Explanation

“Custom Hero Chaos” is the biggest game inside Dota 2. Dota 2 has these “custom games” that show up under the button “Arcade” (a bit confusing – I know!).

There you will see a list of the most popular custom games. “Custom games” are, generally speaking, made by fanboys and modders.

Ambitious guys who like to explore their creative side. This is how “Dota” came to be. A guy under the name of “Icefrog” made a custom game inside Warcraft 3 – and it became really popular.

Ursa Deathmatch

It ended up being one of the more played Warcraft 3 custom games. I actually played it back then, before it became THE BEAST – it is today.

I lived in Edmonton, Canada, and I was attending Harry Ainlay High School, which was the biggest high school in western Canada (1500 students). Made from a World War 2 bunker, it had absolutely zero windows.

I had moved there with my family. But I grew up in Sweden. I moved back to Sweden after high school, for various reasons.

I remember playing this game in a basement (my room) in Edmonton, and I played Ursa, and it was a “Deathmatch”, which meant that every time you died – you came back as another hero.

My whole team left, but I was really strong. And I killed off the opponents one by one. They came back as new heroes. It was 1 vs 5 (or maybe 4).

It was an adrenaline rush, as playing “Dota” (a team game) by yourself is generally a DEATH SENTENCE.

Impossible!

Dota Allstars

Valve bought the rights to “Dota” from Blizzard (who owns Warcraft 3) back in 2009.

According to this Quora answer, the “Dota” custom map back then was called “Dota Allstars”, and it was made by a team of independent developers. When Valve wanted to buy the rights, “Icefrog” was the only one still working on the game.

I tried to find out what they paid, but it appears to be a secret. Probably because it was not much, and it would make Blizzard look stupid.

To them, back then, it was one of many successful custom maps. The people who sold the rights had probably not played this specific custom game themselves.

But buying those rights sure seems like a BRILLIANT idea – NOW!

Icefrog

“Icefrog” was recruited by Valve as a lead designer of the game. It is unclear exactly what he does, but the game is very well managed, and is moving in the right direction.

A couple years ago (back in 2019), the player base had stagnated, but then they revamped the game (new 40% larger map, added neutral items, new features) – and a lot of players came back to the game.

I was already playing the game, often with my childhood friends from Ekerö, and my playing time definitely increased.

Death Spiral

Games that have been out for a long time often “stagnate”. 

The player base drops.

This causes further hesitation within the company to spend money on managing the game – which appears to be a sinking ship.

This is a – DEATH SPIRAL – which has killed many promising games.

The strategy game Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars was one of the best strategy games I have ever played. And I am a strategy game FREAK.

But it had a couple bugs and unbalanced units, like, the “worms” for the alien race was far too strong, and an “auto-win” in multiplayer mode.

That’s fun.

Nothing got fixed. And the game did not become the SMASHING hit it deserved to be. 92% (!) of the user reviews on Steam are positive for this game.

Yeah.

Dota 2 is still EXTREMELY profitable, and had an average of 480 000 concurrent players – over the last 30 days.

“Concurrent” means they are actively playing the game. The monthly peak was 801 000.

This is a different number from a game’s Player Base, which is how many people log into the game over the last month (or so).

I did a Google Search for Dota 2’s “Player Base”, but I couldn’t find any useful information.

As a rough estimation, I would calculate that a game’s “Player Base” is about 100x the “Average Concurrent Players” – over the last 30 days.

480 000 x 100 = 48 Million.

This would give Dota 2 a player base of 48 Million.

Either way.

Dota 2 runs NO RISK of falling into this so-called “Death Spiral”.

Absolute Control

I actually wrote a whole text about what I would do with Dota 2, if I gained Absolute Control over the game.

• Here it is on Substack: Billion Dollar MOBA: My Dota 2 Overhaul
• Here it is on Medium: My 3443 Hour (!) Dota 2 Overhaul

I wrote a similar text about Starcraft 2.

• Here it is on Substack: Billion Dollar Strategy Game: My Starcraft 2 Revamp
• Here it is on Medium: This is how I would Revamp Starcraft 2

I also created the theoretical foundation for a new mobile PVP game called “Chaos Arena”.

• Here is that text on Substack: The Ultimate Mobile PVP Game: Chaos Arena
• Here it is on Medium: The Ultimate Mobile PVP Game: Chaos Arena

Playing Preferences

I played “normal” unranked Dota 2 for many years. After a break from the game – I came back and started playing “Ability Draft”.

In “Ability Draft”, you build a new hero every single game. The games are highly unpredictable, and the matchups are often uneven.

Since one hero with a strong build will dominate the whole game. And the skill builds of the OTHER heroes are usually bad.

Many matches end up being a STOMP.

From there, I started playing various custom games. It was here, that I found THE SUBJECT of this article – Custom Hero Chaos.

We have arrived.

Custom Hero Chaos

I have actually played Dota 2 for 3450 Hours. Here is a link to my Steam Profile.

I currently only play Custom Hero Chaos, and I have played that game for 67.4 Hours over the last 2 weeks.

My Custom Hero Chaos rating hovers around 4300, which is within the top 10% of the player base. I am usually the highest – or second highest – ranking player in the game (but not always!).

This game is built on a very strong foundation. It does the most important things right.

The first gaming company that takes this concept – and turns it into a REAL GAME, an independent game, will be rich.

A “first-mover” in any field – has a huge advantage. They take control over the whole market.

Although this game is extremely unbalanced, it is still very fun to play. About 1 hero in 3 is “playable”. About 1 hero in 6 is “good”. About 1 hero in 10 is “great”.

“Great” in this sense – means OVERPOWERED!

Because the heroes were made for Dota 2, and were imported, without changes, into this custom game. A custom game which has very specific needs and demands.

In this game, you need to be able to do Three Things.

They are:

1. Kill minions quickly
2. Survive lots of physical damage
3. Win duels

Resources

Here are some Custom Hero Chaos links:

1. Here is the Steam Page for the game itself.
2. Here is their Steam Change Notes page.
3. Here is a Youtube Video where Dota 2 streamer Admiral Bulldog tries Custom Hero Chaos.
4. In this video (62k views) Youtuber Baumi plays Custom Hero Chaos.
5. A Reddit Page about various builds.
6. Here is their Discord Channel.

There isn’t a lot of useful information online about this game. This might be the first longer text written about this game.

Balance Issues

The game is not being managed in terms of balance. Everyone knows which HEROES, which SKILLS, and which ITEMS are too strong – but it does not get fixed.

I actually contacted the team behind this game, and offered them my services.

I could literally sit down, and in one hour, list all the things that should change, and send it to them.

They could take my list, then go into the game editor and fix it. The entire game could be well-balanced from just two hours of work.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

There are new items in this game. You mostly buy the items that were made for this game, because they are 3-5 times more powerful than the other items.

But all the items from Dota 2, are available in this game. The problem is that they are too weak. They need to be upgraded – it would not be hard to do.

But for whatever reason, it is not being done.

This game is often at the top of the charts in terms of playing time. It has about 7000 active players in peak hours, which translates to a player base of about 700 000 people.

There is a lot of money in this game, compared to a regular Dota 2 game. The items are bigger, badder, and much more expensive.

The best CARRY ITEM costs about 13 000 gold.

It gives:

• +120 damage
• +80 attack speed
• +30% evasion
• +30 armor
• +15 hp regeneration
• It increases all physical damage against creeps by 80%
• It gives +400 attack range for melee heroes when attacking minions

This item is so much better than the alternatives, that you end up filling up 2-3 slots in the late game with this item.

This damage item gives +30 armor and +30% evasion, which is extremely valuable, since the minions do Physical Damage, and do not have True Strike.

Damage-Over-Time spells are slightly overpowered.

Both against creeps – and in duels. There is a big item called “Torture Pipe” which increases ALL Damage-Over-Time Spells by hundreds of percent. Even more than 1000%, in the late game.

This item needs a slight damage nerf of about 10%.

You can buy 4 hyperstones which combine into a “Dark Moon Shard” which gives 290 Attack Speed. So for 8k gold, which isn’t a HUGE amount in this game, you can almost max out your attack speed.

This makes percentage-based bashes too good in duels. Since you attack with 700 attack speed, which is now max. Max used to be 999, they recently changed it.

Slardar’s bash, and Voids bash, are automatic wins, assuming you land THE FIRST bash. Since, after that, the opponent will be “perma-bashed”, as in permanently stunned until they die.

These bashes often get banned. Barathrum’s bash is also good, but it is only a 17% chance on strike. And it has an internal cooldown, which makes perma-bashing difficult.

All percentage-based bashes should have an internal cooldown, slightly longer than the bash itself. Slardar’s bash is 1.1 seconds, the cooldown should be 1.2 – or 1.3 seconds.

But even a cooldown SHORTER than the bash prevents permanently bashing the enemy, for a long period of time. Because, unless you hit a bash in that 0.1-0.2 second window, the bash runs out.

The item “Skull Basher” also has an internal cooldown of 2.3 seconds. The bash lasts for 1.2 seconds. So you cannot permanently bash an enemy with this item.

Not even close!

It is still extremely strong on melee heroes in duels, since you have so much attack speed, that you will land a bash quickly, if it is off cooldown.

Earthshakers “Earthshock” – and Tinkers “Rearm” is a pain in the ass, whenever spellcasters get these skills. Because they permanently stun you, until you die.

The problem with “Stuns” from attacks and spells, is that there are no good “Status Resistance” items to buy in the game. The most Status Resistance that you can get from one single item is 25%, and that is not enough.

There needs to be – at least – one single big Status Resistance item in this game. I would make the following item. 

Remember that items in this custom game are bigger, badder, and MORE EXPENSIVE than traditional Dota 2 items.

The Anti-Stunner

• +10 All Attributes
• +30 Armor
• +30% Evasion
• +30% Status Resistance
• +30% Slow Resistance
• +30 Movement Speed

Passive Effect: Whenever you are stunned, gain +20 Armor and +20% Status Resistance. When you are rooted or ensnared, gain: +10 Armor and +10% Status Resistance.

This item would cost 12-15k, and would be highly useful. This item would be a valid counter to these “Perma-Stun” builds!

This custom game also lacks a big defensive item. Spellcasters are forced to avoid getting hit at all, in order to survive the late game.

This item would be highly useful to survive the high amount of physical damage from the creeps in the late game.

When you get to about Round 50, you HAVE TO have at least one defensive ability, which reduces incoming physical damage.

Preferably two, but bare minimum – one.

How It Works

Let me explain how the game works – from a first person perspective!

As this game starts, you can ban ONE Hero and ONE skill. You get to pick your hero. Done.

You have your hero, and you are going into Round 1. You start with 600 gold. You spend the next couple rounds killing minions.

You try to kill them as fast as possible, as this gives you the most gold. You land somewhere in the middle, which is okay.

The fastest clearer might get 500 gold. The slowest only 50 gold. You got 250 gold.

The game progresses from Round 1, to Round 2, to Round 3, and so on. The rounds get harder and harder, but the first 20-25 Rounds are pretty easy.

Even a completely new player who is not buying any items whatsoever, is going to survive the first 10-15 Rounds.

But they will fall behind in net worth, lose the duels, and then get kicked out of the game.

When you are unable to kill the computer generated minions, you lose – and are kicked out of the game.

You can stay and watch – if you like! It is a great way to learn the game. A game is played with 8 People. Each player control 1 Hero.

At the beginning of a game, there are 8 Heroes. Then it gradually becomes less and less.

You will do 4 rounds of killing creep, followed by 1 duel. Then another 4 rounds, followed by 1 duel. As the other players leave the game, the duels will be more frequent.

