A Dota 2 and Monster Hunter cross over is certainly unexpected.

Credit: Valve

Valve and Capcom have announced a new crossover between Dota 2 and Monster Hunter that brings some wild cosmetics to the MOBA, which is cool and all, but it’s not the update many Dota players wanted.

The new crossover brings six Monster Hunter themed cosmetic sets to Dota 2, all of which are available for free to all players if they manage to craft them, which is nice. To earn crafting materials you’ll have to hunt heroes in Dota matches, so getting them all shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for frequent players.

There are also some other items available, such as a new Palico courier with craftable costumes and a Poogie with craftable outfits that will act like a pet in the base throughout the game. Again, some fairly cool additions for fans of Monster Hunter and Dota.

Some of the variants and a couple of cosmetic items are locked behind a paid pass, but for the most part this is a cool free event in Dota if you are into Monster Hunter, which, unfortunately, I am not. As a result, this feels a little underwhelming especially considering this event will last for three months, which likely means no Frostivus, which is typically an event that gives out free cosmetics during the holiday period. Running two events with free items seems likely, so I’d put money on Frostivus once again being cancelled.

Another issue is that Dota fans have been waiting for a big patch for a while, there hasn’t been a major event since Crownfall ended, and there hasn’t been a major patch since TI ended, and typically some reasonable balance changes come pretty quickly after the biggest tournament of the year. With expectations for a major update growing, this feels super underwhelming and I can only hope that this is being timed by Capcom and Valve will just carry on as planned with whatever Dota content is being cooked up, instead of waiting three months to launch it after this event ends.

It’s always difficult to complain about free cosmetics and something new in Dota 2, which is becoming a rarity these days, but as someone who has never touched Monster Hunter, this is certainly not going to get me back and playing the game I love. Hopefully with this launching on a Monday, there could be some kind of patch cooking later this week, maybe, if we are lucky, but probably not.