Zais on “The Dark Carnival”: “This new event format is better for the game.”
Commentator Nikita “Zais” Zakharov thanked the Dota 2 developers for the Dark Carnival event on his personal Telegram channel.
The quote is reproduced with the source’s spelling and punctuation intact
“The show is on!”
Last night, the long-awaited Dark Carnival event rolled out in Dota! In a nutshell, it’s the new Fallen Crown. And it’s *** [AWESOME]!
A new storyline, an interesting new map in the form of a train divided into cars. A candy shop, chests, 5 hero skins, etc. The event itself is basically free, of course.
I really loved the new units from the pack; if they drop a new landscape in the next chapters, I’d kiss the developers’ hands! The art style is awesome.
And, of course, the loudest part of the online community—what? That’s right—they’re unhappy!)))) I’m not even surprised anymore. Out of sheer panic, they imagined some old-school battle pass with levels and all that. And now they’re upset, not realizing that this new event format is better for the game. It has a long-lasting effect.
The Carnival keeps the audience engaged. It’s not just “buy levels, get all the rewards”—it actually motivates the gameplay itself, driving players to progress in pursuit of those very same rewards. It’s surprising that I even have to explain this when this system is in every game.
I especially crack up at cries like, “I want to throw my cash at the monitor—but they won’t let me!” There are tons of chests, characters, and all sorts of cool stuff for real money that make you go, “Yeah, yeah, screw that.” And there’ll be even more of them with every new stage of the carnival.
And most importantly—these events are for ALL Dota players, not just a small percentage of “hardcore” ones. I’ll let you in on a secret: there’s a huge percentage of people who don’t spend money on the game, don’t hang out on gaming forums, don’t watch YouTube or Twitch, and don’t follow esports. And they don’t read patch notes. People just play Dota! The online game relies on them—let’s not kid ourselves. And it’s precisely them, first and foremost, who will enjoy the Carnival.
Valve, thank you for giving us plenty of reasons to get together with friends and play Dota over the next six months!
Earlier, alongside the release of “The Dark Carnival,” Valve introduced automaton skins for five heroes, adding new animations, sounds, icons, and visual effects for them. As part of the event, they’re available in the store for 1,145 ₽ or $14.99, and—like other skins—they don’t stack with cosmetic items from the heroes’ standard skins.
Photo by Nikita “Zais” Zakharov.
