DOTA 2

Valve has dropped the first act of Dota 2's Crownfall, a new ongoing story event "filled with legendary heroes and unique rewards."

Santa Gaben has been keep track of Dota 2 players (not while they're sleeping, Valve assures us) on his naughty or nice list and those who made the former have received a 'gift' from Valve in the form of a "Highly Toxic" lump of coal - and a ban to go with it.

As reported by the Global Offensive subreddit (via PCGamesN), it appears that some new Steam Workshop submissions may require moderator approval before going live.

In a blog post, the DOTA Team announced some changes to the DOTA 2 matchmaking system in order to be, "more fun for players of all levels."

It seems that DOTA 2 players will be able to take part in a battle royale mode as part of The International 2018 Battle Pass. It comes in an instanced event called The Underhollow that contains some of the typical BR hallmarks. The map will shrink over time and the last player "standing" will win. Yep...there it is.

In a new developer blog on the Dota 2 site, Valve has introduced a new monthly subscription service. For $4 per month, players will find new features and content added continuously over time. Features include Hero Leveling to earn badges; Reward Shards, hero-specific challenges for achievements that grant XP, the Plus Assistant that grants access to personalized analysis of items, heroes and abilities and makes suggestions to improve gameplay and more.

Valve has announced "Artifact: The DOTA Card Game". The announcement was made during the opening ceremonies of The International 7, the eSports extravaganza going on in Seattle, Washington with over $24M up for grabs. The game won't be out until 2018, but it's sure to be a smash hit with fans of one of the world's most popular games.

DOTA 2 players with Battle Pass can now take part in the game's first-ever cooperative campaign. Called Siltbreaker: Act I, the new campaign challenges players to fight through multiple zones. The reward at the end of the zone is dependent on a number of factors to earn "stars". One or two stars earns Battle Points Rewards. Three Stars grants a treasure from Siltbreaker.

DOTA 2 is doing something it has never done before. A new cooperative campaign called "Siltbreaker" is being added through this year's Battle Pass. The first part, The Sands of Fate, will be available for players later this month, while A Vault in the Deep will debut in July. Players party up with three others (friends or randoms) to battle through a variety of locations packed with monsters.

According to LeakedSource.com, over two million DOTA 2 user accounts were stolen from the game's forum. The forum was compromised due to outdated vBulletin software with an SQL injection vulnerability. Hackers were able to gain access to user names, email and IP addresses. Passwords were also unscrambled, again through a vulnerability in the MD5 algorithm "alongside the salt". It is believed that about 80% of the passwords have been unscrambled.

Today is a big day for Valve with the launch of the Vive VR headset. To show off just what it can do, the team showed off an incredible comparison of Dota 2 on PC vs what it looks like using Vive. It's breathtaking.

The Arc Warden has made his way into DOTA 2 along with the Balance of Power update. The Arc Warden is one of two characters from the original DOTA to make it into the sequel. Arc Wardens attack by manipulating energy that can both buff friendlies and cause damage to enemies.

Eighteen teams from countries around the world are in Seattle, Washington as the The Main Event portion of the 2015 International Dota 2 Championships kicks off with over $18 million dollars in the prize pool.

Valve has taken the wraps off the overhauled UI for DOTA 2 and it reveals a slick new look and some fantastic new features including improved chat, game lobby browser, new features to check out friends' action, a more intuitive hero finder, new features for spectators and a great new tutorial panel to help the game's newest players.

Monday, April 6th marks the start of the first of five online regional group battles for the Red Bull Battle Grounds: Dota 2 tournament.