In a move that blurs the line between free-to-play and pay-to win, Valve has pulled back the curtain to reveal Dota Plus. This new monthly subscription service is toted as an evolution of the Battle Pass, but seems a lot like a way to give tons of extra content to paying players. Although from Valve’s point of view, it will be a way to provide a continuous service to players so that there are never any breaks in content.
Dota’s Battle pass have traditionally revolved around major competitions. It was always Majors and The International that spawned the availability of Battle Passes. Now, as eSports moves into long-form seasons like traditional sports, Dota has the Pro Circuit. To go with Pro Circuit, Dota Plus will replace the Majors Battle Passes in an effort to give content that lasts the whole year.
The first big perk of Dota Plus is Hero Progression. Just playing a game with a certain her gives specific XP to that hero. This XP unlocks hero level badges that in turn reward dedicated players with shards, a new form of currency that players can spend on rewards for their favorite heroes. Hero Progression also adds specific challenges for each hero, which again reward XP as well as bragging rights about your mastery of that hero. Finally, the Hero Chat Wheel is a series of catchphrases that you can make your hero say in both allied and all chat. While specific hero voice lines obviously don’t offer a statistical advantage, they are still great for spamming enemies after you kill them.
Another feature of Dota Plus is the Plus Assistant. While Hero Progression seems to be more a tool to challenge oneself and obtain badges of honor for playing certain heroes, Plus Assistant seems to be something that could give those that pay for Dota Plus an edge. The promise of Plus Assistant is that players will get recommendations for items and abilities. These won't be static recommendations either, they will be based on the current trends of the meta and gathered player data. More detailed data, such as lane strategy that takes hero picks into account and post-game analytics, will also be available to inform players of what they're doing right and wrong.
All of this is available for $3.99 per month, with discounts when six and twelve month subscriptions are bought in advance. At this time, there's really no way to tell what impact Dota Plus will have on the game. Maybe the data Plus Assistant will provide won't stack up to the builds ands strategies fans share with each other. And while skins and voice lines are cool, they ultimately don't impact the meta. Still, a monthly subscription for a free-to-play game treads dangerous waters. There are only so many ways to do it right.