Artifact is receiving a massive overhaul, in something that Valve is called Artifact 2.0, after the game’s initial stumbling at launch which led to the game ending up being functionally dead. The first major change was Artifact losing the option to purchase playable cards or card decks to prevent high paying players from being able to stack the deck against their opponents.
Valve has released new updates on their progress in overhauling the game. Artifact is getting new mechanics, a mana pool that is shared across all the playable lanes, and the progression system is getting a complete rework. Skipping turns also cannot be done for free and will still cost one mana like every other available action. This is done to make every action more strategic and have players more focus on controlling the initiative mechanic.
One of the biggest changes will be that players can unlock new cards while playing any game mode. The cards are receiving minor reworks from keyword changes to streamlining the description of each card. Valve is also reworking the ranked mode with more meaningful ways to measure a player’s progress and skill against other players. The competitive modes will also have new goals for players to work towards.
Valve is also adding a new single-player campaign to the game. The new campaign so far is focusing on exploring the DOTA universe through Artifact. The campaign will continue on after the Call to Arms mode, which introduced players to Artifact and its mechanics. The campaign is aimed to interweave and explore on the lore that has been built through the comics set inside the DOTA universe. The campaign will be tied with the new progression system as Valve wanted players to be rewarded for playing the new campaign instead of ignoring it completely in favor of only playing the competitive modes.