[Update #2]: Dota 2's Update 7.31b has now landed with fixes for some of the newfound balance problems.

[Update]: Dota 2's Update 7.31 has added the Primal Beast hero, reworked Techies and rebalanced all jungle creeps.

When it comes to announcing big updates, especially highly anticipated ones, most studios would take the approach that ensures as many people as possible see the planned release date. Valve, however, has a... different way of doing things.

So in a brief announcement tucked away at the bottom of a blog post about a random sale on treasure chests, Valve has just revealed that Dota 2's long-awaited Patch 7.31 will be launching on February 23, 2022! And no, I'm not actually joking. That is official!

As of right now we have no idea what sort of gameplay changes we can expect Patch 7.31 to bring, but I think it's safe to say there will be some tweaks to Tinker, Spirit Breaker and Outworld Destroyer in there somewhere. Also, given how long it has been since the last major update, I won't be too surprised if Patch 7.31 once again changes some of the core systems in order to really shake up the meta. Who knows, we might even get some map changes if we're lucky!

Whatever the case may be, I'll make sure to let you know once Patch 7.31 actually arrives. Until then, enjoy the last few weeks of the current patch.