While you duel another hero to the death, the OTHER human players are busy killing creeps. The winner of this duel gets a MASSIVE amount of gold. The loser gets NOTHING.

It is a tough game, in that regard!

It is very important to win the duels. You want to win at least some of them. Some items and skills are good for duels, and some are good for killing minions.

The same skill is rarely good for both.

When it comes to killing minions, you want CLEAVE, or SPLASH, or AREA OF EFFECT damage. But when it comes to killing one single hero? You want STUNS and a massive amount of SINGLE TARGET damage.

You will also face Roshan sometimes, about every 10th round. In this case, you want enough survivability not to die, and a MASSIVE amount of single target damage.

Physical damage dealers do better with Roshan. 

Spellcasters have a harder time. Roshan used to be IMPOSSIBLE for spellcasters at the higher levels. Roshan would spawn, and all the spellcasters (magicians) would fail, and leave the game.

These days, Roshan has become somewhat easier for the spellcasters. It is still an ADVANTAGE to be a carry, but not a huge one.

Killing Roshan fast gives you lots of gold. Killing him slow gives you little gold. In duels, the time does not matter. WINNING is the only thing.

The furthest I have gone in this game – is to Round 84.

I think I was Vengeful Spirit.

Her 1400 gold shard will make her stun “Avenging Missile” bounce to 20 (!) different minions, and do 50% EXTRA STUN and DAMAGE if they were attacking you (which, they were!).

If you buy the big spell amplification item for this, then each stun will do several thousands of damage.

This item can give 500-1000% spell amplification in the late game. She also has a damage talent for her stun, which makes it even stronger.

She also has a talent which makes her unleash an “Avenging Missile” every 8th physical attack. This missile will then bounce around 20 different minions, stun them, and damage them.

With this POWERFUL talent, she can slow down and stun a large crowd of minions. Melee minions will not even reach her. Ranged minions will be stunned 70% of the time!

When there is only one player left in the game, then, that player wins the game.

In order to win a game, you usually have to survive to Round 55-65. This is the normal “winning range” – if you will!

After each battle, you have about 15 seconds to buy items – and prepare for the next round. Your hero gains one level every single round. At Round 60, your hero will be level 60.

So level-based skills and bonuses are very strong, since they were made for the Dota 2 game, where you max out at Level 30.

The Late Game

In the later game, physical damage dealers will do 500-1000 damage per strike. That is not counting OTHER abilities which increase damage. That only accounts for the physical damage of each strike.

Skills which give bonuses in FIXED NUMBERS are completely useless, since minions will have hundreds of thousands of hit points in the later rounds (I’m not kidding!).

I looked at a minion in the last round, of my last match, and it has 791 000 Hit Points. I finished that round, but the other guy did not. I was playing Jakiro, who is really strong right now, he was playing Tusk.

PERCENTAGE BASED skills are overpowered, since they work really well against all types of minions.

Lifestealer (Naix) skill “Feast” will do 1.9% of the enemy’s Max Health as damage every single strike. With the talent, it is 3.1%. And the heal is about 50% stronger than the damage.

“Feast” needs a nerf of 25-35%, both against creeps – and in duels. “Feast” does not work against Roshan. It does literally nothing against Roshan.

In this game, you will have massive amounts of attack speed. You will get that “proc” on every single attack. “Attack speed” used to be 999 as max, they now changed it to 700.

This gives you about four strikes per second. But you can consume a “Dark Moon Shard” – and reduce your Base Attack Time by 30%. This will give you about 5 attacks per second.

Enigma’s “Midnight Pulse” will do 10% of all minions CURRENT hit points every single second. It has a low casting time, and a very large surface area. This skill is a bit too strong – in the late game.

It will wear minions down to half health in just a couple seconds. The radius is large enough to affect all minions on the battlefield.

In the late game, you will change your items for dueling specific heroes. The item “Blade Mail” scales very well, since about 70% of ALL absorbed damage (physical, magical, pure) is reflected back to the caster (while activated).

The item “Ghost Scepter” is highly useful for magicians, since it makes you untargetable for 4 seconds. You can still cast spells during this time. My rating increased a lot when I started using this item on my spellcasters.

It is EXTREMELY useful to survive Juggernaught’s Omnislash, or Slark’s Shadow Dance, or Willow’s Shadow Realm.

If you have “Shadow Realm”, then the Scepter Upgrade allows you to ATTACK without stopping it. This skill gives you massive amounts of magical damage.

This effect needs a damage nerf of about 25% in duels, but not against minions. You need a Ghost Scepter to survive this.

Losing several duels in a row is not just bad for business, it is also bad for YOUR HERO.

When you lose several duels in a row, you get a debuff which:

1. Increases all incoming damage by 10%
2. Reduces your outgoing damage by 10%
3. Reduces all incoming gold by 10%

This debuff DOES stack, so another duel loss, another stack. “2 Stacks” means all those numbers become 20%. “3 Stacks” makes them 30%. The game becomes unplayable at 2-3 of these stacks.

These stacks do not exist in the early game – or midgame. They only come into effect in the late game.

I actually think these “Stacks” are a little too strong. I would nerf them down to “7-8%” per stack, or something in that range.

But this “Duel Loss Debuff” – is yet another mechanism, that might be unique for this game. I have not played another game with a similar mechanism.

It forces you to focus on winning your duels. To have skills – and items, whose only job is to win your duels. Because the late game becomes UNPLAYABLE – if you keep losing your duels.

Bans

As we have mentioned, percentage-based bashes are too strong. Because your hero will have 700 attack speed in the late game. This amounts to 4 attacks per second.

Slardar’s “Bash” and Void’s “Time Lock” become overpowered in duels. But, they are not very useful in killing creeps. It is a duel specific skill. It is also decent against Roshan. Not for the damage, but the disable.

As a result, these skills will often get banned. The problem? There are about 15-20 overpowered abilities in this game. Each player only gets 1 ban each. There are 8 players in the game. This means 8 bans.

If every single player USED their ban, which they don’t. I usually see 5-6 skill bans, in a normal game. You can also ban heroes, and about 3-4 heroes get banned.

If the game gave every single player 2 bans instead of 1, this problem would get fixed. 8 bans for 15-20 overpowered abilities, is a recipe for disaster.

It is good that the bans exist, but each player should get another skill ban. This would GREATLY improve the game.

Giving the players more bans, is a WIN-WIN, and it outsources the balancing to the players. The players don’t mind, since we get a BETTER game!

Spellcasters (or magicians) also have overpowered abilities. An ability can be overpowered for clearing creep, and it can be overpowered for winning duels. They are rarely the same ability, since they require different things.

Tinker’s “Rearm” gives a spellcaster the ability to permanently stun you. It takes a lot of mana, so it does not come into effect until the early midgame.

Earthshaker’s “Earthshock” can also permanently stun the opponent. Both “Rearm” and “Earthshock” often get banned, for this very reason.

Shadow Shaman’s “Summon Serpents” also scales well into the midgame, and late game, and it is very strong in duels. A bit TOO strong, in fact! It will also get banned, quite often.

Wraith King’s “Summon Skeletons” are balanced against creep, but too strong in duels. Their damage and hit points should be nerfed with about 35% in duels.

The most overpowered ability might be With Doctor’s “Death Ward”, as it kills you before you can even see it coming.

It is not, I would say, overpowered against creeps (remember, they have millions of hit points in the late game!), but in duels it is RIDICULOUS.

This ability will literally kill me before I can even activate my Ghost Scepter. And I have my finger on the button as the duel begins.

I am not kidding, here. Not at all.

“Death Ward” needs a damage nerf in duels by about 75%. It does PURE damage, so all that magical resistance does absolutely NOTHING.

It is not uncommon to have 60-70% magical resistance in the late game. There is a lot of money going around in this game, and the items are really big.

A big item will cost 12-15k gold.

Giving each player 3 skill bans, would produce the most balanced type of games. If I was in control, I would give each player 2 Skill bans, and go from there.

I also would not mind giving each player 2 Hero bans. This would produce more varied and balanced games. As some heroes – are simply – too strong!

But if I was in control of this game, I would literally sit down and list:

1. All the abilities that needs a boost (that aren’t getting picked)
2. All the abilities that needs a nerf (that gets picked all the time)

I would then adjust the numbers, and go into the game editor and fix it.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

Picking Hero

When the game starts you get served 4 heroes. If you re-roll, you get served another 3, but one of the heroes stays the same.

You know which one, it is the one furthest to the left.

If you get a good hero on the left side, you can re-roll, because you know you ALREADY got a good hero. If you only get bad heroes – you ALWAYS re-roll.

Re-rolling exposes you to a total of 7 heroes.

This usually works out.

Because about:

• 1 Hero in 3 – is playable
• 1 Hero in 6 – is good
• 1 Hero in 10 – is great

Leshrac is extremely good right now. Pudge is also very good. Lifestealer is very strong because of “Feast” – and his talent for it.

Jakiro appears to be too strong. His scepter upgrade to “Macropyre” – is an automatic win in the duels.

Jakiro has TWO skills which do MAXIMUM hit point percentage based damage. Liquid Frost – and Liquid Fire. 

They both have a 4 second cooldown, which becomes 3 seconds with Octarine Core (25% cooldown reduction).

Once you have your Hero, you will play the whole game with that hero.

Some heroes have great Shards, some have great Talents, and some have great Ultimate Upgrades. 

Juggernaut has very high armor, very high attack speed, high movement speed, good stats gain, and pretty good skills. He is “good” – but he isn’t “unbalanced”.

His Critical Strike is very good with the lifesteal talent, and his Omnislash is very good in duels.

Even his Bladefury has become stronger with the recent changes. The shard now gives 35% enemy slow, and +35% bigger radius. The damage tick also scales with his Attack Speed, which is naturally high.

He has an “Innate Skill” – which allows the Blade Fury to Critical Strike. He can also stun with the item skull basher, while spinning.

A good strategy in duels, is to run in with an activated blade mail, which returns 70% of absorbed damage, spin, then silence with Bloodthorn – and pop the Omnislash.

The Omnislash will now have “True Strike” and amplified damage. The enemy is also silenced, and cannot use whatever escape skills they might have.

Picking Skills

Right when the game starts – you get served 16 Different Skills. You pick one of them. This is your first skill.

You do Round 1. You now get served another 16 skills. You pick one of them. This is your second skill. You now have 2 out of 5 skills.

As you rise in levels, you quickly get served another 16 random skills — until you have your 5 skills. You can eventually buy another skill for 13 000 gold, which is a lot of money in this game.

The most expensive item costs about 13 000 gold.

Skill Tokens

There is a mechanism in this game, which helps players come back into the game. Without it, the game would fall apart.

Allow me to explain!

A player that is struggling, will get served certain “Tokens”. The first one allows you to re-pick one RANDOM skill. I call this token a “Random Skill Token”.

The second one allows you to re-pick a CHOSEN skill. You pick which one of your skills, that will be replaced by another skill. I call this a “Chosen Skill Token”.

A player that is struggling, that has a low net worth, will get served these tokens. This player will get TWO “Random Skills Tokens”, and ONE “Chosen Skill Token”.

With these three tokens, you can replace two random skills and one chosen skill.

Once you activate your “Random Skill Token”, the game unlearns one of your skills (at random), and serves you 16 skills to replace it. The skill you pick is your new skill.

You do the same things with your second “Random Skill Token”. You got another new skill.

It is now time to use your “Chosen Skill Token”. When you activate it, the game asks you which skill to unlearn. You pick your worst skill, and unlearn it. You then get served 16 skills, and you pick which one you want.

This is your new skill. You now have better skills to win duels and kill creeps.

The game will serve these 3 Tokens to any player that is struggling, that is playing with a low net worth.

