Benaroya Hall isn’t just an amazing place to watch The International because it is a prestigious beautiful building that is home to the Seattle Orchestra, but at game time, it is also filled with friends and of course other Dota 2 fans.

<img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/brew_pubstomp.jpg" width=624 height=405>

While not everyone can fit in the hall, you can still watch with friends and other Dota 2 fans as a group. To help you find events, we’ve put up an <a href="http://www.dota2.com/pubstomps/" title="Official PubStomp page">Official PubStomp</a> page. Here organizers can submit their event to be listed and the community can find ones in their area and sign-up to attend. Make sure to check back for events in your area as more are submitted leading up to The International.

But what if you can’t make it to the event and instead you plan on watching the game from home – only one problem. You don’t own a Windows computer but instead use Mac or Linux? We’ve got you covered. Not only can you now watch games in client on Mac and Linux computers, the complete Dota 2 game is available for Mac and Linux players.
<a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/">Grab it here</a>.

<a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/"><img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/applelinux.jpg" border=0 width=624 height=405> </a>

Now that the what and where are covered, here is the when everyone keeps asking for.

The International Official Schedule
Group Stage Days
August 3: 9AM -> 10PM
August 4: 9AM -> 10PM
August 5: 9AM -> 2PM

Main Event at Benaroya Hall
August 7: 12PM-> ~9-11PM
August 8: 12PM-> ~9-11PM
August 9: 12PM-> ~9-11PM
August 10: 12PM-> ~7-11PM
August 11: 12PM-> ~6-9 PM

Since this is a live sporting event, the ending times may vary. All times are listed in PST.

What if you already knew all of this – how about this one? <a href="http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=421525">Team Liquid Merchandise </a> will be available at The International and Valve store once The International 2013 kicks off.

Benaroya Hall isn’t just an amazing place to watch The International because it is a prestigious beautiful building that is home to the Seattle Orchestra, but at game time, it is also filled with friends and of course other Dota 2 fans.



While not everyone can fit in the hall, you can still watch with friends and other Dota 2 fans as a group. To help you find events, we’ve put up an Official PubStomp page. Here organizers can submit their event to be listed and the community can find ones in their area and sign-up to attend. Make sure to check back for events in your area as more are submitted leading up to The International.

But what if you can’t make it to the event and instead you plan on watching the game from home – only one problem. You don’t own a Windows computer but instead use Mac or Linux? We’ve got you covered. Not only can you now watch games in client on Mac and Linux computers, the complete Dota 2 game is available for Mac and Linux players.
Grab it here.



Now that the what and where are covered, here is the when everyone keeps asking for.

The International Official Schedule
Group Stage Days
August 3: 9AM -> 10PM
August 4: 9AM -> 10PM
August 5: 9AM -> 2PM

Main Event at Benaroya Hall
August 7: 12PM-> ~9-11PM
August 8: 12PM-> ~9-11PM
August 9: 12PM-> ~9-11PM
August 10: 12PM-> ~7-11PM
August 11: 12PM-> ~6-9 PM

Since this is a live sporting event, the ending times may vary. All times are listed in PST.

What if you already knew all of this – how about this one? Team Liquid Merchandise will be available at The International and Valve store once The International 2013 kicks off.

When we first announced the <a href="http://blog.dota2.com/2013/05/introducing-the-interactive-compendium/">Interactive Compendium</a>, we hoped it would be something that Dota players would be interested in. Shortly afterwards, we were forced to admit we underestimated <a href="http://blog.dota2.com/2013/05/stretch-goal-two-completed/">the community's response to it</a>. Upon reflection, we decided that the community was clearly sending us a message - so we spent the next two months adding more features to the <a href="http://www.dota2.com/international/compendium/">Compendium</a>.

With the International only three weeks away, we thought we'd cover some of the things we've added. If the last time you looked inside the Compendium was back when it first shipped, we hope you find some of these additions interesting.

<strong>THE INTERNATIONAL FANTASY CHALLENGE</strong>
Assemble a fantasy team of players from those attending The International. As they play in the tournament, your fantasy team will earn points. At the closing of the tournament, each of your fantasy teams will earn you an item based on its performance. The in-game UI tracks the points earned by your fantasy players, so that you can easily compare and compete with your friends. Leaderboards and highlights on fantasy teams will displayed at both the International web site and the event itself.

