What Valve Can Do To Keep Players Interested In Dota 2

This month, Dota 2 fell to a staggering player count of 385 thousand, marking it as the lowest player count recorded since 2014.

You Are Reading :What Valve Can Do To Keep Players Interested In Dota 2

There’s no denying that Dota 2 is one of the biggest games in the world when it comes to popularity, but that may come to an end with its numerous underlying issues. With these unaddressed problems ranging from scant beginner tutorials to prioritizing cosmetics over proper balancing or even the lack of rewards to keep players intrigued, Dota 2 has and continues to regress and downscale in player growth.

This month, Dota 2 fell to a staggering player count of 385 thousand, marking it as the lowest player count recorded since 2014. Dota 2 has been downscaling tremendously by the months, too, going at a pace of thousands by the day since January 2019.

Making It Better

Dota 2 is known for its complex mechanics, and it rivals the best games in the world when it comes to strategical gameplay. But complexity doesn’t always mean good for the masses, not entirely. There are 117 heroes, and most heroes get four skills each and an experience tree branch to level up to upgrade those skills. Heroes get stronger by attaining items with gold, and with over 200 items, including neutral items, so figuring out how to build your hero might be a little mind-boggling.

On top of that, Dota 2 has specific roles that players will acquire upon finding a match. Once in a game, players will have to pick heroes that complement their role.the gam Once has started, players are going to have to take objectives, and the main aim is to destroy the ancient building, but to do that, you’ll need to destroy five towers and occasionally secure outposts. Additionally, there are more things that players need to take into concern like warding, neutral creeps, lane blocking, roaming, etc., and this all contributes to the daunting and intimidating atmosphere the game emits, which is one of the reasons for its decline.

With Dota 2 recently putting out a massive patch, called Outlanders, playing the game has never been more difficult. The game mechanics are only one of the major factors for its player count decline, however.

Here are some of the underlying reasons why Dota 2 has downscaled followed by the solutions to fix them:

• Different maps. Dota 2, for the longest time, has had only one map as its center of attention, unlike League of Legends or Heroes of the Storm. Having different maps and modes could mean more entertainment and less difficulty for new players and returning ones. Currently, workshop maps are the only present unique setting for players, but by implementing an official set of new modes accompanied by new maps,  it may be the elixir of life for the nearly dead game.

• Treat your players. Almost every game out there has a reward mechanic – you play, and you get stuff for free. Some games have better reward mechanics, where you play for something you can choose. League of Legends has capsules, chest boxes, and occasionally events that give tokens that players can choose what reward they want. Overwatch has loot boxes that guarantee cosmetics upon attainment, and Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Siege has alpha packs, which is similar to loot boxes. The only thing Dota 2 has is random drops after a couple of games that frankly aren’t great, and which contribute to nothing. Implementing a reward system that gives players decent rewards would provide a new sense of passion and drive to play the game, which could solve the lack of drive in the community.

• Better Tutorials. It’s surprising that Dota 2 doesn’t have a good tutorial that teaches players every mechanic of the game. The game is reliant on intense and rapid fire strategy, yet its foundation for every new player is mediocre and generally a weak lesson. The games tutorial teaches the basics of every MOBA, but doesn’t explain the defining mechanics of Dota 2 – which is why beginners tend to quit after a few weeks. By introducing a better set of tutorials and even a quest or storyline, there might be new opportunities for player growth and ultimately fixes beginner scarcity.

The game still has a fairly healthy playerbase at this point. But with the sudden drop in one year, the future doesn’t shine as bright as it once did. If actions aren’t taken, Dota 2 could suffer a slow, painful descent into irrelevance.

Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/valve-dota-2-interest/