DOTA IDEAS A DOTA 2 INTERACTIVE FORUM

The mechanic of Neutral Items was first introduced to Dota in patch 7.23. The implementation and specific mechanics of these items have undergone significant changes since then, but the core concept of neutral items is for Neutral Creeps to provide impactful items that vary from game to game. I think this concept is great and has a ton of potential to introduce uniqueness/variations to each game in a fun way. However, I would like to suggest some changes to the mechanics of neutral items. After each set of changes, I've detailed the explanation on why I think the given changes are required.

Change:
Neutral tokens now have a shared pool of 7 neutral items for each team instead of an individual pool of 5 for each player. The neutral items are visible during the draft
Of the 7, 5 Neutral items are selected randomly for each tier. Both teams pick 1 item each from each tier for the remaining 2 items before the draft. (Duplicates are allowed when picking the 6th/7th item).
Neutral items are mirrored on both teams
Neutral items can be shared between allies
Explanation:
The selection of neutral items that a hero gets in their token can have a significant impact on how their game plays out, but they have (1)No way to influence this selection, (2)No way to itemize with the neutral items in mind until after they get their token. By changing it to be visible during the draft itself, players can itemize knowing what gaps need to be filled and can also consider their enemies' neutral items when itemizing.
Secondly, since the selection of neutrals is mostly random (only 1 chosen item per team, so that it doesn't take too long to draft), it can help shake up the meta. For example, if you have a tempo mid popular in the meta, but the T1/T2 neutrals do not favour their early aggression, it might be better to pick someone else.

Change:
Neutral Tiers drop time rescaled from 7/17/27/37/60 to 1/11/22/34/47
Tier 1 Neutral Items nerfed by about 10%
Tier 2 Neutral Items nerfed by about 5%
Explanation:
Since the neutral selection is now visible, the timing on each tier is reduced so that they can be obtained earlier and have a stronger impact. Additionally, the very early timing on T1 can incentivize having a jungler which can provide tokens to the other lanes early on.
The earlier timing windows for neutral tiers will make T1 and T2s be significantly more impactful, so some minor number tweaks to keep them in check.

Change:
Neutral token drop rate increased from 14%/10%/10%/10%/10% to 20%/16%/16%/16%/16%, each neutral token gained reduces the drop rate for that tier by 2%
Explanation:
The reducing drop rate smooths out the rate at which both teams obtain neutrals and makes it less likely that one team has significantly more tokens than the opposing due to RNG.


Change:
Neutral items no longer have a dedicated slot. Each hero can still only hold 1 neutral item in their main inventory itself
Explanation:
This is unrelated to the above changes. I just don't like power creep/infinite scaling. Forcing the neutral item into the hero's inventory reduces the number of slots from 11 to 10 and thus slightly limits infinite scaling. 6+ 1 (Aghs) +1 (Aghs Shard) + 1 (Neutral) + 1 (Moonshard) + 1 (TP)

If you like these changes (or don't), let me know what you agree with and what you think should be changed. I also have another suggestion related to neutral creeps and drop-able items, so check that out as well:
https://dotaideas.com/post/other/54