Early Access Patch V0.13

Things are heating up, just in time for Winterfest!

Hotfixes

V0.13.2 | Released (15.12.2023)

• Made improvements to mitigate error code P-4100
• Made improvements to mitigate an issue where Heroes would not appear on draft
• Fixed an issue where Gideon's Torn Space [Secondary] ability would cause micro stutters
• Fixed an issue where jumping while casting Gideon's Torn Space [Secondary] ability would increase momentum

V0.13.1 (08.12.2023)

• PlayStation on-screen keyboard now defaults to uppercase for friend codes
• Fixed an issue where discounts were not shown correctly in the store
• Fixed an issue where bundles would remain on screen after purchasing
• Temporarily set Adaptive Triggers default to "off" while we investigate an infinite auto-attack issue (players can turn this back on in Settings)
• Fixed an issue where Chat would open and lock all other inputs
• Fixed an issue where pressing Up on the D-Pad would open chat instead of Ward
• Fixed an issue where Onixian Quiver multishot would proc Infernum's Cinder effect
• Fixed an issue where Onixian Quiver multishot would proc cleave effects from items like Overlord
• Fixed an issue where Onixian Quiver multishot would proc Omen's Bestial Torment passive
• Fixed an issue where a Surrender vote couldn't be engaged after playing a match
• Fixed an issue where the previous game's Surrender vote could be seen on the Pause Menu
• Fixed an issue where Iggy & Scorch's inactive turrets would cause minion pathing problems

Patch releasing approximately 12.00 GMT December 5th, 2023.
There will be approximately two hours of downtime before this.

Introduction

It may be getting cold out there Champions, but our newest Hero is turning up the heat!
That’s right, at long last Iggy & Scorch are finally here, bringing a blistering torrent of oil and flames to the battlefield! Need to cool off? Our new Winterfest event might be just what you need!

That’s not all though! V0.13 lets you tag the battlefield with a selection of seasonal sprays, while our controller improvements make it easier than ever to make epic plays from the sofa.

We also know you’ve been eagerly waiting for new items to sink your teeth into, so V0.13 adds 11 brand new items to the game, with even more items receiving reworks and tweaks!

It’s not just items we’ve hit this patch! We’ve made some great new changes to the ways that abilities buffer too, better reflecting player intention and hopefully making your abilities feel even more intuitive to use.

Last but certainly not least, V0.13 sees the dawn of Predecessor on PlayStation! It’s been a long and highly anticipated journey and we’re thrilled to finally be welcoming our console friends to the battlefield. Read on to learn more about when you’ll receive your code for the closed beta and more.

Strap in Champions, this is no small blog. Let’s! Go!

A New Hero Appears!

Iggy & Scorch are ready to torch… well… everything!

Iggy & Scorch are Predecessor’s first Hero pair, combining their unique skills to deliver flaming chaos to the battlefield. Read on to learn more about these badland battlers!

Abilities:

Badlands Critter [Passive]:

Effect: Scorch hurls up oil with his basic attack that applies Slick to enemies hit, Slowing them by 2% per stack for 3s, up to a maximum of 5 stacks.

Enemies affected by Slick become Ignited when damaged by Flame Turrets, Molotov or Inferno. Ignited Enemies burn for 7 (+1.2 per level)(+6% Magical Power) magical damage per stack, over 3s.

Spew [Basic Attack]:

BAT: 1.4 Effect: Ranged basic attack dealing 50 (+60% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage.

Flame Turret [Primary]:

CD: 20/19/18/17/16 per charge (3 Charges)
Cost: 50
Effect: Iggy throws down a Flame Turret with 105 (+25 per Hero Level)(+30% Magical Power) health that shoots homing fireballs at Enemy Targets within 1300 units. Each fireball deals 10/16/22/28/34 (+16% Magical Power) magical damage. Up to 3 Flame Turrets may be placed at once. Hitting an Enemy with Spew redirects nearby Flame Turrets to attack the Target.

Oil Spill [Secondary]:

CD: 16/15/14/13/12
Cost: 60
Effect: Scorch spews a ball of oil that rolls forward, dealing 40/60/80/100/120 (+30% Magical Power) magical damage to all Enemies hit. The oil will then remains for 5s, Slowing Enemies Units within it by 30% for 0.5s and applying Slick to them.

Iggy can ignite the oil with his fire abilities, refreshing its duration. While ignited, Oil Spill deals 10/15/20/25/30 (+8% Magical Power) magical damage per second.

Molotov [Alternate]:

CD: 8.5/8//7.5/7/6.5
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 Effect: Iggy flings a Molotov that deals 60/85/110/135/160 (+45% Magical Power) magical damage to Enemies hit by the explosion. A fire field will remain where the explosion occurs, dealing 30/40/50/60/70 (+20% Magical Power) magical damage over 2s.

Inferno [Ultimate]:

CD: 120/100/80
Cost: 100
Effect: Scorch unleashes a cone of fire, dealing 270/360/450 (+135% Magical Power) magical damage over 4s. At the end of the duration or upon reactivation, Scorch belches, dealing 75/150/225 (+65% Magical Power) magical damage and Knocking Back nearby Enemy Heroes.

