Board 8 > Rocket League is now free*! Come give it a try [*actually, you get $10]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Rocket League has been a $20 game ever since its very successful launch back in July 2015, but that all changed yesterday when the game switched to Free to Play! There were some rough patches yesterday due to overwhelming server load (the playerbase more than tripled within an hour) but things have been smoothed over so now is the perfect time to jump in and give the game a try. If you want to check out RL on...

Switch
PS4
Xbox

you can, just download from the Eshop/Digital store. Note that you do NOT need Nintendo Online/PS Plus to play RL online! I think you do need Xbox Live though.

If you'd rather try the game on PC, you're in for a treat:

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/rocket-league/home

Download it from the Epic Game Store and give RL a try within the next month and you'll be granted $10 in store credit, which can be used to buy any other games you want! (This $10 offer doesn't extend to the console versions.)

I'd love to get more of B8 into RL, as it's been my favorite gaming experience of the last decade. Here's my Steam review from 2017, if you're interested in hearing why

Even after 400 hours I'm still seeing new things and learning so much every single game. You've probably heard people say the same about other complex/rewarding games (Dota, Dark Souls, Spelunky, etc). The difference is RL is able to avoid the "bashing your face against a wall" early learning curve players often experience with some of those other titles. The matchmaching system is so strong (and player pool so large), I was never put into games against experienced vets who would have ruined my day while I was learning the ropes. My first month was all spent playing alongside fellow newbies who had just as much to learn as myself- meaning Hour Three was, amazingly, just as much fun as Hour Three Hundred Fifty Three!

(I'm now up to 1000 hours played.)


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I can't decide if i want to use the $10 on Tony Hawk or Star Wars Squadrons

Well, I got the coupon. I don't think I'll play the game, and I kinda doubt I end up wanting to buy anything on the store in the next two months, but maybe something will surprise me! Thanks for letting us know.

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Oh cool I can finally try rocket league

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Oh I forgot the other cool part, which is that everything you do is now kept in sync across all servers. Say for instance you played the PC version in 2016 for a bit and got some nice cars. Now you can return to the game, set the PC as your "main system" and that will become the default. Then you can install on your PS4 and Switch and you'll have access to all your saved settings, cars, etc. All progress you make on any of the three platforms will be kept in sync as you earn more cosmetics, level up your Rocket Pass, increase your matchmaking ranking, and so forth. This means you'll always be matched against players of your correct skill level no matter where you play.

And related to that, RL was the second game ever to achieve 100% cross system play a couple years back, meaning you'll never have to wait long to find a match since players from all 4 systems will be pulled in to match against you. Also you can play with your friends no matter which console they own.


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And as long as you're on the website, might as well also grab this week's free game:

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/rollercoaster-tycoon-3-complete-edition/home


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They lowered my rank and I no longer feel like doing the grind.

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I was planning on syncing my XB1 stuff and then download the PC, PS4, and Switch versions, but it isn't letting me.
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rocket league is a good game

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I've been wanting to give it a try

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I'm out of the loop, I thought that this game was always free (and that that was part of the reason for its large popularity).

I do remember hearing about its cross-system multiplayer before it came out in 2015 and commenting about how significant it was.

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Ngamer64 posted...

Oh I forgot the other cool part, which is that everything you do is now kept in sync across all servers. Say for instance you played the PC version in 2016 for a bit and got some nice cars. Now you can return to the game, set the PC as your "main system" and that will become the default. Then you can install on your PS4 and Switch and you'll have access to all your saved settings, cars, etc. All progress you make on any of the three platforms will be kept in sync as you earn more cosmetics, level up your Rocket Pass, increase your matchmaking ranking, and so forth. This means you'll always be matched against players of your correct skill level no matter where you play.

And related to that, RL was the second game ever to achieve 100% cross system play a couple years back, meaning you'll never have to wait long to find a match since players from all 4 systems will be pulled in to match against you. Also you can play with your friends no matter which console they own.

Thats actually really cool. I wish more games did this, I would actually be more tempted to buy games on multiple platforms

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LOLIAmAnAlt posted...

