Early Access Patch V0.16

Introduction

Greetings Champions!

This week’s update is a little different as you already know. There’s no new Hero, and we’re releasing it on a Thursday outside of our usual game update cadence. Instead we’re celebrating, because V0.16 comes with a very different milestone…

OPEN BETA!

That’s right! After this update Predecessor will be free to everyone, on all platforms. And we mean all, because we’re also welcoming Xbox players to the battle for the first time too!

This milestone isn’t all however! V0.16 also ships with all-new lighting, visual changes that will drastically improve the graphical fidelity of our map ahead of further maps and level reworks in the future.

We’re still not done however! We’ve added a bunch of new languages for PC players (soon to be available to console players too) as well as a myriad of bug fixes and balance changes we managed to slip in as well!

We’re burning daylight here, so let’s jump to it!

Open Beta

We’re taking our next leap in Early Access development!

V0.16 marks our milestone release into Open Beta, marking a transition to free-to-play for all players, on all platforms, everywhere!

We’re excited to continue developing Predecessor alongside our rapidly growing community, and we cannot wait to get the game in front of more and more people because of this shift.

Localisation

We've added our first wave of newly supported languages to Predecessor!

Starting on Thursday, PC players will be able to select the following languages in the settings menu:

• French

• German

• Spanish

• Portuguese

• Italian

• Simplified Chinese

Console players will get the same localisation options soon, and we look forward to delivering even more languages throughout the year!

Xbox Series S/X

As of V0.16 we’re thrilled to be welcoming a whole new audience to Predecessor - Xbox players!

That’s right, we’re rolling out globally on Xbox Series S/X consoles, delivering on our promise to ensure that Predecessor is as accessible as possible to as many players as possible.

Xbox players, good luck out there! Everyone else? Go easy on the newcomers and be sure to give them a warm Predecessor welcome! 😉

Store News

New Skins

Ruby Scarab Grux

Clad in crimson carapace-like armour, this Ruby Scarab Grux skin [Epic] is sure to stand out in the Jungle!

Snakebite Murdock

Let’s hope he comes with anti-venom! It’s Murdock’s new Snakebite skin [Uncommon]!

New Bundles

Ruby Scarab Grux Bundle

Can’t get enough of that new Ruby Scarab Grux skin? Complete the look with a matching icon, banner and spray - available in store now!

Bundle Contents:

• Grux (Hero)

• Ruby Scarab Grux Skin

• Ruby Scarab Grux Icon (Exclusive)

• Ruby Scarab Grux Banner (Exclusive)

• Ruby Scarab Grux Spray (Exclusive)

Frost King Revenant Bundle

With Xbox players joining us for the first time ever, we wanted to bring back one of the most popular skins of 2023 for a limited time to ensure that anyone who wants the skin has a chance to grab it (along with a matching set of cool profile decorations to boot)! Spring may have sprung for most of us but you can never rule out a cold snap!

Bundle Contents:

• Revenant (Hero)

• Frost King Revenant Skin

• Frost King Revenant Icon (Exclusive)

• Frost King Revenant Banner (Exclusive)

• Frost King Revenant Spray (Exclusive)

Quick Start Bundles

With the move to Open Beta and the doors open for Xbox players, we wanted to make it as easy as possible for new players to quickly flesh out their collection of playable Heroes and selectable skins, right out the gate.

With that in mind, we’re pleased to share a series of new in-game Quick Start bundles that new players can use to unlock sets of Heroes, not too dissimilar from the Early Access bundles that PC players have had access to.

Each bundle contains a collection of Heroes available at a discounted price, with a smattering of skins and a role-themed spray included for good measure. 

Better yet, we’re putting them up for sale at a special, discounted, introductory price! We’ll run this discount for a short while, but grab the bundles at this great price while you can!

Quick Start Support Bundle

Quick Start Carry Bundle

Quick Start Jungle Bundle

Quick Start Midlane Bundle

Quick Start Offlane Bundle

Skin Price Reduction

In response to your feedback and delivering on our previous commitments to make changes, we’re excited to share a substantial shift to the in-game skin economy.

We’re moving away from our previous approach where each skin was uniquely priced, to a system of clearly defined prices based on rarity. We’re also adding an additional rarity, Uncommon, to better support this. 

See below for the new prices and rarities for skins.

