The community-hosted competitive Robocraft competition the "Robocraft World Cup" has returned for a second season and its bigger and better than before. If you're a competitive player and want to represent your country to win some cool in-game items, sign-up today!

Like the regular soccer/football World Cup, teams of players represent their country in Robocraft battles against teams of players from other countries to determine who is the best. If you'd like to represent your country then head on over to the official Discord channel where you can find out more and register your interest in participating.


Please note that this is NOT a Freejam hosted competition; we are merely offering our support with some awesome prizes.. Speaking of which. We'll be awarding some prizes to the top three teams in the competition

Prizes:
So what can you win? If you're on the winning team, you'll receive a unique golden Laser Leviathan Weapon that you can use in-battle along with a sparkly gold flag to adorn your robot. Come second, you'll get a silver flag and those on the team that comes third will each receive a bronze flag.

https://sketchfab.com/models/c025f1bdd2c94bb09635474d58b33e37


(robot not included)

For full details and information on the competition, head on over to the Official Discord Server.

A shout-out must go to Thomas for creating the awesome trailer for the event which you can watch below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvP83t51H5c

Hey Robocrafters,
We just wanted to give you an update on Robocraft, outlining our immediate plans for the game which will see us completely removing crates and introducing some fan-favourite features and new cool stuff into Robocraft. Read on for the full lowdown.

TL:DR We ARE 100% removing crates in our next Phase 2 update where we will also add the Tech Tree. Tiers will arrive in the later Phase 3 update along with some other great features.

To recap quickly; our previous Phase 1 update on May 17th removed purchasable crates. From that day onwards there was no longer a way of spending money to buy crates or any Robot parts directly. Our next update, Phase 2, will see the 100% removal of all Loot Crates/Boxes from Robocraft for good and the re-introduction of the Tech Tree. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect:

• 100% Loot Box/Crate removal
• Tech Tree re-introduced with a new layout and some other enhancements
• Tech Points re-introduced - when you Level Up you get a Tech Point with cool Special Effects for this
• Robit battle rewards based on performance

The Phase 2 Update should™ take around 3 weeks to deliver to you. If the development Gods are looking kindly on us, we'll have Phase 2 released before the end of June. To whet your appetite, for Phase 2, here's a sneaky peek at the Tech Tree. Please note that this image is not final and may be subject to change.



In Phase 3 we will re-introduce Tiers to Robocraft along with other great features; some of them new, and some of them old. Here’s a list of what we have planned for Phase 3 so far:

• 5 different Tiers - Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary
• Robot Ranking returns - each part has Robot Rank and the combination of parts on your Robot will define its Tier
• Higher rarity parts will typically have higher Robot Rank values
• We'll remove Boosts from the game
• 8 vs 8 Elimination returns as a permanent game mode as part of the mode roster
• Game Mode selected at random when battle launches, with users able to ‘opt-out’ of modes they don't wish to play
• A tiered reward system with higher Tiers giving greater XP and Robits
• Ranking available in all Tiers, can you get to Protonium 5 star in all Tiers (it’ll be hardest in Legendary Tier)
• Ranking system improvements so you can play for fun without losing your rank when you want to, and play hard to rank up when you want to

This may change as you give us feedback on this blog post so stay posted to the blog and we’ll update you if things change.

To finish, here's a Tech Point animated GIF courtesy of our incredibly talented art team.

• Fixed a bug which caused some Daily Quests to display incorrectly
• Fixed a bug which caused some player's Daily Quests screen to be corrupted and so could not be completed
• Fixed a bug which failed to record the Battle Medic Daily Quest properly
• Fixed a bug which failed to record Mortar kills in the Explosive Attack Daily Quest
• Fixed a bug which caused some players to get stuck on a 'contacting the server' screen when logging in
• The BRAWL Daily Quest is no longer in the quest rotation. If you have a BRAWL Daily Quest, please re-roll if you don't want to wait for the next BRAWL

• Fixed a bug which sometimes caused a server error when constructing robots from the CRF that contained cosmetic parts

• The Steam email verification prompt no longer awards players with 5 crates

If you've been following our social media and website updates, you'll be well aware that we're removing all forms of loot crates from Robocraft. We've always been clear that removing them from the game would be a massive undertaking and that it would take time; it isn't simply a case of just turning them off. In order to get the changes to you quicker, we said that we would be removing them in stages (or as we're calling them, phases).

Today we released Phase One, which saw the removal of purchasable crate bundles from the in-game store and daily login rewards. Alongside this we introduced Daily Quests, an exciting way to earn XP and Robits as well as a new Cosmetic Credits (CC) currency. Please note that end of battle reward crates and level up crates will remain until the introduction of Tiers.

The full patch notes are below:
 
Cosmetic Credits - Cosmetic Credits can be used in the Forge to create cosmetic parts to make your Robots stand out from the crowd. Bundles of cosmetic credits can be purchased from the in-game shop or earned by recycling unwanted cosmetic items.

Cosmetic Credits are available to purchase from the in-game shop in bundles priced at:

• 100 Credits - £1.19 / $1.49 / €1.49*
• 500 Credits - £3.99 / $4.99 / €4.99*
• 1,000 Credits - £7.99 / $8.99 / €8.99*
• 2,000 Credits - £11.99 / $14.99 / €14.99*

*Your local currency will be displayed in the in-game shop

Forgeable Cosmetics - With the introduction of Cosmetic Credits, we have once again made it possible for players to forge their favourite cosmetic parts in Robocraft. Players use purchasable Cosmetic Credits to forge cosmetic items or a combination of Cosmetic Credits and Robits to forge Cosmetic weapon or movement part skins such as the Carbon 6 variant parts.

Daily Quests - Players can earn XP and Robits for completing daily quests.



With the removal of daily login crates, we have introduced a new way to earn XP and Robits in Robocraft with Daily Quests. Simply login daily to receive a new random quest; complete it to earn XP and Robits. You can have a maximum of 3 Quests active at anyone time and once per day you can reroll a quest you don't want. If you're a premium player, you'll earn 2x XP and 2x Robits from completing quests.

Please note that Daily Quest rewards can not be earned through playing Custom Games or Play vs AI mode.

Improved in-game menu navigation - We have updated the top navigation bar in Robocraft, giving it a cleaner look. As well as a cleaner menu, the top navigation screen now displays both your Robits and Cosmetic Credits balance as well as your player level and Premium time remaining.

• Removal of purchasable Salvage Crate bundles from the in-store shop - With this update it is no longer be possible to purchase Salvage Crate bundles from the in-game shop. Players who have unopened crates in their account will still be able to open them when logging in.
• Removal of crate reward for tutorial completion
• Removal of Daily Login crates
• Cosmetic items will no longer drop in any Salvage Reward Crates
• Robots built with cosmetics that have been uploaded to the CRF can be downloaded and constructed using Robits and Cosmetic Credits if the player does not own the necessary parts to construct the robot
• Cosmetic Part Rarity Changes - We have changed the rarity of some parts to match cosmetic versions to the correct non-cosmetic versions:
  
  • Blade Insect Leg rarity change to Rare, was Epic
  • Bat Wings rarity changed to Rare, was Epic
  • Bat Rudders rarity changed to Rare, Was Epic
  • Spike Needle rarity changed to Rare, was Uncommon
  • Spike Pin rarity changed to Rare, was Uncommon
  • Eagle Mask rarity changed to Epic, was Uncommon
  • Single Vapor Trail rarity changed to Uncommon, was Rare
• EAC SDK Updated
• Texture optimisation to Headlamp part

• Fixed a bug which caused Tank Track audio not to play
• Fixed a bug which prevented some players from uploading a robot to the CRF if they had previously reported one
• Fixed a bug which caused the UI to be temporarily out of sync if a player pressed the ESC key while capturing a point in Battle Arena modes
• Fixed a bug which caused the UI to be temporarily out of sync if a player reconnected to Battle Arena or League Arena modes
• Fixed a bug which caused inconsistencies with the Core Capture/Defend icon animation in Battle Arena modes
• Fixed a bug which prevented players from blinking through their own Disc Shield Module
• Various translations corrections
• Fixed a bug where a player reconnecting to a Custom Game would not have the set values for the game
• Fixed a bug which caused the Steam Verification email not to send

Check out the Developer Vlog for this update below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDajrAB-0jk

We're revisiting a fan favourite with our latest BRAWL. It's time to power-up your best battle-ready Robot and head into the warzone with the Elimination Battlegrounds BRAWL. We've upped the ante with larger 8 v 8 teamsizes and removed auto-heal - it's going to be brutal out there. As a reward for winning, the first win bonus is triple XP and triple crates!

