Dota 2 patch 7.08 also brings Spring Cleaning 2018, massive client overhauls

Valve has dropped a sizable “Spring Cleaning 2018” update, which includes the gameplay patch 7.08. This update is a combination of two hotly-anticipated patches, the annual “Spring Cleaning” update and the first of Valve’s planned bi-weekly (meaning, every two weeks) gameplay patches.

Announced last night by Icefrog himself on his Twitter account, the gameplay fixes are the first in a series of minor updates that will take place every other week in the months leading up to The International 8’s typical dates. Patch 7.08 gives a small window in to what that means, as very few items and heroes have drawn-out, substantial changes, but instead two or three lines of fixes on average.

The Spring Cleaning update was a little less expected at this time of the year, but comes with plenty of user interface and quality-of-life updates. Some of the more notable changes and additions are as follows:

• Improvements to how players are alerted to patches, including a drafting screen icon, in-game ability/item descriptions and a changelog in the Learn tag.
• A gorgeous revamp for player profiles, including the return of the “featured hero” for all your hat show-off needs. Plus, now you can use your hoarded loading screens as player profile backgrounds.
• Custom game improvements, including a tab revamp, penalties for queue leavers, dedicated servers by default and an “AFK checker” for devs.
• Tweaks to Party queueing, including a “ready up” prompt, allowing other players besides the captain to invite, and an option to have the out-of-game taskbar icon to flash when an invite arrives.
• Six-month matchmaking bans for the worst of the worst toxic players.

And there’s a ton more, including teleport indicators, visual tweaks, UI alterations and more.

This is all, of course, in addition to the slew of annual bug fixes, which almost extends the page longer than the game’s gameplay fixes. (The jury’s out on that one.) The most notable bug fixes:

• Coaching assist features should show up, such as pings and drawings.
• Some summoned units were silent. They’re living beings, too.
• Plenty of AFK/leaver fixes, including item-selling and summoned unit control.

And, of course, there’s the most important fix:

Updated default hero builds

Thanks, Valve.

For the full changelog, you can check out the Spring Cleaning 2018 page on the Dota 2 site.