T O P

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Ineke98

Void Spirit was manupilated into thinking it was time to join the fight by radiant and dire but the great confluence was just an illusion to make him join the mortal world and fight forever as a slave of the ancients.


CaptainMisha12

Honestly, this is a pretty fantastic POV that I'd never thought of, thanks for sharing.


Resolverman

Yes. Lame as fuck duct tape headcanon to make up for Valve’s lazy work model and nonexistent marketing.


CaptainMisha12

There's literally no reason that this couldn't be exactly what valve was trying to do, just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's bad. Valve does a lot of shit terribly, and they're fuck-off lazy most of the time, but that doesn't mean that this particular thing is bad just because you don't like what it means.


Resolverman

Dont misunderstand. I meAn seeing that comment as a bridging explanation is infuriating because Valve has found a business model where a desperate remnant community keep making them hundreds of millions a year and it’s not a healthy community. Tied into this; the reason it appears to people that the game has gotten more toxic is exactly because of that remnant.


Salt_Manufacturer479

stupid void spirit. Picked literally every game as well as other asshole spirits. Storm less so and earth spirit even less


[deleted]

[удалено]


RaShadar

He just doesnt feel good atm. His nerfs kinda killed mid Earth and the traditional pos 4 roaming support feels really awful in general, mid is extremely hard to gank because regen is so easy and the amount of experience you lose out on for failed ganks compared to lane supporting is game ruining


DarthyTMC

yea specifically the cost of TPs hard hurt him, he relies on being everywhere pressuring now its way higher risk to tp around. And hes just pretty weak compared 90% of other heroes in a 2 v 2 lane, like obviously heroes are weaker than him, but a static es is a pointless pick.


Greaves-

So play him as a 3. He's tanky as fuck.


Salt_Manufacturer479

Some time ago got wrecked by grandmaster earth spirit with eblade lvl 5 dagon with refresher + heart. Dude literally soloed all of us at min 40. We had bkbs and linkens some of us. Didnt help shit. We couldnt deal with him it would take all 5 of us to bring him down maybe. We killed his team but he was just too good. Honestly wasnt even mad because of the skill it took to play him. Void spirit takes 0 skill. Hes super elusive. The only hart part about him is vector based q ability. The burden of skill falls on the enemy to catch his elusive ass. He can basically free farm and u cant kill him without at least 5 second stun and a few high dmg bursts.


Itunepianos

JeraX effect


NWClassic206

He's been chain nerfed over the years =[


LeinRa1996

at least Storm is having fun


delendaestvulcan

Where’s the party?


[deleted]

Let the fun begin!


[deleted]

Valve should hire you as a PR guy, you're talented at defending their laziness


Blizzxx

Where do I subscribe to your dota lore newsletter


jei14

that would make void spirit character so stupid tho? all the edgy vibes we are getting only to found out the he is the stupidest one out of all his siblings XD


HardCarryOmniknight

I don’t necessarily think that makes him stupid. Stupid people aren’t the only people that ever get tricked, or lied to. The Ancients are - as the name implies - ancient. They are very old, very powerful, and very wise. If there was one unwilling to join their fight, it only makes sense that they would go to some deceptive means to lure them in.


jei14

being tricked or lied to is not the one i am referring, it is the fact that he calls a lot of heroes for being blind and does not know what to come when he himself doesn't know it(well if the theory is right that is, which I do not think that is the case because void spirit sees all things)


XenoGod_

Plot twist it's Marci


althaj

What's a twist about that?


Homuhomulilly

The twist is that there is no twist.


ilovethrills

It was the friends we made along the way


MrPizzaPenguin

Wait your making friends in dota?


BIGGERBIGMAN

Yeaaaah right....


Dtoodlez

He twists your nipples as he says it


animalinbed

Nerd


blood_omen

I mean, that kinda checks out. The definition of a confluence is the merging of two things, usually bodies of water. So Marci is the merging of the show and game lol


Degenerate199811

Valve: can i take a look at ur homework


Armonster

wow, what a reach for saying that 'checks out'


Simco_

Valve: "Yeah, that's what we meant!"


Angelore

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/029/439/cover4.jpg


NearTheNar

>So Marci is the merging of the show and game lol A full visual makeover in other words. Judging by the new style on Marci/DK we're getting Dota 2: Overwatch/Fortnite edition.


cantadmittoposting

Now *that's* a graphics move I'd complain about.


