The Gift That Keeps On Giving - 6.88
SnowStorm Huntress Loading Screen by Anuxi
About half a year ago, it was close to impossible to play a game of Dota without running into the usual suspects, such as Invoker or Spectre--at least in higher skill brackets. Dota has evolved in a way since then that has made the game more diverse and the meta more open. It may be one of the most pub friendliest patches the community has experienced.
No Superstars
The past year has seen some scary dominating performances from individual heroes. In 6.85, 
Windranger claimed glory in both pubs and pro games and fielded a consistent 30% pick rate across all brackets, far ahead of other heroes. In 6.86, 
Invoker rose to fame, and a pick rate of over 50% in the 5k+ bracket turned him into a virtual nightmare for many players.
Ever since 6.87 though, there’s been a balance in hero picks. Heroes may still have high pick rates; 
Mirana certainly has proven so. These heroes aren’t alone at the top though. Up until now, there’s always been a certain hero that set himself apart, whose pick rate was significantly higher than those beneath them. Currently, the gap between the #1 and #2 most popular heroes in the 5k+ bracket is 7%, and neither heroes are top picks in the competitive scene.
Following these heroes are a variety of different characters, from roaming supports to re-emerging midlaners--all within a few % of one another.
Surely, this trend is one that has been building for a while, but it’s because Icefrog has allowed the trend to build up. 6.88 may be different from 6.87, but by no means were the changes as drastic as they usually are from one major balance patch to another. Many argued that 6.88 might as well have been a 6.87e patch, with no changes to terrain or other global effects, but a variety of hero tweaks.
It all culminated in the 105 different hero picks at this year’s International, a record breaking number and a perfect example of how diverse the current meta is.
Meta keeps evolving
Despite the fact that Dota has effectively been on the same patch for roughly half a year, the meta keeps evolving. Just recently, heroes like [missing hero: outworld-devourer] or even 
Sniper have re-emerged, partly due to players’ improved understanding and appreciation of 
Dragon Lance. At the WESG LAN finals, 
Centaur Warrunner has shown that he is not useless after all, and more and more pro teams have started to adapt 
Omniknight into their line-ups.
A meta will always keep evolving, as players will always find ways to deal with the status quo. It just happens that up until now, patches always had a persona non grata in the ranks, a hero or two that would “terrorize” pubs and cause public outcry.
First it was get shackled to a tree and then focused down that was unbearable, then the infamous Eul’s into Sunstrike combo that nobody could stand. But what about now? Some say 
Drow Ranger is this patch’s pest, some argue it’s Mirana. None of these heroes have nearly the amount of animosity that either Windranger or Invoker have faced.
A Pub Patch
There have been a few nuisances, but they have been swiftly dealt with. For a while, 
Arc Warden emerged as a potential pubstar, but a quick balance tweak in 6.88d dropped him from an astonishing 57% winrate to now 45%.
Every balance patch since this year’s TI seems to be directed in a similar way, with small tweaks to make pub life easier and more enjoyable. 
Keeper of the Light’s annoying Mana Leak was nerfed and even Drow Ranger and Mirana were addressed, though not in a way to remove them from the top completely.
Of course, one big reason for the success of this patch and 6.87 is the added banning phase in ranked All-Pick. Allowing players to remove those annoying heroes, those potential pubstompers and “freewins” is a great way to keep the community happy. It feels less of a burden to queue into a ranked game, knowing that you have the chance to not play against the likes of Slark, Tinker, Arc Warden or Riki. It allows every game to be different, it doesn’t always revolve around the same heroes.
Keeping the vocal part of the community, but also the pro scene happy seems to be a good direction for future patches, as it allows patches to grow into their potential. Considering all the different hero picks and strategies we see now after TI, it begs the question what other things we have missed in past patches, simply because those patches weren’t allowed to live on much longer.
More Balance?
6.88 as a whole has served us well thus far. 105 hero picks at TI, a balanced pick distribution in high skilled games; what more could one ask for? It seems almost impossible for Icefrog to add even more balance to this patch.
Unfortunately, every patch has an expiration date. There will be a time when everybody, caster, pro player, pub player, will be tired of this patch. Other heroes have been waiting in the shadows and are longing for buffs.
Valve has announced that their next update will be on 12th December, two days after the Boston Major. It will likely feature Monkey King, the new hero announced at TI, and with him probably 6.89.
Up until then, an entire Major and its qualifiers will still be played on 6.88. How much more will players, pub or pro, squeeze out of this patch?
first!
Second!
good post, it's really informative
>no techies buffs
ENOUGH
Nice post, as often on this website!
Gr8 post m8 i r8 8/8
Buff Abaddon 6.89
Make Leshrac great again.
Maybe 7.0 tho
I love the banning phase! I always ban Pudge.
sadly,banning phase is just used to ban heroes that a player is spamming.
Yup, we should not be able to check profil of other player during load :(
Banning based on what we see in the enemy team's profile is similar to what happens in pro games. Respect bans happen all the time. It doesn't make the ban any less valuable.
most balanced patch
Morph is currently god tier.