You keep getting served these 3 Tokens, about every 10 Rounds, until you start doing better. That is, until you start killing creeps quickly, and start winning your duels.

I have never played a game with such a balancing mechanism. It rewards poor play, if you think about it! The worse you do, the more the game helps you.

You can also buy these Tokens at the store. The Random Skill Token costs 1200 gold. The Chosen Skill Token costs 2900 gold.

But there are levels to this game!

The world of “Skill Tokens” – contains Four Levels, in fact!

LEVEL 4:

If you are at the BOTTOM of the hierarchy, you will get TWO Random Tokens – and ONE Chosen Token.

LEVEL 3:

If you do slightly better, you might be second last, or third last, you will get served ONE Random Token and ONE Chosen Token.

LEVEL 2:

If you do slightly better you will get served ONE Chosen Skill Token. You cannot sell it, but the cost of it would be 2900 gold.

If there is no immediate need, I usually save it for the late game. Because as the game progresses, you have to gradually change your skill build.

LEVEL 1:

If you are in third or fourth place, you will get served ONE “Random Skill Token”.

Using it might remove one of your valuable skills, so often I just sell it for 600 gold.

I have simplified it a little bit, but this should give you a basic understanding of how it works.

Using the “Random Skill Token” really is a big gamble. Because your entire skill build might fall apart, if you lose one key skill. There is a 20% chance of losing that skill, if you use it.

I should mention that your hero will get served their own skills more often. If you keep re-rolling, you will eventually get that key hero skill. Talents, Shards, and Scepters usually upgrade an existing skill.

Those things come into play, as well. It is not fun to have bought Aghanim’s Scepter, and then LOSE the skill you UPGRADED!

This mechanism does work well, over all. I do not know what caused them to invent this mechanism – and install it into the game.

I am not aware of a predecessor.

The mechanism is well-balanced. It waits for a player to perform poorly over a long period of time, before helping them out.

If you wanted to remove this balancing mechanism from the game, you would have to make the Random Token (1200 gold) and the Chosen Token (2900 gold) much cheaper.

A price drop of 25-35% would work. I also like the idea of getting a 25% discount on the first Random Token + Chosen Token you buy every 10th Round.

With this system, even a struggling player could save up their money, buy these tokens, and change their skill build.

Since every 10th Round there would be a good 25% discount.

You know you are WINNING when you start clearing creeps fast, and start winning your duels.

Duels

A similar balancing mechanism exists in the duels.

You get NO help from the game to win your duel. You might be fighting a hero with TRIPLE your Net Worth, and get STEAMROLLED.

Happens all the time.

But, if you would win such a fight, you would make a MASSIVE amount of money. I believe this money is based on the net worth DIFFERENCE between you.

It could also be based on the betting. The more people bet AGAINST you, the more money you make – if you win. 

There is a full chapter on “Betting” down below.

The FAVORITE might make 2000 gold in a duel, the UNDERDOG might make 10 000 – if they win. I have made as much as 15-20k – from ONE SINGLE DUEL.

I was at the bottom of the charts, and I was fighting the game leader. My net worth was 15k, and his was 40-50k. I managed to WIN, and became RICH! =)

The game has two “Balancing Mechanisms”:

1. The “Skill Tokens”
2. The “Duel Reward Bonus”

Betting

Betting is a BIG part of this game.

Very big, in fact!

Because you can bet HALF your gold (not net worth) on a given hero. If that hero wins, you at least DOUBLE your money.

If you bet on an underdog, and it wins, you will get several times your money back. Understanding which hero is going to win a duel, is a HUGE advantage in the game.

If there is a big difference in Net Worth, which is clearly visible at the top of the screen, where all heroes are ranked by net worth, you should bet on the leader.

This hero will win 80-85% of the time. “Net Worth” is the total sum of all your Items and your Gold. 

When you play this game at the higher levels, you start to do certain things.

You need Skills and Items to clear the creeps quickly, in order to make a lot of gold each round.

You bet half your gold each round on the winner, and hopefully increase your bank by 50% (as you can only bet half your money).

Then, when it is your time to duel, you spend all that money on items that will win you the duel. You have 15 seconds to buy all your items, after the duel is declared.

You do not know WHEN your duel will take place, and you do not know against WHICH HERO. But when the duel is ANNOUNCED, you see the hero, and you can form your strategy.

You have 15 seconds to:

1. Look at the opponent
2. Their skills
3. Their items
4. Make your strategy
5. Buy your own items

If it takes more than one second to buy a key item, the time schedule compresses, and you will probably lose the duel. This might spiral into you losing the entire game.

YOU ARE FUCKED.

If it works out: If it all works out, you spent ALL your money on the right items, fought well, won, and walk away RICH.

If the opponent is weak, like half your net worth, then you might not NEED all those big items to win. You can SAVE your money – and bet on the next 3-4 duels – and make more money that way.

But the most important thing is to win your duels. As this makes you more money than killing any amount of creep.

The goal is to make as much money as possible before your first duel is announced. You need a “Farming Skill” to clear creeps in the early game. Something that gives cleave, splash, or area-of-effect damage.

I will also save skill points, and skill specific skills, depending on who I am facing in the duel. Some skills are good at FARMING, and some skills are good for FIGHTING.

At the end of every game, you can see how much money you made on bets. You can also see how much the OTHER players made on bets.

It is not unusual to have made over 100k on bets in a really long game. If you lose the bet, you lose all the money that you betted.

It is just like real life!

After I started betting, and understanding which hero would win, my rating rose from 3000 to 4000.

It was a BIG jump!

Remember, you only have 15 seconds to place your bet before the duel starts. The duel is announced, and the COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

Here are some tips.

If a physical damage dealer fights a magician, and the carry has the skill “Guardian Angel”, which prevents all physical damage, then that skill is useless in this matchup.

This skews the odds towards the magician, since they only have magical damage.

Another tip is looking at cooldowns for the big spells. Some spells in Dota 2 have a cooldown of several minutes. Sometimes, a player has USED one of their long cooldowns in the rounds before the duel.

They will not have this key spell in the duel. This skews the odds towards the opponent.

You make the most money if you bet on an underdog, and that underdog wins.

It is the same with dueling. You make the most money if you were an underdog, and you win the duel.

I have never played a game where betting played such a key role. You literally cannot win this game if you lose all your bets.

Because you will have no money, no items, you can’t kill the creeps, and you cannot win the duels.

GOOD LUCK!

Item Changes

Here are some suggested item changes.

The item “Shiva’s Guard” is identical to the Dota 2 game. It is highly useful, as you can slow ALL creeps in the arena by 40%, run around – and not get hit.

Since the minions have a low base attack speed, that -45 attack speed aura is also highly effective. Magicians are also DESPERATE for armor in this game, and that 15 Armor comes in handy.

This game has no good defensive items for magicians. Physical damage dealers have items (described above) which gives lots of damage, attack speed, evasion, and armor.

But magicians have to rely on “Ghost Scepter”, and various tactics, to avoid getting hit at all.

There is an OVERPOWERED Tier 5 Neutral Item, “Book of Shadows” – which makes you untargetable for 4 seconds, with an 8 second cooldown. Down to 6 seconds with Octarine Core.

This item allows you to cast your key spells, become untargetable, run around for 4 seconds, cast them again, and so on.

Many magicians would not even make it into late game without this Neutral Item.

I would increase the cooldown of this item to 12 seconds, and offer Spellcasters better defensive options in the store. 

Magicians are desperate for a high armor – high evasion item. My item “The Anti-Stunner”, described above, would suit their needs PERFECTLY.

Shivas Guard

I would give Shiva’s Guard two upgrades.

The FIRST upgrade would give:

• +10 All Attributes
• +25 Armor
• -55 Attack Slow Aura (has double effect in duels) + Health Restoration Reduction is -30%
• 300 Magical Blast Damage + 20% Increased Magical Damage + 50% Slow

The SECOND upgrade would give:

• +15 All Attributes
• +35 Armor
• -65 Attack Slow Aura (has double effect in duels) + Health Restoration Reduction is -35%
• 400 Magical Blast Damage + 25% Increased Magical Damage + 60% Slow

These upgrades would be expensive. They might cost 5-6k each. Magicians would need a strong defensive item to compensate for the nerf of “Book of Shadows”.

Assault Cuirass

The item “Assault Cuirass” is unfortunately unusable in this game. Remember that the best ATTACK DAMAGE item in this game gives: +30 ARMOR and +30% EVASION.

Many items need to be “upgraded”, or “boosted”, in order to be usable in this game.

I would give Assault Cuirass two upgrades.

The FIRST upgrade would give the Item itself:

• +20 Armor
• +40 Attack Speed

And the Aura would give:

• +10 Armor
• +40 Attack Speed
• -10 Enemy Armor
• +15% Evasion

I would give the item an active ability which reduced damage taken from ALL SOURCES by 25% for 5 seconds. 45 second cooldown.

The SECOND upgrade would give the Item:

• +30 Armor
• +50 Attack Speed

And the Aura would give:

• +20 Armor
• +50 Attack Speed
• -10 Enemy Armor
• +30% Evasion

This active ability would now reduce damage taken from ALL SOURCES by 50% for 5 seconds. 45 second cooldown.

Manta Style

The item “Manta Style” works in the early game, but is unusable in the midgame – and late game. Because the illusions take 300% damage, and the minions do several thousand damage each.

I would give it two upgrades.

The FIRST upgrade would increase item stats by about 50%, and reduce illusion damage taken to 250%.

In Dota 2, 200% damage taken is double damage. 100% damage taken – is the normal damage a hero takes in a game.

The percentage uses 100% as an “index”, if that makes sense! So 100% damage taken, would be no increased damage whatsoever.

I would also give “fresh” illusions made in the last 5 seconds, a 35% damage reduction from all sources.

The SECOND item upgrade would increase item stats by the same amount again, and reduce illusion damage taken to 200%.

Newly made illusions within the last 10 seconds, gains 35% damage reduction from all sources.

If you don’t have this effect, the illusions will just die before you can do anything, in the late game.

Because the creeps start attacking right as you spawn. And the illusions do not have all these skills – to negate damage and move away.

A LITTLE DETAIL: Custom Hero Chaos also has a bug right now, which allows enemy heroes to attack your own illusions at the store (does not apply to summoned units).

So they can never survive from one battle to the other. I lost a game because of this with Chaos Knight, who has strong illusions which last a long time. The spell is called “Phantasm”.

I even had his build in skill, which reduced illusions damage taken by 20%. These illusions do the same damage as the hero.

They are very good for farming in the low and midgame levels. But you have to replace this skill in the late game.

Desolator

The item “Desolator” is currently unusable, because you ONLY build damage stacks when you kill ENEMY HEROES. 

These stacks should build even though you kill enemy creeps. If this was the case, then, this item would be somewhat usable.

Enemy minions have lots of hp, but low armor. Most of them have 0-10 armor. So armor reduction items – and spells – are highly useful.

At max charges Desolator does +80 damage. Its passive “Corruption” reduces armor by -6.

The item itself needs to be stronger and more expensive. I would give the item itself +120 damage and -10 armor for 10 seconds.

The first upgrade would give this item +150 damage, +20 armor, and +20% evasion. “Corruption” is increased to -12 (has double effect in duels).

The second upgrade would give it +35% Status Resistance and 35% Lifesteal. “Corruption” is now -14 (has double effect in duels).

This would make this item useful, even in the late game. It would give players another option for Lifesteal – and Status Resistance.

Satanic

I would give the “Satanic” two big upgrades.

The FIRST would increase Strength to +50, Damage to +50, and Lifesteal to 50%.