The BRAWL will remain in play until Tuesday, May 8th at 11:00 (BST).

• Game Mode: Elimination
• Map: All six maps
• Number of Players: 8 v 8
• Max CPU: 2,000
• Permitted Weapons: All weapons and movement parts permitted
• Special Rules: No auto-heal
• First Win BRAWL Rewards: 3x XP + 3x Crates

Dear Robocraft Community,
In our last blog post on Boosts we proposed a few things that we planned to do as part of our overall ‘Loot Crate Removal’ work. A quick recap:

• Keep Boosts in at first, allowing us to focus on crate removal as a priority
• Add in 3 Tiers
• Circle back on Boosts after the crates had been removed, removing them and replacing them with a better system

We’ve had loads of player feedback on this, which has led to Tiers proving to be a bit of a minefield. So based on your feedback, we’ve had to rethink them a bit to improve the concept.

Here’s what we’re currently planning; as always, let us know what you think:

• We will remove Boosts
• We will add 5 Tiers (up from our original plan of 3 Tiers)
• Tiers will be named based on Rarity i.e. Epic Tier, Legendary Tier, etc. (i.e. 5 rarities, 5 tiers)
• We will bring back Robot Ranking (RR)
• Each part will have a Robot Rank (RR), higher rarity parts will have a higher RR and weapons will tend to have higher RR than other parts
• Your Robot's total Robot Rank will determine what Tier it is, e.g. you might have an ‘Epic Robot’
• You can use a diverse range of parts in each Tier, for example you may combine a Legendary Weapon with a bunch of Rare Movement parts to get an Epic Robot

Basically everything described above is similar to how the old popular Tier system worked in previous versions of Robocraft which also featured the Tech Tree, but updated to work with the 5 rarity scheme we have now.

• We plan to introduce the concept of Light, Medium and Heavy (LMH) cubes to Robocraft.
• Heavy cubes will be Common rarity
• Medium Cubes will be Rare
• Light Cubes will be Epic

At lower Tiers you will see mostly Heavy cubes (akin to our current Health cubes), making it a great point of entry for new players. Whereas in Epic and Legendary Tiers, more complex engineering will be prevalent showing the full range of Light Medium and Heavy cubes.

• BA, TDM and League will be merged into just one ‘Battle’ button
• When you push that button you will join the queue and will launch into a random game mode, i.e. Battle Arena, Elimination, or Team Deathmatch, this will allow us to keep all game modes and keep queue times down whilst supporting 5 Tiers
• You will have options that allow you to ‘opt-out’ of game modes you do not like to play
• The game will focus on matchmaking Robots of the same Tier above all else, so each Tier will feel quite distinct; with different metas and different builds appearing in each Tier
• Your Garage Bays will show you what Tier each Robot is (the UI will be colored to show the rarity colors, i.e. yellow for Legendary)
• All players in a Party will need to have same Tier Robots, this is to prevent frustration of unfairness for having a range of Tiers in a party
• The Legendary Tier will matchmake by MMR as well and will always be ranked, so you will get your protonium 5 star badge by ranking up in Legendary Tier

We’re not planning to do CPU ‘bands’ for Tiers at this point; preferring instead to rely on Robot Ranking alone to define Tiers as they should provide tons of depth as it did in earlier versions of Robocraft.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read and we look forward to your feedback. Remember, nothing is set in stone and your feedback will directly impact the direction and changes we make to the game.

Mark, CEO, Freejam

Dear Robocraft Community,

So we seem to have made some good progress on our plans to remove crates by discussing the plans with the community and getting consensus on a number of changes.

