Good balance and diverse meta are very important. In that regard Dota is, and has always been an undisputed industry leader. Yet for many of us Dota is a lot more than just a game and today we want to discuss how we would love to see the Dota experience improved outside of gameplay mechanics.

This point is going to be very controversial. There are many diehard Dota fans who didn’t particularly like the story of Mirana and Davion, or even hated it with passion. The truth is though, not only did it bring in new players, but also introduced new heroes and gave old heroes better characterisation.

Many have experienced this effect first-hand: following the anime release a lot of players started experimenting with DK, with a great deal of success. Mirana is also now considerably more popular than she was. And everyone loves Marci, though the hero does need some small nerfs, it seems.

Perhaps the story of Davion and Mirana is now over or perhaps there is more to be told, but we truly wish for more Dota lore. There are so many more interesting characters in the game to talk about and so many world-changing events to explore.

Also: are Kaden, Bram and Fymryn as playable heroes too much to ask?

The first Cavern Crawl was kind of fun, but with every year it gets more and more annoying.

Everyone knows that ranked is going to be ruined for a while, because some people simply refuse to play Unranked. Because of it, the game becomes very frustrating for the most dedicated part of the playerbase.

The rewards are also usually not worth the effort. The set quality is quite high, but do we really need another Juggernaut set every year? Going for niche heroes in the Caverns doesn’t make a lot of sense either: very few people would be excited about a Visage set.

Trying to optimize your route to get double, triple and quadruple-clears is probably the most fun one can have in the Cavern Crawl. Maybe the system needs change when the most fun you have with it involves finding ways to interact with it as little as possible. From our experience, very few people enjoy doing the Crawl, most of them enjoy finishing it.

A less restrictive approach where you are not forced to play a certain hero over and over again could be great. Perhaps the Cavern could also progress from losses, or maybe bot games could count for half a clear, if the Crawl is here to stay. There are very few things more frustrating than having to play a niche hero you’ve rarely played before over and over again, until you luck into teammates that will simply carry you to victory.

Dota coaching functionality is brilliant. The game is undeniably hard and having someone give you pointers during a match can be a godsend for new players and almost feels like a necessity for the player base growth. The problem is, there is very little reason to coach players outside of pure altruism and maybe content creation.

This can be solved easily by incentivizing players to coach by providing some rewards. Maybe some coach-specific chests. The sets can even be recolors of the existing ones; perhaps a specific color-scheme could be introduced for coach rewards, or some sort of an emblem or a pet.

Alternatively, coaching could give some bonuses during the Battle Pass period, when there are a lot of new and returning players. If Cavern Crawl is here to stay, good coaches could receive the Culling Blade consumables or other helpful things. Perhaps pupil victories could even count towards Weekly Quest progress.

There are many things that can be done to incentivize players to engage with what already is a great system. We also feel like it could really help with the growth of the playerbase, as long as there is something to differentiate between good coaches and disruptive ones.

Here are our top three most wanted things for Dota in the New Year, that are not directly balance and game mechanics related.

If you are interested, you can also read our patch 7.33 Wishlist, where we discuss changes to the actual game we would like to see.

Do you agree with our list, or are you a Cavern Crawl enjoyer? Share your opinions and wishlists in the comment section below.