Rarity	Price
Common	500 Platinum
Uncommon	800 Platinum
Rare	1,200 Platinum
Epic	1,600 Platinum
Legendary	2,400+ Platinum*

*Note, some Legendary skins may receive bespoke prices in the future if they release including more content than traditional legendary skins. 

With these pricing changes some existing skins are also now changing in price. Already owned a skin that’s going down in price? You’ll be refunded the difference in Platinum!

Here is a list of all the skins that are changing in price or rarity. 

Common Skins

Skin Name	Price Change	Rarity Change
Red Hex Countess	-100 Platinum	No Change
War Chief Grux	-100 Platinum	No Change
Moon Viper Khaimera	-100 Platinum	No Change
Amethyst Muriel	-100 Platinum	No Change
Tribal Vibe Narbash	-100 Platinum	No Change
Bronze Warden Riktor	-100 Platinum	No Change
Chrono Boss Revenant	-100 Platinum	No Change
Dynasty Shinbi	-100 Platinum	No Change
Wasteland Howitzer	-100 Platinum	No Change
Inner Fire Feng Mao	-100 Platinum	No Change
Greystone Dragonlord	-100 Platinum	No Change
Murdock Magma	-100 Platinum	No Change
Autumn Fire Sparrow	-100 Platinum	No Change
Opaline The Fey	-100 Platinum	No Change
Grand Oracle Sevarog	-100 Platinum	No Change
Red Death Kallari	-100 Platinum	No Change
Siege-Breaker Crunch	-100 Platinum	No Change
Diesel Steel	-100 Platinum	No Change
Arctic Frost Dekker	-100 Platinum	No Change
Midnight Muriel	-100 Platinum	No Change
Morning Star Serath	-100 Platinum	No Change
Cardinal Sin Kira	-300 Platinum	No Change
Countess Punk	-300 Platinum	No Change
Aegis Steel	-300 Platinum	No Change
Mechanical Titan Gadget	-600 Platinum	No Change
Corporate Enforcer Lt. Belica	-800 Platinum	Rare ➤ Common

Uncommon Skins

Skin Name	Price Change	Rarity Change
Raven Quill Revenant	-500 Platinum	Rare ➤ Uncommon
Scavenger Drongo	No change	Common ➤ Uncommon
Shadow Lynx Phase	No change	Common ➤ Uncommon
Wraith Lunar Ops	No change	Common ➤ Uncommon
Iggy and Scorch Jingle Bombs	No change	Common ➤ Uncommon
Phase Panda Power	No change	Common ➤ Uncommon
Autumn Keeper The Fey	No change	Common ➤ Uncommon

Rare Skins

Skin Name	Price Change	Rarity Change
Bio Freak Murdock	-100 Platinum	No Change
Royal Gideon	-400 Platinum	No Change
Dark Heart Morigesh	-400 Platinum	No Change
Shadow Ops TwinBlast	-400 Platinum	No Change

Epic Skins

Skin Name	Price Change	Rarity Change
Elemental Rampage	No Change	Rare ➤ Epic
Warlord Zarus	No Change	Rare ➤ Epic
Dreadlord Argus	No Change	Rare ➤ Epic

Skin Downtime

On Wednesday the 27th of March (the day before this update) all of the above skins that are changing in price will be temporarily removed from the store while we will perform the refunds

The skins will return to the store the next day alongside the V0.16 update.

Additional Skin Refunds

With the new Quick Start role bundles added in this update containing a handful of skins that were released within the last 3 months, we wanted to offer further refunds for those of you who may have already purchased said skins.

We don’t intend to put skins on discount so quickly, so we’re refunding the difference in Platinum to players that may have already bought the following skins that have since been added to these new bundles.

• Diesel Riktor (375 Platinum refund)

• Hardcase Howitzer (750 Platinum refund)

• Alien Invader Drongo (750 Platinum refund)

• First Guardian Feng Mao (750 Platinum refund)

Platinum Bundle Planned Changes

With the changes to skin prices we would also like to rework our Platinum bundles to better align with our new skin pricing. 

Unfortunately we weren’t able to get those changes done in time for this update due to platform certification, so we will be changing them in a future patch.

Visual Improvements

The Predecessor map has had a visual overhaul, thanks to the first of many exciting graphical changes coming this year.

Lighting improvements have swept the battlefield, making shadows much deeper, colours more vivid and the overall warmth and hue of the game feel much crisper and refreshing.

