With a small update, Valve has reignited the Immortal Draft debate in Dota 2

Immortal Draft came to Dota 2 in patch 7.33 with the New Frontiers update. Since then, players have been adamant that the system has ruined a lot of the game. However, over the years, Valve has increased the Matchmaking Rating (MMR) where Immortal players would be forced into this mode of play. Now, a new update has appeared, once again adjusting the MMR limits and bringing Immortal Draft back into the headlines.

At its core, Immortal Draft seems as though it is a fantastic idea. It makes the higher MMR players of Dota 2 far more vigilant in their choices and plays. It also meant that two captains could potentially remove the squabbles that occur in-game when a player does not get their preferred role. But this is not the case. The system has multiple flaws. All of these have been pointed out exhaustively by the Dota 2 community. Now, a few more have appeared with the new update.

Most players of Dota 2, even those who are at higher MMR, enjoy playing with friends. As with any game, even going into a ranked game with someone you know can make everything a lot easier at times. One of the major complaints about Immortal Draft was the penchant for win trading. This is because the mode would possibly split up players that were teamed up.

This means that players can technically utilize their double down against an opponent they have queued with, who then ruins the game for the enemy. Many caught on to this initially. While the original MMR required to utilize this system was fairly low, Valve has progressively increased it. The new update moves it to 8500 MMR.

Another big flaw in the Immortal Draft system is how the games are seen — or now, not seen. Games played by these players do not show up in public match histories or web APIs.

This means that new players or those trying to learn a specific hero need to rely on resources other than high-ranking players for guidance. Many players who take the time to push to higher MMRs often want to utilize websites such as Dota2ProTracker to find their way. Immortal Draft now ruins that step.

At the same time, it might push players to other sources of guidance. However, as mentioned by TeaGuvnor, Dota2ProTracker is quite useful.

Although the system can eliminate some bickering between players when they do not get their preferred role, another side exists. Players that have previously blocked or ignored others to avoid having them in their team can encounter the same players in an Immortal Draft. This can often lead to a worse experience in most cases.

At the end of the day, Immortal Draft is still here to stay, and those of us who are lucky enough to find ourselves at 8500 MMR will have to live with it. Maybe in the future, Valve will finally start to pay more attention to ranked gameplay and see the problems. There are some definite ways to improve Immortal Draft and hopefully, we will see some thought put into this.

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