Valve asks fans for help in fixing Dota 2's lag problems

Valve is famous for its secrecy, but a senior developer has asked the Dota 2 community for help on a new feature.

On July 15, a Valve senior software engineer named Jeff Hill made a public social media post asking fans for feedback on a new Dota 2 feature. New anti-lag compensation features have been added to Dota 2 but Valve needs user feedback to develop it further. 

Direct communication from Valve regarding Dota 2 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is rare but welcomed by the community. The most popular reply is simply “thanks Jeff for the communication.” Other users immediately shared their experience with the new system including some matches involving Quincy Crew off-laner Rodrigo "Lelis" Santos.

Jeff Hill has previously posted to inform users about small patches and ask for individual user feedback. Most of his requests receive little fanfare, aside from some well-timed bug fix announcements. Then again, it’s somewhat disappointing that a social media post about lag compensation is a legitimate moment.

Dota 2 introduces new anti-lag system

Internet problems are a universal pain across esports titles. Dota 2 team fights can come down to split-second decisions. A blip at the wrong time can cost an entire game. Inconsistent input delay makes these situations even more precarious.

The new Dota 2 anti-lag system hopes to stabilize the input latency of players with under 100 ping. Dota 2 has a slight amount of input delay that equalizes the playing field for players on different latencies. This buffer period can change if a player’s ping crosses certain thresholds. Hill’s new system aims to regulate the amount of input lag a player with inconsistent ping experiences.

Dota 2 players on wifi connections will benefit the most from this new system. Over-the-air internet is much more prone to occasional bubbles and network friction. As always, connecting to the internet with an ethernet connection is ideal but not always possible.

This new feature only applied to latencies under 100 milliseconds. That’s enough for the majority of the Dota 2 population but could affect players queueing for servers away from where they live. Having low ping in the first place will always help eliminate lag.