Starting today, Monday December 12, Valve will launch the 7.00 update which refreshes Dota 2 once again and marks the beginning of a new era.
After ten years spent with the 6.xx version, from 2005 to 2016, Valve takes a huge step forward with the release of 7.00. Dota 2 as we knew it for such a long time will change completely, the 7.00 patch being released with four big update categories. From game mechanics, map and hud changes, to hero and item reworks, Dota 2 is now a whole new game that will indeed take us on A New Journey.
New Hero:
Monkey King will now make his entrance in the hero pool, but not in the captain's mode. A master of trickery, Monkey King is not an illusion based hero as many would have expected, instead he brings a new concept to the game. Mischief, one of his abilities allows Monkey King to shape shift using the surrounding environment as inspiration. For example, he can morph into a rune, Courier, a tree from the jungle, a dropped branch on the ground or, if used in the Roshan pit, Monkey King can take the appearance of the Aegis.
New Hud:
The entire in-game interface has been changed. Top and bottom bars, inventory, the minimap, courier and shop layouts, have all been entirely redesigned. The most important change however, is the addition of a three slot backpack to the inventory. Items placed in the backpack are not active but can be switched with the ones you have in the inventory.
New Gameplay:
This is where the New Journey truly begins. Brace yourselves because the amount of changes might be overwhelming. It will for sure take a while for all of us to adjust to and learn the new stuff.
First of all, a talent tree for each hero has been added and it’s available from level 10. There are a total of four talent points that opens every other 5 levels (10, 15, 20 and 25) and the perks differ from hero to hero.
Second of all, ultimates levels have changed. The new ultimates levels are 6/12/18. Experience, gold and bounty gain, respawn timetable, death cost, everything has been changed.
To make it even more of a wild trip, Valve has changed the map entirely. As every jungle entrance is made via terraced terrain, all the jungle paths are changed, neutral camps have been relocated, a new Ancient camp has been added, most of the “old” warding spots do not exist anymore and the Roshan pit has been moved next to the top rune spawn location.
The first thing you will notice as soon as you step outside the fountain is the addition of five regenerating Shrines in the base, and two more on each side of the map (Radiant/Dire). The Shrines on the map are located near each Secret Shop and one by the new Ancients camp. Shrines have an ability with a five minute cooldown. Allied heroes can right-click to activate it, generating a 500 AoE aura that lasts for 5 seconds. Shrines do not grant vision and become vulnerable after all the tier two towers have been taken down. Each shrine provides a 150 gold bounty for each player on the team when killed.
Supports and junglers will be happy to find out that Bounty runes will now spawn every other two minutes only in the jungle, one near the top lane and one near the bottom lane. The river runes are now called Powerup Runes and will spawn only one at a random location (top or bottom).
Heroes, Illusions and Items:
Apart from the new talent tree, most of the hero abilities have been tinkered with a bit. The most exciting changes are the addition of Aghanim’s Scepter to Phantom Lancer, Anti-Mage, Chaos Knight and Riki. Zeus and Crystal Maiden Aghanim’s powers have been reworked entirely while Treant Protector, Techies, Lycan and Necrophos have been temporarily removed from the captain's mode as the heroes have been also reworked.
Most of the items received either buffs or nerfs and some of them have been reworked. The most interesting changes were made to Diffusal Blade, Drum of Endurance, Helm of the Dominator, Morbid Mask, Heart of Tarrasque, Satanic, Octarine Core and Mana and Healing regeneration potions. The illusion mechanics have been also worked on, illusions now granting gold and experience bounties.
After this “brief” introduction to the 7.00 update we invite you to spend the upcoming holidays trying to learn a new Dota 2 game but not before reading the entire update log, which can be found here.
source: dota2.com/700/
