Dota 2: The Ban Hammer is Unleashed – How to Avoid it

It’s been just a couple of days since Dota 2’s new update got released. Even though it changes nothing in terms of the gameplay, the effect of it was immense because it features many different changes aiming to improve the experience from playing the game. In other words, they banned the toxic people.

What Happened

It is important to know that Dota 2 was never famous for having a good community. Similar to any free-to-play game, it also has its share of black sheep. Having said that, at one point, their number really exploded and the game became nearly unplayable, especially if you had the “luck” to go below a certain amount of behavior score.

After countless Reddit posts, it seems like Valve decided to take action. The first step was done a year ago when they introduced the six months ban. Despite the fact that it had some effect, the vast majority of players did not care that much. Instead, they just made new accounts and continued to ruin the fun of others.

PSA: The bans are not actually 19 years long https://t.co/OpoXc5PWtC #dota2 pic.twitter.com/ZsVl3lzvYM

— Reddit Dota 2 (@redditdota2) September 18, 2019

That said, it seems like Valve realized their mistakes which is why they decided to make this ban longer. Now, if you get into the “toxic” pool, be prepared to take 20 YEARS break. Yes, 20 years.

Who is under the radar?

Not everyone who is having a bad game will be banned for 20 years. Here are the type of players who can expect such repercussions soon:

• Players who have very low behavior scores
• Those who buy and/or sell accounts
• Players who use game bugs in their advantage

Even though those three groups of players have the potential to say goodbye to Dota 2 for 20 years, the main people affected by the new changes are those having low behavior scores, simply because proving that someone bought or sold an account is a harder thing to do. After all, even Valve stated that the first ban wave will go towards them in their official statement.

How is your behavior score determined? How can you fix it?

The only way to determine your behavior score in Dota 2 is by reports. The more reports you have, the lower this score is. Currently, the maximum score you can have is 10K and the minimum is 0. However, once you start reaching 2.5k or below, things start to look very scary. Not only are you potentially liable to a ban, but you also enter the so-called “hidden pool.” This means that most of the people you face will also have a similar score, which is a recipe for a disastrous game full of ruiners and feeders.

In order to have a chance of saving your account, you need to get that score up. Of course, the best way of doing this is by just stop being toxic. However, this is easier said than done, especially for people who tilt very easily.

One method which is popular and very useful is to start playing party games. If you invite four people into a party, chances that the enemy team will report you are very slim. That said, if you are not into party games, there is one more method you can use but it is a little bit riskier.

In most cases, the players who end up getting reported are those who play core heroes. Even though it might not be necessarily their fault, they are ALWAYS the sacrificial lamb after a loss. People love blaming those who had to carry their team to victory but failed.

That’s why if you are a core player, try switching to a “Hard Support” for a while. If you buy enough wards and help your team-mates, it is highly unlikely that you will end up with a report.

Conclusion

Please force all banned players to play Artifact. Reduce the ban length by 5 years for every 150 hours played. from DotA2

After the update, Reddit & Steams’s forum is full of complaining people. What’s interesting is that the ban length of all people is the same – January 19, 2038. It turned out that this is the latest date possible to set, which means that this ban is most likely permanent.

Be prepared for another ban wave in the upcoming weeks. What’s more, the banned accounts will also have their phone number banned as well. Previously, you could just remove your phone and use it in another account, but it seems like Valve learned their lesson and want to get rid of the toxic players for good.

The only glimmer of hope left for those who got banned is Valve changing their intentions. Even though this seems impossible right now, if the player base suddenly drops a lot, we might see the bans being lifted. Let’s not forget that something similar happened last year with the six months ban.

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