We received details about Rocket League's new Clubs feature and the progression system last week but today, those updates finally hit the live servers.
Previously in Rocket League, players would grind up to Rocketeer in what felt like a never-ending campaign to achieve a fancy title that could intimidate your enemies, or serve as an insult when you still don't know how to air dribble or wave dash. Now, however, players can experience a huge quality of life improvement to this system.
The new progression system does a couple of things differently and should make leveling up more rewarding according to Psyonix
- The level cap of 75 (Rocketeer) has been removed. Players can now continue to level up past it and unlock new titles every 100 levels and items.
- XP is based more on the length of the match instead of score
- Items are no longer rewarded randomly and are now rewarded for each level-up
- XP can only be gained in online matches
- Awards XP for MVP
- Awards XP for consecutive matches
- Awards XP if you're forced to join a game-in-progress and you stick around to finish it
- Awards Weekly Win bonuses (2 per day, 14 per week)
- Forfeiting counts as a completed match
- Aerial Hits, Bicycle Hits, Juggles, and First Touch no longer award score
- Each level requires a flat amount of XP; level XP requirements don't get larger each time.
On the whole, these changes seem to provide more of an incentive for casual players to log in every week and for people who play the game daily to continue earning rewards even after they've achieved Rocketeer. The rewards for leveling up are especially nice considering they're not as randomized as before, which gives players a clearer goal to powerslide for.
Rocket League is available for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4, and PC. For an even more in-depth look at the new changes, check out Psyonix's patch notes here.