Q&A on reactivating seasons in Deep Rock Galactic

Hello Miners,
As you may have seen in our post about the first details for Season 05, one of the new features we’re working on is giving everyone the ability to re-activate previous seasons and play through them at your leisure.

Implementing a system like this involves a few structural changes, and we’re here to share some details about that.

If you’re thinking, “Eek! Big changes!”, don’t worry. You’ll still be able to play with everyone as usual, and all the seasonal cosmetic items are still earnable for free, just like always. Nothing’s going away! Deep breaths.

We put together this Q&A to give you more details on how this season reactivation feature will work, and so you know what to expect once we get it up and running.

Let’s get into it!

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How’s the season reactivation thing going to work?
Here it is in a nutshell:

• In the Season Terminal, there will be a new tab called ‘Season Selection’. You’ll use this to pick any available DRG season and activate it.
  
• When you select a season, that’ll kick any party members and reload the Space Rig, just like when you disband a lobby.
  
• Then you can invite friends back in, or make your lobby public. Party members don’t need to have the same season active in order to join you.
  
• As part of this, we’re replacing the “Disable Season Content” option with a season simply called Vanilla. This option has no associated Performance Pass, and a balanced chance to spawn Events and Warnings from all seasons.

Here's a (work in progress) version of the Season Selection screen.


Can I still play with other people if they’ve got a different season selected?
Yes! Everyone can still play with each other, no matter which season they’ve got selected. Because the Mission Terminal reflects the host’s selected season, though, it’s possible that a few individual missions might not show up for other players if they’ve got a different season active than the host. But not to worry – you can still join any lobby on any season through the server browser.

Will I be able to see which season people have selected when I browse through the server list?
Yup.

If I join a game where the host has a different season active, what happens?
You’ll progress on the season that you’ve got active, and the host will progress on the season they’ve got active. Everybody wins.

Will seasons still have enemies and events from other seasons?
Yes, this is just like the game is now. Even though we’re on Season 04 at the moment, you can still come across enemies and events from past seasons on some missions. With this new system, these probabilities will be adjusted to reflect the focus of each season. So Season 02, for example, will have a comparatively higher chance of Rival Tech encounters and Rival Presence warnings, but there’s still a chance that a Corruptor could pop up.

Will season-specific assignments be available again, for those who didn’t play them?
No, season-specific assignments (like Season 03’s Part I: A Critical Situation, for example) won’t be coming back. However, a new assignment for Season 05 will be available for everybody.

What’s happening to all the cosmetics from previous seasons that have been moved into the game?
We’re moving all those items back to their original spots in their respective seasons’ Performance Passes and Cosmetic Trees. So for example, a weapon framework like Waster (from Season 01) is going to be put back into Season 01’s Cosmetic Tree, which is where it originally appeared. You’ll then be able to unlock all those frameworks by progressing through that Cosmetic Tree. The same applies for headgear and paintjobs.

If I played a previous season before, will the game remember my progress?
Yes. Each season’s Performance Pass and Cosmetic Tree will be set to wherever you left off. If you were at Level 87 when the season originally ended, it’ll still be at Level 87 when you re-activate it. If you never played a certain season, progress on its Performance Pass and Cosmetic Tree will be at zero.

What if I’m playing through an old season, and encounter a cosmetic reward I’ve already unlocked?
If you reach a node in a Performance Pass or Cosmetic Tree that contains an item you already own, we’ll reward you with some credits instead. Credits can be exchanged for goods and services.

What happens to the seasonal cosmetic Matrix Cores I’ve got?
If you’ve got Matrix Cores infused with any seasonal cosmetics, those will be removed from your inventory and placed back into their respective Performance Passes and Cosmetic Trees when Season 05 launches. In return, we’ll give you a different Matrix Core, this one infused with a non-seasonal cosmetic item. If you’ve already unlocked and forged ALL non-seasonal cosmetics, you’ll get some crafting resources instead.

What about the seasonal stuff in the shop and cargo crates?
Any cosmetics that were originally part of a season will also no longer be available via The Shop, Cargo Crates, or Lost Packs once the season reactivation system launches. Again, they’re not disappearing – you just have to go through a season’s Performance Pass or Cosmetic Tree to unlock them. This means you can unlock these seasonal cosmetics directly, rather than relying on getting lucky with Cargo Crate / Lost Pack RNG.

This also cuts down on loot pool bloat, meaning you’ll have higher odds of rolling everything else that does stay in the Crates and Packs.

So… do I need to do anything before Season 05 launches?
No, not really. Like we said above, nothing’s going away here. You’ll still be able to play with anyone you like, and every single item is still going to be unlockable for free. The only situation where you might want to do something is if there’s some seasonal cosmetic in The Shop you’ve been eyeing, or if you’ve got one in an unforged Matrix Core. You might want to scoop those up before Season 05, otherwise you’ll just have to unlock them in a different way.

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Hopefully this helps clarify some things about how this system works, and what it will mean for your beloved friends and cosmetics. If you’ve got any other burning questions about this system, feel free to drop them in the comments. If we see certain questions popping up a lot, we’ll try our best to address them and update this post with the reply.

Again, all this takes effect when Season 05 launches in June. Speaking of that, we’ll have some more to share about Season 05 later this month. :)

Oh also! In case you haven't heard, the indie game world is putting something cool together: the triple-i initiative[iii-initiative.com] digital showcase. We can't give away too many details, but Ghost Ship Publishing is very proud to be part of it, and we hope you'll tune in to watch it debut live! The whole thing kicks off on April 10th at 7 PM CEST.



That's all for now! Hope everybody's doing well.

With Love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew