As we’re a full month into the New Year, it's time for Rocket League’s first game update of 2024 and a look at some of what’s coming! Tomorrow’s game update adds a new anti-smurfing measure: a higher Competitive Minimum Level Requirement. The update also refreshes the Esports Shop for the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) 2024 Season. Read on for more details!
--
NEW MINIMUM LEVEL FOR THE COMPETITIVE PLAYLIST
We’ve seen a lot of community chatter lately around allowing players to bypass the minimum level required to play in the Competitive Playlist by partying up with other players. Smurfing is something that we know is frustrating, so we wanted to share a bit of the design philosophy behind that original decision and why we are making some changes in tomorrow’s update.
The Competitive Minimum Level Requirement was introduced when Rocket League became playable for free in 2020 and was meant to serve a couple of purposes. While we wanted to make it more difficult to smurf, one of the main goals was to make sure that new players were not blocked from playing with friends. The Casual experience back then was rife with early quitting and was considered by many as a less enjoyable experience.
We therefore made the decision to let players experience Rocket League in the best way possible at that time, with friends in the Competitive Playlist.
At that time we also started making changes to the Casual Playlist, with the goal of making it an equally enjoyable experience to Competitive play. We now feel we’ve reached that goal, and because of that, our thinking has changed around the need to allow players to bypass the Competitive Minimum Level Requirement.
In tomorrow’s update, the Competitive Minimum Level Requirement will be raised from Level 10 to Level 20, and now every player in a Party will need to be Level 20 or higher in order to queue for the Competitive Playlist. These changes are some of several gameplay improvements we are working on this year to minimize behavior that can lead to unfair matches.
--
ESPORTS SHOP 2024
With the official RLCS broadcasts beginning last weekend and continuing this weekend on February 9 for Europe, there’s no better time to grab new team gear! The Esports Shop is adding ten new teams alongside 21 existing teams from last Season. Each team will have a new 2024 Octane Decal, 2024 Fennec Decal, 2024 Dominus Decal, and 2024 Player Banner in the Shop beginning tomorrow after the game update.
The new teams are:
ASIA-PACIFIC
- Elevate
EUROPE
- Gentle Mates
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA
- Rule One
NORTH AMERICA
- M80
- OG
- Rebellion
OCEANIA
- Pioneers
SOUTH AMERICA
- KRÜ Esports
- Ninjas In Pyjamas
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
- Limitless
MORE TO COME IN 2024
For this year, we’re planning the usual rhythm of new Seasonal content, as well as focusing on new features and tweaks to existing systems to improve gameplay. One example is a tweak to the Arcade Playlist rotation that we’ll share later this month! Stay tuned for details on this change and more throughout the year.
--
Check out the full patch notes and refreshed Esports Shop after the game update goes live tomorrow, February 6 at 4 PM PST / February 7 at 12 AM UTC!