Here is a quick recap:

• 100% removal of all crates
• Replace with a Tech Tree and Tech Points to unlock parts
• Add Robits earned at the end of battle based on performance to Forge parts
• Add Daily Quests for XP in place of Daily Crates
• Add in 3 Tiers, each with a different CPU cap (and add more later if the community grows after the changes)
• Add in a random game mode system to keep all games modes active, but also add an ‘opt-out’ options menu so users don’t have to play game modes they don’t like
• Add a Cosmetic Credits currency so users can buy cosmetics directly with real money (for fair prices)
• Keep x2 progress speed rewards and other benefits for Premium users (Premium will get x2 XP and Robits)
• Give Cosmetic Credits for levelling up instead of Tech Points when user has already unlocked everything on the Tech Tree, also allow Cosmetic Credits to be Forged from a lot of Robits, grinding for CC is OK as long as they are not locked behind a 100% paywall
• Skills might work in future, but needs a lot more thought, so we’re not doing them for now so we can focus on delivering the crate removal, tech tree and tiers as a priority

Finally we discussed the idea of removing Boosts with the community and various issues related to them at present in game. After considering this we found that removing Boosts would at the very least require us to do a lot of re-balancing work, or require us to bring in other game mechanics to solve problems that removing Boosts could create.

After listening to the community and reading a lot of comments on this subject what we’re ‘hearing’ is that the community in general doesn’t like mechanics like Boosts and Overclocking at all really because they are ‘abstract’ or ‘arbitrary’ game mechanics. What players want is for the game to focus on physics and engineering so building is more like the real world and matters as it does in the real world. The community feels that mass and weight should play a pivotal role in maneuverability and acceleration and should compete against concepts like redundancy and tankiness and fire-power to create engineering depth.

If we’re hearing this right, then this is a direction we are happy to consider moving towards as a general ‘direction of travel’, but as you can imagine this could take a lot of time and iteration to achieve. For now we want to focus on the quick removal of loot crates and introduction of the Tech Tree and if those changes are things players like and the community begins to grow we can plough on and begin to focus on core engineering and physics in this way.

So, with that in mind, and to allow us to focus 100% on removal or crates we will be leaving Boosts as they are in the short term (this is the least amount of work for us).

That said, many have mentioned that they feel Boosts should be capped at 100% for now to solve a few issues in game, and since that’s a quick change for us we’re going to do that.

Also a few have highlighted that in Tier 1, where the CPU cap will be 1000 CPU the Damage Boost will mean that Robots will have too much damage and not enough health and Tier 1 won’t work very well.

A member of the community Jendar suggested a simple solution which we think we can implement quickly which is this:

• Tier 1 - 1000 CPU max, only Speed Boost enabled (capped at 100%)
• Tier 2 - 1500 CPU max, Speed Boost and Health Boost enabled (capped at 100%)
• Tier 3 - max CPU, All Boosts enabled (capped at 100%)

So, by doing this we can focus on the crate removal and bringing back the Tech Tree and then when that is done, and if it goes well, we can begin to work with you on a solid way to remove Boosts and focus more on good solid engineering and physics simulation as opposed to funny mechanics like ‘Boosts’.

We hope you approve of the overall plan.

Mark, CEO, Freejam

Dear Robocraft Community,

Thank you so so much for all your feedback on Monday's ‘Removing Crates’ blog post. It was amazing to see all the positive contributions from everyone.

Myself and the dev team spent most of yesterday trawling over the feedback from as many sources as we could find (Twitter, FB, Forums, Discord, Reddit, etc) and trying to soak up the general sentiment towards some of the ideas.

Below is a summary of our perception of what the feeling in the community is towards the ideas and where we are on our plans after hearing them. Please leave feedback if you think our interpretation of these things is totally wrong; nothing is set in stone.

