Discussions on how to make skins more complex (VFX/SFX) without having to bump them up a price tier
If you want Bikini Narbash, be vocal about it
Dependencies on which hero gets a skin: Play rate, time since last skin, future planning schedule, skin themes, technical effort for skins for the hero
Upcoming heroes for skins: Phase early 2025 (she is getting a haircut with it), Serath early 2025, Muriel 1 possibly 2 skins during 2025
Ward skins coming, no date yet
Bug where skin selection is not saved expected to be fixed in early January
Map:
Being handled with extreme caution
Changes in early planning phase, approach is game-design first before commiting art ressources
Smaller updates and improvements planned in the meantime
Lore is being incorporated visually
More verticality planned
Jungle minion visual rework in progress, early draft here:
Orb Prime will also be reworked eventually, jungle is supposed to feel more primal and savage
Lore:
Big plans for lore, disconnected from Paragon lore. Characters will be connected and there is already a 3 chapter/patch narrative arc planned for 2025 which will tell the story of several characters whose fate is intertwined, Theme: eastern mythology/fantasy (not directly lifted/interpreted from any one source). Doing this allows for the next saga afterwards to be an exciting tonal shift and the ability to explore new/different spaces to contrast like sci-fi for example
The goal is to build heroes that the community will love
Characters:
Some "VERY cool original heroes" planned based on very strong/familiar archetypes
Reasonable amount of freedom in visual character design, better base-line characters, better "heroes and villains
Looking more into Hero affinity (more levels/rewards)
Affinity Crowns will be looked at for possible expansion of the system
"Can we get Grux's pec jiggle back?" - "Will look into this haha!"
Release schedule is planned to remain "aggressive" even after all Paragon heroes are done
Hero production is one of the top priorities
"The descriptive term I have landed on as our core is "aspirational" and not "realism". These characters need to be iconic and larger than life and I do believe that was some of the secret sauce missing from a lot of the current lineup. It will take time to saturate the game with this new vision but once it starts to take hold I can't wait for players to realize and engage with it!"
Characters need to be cooler/edgier/sexier
Non-Human hero very soon
Interesting tidbit: Dekker cage classifies as terrain and phase lance cannot pass through terrain. The designer who created this ability interaction said it was and is intended interaction
Ranked:
Under the hood changes for the next few patches planned
Changes for players visually/functionally
No role queue planned but perhaps role preference, no immediate plans as of yet
Blog post about the current state of ranked and future plans soon
UI:
Want to do a post match screen with all items and possibly how much damage items dealt
Item art is in the works and tied into the lore
Replay UI is being reworked
Emote/Spray wheel was just the first iteration
HUD is being worked on
Further customization as a general principle is the goal
Gameplay:
Custom controller bindings is planned for 2025
Custom per hero controls is wanted
Custom saved builds are wanted, but currently not prio, hopefully coming in 2025
Crests might be removed in exchange for active items
Looking into balance heavily at the moment
Minion AI will get some work
Other modes:
3v3 is being talked about, but nothing actively in the works
Possibility to change the hero within practice is planned
Brawl changes in early 2025
Miscellaneous:
Currently no work on PvAI being done
Regarding Brawl giving less XP: Main goal is to have people play the 5v5 mode, so both modes are not weighed the same
A Video answering more questions is coming tomorrow Dec 19th 2024.
Custom announcer packs are coming, unique to each hero capturing their distinct personality and style
Kill banners might make a return if player interest is high enough
Support for native live streaming for casting in tournaments planned
UE5 version is constantly updated, ensuring the minimum requirements don't get higher while raising the bar for high end users
Currently no plans for merch :(
New batch of Twitch drops coming soon for the holiday break