They lowered my rank and I no longer feel like doing the grind.

What were you and what did they lower it to? I haven't been able to boot it since the update for other reasons but this worries me
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Would play, but running against sd card space limits on my switch so...
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-hotdogturtle-- posted...

I'm out of the loop, I thought that this game was always free (and that that was part of the reason for its large popularity).

When it first released on PS4 it was free on Playstation Plus so a lot of people got it that way, but otherwise it's always been a paid product

Played it for the first time last night since I wanted the Epic coupon (used on Tony Hawk), it was pretty fun. Probably something I'll load up if I have ten or fifteen minutes to spend between other things

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RikkuAlmighty posted...

I can't decide if i want to use the $10 on Tony Hawk or Star Wars Squadrons

Yes there's lots of great choices in the store now so it can be a tough choice!

KCF0107 posted...

I was planning on syncing my XB1 stuff and then download the PC, PS4, and Switch versions, but it isn't letting me.

That's weird, maybe there's an issue on the server side and it will work tomorrow.


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Emeraldegg posted...

What were you and what did they lower it to? I haven't been able to boot it since the update for other reasons but this worries me

I didn't play for like a year, was champ 2 when i left and came back to diamond 2. Got back to champ 1 in about 10 games though so at least for me this wasn't the case.

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Been interested in trying this but I didn't know if I'd like it enough to justify buying. Now's the time I guess.

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Ngamer64 posted...

Note that you do NOT need Nintendo Online/PS Plus to play RL online!

thats really cool!

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I've been playing the last week or two. I was diamond 1 last time I was playing regularly. Picked it back up and got placed into platinum 3 and have fallen to platinum 1 so that's been fun. Getting my groove back still I suppose

Did they remove Rocket League from Steam?



Oh. Well, RIP that.

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hockeydude15 posted...

I didn't play for like a year, was champ 2 when i left and came back to diamond 2. Got back to champ 1 in about 10 games though so at least for me this wasn't the case.

lol how

For example, I just had a game where the other team was doing ceiling shots and my team could not aerial.

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idk this was like a week or so ago but i doubt much has changed since. And at least from what i remember when I played a lot the skill level seemed about the same at the ranks of high diamond and low champ at least in 3v3 where i pretty much only play.

Like people still were missing aerials and while you saw ceiling shots and the like you really didn't see the crazy shit like flip resets and all. I was hard stuck in champ 2 though since i never bothered to learn how to do any advanced tech, shit i still can't even half flip.

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a week ago? it just started on the 23rd!

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azuarc posted...

Did they remove Rocket League from Steam?



Oh. Well, RIP that.

They can afford to be free now because they were purchased by Epic, so on the PC you can only get the game through the Epic Game Store. You get $10 in store credit if you try it there.


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Yes, but that would require using the Epic store. Aside from the fact that I don't appreciate Epic forcing exclusivity on the PC, I don't want to split my games collection across multiple platforms.

It's a shame, because I would have totally been willing to finally give Rocket League a try, but I'm not jumping ship for that.

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why would epic keep it on steam, aren't the two of them direct competitors?
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I tinkered around with it some but not enough to fully endorse it, but maybe GOG Galaxy 2.0 is something you might want to look into.
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Emeraldegg posted...

why would epic keep it on steam, aren't the two of them direct competitors?

I didn't say it doesn't make good business sense for Epic to pull it from Steam. But considering they're not only listing it for free, but effectively paying you $10 to download it, this is obviously a power move to pull consumers to their platform.

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Download Epic Launcher
Collect free games every week
????
Profit!

.

In this case the missing step is "keep track of which games you have on which launcher." Make a spreadsheet of you must, but you are literally throwing away free games out of what amounts to stubbornness.

Epic has that Fortnite money. I don't play fortnite, but the fact that others do has profited me because they have enough money to buy games outright and give me free games... Maybe I just don't understand the down side here.