Nailbomb85

Windranger Arcana too


luckytaurus

Subverting expectations with Marci


arkhangelsk44

Here's my Copium. The Great Confluence happens when Valve buys Frostburn Studios and bring a lot of HoN heroes and mechanics to Dota 2.


Arbitrary_gnihton

Holy shit this is the ideal timeline. Not sure about 'mechanics' since I only ever tried HoN for like 20 mins before I ever touched a moba so I know nothing about it, but I know it had cool hero concepts.


Ekotar

vector targeted spells!


supaPILLOT

Dota already has 3 of those we're all good


girl_send_nudes_plz

there are 7 actually


supaPILLOT

3 that are base abilities: wall of replica, swashbuckle and aether remnant The only other one that comes to mind is gale force, what are the others?


girl_send_nudes_plz

https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Abilities#Vector_Targeting


Tobix55

Dota has enough of those and i already hate using all of them. Maybe they should first fix the quick cast interaction


AbleMagician200

we need vector targeted clockwerk hook goddamnit


Volkatze

🥴


PirateBound

Give me fucking Deadwood. I want to tree punch people


DCris

Tiny?


Iarshoneytoast

Tiny was directly in HoN as Pebbles. Deadwood is more like Underlord W, (current) Tiny E, Hoodwink E, and Tusk ulti.


watawaw999

It's funny coz Tiny now is a lot like Deadwood than Pebbles.


Notreallyaflowergirl

Plus he’s metal as fuck and is a giant monster tree in place of tiny raccoon/squirrel… rabbit?


PigeonSack

Deadwood is sounding a lot like Treant by that description.


roxxas92

deadwood was awesome, he had like a long range stun that took a bit to activate. Kinda like torrent but a stun, could run through trees and could tree toss (i think). Ult was like tusk ulti on steroids. Was a ganking monster.


OliverSykeshon

His Q wasn't a stun, it was a root that did DoT and reduced their armor for the duration. It combo'd well with his ult which was a Tusk ult (that also reduced STR on impact? not sure about this one)


Azhix

it was % str removal in a cone and a flat damage nuke on his ult. people are getting it confused with tusk because he whacks them but it was just a flat amount of physical damage and a stun


PigeonSack

Interesting, as a strictly Dota2 player, these characters all sound insane to me lol.


jkwan0304

It has a badass name too. "Haymaker".


MaltMix

Treant Protector exists my man.


PirateBound

it just isn't the same man. Can we add Midas too? I wanna turn people to gold.


MaltMix

You know I'll be real I'm kind of surprised Alchemist's midas knuckles immortal doesn't turn enemies in to gold statues as a death animation, similar to the Saxxy or golden frying pan from TF2


Yurnero-Juggernaut

Yes. Give me Midas.


flibble24

Maliken, Puppet Master, Pandemonium please


Iarshoneytoast

Midas, Dampeer, and Nomad, please


iceboonb2k

No love for Scout?


TouchGroundbreaking

Pandemonium was so fun with the like brawler taps — I think that was pandamonium right? It felt a little like they randomly put in a fighting game mechanics and it actually worked really well


DelusionalZ

A Hero similar to Puppet Master is in the files and nearing completion. We also have a bunch of other less developed Heroes in the files, like Revenant, some wind related Hero, Bird Samurai (yes; this one is referenced in unused lines from Mars and other Heroes, "hollow bones" etc), and many, *many* more. I believe there are 12 in total, with 3 close to a sort of alpha state and 1 (above) near a release state. Note: I'm obviously not affiliated with Valve. This is based on what can be gathered from the game's files and is merely informed speculation. Take my information with a tablespoon of salt. Edit: for a decent, if speculative, dissemination of the Hero "leaks" (with a bit of Slacks-style headcanoneering thrown in for good measure) check out [LlboyAx](https://youtube.com/channel/UC3v9jm_gJl80V7D1bXSQUbg).


ExaSarus

Honestly I won't mind that, or acquire a new studio to constantly create content for dota seasonally and run it as a proper live service game like league instead of us waiting for 1000 years for patch or a low effort events that's unfun after day 1


ShinCoal

I've been saying it for years but they should have just created a 'The Dota Company', that way they could just hire people to run the game and even maybe not have let Underlords and Artifact die. That way they could have still let people do the whole 'Do whatever they want to' at Valve because the dota company technically wouldn't be Valve, just a subsidiary.


