Hello, my dear Tamers! It's now been over a month since Temtem fully launched, and we're still working hard as ever on creating more content, polishing more features, fixing more bugs, and maintaining everything looking nice and fresh. It's then time to talk about the future, and more specifically, about the two upcoming updates, which will be fused as one. [h1]The merging and delay of 1.1, and the arrival of 1.2[/h1] When we talked about the launch window back during the Golden Week, we always expected it to be[b] a matter of weeks, a month at most[/b]. But we clearly underestimated the amount of issues that the launch would have, or the quickness with which we could approach them. Part of this is our fault, part of it was outside of our hands. Nevertheless, [b]we apologize[/b]. We know you've been eagerly waiting for some of the features announced for the launch window, with Showdown being the #1 of them, but it's going to happen a bit later than we initially planned or expected. We'll be merging 1.1, which should've released already, with 1.2, which will be releasing on December 5th across all our platforms. This means[b] both updates will release as one on December 5th[/b] as Temtem 1.2. Besides the technical issues that dragged the team back, there's a handful of brand new things that we thought belonged with Showdown, and that we wanted to include in that patch. We're sure you can echo the importance this patch has for us, and it was important that it could be all we envisioned it to be. Without further ado, here's a list of new stuff that will be coming with 1.1 and 1.2, combined together, [b]next December 5th.[/b] [h2]Ranked v2 and Showdown[/h2] [h3]Seasonal rewards for Season 1[/h3] Like we talked about in the past, Ranked v2 included seasonal rewards for playing competitive PvP and reaching certain ranks on it. Given that our initial plans for Ranked v2 were for it launch mid-Season 1, we already have the rewards for it ready, and we don't want to see them wasted nor deny all of your who've been playing competitive earnestly. [b]We're going to be handing out the rewards manually[/b] in the most accurate and approximate way possible, which isn't the best solution, but it's best that not giving them. This way we'll also be encouraging competitive play before Showdown and Ranked v2 come, we believe. The seasonal rewards we've planned are [b]a title that displays the highest rank you achieved, a seal for each rank you achieved, and a banner for each rank you achieved[/b]. Although there are sub-ranks and sub-divisions, seasonal rewards only take ranks into account, so we'll have 5 types: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond and the Legend rank. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//32878068/c0716c4ba2f6cc9ea49782afaee3ab697e88427c.png[/img] To grant these rewards, once Season 1 is over we will check your current TMR, and whether or not you've completed your placement matches. You will need to have played [b]at least 10 competitive matches since Temtem 1.0 aka the beginning of Season 1 to qualify[/b]. The ranks will be calculated according to your TMR following this: =1450 Legend Rank >=1200 Diamond Rank >=1000 Gold Rank >=700 Silver Rank <700 Bronze rank Take a look at the seals as well today, and decide what you're aiming for while you still can! Each Season will have its own set of seals and banners, ideally matching that Season's theme. [previewyoutube=bIyr2H4dUcE;full][/previewyoutube] In future seasons, where everything hopefully goes well, it will not be your current TMR, but rather [b]being able to win 10 games in a certain rank[/b]. So if you want to reach Silver, you'll need to reach 700 TMR and win 10 ranked games in the Silver rank or higher. [b]TMR will be soft-reset once Season 1 ends[/b], which means your TMR won't fall to 0 or to 1000, which was the starting point, but rather to a middle point between your TMR at the moment and 1000. [h3]Temtem Showdown[/h3] There isn't much new we can say about Temtem Showdown that you don't know about yet, but we wanted to give you an insight on how it's going. This is the new UI for the Ranked ladder. As you can see, you will get easy access to your competitive challenges, your regular, trained-teams (we're calling them Pro squads for now, but we're looking for names, feel free to suggest some!), and your Showdown teams. You will now be able to [b]edit your competitive squads on the go[/b], without having to stop by a Temdeck! You will be able to [b]share your Showdown team and configuration[/b] by a code that will be generated for you, allowing other users to import it. You will also be able to [b]lock a squad[/b] for tournaments that might require it, and those codes will be slightly different and not shareable, to keep play fair and honest. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//32878068/6aa09030b2295c9da4d0d831beddf1510543bc6c.png[/img] Ranked challenges, both daily and weekly, will give you more options to earn Pansuns and Feathers by doing what you like most, and are some extra rewards to playing competitive matches. They're pretty self-explanatory, so I'll leave you to them! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//32878068/0f0421750e144d4d338f2d02e8a4f336da7e10e1.jpg[/img] That's it on the Ranked aspect of things for now, but there's much more! [h2]All the bright new stuff[/h2] [h3]Making battles more pleasing to the eye![/h3] We're going to be adding [b]Battle idle animations to Temtem[/b]. This means that during the turns between actions in a battle, the camera will shift around to different angles and show you the Tems in the battle. But don't just take my word for it, check it out for yourself! [previewyoutube=VmV3za-pdxI;full][/previewyoutube] There's also [b]new battle environments[/b], also known as battle zones! They will match the 6 Archipelagic islands' themes, and they'll be randomly selected when you enter a competitive battle. Keep in mind this only applies to any sort of competitive, PvP battle, and PvE battles will still show the environment of the route where the battle's taking place. Here's a bite-sized first look at them, on concept and in-game. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//32878068/198f2ada6cd2ba5142cf7da727beab9f6265ded8.jpg[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//32878068/87f5364af29e21898e37685782addfe5bdb0c2eb.png[/img] You will still see the current competitive battle zone, since it's still part of the possible pool of battle zones, but we've tweaked it around a bit and improved it some more. [h3]Events[/h3] Events will be patched into Temtem on 1.2! Although for now this just means the possibility to carry them out, Events will consist on a [b]set of missions and quests[/b] that will grant you points so you can unlock thematical rewards, different for each event. All of them completely free, of course! We don't have anything visual we can show you just yet, but maybe the first event ever will be just around the corner by the time this patch launches... [h3]Customization news and improvements[/h3] You guessed right! With 1.2, the [b]Beauty Center in Neoedo[/b] will open its doors to the public with this update. You'll be able to [b]alter the physical appearance of your character[/b] like you could back when you created, all in exchange for Feathers. You will also be able to [b]unlock new animation styles[/b] for your character's idle stance, walking and running, that you won't be able to obtain any other way! We will keep these a surprise but oh, are they distinctive! And yes, you will also be able to[b] change your character's name[/b], also in exchange for Feathers. Since this is a very substantial change it won't be cheap, get to saving, peeps! As a small QoL feature, we've added the ability to [b]set certain Customization items as favorites[/b]. These items will appear at the top of your customization screen, making those items easier to find! We have also [b]tweaked Seals[/b] following your feedback. Now, instead of being multiple items that you apply individually to each Tem, it'll be a [b]unique item that you can only buy once and apply to more than one Temtem at the same time[/b]. You will also be able to use Seals on your Showdown team as long as you have purchased them in your account. Since this change was unexpected, w[b]e will be refunding the extra Seals of the same type you have[/b]. This way it'll be as if you'd only bought one of it. [h3]Elite Kudos[/h3] In any game there's people that just want to chill, and hardcore people that want to go all out. For this second category we've created a brand new set of very difficult, challenging Kudos called Elite Kudos. Some already existing Kudos have been moved into this category, and new ones have been added. If you're looking for a challenge with rewards that might not be in everybody's grasp, this one's for you! [h2]Balance[/h2] Of course, an update focused on competitive combat could not be missing balance. The brand new balance team has been working since the release of 1.0 so they could properly adapt to the change that the full release means for the competitive scene. This includes analyzing data, developing new tools and trying different approaches, everything so a good foundation can be built to iterate and improve upon. A huge chunk of the work these past few months has been focused on [b]understanding how the competitive part of Temtem works and develops[/b] so we can quickly and effectively[b] react to the meta[/b] and apply changes that [b]enforce balance[/b], with nothing being extremely underpowered or overpowered, all while [b]adding or maintaining flavor with each Season[/b]. It's with this mindset that we've carried out the myriad of changes planned for 1.2, of which we want to show you a little sneak peek now. Rhoulder, Gyalis, Tulcan, Minothor, Golzy. These names probably mean something to competitive-versed folks, they might've seen them around from time to time [i]lol[/i]. The idea in this patch is to make these usual suspects [b]be less recurring[/b], or at least [b]to provide a better set of tools to face them[/b] successfully. On the other hand, and specially so with the arrival of Showdown, that will make innovating and experimenting a bit easier, we're hoping names like Owlhe, Grumper or Magmut will have a stronger presence, or that some special attackers, and Mental Tems have a bit more weight than they currently have. We haven't really dived very deep into traits and gears for this patch, as this is something we'd like to analyze more in-depth, with more time to test, and hopefully once we have the community helpers already on-boarded and fully ingrained into our work pipeline. There will be, however, some changes to both things to [b]ease the dominance of some Tems[/b], and to improve Traits and Gears that were barely played. We're hoping that, with the arrival of Showdown more variety of builds, combinations and playstyles bloom amidst the competitive scene. We'll do our best to stay sharp and adapt to the future of PvP and these new dynamics, so that we can continue making Temtem's PvP fun, entertaining, rewarding and surprising. That's it for now on our end, but we hope this first look into the new stuff, as well as a definitive date for the update, have lightened the wait until the new content is live. Needless to say, the update will also contain bug fixes, optimization and performance improvements, and all the bits and jingles our updates usually contain. As usual, remember we're prone to spoilers in our [url=discord.gg/Temtem]Discord Server[/url], and that we can be reached across [url=https://linktr.ee/PlayTemtem]allllll socials[/url]. Talk to you soon, have fun and Temtem up!