Gameplay Balance Changes

Death Timers:

Death Timers were often too fast after players reached level 5+, resulting in Objectives becoming too difficult to convert even after a successful kill/gank. They have been increased from Level 5 onwards, resulting in an increase of about 1-3 seconds as a match progresses and enough extra time to better capitalise on an Opponent’s death.

• Death Timers have increased by 1-3s on average in the early/mid-game.

Explosive Flowers:

• Blue Jungle Lane-side Explosive Flower has had its position adjusted to make jumping up into lane easier.

Mini Prime

Mini Prime had a bug where it was applying Orb Prime’s Damage Reduction Debuff to anyone it hit, making it significantly more difficult to solo than it should be. This bug is now resolved and many Junglers should have an easier time sneaking in a solo kill when the opportunity arises

• [Bugfix] No longer applies a Damage Reduction debuff on its Basic Attacks.

Hero Balance Changes

Argus’s ability to output high damage and crowd control, especially in the earlier stages of the game, has led to plenty of success for the newcomer, even in the Support role. To reduce his overall efficacy he is being met with a range of nerfs targeting the uptime and efficacy of his utility and CC tools, ensuring he must scale up throughout a match rather than being a menace from minute one.

As the balance ecosystem has shifted around her, Countess is seeing more and more success in the Jungle role where she is often able to farm up without contention. To once again help her function in the Mid and Offlane, she’s receiving some earlier game durability buffs so that she has a better chance of surviving in her harder matchups, while losing some of her overall damage output in the late-game where her one-shot capabilities are at their strongest.

Drongo possessed a bug where his Gag Grenade would prevent him from using his Basic Attacks until it exploded. This is now resolved.

Gideon’s Black Hole is having a large portion of its damage shifted away from Base Damage and into its Scaling. This is to ensure Gideon sticks to building damage if he wishes to be a damage threat in a fight, and means more durable build paths won't find as much success should he forgo too much Magical Power.

The ‘Stone is also receiving a quick shift from Base Damage to Scaling in his Make Way ability, better rewarding him for investing in Physical Power over tankier options such as Fire blossom.

Despite his penchant for pyromania, Iggy’s Ultimate doesn’t quite hit the mark in the heat department. Its damage struggles to match that of other Mage Heroes’ Ultimates, so some additional Scaling on the ability should have Inferno feeling more deadly, allowing Iggy to better capitalise on out-of-position enemies far more.

Khaimera’s capacity to apply pressure in the earlier stages of a match through aggressively invading and 2v2 scraps thanks to his inherent Regeneration, can feel overwhelming for many Heroes. To help increase the risk for the Khai’ he’s getting a little less Armor from level one, making him easier to burst down should he get too greedy and overstep (every point of healing also has less effective value due to the Armor loss).

Kwang’s previous round of adjustments were successful in providing more durability in the late-game while reducing his earlier efficacy where he felt the most oppressive. In doing so however, Kwang’s damage output when opting for more durable builds has become a more visible issue, still being able to output significant burst even when building full Tank. To remedy this, several of his abilities are receiving reduction in raw damage, and Kwang will have to invest in Magical Power should he want to achieve a similar amount of damage moving forward. 

Lt. Belica’s early pressure can be difficult to match due to the high uptime on Void Bomb providing her with strong shoving capabilities. Likewise, too often she could overly punish any Hero investing in Mana (which many Mages must do by default) due to her Ultimate, all the while acting as a strong Scaling threat throughout a match. This combination of strengths leaves her with few weaknesses. To help bring her further into line she is receiving a drop in early-game efficacy, with her ability to bully lane lessened due to an increase to Void Bomb’s cooldown, as well as Void Drone’s Mana Drain possessing less strength at Rank 1. Likewise, Neural Disruptor is seeing a shift away from Missing Mana Damage to Scaling, meaning it will be more effective against higher Mana targets, but less of a 1-shot threat to many Mages sitting on low Mana.

Morigesh struggles to keep pace in many of her Midlane matchups, often struggling to make it through her lane unscathed. Likewise her ability to deal meaningful damage to Objectives is quite restricted due to a chunk of her kit being unable to damage Monsters. To help her in these departments she is receiving increased healing capabilities when aggressively using her Swarm through waves, while also seeing an increase in the amount of damage she can deal to Fangtooth and Orb Prime via Pestilence damage.

