Dota gameplay update experiments with a surrender button, plus additional queue changes

Dota community liaison, Wykrhm Reddy dropped a bombshell today with Dota's newest gameplay update. In a post on Twitter, Wykrhm screenshotted bullet points from what are presumably changelog notes for Dota's next gameplay update, set to go live tomorrow. Its changes to ranked mode include party composition and a surrender option.

The update includes a big change to ranked mode. Now, players with five stacks can now play against non-five stack teams in ranked matches. This means that rather than waiting for a long period of time to play, teams can now play against two and three stacks combined, which will likely reduce queue times immensely. Some people say this change is much needed but are genuinely concerned. It's not clear from the notes whether or not five stacks will be able to queue into just solo players. This would obviously present issues to players who are not able to coordinate as well as a five-stack would.

The biggest change arguably is the introduction of the surrender button. Other MOBAs, such as League of Legends, or Smite have featured surrender buttons for a long time. For the longest time Dota has not had a surrender button, in any form except in pro matches, where players type "gg" to end the game. Now it seems this system will be in normal ranked matches as well as in pro games. It's not clear whether this will extend to non-ranked matches, or if non-full parties will be able to surrender matches either. However, judging from the fact that you have to type out the "gg," it's likely that this will not be allowed for anything less than full teams.

This could be an interesting addition to ranked games. On one hand, it allows players to quickly exit games that have gotten out of control, provided that the game has gone beyond 30 minutes. On the other hand, Dota can be a game where one mistake by the enemy team could mean victory for yourself. Adding the surrender button could then be an incentive to quit early without the potential of coming back in the game.

We will provide updates to the new gameplay additions as they come in. For more esports news, stick with us at esports.gg!