Ever since entering open beta last year, Epic Games has been incrementally adding to its PlayStation 4 and PC MOBA Paragon, encouraging feedback from players every step of the way to ensure that when a full release date finally rolls around, it’ll have a game that was shaped largely by those that have been with it every step of the way. According to a post by Paragon‘s executive producer John Wasilczyk on Sony’s PlayStation blog today, that same trend is set to continue throughout 2017, with even more features planned for the title over next 11 months and beyond.
However, Wasilczyk admits that communication between Epic and players hasn’t always been pitch-perfect, something that it plans to remedy by providing more frequent and thorough status updates on what the developer is currently working on, even if said content may not necessarily make it into the final build of the game. The latter half of 2016 saw Epic launch the Monolith Update for Paragon, which introduced drastic changes to its core gameplay. Since then, Epic has seen active player numbers rise from 650,000 in November to 830,000 in January, with “44% more players playing each week,” according to Wasilczyk.
But there’s much more to come. Over the next few months, Epic plans to implement the following features:
- Matchmaking system V2. All new from the ground up.
- Lots of balance changes.
- Banners: add your signature to every kill with this new system (screenshots and videos coming soon).
- New Skins and Skin Variations
- “Hero Mastery” improvements. More content, more progression, and more rewards for getting Heroes to max level.
- Loot Crates: More loot (with more variety) will be rolling into crates over the next few months. Expect to find some rare banners and skin variations coming soon in crates.
- Hero Reworks: Revisiting old Heroes with new kits and balance.
Wasilczyk also reaffirms Epic’s commitment to releasing one brand new hero for Paragon every three weeks, with the long awaited arrival of a new ranged hero on the cards for April. The latest new addition to Paragon‘s roster – Aurora – was made available on both platforms last week. Check out the trailer below.
Paragon is available to play in open beta on PlayStation 4 and PC right now. If you haven’t already, give it a shot, you won’t regret it.