In the last few days, Dota 2 fans and curious newcomers have swarmed in to see what the big deal is regarding Dota 2 Reborn Beta and why it’s such a happy buzz among the fanbase. There has been some explanation geared towards custom games a day before the beta was released. Further, since its release, many of users have reported lots of little bugs that were fixed and nifty features that weren’t mentioned including map changes.
“We’d like to build an ecosystem where you can experience something new every time you launch Dota 2.”
With that mind, Valve’s plan to implement Custom Games in Reborn took shape. Several games have since been released utilizing the Dota 2 Reborn Beta tools; many of which are very reminiscent on the inspiration that started Dota. Here’s a look at the breakdown of features relating to the custom games tab that wasn’t mentioned from last week’s news regarding Reborn.
Several games have already made their way to Dota 2’s custom game lobbies. Alongside the short custom game that Valve had put up: Overthrow, there are familiar custom games that existed back in the good old days of Warcraft III: Frozen Throne’s battle.net custom games including Pudge Wars, Skillshot Wars, Tree Tag, Legend of Dota and Vampirism.
Lots of returning games are slowly being doled out into the public’s eye, which is fantastic as it’s setting out to serving nostalgia to old battle.net users!
Reborn also powers Source 2 for Dota 2; you can find a run down of what features are included with detail here. In short, performance is enhanced dramatically, input is more responsive, physics quality is improved and a more streamlined gameplay experience including improved network connections for all server locations. The beta also introduced engine upgrades for Source Filmmaker for Dota 2 assets. You can try out the beta by going into the original Dota 2 client, going to the Play tab, select and installing the Dota 2 Reborn Beta. The next time you press play on Dota from the Steam library, it’ll give you an option to go into the beta.
Aside from technical changes, there has been a change in the map including the ramp in mid lane being wider, a path opened up in top lane behind the secret shop that has been blocked as of the latest patch, but still adds a new ward spot. There’s a two tiered cliffs in dire jungle and next to the Roshan pit.
Also as alluded to, there has been a quick patch that fixed a LOT of bugs and glitches that people managed to unearth. One of the more aggregious ones involved an exploit that allowed items on illusion units to be dropped and sold. One of the best additions in the patch is the addition of Australian and Brazil regions for the beta; I can now actually play on a decent latency!
The Dota 2 Reborn beta has been a very welcomed addition and well received. With lots of new changes, a flock of new players have come in and given this revamped Dota 2 a better look; and I hope they enjoy their time! I’ll be waiting patiently for a properly done Island Defence in the meanwhile.
UPDATE: It’s been reported that some people using 64-bit machines aren’t really feeling the faster running Dota 2 that was promised. By default, running Dota 2 Reborn through Steam opens up the 32-bit version of the game. You can run the 64-bit through opening up through the hard drive. Credit due to Anaron on the sub-reddit for bringing it to attention.