It would also give the active “Unholy Rage” +35% Status Resistance and 35% Slow Resistance. Lifesteal bonus would be the same at +145%.

The SECOND upgrade would give the item +75 Strength, and +75 damage, and 75% Lifesteal.

“Unholy Rage” would now give you 50% Status Resistance and 50% Slow Resistance.

Both these upgrades would cost about 5k each. This would turn The Satanic into a 15k item.

Radiance

The item “Radiance” is useful in this game, but it falls off in the late game. Because you run out of item slots, and this item does not give enough stats.

The Radiance aura does work with spell amplification, which is good for killing creeps in the early game and midgame.

But you have to replace this item in the late game. For this reason, I want it to have two upgrades.

This FIRST upgrade would give the item itself:

• 30% Evasion
• 75 Attack Damage
• 15% Physical Damage Reduction

The aura would do 75 magical damage per second (up from 60), and give a miss chance of 20% (up from 15%).

The SECOND upgrade would give the item:

• 40% Evasion
• 100 Attack Damage
• 25% Physical Damage Reduction

The aura would do 90 magical damage per second, and give a miss chance of 25%.

There are MANY other possible item upgrades, but I do not want this text to become TOO LONG! =)

New Items

The Anti-Stunner:

• +10 All Attributes
• +30 Armor
• +30% Evasion
• +30% Status Resistance
• +30% Slow Resistance
• +30 Movement Speed

Passive Effect: Whenever you are stunned, gain +20 Armor and +20% Status Resistance. When you are rooted or ensnared, gain: +10 Armor and +10% Status Resistance.

This item would cost 12-15k, and would be highly useful. This item would be a valid counter to these “Perma-Stun” builds!

Magicians and Spellcasters are in DIRE need of a big defensive item, which do not exist right now. 

This item would SOLVE this problem!

12 Rounds of Chaos

I spent about 200 hours producing a 155-page PDF document – which outlines a PVP-based computer game. It is called 12 Rounds of Chaos.

Here is the PDF file:

Mobile Gaming

Based on this concept, it would be easy to make a much simpler mobile game. Mobile gaming accounts for 49% of ALL gaming revenue (mobile, tablet, computer, console).

Mobile games have a much lower barrier to entry, and it is very easy to spend money on your phone. The credit card and the passwords are already in there! =).

Mobile games are also smaller, simpler, and easier to make. Marketing appears to happen naturally through the app, word of mouth, and positive reviews.

You do not need a big marketing budget in order to succeed with a mobile game. You just have to make a really good game.

Most small gaming companies focus on developing mobile games, for the reasons outlined above.

The mobile platform also allows for aggressive monetization tactics. Things that would not be allowed on a gaming console (like Xbox or Playstation).

Hero Arena

The basic idea for this game comes from a Warcraft 3 custom game called Hero Arena.

I also drew inspiration from a Dota 2 custom game called Custom Hero Chaos. This custom game has a player base of about 700 000 people.

It is HORRIBLY balanced, yet, it is INCREDIBLY fun to play. Highly addictive! I play it every single day.

Here is a link to my Steam Profile. I have clocked 3433 Hours (!) in Dota 2. I have played Custom Hero Chaos for 47.5 Hours over the last 2 weeks.

Here is a link to the Steam Page for Custom Hero Chaos.

Anyway.

In the Warcraft 3 custom game Hero Arena, you pick a hero, kill minions in an open terrain, make money, buy items, and duel another hero to the death.

Last man standing – WON! A simple – and very effective concept.

Hero Arena was a more popular custom game (within the Warcraft 3 game) than Dota, at one point. Hero Arena could have been bigger than Dota 2 is now, if a good company had taken it – and turned it into a real game.

Just like Valve did with Dota 2. They bought the rights from Blizzard back in 2009.

Now we have talked about my game 12 Rounds of Chaos, and we have talked about the Warcraft 3 custom game Hero Arena.

But we have not talked about Chaos Arena, which is the main point of this article.

We are getting there!

Chaos Arena

Chaos Arena is a PVP game that is played with one hero. 

You pick a hero, battle your enemies, buy items, level up, and win the game. The rounds get harder and harder – until there is only one person left.

This person won.

A normal game will go to about 20 rounds. The first player will strike out at about round 10, assuming they are not AFK – and are actually trying.

Each round is 135 seconds. Which is 2 minutes and 15 seconds. 20 rounds translates to 45 minutes. So an average game will be 20-45 minutes, depending on how many rounds you complete.

When you are not able to beat the computer minions, and complete the round, you lose, and the game is over. You can stay and watch the other players – if you want.

This is a great way to learn new skill builds, item builds, and strategies.

Selection Phase

The game begins with the Selection Phase. Each game has 10 players. Each player gets to pick a hero. There are 50 heroes to choose from, who all have 4 skills each.

Each player gets to pick a Primary Hero, and get all 4 skills of that hero. They then get to pick a Secondary Hero, and get 2 skills from that hero. They then pick a Tertiary Hero, and get 1 skill from that hero.

• First Hero: 4 active skills
• Second Hero: 2 active skills
• Third Hero: 1 active skill

Although you get ALL the skills of the first hero, you get to pick what skills you want from hero two and three. When this is done, you will have 7 skills.

These skills will all be ACTIVE, not passive. An “Active” skill requires you to click on it, for it to work.

But each Hero will also have three PASSIVE skills that are unique to them. These could be called “Innate Skills”, like in Dota 2, who just introduced them.

You get all three passive skills of your Primary Hero. You get to pick two passive skills from your Secondary Hero. And you get to pick one passive skill from your Third Hero.

• First Hero: 3 passive skills
• Second Hero: 2 passive skills
• Third Hero: 1 passive skill

“Passive Skills” work no matter what you do, and require no action from the player.

You will have 7 active skills. And you will have 6 passive skills. In total, you will have 13 skills.

Each player gets 15 seconds to pick their Primary Hero. Then 15 seconds to pick their Secondary Hero. Then 15 seconds to pick their Third Hero.

In total, 45 seconds.

When the selection phase is over, you will start playing as your Primary Hero.

Heroes have different traits when it comes to hit points, armor, magic resistance, hp regeneration, attack speed, damage, spell casting time, spell casting range, attack range, and movement speed.

Your passive abilities will boost some of these traits. A magician might have a passive ability that increases spell casting range, allowing them to nuke enemies from a distance.

Or an ability called “Mana Shield”, which uses your mana as a shield to absorb damage. I loved this Sorceress ability in Diablo 2.

Anyway.

With 50 different heroes, there are 117 600 (!) different hero combinations (50 x 49 x 48 = 117 600). That only accounts for heroes, and does not worry about the active and passive skills that you pick for each hero.

If you account for the various skill builds, the number becomes much higher.

Rounds

Each Round is 2 minutes and 15 seconds long. This is 135 seconds. Each Round has 3 Parts. Each Part is 45 seconds long.

Each Part is divided into a 30 second “Battle Phase”, and a 15 second “Store Phase” (30+15=45). In the “Battle Phase” you battle, and in the “Store Phase” you buy items from the store.

Let’s go through each part in chronological order.

Part 1

In the first round you battle PVE minions (computer controlled minions) in a relatively small space. The fastest clearer of these minions gets the most gold. The slowest clearer gets the least gold.

The fastest clearer might get 200 gold. The slowest might get 20 gold. The second slowest gets 40 gold. The second fastest gets 180 gold.

The minions will be very easy in the beginning, and grow gradually harder. You want new players to have a chance to learn the game, and you want a warm-up phase for the hardcore players.

The battle phase is 30 seconds. If you are not done by 30 seconds, you will be transported to the shop, and be paid by how many minions you killed.

You now have 15 seconds. Use this time to buy items – and prepare for the next part.

You will also have a skill point, because heroes LEVEL UP after every single part. You can put this skill point towards upgrading one of your active skills, or improving your hero attributes.

This is discussed in more detail down below!

Part 1 is now completed.

Part 2

In the second part you battle PVE minions and all other heroes in a large open space. There is some terrain, hills, rocks, trees, water, a couple bridges, and animals running around.

The strongest minions are in the center of this space. The weakest minions are in the outskirts. The intermediate minions are somewhere between them.

The stronger heroes will gravitate towards the center of this space, to get the best farm. But this will push them together, to the point of them fighting each other.

This is Hunger Games, in mobile gaming format. Killing other heroes gives lots of gold, but it is also very dangerous.

During this phase, you can kill minions, and you can kill heroes. You can do one of them, or you can do both.

Area of effect spells and splash damage is better for killing minions. Single target spells and damage is better for killing heroes.

You do not lose gold when you die. You will respawn in a safe area where there are no other heroes. This area will have weak minions that are unable to kill you.

Once you leave this area, you can get killed again.

When the 30 second Battle Phase is over, you are transported to the shop. Here you can buy items, research opponents, and place your skill point.

• Part 1 was pure PVE.
• Part 2 is PVE and PVP.
• Part 3 is pure PVP.

Part 2 is now complete.

Part 3

In part 3 you battle another hero to the death. The hero with the highest net worth – gets to phase the hero with the least net worth.

The second highest will phase the second lowest, and so on. Players in the middle will simply phase each other. The winner of this duel gets lots of gold. The loser gets nothing.

For the first 10 rounds, players will battle each other according to this schedule. When all players have phased each other one time each, a new schedule is set with the same mechanism for round 11-20.

At round 21, it starts over again. Every 10 rounds, there is a new “calibration”, which determines the opponents for the next 10 rounds. You will never face the same hero twice during those 10 rounds.

The hero duel is over when someone dies, or when 30 seconds have passed.

If nobody is dead at that time, the hero with the highest hit points wins. This is calculated as a percentage of maximum health.

When the PVP battle is over, you are transported to the shop, where you can buy items. You now have 15 seconds to prepare for the next round.

Part 3 is now completed.

Each round has these three parts: Part 1 + Part 2 + Part 3. 

It is the same thing every time.

Items

For each hero, there is a list of “recommended items” that a player can buy from. This will help new players.

But there will be a large selection of items, to enable many different strategies, and several counters to each strategy.

It is very important to me that there are several different options for each early/mid/late game strategy. This was not the case in Diablo 3, and this is not the case in Dota 2.

For example, say you are playing a physical damage dealer in the later part of the game. You already have attack speed and lifesteal – so you need damage. I want there to be at least 5-10 different high damage items to choose from.

The same concept applies to everything else. Gaming companies are, generally speaking, too restrictive when it comes to adding new items.

New items always bring excitement to the existing gaming crowd.

In Chaos Arena, you will be able to UPGRADE many items. Especially the more expensive ones, since you buy them in the late game, where you run out of item slots.

Nobody should suffer the anguish of having lots of money, without the ability to spend it.

Hero Levels

When you pick your hero, it will be level 1. Each Round gives you 3 Levels. Each Round has 3 Parts, and each part gives you 1 Level upon completion.

By Round 10, you will be Level 30. By Round 20, you will be Level 60.

A normal game experience will be 15-20 rounds. This game will take 34-45 minutes. This will make your hero level 45-60.

Skills

You will have 7 active skills (4 + 2 + 1), and 6 passive skills (3 + 2 + 1). Your passive skills automatically scale with your hero.

But your active skills have 10 levels each. In order to max out all of them, you would need 70 levels.

And even after maxing out a specific skill, there are another 5 upgrades which reduces the casting time and cooldown reduction of that skill.

Each upgrade will reduce casting time by 5%, and cooldown reduction by 5%. This maxes out at 25%/25%.

This means that you can spend 15 skill points on upgrading one single skill. This will make that skill Level 10, and it will have -25% casting time, and -25% cooldown reduction.

All active skills in Chaos Arena will have a casting time of 0.2-1 second. Item casting time will be instant (like in Dota 2). The bigger the spell, the longer the casting time.