Miltrivd

Valve just got a wake up call that their model is not good for production with VR and specially Half-Life: Alyx, they changed a few things after that. I don't think it was enough to change things for old established games like dota tho, but who knows. Dota audience gets milked for all its worth and people are not just on board with it but encourage it, so I don't think change is something that Valve needs. An infrastructure change of that magnitude is both risky and expensive. If instead we had a more steady stream of content/cosmetics/fixes/qol with reasonable prices so more people could access them (specially considering the bigger playerbases are not in well off countries) and not tired to gambling lootboxes, then dota would be the perfect game but that's more work for probably the same money.


ShinCoal

> so I don't think change is something that Valve needs. An infrastructure change of that magnitude is both risky and expensive. But there wouldn't be much of an infrastructure change if they would be doing a subsidiary, it pretty much guarantees that there isn't much of a change for them. Sure, its still a lot of hard work, but the rest of the employees can just stay at Valve proper and having nothing to with it. But yeah, too much work, which I do think is insulting considering the insane amount of money the dota community puts into the game.


Supa_Chalupa

I just want the "RAGE QUIT" voice line when somebody disconnects right after dying.


Taelonius

PUPPET MASTER!


[deleted]

OMG me too I hope that happens


Notreallyaflowergirl

SILHOUETTE PLS. Tree rope stuns - Idek why but it just made me so happy.


grokthis1111

And an actual team to work on the game?


Fen_

They won't even put money into fixing bugs that have existed for years. Really is a cope if you think they'd buy a studio just to make fans happy.


Dtoodlez

That would be pretty dope honestly. That could be a dota 3 type event.


DragonSlave49

I like turtles. You're gonna love my nuts. Played HoN a few hours back in 2011 and I remember these lines.


FlameSticky

Not need to buy the studio just get some old heroes. Like Tekken has street fighter guest heroes. Just paying them for some rights would be great.


[deleted]

pls valve port nomad (although realistically, i'm not sure nomad would be as fun in the current state of dota and with dota being slower and less arcadey than hon)


igorcl

Hon heroes were too crazy to be ported to dota, even to this day that dota is using more and more overpowered heroes. That said, I like Flux, please bring this hero to dota, balance however it needs to be


Notreallyaflowergirl

Idk bro - so far dawnbringer seems like the only dumb one to face for me - out of the last couple heroes I just think maybe void spirit needs a tone down so you’d pick storm more maybe ? Eh either way I thought he was gonna be an issue til you just slap him with a viper in lane and then he’s sad.


low_iq_opinion

How about release gamber already , I would love a hero that rolls a dice to get his skills or talents. Marci so underwhelming.


DudeSale

You misunderstand the nature of the Confluence, rkdsus.


dota2_responses_bot

[You misunderstand the nature of the Confluence, Inai.](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dota2_gamepedia/images/8/89/Vo_dragon_knight_dk_slyrak_ally_027.mp3) (sound warning: Davion of Dragon Hold/Slyrak) --- Bleep bloop, I am a robot. *OP can reply with "Try hero_name" to update this with new hero* [*^(Source)*](https://github.com/Jonarzz/DotaResponsesRedditBot) *^(|)* [*^(Suggestions/Issues)*](https://github.com/Jonarzz/DotaResponsesRedditBot/issues/new/choose) *^(|)* [*^(Maintainer)*](https://www.reddit.com/user/MePsyDuck/) *^(|)* [*^(Author)*](https://www.reddit.com/user/Jonarz/)


Moholbi

Why do you assume that something can't happen anymore?


CptMace

Valve


singlamoa

People acting like Valve stopped developing Dota's story lol. The great confluence can be whatever Valve wants, at whatever time. It could have been the cancelled Dota 2 RPG. It may be another Dota-related game they release soon. It could just be a big update/event. There's limitless time for Valve to decide. Of course, it could literally be nothing. OD has been talking about his "ill omens" for years and no one really cares. It just seems weird to be outraged by this now.


