Looking back on 2015 and forward to 2016
2015 was quite the year for Dota 2. We’ve seen several changes, both within the game itself, as well as in the scene around it. Let’s take a short trip down memory lane.
Competitive Scene
The year started out with the Dota 2 Asia Championship DAC taking place, an event that eventually boasted a $3,000,000 prizepool. The first Valve endorsed Dota 2 event outside of The International. In retrospect, the event would be spark towards a new revolution in the Dota 2 scene. Evil Geniuses youngster SumaiL was a key factor in the team’s victory and he and his team would later become the prototype after which more teams would build their rosters after.
The International once again accumulated a bigger prizepool than before, distributing over $18,000,000 in prizemoney to the 16 teams attending. Valve revised the format from last year and this time around, every team got the chance to play on the main stage, as the playoffs lasted for 5 days.
With CDEC’s successful run during TI5, , the idea of new blood as the key to success was further cemented. As a result, several teams reformed in the fall, trying to acquire said new blood. Pubstars such as Miracle and w33ha got a chance in the spotlight and convinced any critics by claiming various titles.
The post-TI5 season has seen various high profile competitions, most notably the first Major. It is one of four annual tournaments that Valve will be looking to run across the globe -- The International is one of them.
The Frankfurt Major saw yet again 16 teams compete over 6 playoff days, for a fixed prizepool of $3,000,000. The newly formed OG, which qualified via the European Qualifier, took home the title from an impressive lower bracket run.
Gameplay + Meta
2015 has seen 4 big balance patches. 6.83, 6.84, 6.85 and 6.86. While 6.83 technically came in in 2014, it was mostly played in 2015. It was a patch focused very much on comebacks. Often you’d see teams pick line-ups they could easily hold the highground with, banking on the possibility to turn the entire game around. It led to various record breaking games in regards to the duration. Heroes that became staples in the meta were 
Sniper, 
Juggernaut and 
Troll Warlord.
6.84 brought an end to all that and focused the game to a more push orientated one. Having waveclear was almost a fixed requirement for most heroes in your line-up. A range of new items were introduced 
Moon Shard, 
Octarine Core, 
Glimmer Cape, 
Guardian Greaves, 
Lotus Orb, 
Silver Edge, 
Solar Crest and the ever so loved 
Enchanted Mango. 6.84 was the patch that Ti5 was played on. Key heroes in this meta were 
Storm Spirit, 
Leshrac and 
Lina. Pocketpick: 
Techies
6.85 did not see many crucial changes, yet the meta shifted towards a more teamfight orientated one. Nerfs changed the heroes we saw prevail and dominate. 
Tusk and 
Ember Spirit became even more popular alongside a very stable 
Gyrocopter - all remnants of 6.84. New heroes to enter the top ranks were 
Doom, 
Dark Seer, 
Bane and 
Slardar. Pocketpick: 
Meepo
6.86 just came out and we still have yet to see a big tournament played on the patch (outside of WCA). A meta has yet to establish itself, although early signs indicate the return of the classic hardcarry and splitpush. New items have made their way into the game, some of which bring completely new mechanics to the game, such as 
Aether Lens. The other items, namely 
Iron Talon and 
Faerie Fire, have also proven to be quite popular in certain scenarios. Currently popular heroes include 
Invoker, 
Earth Spirit and 
Shadow Shaman. 
Arc Warden has been added to the game.
The biggest change to Dota 2 in 2015 was the transition to Source 2 and Reborn. The Reborn client has been introduced prior to TI5 and became mandatory later in the year. It brought a lot of changes and promise, but it is still a work in progress.
2016 - what’s next?
So what can we expect out of 2016? What will happen? Unfortunately, I’m actually really bad at 
Oracle, but I’ll try my best.
The competitive scene looks to continue the trend of finding fresh blood to find a new path to success. The Major system will truly kick in and hopefully keep on improving. Many people expect TI6 to break yet another record in regards to prizepools, but can it live up to the hype, especially with 2 Majors before it? The scene feels like it’s in a good place however, as the quality of competition keeps on improving. It's very unlikely to see brand new tournaments sprout, instead we'll most likely see older ones, such as ESL One, shape up and compete with the glitter and glory of the Majors.
