about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Devin - Direct link

Blog Link: https://www.rocketleague.com/news/rocket-league-free-to-play--seasons--new-ranks--and-more/

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We are getting close to Rocket League's free to play launch! Over the past few weeks, we've taken a closer look at features like revamped Tournaments, new Challenges, and Cross-Platform Progression. It may seem hard to believe, but there are still more changes to reveal! Here's everything else you can expect when you fire up the game once free to play launches!

STREAMLINED SEASONS

Between Rocket Pass, Competitive Seasons, and soon Tournaments all happening at the same time within Rocket League, we're streamlining the seasonal schedule. Competitive Seasons, Competitive Tournaments, and Rocket Pass will all follow the same schedule. It all starts when Rocket League goes free to play and Season 1 begins. 

Rocket Pass will no longer be numbered on its own, and will instead be an extension of the Season. So, when Season 1 goes live, so will its Rocket Pass and Competitive Season. When Season 1 ends, its Rocket Pass and Competitive Season also end, and Season 2 will begin with its own Rocket Pass and Competitive Season. With uniform start and end dates, we hope it's easier to track how long you have to complete your challenges and hit your dream Rank!

NEW COMPETITIVE RANKS!

Speaking of dream Ranks, there's about to be a new mountaintop. Starting with the launch of free to play, a new rank is being added above the current Grand Champion Rank. 

Grand Champion will be split into three different Ranks just like the ranks below it. Grand Champion will be split into Grand Champion 1, Grand Champion 2, and Grand Champion 3. Current Grand Champions will likely be placed in Grand Champion 1 (depending on placement matches). Then begins the journey to the new highest competitive rank: Supersonic Legend

Both Grand Champion and Supersonic Legend will have their own Season Rewards at the end of Season 1, as well as Rank-specific Titles. MMR will still be displayed in the Playlist menu once you hit Grand Champion 1. Good luck climbing to the new top of the Rocket League mountain! 

Changes aren't only happening at the top. We're working to soft reset the rest of the ranks to account for incoming players picking up Rocket League for the first time. This means Ranks will shift closer to the median Rank (close to Gold III). For instance, when current Bronze players complete their placement matches, they may be placed in a higher rank since they'll be better than new players who are just starting out. 

There's also a new requirement to unlock Ranked Playlists. Players will have to be Level 10 in order to play Ranked. 

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NEW PLAYER EXPERIENCE

When people pick up Rocket League for the first time following the launch of free to play, we want to make sure they're as comfortable as possible once they hit the field. That's why there will be a new experience for new players when they first fire up the game. The new tutorial will put new players right on the field, and will teach the basic HUD and button layout. New players will also have New Driver Challenges to unlock items that were included in the base version of Rocket League

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

  • PlayStation Plus on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch Online will no longer be required for online play on those platforms.
  • Rocket ID Will Become Epic Friends
    • When the update goes live, your Rocket ID friends list will become the Epic Friends list. Friends you had through Rocket ID will transfer to Epic Friends, and any friends you currently have through your Epic Games Account will be visible in Rocket League.
  • New Quick Chats Incoming!
    • Faking.
    • Bumping!
    • On your left.
    • On your right.
    • Passing!
  • Default settings are changing for incoming players. Voice Chat will be disabled by default, and L2 (PS4), LT (Xbox), ZL (Switch) will default to Air Roll. 
  • Heatseeker will be playable in private matches
  • New bot difficulty under Rookie
  • Merc is getting a new, unique hitbox, for a total of six hitbox types
  • Rocket League X Monstercat remixes of fan favorite songs will be added celebrating the music's legacy throughout the years (Presave here!)
  • Solo Standard Playlist will be removed following Competitive Season 14

WHEN IS THE UPDATE COMING?!

Yes, we've been sharing a ton of info about Rocket League's next update, and you really want to know when to expect it. We'll be rolling out an update on current platforms in the next few weeks around mid September, and the launch of free to play will follow shortly after. We can't share the exact date quite yet, but stay tuned for more info. Don't forget, when free to play launches, it will only be available to new PC players via the Epic Games Store. Make sure to add it to your wishlist! 

Thanks for your patience! We can't wait to get these new features like Tournaments, Challenges, and Cross-Platform Progression in your hands. Stay tuned to RocketLeague.com and follow us on Twitter for the last bit of info just around the corner! 

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about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Devin - Direct link

Originally posted by Adnando

Remember this comment when RLCS X final is an all Merc affair

Remember this comment when RLCS X final is an all Merc affair

Honestly, would love to see it. :D

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Corey - Direct link

Originally posted by SACRED_SNAIL

These look to be some solid improvements! Why change L2/LT default to air roll though? L1/LB seems to be way more common among the player base.

Picking a default is tricky because there is no clear consensus among players or even internally about the "best" choice, and opinions are often contradictory.

In this case, we feel L2/LT is the easiest place for new players to utilize Air Roll because it doesn't require them to take their finger off of Brake. It's relatively common to use your Index finger on L2/R2 and this binding means you can slowly learn to air roll without having to adjust finger positioning.

There is a segment of players who really like using L1/R1 for things like Air Roll, Boost, etc. but in testing we found toggling between L2/L1 or using "claw grip" is not natural for a lot of people.

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Devin - Direct link

Originally posted by Zaydax

Hey Devin, 4 quick questions:

1) Will we also be seeing the updated demo physics that you guys tried out a while back?