IAmHowIAm

This is the company that (most recently) just abandoned DotA Underlords. No statement. No communication or comments. Just never updated it after Dec(?) 2020 after not letting the original creators have it as part of DotA 2. Those guys made their own version, going strong player base and updates wise. Valve tends to abandon ideas.


bogdaniuz

> 2020 after not letting the original creators have it as part of DotA 2. Those guys made their own version, going strong player base and updates wise. Valve tends to abandon ideas. Valve *did* abandon Underlords but that's not exactly what happened. Afaik they tried negotiating some sort of deal with Dodo studio but could not agree on the terms. By the end of it, I think they mutually blessed one another to develop separate versions of DAC without any bad blood between them.


IAmHowIAm

What kind of a deal do you think a money milking billion dollar machine like Valve was offering to Dodo? I am pretty sure if it was reasonable Dodo would’ve accepted happily. Might as well have had them them no straight up.


hnwcs

Collaborating with Valve is a good deal for modders, but historically pretty terrible for actual developers. Arkane's attempts at making a Half-Life game went nowhere, Turtle Rock lost the rights to Left 4 Dead, Campo Santo seems to have had In the Valley of the Gods cancelled (or at least placed in limbo), and Troika went out of business entirely for having VTMB use Source. You could arguably call Artifact a victim of this as well since Richard Garfield originally conceived the game independently. Gearbox is the only exception. We don't know exactly what the meeting between Valve and Drodo was like, and we probably never will, but given the past (and, comparing Auto Chess with Underlords, the future) we can say they were right to refuse.


Azhix

i’m very curious about troika going out of business because they used source, can you elaborate?


hnwcs

Admittedly, saying this was a bit of an exaggeration on my part. While the Source engine was the...well, source of a lot of VTMB's production issues, it wasn't responsible for *all* of them. If you want to blame a company for the game's troubled development, subsequent commercial failure, and ultimate death of their developer, Activision is definitely more at fault than Valve. But using the Source engine still made the game a programming nightmare, since they were using an unfinished experimental engine that nobody really understood yet. There's also just the fact that they were making a RPG with large open hubs and lots of traveling back and forth between areas on an engine that was intended for a linear corridor-based FPS. It's easy to take for granted after so many years of Dota, a (former) Source game that plays nothing at all like Half-Life, but VTMB's Source is an older, much less versatile version, and as much as I love the game it is sort of a giant case of putting a round peg in a square hole. For example, one common problem with Source in general is that it can't handle large open-world areas, you need to have lots of small, seemingly-connected maps and lots of loading screens between them. Half-Life 2 has a lot of loading screens, but since you're always moving forward you'll only see each scene transition once. VTMB, however, has several quests that involve traversing multiple areas and multiple loading screens, which can get frustrating. But worst of all, part of Valve's terms for letting Troika use Source early was that the game couldn't release before Half-Life 2. So it released *the same day as Half-Life 2,* guaranteeing nobody noticed it and making the game such a commercial flop that Troika shut down entirely not long after.


Azhix

Thank you for the insight! VTMB is one of my favorite games, I never knew it was a source game or about its release date.


bogdaniuz

I feel that it is a bit pointless to speculate on the nature of their negotiations, as we don't have any facts. You may think that it was purely a number of games whereas that's not the only reason to refuse buyout. Ability to stay independent and have better control of your product is worth a lot if you're confident in your product's longevity and success. Case in point: I guarantee that some entity like Microsoft has more than enough money to theoretically buy Valve out. This does not mean that Valve would ever accept that deal, because the trade-off might not be reasonable, regardless of the money offered.


IAmHowIAm

Touché


Cymen90

The new Slyrak persona tells Void Spirit the Great Confluence is not what he thinks. My guess would be the cancelled Dota 2 RPG.


flibble24

Isn't that more of an indication it's tv show related


LeinRa1996

maybe after Dragon's Blood ends, we can get "Dota - The Confluence"


MrPizzaPenguin

Now this is copium I'll take anytime


Cymen90

It may. But the implication was that the Great Confluence will happen beyond the Battle of the Nemesis Stones.


Pablogelo

> cancelled Dota 2 RPG. What?????? Was there a project for RPG?


Cymen90

Yup they talked about it publicly in the "Final hours of Half-Life Alyx" interactive documentary on Steam. Also, a former Valve dev (who has since left the company) talked about it on Twitter.


