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If you’re trying to get in and play some casual Dota 2, we’ve got some bad news for you. (Besides “casual Dota 2” being an oxymoron.)
It appears that the Game Coordinator is down one more time, as of 4:30 PM ET on Tuesday, March 27, in order to fix some matchmaking issues. As the official, now-verified account tweeted, it’s expected to be a four-to-five-hour wait:
We are doing another attempt at fixing the systemic GC performance problem previously mentioned, unfortunately this time we are expecting our downtime to last around 4-5 hours. We will post updates here if circumstances or estimates change. We apologize for the short notice.
— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) March 27, 2018
Last time this happened, they explained it was an issue with their SQL database, meaning, essentially, their giant stacks of stored Excel-like data were buggy. Last time, it supposedly only took about 10 minutes, but they’re back in the code, which means it sadly wasn’t a very effective ten minutes.
We’ve recently had some GC performance issues due to a problem where our SQL database is continually trying to fix a lengthy transaction gone awry but is making little progress. We will be taking the game coordinator down between 4-6PM today in order to attempt a permanent fix.
— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) March 23, 2018
But personally, I don’t think they can be faulted if they’re just trying to make the experience better. Bugs happen. It’s a video game. At least they’re tweeting about it now, which is an improvement from two months ago.
And hopefully, when they return from their maintenance, we’ll be right into the pools of salt, just as always.
So while we wait, here are a few things you can do:
- Last-Hit Trainer (and other solo bot training stuff)
Yes, as it turns out, the Last-Hit Trainer and other solo bot training stuff stays up when you’re not connected to the Game Coordinator. This means you can finally train yourself against those tricky little bots to not miss every other last hit.
- Watch Purge’s “Dota Basics” series
As you may recall from a while ago, Purge set up a Patreon so he could continue to do teaching services full-time, pivoting from his former role as a coach. He’s started posting some of the videos that came as a result, and if you’re a new player or just an old one wanting to brush up (or drag your friends into Dota), you can watch the first video on YouTube.
- Re-watch some old VODs, especially unnecessarily lengthy games
You know, YouTube stuff. The International 3 grand finals. Virtus.Pro versus Team Liquid at TI7. Evil Geniuses versus EHOME at TI6. Cloud9 vs SFZ during Starladder qualifiers (which is so long it’s actually in two parts on the YouTube channel).
Mileage may vary on enjoyment.
- Read our stuff...?
I dunno, I like to think The Flying Courier is alright. You’re alright too. You’re here anyway, yeah? So stroll around a bit.
Maybe chew on the math of why Virtus Pro is qualified for The International 8. Or reflect on Sccc memes— or, wait, you should DEFINITELY check out this post about how we got an email from Valve last week. (Thank you Pete Volk and James Dator of SB Nation for that one. It was exciting.)
But definitely look at the Dota pro player Pusheens. Please.