The International 2018 Battle Pass Has Arrived

Finally, after many weeks of speculation and wondering, The International 2018 Battle Pass is here. This article presents some of its key features and the reasons why you should definitely buy it if you want to improve not only the quality of your gaming experience, but also your results.

Role-based matchmaking queue

Personally, I had been waiting for this feature for a very long time. I even wrote an article about it, arguing that it should be included in the game. Yes, the queue times might be longer in some cases, but at least you get to play the role you’re actually good at. You also don’t risk having your match ruined by internal team conflicts caused by the eternal problem of multiple people wanting to play the same role – “mid or feed”.

With the role-based matchmaking queue feature, you can specialize by playing the same role over and over until you’ve mastered it. That inevitably leads to improved results, an increase in MMR and rank, and overall a much better gaming experience. And think about it: you’re in the hero selection phase of a game of Dota and instead of flaming or being passive aggressive, everyone’s talking about constructive things like tactics and strategy. What a time to be alive!

Pro circuit predictions

This is another great feature that allows you to make predictions about Dota Pro Circuit tournaments for a chance to win Battle Pass levels. Your tournament viewing experience will get much more exciting if you use this feature, which is basically a 0-risk sandbox for the real thing.

Mutation mode

This is an unranked custom game mode in which a number of gameplay modifiers exist. These modifiers can be things like dropping gold on death, suffering from a global Rupture (all heroes on the map get affected) or being able to resurrect your allies. In effect, you’re playing a Dota 2 game with slightly different rules, which makes for an exciting experience that forces you to adapt to a new set of conditions. These conditions get changed every day.

Sprays

This feature offers people a new way of communicating with teammates and opponents alike. The idea behind it is very interesting and gives you the possibility to use the Chat Wheel in order to spray images onto the map. These images must be preselected as options of the Chat Wheel and can express a variety of states and emotions.

Custom lane creeps

Just in case you’re tired of seeing the same old creeps every time you play, The International 2018 Battle Pass allows you to customize this part of the game as well. The creeps can now be equipped in the Global Items loadout. Their new visual appearance won’t change anything about the way in which they act inside the game of course, but it will give you a different feeling while playing Dota 2.

The International 2018 Battle Pass offers many other features and as always, it increases the prize pool of this tournament. From the standard 1.6 million dollars, the current prize pool is already $4.6 million, just 24 hours after its release.

Images are a courtesy of Valve Corporation