If you ever needed evidence that Valve is stuck in some sort of alternate dimension where time behaves differently than our own, look no further than Dota 2's latest update. Despite currently freezing in the tail end of winter Valve has decided to do a little bit of spring cleaning in Dota 2 by implementing a variety of quality-of-life changes and balance tweaks.

While their timing might be a bit of a joke, the quality of the update is anything but! The Player Profile has been redesigned to include many commonly requested features and personalization options, there is now a highly useful Last Hit Trainer in the "Learn" tab, matchmaking bans have become more severe for players with an "extreme frequency of negative behavior", there is now language-based matchmaking, and the list goes on and on.

On a slightly different note, I am also glad to say that this update has brought in a breath of fresh air for Custom Games. The "Arcade" tab has been revamped to help players find the most relevant lobbies with the lowest ping, Custom Game developers can now set their games to automatically punish players who abandon games like they would be in the normal mode, and perhaps most importantly of all, there are now dedicated servers for all Custom Games! It might not sound like much, but all of this combined is going to result in a marked improvement in the quality of most Custom Games, and that is something I am more than happy about.

And finally, as with all Dota 2 updates, there is a whole bunch of hero balance changes to mess around with. I won't go into any details as there is far too much for me to cover, but what I will say is that Lion is now the ultimate crowd-control machine! Not only can he hex, stun, and obliterate enemy heroes, but he can now also slow them down with Mana Drain! You can read all about it, as well as the rest of the changes, by heading over to the official website. Have fun!