Valve snapped its fingers once again to initiate a ban wave in Dota 2 today, and Overplus users were on the receiving end this time. This third-party software was under fire throughout 2023 by community members, as it allowed players to have unfair advantages in ranked games.
Though many Dota 2 fans criticized the app over the years, Valve previously had a gray approach to the matter, causing Overplus to cross the line. With the developer remaining passive, Overplus continued accessing player data that Valve discontinued for third-party apps. Valve struck unexpectedly to make up for years of lost time, and it’s currently impossible to tell how many players were banned.
One player, who’s ranked in the Immortal bracket with 8,000 MMR, shared their match history, highlighting how many players were banned from their recent games. Limitless, a player who received a competitive ban at the end of 2023, also hit 12,000 MMR and got banned right after his champagne-popping achievement.
Amid the firestorm, Dota 2 players who used Overplus ran to the program’s Discord server and forums to check in with their now ban-mates. This community is expected to have over 155,000 users, and the developers of the program awkwardly declared war against Valve as a response.
Based on Dot Esports’ observation of the matter, a decent portion of the active player base was affected by the ban wave, which goes to show how rampant this “cheating” method was amongst players. As Valve withheld taking a side, more users submitted to the temptations and started using the program to level the playing field. Overplus allows users to scan matches before they even start, allowing them to dodge if there are players who’d like to avoid playing with or against. The program also feeds users information regarding the hero-pick tendencies of their enemies, guiding them through bans.
