Rocket League details plans for revamp of Tournaments feature
Psyonix has announced major changes coming to Rocket League’s Tournament feature. When the game goes free-to-play, “players around the world will be able to join automatically scheduled Tournaments each day, climb their way through the bracket, and reap the rewards of victory”.
Here’s the full rundown from Psyonix:
Rocket League is getting a whole new way to compete! The Tournaments feature will see a major overhaul with free to play coming later this summer. Get ready to feel the competitive energy of what it’s like playing in Rocket League Esports, but in Tournaments for all Ranks! Soon, players around the world will be able to join automatically scheduled Tournaments each day, climb their way through the bracket, and reap the rewards of victory!
There’s a lot being added to Tournaments, and this blog has everything you need to know.
DOMINATE THE BRACKET
Get ready to join and compete in Rocket League’s revamped in-game Tournaments, all of which are completely free to join!
Players will soon be able to sign up for Competitive Tournaments, a new ranked mode within Tournaments that pits you against teams of similar skill to earn rewards. Each region has multiple Competitive Tournaments scheduled each day, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to compete. You can sign up from the revamped Tournaments Menu that shows the daily schedule for your region.
Once a Competitive Tournament begins, we generate 32-team, single-elimination brackets based on each team’s skill. Teams will play one match each round until the Semifinals and Finals, which are best of three. Teams that lose in the first round (or show up after the Tournament start time) can join a “Second Chance” bracket for another try at victory.
Competitive Tournaments are 3v3 at launch and support parties of all sizes, from a full squad of three to a solo-queued hopeful. Your Tournaments Rank is initially determined by your Rank from Competitive matchmaking, but changes over the course of each season depending on your Tournaments performance. Like Competitive matchmaking, we base the skill of mixed-rank parties on their highest skilled player. For example, if two Gold II players team up with a Diamond I player, that team will be entered into a Diamond Tournament.Win your games, move forward, and get closer to brand new rewards in Rocket League Tournaments.
WHAT DO YOU GET FOR COMPETING IN A TOURNAMENT?
Everyone who makes it out of the First Round of a Tournament will receive new in-game currency called Tournament Credits, and performing well and making it farther in a bracket will earn you more. Tournaments at a higher Rank will grant larger Tournament Credit rewards. For instance, strong Silver Ranked players stand to earn more Tournament Credits if they get pulled into a Gold Rank Tournament, but their competition will be tougher. The Tournament Credit reward is the same for all three team members.
Getting at least one win in any Tournament gives you Tournament Credits, but most of your earnings will come from your Top 3 Weekly Placements, which reset at the end of each week on Sunday. For example, winning a Gold Tournament is worth roughly 1,200 Tournament Credits, but your Weekly Placement reward for that result is 4,500 Tournament Credits (for a total of 5,700). The better your results, the higher the weekly reward.
Tournament Credits can be redeemed to get Cups that will grant you a customization item including Wheels, animated Decals, and even Goal Explosions. There are four levels of Cups that become available as you increase your Tournaments Rank. The higher level the Cup, the more often you’ll unlock an item of higher rarity. All Tournament items can have special attributes like Painted or Certified. You can also trade in unwanted items to receive Tournament items of a higher rarity. That even goes for Exotic items, which can be traded up to Black Market!
Plus, if you win a tournament, you’ll get a Title that shows off the Rank of the Tournament you won. Winning three similarly ranked tournaments throughout a season will grant you a colored Title at that Rank.
OTHER THINGS TO KNOW
Players can join every scheduled Tournament they want to each week. In other words, there’s no limit to how many tournaments you may join.
Since dropping out of a Tournament early can really hurt a team, there will be sanctions for this type of behavior to keep things fair. Quitting early results in a 15 minute matchmaking ban and a 3 hour Tournament ban. If you continue to abandon Tournaments early, this penalty will escalate to a 24-hour Tournament ban, then a 7-day Tournament ban plus a 24 hour matchmaking ban in extremely severe cases. Each Tournament you complete (play until victory or elimination) counts towards reducing your potential penalties. A player who drops out of a Tournament will also forfeit any rewards they’ve earned so far in that Tournament.
Since Tournaments rely on all teams finishing their games in a timely manner, matches will have a hard endpoint, instead of a virtually infinite overtime. The longest a match can be is 11 total minutes (this includes time spent for kickoffs and replays). If the game is tied, the team with the most shots wins. If the number of shots are the same, then the winner will be decided by a coin flip.
Tournaments will follow the same schedule as Rocket League’s Competitive Seasons. Once a new Competitive Season begins, some Tournament items will be retired and new items will take their place. And, just like Season Reward Titles change with the Seasons, so will the Titles you can earn from winning a Tournament.
We’ve also made some changes to custom Tournaments. Now, tournament organizers can spectate the games happening in the brackets they create. This will help Tournament organizers and content creators who want to organize their own Tournaments with friends and fans.
There’s so much packed into Rocket League’s new Tournament system that’s coming in our next update, and we hope you enjoy this brand new way to face off against the competition. So, get ready to dominate the bracket and earn the spoils of victory later this summer!
Psyonix is only committing to a summer release window for Rocket League going free-to-play and implementing the changes to tournaments. We’ll let you know when everything goes lives.