As for patches, we’ve seen several new trends this year. Several new items have been added and the latest patch could indicate that we’ll see more items that introduce new mechanics. Aether Lens as an item is a unique concept in Dota as of now - maybe it won’t be at the end of 2016? Outside of that, we should be hoping to see at least one new hero next year. Pit Lord has yet to make his entrance, despite various “rumors” - which may have just been wishful thinking - he’d surface at TI5. Also even more 
Aghanim's Scepter upgrades!
The maybe most exciting progress to follow will be that of Reborn. How can it keep improving, what direction will it take? Over the years, the Dota 2 client has changed vastly and Reborn is certainly no exception, with several UI changes to it already. Who knows, maybe we won't even recognize the current UI in a year...?
Resolutions
Much like most people in the Western world, we like to make resolutions for the new year. It’s like setting a goal for yourself out loud, like a little challenge for yourself. Once the words are out there, it feels much more powerful than just thinking about it.
So here goes, our Dota 2 related resolutions for the new year:
Skim: "I want to climb to 5k MMR. I’ve been slacking off in terms of solo MMR (basically stopped progressing since TI5), but I know that if I put my mind and time to it, I can get there. 2016, Skim 5k - mark my words!"
kawaiisocks: "Last year, setting up Dota goals was much easier — there were many smaller things I still had to learn. One of them was tread switching and I can finally do it effectively on almost every hero. I also never realised how important it is until seeing the improvement in my games. For this year, I would like to set myself a slightly more global goal. Hovering around 4.5k is quite disheartening to say the least. Reaching 4.7k at most and even getting down to 3.9k once was overall an unpleasant experience, filled more with disappointment, rather than fun. Don't know whether reaching set goals will help at all, but at least I will have a proof that I am developing as a player."
scraps: "The biggest thing I need to do in my 'potato bracket', is to pay attention to my teammates and tell them when to stop fighting. Often I get too into my own game and don’t realize when a teammate is having trouble. People will just lose a lane without saying anything."
So what about you? What stood out to you the most in 2015? What do you look forward to the most in 2016? And what’s your New Year’s resolution? let us know in the comments!
Image Sources:
First?
No you are lying
2nd?zzz
PITLORD!
I wanna learn how I can communicate with people at my level...it's quite impossible.
Good Luck for you all :)
dragon lance?
I hope 6.86 will actually be about hard carries and not some goddamn nukers again...
ez . . . . .
Mango new meta 2016
>he forgot dragon lance
komanda musor win!
see the healing salve's price reduced to 100
and also dust getting cheaper 180 is expensive for a couple of dusts. it wd also b good to b able to buy dust and sentry one by one and not as a packs of two (2sentry=200 >> 1sentry=100)
resolution, main account climbing to 4,5k. (support role)
and this account calibrated at 4k+ (carry/offlane/ganker role)
wish me luck lol. I'm so noob at this game.
I wish to calibreate 3k + on my new account. I know I'm good enough for it.
nice changing
My aim is to get to 3.5k mmr from my lowly 1600 mmr lowpoint after I had a terrible 2 months (dropped from 2.4k mmr after I returned from a hiatus) - I'm already back at 2050 mmr so wish me well! :D
My aim is to get to 1k mmr from 0.01k mmr. XD just joking.
ahahahhahah 21th thats me :D
I reached 4000 mmr 2 weeks before 2015 ended. Now I'm looking to go even higher, so I'm setting my goal for 5k. Best of luck to everyone else trying anything remotely similar and a happy new year full of exciting dota! :D
Alright boys 4.5K mmr after only a few months of playing. Sooo ez wish me luck. 16 hours a day.
I just wanna get to 1k mmr from 543, wish me luck..
ppd bride
stop playing so much dota, that's my new year's resolution
He forgot Huskar in 6.85 as a pocket pick. :P All the top captains were saying he was a top priority pick/ban - not necessarily first phase, but second phase for sure unless you had an AA or something against teams that would pick it. OG won a lot of games at the Majors with Miracle Huskar, and Secret cheesed their way to second place with a similar strategy (although they'd trick their opponents by picking Support Tiny).
PPD looks like the beaming and radiant bride of EG.
Keep climbing. I was 1.4k solo and 1.6k party only a bit more than a year ago an now i am 4.2k solo and 3.9k party, so.... Fucking 5k boyyyy.
Currently the Enchanted Mango only has a 31.43% win rate. Together, we as a community, have the ability to fix this problem and end this horrific tragedy. Please help. It is our duty as gamers to give this item the respect it is due . KAPPA