Valve has radically changed Dota 2 matchmaking in the game's latest update

Valve has provided a Dota 2 update where matchmaking for users rated above 8500 MMR has drastically changes. Some of the changes include the elimination of party play in Immortal Draft and hiding such matches from the public.

Such changes were mentioned in the game's Steam page.

Changes to Immortal Draft Mode:
Immortal Draft Mode Changes:
The mode’s rules now apply if at least one player in the match has a rating above 8,500 MMR (approximately 0.5% of all players). Previously, the threshold was 6,500 MMR, affecting about 1.5% of players.

Matches in this mode will no longer be displayed in public match history, will not be accessible via web API, and only participants will be able to download replays.

Players with more than 8,500 MMR must now register an official nickname before entering ranked matchmaking. This nickname cannot be changed and will be displayed during the player selection phase in Immortal Draft. About half of the affected players have already completed this step.

Players above 8,500 MMR, who are guaranteed to be placed in Immortal Draft, can no longer queue for ranked games while in a party. This change does not apply to unranked matches.

The ranking gain and loss system in Immortal Draft has been adjusted to better account for possible match outcomes based on the draft phase.

As the developers explained, players above 8,500 MMR will now have all ranked games in Immortal Draft. These players will also need to create a non-acute nickname that they cannot alter. In Immortal Draft, premade teams will be disabled as well.

These changes are most likely to prevent smurfing and boosting services. The developers pointed out that even though these changes are big, their impact will be less than a one percent of Dota 2 players.

In addition to this, matches of the professional players will now be sealed, meaning they will not show up on the statistical websites. Only the players involved will know the details of the Immortal Draft matches.

Earlier, Anton “Dyrachyo” Shkredov made a new post explaining the main reason for his exit from the Dota 2 pro scene.