Dota 2 has massive changes to matchmaking that should give better games

Everyone who wants to do ranked matchmaking now has to have a verified phone number on their Steam account. Accounts cannot share a number and free services available online for it are blocked, so this will help reduce troll accounts for sure.

No it won't. If anyone have more than one account, they can easy disconnect from one account and connect it for second and again again and again. This takes only 1-2 minuts. So I think they not fighting with players who playing on not your's MMR , but fight with bots and farms of boosting account and items farms in China and Russia.

Everyone who wants to do ranked matchmaking now has to have a verified phone number on their Steam account. Accounts cannot share a number and free services available online for it are blocked, so this will help reduce troll accounts for sure.

No it won't. If anyone have more than one account, they can easy disconnect from one account and connect it for second and again again and again. This takes only 1-2 minuts. So I think they not fighting with players who playing on not your's MMR , but fight with bots and farms of boosting account and items farms in China and Russia.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think de-linking a phone number requires a cool down period before linking it to another account. I think that was explained somewhere in the announcement. So unless you have several phone numbers, you cannot use regularly several Dota/Steam accounts.

Everyone who wants to do ranked matchmaking now has to have a verified phone number on their Steam account. Accounts cannot share a number and free services available online for it are blocked, so this will help reduce troll accounts for sure.

No it won't. If anyone have more than one account, they can easy disconnect from one account and connect it for second and again again and again. This takes only 1-2 minuts. So I think they not fighting with players who playing on not your's MMR , but fight with bots and farms of boosting account and items farms in China and Russia.

No, it gives the removed number a three month waiting period. I have clarified that in the article.

So Dota 2 is gonna become a game with indirect subscription. I will explain. To have access to all of the game content (ranked in this game) you need to give them a valid phone number. To keep that phone number you need to pay. That payment is indirect subscription.

You can still play ranked, although not in a pool of players who did activate with a phone number. Valve are giving you the choice to use this feature, you are free to play ranked without an account associated with a phone number, although not against people who do have. To clarify: if you have any friends who play dota who did enter their numbers, you can still play ranked with them, just not in the separate player pool. (it's the same as cs go prime, basically)

From: http://blog.dota2.com/2017/04/matchmaking-update/
"There will be a two-week grace period from today during which players have time to register a number, but starting on May 4th, accounts without a registered number will no longer be eligible for Ranked play. "

Damn, i haven't seen that article. Then I agree with you. It is a mistake to force this upon players. Now that I think of it, they will probably do the same with counter strike soon if this becomes a 'success'.

So Dota 2 is gonna become a game with indirect subscription. [...]

I don't understand why it is so much of a big deal to add two factor authentication to your Steam account, when it's demanded so much for other services.
Most players will only benefit and probably don't care about the concerns you have. The loss of players will be insignificantly low, I suppose.

If you don't want to give out your phone number to Valve you can play unranked still. Not so much of a big deal imo.

This is ridiculous. If people don't want to deal with trolls in public matches in *ANY* game, guess what? Team up with some other players and play in a group, or GTFO. Pub games in every game, ever, have always been filled with bad/troll players. When playing any team-based game, an organized team of moderately skilled players who are communicating and playing together will win the overwhelming majority of matches against a public random team, regardless of whether the pub team contains trolls, average players, or great players.

If you're playing a team game and not playing in an *organized* team, the fault is equally divided when you lose - you are just as much at fault as the guy who just ran circles in a corner shooting the wall, or the guy who fed the enemy carry, or the guy that teamkilled in spawn, or the guy who took the flag and just ran around the map instead of taking it back to base.

If you are not concerned enough about winning to put in the time and effort to play in an efficient, effective group environment, what gives you the right to criticize your teammates for not playing as well as an organized group teammate?

Please note that I realize YES, it's extremely annoying, and I'm not valuating that kind of behavior... merely commenting on the skewed perspective of the argument that it is only the troll/bad player's fault when you don't win.

I rarely have player problems in Dota 2. I am not addicted to the game, but I do have 165 hours logged.

Also, can't you use Google numbers in your four-people-in-a-home scenario? Is that a loophole?

1) you can remove the phone number without a confirmation sms, well you made an useless protection

Wrong, you must confirm removal of phone number through Steam Guard (e.g. Steam app or E-Mail).

2) you require a code from a sms sent to the old phone number to remove it, we have a problem because maybe you want to remove it because your phone got stolen from you, it was a prepaid and surprise the mobile operator doesn't care and refuses to replace your sim with a new one having the same number (I have this particular problem in my country with all the mobile operators if I use prepaid and prepaid is actualy the cheapest option for someone like me that doesn't really uses a phone). Good luck with steam support...

You're just constructing scenarios. Furthermore your statement is also wrong: Phone numbers can be removed by SMS (obviously), Steam Guard codes from the Steam app, and even your E-Mail.

You need players that don't spend a single cent in moba games, without them the game will have same fate as Strife. Such players don't lose much if their accounts are stolen. And accounts can be lost mostly in 4 ways: [...]

Adding your phone number does not cost any money and there's still unranked. I highly doubt that Dota 2 will have the same fate as Strife or other MOBA's.

And because I don't like being forced [...]

You're not forced into anything at all, there's unranked still. I don't want to offend you, but I think you're just overreacting a little.
Whatever, you're free to not accept the change, though I hope I could clear some things up regarding the phone reset stuff on Steam.

http://steamcharts.com/app/570 the numbers from here, if real, suggest that Dota 2 has hit it's peak in feb-mar 2016 and is losing players since then.

That's as usual. There are always peaks when a new Battle Pass is released or there is an The International.
Examples: 2nd August 2016, start of International 2016; 5th Oct 2016, release of Fall 2016 Battle Pass; 26th January, release of Winter 2017 Battle Pass.

If someone got access to your account [...]

You're running in a circle with your arguments and constructing scenarios again. The account holder is responsible for the security of their account. There are easy ways to keep your phone safe, like having the Steam app installed on a second old phone you keep at home only, and/or use landline numbers.

You assume that everyone that plays Dota 2 has a phone[...]

Security and comfort always contradict each other.

The trend is a negative one.[...]

Yes, but nothing concering. 7.00 hasn't killed this game, so this tiny little and imo overdue change won't either. CS:GO added the same phone number requirement ages ago.


Rest is offtopic.

Second old phone?!? [...]

Stop constructing fictional scenarios that don't exist and claim them to be the reason Dota 2 will be financially unseccessful because of a declining playerbase. It won't.

You want to talk about security?

No.

You know you can do something without the need of phone numbers and phone application? [...]

Doesn't matter what alternatives would be possible, beacuse Valve already has great security measures in place.

You know that giving people free skins is making them stay despite the fact that the community is not great despite the fact that the games are often one sided?

You seem to be one of those "gg"-spammers after 10mins when it seems to you the game is impossible to win, although it's not. Of course it's always the other's fault you're losing, never your own. Games are rarely one-sided all the way through. Furthermore is winning not the requirement for a game to be good or fun.


Rest is just unintelligible gibberish or offtopic.

interesting because next you write the following:[...]

I underminded my previous statement with that.

can you please decide if you want to talk about security or not.

Sigh, though this should be more than clear now: No.
I won't even bother reading the rest of your post, it will only be more unintelligible gibberish again.

Oh wow, you guys are still going? :D *ducks for cover*

test.. this is my first comment in GOL (y)

Dota2 was greats game indeed. and we all loves valve