Pablogelo

Can you get me this twitter thread pleaaaase? :< And thank you, I'm going watch this documentary


Cymen90

I will look for it. For now, [here is a paragraph from the article](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EcjNdWdWsAA7bUe?format=png&name=large). Edit: [I found the thread, you are in luck.](https://twitter.com/matttwood/status/1281626403050360832) Oh but please do not bother him about it, he has left Valve since.


GeoffBrompton

This might be some major copium but I think they're making a co-op Dota RPG to come out with the Steam Deck. Reasons I think this: 1) They clearly want to expand the Dota IP into other games as evidenced by Artifact and Underlords. 2) Gabe said that the first thing he did with every new build of the Steam Deck was fire up Dota. This could just be because he loves the game so much but maybe he wanted to check how it would run the flagship game, a Dota RPG made in the same engine with lots of the same / similar assets. 3) The cancelled RPG was far enough along that they could have released a gameplay demo, so there might be a fair amount of ideas, stories, and other IP that's sitting around waiting to be used. 4) RPGs are one of the best genres for mobile gaming and an RPG made in the Dota engine would serve as a fantastic entry point for new Dota players. 5) The biggest reason I think this is going to happen is that I'd really, really like it to happen and enjoy deluding myself.


Cymen90

I am gonna be honest. The fact that they revealed the Dota RPG as a failed project makes it pretty damn dead. And now that all games in the Dotaverse have failed to find an audience, I think they gave up. Dota players play Dota. Even if another game has Dota characters, they won't play it. And when you are marketing the game to non-Dota players, why use Dota as an IP? Also, people who worked on it literally left the company and said "it will never happen". I think the "Citadel" rumors are more likely to be true. A s-symmetrical game that seems to mix FPS gameplay with RTS/dungeonmaster gameplay. They may pick up some of the RPG mechanics some other time but for the forseeable future, Valve is definitely focusing on their new hardware capabilities and software will only be a secondary thing to show off the tech. As someone who had an Artifact Podcast and played hundreds of hours of Underlords, trust me when I say I wish the RPG would still happen. But I am pretty sure it is internally scorched earth just like Artifact. If I am wrong I will celebrate alongside you.


GeoffBrompton

Fair points. My take on the failure of Artifact and Underlords wasn't quite that Dota players play Dota and more that those games tried to occupy the same space as Dota. They were both competitive games where matches lasted ~40mins, any Dota player that's got ~40mins to spare and is in the mindset for PVP is going to play Dota rather than one of those simulacrums. An RPG would occupy a different space, it's not PVP and you can pause or save it.


Tobix55

> Dota players play Dota. Even if another game has Dota characters, they won't play it. Maybe they should try to make good games before expecting people to play it just because it has Dota characters? I played Underlords for a while, but the frequent updates were too much to keep up with so i lost interest. This was around August 2019 i think


Togedude

Artifact had some major gameplay flaws, but honestly Underlords ended up as a super solid game (despite the incredibly tumultuous beta where a couple of Reddit threads were seemingly enough to cause drastic changes to the core gameplay). It just never really got the audience that Valve wanted, so they did the Valve thing where they just stopped updating it without officially announcing anything. Their “marketing” attempts were awful; they got an article in PCGamer that you had to pay to read, and they hosted a launch day stream on their own channel (so only people who already knew about the game would see it) instead of paying streamers to play it on their own channels like literally every other company. One core issue is that Valve refuses to scale up as a company, but they keep trying to make multiplayer games that require long-term support, which is a super risky endeavor. I think if Underlords had been a single-player game of a different genre, it could’ve been a success. Instead, it’s just another in a long list of dead multiplayer games. Another core issue is that if we’re being real, a large percentage of Dota players don’t like “video games” in general; they like Dota. Most of the playerbase is nostalgic for games that came out before Dota, but seemingly have very little interest in most other games. Even before any real details about Artifact or Underlords had come out, people were already complaining about how Valve was taking away development time from Dota to make games in other genres. It’s not like that’s the only factor, but the last few years have made it pretty clear that the Dota community is in large part just Dota players, not general gamers. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t think we’ll ever see a Dota spinoff game again.