<img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_compendium_2013_fantasychall.jpg">

<strong>PLAYER CARDS</strong>
Collect trading cards of your favorite players at The International, and stamp them into the Compendium's team pages. Collect an entire team and earn more customization options for your International Courier. Trade your extra player cards with your friends to complete the whole set, and bag yourself a mythical crab mount as well.

<img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_compendium_2013_playercards.jpg">

<strong>PREDICT THE FUTURE</strong>
Compete with your friends to make accurate predictions on many results in the tournament. With seven pages of predictions to make, there's an endless amount of statistical analysis you can do to prove you knew what was going to happen all along.

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_compendium_2013_predictions_full.jpg"><img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_compendium_2013_predict.jpg"></a>

<strong>SOLO CHAMPIONSHIP AND ALL-STAR MATCH</strong>
Vote on the players you'd like to see participate in a Solo Championship to determine who's the greatest solo mid-lane player in the world. If you haven't yet, don't forget to also vote on the ten players you'd like to see in the All-Star Match.

<strong>NEW REWARDS</strong>
Along with your compendium itself, you also receive a number of extra bonuses: a limited edition 125% XP Battle Bonus that lasts until the International is over, an International Smeevil courier with customization capabilities, and new taunt animations for several Heroes.

<img src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_compendium_2013_rewards.jpg">

If you're interested in more in-depth details, check out the <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=144566542" target="_blank">The International 2013 Interactive Compendium Guide</a> that Jimo and <a href="http://www.cyborgmatt.com/" target="_blank">Cyborgmatt</a> put together.

When we first announced the Interactive Compendium, we hoped it would be something that Dota players would be interested in. Shortly afterwards, we were forced to admit we underestimated the community's response to it. Upon reflection, we decided that the community was clearly sending us a message - so we spent the next two months adding more features to the Compendium.

With the International only three weeks away, we thought we'd cover some of the things we've added. If the last time you looked inside the Compendium was back when it first shipped, we hope you find some of these additions interesting.

THE INTERNATIONAL FANTASY CHALLENGE
Assemble a fantasy team of players from those attending The International. As they play in the tournament, your fantasy team will earn points. At the closing of the tournament, each of your fantasy teams will earn you an item based on its performance. The in-game UI tracks the points earned by your fantasy players, so that you can easily compare and compete with your friends. Leaderboards and highlights on fantasy teams will displayed at both the International web site and the event itself.



PLAYER CARDS
Collect trading cards of your favorite players at The International, and stamp them into the Compendium's team pages. Collect an entire team and earn more customization options for your International Courier. Trade your extra player cards with your friends to complete the whole set, and bag yourself a mythical crab mount as well.



PREDICT THE FUTURE
Compete with your friends to make accurate predictions on many results in the tournament. With seven pages of predictions to make, there's an endless amount of statistical analysis you can do to prove you knew what was going to happen all along.



SOLO CHAMPIONSHIP AND ALL-STAR MATCH
Vote on the players you'd like to see participate in a Solo Championship to determine who's the greatest solo mid-lane player in the world. If you haven't yet, don't forget to also vote on the ten players you'd like to see in the All-Star Match.

NEW REWARDS
Along with your compendium itself, you also receive a number of extra bonuses: a limited edition 125% XP Battle Bonus that lasts until the International is over, an International Smeevil courier with customization capabilities, and new taunt animations for several Heroes.



If you're interested in more in-depth details, check out the The International 2013 Interactive Compendium Guide that Jimo and Cyborgmatt put together.

PLATFORM
Dota 2 is now available for Mac OS X and Linux.

