There's a lot of changes that make the game far simpler. The introduction of the backpack and TP slot made inventory management simpler. A fair amount of heroes like Chen, Meepo, and Visage all got ability changes that made them much simpler to play (less active abilities/micro requirements, more passives). The free wards/couriers, free starting TP's, constant reduction of TP costs, increased passive gold etc. made gold management easier and homogenized the different roles a fair bit. Multiple couriers made courier priority/management nonexistent. The bar that shows exactly how long a stun lasts, the deny indicator above heroes, a lot of other small changes like that - I'm not arguing that they're all inherently bad, but they certainly all make the game less complex.

There's a lot of changes that make the game far simpler. The introduction of the backpack and TP slot made inventory management simpler. A fair amount of heroes like Chen, Meepo, and Visage all got ability changes that made them much simpler to play (less active abilities/micro requirements, more passives). The free wards/couriers, free starting TP's, constant reduction of TP costs, increased passive gold etc. made gold management easier and homogenized the different roles a fair bit. Multiple couriers made courier priority/management nonexistent. The bar that shows exactly how long a stun lasts, the deny indicator above heroes, a lot of other small changes like that - I'm not arguing that they're all inherently bad, but they certainly all make the game less complex.