It’s Here: Dota 2 Reborn Hits Public Beta, Powered by Source 2 Engine
It’s finally here.
After days of teasing new features, from Custom Map Games to a whole new UI design, Valve has released the Dota 2 Reborn update for public beta testing.
The overhaul to the popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) will be powered by the all-new Source 2 Engine. Source 2 is a completely new game development platform created by Valve that includes new technology to better render graphics, optimize performance and streamline the game development aspect across all of Valve’s games.
From the Dota 2 blog:
Dota 2 is now powered by the Source 2 engine, Valve’s latest game development platform. This means that ongoing development in the new engine will continue to improve Dota 2. Source 2 includes technology for rendering improvements, performance optimizations, higher fidelity content, and richer, more dynamic games.
While fans of Dota 2 were under the impression that the new update would only introduce visual and UI fixes to the game, Valve’s latest announcement has bared that the move to the Source 2 Engine will mean a higher quality game experience across the board.
Source 2 promises to directly improve gameplay by reducing the latency between issuing a command and seeing your hero react to that command. The redesigned input system now allows the server to process mouse clicks and keyboard commands into visible actions more quickly than before.
Source 2 will also use any available CPU cores to provide a smoother experience, removing many hitches during gameplay.
While Source 2 and the Dota 2 Reborn update will make gameplay experiences smoother for higher end computers, Valve has promised that they will continue supporting older generation PCs and laptops with the update.
According to game developing firm, the update will support a wide range of hardware. Dota 2 in Source 2 will run better on older laptops and at the same time further increases performance on current desktops.
DDoS Protection for eSports Tournaments
But the game-changer, at least where the eSports scene is concerned, is in the improved networking protocols that Valve is introducing along with the Source 2 Engine.
In the past year, many online tournaments were plagued by Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks by malicious hackers claiming responsibility.
The attacks have resulted in multiple games from high-profile teams being delayed or outright made unplayable.
Last March, popular Dota 2 professional team Cloud 9 logged the record for longest professional match played when they played against team Scaryfacezzz. The match officially ended after 3:20:34.
With the update, Valve has created a new network backbone to efficiently and securely carry traffic over US, European and Asian datacenter sites.
Further, Dota 2 Reborn will feature improved server-sided DDoS protection. Now, if an attack or other network disruption obstructs or degrades the route through one relay, clients will now be capable of quickly switching to another relay.
While the public can now download the 7.1 GB large update, matchmaking will still be split between those who have installed the update and those still using the old client. Some features, such as Ranked Matchmaking and Linux/MacOS compatibility will be released in the coming weeks.
Installation and Beta access details are provided at the Dota 2 developer’s blog. Click here to get started.
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