2) Will other existing bodies use the Merc hitbox? Like Road Hog?

3) How will titles and rewards differentiate season # is the number is being reset?

4) Any reason you guys didn't use Super champ 1-3 and keep grand champ at the top?

Will we also be seeing the updated demo physics that you guys tried out a while back?

Nothing concrete to share on this, but we're still looking into fine-tuning ideas.

Will other existing bodies use the Merc hitbox? Like Road Hog?

Merc is it for now!

How will titles and rewards differentiate season # is the number is being reset?

We'll reveal more on that once we're closer to the end of Season One, but the Titles will be different from the previous seasons, yes!

Any reason you guys didn't use Super champ 1-3 and keep grand champ at the top?

I think we wanted to try something fresh, and with the term supersonic being part of Rocket League vocab already, it's a great fit. :D

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Corey - Direct link

Originally posted by thomassauresrex1

Doesn't L2 actually slightly slow you down in the air though? (According to this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoOWKG3xv7U&feature=youtu.be&t=118) so you'll be affecting your air speed by having brake and air roll on the same button

L2 has a very, very, very slight effect in air. We don't feel this will meaningfully impact the vast majority of users, and players concerned about it can simply rebind the key.

If we observe some kind of statistically significant win rate differential between default keybinds and non-default, we will take that seriously for sure.

We can also remove the subtle "air brake" behavior, or disable it when Air Roll is bound to the same key, but we elected to leave it alone for now given some players likely rely on it for particular maneuvers.

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Corey - Direct link

Originally posted by TsuyoshiPSER

But braking mid air slows you down slightly, doesn't it? Was that just an oversight? Doesn't seem like something that'd fit as a default bind.

It is not an oversight, it is a conscious tradeoff choice given how slight the effect is and how many hours of play it takes before it becomes noticeable (for many people who use LT binding already for Air Roll, it is clearly not a major handicap)

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Corey - Direct link

Originally posted by HoraryHellfire2

/u/Psyonix_Corey
How will the soft reset work exactly? Is it similar to Season 4's where it was quite aggressive at pulling people back (Champion --> Platiunum) or is it closer to our current soft reset of only those above C3 Div 1 gets pulled down to C3 Div 1?

 

 

Edit: With the information Corey gave below, I estimated how the soft reset/squish will work for the 3v3 playlist. Don't assume that it is the same for other playlists though.

How will the soft reset work exactly? Is it similar to Season 4's where it was quite aggressive at pulling people back (Champion --> Platiunum) or is it closer to our current soft reset of only those above C3 Div 1 gets pulled down to C3 Div 1?

It is not as aggressive as the Season 4 reset, but is more active across the entire skill curve to "squish" towards the middle. This helps mitigate inflation on the top end, and keeps the low end cleaner for true newbies.

NewMMR = TargetMMR + (OldMMR - MedianMMR) * SquishFactor

The function of TargetMMR is to recalibrate certain playlists with odd distributions towards a more consistent median with other queues. These values are different per playlist, but the SquishFactor is generally between 80-90%. There is also a "cap" based on the Grand Champion I threshold for each playlist that you can't go above post-reset.

For 3v3 Standard, MedianMMR is 25 and TargetMMR is 25, so if your current skill was 70, the math would go like so:

NewMMR = 25 + ( 75 - 25 ) * 0.8 = 65

This is below the 3s cap so it is not modified further.

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Corey - Direct link

Originally posted by HoraryHellfire2

I agree about the relying on it for maneuvers. I actually use it for slowing my momentum that much more when not boosting to get a softer touch on the ball to air dribble or to immediately flip reset after. It's also quite useful to descend faster with no boost and needing to recover. It can also be used in tandem with the Musty Flick/Breezi Flick to change the position ever so slightly.

I don't think it should be removed. But if you do decide to disable it for being bound to the same key, maybe implement an option to allow the behavior through, depending on how complex it is to do so.

Agreed, this is why we didn't touch it for now, but if it proves to be a problem, we will certainly make it configurable.

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Corey - Direct link

Originally posted by HoraryHellfire2

(Skip this paragraph Corey) For those wondering, the MMR value that Corey is referring to is not the same value as the MMR you currently know and use. The value you use is currently called "Skill Rating". The actual MMR value is much smaller. So the "oldMMR" of 75 is actually around 1600 Skill Rating now (100 rating above GC).

For Corey: Is the "Target MMR" prioritized to be around Gold 3 for each playlist? Or in Extra Modes is it planned for something higher than Gold 3 due to the sheer lack of MMR inflation that wouldn't be offset enough by it?

It's a little more complicated than just being "around" Gold 3.

  • The Median is around Gold 3 for each playlist. This and the Squish Factor are the only values that affect inflation.

  • The Target varies more (at least this time) because playlists like Extra Modes are currently more divergent. All Target effectively does is "recenter" the playlist. For instance, if Duel is currently centered around 18 MMR and Standard is 25, this will recalibrate Duel's skill curve to a similar 25 MMR midpoint without impacting the actual "squish" behavior.

about 4 years ago - /u/Psyonix_Corey - Direct link

Originally posted by [deleted]

What will this mean in terms of ranked 1s distribution?

Nothing specific. The numbers under the hood change to be better standardized. 1v1 doesn't get squished as much as 2s or 3s, and it still has narrow skill tiers than other queues.