If you have a passive ability that gives you 20% cooldown reduction, and have maxed out all 15 levels of one skill, then that skill will now have 45% cooldown reduction.

Does that make sense?

I have intentionally given each Hero many more possible skill upgrades, than skill points. Because this allows for highly specialized strategies. Where you might be spending the first half of the game just maxing out 2-3 skills.

But you can also spend “Skill Points” – on improving your hero attributes.

Keep reading!

Attributes

Your skill points can be used to upgrade your active abilities, but not your passive abilities.

But there are other things you can do with your skill points. You can “upgrade” various aspects of your hero.

These are:

1. Utility (movement speed, slow resistance, status resistance)
2. Attack (attack damage, attack speed, lifesteal)
3. Spell Casting (spell casting time, spell amplification, spell lifesteal)
4. Regeneration (passive hp regeneration, hp regen each attack performed, and each spell cast).
5. Durability (Armour, evasion, magic resistance)
6. Damage Block (this will block incoming physical and magical damage by a fixed number).
7. Damage Reduction (this will reduce all incoming damage by a percentage).
8. Damage Reflection (this will reflect a percentage of all incoming damage back to the attacker).

Each attribute has 10 upgrades each. So 80 skill points are required to max out all of them.

You actually need 185 Skill Points – to max out everything in the game.

A skilled hardcore player might make it to Round 30, which will give them 90 Levels.

This forces the player to develop a deliberate strategy, in what they upgrade. Instead of just mindlessly upgrading everything to the max.

This has been a flaw in many well-made computer games.

Reset

Every 10 Rounds (Round 10, 20, 30) you will be given a “Reset Book”, which resets all of your skill points. This will allow you to make a mistake – and still come back.

It will enable various short term strategies for the early game, a different strategy for the midgame, and another one for the late game.

It is important to me that this game is forgiving to new and casual players.

New Skill Book

Every 5 Rounds (Round 5, 10, 15, 20, 25), there will be a “New Skill Book” up for auction. This book will go to the highest bidder. This will allow you to pick another active skill.

You cannot pick a skill that is currently active in the game. It has to come from a Secondary Hero, a Tertiary Hero, or an unpicked hero.

Ranking System

There will be a ranking system.

On the loading screen, before each match, all 10 players would be listed from highest ranking – to lowest ranking. With their actual rating next to their name.

But this rating would not affect matching. Matches would be created with the first 10 available players from each region.

This ranking system would invoke that competitive spirit inside you.

Once the game is making money, I also like the idea of giving the Top 100 players from each region a small stipend every month (100-200 dollars).

This would set the right tone, and enable it to become a respected Esport.

Mobile vs Computer

Now that this text is written, I realize that this game would probably work as a computer game – as well.

There is enough complexity to entertain the more demanding pc gamer.

But I do think it would work great for mobile and tablet. You might have to remove a couple features from this game, which is not hard to do.

It is much easier to remove a feature, than to add a new feature.

Mobile games are much simpler than computer games. But many gaming companies fall into the trap of underestimating mobile gamers. They make the games so simple and predictable – that they become BORING.

I do not want to do that!

Although this game was intended for mobile, I also think it would work for computer gaming.

What do you think? =) Please tell me!

Want More?

I actually wrote a similar text about Starcraft 2: Billion Dollar Strategy Game: My Starcraft 2 Revamp

I actually wrote a similar text about Dota 2. It is called: Billion Dollar MOBA: My Dota 2 Overhaul

I also publish texts on Medium under the Billion Dollar Company name.

Here is a link to all my published articles on Substack.

Here is a link to my Facebook profile.

This text was written by Theo Alexander Gerken.

Explanation

Here is a list of things I would do, if I was given complete control over Dota 2. I have played this game for 3433 Hours, and watched 500-600 Hours of professional play.

Here is a screenshot from My Steam Profile. You can click the link to verify it yourself.

Guilty as charged.

New Items

BLOOD DAGGER: With this cheap item you sacrifice a percentage of your max health to teleport to another destination. There is a trail of blood following you, visible even if you are invisible.

NEW RADIANCE: There should be a cheaper version of radiance that can be used as a farming item. There needs to be other alternatives than Maelstrom and Battle Fury. This item would do 40 dmg/second to enemies, and 50% bonus damage to creeps.

THE BERSERKER: This item will give 80 dmg, 10 armor, 25% lifesteal.

Active gives +75% lifesteal, 150 attack speed, and 150 attack range for 3 seconds (12 second cooldown). Any target hit beyond 100 range during active will get sucked in by 50 units and slowed by 90%, and 90% attack speed for 0.2 seconds.

This effect is inverted when the carrier is ranged. It pushes the opponent away by 50 units (but not beyond 400 units). It still gives +150 attack range. Cost would be 6-7k, for this item.

I would like there to be an upgrade which gives this item 35% cleave for melee – and 35% splash for ranged. This effect increases by 65% during active (up to 100%).

This upgrade also gives the carrier 35% damage reduction from all sources during the active. It also gives 35% status resistance. Reduces cooldown to 10 seconds.

With the upgrade, the closest friendly hero gains a weaker version of the active effect. They gain 35% lifesteal, 75 attack speed, 75 attack range, and 25% damage reduction from all sources for 3 seconds. They also get 25% status resistance.

The friendly hero has to be within 600 range to get the bonus.

WHITE QUEEN STAFF This item is the ”brawler” version of BKB. The hero becomes silver-colored when active. It gives 40% damage reduction from all sources (physical, magical, pure), 40% Status Resistance, and 60% slow resistance. Duration is 7 seconds with a 45 second cooldown.

The item itself gives +35 damage, +35 movement speed, +10 to all attributes. The item itself passively gives 20% status resistance – and 30% slow resistance. The active gives you more of each.

UBERGUARD: I would like two Vanguards to automatically combine into this item. This gives 750 life, 25 hp regen, 75% 75 dmg block. 75% 50 for ranged.

The passive always procs on critical strikes and the effect is doubled (up to 150). This makes this item viable in the midgame and late game.

The item has an upgrade which gives it the ability to block 200 damage from a magical spell every 10 seconds. The damage has to be 200+ for it to proc. It applies to single target and area of effect spells. Think of it like a “poor man’s” Linken Sphere.

UBERBASHER: This is an upgrade to the Skull Basher. This item would give +20 strength and +60 attack damage.

The bash would do +150 physical damage and last for 1.5 seconds. It would have a 2.5 second cooldown. This item would have 50% true strike, and 100% lifesteal on the bash damage. If the enemy hero has 0 armor, this would be a 150 hp heal every time.

Each bash would reduce target armor by 5, for the next 15 seconds. This armor is given to the attacker. Separate bashes fully stack. Three bashes means -15 armor on the enemy, and +15 armor on you.

Roshan cannot have more than 2 stacks at the same time.

Item Upgrades

Slot Efficiency is a big problem when it comes to late game Dota 2. For this reason, I would like to see “upgrades” for many of the big items.

In my humble opinion, most expensive items should have 1 or 2 possible upgrades. It’s another thing to do, and it makes the game more fun.

The company behind Dota 2 has been introducing new items fairly slowly, in the last 5 years. Buying the same items every game becomes boring and repetitive.

I mean, I have 3400 hours in this game!

I would like this game to have twice as many items, as it has right now. Especially mid game and late game items. Everybody who has played Diablo 1/2/3 – knows how important ITEMS are!

Items even played a role in Warcraft 3, actually, and this is what paved the way for Dota 2!

BLADE MAIL UPGRADE: The problem with blade mail is slot inefficiency. It does not give enough stats for the late game. Buying two blade mails automatically combines it to this upgrade.

It gives: 10 Armor, 40 Damage, 25 + 25% passive dmg return. 100% extra dmg return during active (125% in total).

+10 bonus armor when active. Duration is 6.5 seconds (up from 5.5). The dmg return does 100% increased damage to creeps (passive + active). Even Roshan. This makes this item okay for farming, as well.

BATTLE FURY UPGRADE: The upgrade would give this item +25% Status Resistance and +50% Slow Resistance.

The active would place a debuff on the enemy hero which slowed movement and attack speed by 35%, and reduced spell damage by 35%. Duration is 3 seconds. 15 second cooldown. The duration is doubled against creeps.

The changes would make this item more useful in battles with the enemy team. It would also introduce a convenient way to get status resistance and slow resistance. In my version of the game, the Battle Fury gives 50% splash damage to ranged heroes (in a 250 radius).

ASSAULT CUIRASS UPGRADE: The upgrade increases bonus armor to +15 and attack speed to +45. It also gives +15% evasion. There would also be a 3.5 second active ability with a 25 second cooldown.

This active ability reduces damage taken from all sources by 30%, and gives +30 hp regen, +30% healing & regeneration boost. This should allow heroes to jump into a crowd and pop the active.

HEART OF TARRASQUE UPGRADE: This upgrade would give +60 strength, and a 2% of max hp regeneration (up from 1.6%).

You can ”donate” this 2% regen to teammates, by clicking on them. This lasts for 10 seconds. This heal is based on the carrier’s max hit points.

You can also put this on the enemy. This powerful heal turns into a powerful curse. It does magical damage, and reduces healing, regeneration, and lifesteal of the enemy hero by 25%.

FORCE STAFF UPGRADE: This item would give +25 intelligence, +25 movement speed, and +400 life.

It would give the active ability “Force” another +100 range, and +15% speed. It would heal teammates by 150 – and do 150 magical damage to enemies.

After 90 seconds of inactivity, it would gain another charge. After 180 seconds, it would gain a third charge.

PHASE BOOTS UPGRADE: The upgraded version would have: 7 armor, 30 damage (melee), 15/30% increased movement speed with active. The hero also gets 100% evasion on the first absorbed physical attack after activation.

I would give Phase Boots another upgrade which gave them 10 armor, 40 damage, and 20/40% increased movement speed with the active. The hero would get 100% evasion on the first two absorbed physical attacks after activation.

AEON DISK UPGRADE: This upgrade would give Aeon Disk +500 life and +500 mana. The “Combo Breaker” cooldown would be reduced by 25%.

The carrier would get +10 armor, +10% magic resistance, and 20% status resistance while the active was on cooldown (assuming the item is not in the backpack).

This upgrade would make this item useful, even when the active was on cooldown.

HEAVEN’S HALBERD UPGRADE: This upgrade would give the item +30 strength, +35% evasion, 20% status resistance, +30% health regen amp, +30% lifesteal amp.

The “Disarm” active would last one extra second (4 seconds for melee, 6 seconds for ranged), and reduce spell damage by 50%. 

It would also sap 1% of max hp, and 1% of max mana each second. This life and mana goes directly to the caster.

This change would allow the item to counter carries and casters. It would make it more versatile.

Item Changes

BATTLE FURY: Add ranged splash damage to Battle Fury. This could be 50% on a 250 radius. Ranged heroes need another farming item than Maelstrom!

THE SATANIC: I would give it +30 strength, +30 damage, 40% lifesteal, and +110% lifesteal with active. This creates a better balance between active and passive lifesteal. I would also give the carrier 35% status resistance – and 50% slow resistance during active. Price would be increased to 5500 with these changes.

MJOLLNIR: Give the active “Static Charge” 15% damage reduction from all sources, and reduce duration to 10 seconds from 15. The passive and active lightning should also have 25% inherent spell lifesteal.

HURRICANE PIKE: Give it +75 attack range to melee heroes. Make the active for melee heroes a weaker version of Mar’s God’s Rebuke.

Make it a 250% splash crit with pushback. This would make this item viable for melee heroes, as well. This melee crit would do 50% extra damage to creeps.