Dota 2 Mac OS X Minimum System Requirements:
Mac OS X Lion 10.7
4GB RAM
8GB Hard drive space
nVidia 320M or higher, or Radeon 7000 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher

Dota 2 Linux Minimum System Requirements:
Ubuntu 12.04
Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
4GB RAM
8GB Hard Drive Space,
nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2600/3600 (Graphic Drivers: nVidia 310, AMD 12.11), OpenGL 2.1
OpenAL Compatible Sound Card

UI
- Added automatic detection of GG calls in tournament and practice lobby matches, which then ends the game 10 seconds later.
- In the fantasy stats dropdown, players you have on any of your teams will be highlighted and mousing over them will list which of your fantasy teams they are on.
- Guild invitations now display who's inviting you, and how many members the guild has.
- Added a tournament drop for early roshan kills (before creeps spawn)
- Quick Cast now works on the portrait of your currently selected unit.
- Players can customize which messages appear on the Chat Wheel.
- Messages sent via the Chat Wheel appear with an arrow icon next to them.
- Calendar page now shows a list of tournament games per day.

VISUALS
- New Earthshaker model
- Updates to some Earthshaker effects
- Fixed Eclipse not always playing the missed Lucent Beam visual effects
- Made Abaddon's Borrowed Time effect and healing more clear

MATCHMAKING
- People who decline Matchmaking are temporarily restricted from searching for 45 seconds
- Parties are more likely to be matched against other similarly sized parties
- Reduced the average skill variance in games where there are 10 individual players
- When matching parties, the matchmaker now also considers the minimum experience level on both teams rather than just the average.
- Fixed a bug in the matchmaker that was causing it to insufficiently segregate players based on win count
- Fixed a bug that would cause excessive queue times, especially for large parties or high skill players

GAMEPLAY
- Abaddon: Fixed Abaddon's illusions applying Curse of Avernus
- Abaddon: Fixed Aphotic Shield being dispelled
- Abaddon: Fixed Mist Coil Heal/Damage order
- Dragon Knight: Fixed Dragon Blood's bonus armor not showing properly in the UI
- Gyrocopter: Fixed the Fountain doing no damage to Gyrocopter 's Homing Missile
- Io: Fixed Tether sharing mana regeneration when you have full mana
- Io: Fixed Spirits initially spawning 250 units away instead of 150 units
- Medusa: Fixed various spells being unable to remove the stun from Stone Gaze
- Medusa: Fixed Stone Gaze facing requirement not taking into account distance once the debuff is added
- Necrolyte: Fixed several specific heroes being unable to buyback for the rest of the game if they died to Reaper's Scythe.
- Omniknight: Fixed Guardian Angel not affecting Siege units
- Silencer: Fixed Curse of the Silent being removed by Aphotic Shield/Manta
- Slark: Fixed Pounce's Leash getting dispelled
- Visage: Fixed being able to dodge Soul Assumption
- Fixed the free courier in Mid Only not always being controllable if you selected your hero too late
- Fixed Backswing behavior for: Soul Rip, Tombstone, Cold Feet, Ice Vortex, Chilling Touch, Enfeeble, Shallow Grave, Thunder Strike, Kinetic Field, Static Storm, Malefice, Midnight Pulse, Howl, Stifling Dagger, Static Link, Shrapnel, Psionic Trap, Whirling Axes (Ranged), Storm Bolt, God's Strength, Wave of Terror, Venomous Gale, Shadow Word, Fatal Bonds, The Swarm, Time Lapse, Maledict, Overpower and Ice Shards

AUDIO
- Non-default announcers will now comment on pick/ban phases.
- Windows Mixer control for Dota2 no longer resets to full volume on start up.
- Music volume floor goes to 0.
- Updated Abaddon VO

Added Abaddon!

GAMEPLAY
- Death Prophet: Fixed AI on Exorcism spirits that caused them to sometimes be less efficient and linger on units far from you
- Doom: Fixed Doom not disabling Flak Cannon
- Huskar: Fixed being able to attack while he is leaping in Life Break
- Jakiro: Fixed Liquid Fire debuff being removed by Manta/BKB
- Lich: Fixed the order of damage instances on Frost Nova
- Omniknight: Fixed his spells not working on Mechanical units
- Phantom Assassin: Fixed Stifling Dagger projectile speed traveling a little too slow
- Sven: Fixed Storm Bolt aoe not hitting invisible units
- Fixed Siege not getting increased damage when the Ranged Barracks dies
- Fixed Buckler and Mekansm +2 active armor buff stacking
- Fixed Vladmir's Offering not working on Siege units