Rampage’s overall uptime on his Ultimate has proved too oppressive for many backline targets to deal with ever since it received a duration increase in a prior patch. As such, we’re pulling back on this change to ensure Rampage must better pick his moments to Leap into the fray lest he find himself in no-man’s land as Behemoth deactivates.

Riktor’s previous round of damage adjustments helped reduce his one-shot capabilities in the Support role to a more reasonable level. However, his general presence in the early lane is still too potent due to his inherent durability and ability to chain-CC a target. To ensure more room for punishment Riktor is receiving less baseline durability while also seeing a reduction to his Silence Duration, better allowing his foes to respond and escape his engagements.

The Fey is another Mage that struggles in many matchups due to how frequently she is outranged and how risky it is to position aggressively in lane to overcome this range disadvantage. To alleviate this, her Harvest Nettles ability is seeing an increase in range. While it may look small, this increase will better allow her to fight the likes of Howitzer from a reasonable distance and should improve her bullying capabilities immensely. 

A quick shift in damage profile for Twinblast, ensuring his Vaporize damage is not as oppressive when stacking Physical Penetration in a lane.

Zarus’ tendency to relentlessly poke his opponents with his Spear Of Nyr in the first few waves leads to many Heroes feeling unable to interact or deal with his early pressure in lane. As a result, it is receiving a hit to its early damage in exchange for more potency after Rank 4, freeing up many Heroes to better match his early pressure and prevent a snowball.

Items Balance Changes

• [Bugfix] Rift Snatcher no longer possesses 100% Magical Power Scaling.

Fire blossom provides too much durability given its general damage output and is therefore receiving a small reduction in Armor to make it less of an attractive buy for the many Bruisers that tend to poach it.

• Armor decreased from 45 to 40.

• Recipe changed from Tunic to Vitality Beads.

Timewarp can provide a little too much damage to its wielders, especially for the many Supports that like to invest in it and manage to get it online early. It’s receiving a reduction in overall Magical Power in exchange for less cost, better suiting it to said Supports while ensuring their burst stays within more reasonable bounds.

• Cost decreased from 3200 to 3000.

• Magical Power decreased from 90 to 80.

• Recipe changed from Potent Staff to Sceptre.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where Kwang’s “Rally Up” Emote lacked a description in the menus.

• Fixed a bug where Profile Banners would not always show on the pre-match loading screen.

• Fixed a bug where users could get stuck in the pre-match loading screen.

• Fixed a bug where the pre-match loading screen would show upon a match ending.

• Fixed a bug where matches would not correctly load in all 10 Players.

• Fixed a bug where Drongo and TwinBlast would not correctly chain together certain abilities, resulting in dead inputs.

• Fixed a bug where Profile Icons and Banners could revert to old selections upon reloading the game client.

• Fixed a bug where friends would not show as online immediately when logging-in.

• Fixed a bug where console users could become soft-locked when opening the in-game chat as the in-game shop opens.

• Fixed a bug where the news widget would duplicate news articles on the main menu.

• Fixed a bug where new friends would not show in the social widget when added.

• Fixed a bug where users receiving a ban would be sent to the client loading screen repeatedly.

• Fixed a bug where users would not correctly load back into a match upon reconnecting if they disconnected during the pre-game loading screen.

• Fixed a bug where console players would lose menu navigation functionality when cancelling a store purchase.

• Fixed a bug where console players could not correctly decline party invites with Circle/B.

• Fixed a bug where users could become soft-locked when executing too many purchases in a row in the store.

• Fixed a bug where purchasing Platinum in Japanese Yen could lead to menus displaying an incorrect price.

  • The price charged was correct, and no-one has been overcharged.

• Fixed a bug where the “Add Friend” prompt would still show in the post-match screen for current friends.

• Fixed a bug where Platinum purchases would fail to show a prompt if Steam overlay is disabled.

Known Issues

• Xbox controller vibrations are a little stronger than expected. To avoid harm and/or furniture damage, head to the settings menu to disable vibrations as needed.

• Grux's new Ruby Scarab skin is missing anim dynamics. Basically his cloth dangly bits aren't behaving as expected.

• We've disabled the forced tutorial due to some unexpected behaviour on PlayStation.

• Some Heroes are incorrectly localised in some languages. Looking at you, Espectro.

• Removed FSR Setting [Please check your 3D Resolution setting is correctly adjusted].

That's everything this time Champions, what do you think?

Let us know your feedback over on our Discord server or the Predecessor Subreddit.

Until next time!

Kari
Community @ Omeda Studios