Is Valve preparing Dota 3? What will be added to the game with patch 7.33

A big event is coming to Dota 2. This month Valve will release another patch, which promises to be a global event and possibly change the MOBA game forever.

Last time Dota 2 was significantly updated on March 7: then the Battle of the Ancients field welcomed a new hero Muerta, the players received a fresh mini-event, and a dozen heroes have undergone changes. However, the patch 7.32e is a large scale update, because it was not more than a plug before the patch 7.33 - "real" game upgrade, as Valve directly said in their public announcement.

The Dead Reckoning update has a lot of features we're really proud of - a new hero, item sets, a minigame. But we get it. Many of you were hoping for patch 7.33.

In the same statement Valve told us when patch 7.33 will be released. It should be at the "end of April".

We have been working on a major gameplay patch for a while now and hoped to be in time for this update. We are currently aiming for it to be released at the end of April.

Knowing Valve's "love" for timely updates, this timeframe could easily have stretched over several months. Could have, but this time it's going to be different and with good reason.

Patch 7.33 in Dota 2 will be released on April 20

More recently, speculation swirled around the possible release date of the Dota 2 gameplay update. April 20 has been called a potential date, and the source of such rumours is not suspicious.

Valve's intention to release patch 7.33 on April 20 said Cyborgmatt - a person directly associated with Valve and at the same time the manager of Team Secret. However, he's not the only one who's giving April 20 date for 7.33.

Korb3n, manager of Team Spirit, also hints at an imminent release of the update, and a big one at that. Very likely true, given that Cyborgmatt himself said that Valve has warned the managers of professional teams about the desire to release patch 7.33 already on April 20.

Adding weight to the statements of the Spirit and Secret managers is the professional season schedule. The fact is that if the Patch 7.33 release happens on April 20, then the teams have a week to prepare for The Berlin Major 2023, which begins on the 26th.

At the same time, if the release does happen this Thursday, teams competing in DreamLeague Season 19 will finish the championship for $1,000,000 on the new patch.

So far, things are shaping up and it sounds like patch 7.33 is coming out on Thursday, April 20. And if we've sorted out the patch release date, why not anticipate what will be added to the game, given that the upgrade will be global, as Valve promise.

Valve will add a new Roshan and change the map

Patch 7.33, which will be released on April 20, 2023 should drastically change the map. How could it be otherwise when the developers themselves call it a "massive gameplay patch". Scale in Dota 2 is always about changing the field of Battle of the Ancients, and with this April update there's every chance of seeing a full-blown "reimagining" of Dota 2.

One potential change that could await Dota as early as this Thursday is the addition of a second Roshan* to the map.

*- By Roshan we mean an important object, not necessarily a huge stone monster.

Again, we're not making anything up. Korb3n points to such a turn of events, indirectly confirming the release of the patch on April 20. In one of his posts on TG, the manager of Spirit wrote: "In the patch there really will be new objects like not even one. Yes, and in general the patch promised a global".

Case solved, Valve will add a new Roshan to Dota 2! But why Roshan, Beglov talks about objects? That's where K1, Beastcoast's teammate, comes in, giving The International interview after the DreamLeague match, in which he said that he's talking to the right people and Roshan will appear in Dota 2.

The potential addition of another Roshan will automatically change the game map. Obviously, a separate space needs to be allocated for the new facility, and it's best to do so with an eye to balance.

The Dire side of the professional scene looks more attractive than the Force of Light. According to Spectral data, Dire has a 51% win rate among the top 100 players in the gridiron and first division DPCs. If you factor in the statistical margin of error, the win/loss ratio is roughly equal, but the Forces of Darkness have a much easier time contesting Roshan and that's a fact.

Dire has a sanctuary in the main forest, making it much easier to set up Roshan. A new central location on the map will probably be on the east side of the river, where Roshan's lair used to be.

The location will balance the sides and add variety to the macro game. Moves around the map will be even more elaborate, and fights will be more intense.

The chance of a new Roshan appearing in patch 7.33 is great, but it's not the only thing that has a high probability of appearing in the game with the massive update. Another thing that is at risk of appearing in Dota 2 as early as April 20 is the Glicko ranking system.

Matchmaking will be changed

It's true that only a lazy man hasn't scolded the matchmaking system in Dota 2. The specifics of the game contribute to a large number of smurfs, a long search for matches at high ranks and "breaks the balance".

Fixing the problematic nature of matchmaking and bringing it to perfection probably won't be possible, but it is possible to look for ways to solve the painful problems. One option to improve ranked games in Dota 2 may become a rating system Glicko, which seems to be introduced in the patch 7.33.

Glicko system was originally developed for chess, but is used in the games themselves, for example in CSGO and Dota Underlords. In short, with Glicko the reward after the match is affected by a number of indicators such as number of matches played and the so called variability coefficient.

Simply put: if you haven't played Dota 2 for a while, but decide to recall it, log in and win - you'll get more MMR. Additionally, Glicko takes into account your opponent's rank: when a weaker player beats a stronger opponent, he gets more MMR, and vice versa - for losing a weaker opponent gets more rank points taken away.

That sounds fresh at the very least, but most importantly, quite realistic. While Roshan is only hinted at, Glicko has already been spotted in Dota 2's files. The Dota_DM dataminer revealed it.

Photo: lines from Dota 2 files

We're sure that on the new object (if there will be one) and updated matchmaking system (if everything is as it should be in Dota 2's files) Valve will not be left behind. Changes will be made to the heroes, and there will likely be new items added as well.

New Warhammer item

Neutral items appeared in Dota 2 in patch 7.23, dated November 26. Since then, they have undergone huge changes and it seems that a new round is just around the corner.

We can't claim that any of the items will be redesigned or removed, nor are we sure that many new items will be added, but one is likely to appear. At least there is reason to believe so, as a video demonstration of an item named Warhammer is walking around the web.

Judging by the description, Warhammer will give the wearer +10 strength, 200 health, 1 health regeneration unit per second and 10 damage. Warhammer's active ability deals 75 damage to opponents and reduces armor by 3 for 6 seconds.

It's likely that Valve will not make do with Warhammer alone (if it exists at all). Maybe they will resurrect a few forgotten items like Iron Talon or Poorman Shield - it's still unclear, but the fog of war will be gone by April 20.

If the rumors about global changes such as new items or additions to the game are confirmed, the patch 7.33 may indeed be a turning point in the history of Dota 2. We're looking forward to the April 20 release date, how about you?