While some things that have been done in 7.31 are very notable and clear improvements, mostly on the mechanics side of things and little nuances like actually being able to see assist gold split for kills in the killfeed now, plus techies finally being made into a normal dota hero that has tzo be active around the battlefield, the patch as a whole seems massively underwhelming if not like a straight disappointment.
Ive played a fair few matches of the new patch since its release and all the words that i have for it are just… MEH.
It feels like I am still playing 7.30e maybe 7.30f because there were some minor hero changes and some abilities got shuffled around.
But thats IT! The meta is the same, you still buy roughly the same items, every cheese strat under the mad moon still works the exact same way that it did before the patch… I'm particularly sad that nothing was done to address things like the mandatory OD-Memehammer cheese or the sheer lane domination by treant spammers.
I really disagree with buffs on certain heros that really didn't need the extra mechanics to survive. E.g.: Anti Mage's Mana Break now slowing its target AND stacking with other sources of Manaburn… Or Ember being granted extra farming potential…
Another thing that upsets me is that nothing was done in regards to water runes and small camps near mid, where your entire mid play just comes down to this cycle of:
- Shove Lane
- Kill Camp
- Grab rune
- Repeat
I guess the long and short of it is: The whole patch feels lacklustre and disappointing with so few breaking changes to shake up the meta. The only reason it is deserving to be called 7.31 and not 7.30f is because of minor map changes, techies rework and the addition of the primal beast. In the end, the Meta is the same, you buy the same items, you play your lanes exactly the same as before and you still cheese your strats exactly the same. I expected a lot more from a patch that finally ends the over 7 months streak of 7.30's meta….
Lemme know what you guys think!
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/t0nbd2/patch_731_is_a_disappointment/