TRAINING
- Added match making option to opt out of Limited Hero mode
- Fixed some players not receiving item rewards after completing training tasks
- Play Tab will now remember your previous selection
- Fixed various progression bugs in Mechanics II
- Fixed disabled skill assignment using CTRL+Ability when in tutorial

COMPENDIUM
- Added Player Card rewards. Unlock the Smeevil Crab mount by stamping complete teams
- Added the International Fantasy Challenge
- Added Solo Championship Voting

UI
- Added a hotkey to Select All Units
- Added a hotkey to activate Speed Burst on your flying courier
- Minor reorganization to control settings page
- Fixed Replay Speed Decrease hotkey missing from the configuration panel
- Increased the maximum number of total spectator slots from 14 to 22
- Removed Favorite hero count limit
- Moved Solo Only Matchmaking to a setting on the main Find Match tab.
- New Tournament Drops:
# When a player reaches a Godlike streak
# When a Courier is killed
# When a player buys a Divine Rapier
# When Earthshaker Echoslam's 5 heroes
- Increased number of item drops when a Tournament Event occurs.
- Tournament Items can now be upgraded by watching through Twitch
- Fixed Quick Cast bug preventing use on neutrals/couriers

VISUAL
- Fixed Global Silence not showing the visual effect on Familiars even though they are silenced
- Updated ability icons for Dark Seer and Dragon Knight
- Added new disarmed effect
- Fixes for a few portrait based effects, such as Enigma's vortex

AUDIO
- updated Mekansm SFX.

WORKSHOP
- Added Mok mandrill courier
- Added Defense Grid announcer
- Fixed orientation on Bounty Hunter's Jinada Glows on workshop items
- Fixed Nether Ward effect orientation for workshop items
- Added support for workshop authored effects on Kunkka's weapon

BOTS
- Bots will no longer stare at a dropped gem, futilely trying to destroy it.

<a href="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/keyart_beastmaster.jpg"><img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/inline_beastmaster.jpg" width="100%" /></a>

We are now approaching the two year anniversary of Dota 2’s limited release, and we feel like we’re ready to expand to include anyone who wants to give it a try. In the case of Dota 2, or other games with large backend systems that support them, this isn’t quite as simple as pressing the big red launch button, then sitting back and watching, because of the large infrastructure they rely upon.

As a result, we’re going to take a different approach to the launch of Dota 2 than we have with our previous titles. Our goals are to create little disruption for the existing Dota 2 audience, to bring new players into a system that will work reliably, and to not immediately melt down all of our datacenters. We aren’t sure how long this is going to take, but in our experience everything with Dota ends up involving a lot more people than we predict, so we’re going to ease our way into it.

<a href="http://blog.dota2.com/2013/06/transitioning-into-launch-mode/">Read the full blog post</a>

We are now approaching the two year anniversary of Dota 2’s limited release, and we feel like we’re ready to expand to include anyone who wants to give it a try. In the case of Dota 2, or other games with large backend systems that support them, this isn’t quite as simple as pressing the big red launch button, then sitting back and watching, because of the large infrastructure they rely upon.

As a result, we’re going to take a different approach to the launch of Dota 2 than we have with our previous titles. Our goals are to create little disruption for the existing Dota 2 audience, to bring new players into a system that will work reliably, and to not immediately melt down all of our datacenters. We aren’t sure how long this is going to take, but in our experience everything with Dota ends up involving a lot more people than we predict, so we’re going to ease our way into it.

