Psyonix has announced that in the upcoming Rocket League Autumn update, they will be removing non-standard arenas from Casual and Competitive play. While the non-standard version of Wasteland and Starbase ARC will still be available in Private matches, these arenas will be replaced in standard versions for any online play going forward. Psynoix says they’ve been considering whether or not to remove these arenas for a while, and have finally come to a decision about it.
Here’s more from Psynoix’s blog about the decision to remove non-standard arenas:
Why are we changing our stance? Because in the time since Wasteland Arena first launched in late 2015, non-standard map layouts have been a hot topic of debate within the Rocket League community. We have carefully listened to your feedback over that extended period of time, and though we didn’t arrive to this decision lightly, we believe it’s the right one to make. Here’s a quick rundown of several important factors that moved us in this direction:
We see Rocket League as a digital sport. As such, we think standardization is important and necessary to provide a level playing field and foster consistent competition across all skill levels and events.
We introduced non-standard arenas partly to provide variety for pro play, but they have not been embraced. Given the success of RLCS and Rocket League Esports in general, we no longer feel that map variety is needed or appropriate for the competitive scene.
Rocket Labs showed us that only a narrow set of arena designs would be well-received by the Rocket League community. Even the designs that more closely resembled conventional Arenas (like Octagon and Starbase) have been extremely divisive. Ultimately, the alternate layouts we devised simply didn’t add enough strategically to offset the corresponding loss in predictability and muscle memory.
This isn’t the only change coming to Rocket League in the Autumn update, as Psynoix has also talked about adding transparent goalposts. Keep your eyes here for more Rocket League news as it becomes available!
[Source: Psyonix]
