Several Dota 2 pros and notable creators are taking a stand alongside the community today, calling on Valve to outlaw the controversial third-party tool Overplus which has been wreaking havoc across ranked and amateur Dota events.
Ex-pro and Alliance chief executive Jonathan “Loda” Berg is the latest to weigh in on the use of the Overplus app, calling it a “serious problem” and asking for Valve to step in and ban the use of the tool on Jan. 29. In particular, Loda called out the app’s use and display of match data, meaning users can view a player’s preferred hero pool then target that player with bans during matches. “[There are] just too many ‘random’ bans that suspiciously target your highest winrate heroes even if they are not meta,” Loda explained.
Overplus, originally known as Overwolf, is a third-party tool for Dota with a myriad of features, including a cosmetic and interface changer that lets players equip skins they don’t own. However, it’s Overplus’ “pick stage analyzer” that has drawn the ire of the wider community. The tool scrapes player information and provides a major benefit during the draft phase, allowing Overplus users a competitive advantage during the pre-game phase.
It’s been likened to cheating, and it’s hard not to agree—the app even lets you view a player’s most used item and skill build for their hero picks, allowing you to plan out and counter an opponent before the game even begins. For months, those grinding ranked or weekend Battle Cups have reached breaking point after their opponents use the tool to gain a competitive advantage.
Popular Dota streamer Gorgc sided with Loda, adding that either all users should have access to the information or no one should. “When it comes to Immortal draft, it’s so unfair. You can see who’s a smurf, who is an account buyer, all their previous games—super valuable info,” Gorgc said. The worst factor is the player info is available even if you’ve set your account to private and aren’t sharing data with the “Expose Public Match Data” option in the Dota 2 menu.
Similar third-party apps have popped up in rival titles like League of Legends with varying capabilities, from pre-game draft info to providing a user with key details during a match like opposition gold and item purchases. All are generally considered cheating as they go above and beyond a regular player’s capabilities.
Valve has remained silent on the topic thus far, so it’s unclear how much longer the application’s intrusive data fetching will last, but it’s clear Dota players have had enough and are imploring devs to consider banning players and the app going forward.