Read the full blog post

VISUALS
- Updated Puck's face
- Updated Brewmaster's face

GAMEPLAY
- Axe: Fixed Berserker's Call bonus armor being dispellable
- Batrider: Fixed Flamebreak being a constant 300 knockback distance instead of a variable amount (10->400) based on the distance from the center of the blast
- Beastmaster: Fixed Turn Rate on Beastmaster's Hawk and Boar being slightly too low
- Bloodseeker: Fixed Bloodrage cast range (600->800)
- Brewmaster: Fixed Earth Primal Split Boulder manacost
- Chaos Knight: Fixed Reality Rift bonus damage sometimes proccing multiple times if you attack more than once in 1.2 seconds
- Drow: Fixed a rare bug with Trueshot Aura that could cause it to not give bonus damage
- Elder Titan: Fixed Ancestral Spirit legacy keys not working
- Jakiro: Fixed Liquid Fire damage interval happening every 1 second instead of every 0.5 seconds
- Juggernaut: Fixed some vision issues with Omnislash
- Huskar: Fixed Burning Spears counter logic getting forgotten when purged
- Invoker: Fixed Ice Wall not slowing units like Golems, Familiars, and Primal Split units
- Io: Fixed the initial Relocate not being interrupted if Io was only disable in the cast time but not when the teleportation happened
- Io: Fixed the initial Relocate not getting interrupted by Root debuffs (Ensnare, Overgrowth, etc)
- Io Fixed Relocate not revealing FoW for enemies
- Io: Fixed Relocate not showing the initial visual effect on the ground for enemies (only showed ping)
- Io: Fixed being able to return Tether Relocate with a different set of targeting rules than the initial direction (no longer allowed to return relocate a creep)
- Io: Fixed Overcharge missing a 2 second toggle cooldown
- Lifestealer: Fixed allied cast Infest killing the creeps and healing you
- Lone Druid: Fixed Battle Cry not having an aoe limit (should be 1000)
- Medusa: Fixed Mystic Snake not jumping to magic immune units
- Nature's Prophet: Fixed being able to use Teleporation while rooted
- Nyx Assassin: Fixed Spiked Carapace charge not getting used when hurt by an invulnerable source
- Razor: Fixed Unstable Current not purging off Repel
- Shadow Fiend: Fixed casting subsequent Shadowrazes being too slow
- Slark: Fixed Shadow Dance passive buff icon updating on hero proximity while dead
- Slark: Fixed Pounce sometimes causing an allied Flaming Lasso to end early.
- Spectre: Fixed Spectre Illusions benefiting from the damage reduction portion of Dispersion
- Tidehunter: Fixed Kraken Shell working while Doomed
- Timbersaw: Fixed Timberchain ending prematurely with Stone Gaze, Diffusal Blade, etc
- Treant Protector: Fixed Living Armor being castable on magic immune allies
- Undying: Fixed Zombie units losing HP with Soul Rip

- Fixed Truestrike causing you to be unable to miss against Towers
- Fixed Roshan missing the final 500 hp/10 dmg upgrade later in the game
- Fixed Backswing behavior with Rupture, Viscous Nasal Goo, Fissure, Decay and Earthshock
- Fixed truesight being unable to be applied to sleeping/invulnerable units
- Fixed Filler buildings having no armor
- Fixed Neutral's Frost Armor slow affecting magic immune enemies

UI
- Added Quick Cast option to Game menu: causes all abilities to cast immediately upon keypress (with autocast key), targeting the cursor's current position
- Improved UI feedback and functionality when connection to the DOTA network is lost or has not yet been established.
- Client no longer waits for connection to the DOTA network before allowing access to the UI. Features that do not require this connection are accessible.
- You can now hold control when pinging to send a "caution" ping instead.
- Added Aegis reclaim and Roshan respawn timers to the spectator popups.

AUDIO
- Added Ownage sounds to Storm Spirit, Axe, Nature's Prophet, and Juggernaut Killing Spree announcers.
- Added distant tower destruction sounds.
- Added Mortal Strike sfx.
- Fixed sync on Freezing Field.

COMMUNITY
- Fixed bug allowing reports outside of matches in certain contexts
- Players receive an additional report submission if someone they report subsequently receives a communication ban

PERFORMANCE
- Fixed an intermittent crash on some particle effects like medusa's ultimate

- Fixed a bug with Broadcasters trying to select units
- Fixed a bug with Reaper's Scythe
- Stone Gaze effect improvements
- Mortal Strike sound added
- Fixed Stone Gaze sometimes lasting too long
- Fixed Thirst initial armor value being incorrect
- Updated CM pick/ban layout
- Fixed headless Luna
- Fixed Swap with All Random
- Fixed a crash when combining Skewer and Pounce