Best regards
Mark, CEO, Freejam

• Removing Crates 100% from the game - This was fairly universally liked and so we’re planning to focus on going ahead with all the changes needed to remove them ASAP.
• Rewarding Robits at the end of battle based on performance - Again, this was fairly universally liked and so we’re planning to proceed with this plan.
• Daily Quests - In general the feeling was that this was a good thing. There were some concerns about what the quests might be, but on the whole the feeling was ‘a good alternative to Daily Crates’
• Tech Tree - Overall players are happy to see the Tech Tree coming back as an alternative progression system to crates. There were some questions regarding how existing accounts will be treated and we’ve aimed to answer those in an FAQ below.
• Tiers Coming Back - Mostly the community seemed to like the idea of bringing 3 Tiers back. Some asked why just 3 Tiers, why not 5 or 10 like before? but the main reason for this is that we don’t really have enough players online at certain times to support more than 3 and retain all the other options we have as well like Parties, Custom Games, Brawl, low queue times, and a level of skill matchmaking. Our plan is to start with 3 tiers and, if we can grow the player base we can add more tiers if the community still wants it at that time.
• BA, Elimination and TDM in a rolling roster - Most players seemed to like this idea but some players were concerned that they would have to play game modes they didn’t like. This was probably a fault of our communication but we want to reassure everyone that the opt out options will allow you to exclude modes you don’t like playing. Anyway, overall it seems you’re happy for us to proceed with this plan too.
• Removing Purchasable Crates - Most of the community seemed fine with this and for us to monetise the game via Premium and Cosmetic Credits. Some asked for a way to get Cosmetic Credits without paying but in exchange for some sort of long grind. We have an idea for this (see the Skills section below).
• Premium at 25%- This was the idea of reducing the Premium benefits for new users buying Premium from 100% to 25% with those who already owned Premium keeping 100%. We don’t feel comfortable reducing the % benefit for existing Premium users. Some are OK with it but others won’t be and we just don’t want go there. So, we’re left with a decision to either keep it as it is, i.e. with Premium at 100%, or create the split between new and older users with Premium. The latter caused a lot of controversy within the community yesterday with many feeling it wasn’t fair so we feel that it’s best for us to leave it at 100% for now as it’s not really important to our main goal of ‘crate removal’ anyway. It’s not a closed book and we’re happy to circle back on it at a later date once the crates are gone if the community still feels the game is too P2W at that stage. We determined to get to a point where the community feels we are monetising Robocraft in a fair way.
• Removing Boosts - This was met with some controversy. Some felt it was good to remove them while others felt that their removal would hurt build diversity and break some fun builds. We pondered it more today and felt that it could potentially break quite a lot and force us to rebalance a lot of things; so since it is not critical to our main mission of ‘remove the crates’ we want to park this idea for now and circle back on it after the other changes above are live.
• Skills - This was the most overall controversial thing. To be fair it wasn’t fleshed out by us very well (as we haven’t really designed it), but a lot of the community highlighted big potential problems with it even conceptually ranging from ‘seal clubbing’ issue to ‘not very Robocraft as I can’t tell what a Robots power is just by looking at it’. We think these are valid criticisms and since Skills are not critical to the removal of crates [and that is our main goal for now] we will park the idea for the time being. BUT, READ BELOW FOR A NEW IDEA.

CC FOR VETS - Our main reason for wanting to consider something like a Skill Tree was to ensure that players who had been playing for a while and had unlocked everything on the Tech Tree still had potential rewards to get. We wondered if a simple solution to this was ‘If you have unlocked everything on the Tech Tree you will start you get ‘1 Cosmetic Credit’ per level instead of 1 Tech Point, so can then begin to unlock the cosmetics for free also. This also means that existing users with very high level will automatically receive a bunch of CC (equal to the number of levels they are higher than the number needed to unlock the whole Tech Tree. Also, we thought having an option to Forge a Cosmetic Credit for Robits could be added as well (say 1,000,000 Robits for 1 CC). Many suggested that we need to invest more time in better cosmetic offerings and we agree so we’ve been discussing ways to do this.

Q. When will this update come out?
A. Soon™ - In all seriousness, we're still very much at the planning stages at the moment and our goal is to release the changes in steps so we can get them to you sooner. When we've finished the planning, we'll give you a timeline as to when you can expect what.

Q. Will I have to unlock all my existing parts on the tech tree?
A. No - any parts you currently have in your inventory will be unlocked in the tech tree. Therefore, none of your bots will be broken by the coming updates.

Q. Why are you only having 3 tiers and not 10?
A. Initially we want to start small as the current playerbase could not support 10 tiers without painful queue times. If the player numbers increase, then we can look at expanding tiers beyond 3.

Q. What will happen to Megabots?
A. We've seen all your feedback surrounding your love for Megabots and we will look at how we can make better use of them after we have completed a majority of the crate removal work.

Q. Will it be possible to obtain cosmetics without paying?
A. Yes! We will devise a system where you will be able to convert Robits into CC (cosmetic credits). Also, once you unlock everything on the tech tree, any tech points earned through levelling up will be automatically converted into CC.

