[Dev Stream Recap] May 17 — Rite of Champions

[Saint Landwalker]

This week was actually a surprisingly relatively efficient stream, considering all of the content and event information that was involved.

• Weekly reminder that For Honor will be at E3 in about four weeks.
  
  
• Although it's not part of the 1.23 patch notes, today's update will also fix the bug with Conqueror's most recent execution, as well as the "character swap" exploit.
  
  
• After hearing a lot of feedback on the tournament reward situation, they are going to entertain some alternative ideas on the ranked tournament rewards going forward. My impression was that this was more based on people being disappointed with the previewed Season 6 ornaments than it was about people being disappointed with the Season 3-5 rewards going away forever.
  
  
• Season Six Launch Event: Rite of Champions
  
  
  • Runs May 17 - May 31.
    
    
  • "Learn more about the myths of the For Honor world by living the story of 18 brave heroes and three legends that are told through orders and customization elements."
    
    
  • Will feature a themed atmosphere with thematic orders; hero trials and rewards; limited-time cosmetic loot; weekly content; and a special game mode.
    
    
  • The "atmosphere" will include new music (which will be for all of Season 6), a new Faceoff screen, themed minion soldiers.
    
    
  • The first themed event order: Belval the Medusa
    
    
    • Based off a legendary Warden of antiquity. This is a faction-based community order with the goal of completing the most matches while playing a Knight hero.
      
      
    • Runs from May 17 to May 21, 1 PM EDT.
      
      
    • Steel/Crate rewards.
    
    
  • There will also be similar themed orders for Musashi the Crane (legendary Kensei, I think; May 21 - May 27) and Heidrek the Warthog (I think this guy is a legendary Warlord because it looked like there was a shield on his back, but I dunno, maybe a Raider; May 27 - May 31).
    
    
  • Thematic Contract Orders, one for each hero. These will spawn every day (rather than four times a week).
    
    
  • For the duration of the event, all heroes are playable without having to purchase/unlock them. Still cannot customize them. There is also a discount to purchase heroes you have not unlocked yet (10k for Season Pass heroes; 5k for Starter Edition OG heroes; I think the "bundles" for hero unlocks are also discounted).
    
    
  • There is also a 30% discount on champion status prices for the duration of the event.
    
    
  • There was some conversation I didn't fully understand that made it sound like you will receive additional rewards based on the "high level heroes" you have as of the end of this event. The discussion by the hosts around this was pretty chaotic. I know that the rewards are in the form of free XP boosts and champion status. Perhaps UbiJurassic/Boat/Fredex might be able to say more?
    
    
  • Limited-Time Cosmetic Loot, in the form of an outfit ("Destined Distinction"), and ornament ("Radiant Seal"), and the Radiance effect. The effect is pretty good. Hard to tell on the outfit and the ornament. All of these are lootable through normal matches. Remember that New Champion Status increases the drop rate of this stuff.
    
    
  • There are also some limited-time Legendary Weapons, one for each hero. The ones I saw were not ridiculously gaudy, but more "subdued," but I skipped a lot of the "preview" to save time. I liked them, though. (Note: These are the event-specific weapons; there is also new gear for Season 6 generally).
    
    
  • New Mask Outfits, themed around the three Legendary Heroes. Some of these actually look pretty good. "Medusa's Favor" (Knights); "Battle Swine" (Vikings); and "Heavenly Crane" (Samurai). As usual, these will be 15k just for the next week (until May 24). After that, they go up to 20k.
    
    
  • Next week will also feature a new "Sword in the Stone" free roam emote. It's exactly what you'd expect. Only available May 24-31.
    
    
  • Limited-Time Bundle for 30k steel per hero available between May 24 and June 4. NOT AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW. ONLY AVAILABLE STARTING MAY 24.
    
    
  • There is also a new Event Game Mode: Carousel of Death
    
    
    • Only active for the duration of the Season 6 launch event.
      
      
    • Best of three rounds, 4v4, single pick, no feats, no gear stats.
      
      
    • Like Dance of Death, all members of the opposing team must be dead at the same time. Respawn timers increase the more you die.
      
      
    • Occurs on the three new Arena maps, so all eight players are starting right on top of each other.
      
      
    • This thing is going to be freaking pandemonium.
  
  
• Ubisoft is doing a "Community Contest" for fan creations re: the heroes of the past.
  
  
  • Runs May 17 - June 1.
    
    
  • Create a fan-art or fan fiction based on the heroes of the event (NOT the legends, but the 18 "class heroes"). The class heroes are specific heroes like "Ariwara the Orochi," and they have some minimal information available through the event to sort of "get you started."
    
    
  • Contest rules are available somewhere but they didn't actually tell us where on the stream and I couldn't find them online. I guess just spam @forhonorgame on Twitter with #ffherocreations (yes, that was the hashtag they showed on the stream; no, I don't know why it's ffherocreation instead of fhherocreations; yes, I double-checked it to make sure I wasn't seeing things.)

Season 6 has launched, obviously, so go forth and Orochi or whatever.

[Starwight/ttv]

wow, LOTS of cool stuff! Can't wait to play the new Orochi when I get off work today

[Saint Landwalker]

Originally posted by alonesilverwolf:

Can't wait to play the new Orochi

Gotta go fast.

[UbiJurassic]

Originally posted by Landwalker:

• There was some conversation I didn't fully understand that made it sound like you will receive additional rewards based on the "high level heroes" you have as of the end of this event. The discussion by the hosts around this was pretty chaotic. I know that the rewards are in the form of free XP boosts and champion status. Perhaps UbiJurassic/Boat/Fredex might be able to say more?