When a ranged hero uses the active on a creep, the hero gets 75% splash damage around that creep, for those 5 special attacks. It also gives vision of that creep, during the next 3 seconds. This way, you can farm with the active.

MONKEY KING BAR: Increase damage and attack speed to +50. Reduce true strike to 70% from 80%. The magical proc damage is doubled against creeps (to 140), and has 50% built in spell lifesteal. Increase price from 4700 to 5200. This makes this item a viable farming item.

OVERWHELMING BLINK: I would reduce the damage and slow of the active, reduce its duration by 1 second (down to 5), and instead give the caster 40% damage reduction from all sources for 5 seconds. Cooldown would be increased to 25 seconds.

Neutral Items

The addition of neutral items, to Dota 2, was a BIG HIT! Everybody loved it. It has a random element, it is exciting, yet still balanced.

If I was given ultimate control of this game, I would introduce a secondary neutral item slot, which had to be two levels below the primary neutral item.

A hero could have a level 5 neutral item in the primary slot, and a level 3 neutral item in the secondary slot. This would introduce another item slot – without disrupting the game.

This effect would come into effect on level 3, since, at that time, you could have a lvl 1 neutral item on your secondary item slot.

It’s not a huge change, but it would improve the game.

There is another thing I would do. I would introduce a slight time-based boost to neutral items of the lower levels. I want these items to be used in the midgame – and even late game.

The numbers of these items could be improved by 1% each gameplay minute. This timer would start as soon as the next round of neutral items drop.

This would mean that “Poor Man’s Shield”, a Level 1 item, would start getting upgraded at minute 17, when Level 2 neutrals drop. At minute 27, it would have a +10% boost. At minute 37, it would have a +20% boost.

+20% would increase bonus agility from +8 to +10, and increase passive damage block from +30 to +36 for melee heroes.

I would give neutral items a secondary item slot, and a slight time-based boost.

Innate Abilities

Dota 2 just introduced “Innate Abilities”, one for each hero. I love it! But I would like to take this concept one step further.

Did you play Guild Wars? Or the MMORPG Rift?

In those games, you could pick a primary and a secondary profession. This improved the game by a landslide, as it opened up many new builds.

I would do the same with Dota 2.

You get your own hero’s Innate Ability when you pick your hero. In a regular Dota 2 game, you would get to pick your secondary innate ability at level 10 (at 65% strength), and your third innate ability at level 20 (at 50% strength).

You cannot pick an innate ability that is already in your game. Apart from that rule, you can pick anything. This would make the game a lot more fun – and interesting!

I really think so.

If you look at the general trajectory of Dota 2, they are always adding new things into the game; new options, new item slots, new abilities, new items, new heroes, new games.

Even though Dota 2 has been out for a long time, Valve is staying aggressive in introducing new features into the game. They take risk, and I respect that!

There was a HUGE BOOST in players when they introduced the new map, with the neutral items. It was a significant improvement to the game. They also increased map size by 40%, which made the game more enjoyable.

Before this, it was almost impossible to come back once the enemy team had “taken over” the map. Now, it is possible to farm, even though you belong to the weaker team.

I LOVE IT!

Stats

I would like to see different options when it comes to picking “stats” – or “attributes” (+2 of each).

Here are some examples. The numbers would have to be tested and balanced, of course (like always!).

The three additions I would like to see are:

1. Durability Upgrade
2. Resistance Upgrade
3. Damage Upgrade

Durability Upgrade:

• +1 hp regen
• +1 armor
• +1 magic resistance
• +1% healing & regeneration boost

Resistance Upgrade:

• +1.5% status resistance
• +3% slow resistance

Damage Upgrade:

• +4 damage
• +2% spell amplification

This would introduce a lot more choice – when it came to building your hero. I also realize that Dota 2 has to be well balanced to function as an Esport.

Dota 2 is currently the biggest Esport in the world.

Revenue Sharing

I would introduce “Revenue Sharing” to the top 250 Arcade games in Dota 2. It would start at 25%. It would be increased by 5% for every game tier.

• Games 200-250: 25%.
• Games 150-200: 30%.
• Games 100-150: 35%.
• Games 50-100: 40%.
• Games 25-50: 45%.
• Games 2-25: 50%.
• Game 1: 100%.

The most popular arcade game each month would get 100% of the player based revenue. It would also get promoted within the game itself.

Contribution Fund

I would also start a Contribution Fund for the Arcade games in the 250-500 range (in terms of popularity).

I would reach out to these game makers, and ask them what they need to improve their game. They might need money, technical expertise, a mentor, or something else.

I might offer them a “development contract”, where they received money in order to work on their game. Progress would be evaluated by an expert, and beta testers, and the contract would be extended based on that.

They might get bonuses based on how much their game was played.

I might also reach out to the makers behind the games 500-1000, as they showed a lot of expertise and motivation to make this game (probably for free).

Teams

I would create 10-15 professional teams, with 3-5 people in each team, and their only job was to make Arcade games for Dota 2. They would get bonuses based on how popular the games became.

Any team who did not perform would be replaced by another team. It is easy to see playing time within the game itself.

Once these Arcade games gained a player base, and started making money for the company, I would start more teams.

Monetization is already taken care of, you just want to keep players on the platform itself. This is how Facebook makes money on its FREE Marketplace service, it keeps people on the platform.

Stipends

I would offer “stipends” or “development contracts” for Arcade game ideas. You would apply, describe your idea, and get the money.

I would also offer help along the way. And create a community where everybody helps each other out.

Free Promotion

Well made arcade games could be featured by the company and promoted in various ways. This is a win-win. This is already being done by Valve, to a degree.

I’m a blogger, so I would start a blog where arcade games were reviewed in an honest way, you could pay various Youtubers and streamers to play these games, as well.

If the game is good enough, it will promote itself.

Free Education

Since learning the tools is a big obstacle to start making your games, I would offer free educational resources, where you learn to use these programs.

I would create a well-made, and professional, free online video course. You might want to have a course for beginners, for intermediates, and for advanced users.

Gaming Companies

The end goal with the “Revenue Sharing” system is to attract small effective teams – and gaming companies to the platform.

As soon as Dota 2 Arcade games become a viable source of money, the professionals will come.

Dota 2 has the perfect platform to become an early mover in a field like this. The early mover takes control over the market, gets the players, makes the money, and wins the game.

Feedback Groups

To make things more professional and effective, I would institute special “Feedback Groups” – where people and groups give feedback to each other.

Each group would have a leader, which is an experienced game maker appointed by the company. This person would get a 5% commission on any revenue from the games they are coaching.

There would be three different “Feedback Groups”.

1. The first one is FREE and is once a week (Monday).
2. The second one costs 75 dollars a month, and is twice a week (Monday/Thursday).
3. The third one costs 150 dollars a month, and is three times a week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday).

I would also schedule beta testers to test these games early in development, in order to recognize a failed idea. Every 2-3 months, 5-10 people would play this game – and give honest feedback.

The other people in the feedback group would also play the game, and give valuable feedback.

Talents

The addition of “Talents” was a good thing for Dota 2. It gave players another option, another choice, another level of complexity.

What I would do with Talents, is to add another option on each level (Level 5, 10, 15, 20, 25). So 3 options, instead of 2.

I would introduce a system where every level had three types of talents.

TALENT 1: The first of those talents gave Utility. Movement speed, slow resistance, status resistance, money, cooldown reduction, and so on.

TALENT 2: The second of those Talents gave Offense. Attack damage, attack speed, spell amplification, casting time reduction, casting range increase.

TALENT 3: The third Talent gave Defense. Armor, magic resistance, evasion, hp regeneration, damage reduction, lifesteal, spell lifesteal.

This would give the Talent system more variation – and make it more balanced, at the same time.

There is no logical reason why you could not have four options each level, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!

I would start by adding one, making it three talents. Once that was working well (in terms of balance), I would add another talent, making it four.

In my system, the fourth talent would always be gold or farming related.

TALENT 4: The fourth Talent gives Gold. This talent would generate gold, or increase farm in some way.

This Talent is extra useful for players that are struggling.

Dota 2 has always been a hardcore game. It has always been tough for the players who fall behind. Valve has done many things to help these guys out (bounty runes, philosopher’s stone, larger map, personal animal courier, so on).

• Talent 1: Utility
• Talent 2: Offense
• Talent 3: Defense
• Talent 4: Gold / Farm

Arcade Game Monetization

To increase the revenue potential for successful Dota 2 Arcade games, I would open up in-game monetization.

This has to be done right, or it will ruin the gaming experience, and even damage the Dota 2 brand. It cannot, under any circumstances, be “pay to win”.

You can offer the players new heroes, new maps, new features, new skins – things like this. Dota 2 and League of Legends – already do this very well.

I would split the money made this way 50%/50% with the map makers. In game monetization should only be used on maps that are proven to have a player base. That are already doing well.

This type of monetization has to be manually approved by the hosting company.

If a successful gaming company contacted me, and wanted to make a professional Dota 2 Arcade game? I would offer them up to 75% of in-game monetization.

Imagine how small mobile gaming would be, if you could not make money within the game itself?

Final Thoughts

My conclusion is that Dota 2 is one of the biggest computer games of all time, and the biggest Esport of all time!

Valve is doing 9/10 things right. I respect that.

Here are some ideas, after having played this game for 3400 hours.

I know that many of the things suggested in this text would not work, in practice. The changes would have to be rolled back, once installed.

I know that.

This is my attempt at making my favorite game even better. I am currently addicted to the Arcade game Custom Hero Chaos. I play it every single day.

I also watch The International, the semifinals, and the finals of the big tournaments. I might have watched 500-600 hours of professional Dota 2 play.

Dota 2 is the greatest MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) ever made, better than League of Legends – but I still see room for improvement!

Thanks for reading this article.

Introduction

I’m a very big fan of Starcraft 2. I spent my teenage years playing Starcraft 1, so I jumped into Starcraft 2 the moment it came out.

I have watched more Starcraft 2 Esport than I like to admit. In periods, it is my “go-to” casual entertainment category on Youtube.

And… yes… I watch WAY too much Youtube! =)

Weird Spot

Starcraft 2 is in a weird spot at the moment. Because, even though it is the greatest strategy game ever made (Command & Conquer is in second place), it is not getting the love from Blizzard.

Because it has been out for so long, it does not generate massive amounts of money for them anymore, so they have moved on to newer and shinier things.

But Starcraft 2 is going strong as an Esport. It was, in its day, the biggest Esport in the world. Right now, I think Dota 2 and League of Legends are the largest.

But Starcraft 2 has MASSIVE amounts of potential, this text is my attempt to tap into that potential.

The maintenance of Starcraft 2 should be handed over to a smaller, nimble, highly motivated company.

This is what I would do if I was given total control over Starcraft 2.

Split

You know, when you log into Battle Net? There would be “ordinary” Starcraft 2, and there would be “experimental” Starcraft 2.

This split would allow an aggressive approach towards the new version of Starcraft 2. As you are not messing with the old version.

Each player simply picks what they want to play.

If I was Blizzard, I would offer a revenue sharing model of 50/50 – for the experimental version of Starcraft 2.

The goal is to make the newer, experimental version of Starcraft 2 so much fun, that it overtakes regular Starcraft 2 in playing time.

Eventually, the Starcraft 2 Esport might transition into using this newer, better, more fun version of Starcraft.

Enough said!

Let’s go through the changes race by race.

Terran

The main problem with Terran is that mech does not work. It works better, now, than ever before, since the new updates to cyclones.

But good luck going late game mech!

Zerg and Protoss have HARD counters to mech. I would introduce several upgrades per unit, all across the board. And I would introduce “level 2”, and “level 3”, upgrades on the main upgrades.

