Valve Rejected Some Really Cool DOTA 2 Mods

In another dimension, people are playing DOTA 2 as a giant ice cream cone wielding a nacho glaive.

Valve’s Steam Workshop, where players can submit their own mods for possible addition to games like DOTA 2 (among many others), has a rather strict set of guidelines. In places, however, these guidelines can be somewhat vague, resulting in mystifying rejections of damn cool stuff. Over the years, people have come up with items, couriers, and announcers that run the gamut from laughably bizarre to fantastically badass—and yet, they’ve been turned away at the pearly white GabeN gate to Valve’s approval. Here are some of the best mods Valve rejected despite their general radness (or because of their excessive dumbness). These mods were declared “incompatible” and tossed out into the cold.

Ice Cream

It’s an item set that would make you look like a giant murder-prone ice cream cone. Funny? Definitely. In line with the “overall tone” of DOTA 2, something Valve treats as a sacred holy grail that is, regrettably, not filled with ice cream? Probably not.

Notcho Blade

Is it a glaive? A sword? A giant, strategically gnawed Dorito? We’ll never find out, given that this one is definitely not in line with DOTA 2‘s tone. Also, it might veer into the territory of copyright infringement, something else Valve desperately tries to avoid. It’s a shame, though: as the above video shows, we could’ve had a Mountain Dew and Dorito item combo. I don’t care about game rules; that would’ve had to provide some kind of stat bonus, if not to STR or AGI then to DCHBAG.

WolfHunter—Entangle

OK, enough silly food gags. Here’s a rad effect that was part of a larger set—the Lone Druid’s WolfHunter—all of which got accepted by Valve except this one thing. The whole set came about as a result of months of work and a not insignificant amount of feedback from Reddit, but the entangle effect didn’t make the cut for some strange reason. Technical limitations, maybe? Even though it was originally omitted last year, fans are still requesting that Valve add it in.

Smiley Mask

This one would’ve been for the Bounty Hunter, and it would’ve given him a cool, minimal dollop of Joker-esque menace. Sadly, no dice. Maybe it was a tone thing, maybe it was a copyright infringement thing. Tough to say. I’m definitely not smiling about its exclusion, though.

Companion Cube Courier

Portal‘s companion cube! In DOTA! Seems like it’d be a great fit for a courier, especially given that DOTA 2 already has a Portal Pack available for purchase. But nope, it’s a no go. While I’m sure Valve has their reasons, I choose to believe they tossed the suggestion into the furnace for this reason, as proposed by a fan: “It’s incompatible because of game balance. Who would be able to kill that courier (again)?”

Gordon Freeman Announcer Pack

Hardee har har. I get it.

Baron of the Blade Crabs

A rad crab hat for Naga Siren. It got rejected for… reasons? As one fan points out: “So Tidehunter is allowed to wear a starfish and carry around a squid but Naga can’t wear a crab?” Weird.

PeaceCraft 3—Modception edition. The cycle ends

Almost certainly a gag. I mean, read this description, presumably referencing DOTA’s (partial) origins in Warcraft III: “A mod, based on a mod, made in a mod after it stopped being a mod.”

Anuwrath

So this one is in a super weird spot. These snazzy Egyptian fantasy duds for Phantom Lancer spent years unapproved due to compatibility issues, only to finally get the vaunted Valve seal of approval in January of this year, when their strings were re-added to the game client. However, they’re still listed as incompatible on Steam Workshop, and they’ve yet to make a proper appearance in-game. Once again, what is going onnnnnnn?

Gabe Newell Loading Screen

No.

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