[2020] Rocket Arena Update 1.2 Notes

Update 1.2 brings with it some Competitor and combat updates and more!

Global Combat
For this update, it was important for us to address a sentiment expressed by players of feeling too “floaty” at times while playing Rocket Arena. This feedback is often tied to scenarios where players are being shot at mid-air and feel like they can’t get back to the ground quick enough. While we’ll still need to spend more time thinking of the best ways to fully address this sentiment in future updates, we saw an immediate opportunity to tackle part of this feedback with a couple tweaks to the Dodge Ability. First, we slightly decreased the duration of Dodge’s low gravity effect so that you spend less time hanging mid-air. Think of this as a general quality of life improvement. To better understand the second change made to Dodge, we can first offer a quick explanation of one of Rocket Arena’s core combat mechanics, Hit Stun.

When a player is impulsed up into the air by an opponent’s attack, they are temporarily placed in Hit Stun. While in Hit Stun, the player cannot move or jump. The duration of Hit Stun depends on the strength of the attack, and how damaged the player was when they got hit. When Hit Stun ends, the player is given full movement control back and is placed in a reduced gravity state. This post-Hit Stun reduced gravity state gives the player enough hang time to drift back towards safe ground, follow up with a shot of their own, etc. The reduced gravity state ends whenever the player lands on the ground, or when they perform what we call a “recovery action”. Up until now, recovery actions included jumping and using any movement ability (typically a Special Ability). Performing a recovery action instantly puts the player back into their normal gravity state and allows them to fall quickly to the ground. With this new update, we’ve made Dodge a recovery action. Dodging out of Hit Stun will now allow players to get to the ground faster, giving them one more tool in their combat arsenal.

• Decreased Dodge low gravity duration from 0.65 to 0.6 seconds
• Dodging out of Hit Stun now resets your gravity to normal, allowing you to fall quicker to the ground after Dodge ends

Competitors
The balance changes for this update are focused on enhancing the gameplay viability of three of the least picked Competitors in the game (Flux, Jayto, and Mysteen). The ultimate goal is to provide our community with a roster full of options. So whenever possible, we prefer to raise less played Competitors up, rather than simply nerfing the popular ones into oblivion. While Flux’s changes are relatively small improvements this time around, the updates to Jayto and Mysteen are intended to bring them into more prominence in the current meta.

Flux

• The Flux tweaks this time around are all quality of life improvements (for her and her team). Expect even more Flux tuning updates in Season 2 now that we’ve had more of a chance to see her out in the wild.
  • Increased Rockats rocket jump radius from 400.0 to 500.0
  • Black Hole Cat is no longer affected by Rocket Magnets
  • Black Hole Cat no longer affects a friendly Plink's Skedaddle Ball

Jayto
Mathematically speaking, Jayto’s damage output and KO potential are already amongst the best in the game. However, Jayto still finds himself lagging behind the rest of the roster in terms of pick rate. So why is this? In the current meta, Jayto must compete for a slot in any team composition with some of the most agile Competitors in the game. His lack of a true movement ability can make him seem like a more risky pick than others. The good news is, Jayto already has several fantastic movement options at his disposal. The changes for this update are focused specifically on improving the accessibility of these mobility tools.

Jayto is Mr. Rocket. Everything about him is rocket-based and this includes his best mobility tool, his powerful rocket jumps. When used correctly by experienced players, Jayto is already capable of pretty spectacular directional rocket jumping and rocket climbing. However, the previous tuning required high-level knowledge of Rocket Arena’s mobility mechanics to maximize Jayto’s potential. To make Jayto’s mobility options more obvious and obtainable, we started by significantly increasing the rocket jump strength of his Primary rocket (default and triple shot). The increased rocket jump strength per rocket also means he’ll have to spend less of his ammo on average to navigate around the map. We also increased the max rocket jump velocity threshold to allow Jayto to more easily use rocket jumps to cover ground quickly. Lastly, we’ve gotten feedback that the utility of Jayto’s Special Ability (Thruster Suit) is underwhelming to some players when compared to other Competitors in the roster. Part of this feedback comes from players’ expectations that Thruster Suit should increase Jayto’s mobility more than it does. Great idea, community! Jayto now gets a noticeable speed increase while Thruster Suit is active.

