Dota 2 2020 Battle Pass: The Community's Response

Anti mage persona
The Anti-mage persona coming with this year's Battle Pass. an(Image credit: Valve Corporation)

The Dota 2 Battle Pass 2020 is finally out and players have already had a couple of days to look at all the features. Was it all well received?

With the global pandemic still making LAN events impossible for the near future, the fate of The International 2020 is still uncertain. Will it happen this year, the next one or not at all? The only thing left to remind players of the big event is the current Battle Pass which has already accumulated a decent prize pool. At the time of writing of this article, the pool stands at nearly $10,000,000. This is usually enough for any other big event but not for The International. Last year it managed to reach $34,330,068 so there is still a long way to go to break that record.

Chart ti
Image credit: dota2.prizetrac.kr

Looking at the chart, the current Battle Pass is doing rather well and has already surpassed all of the previous ones. Whether the trend will continue depends on only one thing – is it worth spending money on the 2020 Battle Pass?

Better value for your money?

One of the first things players noticed in the 2020 edition is that spending a lot of money on the Battle Pass actually gave you a lot in return. When compared to the 2018 version, the differences were quite obvious.

250 in 2018 2020
Image credit: Valve Corporation/u/7ckngMadness

In the 2018 BP, all that players received as an exclusive was the Lion’s Hell-Spar Anathema. While it may be cool it’s only a single item and simply wasn’t worth the investment. The current Battle Pass rewards players with two personas (Pudge and Anti-mage) and three arcanas (QoP, Windranger, and Wraith King). A single arcana goes for over $30 on the in-game store so it’s definitely giving you more bang for your buck this year.

The problem with three exclusive arcanas

A lot of people are happy with the new Battle Pass and the numerous skins we'll be able to get. Others have criticized Valve for their choice of putting three arcanas in the Battle Pass. The problem comes from the fact that they'll be exclusive to this year's pass, you either get them now or they're gone forever. These items won't be tradeable or marketable too, so the only way to obtain them is through this year's Battle Pass. In 2019 it was just the Tiny Immortal/arcana and that was fine, but now there's three of them and they're much further down the Battle Pass. It's also no coincidence that the three heroes to get an arcana this year are some of the most popular ones, like Windranger and the fan-favorite One True King. The latter is basically a reworked version of the old model for Wraith King (back when he was Skeleton King). If you want any of those visuals, you'd have to invest some cash in your Battle Pass.

Recycling at its worst

Compared to previous years, recycling items that you already have is at its worst. In 2018, players were able to recycle items for Battle Points and get some extra levels to get to the next big reward. In 2019 you could recycle five Immortal items for another treasure. This year, recycling and Immortal item will give you 60 gold for the Side Shop game and that really pales in comparison. While it’s definitely worse than before it’s still a way to get rid of duplicate items and receive something for them.

Just like previous editions of the Battle Pass, most of the content everyone’s excited for (Anti-mage/Pudge personas) won’t be out for some time. There’s definitely an incentive to level up your pass this year and how you do it is entirely up to you. If you don’t plan on spending money, except on the initial purchase then grinding will only get you about 150 levels in. That’s not counting wagers, tips, match predictions, summer events, and more. The events can turn out to be a great source of Battle Points but we won’t know for sure until it’s officially out. To get all personas and arcanas players will need to reach a level 575 Battle Pass. For now, it looks like that won’t be possible without giving some more money to GabeN. What’s your opinion on this year’s Battle Pass?

Stay tuned for further Dota 2 updates and check out EarlyGame for more news and videos.

Tasho Tashev

Law graduate from Sofia University turned gaming journalist. Gaming has always been a passion of mine since I was a kid (shocker I know) so it was only a matter of time before I started writing about it. My high-school...