Rocket League News

We all love a bit of frantic, fast-paced aerial car football, don't we? Rocket League stands in a field of its own as an esport, with its mixture of teamwork, coordination and driving skills making it hard to squeeze into any pre-existing genre.

Because it's so unique, Rocket League has a massive following and has become a top tier esport. But it isn't just the pro players who get to play competitively; Rocket League has a ranking system which allows you to progress from Unranked to Grand Champion across eight different competitive game modes. If you want to up your Rocket League game, or you're just a sucker for the grind, then ranked play is where you'll want to be.

For those who have maybe never played Rocket League before and are thinking about it now that it's going free-to-play on September 23, or have only ever played casually, you might have some burning questions about competitive play. Where do I start? How many ranks are there? How do I rank up? And, most importantly, how long does it take before I can say 'completed it, mate.'

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Rocket League's developer's Psyonix is preparing for arguably its biggest update in the game's five year history. With Rocket League on the verge of going free-to-play next week, a whole host of features have been added to the game in the latest patch.

One of the headline features included in that patch, which is now live, is that cross-platform progression is now available. Petrol heads can now link each platform they own Rocket League on to a single Epic Games account to share progression, inventory, competitive rank, and more. You'll have to select a primary platform for progress, so ideally you want to pick the one you have a higher rank on.

Old players will also be granted legacy status with this patch, so you'll find loads of new goodies in your inventory when you next log on. As part of being an original Rocket League player, you'll be given Faded Cosmos boost, Golden Cosmos boost, Dieci-Oro wheels, a Huntress player banner, and an Est. 20XX title.

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Over the years, Utrecht has oozed with sporting talent. The Netherlands' fourth-largest city has produced footballing icons like Marco van Basten and Wesley Sneijder, or Olympic athletes like sprinter Dafne Schippers. But it's not just traditional sports Utrecht is famous for - it's also the birthplace of Team Liquid, one of the most iconic organisations in esports.

Earlier today, Team Liquid officially cut the ribbon to its second state-of-the-art esports facility. After opening the doors of its California space in 2018, the new Alienware Training Facility in the centre of Utrecht brings all the shiny toys over for the European teams to have a go - as well as seeing Liquid invest in the city where it was first dreamt up.

From Liquid's Dota 2 team to its fresh new Valorant roster, this will be the base for a number of its esports teams to not only train, but in some cases live. The 10,000 sq ft facility is not only packed to the rafters with top-spec gaming equipment, but with all the health and wellbeing features that the world's biggest organisations are beginning to invest in heavily.

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• Account Linking and Cross-Platform Progression are now available
  
• Nintendo Switch Online is no longer required to play Rocket League online
  
• Check out all of the Menu and UI changes!
  
• Added a new Vehicle Preset based on the Merc car

• You can now link each platform you play Rocket League to a single account to share progression, inventory, Rocket Pass progress, Competitive Rank, and more everywhere you play
  
• For progression data, you will select a Primary Platform to progress everywhere. If you’re Level 1000 and Champion II on PC, and Level 500 and Diamond III on your console, you’ll want to pick your PC profile as your Primary
  
• We strongly recommend you link every account you play at the same time so you can make an informed choice when selecting your Primary Platform
  
• For more information, please read our blog post on Cross-Platform Progression
  
• Players who linked their existing Rocket League platforms to an account will also receive the ‘Chopper EG’ Wheels

• If you played Rocket League before September 23, you have Legacy status
  
• Legacy status includes special loyalty reward items, including a Boost, Wheel, Banner, and a special Title that commemorates the year your account was created:
  
  • ‘Faded Cosmos’ Boost (limited to accounts created prior to July 21)
    
  • ‘Golden Cosmos’ Boost
    
  • ‘Dieci-Oro’ Wheel
    
  • ‘Huntress’ Player Banner
    
  • ‘Est. 20XX’ Title
• Legacy status holders also get special “Legacy” quality versions of every Common item available before the changeover, as well as access to all non-licensed DLC items

• Trading with another player now requires a linked account
  
• Trading with another player now requires both accounts to have purchased 500 Credits or equivalent (Esports Tokens, Starter Pack, etc.) to deter fraud.
  
