In the popular MOBA and LoL rival DOTA 2 (Steam) a front of professionals and players is strongly opposing the third-party app Overplus. This would cause trouble both in the professional realm and among regular players.
Who is calling for this ban?
- The former pro Joanatha ‘Loda’ Berg took a stance against the app ‘Overplus’ on January 29 (via twitter). Generally, there has been growing discontent in the DOTA 2 community against the app for several weeks now. Two weeks ago, the question was asked: When will Valve finally ban people using the ‘Russian cheating app’ Overplus? (via reddit)
- The app would reveal a lot of data about the opposing team before the match even starts. This is bad for DOTA 2, Loda writes. Valve should take action against the app and ban it.
- He noticed that suddenly many champs with the highest winrate are being banned from his own team before a match starts – even when these heroes are not ‘meta’, meaning they are not the typical bans. These are apparently targeted bans that result from the fact that opponents have accurate information about the players’ preferences.
App provides such a strong information advantage that it feels like cheating
This is the problem: As the US site Dotesports reports, the app Overplus offers many functions for DOTA 2 players, where players could even use cosmetic skins they do not own.
However, the point of contention is the function ‘Pick Stage Analyzer’, where the tool sifts through the database and gives the user an advantage in the draft phase before each game.
Parts of the community already see this as ‘cheating’: because the app reveals which skills and items the opponent prefers for the heroes – allowing one to anticipate and prepare counters.
Even streamers on DOTA 2 are joining in, saying the advantages are simply unfair.
Furthermore, the app, as Dotesports writes, is even said to be able to access data even when one tries to prevent it.
Some are now calling for the ban of Overplus to preserve the integrity of DOTA 2. Valve has yet to comment on the matter.
This is what it’s about: This is a case of an app that offers such advantages that one practically has to use it to keep up, even if one does not want to.
While one can argue that ‘pro teams’ also pay people to observe and analyze opposing teams to gain the advantages that Overplus simply offers – this level of effort is hardly justifiable in regular play and provides real advantages that are akin to cheating.
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