We recently said goodbye to Season 2 in Predecessor. What a wild ride it has been! But this is not a blog if you want to reminisce on the past - check Kari’s August Pred Report from last week! We’re looking into the future here! Speaking of the future, it feels like a perfect time to let you know what you can expect in Season 3, doesn’t it?
Let’s take a look at Harness the Storm!
Season 3 will start on September 12th and will wrap up in early2024 (we’ll communicate the exact end date a little later).
It will consist of 5 main updates released regularly and much like you might expect, each of them is going to bring something new and exciting, 5 new Heroes, and one new original Hero among them! We will also release regular balance patches between each update, as we have done so far.
Update Frequency
We are making an important change to the release cadence of Season 3. After 0.11, the speed at which we release each patch will slow down slightly. Larger content patches will be roughly every 6 weeks and balance patches will follow them approximately 3 weeks after.
The reason for this change is to allow us to focus more on adding the remaining content into the game that is necessary for us to reach our Free-To-Play goals. We will also be using the extra time to streamline our release process for our upcoming console release. After this season we will reassess this new cadence and make adjustments.
If you follow our social media channels or are a member of our Discord or community subreddit you probably already know that we’re kicking off Season 3 with another fan favourite, Serath! Prepare to handle this new Hero at her best and at her worst next week!
The rest of the Heroes for the season remain a closely guarded secret for now, but we will share a hint regarding our next Omeda-Original Hero…
Codename: Emerald is a powerful new Hero that has harnessed the energy of the Soul Storm in their pursuit of power.
We’re excited to share more about Codename Emerald but for now, you’ll have to wait until further into the season!
End of Season Rewards
As has been the case in previous seasons, those of you who play during Season 3 will earn rewards based on the final level you achieve by the end of the season.
Additionally (and as we’ve also done in previous seasons), your player level will be reset once again at the end of Season 3. While we’ve discussed before our intentions to avoid this, it’s a necessary step to take at this stage in Early Access while we continue to flesh out the systems surrounding player levels.
So let’s talk about those rewards! As always these rewards will be distributed at the end of the season and are still subject to change.
Lv. 10 | Exclusive Early Access Season 3 Profile icon
Lv. 15 | Exclusive Omeda Hero Profile Icon
Lv. 20 | Season Themed Common Hero Skin
Lv. 25 | Season Themed Jump Pad VFX
Lv. 30 | Season Themed Common Hero Skin
Lv. 35 | Season Themed Recall VFX
Lv. 40 | Season Themed Common Hero Skin
Console Release - PlayStation®4 & PlayStation®5
There you have it - Season 3 is the season when the Predecessor console version will be released! While our aim is to release the game on both Xbox and PlayStation, the submission process for PlayStation is the furthest one along meaning that the game will come out on this platform first. As a reminder, Predecessor will launch on console as an Early Access title. Whilst in Early Access, we will continue to add and change features, iterate, and build on the game just as we have the PC version. Game updates will be synchronized across all platforms.
Leaving Early Access will be a big moment for Predecessor, but that milestone will come after Season 3. We’ll talk more about our plans for Free-to-Play at a later time.
New UI Hype!
We’re starting the season off strong with one of the most highly-anticipated improvements to Predecessor - the much talked about new user interface (UI)! The new UI will improve many aspects of Predecessor, but we want to manage expectations that this is an early look at the new UI. While we’re proud of the work we have done, we’re excited to get your feedback to help us improve the UI further! A chunk of the work went into Controller support, and optimizing for new feature development, and might not be apparent from a player-facing point of view. As with all things during our Early Access journey we’ll be iterating and polishing the new UI with every patch, so please be sure to share your thoughts and feedback as time goes on!
Hero Affinity
One of the other big additions that you can expect in Season 3 is Hero Affinity, our take on the beloved Hero Mastery system from Paragon.
With this system, you’ll be rewarded for spending time mastering each Hero. There will be various rewards, with each tier reflecting the hard work and dedication required to achieve it. From shiny titles that will display on loading screens to exclusive skins, there will be plenty of reasons to level up your favorite Heroes. We’ll share more details about this system soon!
Hero Acquisition
The way that you acquire heroes is also going to change.
Before you’ll be able to play with a new Hero, you’ll need to unlock them first. This can be done by playing the game and meeting their unlock criteria, or (if you’d prefer), by simply paying to skip the grind.. We hope this system will be rewarding for those who regularly invest their time into Predecessor while also providing goals for you to work toward.
For more information look out for a dedicated Hero Acquisition blog post, coming soon.
Jungle AI Improvement
Playing as a Jungler is about to become even more exciting! We’re planning several improvements to make the fights with Jungle minions more challenging and more thrilling.
Minions will be able to exit their camp radius, attack while moving, jump off nearby ledges, and have improved pathfinding!
Alongside this we have a larger Jungle rebalance planned to promote more interactive gameplay between the dedicated Junglers and their lane-focused counterparts.
We hope that these changes will make the Jungle role even more involved and exciting while adding an extra layer of depth for any Hero who ventures in!
New and Improved Controller Layout
What’s one of the most crucial things we can do in preparation for our console launch? Make sure to optimise the controller layout!
We’re giving our controller scheme a comprehensive new design, ensuring that players can trigger all of their abilities without needing to take their fingers out of the thumbsticks. Specifically, we’ve optimised the layout with the most used abilities in mind (like Crest and Blink) to make sure they are mapped to the most accessible buttons on the controller. We will share with you the full breakdown closer to the release of this feature.
Dynamic Ping System Improvements
This has been on our list for a while and we’re pleased to confirm that it’s coming in Season 3!
It’ll come a little later, but we’re redesigning our pinging system to fit right in with our new user interface. It will have more options to choose from and we think it’ll significantly improve team communication. Telling your teammates what’s going on, and responding and announcing intentions will never have been so quick and easy!
Player Account Portal
We’ve been teasing a new Player Account Portal for quite a while - and we’re pleased to share that it’ll finally launch during Season 3!
The Player Account Portal is going to be a hub for you to link your Predecessor game account to a variety of other accounts - opening the door for crossplay across different gaming platforms, as well as allowing social connectivity such as linking to Discord which will finally unlock the Early Access role that we promised when we first launched late last year.
Support Portal Release
With everything that Predecessor offers, we realize that we do not have technical support to match and this is something that we need to address prior to console release. We will soon be launching a beta version of our support portal, a place to get technical help quickly and easily. Self-help articles, ticket submissions, and tech assistance will be here to help you every step of the way!
Season 3 is planned to be the last Early Access Season in this format.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that we will move out of Early Access at the end of the season, but we do expect that after Season 3 things will be different.
More information on this will be shared towards the end of the season!
END OF SEASON REWARDS TERMS
◆ Omeda Studios reserves the right to change the content of rewards offered to players.
◆ Omeda Studios reserves the right to not distribute rewards to players if there is any suspected activity that undermines the integrity of the game.
◆ These terms and conditions are subject to change to ensure that the game remains fair and fun for all players.
By using our services, you acknowledge and agree to these terms and conditions. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you for choosing our game!
Finally, we’d like to once again thank you for your unwavering support, patience and continued excitement and enthusiasm for the future of Predecessor. We’re beyond excited for what the future holds for us and we can’t wait to bring you with us as we continue the next big step in our adventure!
─ Zuzu (Community Experience Manager) & alex (Lead Game Designer)