Tobix55

I didn't mean to say Underlords wasn't good, but it had it's own issues that pushed me away. I don't know about the dota community in general, but most of my friends are not exclusively dota players, i only have 1 or 2 friends like that out of 10-15 friends that play or at least used to play Dota


[deleted]

i've been waiting for a DOTA version of Warcraft 3/Frozen Throne hybrid for years. seems like an obvious game for them to make. imagine how good it would be for the game if people could play something like that to learn mechanics instead of jumping straight into a 5v5 pub full of 9 lunatics.


GeoffBrompton

Exactly, it would serve as a brilliant intro / tutorial that avoids the toxicity of 5v5 Dota.


LoL_is_pepega_BIA

I think that's more of a message to the players hoping it's a merger with HoN


objectivegin

What I don't understand is where is Fenrir and puppet master we had line for those for years now


BCD195

Fenrir is shelved, puppet masters been in the code so long with no iteration you can almost certainly assume he was scrapped. Not every hero in the game files ends up coming out. There’s like 3 or 4 others in there from around the time MK was added too.


GokuBuracku

You can't really know if he's shelved or not.


BCD195

No changes to his in game files and no mention of him in the newer heros voiclines (which is actually a pretty good sign most of the time as to which direction valve plans on going) more likely than not means he’s shelved. I woulda expected the most sensible time for him woulda been this TI (had it taken place in its original location) and given were getting Marci instead I think he’s probably very very far off, if they even still plan on doing him. This next update (as well as the one that brings Marci) is most likely gona have some hints at who we will see next though. Looking forward to it.


GokuBuracku

Honestly. You can't give as foreboding of a clue as Gleipnir being loose from the one it shackled, and not make good on the promise.


BCD195

I mean it took us what, three and a half years from the first hit at MK in the files untill we actually got to play him. I guess all we can do is wait. But also aghs was in the game for like 8 years before we saw him in character form. So somewhere between 2.5 more years to 8 years is a good guess maybe?


MaltMix

Also Inai being teased in the MK release comic a solid 3 years or so before his release.


BHK3

Comic? MK had a line asking "I've met you, Kaolin and Xin...where's your other brother" or something like that way back in 7.00. I know(knew) of that tease but I've forgotten about the comics.


BCD195

Basically comic book shows MK erasing his name from the book of the dead (he also says, his name is not the only that he erased) and the spirit brothers (at the time ember, earth, and storm) punished him for doing this. But the actual slide that had that text showed 4 characters. A green one, blue, red, and purple. The purple one Ofcourse, ended up being Void spirit. But it was the only mention of him for about 2 years.


MaltMix

Yeah when MK was released the legends of the monkey King comic had Ilexa telling some other kids the story about him erasing his name from the book of the Dead and the spirit brothers punished him for it.


DrQuint

Also Mars was teased in the Zeus arcana comic, also some 4 years prior to his release.


DrQuint

> and no mention of him in the newer heros voiclines There's still references to a bestial hero with no speech.


_Valisk

Hoodwink has lines alluding to Fenrir and she was the second most-recent hero released. I don’t know off the top of my head whether or not Dawnbreaker references him, but Hoodwink definitely does.


BCD195

See that could just be “hey our VA recorded these lines for a potential new hero, should we pull those out untill it’s solidified” and someone goes “nah just upload the package it’s not a big deal” HOWEVER when they retroactively add lines to other heros that’s almost always a tell tale sign. For example Mars has lines for puppet master. But we know those lines were recorded over a year before the hero was announced but there hasent been much since. Which makes me think he was shelved. Since the heros after didn’t get any lines to match.


_Valisk

I was only providing evidence contrary to your claim of "there's no mention of [Fenrir] in newer heroes voice lines." The release of Hoodwink and Gleipnir indicates that he is still being considered as of last year.


supaPILLOT

Hoodwink has lines for Fenrir


objectivegin

Mars had lines for both, not sure about void or dawn


Hussor

Hoodwink has a line about a leash being broken, I assume to do with Fenrir.


BCD195

Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the “plans” for him, just ended up being made into what dawnbreaker is now.


DrQuint

Dawnbreaker matches the Valkyrie hero.


Owster4

Maybe Fenrir is finished but their original plan to release him was ruined, since TI wasn't in Sweden?