Bio (Marines and Marauders) are good in the early game and mid-game. But late game they fade off significantly. They can’t do much against Infested Parasite, fungal growth, and lurkers.

Let’s take the upgrade Stim Pack. I would give this upgrade two more levels.

Researching Stim Pack level 2, would reduce the health cost of Stim Pack by 10% (10/20 down to 9/18.

Then level 3 reduces the cost by another 10% (down to 8/16). These upgrades would be expensive and take a long time. The whole point is to give Terran bio units a fighting chance in the late game.

I would give marauders a level 2, and level 3, on their concussive shell. Level 2 could reduce the attack speed of the opponent, and Level 3 could “bounce” to the closest enemy (and do the same thing to them).

This upgrade would “pause” the activity of buildings when attacked. 5 seconds each attack, up to a maximum of 60 seconds (12 attacks).

I would also give marauders a “medical upgrade”, which allowed them to heal bio units (Marines + Marauders). This heal would activate after 15 seconds of battle inactivity, and you would have to stay still for it to work.

It would activate automatically, and it would not require energy.

Controlling SPACE is an issue for terran, who likes cramped spaces and small maps. I would introduce a Barracks upgrade which gave an individual barrack 50% more hp, +1 armor, and improved flying speed by 25%. This building would also self repair at the speed of one SCV repairing it (no cost).

It would lift off and land 25% faster, than normal buildings.

This barrack would have energy, and at 100 energy, it could create a complete copy of itself. This copy functioned like a normal building. It had all the benefits of the “upgraded” barack. This copy could create another copy of itself, and so on.

This would allow a Terran to create “choke points” in designated areas. 2-3 of these buildings would fly along with the Terran army, provide vision, and soak up damage.

I would also give supply depots an individual upgrade which gave them +50% hp, +1 armor, +2 supply, and self repair. This would allow Terrans to build better “walls” against banelings – and such.

I would give Medivacs an upgrade which gave them +20 hp and +1 armor. Rocket boosters would get an upgrade, so that every time you used them, you gained a shield which negated the first 3 instances of damage.

The next upgrade would heal the medivacs +10hp every time you used Rocket Boosters.

Siege Tanks would have an upgrade which increased range by +1. Another upgrade would increase hp +25. A third upgrade would reduce damage taken from all air units by 20%.

Liberators would get two additional upgrades (apart from siege range). The first would increase siege area by 15% for every 15 seconds (while sieging the same place). Up to +60% max. The second upgrade would reduce damage taken from all sources by 12% while in siege mode.

Widow Mines would get additional upgrades. The first would be +15% range and +15% projectile speed. The second would be 15% damage reduction from all sources while in cooldown. Another upgrade would reduce damage to friendly units by 35%. The cloaking upgrade would stay the same.

Ravens would get two upgrades to their Auto Turret. +25% attack speed, and +25 hp. The second upgrade reduced energy cost by 10 (down to 40).

Ravens would also have an upgrade that enabled them to produce impassable “rocks” in the terrain. These could not be placed nearby enemy units or buildings.

Thors would get several upgrades. But the first would be a natural ability that came with all Thors. It is called “Leap” and allows a Thor to leap 15 units every 30 seconds.

They would get an upgrade called “siege”, which would make them stationary. It would give Thors +1 ground attack range, +1 armor, and self repair at the speed of 1 SCV repairing it.

This would remove them from the holy F2 button. The self repair would double for the next 15 seconds the moment it takes damage. “Siege” would also reduce supply count by 1.

Another upgrade would be “overload”, where firing speed is increased by 25% for the next 5 seconds, after 45 seconds of battle inactivity. This only applies to ground attack.

The immobility of Thors is the reason it is never used together with bio units in attacks. I would reduce the supply count of Thors from 6 to 5.

Vikings would be given an upgrade which gave them +25hp and +1 armor while fighting on the ground. Level 2 of this upgrade would give them another +25hp and +1 armor. For a total of +50hp and +2 armor.

Banshees would be given +1 attack range and cloaking duration upgrades. Another upgrade would reduce the damage they take from all sources by 25% while cloaked. This same upgrade would make them self-heal slowly while cloaked.

This would make them worthwhile harassment units throughout the game. As it stands now, they fall off dramatically after the early mid-game harassment phase is over.

Mules would repair mech 150% faster than an SCV. They can also set up “repair zones” where they automatically repair all mech units for the next 15 seconds. This repair stops for 5 seconds if any unit within this zone takes damage.

This allows a Terran player to drop down mules and mass repair their mech units between battles. EPIC!

I would make Battle Cruises smaller, slightly weaker, reduce supply to 4, and remove “massive” designation. I want them to be USED in battle, they are never used these days!

I would give Terrans new upgrades to Planetary Fortress. The first upgrade increases cannon damage and attack speed by 15%. The second upgrade allows the cannon to target air. The third upgrade allows you to MOVE the building. But it takes 5 seconds to lift, and 5 seconds to land. The last upgrade enables the cannon to shoot while the building is floating in the air.

Orbital Command would have an upgrade which gave all Terran units within a large area +1 armor and +1 hp regen for the next 15 seconds (mech units would get +2 hp regen).

I would introduce another upgrade to the Command Center. This upgrade allows you to “summon” buildings within close range of the Command Center.

You can summon sensory towers, missile turrets, bunkers, supply depots, and barracks. You can summon these within range 15 of the Command Center. But at 15-30 range the summon cost increases by 25%. And at 30-45 range the cost is increased by 50%. And at 45-60 the cost is increased by 75%.

These buildings would be 25% weaker than normal buildings, and have a “transparent” look to them (which is visible to the enemy). Bunkers come with the firing power of two marines on the inside (but cost no supply). These bunkers cannot be filled by more marines.

Sensory towers would have a detection range upgrade, and a hp pool upgrade.

Hellbats are useless late game, I would like to see upgrades that took care of that.

Missile Turrets would have a +1 range upgrade, and a +20% attack speed upgrade.

It would be cool to see two “Mule” upgrades. The first would increase movement speed and resource collection rate by 10%. It would also give 10% damage reduction from all sources.

The second upgrade would increase working capacity by another 10%. It would give an additional 10% damage reduction from all sources. So both upgrades increased working capacity by 20%, and gave 20% damage reduction.

When these upgraded Mules dropped below 70% of max hp, they would turn into a “shell” which had +2 hp regen and +2 armor. The damage reduction mechanism of 10% would turn into 20%.

They would not age in this state. They would turn back into mules once they reached full hp.

Zerg

Queens would have three upgrades. The first is +1 attack range. The second is +25% movement off-creep. The third is +1 armor.

Zerglings would get a +5hp upgrade. And another +5 hp upgrade. Another upgrade would reduce splash – and area of effect – damage to Zerglings by 25%.

Hydralisk would get +10 hp upgrade. Another upgrade gives them +10% movement speed. Another upgrade gives them a highly valuable +1 range.

Lurkers would have +20 hp upgrade. Another upgrade reduces damage taken from air units by 20%. Another upgrade allows you to connect two lurkers to “share damage”. 25% of the absorbed damage is transferred to the other lurker. This damage is itself reduced by 25%.

All these upgrades make lurkers formidable defensive units.

Ultralisks would be given a “rush” upgrade, similar to the zealot “charge”. But half the range, and they take 35% reduced damage from all sources for 1 second after they charge.

In another upgrade, Ultralisks would automatically slow units they attack by 35%. They would also slow the attack speed of that unit by 35%. In another upgrade, they would do 35% increased damage to buildings.

Nydus worm is too good on large maps, it needs a slight nerf. The unloading speed should be reduced somewhat, in my humble opinion.

Roaches would be given a +20hp upgrade. They would also have a +1 range upgrade. They would also have an upgrade which reduced damage taken from area of effect and splash damage by 25%.

I wouldn’t mind another level to their “burrow” upgrade. With this, the roaches got +1 armor while burrowed, and this bonus armor stayed with them for 5 seconds after un-burrowing. Another upgrade would allow roaches to see invisible units after being burrowed for 15 seconds.

Overlords would be given a +20 hp upgrade. And a +2 supply loading capacity upgrade. Another upgrade would have zerg units double their regeneration speed while inside an overlord (this also applies to the Overlord itself).

Another upgrade would give Overlords +10% movement speed and +1 armor while fully loaded.

Brood Lords would have a small speed upgrade. They would also get a precious +1 attack range upgrade. They would also be given an upgrade which reduces damage taken from air units by 15%.

I also think Overlords should have a “siege” option. When “sieged”, they get +1 attack range, +1 armor, double regeneration rate. This takes them away from the cherished F2 key, and makes the proper defenders of their realm.

I kid you not!

Spine Crawlers and Spore Crawlers would also have individual upgrades. They could be given hp pool and +1 attack range upgrades.

You can connect two Spine Crawlers in a “damage sharing” network. When one Spine Crawler takes damage, 25% is referred to the other Spine Crawler, and this damage is itself reduced by 25%.

Here are some quality of life improvements for you Zergs! =)

Queen Larva Injects and Creep Spread should have automatic options. This “automatic option” uses 25% more energy in Queen Injects. You can schedule out 5 Creep Tumors to be made in a specific direction, but the range and Creep Spread is reduced by 25%.

There should be a benefit of doing it yourself, but menial tasks should also have an automatic option.

Corruptors would have an upgrade for Caustic Spray. This upgrade would have Caustic Spray affect a nearby building at 50% the damage, and another building at 25% the damage.

I also think Caustic Spray should be able to HEAL zerg buildings. It could actually give a building up to +100% more hp than the normal max. It could “overheal” – if you will!

Caustic Spray would also have the ability to heal massive friendly Zerg units.

Another upgrade would give Caustic Spray double damage to Rocks, Planetary Fortresses, and “transparent” buildings (made by Terran).

Infestors would have an upgrade where they created a “stationary Brood Lord” with energy. It could not move, and had 25% reduced stats, and had that transparent look to it.

They could do the same thing with Lurkers, who operated the same way. 

They could also spawn Swarm Hosts, who operated the same way. Again, with 25% reduced stats.

In professional Starcraft 2, the Zerg late game does tend to overpower Terrans late game.

Terran can only use bio, and Fungal Growth and Infested Parasite are HARD COUNTERS. Corruptors and hydras shoot full Medivacs out of the sky – like NOTHING!

Vipers Abduct would have an upgrade which increased the range by +1 and speed by 15%. The next upgrade would enable Vipers to move your own Zerg buildings.

The effect would be half a strong on an enemy Zerg building.

Blinding Cloud would have an upgrade which increased duration by 1.3 seconds (up to 7 seconds).

Vipers would also be healed by using Consume on buildings. They could “overheal” themselves to the point of having double hit points and double mana.

Infestors would have a +1 range upgrade to their Fungal Growth. Another upgrade would give Fungal Growth +50% damage to mechanical units.

Microbial Shroud would be changed to reduce damage taken from ground and air units by 35%. It would also give enemies a 35% chance to miss.

An upgrade would increase Microbial Shroud radius by 1.5 (up to 5).

Protoss

Zealots would have a +20hp upgrade. Another upgrade gives them +1 armor, and a slow self-heal.

“Charge” would have a Level 2, which gives zealots +50% damage on the first attack after the charge. Level 3 gives zealots 25% damage reduction from all sources for 1 second after the charge.

Stalkers “Blink” would have a Level 2, which increases range by 1 and reduces cooldown by 1. Level 3 Blink would regenerate Stalker hp by 5 and shield by 10 each blink.

Adepts can join together to form a “super adept”. This adept would have normal attack damage which is good against everything. This adept would have +1 range.

This upgraded adept could make illusions of itself that took 25% extra damage and did 25% less damage (lasts 120 seconds). This unit cost no supply.

