We're excited to release the International Compendium for The International 2023. Because this is a new shape to previous years Compendiums, we wanted to walk you through what it is, how it works, and why we built it. As we described a few months back, looking at Dota's history made it clear that Battle Passes had steadily grown to consume all the content in a given year, and were inhibiting our ability to ship creative things throughout the year. We wanted to fix this, and so made a deliberate choice several months ago to ship new things more often in a wider variety of forms. This year has been full of experiments: We released a brand new player behavior system, free items to celebrate the 10th Anniversary, a number of gameplay patches, a collection of community sets, and more. This Compendium is another example of something new.

Event-Focused Features, Event-Focused Rewards

Every Dota update has a variety of goals and part of the work of designing and building an update is choosing where to put the emphasis. An update can be focused on delivering cosmetic content or refining balance. An update can try to generate the largest prize pool possible. Instead of these goals, we chose to focus this update more narrowly: To elevate the players, the teams, and the artistry that is high-level Dota played at The International. We focused entirely on creating a set of activities to make TI more fun while games were going on, and another set of activities to make TI more fun when games weren't going on. And so that's what this year's Compendium is: a collection of challenges that we've built around the pro players and the event itself. We've brought back and improved some old favorites like Fantasy and Predictions. We're also introducing some new activities, ranging from the light-hearted (Bingo) to the seriously formidable (The Road to the International Challenge). Everything you'll accomplish through the Compendium earns you progress towards rewards. Like the Compendium challenges, all the rewards this year are built around the players and the event. There's an International 2023 HUD, permanent chatwheel lines, and a physical collector's Aegis, along with lots of new content for your Profile Showcase (see below), including team and player stickers.

Something For Everyone

In line with the goals we established earlier this year, we've been intentional about ensuring that every update we ship has something for all Dota players, whether that's new gameplay or new features. This update is no different: If, like many, you're a huge fan of watching the spectacle of the International but aren't familiar with the old legends of Arteezy on a cliff, or Emo's research into the deep lore and many varied uses of the question mark, that's alright, too we've got stuff in this update for you as well. This update also includes the Profile Showcase, free and available now to all players. Whether you're proud of your record, your in-game fashion sense, or that one time you won a game on Invoker, we've created a canvas where you can show off the parts of your Dota experience you value the most. We could describe how cool it is all day, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, we've put together a whole update page: go take a look at the pictures.

Onward

We're already working on future updates with different focuses and we know you're excited to learn more about the next big patch, and the next set of arcanas, and everything else we're working on but that's for after the champions claim the Aegis. For now, Seattle welcomes a return of the finest players in the world, and we can't wait. We'll see you on the Road to the International.

[ 2023-09-27 21:15:09 CET ] [ Original post ]