Bugs plague Dota 2 at the early stages of The International 2023

The International 2023 main stage is about to start in a few days. The group stage was plagued with upsets. It was surprising to see PSG Quest getting eliminated this early from the tournament.

Keyd Stars made it to the main stage. Hopefully, they are learning their moves from OG to make a deep run because everyone loves an underdog story.

Despite having thrilling matches, there were some issues at the early stages of The International 2023 group stages- bugs. It even caused a match to proc a restart from Valve! Moreover, it was not the only bug making an appearance at TI12.

The Earth Spirit Bug

Centaur Warrunner’s Aghanim’s effect was affected by bugs since its release. Although Valve tried its best to fix some of it, the latest case of Centaur’s Aghs bug found its way to one of Ti12’s matches.

Not the easiest hero to master, but well worth it. (Credit: Valve)

In a match between Azure Ray and Thunder Awaken, Earth Spirit was mid-animation casting its Rolling Boulder while Centaur used his Aghanim’s ability, Hitch a Ride on him. The result caused Earth Spirit to be left in Rolling Boulder’s animation, invulnerable, unmovable and stuck for eternity.

At first, the casters duo in the match was confused. However, after quickly figuring out what happened, they made hilarious comments about the situation and couldn’t contain their laughter. Valve quickly implemented a bug fix and restarted the match.

After a memorable meme-able moment, Azure Ray took the clean series against Thunder Awaken. Despite the outcome, the bug will go down in TI history as it created one of the most hilarious and memorable moments for the viewers.

The Naga Siren Bug

On day 2, during a match between Tundra Esports and PSG Quest, players discovered another in-game bug. Tundra’s offlaner Neta "33" Shapira, on his Doom, could see Quest’s safelane Naga Siren’s illusions. Naga Siren’s ability, Mirror Image, creates illusions to confuse her opponents and makes her farming on the map more efficient. Thus, seeing the real Naga Siren gave an advantage to Tundra.

Tundra Esports's Bug.
Credits: Dotabuff

However, Tundra offered a rematch as a gesture of sportsmanship, but Quest declined due to a belief that the bug would persist.

Naga siren. Credits: Valve

Surprisingly, despite playing at an unfortunate disadvantage, it was a back-and-forth game. PSG Quest’s safelane Naga even broke the record for the highest Gold Per Minute ever achieved in the history of The International.

At 78 minutes, 33 said via in-game that the bug mysteriously disappeared. Tundra then closed out the match at 87 minutes.

One of the likely theories about the bug’s occurrence was because of Doom disconnecting and reconnecting in the game. The action caused the Dota 2 client to view Doom as an in-game spectator rather than a player, granting him access to information that is only available to spectators.

Valve’s Compensation

Dota 2TV is a feature that allows fans to spectate International matches inside the game’s client. Recently, the feature was ridiculed with bugs, causing lags and freezes in-game, which makes fans unable to watch the game. In addition to the bugs, the players were also unable to cast their prediction votes at the start of the match.

Valve swiftly acted and implemented an update to fix the feature before the seeding phase of the tournament. Moreover, Valve also made an announcement in-game regarding the situation, giving players the maximum points they could have earned from the successful predictions.

Dota 2 has had its fair share of bugs since its release, from fountain hooks to enchanting the Roshan. However, Valve has been quick to deploy bug fixes. As The International 2023 has more than a week left, we may see additional bugs and hopefully more upsets.

Credit: The International Compendium 2023 // Dota 2 // Valve

Read More At Strafe Esports:

The International 12 Group Stage Ends: A Recap of What Happened

PSG Joins TI 12 with Quest Esports Partnership.

Credits: Valve