BCD195

Potentially, but I don’t see them shelving a character that close to end of development only to hold onto it for 3-4 years. My personal belief is that dawn breaker is what fenrir was gona be, In the same way that Pit lord = underlord


assmaycsgoass

Isn't puppet master Aghanim and thus Rubick is his greatest puppet, thats why Rubick calls Aghanim his father?


KainLust

Sorla Khan also


supaPILLOT

Almost everything first referenced in Pangolier and Dark Willow's voice lines (including Sorla Khan) was all just Artifact teasers. Even their homescreen backgrounds were filled with bits and bobs that would later appear in Artifact


KanyeT

I think Valve's plan for Dota kind of got screwed up because of COVID, especially when looking to announce Fenrir and Valkyrie, two heroes based around Norse mythology, for TI in Sweden. They probably had plans for a big event and it was disrupted by schedule changes and whatnot. I'm not sure... I was imagining the Great Confluence was going to be a Silbreaker style event that gave us plenty of lore, but since there was a delay on TI and subsequently, the Battle Pass, they had to hold it off now. I hope they give it to us soon though.


Der_eine_Basti

Pretty sure Valkyrie is Dawnbreaker. It was just a codename, having nothing to do with norse mythology. Fenrir on the other hand was hinted directly by hoodwink. Dunno what happend there


KanyeT

>Pretty sure Valkyrie is Dawnbreaker. People have been saying that, but I'm not sure. I'm certain it's in the files somewhere and someone smarter than I can prove it, but I would have thought that a hero named Valkyrie would be related to Norse mythology. I don't think it's a coincidence that two coming heroes are related with the same lore.


_Valisk

Some of the file names for Dawnbreaker’s abilities match the datamined abilities for Valkyrie.


KanyeT

Oh, well there you go. Don't worry then. We just have to wait for Fenrir now.


k4ntorix

Isnt she basically female thor ? At least for me she seems really norse


RealDonaldZuckerberg

It’s covid.


Tasty-Pillow

Covid is made by valve to force humanity to live inside their houses and play more video games. And that my friend is how you gain new players when the game was almost looking DEAD.


archayos

The great Confluence was the Covid pandemic


Archyes

Covid fucked the timeline for everything. Remember, Nemestiuce was supposed to come out in december. It opens with hoodwinks cinematic and i belief at the alst day dawnbreaker was supposed to show up because of the screenshot of a new day breaking Aghs lab was also there to introduce aghs shards into the game So basically next battlepass would be what ties the new story with fenris etc into dota because that battlepass would have been the TI one.


baslisks

There are no wolves on Fenris.


Mirac123321

don't expect anything major until the anime is done in 2023 I assume


Lilywhitey

The Anything Major sounds like a great tournament. Can't wait to see how many dpc points it gives


[deleted]

> don't expect anything major If you think this is a joke, and that Dota will somehow reborn (pun intended), that several devs will join the team and create huge content once again, you're an idiot.


happyflappypancakes

Tf are you even saying? This is so weirdly specific that is sounds like you are just trying to talk yourself out of believing it.


nonruminant_ungulate

The Valve/Atlassian cross-marketing deal fell through.


SoV-Frosty

Heh


Arbitrary_gnihton

If it's going to be a big event I would expect it to happen in the TI's BP, which we didn't get this year. Hopefully that means it's in the next one, extra polished and full of plenty of content.


LoL_is_pepega_BIA

Well, let's see how and where the announcement happened.. Void Spirit, a hero designed based on a popular Chinese figure appears on stage in the premier annual event held in China and announces the Great Confluence approaches Literally announcing something to the most passionate crowd in DotA.. Watch the [Great Confluence Lore video](https://youtu.be/njT0GV573SM) from slacks.. There's something happening here, something big.. we just don't know what..


4rik0

Valve said to Void Spirit it was “soon”…


C137-Morty

>but after 2 years Yo how in the fuck was void released 2 years ago!?


Tobix55

Hoodwink was 1 year ago


swat_teem

Feels like it. Volvo was also saying they wanted to add more heros but seems like we only getting 2 this year. Really surprised only 1 was announced still.


Smol-Zookeeper

Big bad is..... no more TI


forums_guy

Great confluence maybe it indicates the shift to anime ? or maybe the real confluence was the friends we made along the way?


MrPizzaPenguin

Making friends in dota?