Q. If the tech tree has 100 items on it and I'm level 500, will I get 400 CC?
A. Yes you will!

Q. Are you removing crates due to legal reason and the whole EA debacle ?
A. No. The legality of loot crates is still up for debate and although we are aware of the issues surrounding them this did not inform our decision. We simply took way too long to listen to the community on how much they hate crates.

Q. Will we still keep our robots?
A. Yes, but the proposed balance changes and tiers may require you to change them a bit.

Q. With all of these changes, does this mean the CRF will be removed?
A. No, we have no plans to remove the CRF - this update is all about the removal of crates.

Q. Will we be able to reset our progress to experience the full tech tree?
A. No, we have no plans to allow an account reset. You can however create as many free accounts as you wish.

Q. After the implementation of the system with "Tech Tree", will there be the League Arena and Brawl sections?
A. When we introduce the new Tiers system, League Arena will become Tier 3. BRAWL will remain but will only be live during special events.

Q. If I purchase crates, and then do not open them, and then the update comes and removes the crates, what will happen? Will I lose them?
A. Yes you will, but we will give players plenty of time for people to open their crates and an in game warning of when the incoming update will drop. Worst case scenario you can contact our customer support and we will refund you accordingly.

Q. Can we buy premium now and keep the 100%?
A. Yes, you can. However, due to overwhelming feedback from the community who felt that our planned changes to premium were unfair, therefore, we have decided against making these changes at this time.

Q. Does that mean we can only earn Robits from buying other player’s robots?
A. No, you will earn Robits at the end of every battle. The amount earned will be based on your performance in battle.

Q. You said game rules would be randomized sometimes, will we be able to switch-out our robots mid-game?
A. We would love to be able to let you switch bot mid battle, i.e. from a 'deck' of bots. We're investigating the feasibility of the idea now. Might only be able to switch after death. We think it's the only real way to solve match-making between Robot types as players can counter.

Q. What about pilot seats, old maps, old BA, no auto-heal, old flight controls, bigger team sizes?
A. Initially we're focusing on removing crates and associated changes that need to happen to make that work. We can look at other things like Pilot Seats, Weapon Energy and the like after we've done this work and got more community feedback.

Q. All this is great at appeasing older players, but how will Robocraft appeal to new players?
A. New players will hopefully enjoy the progression system and be motivated to build and learn different bots that cater to the different play styles offered in game. If older players are happy, newer players will want to become older players.

Q. All this is great, but how will Robocraft monetise and grow from here?
A. Of course we will develop new cosmetics to supplement the existing ones which can be forged with CC - cosmetic credits. Cosmetic Credits will be purchasable in bundles in-game or earned through play.

Q. Is this really happening?
A. Yes, yes it is. We’ve listened to your feedback and while we are not simply returning the game to 2014 we are revisiting those popular features with a view to updating them for the 2018

Q. Does Freejam feel silly for not doing this earlier and/or feel that some of the last 2 years of development were wasted?
A. I wouldn't say "feel silly" but we definitely acknowledge making mistakes. To be honest we make mistakes all the time. Game dev is a non-exact science and it's a very competitive and challenging industry. Freejam fundamentally believes that making mistakes is OK, but not learning from making mistakes is a big no no. The key is to learn and grow and become better.

Q. Can I have your address? I'd like to give you a hug.
A. If we deliver what we promise, and you like it, you can come and visit the studio to give the whole dev team a hug.

Dear Robocraft Community,
We have decided to remove Loot Crates/Boxes from ALL forms of Robocraft in response to persistent feedback from the community disliking their RNG nature of progression and P2W feeling.

We are seeking feedback from the Robocraft community on these changes and we’re ready to change the plans if you hate them, so please take some time to leave feedback on them on the forums and various community spaces.

