Private Lobbies Beta
Agents, the time has finally come: let’s talk private lobbies! We are currently planning to hold a private lobbies beta, currently scheduled for late next week, to prepare for their full release next month. We want to clarify exactly what you can expect at launch and how you will be able to participate.
Before we dive into the ‘how’ and ‘when’, it’s important for us to highlight that this is only the beginning of private lobbies. Our work here is not over! We have discussed at length internally on what we believe to be the next best additions to bring to private lobbies but we also want to hear what you, the community, has to say.
Next, while the full release will be available for everyone both on PC and console, during this beta Private Lobbies hosting will be limited to Steam only. Those who wish to host via Steam will be able to access a beta branch on Steam that will allow you to be able to launch private lobbies. Everyone with the game on Steam will be able to opt in this beta branch, so do not worry about a selection process to get to try it.
Important Notes:
- Players on all platforms will be able to join a hosted private lobby they are invited to during this beta (without opting into a beta build)
- All players will be able to host a private lobby when this feature is fully released next month
- We will give full details on how to access this branch and any other additional details as we launch the actual beta.
We expect to be able to make this beta available late next week and last through the weekend. The beta release will coincide with a small balance update to all platforms aimed at addressing the current “shield tech” meta and reining in Larcin’s Cadence.
Private lobbies will be available at the right of the screen.
(Please note that both images are a Work In Progress and subject to change)
What to expect?
Our main priority with the initial launch of private lobbies is simple. We want you to be able to:
- Invite your friends
- Select the map of your choice
- Choose the game mode (From the currently available Solos, Duos and Trios)
- Form teams
- Choose the server region to be hosted in
Currently, we have set XP gains in private lobbies to be 50% of normal XP. We had to make a call on enabling XP gains or not in private lobbies and we decided that while we have to do something to keep the integrity of XP earned by players before this update, we want players to still make some progress when playing them.
What’s next?
Release! This is our final step before the initial release of private lobbies on the live game and we are very excited to see how you will interact with it. We are currently targeting a full release with the arrival of Season 3 in October to have enough time to react to feedback and address top issues.
Beyond that, we’ll be continuing to gather player feedback about what they want to see as well as looking at ways we can extend and enhance what options are available to Agents, with things such as additional game modes or experimental ways of play in existing ones. For example, we’ve been experimenting with allowing higher player counts in private lobbies and the possibility of having custom team sizes.