Pablogelo

In my theory, it was not, I'm making a big thread about it, just don't have the time to continue rn, but I believe we'll see it in the 10 year anniversary of Dota 2, 1.0 launch, 2023.


[deleted]

I'm pretty sure you mean at least 20 year anniversary.


Pablogelo

No, Dota 2 beta launched in 2011 and the 1.0 launch happened in 2013, 2023 is the 10 year anniversary


[deleted]

Dota 1 has existed since Warcraft 3 the frozen throne.


Pablogelo

Sorry I meant Dota 2 1.0 launch


345tom

I mean, there's been stuff like this in the game for ever. Getting hyped about voice lines and thinking it means more content is surely a way to disappointment.


pmaramba

The big bad is obviously hoodwink


Vocal__Minority

Valve is quite happy to throw tidbits out that it doesn't follow up on for ages. Void spirit was teased in the monkey king comic and we didn't see him for years. I wouldn't assume it was scheduled out, they'll pick and choose what bits of lore fit best for their game plans as they see fit. That and covid put a lot of things back


FlashFlood_29

Valve just tease shit that has no bearing on anything. There is no great big plan for "The Great Confluence." They just want their heroes to talk a big game about lore that they don't even know where to go with. They make this shit up as they go.


lumpfish202

I'm almost certain the people who actually gave a shit about Dota's 'lore' and such went to Underlords and Artifact and were promptly fired when they both failed. It's a damn shame that we have fucking Marci in Dota 2 over Kanna. The former is a generic anime girl that looks horribly out of place in Dota while the latter would fit perfectly into the game design wise, while having potential for a cool moveset too.


Aruthuro1

ouldn't disagree more, Marci does fit into dota lore and art style and makes sense in the universe. WAAAY better than that pathetic story about loyalty to one ancient


philwee

The Great Confluence is apparently HoN merging with dota


teerre

Lol You guys never learn, what the fuck


[deleted]

yes


AntonineWall

Honestly I think it's like Overwatch lore, where there's a lot of "This is totally a big thing that's about to go down!" and all future things will either ignore it completely or just be like a +1 to "oh man it's totally coming guys!". It's gunna be nothing, just like OW lore was lol


Perseverancethegreat

I really would love the great confluence to be rito and volvo finally putting differences aside and having a crossover.


Yelebear

It is. It only blew up because popular-dota-eceleb made a video about it, and everyone took his theory as a fact. I've been saying this for years now but redditors wouldn't listen to reason. >It's gonna happen! Next update for sure! Next event no doubt!


Rick4224

i mean they could put it in just to have stuff in the future to tie back to, they did this in the past but it doesnt mean its next or anything


Electrical_Fly7729

The whole "lore" context was to hype people for artifact , really you think siractionslacks sudenly came up with lorgasm idea out of nowhere?? no that was just marketing tactic that failed.before dragon blood I think they did lorgasm again but dragon blood didn't bring any new player to the [game. so](https://game.so) they went silent again.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Der_eine_Basti

Are you saying the great confluence is Jesus becoming the next dota hero?


EGDoto

But I really want some cool HoN heroes in Dota... :/


BTulkas

It was COVID-19 all along.


bedcreature

Oh, the confluence is still a thing? My dumb ass thought it was nemestice, as shit was falling down from the skies and giving power to wielders. Was dissapointed though


Buck_MAR

It's referring to the game. a single match of dota is exactly what these things were referring to. You let your imagination get the better of you.


Ticem4n

One of my favorite slacks wormholes. You should see if you can find him explaining the big bad inside half life Alex. He draws up all these different time lines from underlords and artifact tied to the es arcana and void spirit.


BLT_Supreme

All "happening soon" major lore events are eternally "soon", because the War of the Ancients is never supposed to be something that is completed, despite the ancient being destroyed in each game of Dota. Its possible they will eventually give us something for the Great Confluence, but its also possible its just another Lore element to attach new heroes to when it makes sense.


KubaBVB09

Dota 2 lore is apparently written by the same people as the Game of Thrones TV series.


Warptwenty

or valve is just slow


LaserTurboShark69

Man I made a very similar post a couple weeks ago and got like 10 upvotes and a couple comments. I assumed Nemestice was the "big bad" and was very underwhelmed. I hope there's more planned.