High Templar Psionic Storm upgrade gives +1 range. The next upgrade gives +1 second duration.

Immortals have a +20 shield +1 armor shield upgrade. Also +1 range. A third upgrade reduces damage taken from air by 20%.

Disruptor ”Purification Nova” moves 10% faster. Another upgrade would enable Disruptors to “infuse” friendly massive units with movement speed (lasts 90 seconds). 

The same “infusion” on a friendly building would give it 50% damage reduction from all sources for the next 90 seconds.

Archons have +40 hp upgrade. They also have a +1 armor shield upgrade. They also have a +1 range upgrade. 

Archons are useless after the mid-game. They need a big upgrade for the late game.

Another upgrade would link all nearby Archons together in a network (passive ability). 15% of the received damage is spread to all other Archons, and this damage is itself reduced by 15% before it is absorbed. Any Archon within 15 range of each other is affected.

Void Rays need improvement, but I’m not sure how. They need to become a viable unit, once again!

I would give them a cloaking ability. I would also give them a “supercharge” ability – that increased their damage by 20%, and movement speed by 10%, for 20 seconds.

This would enable them to fly in, kill a couple buildings, and fly out. They should be harassment units, but for buildings.

Carriers are good except for the hard counters (vikings, tempests, corruptors). I would give them an upgrade which reduces damage taken from these three units by 20%.

Vipers “abduct” would have a 25% lower movement range against massive units (the massive unit is moved less distance).

I would give carriers a +1 interceptor upgrade. I would give them temporary speed upgrade called “Warp Drive”, which gave them +35% speed for 5 seconds. 45 second cooldown. With the Level 2 “Warp Drive” upgrade, carriers take 35% reduced damage from all sources during Warp Drive.

This would solve the terrible immobility issues with carriers.

I would give Colossus the upgrade of taking 20% less damage from Vikings, Corruptors, and Tempests. They could also have a +1 range upgrade.

Individual photon cannons can be upgraded to have +50% hp and shield. Also +1 range. Another upgrade gives them +20% attack speed.

Phoenix needs upgrades so that they work in the late game.  

Graviton Beam (lift up) takes -10 energy (down to 40). 

They also self-heal at the same rate as their shield. This would enable them to be effective harassment units throughout the game.

Another upgrade would enable a Phoenix to become a more potent version of itself. At 200/200 energy, the Phoenix could transform into a “Super Phoenix”.

This Phoenix is larger, more durable, and can lift-up mechanical units and attack them. It can also “ground” air units – and prevent them from moving (like the Fiends in Warcraft 3).

Oracles would have two levels of Stasis Ward upgrades. The first level allows your units to attack the enemy units in the Stasis Ward at 75% damage reduction. The second upgrade allows you to attack units with a 50% damage reduction.

I would also give them a “Time Bubble” upgrade which slows movement and attack speed by 50% of ALL units in the bubble.

“Revelation” could have an upgrade that reduces affected enemy units movement speed by 10%. This effect stacks, so target them again – and it becomes 20%.

Sentries would have an upgrade to their hallucination skill. The illusion, which normally takes double damage, would instead only take 50% more damage, and deal 50% the damage of a real unit.

Force Fields would have an upgrade that made them slightly bigger, and became half the size when “destroyed”, only to be “destroyed” again, to go away completely.

Guardian Shield would have an upgrade which gave the shield +1 armor to all friendly units in the area, along with the ordinary -2 dmg effect (for ranged units).

Tempest would have a +1 range upgrade. Another upgrade would give them 15% attack speed and 10% movement speed.

The Nexus Chrono Boost would stack diminishingly. The first Chrono Boost had 100% effect. The second had 70% of the effect. The third had 50% of the effect. The effect is reduced by 30% each time.

Two Chrono Boosts would give 1.7 times the effect. Three would give 2.2 times the effect. 1 + 0.7 + 0.5 = 2.2 Chrono Boosts.

This would allow a Protoss player to save Chrono Boost – and pump out units or upgrades really quick.

Individual Unit Upgrades

I would introduce the ability to upgrade individual units. These upgrades would have 50% the cost and 50% the time of normal (unit broad) upgrades.

Once the “normal upgrade” comes into play, the individual units’ upgrades become half as effective. So all 3 individual unit upgrades for marines, and all 3 normal upgrades for biological units – becomes 4.5 upgrades.

3 for the normal upgrades, and +1.5 for the individual units upgrades. This allows a player to “rush” individual units upgrades without worrying about wasting all those resources for the late game.

Makes sense?

This would apply to all units within Starcraft 2. It would allow for HIGHLY specialized, custom built, strategies at the highest level of play.

The individual unit upgrades would be available at the factory building where the unit is produced.

Race Mixing

I would like it to be possible to build units of other races. But it would be limited to units from the race you currently play against.

Not only that, but your opponent has to have built that unit already, and you must have gained vision of it. Once you have vision of it, you can “overtake” that unit with 200 energy from your main building (whatever is the max).

Once you take it over, you send the unit back to your base, and that unit can be transformed into the very building that had it made.

This idea is, of course, taken from the Infested Terran in Starcraft 1!

These units cost 50% more and take 50% longer to make. The units will come with whatever upgrades that unit had when you took over it.

So the opponents will usually have an “upgrade advantage” within the same unit.

The unit cost and production time can be upgraded. The first upgrade makes it +35%/+35%. The next upgrade makes is +20%/+20%.

When one of these buildings is done, your opponent gets a warning message, telling them that you just finished constructing this building. They also get a “ping” on the map, telling them exactly where it is.

This is to prevent this ability to change the game too much. It should be a cool feature, not something that warps the entire game!

This feature would, of course, have to be tested. My intuition tells me this can be done correctly, and add a lot of variability and excitement to the game.

The goal is to make all units “good”, but no single unit “overpowered”.

Big Budget

If I was given a big budget – and complete control over the game? I would add 3-5 units to each race. 1-2 for each stage of the game (early/mid/late).

I would also add a whole new race. Why can’t we have 4 races, like in Warcraft 3? =)

This race would be small green aliens that have fused together with technology. They would sit inside these machines, you could not tell where they stopped and where the machine began.

But this is wishful thinking, of the highest order, of course…

Conclusion

Blizzard is reluctant to make big changes, because they do not want to mess up the reputation of a respected title – and a successful Esport.

Yes. I get it.

But you overcome this by splitting Starcraft 2 into two parts, and allow players to play whatever they want to play.

Dota 2 has taught us that players are hungry for new stuff, they like when gaming companies take risks, and try new things. Even if the changes are rolled back a lot of the time.

If Blizzard let Starcraft 2 go with a 50/50 revenue splitting method, and allowed gaming companies to make their own version of Starcraft 2.

You would access all these games from the Starcraft 2 game itself, and Blizzard would host the servers and still have complete control over the game.

Blizzard could allow all these companies to battle each other, like Hunger Games, while sitting back and raking in the money.

Custom Games

If they introduced “Revenue Sharing” for the custom games, it would be a great incentive to sit down and make a really good custom game.

A 25% revenue share for the Top 100 most played custom games within Starcraft 2. The top 50 would get an extra 5% (30%). The top 25 a bonus 5% (35%). The top 10 a 5% bonus (40%).

The third most played custom game each month would get 50%. The second would get 60%. The most played custom game would get a 70% revenue share.

For every consecutive month that a custom game stays number 1, the revenue share increases by 1%. So 30 months in a row, would give a custom game 100% revenue share.

These types of effects and statistics make great news, and give free publicity. You could release a string of articles about “disgruntled” Blizzard employees threatening to leave the company – because this custom game “beat the system” and has 100% revenue share.

Calculated revenue is simply how much money Blizzard makes on each player, for each hour that they play.

I would also institute a “stipend” that helps players, organizations or companies with good ideas develop new games. As well as experts, or mentors, that could solve technical problems and guide the process.

Good custom games could get featured within the game itself, and receive promotions from Blizzard. Some games need a player base in order to be playable.

This text was written by Theo Alexander Gerken.

Here is a link to a computer game I made. It is called 12 Rounds of Chaos. This game was based on a Dota 2 custom game called Custom Hero Chaos (that I am addicted to).

Here is my Facebook profile.

Here is my Swedish Natural Health Blog.

Here is the latest PDF file regarding my upcoming PVP Game 12 Rounds of Chaos.

This entire game is outlined in this document. It is 155 pages long.

Here it is as a PDF file.

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My Information:

1. Name: Theo Gerken
2. Physical Address: Hjalmar Söderbergs Väg 16 B
3. City: Stockholm
4. Country: Sweden
5. Facebook Profile: www.facebook.com/theo.gerken
6. Telephone Number: 0046 73 503 57 55
7. Email 1: theo.gerken@gmail.com
8. Email 2: swedishguy555@skiff.com
9. Signal: +46 73 503 57 55
10. Telegram: @TheoGerken
11. My Swedish Blog: www.tarmrening.com/blog
12. My Psychology Blog: www.personalitytypefamouspeople.com
13. My Fiction Book: The Carrot Man

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Prefered Contact Method:

1. Telephone Number: 0046 73 503 57 55
2. Signal: +46 73 503 57 55
3. Telegram: @TheoGerken
4. Email: swedishguy555@skiff.com

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IMPORTANT: If I do not respond — I did not get the message. I will answer every message. There are no exceptions whatsoever.

Keep contacting me until you get a response. We need to schedule a video chat — as soon as possible!

I want to strike a deal with a video game production company, where we produce this game together. I want to be there from beginning to end.

I want to turn this game into a Money Making Machine — and a Competitive Esport.

I am ready to relocate permanently, if that was required. I am highly motivated to get started!

Let’s do this!

/Theo Gerken

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This PDF file is hosted on my Swedish Blog. I uploaded the PDF file to several different online hosting websites — but they proved to be unreliable.

They would take the file down, for an unknown reason.

That is why I am hosting it on my Swedish Natural Health Blog.

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I have also developed a simpler, mobile specific version of this game called ”Chaos Arena”.

Read more below!

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Chaos Area

”Chaos Arena” is a simplified version of ”12 Rounds of Chaos”. It is designed — specifically — for mobile gaming.

You can read more about it in a section called ”Chaos Arena” — at the bottom of the document (page 151).

For this mobile only game, you would only have to make:

1. 20 Heroes with 6 Skills each
2. 60 Items
3. The Fighting Area
4. 20 Different Minions
5. The Game Interface Itself

The beauty of a repetitive PVP game — is that it takes place in the same environment — over and over again!

A team of 2-3 people could easily make this game.

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3 Phases

Each round would have 3 Phases.

In Phase 1 you battle computer controlled minions in a small area. The fastest clearer of these minions gets the most gold. The slowest gets the least gold.

In Phase 2 you farm computer controll minions in an open area alongside other enemy players. You farm minions and fight the other heroes at the same time! Killing minions and Heroes gives you gold, which you can use to buy items at the shop.

In Phase 3 you battle another hero in a duel to the death. The winner gets a big bounty of gold. You face the other players on rotation.

You could sell new Heroes and Skins for a couple dollars each. Just like Leage of Legends is doing.

Or you could have Premium Option for 5 dollars a month — that unlocks a bunch of new heros, skins, and game modes.

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Drop System

I would also like to have a Drop System — where the winner of each game gets a chance to win a rare skin. This skin can be sold at the market for real money.

Other players would get a chance to buy this skin. The game company would take a 15% commission on each transaction.

Spending money at Heroes and Skins would increase the chance that you get a drop like this.

This way, each individual player has an incentive to buy Heroes and Skins at the store (which is pure profit for the game company).

What do you think of this?

Send me a message — and let me know!

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