Rocket League Update 1.1 Officially Kicks Off Competitive Season 2

Rocket League may be about to launch on Microsoft’s Xbox One soon, but over on the PC and PlayStation 4, platforms on which it has been available for nearly a year now, the game is beginning its second season of competitive play, thanks to a brand new update that has just been released.

In addition to kicking off the ‘competitive season 2,’ Rocket League Update 1.1 will also be bringing a spate of new content to the game, including brand new community flags. You can check out the full list of additions and changes for yourself:

Rocket League Update 1.11 Patch Notes

• Ranked play Season 1 has ended and rewards will be given to all ranked participants bronze or above
• Ranked Season 2 play has begun (renamed to “Competitive Season 2″)
• The “Rocket Labs” experimental playlist is now available for casual Online play
• New Item Rarity system introduced, “Common” and “Uncommon” items can now be found after Online matches
• “Wasteland” arena has been added to Competitive Playlists
• “Snow Day” can now be played in Private Matches
• Performance has been improved in multiple Arenas
• (BETA) Player Reporting feature has been added
• “Quick Chat Only” filter has been added to Text Chat options
• Russian and Turkish language support has been added
• Multiple outstanding bugs have been fixed

NEW CONTENT

Antennas

• deadmau5
• Added “Community Flags”
  • 9GAG
  • Destructoid
  • GameSpot
  • Gfinity
  • GoldGlove
  • Operation Sports
  • IGN
  • (PC) NVIDIA
• Added “Country Flags”
  • Tonga

Toppers

• deadmau5

CHANGES AND UPDATES

Gameplay

• Players who spawn into a match or replace an existing car have a new visual effect (they no longer explode as if they were Demolished)
• The “Snow Day” Mutator preset, “Puck” ball type, and DFH Stadium (Snowy) Arena are now available for Exhibition and Private Matches.

General

• Russian and Turkish language support have been added to the game
• Implemented a server-side data backup system to reduce the chances of a player losing their save data due to corruption
• (PS4) General optimization for PS4 to run more reliably.
  • Turned VSync back on by default but disabled Triple Buffering to reduce input lag. The VSync option still exists for users who want to disable it, but you may experience screen tearing with it disabled.

Online

• “Ranked” Playlist has been renamed “Competitive” Playlist
  • Season 1 has ended! Limited Edition Crowns have been distributed to all participants in Season 1 Ranked Play based on your highest division across all Ranked playlist when Season 1 ends.
  • Competitive Skill Divisions have replaced Rank Points and the Season 1 Ranking System. There are twelve skill divisions. Over time you can be promoted or demoted between divisions based on your performance.
  • Top 100 Leaderboards are now based on your skill rating, similar to the Preseason.
  • Placement matches have been implemented. For each ranked queue, you play ten placement games and are then sorted into a skill division based on your performance.
• Ranked Reconnect has been added to the game. Players who lose connection during a competitive rocket league match will now be given the option to reconnect to their previous game.
• “Rocket Labs” experimental playlist is now available for casual Online play
  • A new rotating casual playlist called “Rocket Labs” is now available! Labs features prototype layouts that use temporary art assets. This allows us to release and gather feedback on new designs much more rapidly than we could otherwise.
  • Three Lab Maps are now available in the “Rocket Labs” playlist and Private Matches:
    • Underpass
    • Utopia Retro
    • Double Goal
• New “Uncommon” Item Drops will now be found uncommonly after online matches. This “Uncommon” item quality features all-new Hats and Antennas for you to discover and equip!
  • Unlike previous seasonal rare drops, these new items don’t have a fixed drop chance after each match. Your chances to find an item after a game will increase for every minute you play until you find something, and then your chance will reset.
  • Uncommon unlocks are only only awarded after a complete game in online playlists (They are not available for unlock offline modes or in Private matches)
  • Multiple copies of the same “Uncommon” item can be collected, illustrated with a count number in the Garage UI
  • There is a maximum of ten hours of playtime per week that can earn items, so don’t bother trying to idle your way to a full inventory!
• (BETA) Player Reporting option has been added and can be accessed via the mid-game menu. You can report players who are being offensive and the full chat log of the match will be submitted along with your report for administrative review.
• “Wasteland” arena has been added to the arena rotation for Competitive Playlists

UI/ UX

• Players will now see keyframes for Goals, Saves, and Epic Saves on timeline when viewing a saved replay file.
• Players can now disable all text chat except Quick Chat by selecting “Quick Chat Only” option in Text Chat dropdown in the Audio menu
• (PC) Graphical Options
  • The maximum framerate of the game can now be increased beyond 60 FPS using the “Max FPS” option under Video Settings
  • The size of the user interface can now be modified using the “UI Scale” option under Video Settings

Bug Fixes

• Optimized performance on Wasteland arena to improve experience for players
• Fixed Handbrake performance for Backfire, DeLorean Time Machine, Gizmo, Grog, Hotshot, Merc, Takumi, Venom, X-Devil
• Ball Indicator will properly appear in Beckwith Park (Stormy)
• Orange Team bots will no longer avoid kickoffs in Beckwith Park
• Fixed an issue that caused “Winning is Winning” achievement/trophy to fail to unlock when the requirements were met
• Fixed a graphical bug that displayed a shadow-like texture throughout multiple arenas
• Fixed an issue that locked chat to Team Chat in the post-game menu
• Adjusted the audio volume for “Portal” boosts
• Fiji flag updated so it’s no longer smaller than other flags
• (PS4) Repaired issue that prevented the “PS Nation” Community Flag from appearing in the Garage

That’s one massive overhaul for the game, it seems like. Rocket League is out now on the PS4 and PC, with an Xbox One version coming soon.