  • Players with Legacy status are exempt from this requirement

• Players new to Rocket League with this update will see a new interactive intro cinematic, as well as special guidance when navigating the in-game menus
  
• New players will need to reach Level 10 before they can matchmake in Competitive Playlists

• The Tournaments system has been redesigned and now offers automated Competitive Tournaments at set times per day, per region
  
• While you can still sign up with a full party, Competitive Tournament matchmaking will attempt to find you a team if you can’t join with a full group
  
• Mixed-Rank parties will be placed in a Tournament based on the Rank of the highest-skill player
  
• Playing at your skill - even if you lose! - is always more efficient than winning at a lower Rank
  
• Teams knocked out of the tournament in the first round may be able to re-join during a ‘late joiner’ round
  
• Leaving a Tournament early may lead to temporary matchmaking and Tournament bans on your account
  
  • If your entire team forfeits, no bans will be issued
• Earn rewards over the course of each season by defeating opponents of similar skill
  
  • You’ll earn Tournament Credits based on your final placement in each Tournament combined with the difficulty of the overall bracket you were seeded into
    
  • The Tournament Credit reward is the same for all teammates
    
  • Tournament Credits can be redeemed to get Cups that will grant you a customization item of escalating quality
    
    • The higher level the Cup, the more often you’ll unlock an item of higher rarity
      
    • All Tournament items can have special attributes like Painted or Certified
      
    • These prizes can be traded in within their series, all the way up to Black Market
  • You can play in as many tournaments as you want each week, but most of your earnings will come from your Top 3 Weekly Placements, which reset at the end of each week on Sunday
    
  • Winning a Tournament earns you a Title that shows off the Rank of the Tournament you won.
    
    • Winning three similarly ranked tournaments throughout a season will grant you a colored Title at that Rank.
• Players are still able to create and host their own Custom Tournaments
  
  • Knocked out of the Tournament you’re hosting? You’ll be able to spectate the remaining matches

• The Main Menu has been streamlined to reduce the number of buttons and better organize features
  
  • Play Submenu: Modes are now grouped into cards instead of tabs
    
  • Selecting a Playlist will now immediately search that playlist
    
  • For players who prefer to search multiple playlists at once, you can enable “Multiple Selection” within any of the Playlist groups. This setting is saved so you won’t have to toggle it each time you search.
    
  • You can now quickly jump into Free Play or the Garage after searching
    
  • Training is now accessible directly from the Play menu
    
  • Exhibition, Season Mode, and Private Match have been combined into the “Custom Games” card
• The Profile Submenu now contains:
  
  • Career (Stats, Leaderboards, Rankings)
    
  • Replays
    
  • Create or Manage Club
    
  • Banner and Avatar Border customization options
• The Extras Submenu is now found under Options - Extras
  
• The appearance of the Main Menu and some submenus have been updated with new font and button/card designs

• Many items formerly classified as Common are now Uncommon or higher, and must be obtained via Drops by new players
  
• Common Items are no longer unlocked in large batches per slot by playing matches. Any player with Legacy status that had not unlocked all of these items will receive remaining items in “Legacy” quality
  
• Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare Items no longer drop randomly after matches
  
  • These will be replaced by a new Drops system
• Some cross-promotional items have been permanently marked as “Legacy” and can no longer be obtained by new accounts
  
• Some older ‘V1’ Engine Audio options can no longer be obtained by new accounts

• You can now support your favorite content creators by applying a Creator Code to your account in the Item Shop screen
  
• Your chosen creator will receive a percentage of your Credits spent while the code is active on your account

• Control Bindings are now organized into three presets - “Default”, “Legacy”, and “Custom”
  
  • “Legacy” is used for all existing accounts, and uses the same controls since our 2015 Launch
    
  • “Default” assigns “Air Roll” to L2/LT by default, and unbinds “Voice Chat”
    
  • You can switch to “Default” or “Legacy” without losing your “Custom” bindings
• Voice Chat is now disabled by default

• Added a new Vehicle Preset based on the Merc car
  
• This hitbox is both taller and narrower than the other hitboxes. Check it out and let us know what you think!

• Informational Quick Chats
  
  • Bumping!
    
  • Faking.
    
  • On your left.
    
  • On your right.
    
  • Passing!
• Compliment Quick Chats
  
  • Nice Bump!
    
  • Nice Demo!
  
  
  Keyboard Aerial Safety
• The new “Keyboard Aerial Safety” setting prevents keyboard and mouse players from pitching down in the air while holding Throttle (W) until other inputs are recognized
  
• With this setting active, your car will not begin pitching down until you either pitch up, release the throttle/pitch down key, or air roll in any direction
  
• This setting can be disabled in the Options - Controls tab

• [PC] DirectX9 is no longer supported
  
• The Level 700 ‘Supersonic Legend’ Title has been changed to ‘Legendary Nemesis’
  
• Heatseeker is now available in Private and Local Matches
  
• The Solo Standard Competitive Playlist is no longer available

• Fixed a bug preventing offending chat text from being displayed when an account is banned
  
• Additional performance optimizations made to the Gravity Bomb Goal Explosion
  
• Rebooting the game will no longer put the player on their oldest Car Preset
  
• Tournament creators can spectate matches after leaving the tournament as a player