The winter major is over and done with, the teams for next year have been locked in and tournament play is back in full swing so the only thing missing from competitive Dota right now is a new patch, and thankfully 6.86 is only days away. Many are anticipating big changes and a few new additions to show up with the new patch that is sure to rock both the professional scene and those of us who aren't quite at that level of play. Just what will be changed is down to IceFrog himself but that hasn't stopped us from dreaming up five things we would love to see in 6.86. Something that seems like a strange omission from Dota 2 is an All Ban game mode, where players each get to ban one hero before they pick the one they will play with. This would mean that 10 heroes would not be available to be picked in the game, which is something a lot of people want for a number of reasons. One of the most obvious is that players would be able to ban any hero that they don't want to play against – it could be a particularly annoying hero such as Riki or it could simply be a hero you don't really understand and as a result don't want to play against.
At a more tactical level an All Ban mode would allow players to ban out heroes that counter the one they want to play making it an easier game or if you manage to spy on an opponent's profile that they are particularly good with one hero, you could ban that to force them out of their comfort zone. It also means in patches where there is one slightly overpowered hero, such as Leshrac in 6.84, these pests could be banned out to level the playing field. It would be a small addition but one that would please a lot of people. It could conceivably become the most popular mode for many people, especially if it was added to the ranked offerings. Delivery of final TI5 items (Zeus Arcana, Desert Terrain)
Back when the compendium for TI5 launched Valve promised a slew of new cosmetic items across the whole of Dota 2, ranging from new sets to music packs and visual changes to the map. Many of them have since been implemented but two remain conspicuously absent, the desert terrain and the arcana item for Zeus, which won a fan vote to receive the treatment. Neither of them has been implemented despite The International and thus compendium sales ending months ago, and people are starting to get tired of waiting.
Valve certainly has a history of taking its sweet time with things (cough Half-Life 3), especially the arcana sets, but it’s been four months since The International concluded, which should be more than enough time to make a new cosmetic set. The only positive of the long wait is the possibility that the developer may be working on a complete Zeus remodel or creating multiple sets to launch when it enables full cosmetics for him. As for the desert terrain? It’s been heavily anticipated since we first got a glimpse of it in action back in June, although Valve did say that some tech issues were holding it back in September. Hopefully it’s ironed those issues out and we can be playing in the sand sooner rather than later. The web has been rife with rumours that the map would receive some changes in this patch for a while, and right now they seem more likely than ever after seeing how much teams favoured Dire at the Frankfurt major. EG were the only top four team to consistently pick Radiant throughout the tournament with OG, Secret and EHOME all favouring Dire. It’s long been established that Dire has a slight advantage in terms of the location of the Rosh pit along with a couple of other small but important differences, so some changes to make the map a bit more equal are more than likely to appear.
However it surely won't just be the Dire side that is tweaked: there is a strong chance that the two neutral camps near the Radiant mid lane may be moved in order to prevent the mid lane pulls from Tiny that Team Secret used in Frankfurt. Also up for a possible change are the ramps near each of the rune spots on Radiant in order to give Dire similar high ground close to the runes.
Nerfs to Doom, Tusk and others
Anyone who has watched any amount of professional Dota since The International 5 will most likely agree with this one. Doom and Tusk have both been incredibly popular heroes with pro teams, in fact they’re the only two heroes to be picked or banned in over 90 percent of professional games this patch. Neither of them are overly interesting heroes to watch, and seeing them time and time again reduces the fun of watching pro teams compete. Some kind of nerf to both heroes will hopefully reduce their popularity and will freshen up the competitive meta.
However Tusk and Doom aren't the only ones who need a slight nerf. Both Shadow Fiend and Queen of Pain have been the two go to mid heroes since well before the International and are both still enjoying high pick rates. In order to freshen up the mid lane, in both pubs and pro games, some kind of nerf to both of them would be welcome to hopefully allow new mid heroes to come to the forefront.
Winter Wyvern was the last new hero to be added to Dota 2 and that happened way back in February so we are surely due a new addition to the hero roster in 6.86. The most likely addition is Abyssal Underlord who has been in the back end for a few months now, he just hasn't been made playable. Many expected him to be unveiled at The International 5 all star game but that didn't happen and since then fans have been left wondering why he isn't in the game yet.
There is also a chance that Abyssal Underlord will be overlooked in favour of Arc Warden, another hero from the original mod that is yet to make it into the sequel. Arc Warden has also been spotted in the backend but much more recently than Abyssal Underlord so his addition in 6.86 would be a much bigger surprise. There is always the chance that with only a couple of unreleased heroes we get to see a completely new hero that never featured in the original but at this stage that is fairly unlikely.