• We’re removing crates 100%
• We’re adding back a Tech Tree and Tech Points
• We’re adding back Tiers, but just 3 of them
• We’re removing Boosts
• We’re rewarding Robits based on performance in battle
• We’re adding Daily Quests in place of Daily Crates
• We’re adding a Cosmetic Credits currency so you can buy cosmetics that you want
• We are removing all ways of buying parts with real money (aside from cosmetics)
• We’re keeping Premium as the only way to speed up progress, but reducing this to +25% (existing Premium users will keep +100%, all other Premium benefits will remain)
• We’re planning to add a Skill Tree for vets
• None of this is set in stone as we want to get community feedback first
• It won’t all be implemented together at once (as it will take a while), we will implement it and release it in steps so you get the changes faster

The focus is to give a performance based predictable reward and remove all RNG and Crates from the rewards equation:

• Remove all crates from the game and replace them with Robits and XP rewards based on players performance in battle
• The End of Battle rewards screen will give you XP AND Robits
• Since XP is proportional to ‘score’ in battle (i.e. performance), we will relate Robits rewards to XP (so Robits will be based on performance also)
• You will use Robits earned in battle to Forge whichever parts you want, but you will need to ‘unlock’ them first via the Tech Tree (see below)
• Premium users will get +25% extra Robits and XP (existing Premium and P4L users will retain +100%)

Rather than logging in each day to open your crate we will reward you for completing daily quests:

• Currently we award a Daily Crate for logging in each day
• We will replace this with a Daily Quests system
• Each day you will receive a new Quest (e.g. get 5 kills with Ion or Tesla) and on completing that quest you will receive a chunk of XP and Robits
• We will aim to add interesting Quests that encourage play in all game modes and utilising different Robot builds, this will reward versatile players and encourage diversity
• You will be able to ‘re-roll’ one quest per day so that if you get a quest you do not like you can to turn it into another one
• Quests will be selected randomly from a pool of quests that we can grow over time. We’d be happy to receive feedback from the community on what you think may be good quests to add once the system is up and running
• Premium users will get +25% Robits and XP rewards from Quests also (existing Premium and P4L users will retain +100%)

With no crates we’re going to need to an alternative progression system. One that does not involve RNG and provides greater choice and a clear progression path.

• Some of you will remember the old Hex Tree, here’s an old screenshot:

• We will be bringing back the Tech Tree with a new layout that will offer choices as you progress to unlock all the parts, similar to the very early Tech Tree layouts (not the spiral one)
• We will be bringing back Tech Points
• Each time you Level Up you will earn 1 x Tech Point
• Since Premium users get +25% XP they will level up faster (existing Premium and P4L users will get +100%)
• Each part on the Tech Tree will have a Tech Point cost to unlock (normally 1, but might be more for Epics and Legendaries)
• Epic and Legendary parts will be on the outer edges of the Tech Tree so will take longer to acquire
• Cosmetic Skins (like Carbon 6 weapons or Thrusters) will automatically unlock when their ‘parent’ part is unlocked via the Tech Tree, so you will NOT be able to ‘buy’ any form of functional weapon or part until you have earned it in the normal way by playing
• All parts you already own will be unlocked on the Tech Tree already when this feature is released, so you will not need to unlock them all again
• Players will start with lower CPU and unlock extra CPU on the Tech Tree up to max 2,000, existing players will have all CPU already unlocked to prevent locking out any Robots you already have
• Level progression will be flattened, so the rate of getting new levels will be the same regardless of if you are level 20 or level 5000, this is so that new tech points are acquired are at the same rate always (this is important for the Skill Tree see below)

Then we need to find a way to protect new users from feeling like they are being seal clubbed, particularly by high CPU Robots with Epic and Legendary parts on:

• We want to keep queue times short so we going for 3 x Tiers
• Tier 1 will be <1000 CPU, No Epic and Legendary parts allowed, Skills disabled
• Tier 2 will be <1500 CPU, No Legendary parts allowed, Skills enabled
• Tier 3 will be Max CPU, all parts allowed, skills enabled, League rank and badges apply

We want to keep the variety of games modes we have, whilst having tiers; so here is an idea of how to do this and keep low queue times at the same time:

