch details

GENERAL



Basic Neutrals now give 5% less XP

ITEMS



MEDALLION OF COURAGE


  • Armor reduced from 6 to 5


PHASE BOOTS


  • Armor reduced from 5 to 4


RING OF PROTECTION


  • No longer available in side shop


SOLAR CREST


  • Armor reduced from 10 to 8


HEROES



KUNKKA


  • Ghost Ship cooldown increased from 60/50/40 to 70/60/50


X MARKS THE SPOT


  • X Marks The Spot cooldown increased from 26/20/14/8 to 34/26/18/10


MIRANA



LEAP


  • Leap attack speed reduced from 60/80/100/120 to 25/50/75/100


SACRED ARROW


  • Sacred Arrow projectile speed reduced from 950 to 900


NIGHT STALKER

HUNTER IN THE NIGHT


  • Hunter in the Night attack speed reduced from 30/50/70/90 to 20/40/60/80


CRIPPLING FEAR


  • Crippling Fear duration reduced from 5/6/7/8 to 4/5/6/7


TALENTS


  • Level 20 Talent reduced from +50 Damage to +40

  • Level 25 Talent reduced from +140 Hunter in the Night to +110


TINY


  • Avalance damage decreased from 90/160/230/300 to 75/150/225/300


TOSS


  • Toss cooldown increased from 11 to 17/15/13/11


WINDRANGER

TALENTS


  • Level 10 Talent reduced from +3 Mana Regen to +2


Autumn Update for Dota Plus



The Autumn Update also brought new content for owners of a Dota Plus subscribtion. The reward section now features new item sets for Lion, Slardar, and Crystal Maiden. Also in terms of matchmaking, subscribers get a new feature: if you've had a really bad team-mate, you can now exclude them from your matchmaking pool, which might be one of the best features newly introduced.

You can check out a more detailed list of notes right here.

What do you think about taking action against smurfs?



Photo credit: Valve

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