• Increased default Skypiercer Rockets' rocket jump strength from 1200.0 to 1500.0
• Increased triple shot Skypiercer Rockets' rocket jump strength from 1500.0 to 1875.0
• Increased Jayto's max rocket jump velocity threshold from 3000.0 to 3375.0
• Increased Thruster Suit movement speed buff from 250.0 to 600.0

Mysteen
While internally considered one of the strongest in the game, Mysteen continues to be one of the least played Competitors. We know that her popularity is currently taking a hit simply because one of her best abilities, Levitation, is not messaged anywhere in the game’s UI - leaving it to be discovered organically by players (sorry about that, we’re working to improve this soon). Levitation, for those who don’t know, is Mysteen’s powerful movement ability that she activates by holding the Jump input. Doing so allows her to HOVER STRAFE IN THE AIR, and she can do so after each of her three jumps! What?!?! Spread the word, people! When Mysteen utilizes Levitation regularly, she can be one of the most mobile and graceful Competitors in the game. Ok, I digress, back to actual balance updates!

Outside of spreading awareness of Mysteen’s hidden potential, we saw a few other opportunities to improve Mysteen’s overall standing in the current meta. First, her projectile collision radius was increased to boost her overall consistency in combat. We also wanted to improve her ability to finish off weakened opponents, so her projectile AoE damage was increased to give her more options to KO an opponent in Megablast Danger. Mysteen’s Phantasm also got a bit of a damage buff to increase its effectiveness in a fight. Activating Mysteen’s Special Ability (Phantasm) now gives her a brief invulnerability window while she and the Phantasm split apart. This change is intended to enhance the viability of spawning the Phantasm in the middle of a fight. Finally, activating the Special Ability now refreshes Mysteen’s Levitation (Jump Ability) count along with her air jump count. Prior to this change, Mysteen’s air jumps were reset but not her ability to Levitate (she instead had to land first). Now Mysteen will be even more nimble mid-air when using Levitation. Just imagine jumping three times, Levitating after each jump, then activating your Special Ability mid-air to reset your air jumps and give yourself two more chances to Levitate mid-air before having to land. Crazy right? It’s awesome. So, moral of the story - use Levitation!

• Increased Card Rocket projectile collision radius from 120.0 to 125.0
• Increased default Card Rocket AoE damage from 15.0 to 20.0
• Increased triple burst Card Rocket AoE damage from 11.0 to 15.0
• Increased Phantasm's default Card Rocket AoE damage from 6.0 to 8.0
• Increased Phantasm's triple burst Card Rocket direct hit damage from 6.0 to 8.0
• Increased Phantasm's triple burst Card Rocket AoE damage from 4.0 to 8.0
• Activating Mysteen's Special Ability (Phantasm) now resets her Levitation (Jump Ability) count along with her air jump count
• Mysteen is now briefly invulnerable to damage during the initial activation of her Special Ability (Phantasm)

 

Competitor Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Topnotch's Primary to fail to fire on some players' controllers
• Fixed issue where Guardian Phoenix wings made aiming difficult for players by adjusting animations
• Fixed a bug that caused Mysteen's Levitation (Jump Ability) to occasionally fail to activate with high ping

Game Modes

• Rocketball
  The round transition after goals is very important to the balance of Rocketball. However, the current transition is a little long, jarring, and not the most interesting. So, we decided to overhaul the current round transition to be less abrupt, faster, and to showcase the player who scored.
  • New post-goal round transition sequence, which includes displaying the scoring player and removing the 3-2-1 countdown at the start of a new round

Items

• Increased Speed Boost duration from 5.0 to 6.0 seconds

UI

• Added loading screen gameplay tips
• Added daily challenges into the Home and Pre-Game Menus

Misc

• Added new Right Stick Jumper controller layout

Runaway Megadon Limited Time Event Modes

The following modes will be available during the Runaway Megadon event:

• Duel - Face your opponent in 1v1 combat!
• MegaMuzzle - Everyone plays as Boone!
• Splat - Players take greatly increased damage!

New Map! Kayo Kanyon permanently added to the game and to existing playlists

As always, we value your feedback and if you’d like to leave us some now, or in the future, hit us up on the Rocket Arena Discord, Reddit, Twitter, Twitch Streams, DMs, etc. - we read as much as we can!

Thanks for being part of our community and we’ll see you in Crater! #LETSROCKET

The team at FSG