September 23, 2011 Patch

{{Patch layout
 * before = 2011-09-16
 * after = 2011-09-29


 * source = http://store.steampowered.com/news/6341/
 * source-title = 9/22 Update

Update: Fixed Next button on the match spectating screen.
 * notes =

The new matchmaker is here!

In the past with a smaller player pool we needed to try to make the best matches that we could with the people available at the time. Now that we have a larger player pool with a wider skill range it's time to try to enforce higher quality matches.

Starting today, when a player or a party enters matchmaking the system will look for people near them in skill to form a match. As time passes, the match window will slowly expand, finding more potential people or parties that you can match with. The current range of player skills is quite large, so we will clamp the maximum skill difference allowed. At the moment, we're using a relatively large maximum window, but as we get new players we are going to tighten the range.

The other major change in this update is improved handling of parties. After removing the party size restriction you might have noticed a decline in the fairness of the matches created. With smaller parties, it's possible to balance out the teams by swapping players around, but once you get 3, 4, or 5 man parties the number of options to balance the teams quickly disappear. We are now correctly taking party size into account which will drastically reduce the number of lopsided matches.

In the long term we want people to be able to play in 5 man parties but, depending on who is available, there might not be a viable match. Just remember if it's taking too long to find a match, try reducing the number of people in your party and you should be good to go.

Gameplay

 * Fixed how Venomancer's Poison Sting refreshes on attack.
 * Rocket Flare and Iceblast should now behave correctly when they are cast while queueing commands.
 * Fixed various minor gameplay bugs.
 * Fixed hitbox/selection on various neutrals.

UI

 * Fixed Weaver's Swarm not showing armor reduction in the victim's stats UI
 * Fixed Dust of Appearance buff icon not showing properly when the last dust was used
 * Fixed bottle showing 0 charges when it contained a rune
 * Revised multiple unit selection -- units now show up on the left side of the screen and each unit is displayed. Temporary art treatment.
 * Fixed ability hotkeys not working when querying units with no abilities
 * Fixed minimap drawing slightly translucent background
 * We now show an error dialog if there are no matchmaking regions selected when clicking find match.
 * Friends list shows additional information for friends playing Dota 2.
 * Party invite dialog shows names of all members currently in the party.
 * Minimap icon updates.
 * Two new options to the game settings screen: Double Tap to ability self cast and Unified Unit Control.
 * Fixed minimap icons of dead units sticking around too long.
 * Minimap camera display now more accurately reflects the current view.

Visuals

 * Fixed Spectre rising to flying height when walking on a dagger path.
 * Fixed heroes never playing their idles if a hero stopped moving but was animating while turning.
 * Updated Nevermore model.
 * Revisions to Dire terrain: fountain detailing, juke pass, color update, tree variants.
 * Beefed up sven model and added bigger sword.

Audio
}}
 * Hooked up new Pre-Game start exploration music, this transitions to the regular explore when the game starts
 * Fixed buy sound playing when attempting to buy items with illusions.