Icefrog just rolled out a new patch for Dota 2 earlier today which included some major changes, especially during the picking phase.
The most noticeable change being when the same hero is simultaneously picked by both parties at any point in the picking phase, the hero will be banned instead and the round will restart. The hero selection duration in All Pick mode was also reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
Another big change is that wards can now at anytime be attacked by the player owning it. This will make room for the owner to deny the gold and experience to the enemy if he or she is certain that the enemy has knowledge of the ward being placed.
The health regen of several items received a nerf which included Ring of regen, Soul ring, Headress, Mekansm, Pipe of insight, Helm of the dominator, Ring of Tarrasque, and even the neutral item Royal jelly. The dust of appearance cost was also reduced by 10.
Icefrog also made minor fixes to several heroes. The most notable ones being that Beastmaster’s Call of the Wild Hawk can no longer be used to block neutral camps, which could potentially be game-changing. Another huge nerf is that Meepo’s ultimate level requirement is increased by one per level except the last level. It means that instead of being able to level his ultimate at level 3, Meepo will have to wait for level 4 to get his first clone and for level 11 to get his second.
There are many other small changes made to heroes and items, all of which can be read here in their official blog.
