BSJ on neutral items in 7.41d: “I suspect that if this doesn’t work, they’ll end up removing them after all.”

Over time, neutral items have become less significant. If you recall when they first appeared, you could put them in your inventory—you could have four of them. There was a time when Huskar would pick up an Armlet and a Satanic by the 20-minute mark, and he’d also have a Craggy Coat and two other neutral items in his inventory.

Over time, they became less and less relevant. So, I suppose Valve has two options: either remove neutral items or make them more significant. And it seems they’ve clearly chosen the latter. Literally all of this is artifact buffs. There are minor nerfs to some spells, but that’s not what makes neutral items interesting.

It’s the active items or artifacts like Dezun Bloodrite that make this mechanic fun. I’d really like to see neutral items become more relevant. I truly believe that the only right solution is to make them exciting. Or just remove them entirely. And I’m glad they’re trying this option first. I suspect that if it doesn’t work, they’ll end up removing them anyway.

One of the most difficult balancing dilemmas Valve faces is how to balance professional Dota and pub games. Take Wraith King, for example, who is never picked in the professional scene but has been nerfed repeatedly over the past few years because he has a very high win rate in casual games. It’s often easier to play heroes with built-in healing than to play against them, especially considering that you get punished for picking them as a target. And heroes like Riki, who require the right counterplay, are simply much better in casual games than on the professional scene.

Another thing that’s different on the professional scene—I think we can all agree that, on average, professional games are shorter than a typical pub match at 2,000 MMR or below. This is because lower-rated players are worse at capitalizing on lane advantages to secure map control.

This means that a hero who is weak on the lane but scales better as the game progresses will naturally perform better in pub games. Over the years, the emphasis on laning has become increasingly important in professional Dota, so heroes with weak laning phases are rarely picked in professional matches, and they often have very high win rates in ranked mode.

These changes will hurt the average player. For me, this makes Spectre worse. But I think she’s getting better when viewed from an esports perspective. Will we see Spectre on the professional scene? I’m not entirely sure about that. I think she’s still weak in the lane, but this is something that will significantly reduce the gap in win rates and pick rates between professional Dota and pub games.

Now he can cast five Pulse Novas for the price of four. This will significantly increase his farm rate. Leshrac has always been a hero who snowballs: will he manage to buy his early items and reach that threshold where he can just run forward without fear of dying?