Whilst Rocket League may feel like a new release, what with its free-flowing updates and new content ,it is much further gone than you think. After all, today brings Season 4 of the fast-paced rocket powered battles to the game and with it comes an entirely new game mode for the masses to enjoy. And best of all, it’s free.
Season 4 brings a new session of competitive play to the many competitors, as well as the exciting new Dropshot game mode. Dropshot as a radical mix up to the well-known formula currently in place, with goals not just coming from hitting the ball between the posts but also the holes created by you in the opposition area. The new game mode is all about damage, and how much you inflict will be a factor in how many points you score.
To create the new goal-scoring opportunities, players must hit the ball into the newly-designed hexagonal panels found throughout the arena. Each panel can be hit twice, the first hit activating the panel whilst the second destroys it and opens up a new place to poke the ball when searching for a goal.
The new ball also has various phases, three in total, with each more powerful that the one before. As you’d expect, the more powerful the phase the ball is in when it hits the floor panels, the more damage inflicted. Whilst the first phase on the ball will only destroy one panel at a time, keeping the ball in the air and hitting it multiple times with the battle-cars will see phase two and three come into play, with phase two capable of destroying seven panels and phase three destroying as many as nineteen.
Whilst the new game mode will surely take some getting used to for those accustomed to flicking the ball through the air for some fancy goals, those that remember the classic childhood game The Floor is Lava will certainly want to check out Dropshot with the new game mode offering gameplay highly reminiscent of that.
The final change to mention which is arriving today with the new Season 4 update is the resetting of all competitive ranking, with those looking down on others in the perch of Champion once more required to best the rest and climb to the top. This time however the road to the top will look slightly different, with Psyonix making good of their January statement and doing away with the Prospect, Challenger, Blue Star and Champion model in favour of a new ranking system which can be seen below with the added Grand-Champion rank included amongst the new additions.
Rewards for Season 3 will also go out today, but going forward there will be new changes to that, with rewards given to players based on the highest rank achieved, rather than rank at the end of a season. That all means players that may have reached higher ranks earlier in a season will get the reward that comes with that rank, helping give a chance to those looking for the best rewards and unlockables.
So, that’s just about everything you should expect from the latest Rocket League update. Will you be heading into the new Season gunning for prizes or is it Dropshot that has your interest peaked? Let us know in the comments below or via the usual social channels.
