03-29 Update

**SERVERS ARE UP**
Not much balance changes but some BIG NEW GAME changes in this one

NEW: HERO LEVELS
I want to try experimenting with a sense of scaling and in game progression for a few reasons.
1. It gives early/mid game more meaning when you have more permanent consequences. Previously the only real permanence was captain deaths which was never really a threat until 5 minutes into the round. Increasing death timers was impactful but it’s a little bit too indirect as you’re dead. Now with the addition of Hero Levels, there should be a little bit more meaningful decisions on what to do.
2. It will lead to more player agency and high high moments. If you’re on fire this round then you will be rewarded with more power and thus able to affect the game in a greater way than a player who isn’t doing so well. Chasing this power fantasy is also a way to create more game to game diversity. Even with the same map and team comps, a different person might be “fed” this round which makes the game play a little differently than the last.

HOW DO I GAIN LEVELS AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Right now gaining a level is dependent on using your ult. We started off with this iteration because it’s clean and intuitive. When you ult you gain a level. Simple as that. Ults are typically indicative to how well you’re doing no matter the role (soaking up damage as tank, healing as support or damaging as carry).

So what does gaining a level do? Thats kind of up to you. For most heros you can choose how you want to grow in power. Do you want to get more cooldown reduction to cast abilities more often or just go with more permanent damage?

This system isn’t quite perfect yet. There’s some tuning flaw where we can’t give too much power for each ult or it will be objectively better to just waste ults for the power (hopefully it’s not there yet). The UI and clarity is lacking at the moment on what level each character is (coming soon TM)

OTHER NON HERO LEVEL BUT IMPORTANT STUFF
-map layout changes to differentiate gameplay between maps more
-4 captain lives to 3 because many games weren’t feeling the pressure of captain victory