Dota 2 pros on patch 7.33 and its bad timing

Several Dota 2 pros have warned Valve that they would be making a big mistake with the “nightmarish” timing of the next patch.

Besides the current issues with obtaining visa for the Berlin Major, the Dota 2 pros are also possibly about to face another hurdle: the new patch, which is said to be released just before the start of the tournament, at least according to rumors. 

Finally another patch

Since the last Dota 2 update (7.32) went live in August 2022, the anticipation for the new patch, which is expected to be released on April 20th, is huge. According to Matthew “Cyborgmatt” Bailey, the patch will be larger than the regular gameplay patch and will bring significant changes to the game. 

But while the long-awaited patch looks exciting, the timing has been dubbed “poor management”, given how disruptive it will be to the game just before the Major.

Pros hate the timing

Even though everyone is looking forward to the update, the timing seems to be far from ideal. The Tundra Esports player Oliver “skiter” Lepko commented in a DreamLeague S19 interview: 

“Any pro team will tell you the timing isn’t the best. It’s going to bring a lot of
chance into the Major.”

He hopes that his team, Tundra Esports, will be one of the “lucky ones” who understand the patch better than others. The Slovakian carry has also pointed out that the timing of the patch release will be “very cool” for viewers because it makes things messy, which in turn will make the Major a bigger spectacle. However, for professionals like him, with the stakes high, it will be a major complication.

Moreover, his teammate Neta “33” Shapira said in the DreamLeague S19 stream that he doesn’t really like “drastic changes” before an important event, even if the changes are good. Instead, he would have preferred simple balance buffs and nerfs.

Lastly, Gaimin Gladiators’ Quinn “Quinn” Callahan said that the change “definitely should have come out sooner” and that it was “a bit questionable” to release it right before the Major where points are so important.

Ehat the pros want from the patch

Shopify Rebelion’s Tal “Fly” Aizik, who started the discussion with Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg, said:

“What I really want for the next patch… Well everybody knows map changes would be awesome to have. You know maybe move Roshan a little bit. I kind of miss having those saving supports back in the meta. You know Frankfurt Major days, so bring some of those heroes back.””For Patch 7.33, there’s a couple things in my wishlist. I think hill wards should be nerfed slightly, force staff should be nerfed and I think the map should be changed and maybe making initiators a little easy to play from the offlane, going back to blink dagger type puck offlane heroes. At least that would be fun.”

As one of the few to have spoken positively about patch 7.32, Leon “Nine” Kirilin
said:

“Objectively the patch is pretty okay. It’s just really hard to speak objectively because it’s been around for a very long time, there has not been a very big patch and I kind of want that to happen.”

The release of the new Dota 2 patch has not yet been confirmed. While Valve revealed only that the patch would arrive in late April, leaks say that the release date is set for April 20, six days before the start of the Berlin Major.

Header: Valve