Winterfest Event

Celebrate this holiday season with Winterfest! Winterfest is an in-game event that will start on the 12th of December 2023 and run until the 2nd of January 2024. Completing games during that time will net you XP that is used to earn a variety of exceedingly cool seasonal rewards.

Winterfest Rewards

And what exactly are those festive rewards?

• Five new profile icons
• Two new sprays
• A new banner
• Yuletide Feng Mao Skin [ Common]

Store Update

Winterfest Skins

Alongside the Winterfest Event we also have a selection of Winter-themed skins available in the store for a limited amount of time.

Peppermint Kallari [ Common]

Jingle Bombs Iggy & Scorch [ Common]

Old Saint Riktor [ Rare]

Frost King Revenant [ Legendary]

Frost King Revenant is our first Legendary skin and includes new ice themed audio, a new VFX profile and modifications to his voiceover, along with his chilling new look.

Winterfest Bundles

During the Winterfest event we will have two Bundles available in the new bundle tab in the store.

Winterfest Mega Bundle

• Peppermint Kallari Skin [ Common]
• Jingle Bombs Iggy & Scorch Skin [ Common]
• Old Saint Riktor Skin [ Rare]
• Exclusive Profile Icon
• Exclusive Banner
• Exclusive Spray

Frost King Bundle

• Frost King Revenant Skin [ Legendary]
• Exclusive Profile Icon
• Exclusive Banner
• Exclusive Spray

New Items

In V0.13 we’re adding a range of brand spanking new items to the game! As if that wasn’t enough, we’re also reworking a bunch more for good measure!

Ability Buffering Improvements

What Is Ability Buffering?

In Predecessor, when you are blocked from casting an ability due to an ongoing action - such as being mid-way through another ability’s animation - you may input another ability mid-way to “queue” it. Said ability will then attempt to cast at the next available opportunity.

Improvements:

Our goal is to build upon this, to make it truly reflective of what you’re trying to do in the moment. With that in mind, we’ve made the following changes:

• The last ability that you attempted to use while buffering will now be the ability that is actually used - rather than whatever you may have queued first.
• Abilities may now only be buffered for a short time before they are “forgotten” and must be input again - they are no longer remembered “forever”.
• Abilities that fail to cast under certain conditions, such as Grux’s Smash And Grab or Belica’s Seismic Assault mid-air, may now be buffered, and will cast upon landing on the ground.
• Abilities can now be buffered while under Hard Crowd Control effects such as Stuns, and will cast at the next possible moment once the effect expires.
• Jumping may now be buffered.
• Active Items and Blinks may now be buffered.

PlayStation Closed Beta

December 5th marks the launch of the PlayStation Closed Beta - an important technical test and a huge milestone for our full release on console later next year.

Matchmaking Improvements

Over the last week of maintenance windows, we've worked with our matchmaking provider to make a number of backend changes to the matchmaking system. These changes should improve overall match quality without affecting matchmaking times for most players, though players at the highest MMR ranges might see a slight increase in their queue times in exchange for stricter quality restrictions.

• We've made changes to how large parties are sorted and matched, which should increase the rate of similarly-sized parties playing against each other
• We've adjusted which tickets in the matchmaking queue are selected as the "center point" to build each match around, which should decrease the gap between the highest and lowest-MMR players
• We've adjusted the rate at which we expand the allowable MMR range for each match, which should bias towards stricter match quality for a longer period of time in queue

Other Improvements

• New player XP boost has been adjusted. We’ve reduced the boost at early levels and spread it out over later levels.
• Improvements have been made to the visuals of the active Hero on the Hero collection page.
• A 'Something New' notification will appear when you have rewards to be collected on the Affinity tab and in other areas and menus.
• The 'Buy Skin' button and price are now visible in the store when you do not own a Hero. These skins can also be purchased but you will be warned that ownership of the Hero is required in order to actually use the skin. We plan to improve this flow even more in a future update.
• We've made some small performance improvements to the Affinity UI screen and the loading of Affinity related content.

Minion Changes

For this patch we’ve made some improvements to the general farming loop, with increases to the execute threshold and adjustments to how Towers interact with and damage Minions.

Melee Minions:

• Execute threshold increased from 12% to 19%
• Damage taken from Towers decreased from 30% to 28%.

Ranged Minions:

• Execute threshold increased from 12% to 20%
• Damage taken from Towers decreased from 75% to 68%.

Siege Minions:

• Execute threshold increased from 12% to 17%

Super Minions:

• Execute threshold increased from 12% to 17%

Structure Changes

Core:

• Hero damage multiplier decreased from 100% to 80%.
• Damage decreased from 380 to 300-360 at levels 1-18.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where The Fey’s wings SFX would still play upon dying.
• Fixed a bug where Silentium would not play SFX for the user correctly.

Known Issues

• The Heroes & Profile tabs can sometimes incorrectly show a notification icon, even when there is nothing new to claim.