• All Tiers will feature all 3 modes, BA, Elimination and TDM
• When you join the queue, the Lobby will cycle between BA, Elimination and TDM which will allow all game modes to stay in all tiers and keep queue times low, the lobby will choose the game mode and you’ll see the mode that’s been chosen on the loading screen as the level loads
• Opting in to all three game modes will give you shortest queue times (a bit like in Rocket League)
  But, if there are game modes you hate playing you will be able to ‘opt out’ via a simple game mode options menu so you only get game modes you like playing, but may see longer queue times when you do this
• Initially In Tier 3, TDM and BA will be ‘Ranked’ and affect MMR/League, whereas Elimination will not affect rank. Later we may make changes to Elimination (such as 3 rounds) so that it can feature as part of the ranked setup
• One thing this system will allow is different game mode setups as well, for example we could have BA with Cap Points sometimes and BA with Crystal Towers on other times. We could have Auto-heal on sometimes and off on others, with the rules displayed on the loading screen each time, so more variety whilst still retaining 3 tiers and short queue times, Pit scoring in TDM, and other random things like it

With the re-introduction of Tiers and the Tech Tree we like to simplify things and remove the Boosts. Here’s how it would work, let us know your thoughts:

• We could remove the Damage Boost and Health Boost system
• We could keep the Speed Boost system but reflect this as a simple ‘Top Speed’ stat, rather than a ‘Base Speed’ and ‘Speed Boost’, this is so that ‘more Thrusters = more Speed’ which is what most users expect
• We could remove the extra weapons in each rarity (i.e. Wasp and Hornet are both Uncommon and aren’t that different, so we’d remove one of them, same for Plasma and same for other parts, moving towards 1 per Rarity as in Infinity)
• Weapons could be re-balanced so that lower rarities would tend to be ‘lower energy consumption’ and ‘faster fire-rates’ but ‘lower damage’, so smaller weapons would still be useful in various ways even in Tier 3
• We’d need to do a bunch of other balance changes to make the above work out OK also, but haven’t figured out that detail yet (Health and Light blocks for example)

We obviously need to remove crates you can buy in the store and tweak some other monetisation and reward systems:

• We will remove purchasable Crates from the Store so you will no longer be able to buy crates
• We will keep Premium which will retain extra colors, 3x recycle rates, and custom avatars
• We will reduce the bonus that you get for XP and Robits with Premium to +25%
• Existing Premium users and Premium for Life users will keep the +100% benefits
• We will remove ALL ways of buying cubes directly with money (e.g. currently you can purchase crates and we will not be providing an alternative way) so there will not be a way of Forging non-cosmetic cubes with currency that is purchased (like the old Galaxy Cash allowed). You will need Robits to Forge all functional parts
• We will add a new Cosmetic Credits currency which users will be able to buy in bundles
• All cosmetics will need to be Forged with Cosmetic Credits (focusing more on monetising cosmetics and less on monetising progress)
• Cosmetic skins (like Weapons and Movement parts) will need to be Forged with a combination of Robits and Cosmetic credits - so you will not be able to pay money to get them faster
• We will be changing the Robits costs of parts in the Forge, largely to make grinding for Legendaries more reasonable. Our current thinking is that 10 average battles for a Legendary weapon (5 for Premium) feels fair. Let us know what you think of this.

Then we need to add something for the vets, who have already unlocked all the parts and have a million of each in their inventory:

• For those users who have already unlocked all of the parts we want to add a Skill Tree
• This is still being designed so could change. We’re just floating an idea out there at this stage
• Essentially Tech Points (TP) will be able to be spent on ‘Skills’
• Current ideas for skills are things that affect you globally, i.e. % reduction in respawn time, or % reduction in auto-heal cooldown, or % improvement in weapon energy and many like it
• These % will be small and incremental, but noticeable for good players, so more of an ‘end game’ progression than a new user thing
• You will not be able to level up all skills and max the tree, there will be a limit to how many TP you can spend on a single tree, so you have to make choices
• You will be able to change your choice by deleting a skill but you will lose that TP and will need to earn it again
• You will be able to create multiple skill trees and name them
• You will be able to assign a skill tree to each Robot in your Garage so can have custom ones per Robot, or groups of Robots that share a tree

Anyway, sorry for the really long blog post with tons of text, but I assumed you’d want as much info as I could provide.

I really want to emphasize this isn’t set in stone; we really want to get your feedback on these ideas and we’re ready to make changes to these plans if you hate them or if there are any major issues with some of them.

We have created a forum post for you to leave your feedback on, and if you want, you can reach out to us directly via our social media channels over on Facebook and Twitter.

Best regards
Mark, CEO, Freejam