Here's the relevant excerpt from the FAQ we just pinned to the top of the Discussion Boards for the event :

Originally posted by Season 6 - Rite of Champions FAQ:

An exclusive Emblem Outline will automatically be given to players who have at least one hero that has a reputation score of 50 or more! The emblem outline will be introduced on May 17th and will remain unlockable after the event once the condition is met.

Players will be awarded with 7 days of Champions Status for each hero that has a reputation score of 50 or more. Finally, an XP boost ticket will be awarded for each hero with a reputation score between 1 and 49. These two rewards will be given between June 4th and June 8th for all players who qualifies even if they did not logged-in during the event.

[Saint Landwalker]

Originally posted by UbiJurassic:

Originally posted by Landwalker:

• There was some conversation I didn't fully understand that made it sound like you will receive additional rewards based on the "high level heroes" you have as of the end of this event. The discussion by the hosts around this was pretty chaotic. I know that the rewards are in the form of free XP boosts and champion status. Perhaps UbiJurassic/Boat/Fredex might be able to say more?

Here's the relevant excerpt from the FAQ we just pinned to the top of the Discussion Boards for the event :

Originally posted by Season 6 - Rite of Champions FAQ:

An exclusive Emblem Outline will automatically be given to players who have at least one hero that has a reputation score of 50 or more! The emblem outline will be introduced on May 17th and will remain unlockable after the event once the condition is met.

Players will be awarded with 7 days of Champions Status for each hero that has a reputation score of 50 or more. Finally, an XP boost ticket will be awarded for each hero with a reputation score between 1 and 49. These two rewards will be given between June 4th and June 8th for all players who qualifies even if they did not logged-in during the event.

Ah, perfect. Thanks. I saw the pinned thread but by the time I saw it, I'd forgotten about that particular part of my own recap.

I expect to hear in a couple of weeks what sort of record the Jurassic/Fredex/Boat team manages to finish with in Carousel of Death.

[strike478]

Only peacekeeper and orochi were changed?
No single buff to aramusha?

[Gromit]

Luc also said that plumes for knight heroes were in development, because people have been asking on reddit for like 14 months or something.

[steal_TH-9]

Back from Japan! Updating my computer and game (holy crap, I forgot the screen was actually bigger!)
Should start playing again by tonight (socialize with family first)

[Luke Danger]

Man I wish I had seen this rather than being lazy about actually getting to watch the dev stream, I definitely want to do something for that contest; building on For Honor's lore has been a big project of mine! Thanks for the recap, though.

[steal_TH-9]

Originally posted by lukedanger5:

Man I wish I had seen this rather than being lazy about actually getting to watch the dev stream, I definitely want to do something for that contest; building on For Honor's lore has been a big project of mine! Thanks for the recap, though.

That sounds fun. What kind of project? If it's a machinima type, I might be able to help with the glitch I found.

[Saint Landwalker]

Originally posted by lukedanger5:

Man I wish I had seen this rather than being lazy about actually getting to watch the dev stream, I definitely want to do something for that contest; building on For Honor's lore has been a big project of mine! Thanks for the recap, though.

I tracked down the rules-that-they-mentioned-but-didn't-give-links-to in the dev stream (and I think UbiJurassic has them linked in his pinned threads as well), if you're still interested: https://forhonor.ubisoft.com/game/en-us/news-community/152-323340-16/for-honor-the-rite-of-champions-community-creation-contest

[Luke Danger]

Originally posted by steal_TH-9:

Originally posted by lukedanger5:

Man I wish I had seen this rather than being lazy about actually getting to watch the dev stream, I definitely want to do something for that contest; building on For Honor's lore has been a big project of mine! Thanks for the recap, though.

That sounds fun. What kind of project? If it's a machinima type, I might be able to help with the glitch I found.

I've been writing a fanfic for a while now, primarily a novelization of the Warden's story (especially filling in the massive gaps in the campaign), and as part of it I've been doing a /ton/ of worldbuilding to flesh out the setting so I can put it all into context and, hopefully, more impact. The Rite of Champions was rather timely in that regard because I had actually been looking at making some "historical" stories to allude to in-universe to flesh out the world more - sort of like how Lord of the Rings has a depth given to it by having its own song and history to call on for characters to reference.

I've been doing some "Observables" that I've posted on Spacebattles as sort of between-chapter fillers, though more of character monologues on topics that I can't stop to discuss in the story which also helps characterize them (IE, how does the Warden view the Iron Legion's role in society versus how Apollyon sees them). So far I haven't even considered any sort of videos, mostly because I'd probably just be monologuing with the occasional picture.

If you want to take a look at the story though, it's "Honor's Trial" on fanfiction.net; rated T (PG-13 equivalent) so you shouldn't need to adjust the ratings filter.

Originally posted by Landwalker:

Originally posted by lukedanger5:

Man I wish I had seen this rather than being lazy about actually getting to watch the dev stream, I definitely want to do something for that contest; building on For Honor's lore has been a big project of mine! Thanks for the recap, though.

I tracked down the rules-that-they-mentioned-but-didn't-give-links-to in the dev stream (and I think UbiJurassic has them linked in his pinned threads as well), if you're still interested: https://forhonor.ubisoft.com/game/en-us/news-community/152-323340-16/for-honor-the-rite-of-champions-community-creation-contest

Oh I absolutely am. Already googled them, but this is going to be fun since I usually take more room to play with. A 500 word cap means my usual style probably won't fit, so I'm going to need to get a bit more creative... but that's what's going to make this a fun challenge. :)