MinD_ContRoL: “In recent years, Valve hasn’t put enough work into Dota.”

Hi. What’s interesting about coaching is that I can look at the game differently. When you have a perspective on every role, you can view the situation more objectively. I can analyze games without letting my emotions get in the way, which gives me a certain advantage. And that, in fact, can help me become an even stronger player. But all of this is in theory—not in practice at the moment.

What I don’t like about being a coach is watching the team play and feeling helpless. When I watch and realize what they’re capable of but aren’t doing it, it’s… I’d like to be out on the court to give them tips, but I don’t have that opportunity.

For example, ranked would be 10 times better if players had different ranks for each role. It shouldn’t be possible for me to be a 200th-ranked offlaner and be just as good in mid at the same time. I’d have to go through the placement process and, honestly, start at a lower rank in other roles, even if that means I end up as a “Recruit.”

Yes, with this change, the player pool won’t be as large. But on the other hand, everyone will strictly play the role they’re looking for. So personally, I wouldn’t mind playing with some “God IV,” since I’d know that’s their main role. In the current system, I might end up with a mid laner in “position four,” but even if he’s ranked 50th, he’ll still play worse than a guy with “God” who’s been playing in the fourth position his whole life.

Of course, it’s much easier to keep moving in the same direction. After all, I’ve worked so hard to reach this level of understanding of Dota; I know every player on the scene—their weaknesses, their hero pools—though there are a few new players I don’t know everything about, like Satanic, for example, but I can study him in a day; that’s not a problem.

Naturally, leaving all of this behind and starting something completely new isn’t a good idea. Imagine if soccer were taken out of the lives of 40-year-old Ronaldo and Messi, and they had to become basketball players or even architects. Of course, they wouldn’t do that. But they have a good ecosystem. We don’t have that. Our ecosystem is falling apart right before our eyes.

We don’t even have the chance to practice properly. Ranked is the only place to train, and it’s the worst experience imaginable. Sometimes I actually get depressed after five games of Dota; I become completely downcast. And I’m sure many other players feel the same way. But for some reason, no one wants to talk about it.

I think it’s bad for the scene and good for SumaiL. As far as I’m concerned, this game doesn’t deserve people like him. That’s what I think.

In recent years, Valve hasn’t put enough work into Dota. Not at all. All the patches are useless. I haven’t liked a single update in the last 5–6 years. They’re all pointless. For example, they might take 1 strength away from Sven or something like that, but nothing changes—the hero gets picked again the very next day.

Even now! They just released a patch, and Treant Protector is still the first pick. What’s the point? Sure, you nerfed him, but… I don’t even remember what they nerfed!

I don’t know what the issue is here. It’s just that if I single out one thing, it might be wrong. Because there are so many problems. I can point out a few specific things. For example, matchmaking and everything related to it. Immortal draft, how it works, blind picks, last picks. Matchmaking used to be much better—at least it was more random.

And the ban system! Here’s how the draft phase goes in every ranked match: one guy picks Treant Protector, the other team picks Treant Protector too, and it gets banned. You’ll never play against Treant, and you’ll never play with him on your team. So, again, you have no practice against Treant Protector, except maybe in scrims. But even there, teams constantly ban Treant, so you just don’t see that hero. That’s the first thing that comes to mind.

I can’t say for sure that Valve doesn’t care about Dota. Maybe they do care, but they’re just not very good at managing it. Maybe they really do care about Dota, but they don’t know what to do. Or maybe Dota is simply beyond saving at this point.

But does it even need to be saved? Maybe everything’s fine. Maybe I’m just talking nonsense. I don’t know. <...>

Yeah, and now, after 7 years, the offlaner is just another carry with the same net worth—or even more. I don’t know. Dota isn’t Dota anymore. I think the supports are too strong. It’s not normal that Treant Protector and Undying can do so much.

Whoever makes these patches has never played the first Dota. I think we’ve lost our legacy. We’ve just lost our legacy… The first Dota was something, and in the second Dota, that “something” became something great. But then, sometime around the time of COVID, they ruined Dota.

Supports do too much. They have too many items, and it’s too easy for them to farm gold—even destroying an Observer Ward gives gold. I’m sure the people reading this will say, “But then playing support wouldn’t be fun.” Yes! That’s why support roles used to be hard to play. You didn’t enjoy it, and that was part of your job. But now anyone can play support. Today’s supports wouldn’t have been able to handle their role back then—they wouldn’t have pulled it off. You needed a really strong mental game to do that.