I think one hero is not very balanced.. Pa, very tanky and much damage output + invisible on the map
Also I wanted to say: the picture you chose to illustrate the article is really cute and relevant to the title. > Well played
if the game was balanced, then all the characters would be roughly equal share of victories and pick. In this meta we see PA with 37% popularity and a 52% winrate and lone druid with 2% pickrate and 42% winrate. What can we say for the Chen and Visage - nothing.
AYy lmao
Veverka, some heroes are harder to master. Chen and Visage are two cases of heroes with perpetual low winrates that got buffed at some point in the past due to the impact it causes in competitive - in the hands of a guy who knows what he is doing.
Occasionally Valve decides to buff some of these heroes up to the point it gets nasty, then adjusts it back to healthy levels... Earth Spirit, Meepo, Invoker and Storm Spirit are good examples in recent history
"I think one hero is not very balanced.. Pa, very tanky and much damage output + invisible on the map"
Lul
i agreed thelma'rine
I want 6.85 back !!!!(((((
Invoker Eul's is still nasty, can instagib many of the squishier cores / supports (well, those without a built in blink).
Bring back Troll/Sniper combo! wooo! Best freaking thing ever! Well, in comparison to, say, life as a snowball in Hell, or perhaps being in a movie theater in which people yell at the actors on the screen...
вы ебаннутые?
@ Stairway to Heaven as far as i remember earth spirit has received nothing but nerfs since introduction 2 years ago for like ? 8 patches in a row
All pick ranked game ban phase is the worst thing ever happened to dota community
Rise in rank that i stuck in years with all role pudge, i wonder what happen to this hero.
lina's laguna blade 850 pure dmg, 50 secs cooldown, over 400 mana cost (with upgrade 4200 gold)
pa's dagger 1000 dmg, 5 secs cooldown, only 15 mana cost (with desolator 3500 gold)
hahaha PERFECT BALANCE..
Sarllo, if you use that example to argue that Dota isn't a balanced game is obvious you don't know anything about MOBAs and even less about Dota.
I feel like omni needs a different spell instead of repel. Its a pretty broken spell when you look at it. I mean the item alternative costs 4000 gold and doesnt give any stats
"This fall"
nice post. very useful
Actually its more balanced and more even if its 2 heros or 1 hero (etc Windranger/Invoker) that is the 2 astonishing pubstar this patch instead its 15 heroes its simply impossible for the bottom picks to win vs the top 15 picks so in a way its more unbalanced than ever... That is if your not a FOTM fa**ot unfortunently you seem to completly miss that part. ( Looks almost like Heroes of newerts original heros compared to the Dota ports.)
Also previously they released a big patch 1-2 months after the inteternational now they suddenly wait for a major aswell.
ZZzzzzZZzzzz atleast theres other games to play instead of Dota in the meantime hopefully this gets fixed by the new patch in mid December or January otherwise ive wasted 6573 hours on Dota 2 alone and even more on Dota 1. Fuck i might even revert to Dota 1 for a while.
Хм, сначала Вольво обещают МК в октябре, а теперь - "12-го декабря". кек.
people complaining about an unbalanced patch when they play a 2-5 hero pool where if their hero gets banned they have nothing to do pretty much. And ofc you can't win a match top picks against less picked heros simply because you can't pretend play a carry chen or a core Io. But as a carry I've been beated up many times by roam Visages or Jungler Chens that they know what they are doing and I simply can't stop them. Assume your rol in the game and master it and you will success or keep crying patch after patch about what is missing when winning is 60% drafting knowledge 35% skills and 5% luck. There is a pretty pop and basic game called League of Legends, give it a try ;)
BUFF LESHRAC 6.89
#makeleshracgreatagain
I just hope Icefrog buffs the heroes that were always forgotten: Pugna, Bloodseeker and Jakiro BibleThump
pugna dankest hero would be welcomed in hon
>All pick ranked game ban phase is the worst thing ever happened to dota community
Says Riki spammer.
I think they should fix the report issue. Make it unlimited. We know that many dota players are not pro and some ppl are throwers. I admit im @ 2k mmr but the thing is i can't make my mmr higher because of my teammates :(
@ANDYMAGE
Lmao @ you
I think Icefrog is aiming for a 50% winrate on all heroes and until that balance is reached, we might be looking forward to more 'tweak' patches like 6.88, respectively.
I would personally like to see Queen of Pain's Aghanim abilities entirely reworked. Maybe to something like Bristleback's Nasal Goo with Aghanim's, only with her Dagger instead, on a longer cool down of course.
im just hoping that they'll make troll warlord a hero again
gyrocopter need very buff
his 3skill (his carry skill) shitest skill in dota 30 sec cd for 6 atack ? all carry have free cleave (sven luna medusa tiny pa am with bf ...)
and i dont say nothing about his 2 skill and his aghanim just i say :-|
> free cleave
> Tiny, PA, AM
Ok.