Valve to unveil new Dota 2 TI Battle Pass format for 2022

In a news post attached to today's 7.31d patch for Dota 2, Valve has unveiled its plans for a new format for the Dota 2 TI11 Battle Pass. As reiterated in posts on social media, Valve wants to restructure the battle pass so that it starts a little later, continues through The International itself, and finishes significantly after it’s over.

As outlined in the post, “we're going to adjust the timing of the Battle Pass release to be later in the year than in previous years — that way the Battle Pass will run both throughout the event, and for a significant amount of time afterwards.”

Valve stated in the post that the Battle Pass is designed to capture the excitement of TI for both new, current, and returning players. After all, TI is one of the most viewed esports events on the planet, and it's a little bit tantalizing to know there was this great Battle Pass, that just happened to end before you had a chance to play it. 

Now the Battle Pass will start later in the year, presumable closer to TI11, and end “a significant amount of time afterwards.” This is great news for people who traditionally miss out on the Battle Pass, as TI goads them back into playing Dota. But perhaps bad news for the many school and college aged Dota 2 players who enjoyed grinding the Battle Pass on their Summer Break.

It’s currently unknown how this change will alter the TI11 prize pool. Traditionally, the huge boost in prize pool from the Battle Pass has made the Dota 2 International the highest paid esports event in history. It’s constantly eclipsed its records year after year.

Now, the Battle Pass will continue during and after TI. Presumably this will mean that the prize pool will either continue to grow, even after the event, or will be cut off just before, or during the event. After all, teams aren’t paid the amount immediately after they win, even if the giant novelty check implies that (ever tried cashing one of those things at a bank?). So Valve could theoretically keep the count running for a while after the event, and let the money for the winners (and their cut) continue to roll in.

Whatever the case, this change in Battle Pass 2022 format seems quite welcome. After all, we like many definitely catch the Dota bug hard during and after TI. Having a battle pass to tantalize us a little bit longer is nothing bad. Although many will be disappointed they have to wait so long for the Pass itself.