The International 11 Battle Pass has been frankly underwhelming. Fans complained that the latest battle pass lacked many features that its predecessors offered, and also lesser reward drops per level.
As such, the TI11 Battle pass sales failed to surpass its predecessors, which used to be a trend, and likely won’t break last year’s record.
TI11 Battle Pass Release Date
The TI11 Battle Pass released on September 1, which is comparably later than typical TI battle passes. Valve turned to such direction by justifying that they want the TI11 Battle Pass to last long past the International 2022, where purchasers can enjoy the perks for a longer duration too.
TI11 Battle Pass perks and rewards
The TI11 Battle Pass is a controversial topic for many Dota 2 fans, who have continuously supported the community goal of funding the TI11 prize pool. Of course, in return for sacrificing rent, we expect the Dota 2 skins to be worth the money.
Yet, this year’s TI11 Battle Pass left many fans to contemplate whether to purchase it, if not, only buy a minimal Level 1 pass. The TI11 Battle Pass only has two arcana, two personas, and no Immortal Treasure 3. Not to mention that only the Faceless Void arcana at level 495 is available upon the TI11 Battle Pass release. Hence, for most fans, who aren’t planning on splurging till level 495 immediately, there is no content yet.
To make matters worse, the TI11 Battle Pass also did not include staples, such as custom terrain, creep skins, and Immortal Treasure 3. Instead, the more frequent immortal treasure reward at every 10 levels are replaced with treasures of normal sets. Perhaps the most upsetting factor out of these is the lack of custom terrain, as this year’s hell lava theme could have been a great opportunity for a fancy terrain.
It’s not only the low spenders who are upset about the rewards but Level 2000 purchasers too. Traditionally, Valve will procure custom-made Roshan figurines for all players with Level 2000 battle pass.
TI11 Battle Pass Feature Update
Despite the heavy backlash from the Dota 2 community, Valve only granted a minor update on earning battle pass levels. We will have to wait till the Part-2 of the TI11 Battle Pass for more features.
Currently these are the “updates” added to the battle pass:
- For non-Bonus weeks, instead of rewarding 500/1000/1500 Battle Points at 4/9/15 stars, we will now reward 1000/1000/1000 Battle Points at 2/8/15 stars.
- For Bonus weeks, the first Bonus Week Battle Chest is now available at 2 stars instead of 3 stars.
If the low sales volume continues, we can likely expect a second or even a third battle pass update that will likely contain more “free” content for players. At this stage Valve is aware they dropped the ball this year.
Battle Pass Archives
While TI11 Battle Pass has been disappointing, it wasn’t always this bad throughout the decade of TI Battle Passes. For many fans, TI10 Battle Pass was the greatest with three arcana skins, two personas, and many other perks. There were fun and interactive ways of earning levels via weekly wagers too.
Nevertheless, there might just be features that we can still look forward to, from the TI11 Battle Pass. Collector’s Cache treasures are exclusive, limited-edition treasures that can only be purchased by Battle Pass owners. And all the sets are unmarketable, except for the Ultra Rare skin. What makes Collector’s Cache so appealing is that these sets often feature beautiful particles and ambient effects. They are community-voted too, so it’s arguably some of the best skins one can purchase.
Past iterations of TI Battle Passes have always been fulfilling, albeit Valve had to step up their rewards every year. Hence, why the lesser rewards in TI11 Battle Pass left a bitter taste in the Dota 2 community. Fans are even turning it into a point of discussion regarding Valve’s small capacity of the Dota 2 development division.
Funding the TI11 Prize Pool
Cosmetics aside, the TI11 Battle Pass is intended to fund the International 11 prize pool and keep up the tradition of surpassing its predecessors. Yet, when Valve decided to reduce the prize pool contribution duration to only 1.5 months before TI11 and let the battle pass run its course longer. It was a questionable act with hidden agendas.
For one, the TI11 prize pool will stop amassing after TI11 concludes, which raises questions about where the rest of the funding will go. Hence, whichever team you predicted to win TI2022, won’t be getting as much as the past champions.