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Rocket League went over 1 million people playing at once for the first time two days ago, now there's a Llama Rama event running and double XP being granted for the next 48 hours and it's launched to a new all time high of over 1.3 million!


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Forceful_Dragon posted...

Download Epic Launcher
Collect free games every week
????
Profit!

.

In this case the missing step is "keep track of which games you have on which launcher." Make a spreadsheet of you must, but you are literally throwing away free games out of what amounts to stubbornness.

Epic has that Fortnite money. I don't play fortnite, but the fact that others do has profited me because they have enough money to buy games outright and give me free games... Maybe I just don't understand the down side here.

This. Competition is much better in the longterm than a monopoly.

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Also: https://playnite.link/ (Found this in like 2 seconds there might be more)

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Colegreen_c12 posted...

This. Competition is much better in the longterm than a monopoly.

Explain to me how a game being pulled from one platform so it can be exclusively on another is competition rather than a monopoly?

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azuarc posted...

Explain to me how a game being pulled from one platform so it can be exclusively on another is competition rather than a monopoly?

Because without doing stuff like this, people'd just continue to use Steam because they'd see no reason to use the Epic Game Store. In the long run, if you look past this one game, this is better for competition.

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azuarc posted...

Explain to me how a game being pulled from one platform so it can be exclusively on another is competition rather than a monopoly?

I feel like you don't want a real answer but i'll go ahead anyways.

Steam basically has a monopoly market share and has for a long time. Epic is trying to enter the market. There are a ton of people that think like you that they would rather just have one launcher making them entering the market very difficult, despite their better cut for developers and giving away free games.

They are trying multiple approaches to garner a bigger market share including exclusives, incentivizing developers with better cuts and free stuff. While exclusives may not be an ideal its an unfortunate necessity. The amount of inertia steam has is insane, but if egs manages to event make a 20% dent in the market it would be a good thing.

To give an example that might explain why exclusives, while not ideal, aren't really a monopolistic practice. Why doesn't Burger King sell big macs? Why doesn't Mcdonalds sell Whoppers? They are both fast food restaurants that sell burgers (similar to how steam and egs are both places that sell pc video games). It's because they are both markets that want to entice customers instead of their competitors. But at the end of the day they are both selling burgers, just maybe not the one you want, incentivizing you to go to the other.

And yes I know some people don't care and still don't like it. But those same people don't give 2 shits about all the valve games that aren't on egs because it simply doesn't inconvience them.

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Played my ten Unranked 3v3 matches and got placed into Platinum II Division II.

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Ngamer64 posted...

Rocket League went over 1 million people playing at once for the first time two days ago, now there's a Llama Rama event running and double XP being granted for the next 48 hours and it's launched to a new all time high of over 1.3 million!

For context: we were doing good when we got over 100k people playing in 2016. In 2018 we started to crack 200k players consistently. Numbers peaked to an all time high when quarantines started to go into effect earlier this year, and even then we weren't getting much past 300k players.

The funny thing is, even the steam numbers have shot through the roof, despite how you can no longer purchase the game there (and Epic is paying people to switch and reinstall from their platform)! From a daily high of 80k concurrent players we've exploded to over 146k this week.


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I finally clawed out of plat 1, goodness that was abysmal

It is absolutely an inconvenience for people who just want to use steam and anything having to do with epic is a hard turnoff for them, but it is also absolutely a good thing for the market for epic to challenge steam, even if it upsets some people. Competition makes quality better.
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turbopuns3 posted...

I finally clawed out of plat 1, goodness that was abysmal

I made this post right after being promoted to plat 2 and then quit for the night. The next time I played, I lost every. single. game. on my way all the way back down to plat 1 division 1.

I'm never That Guy who posts toxic excuses after a game like "literal trash tms" but it has honestly been the case. But so inconsistent. For 2-3 games in a row I'll get burned because my teammates never ever ever stay back for a single second, then I'll try to adapt by hanging back more than I should, and my teammates can never score. Try to adapt in the middle of a game? That teammate who whiffed their past two shots suddenly does something amazing but I screw it up instantly because I was there expecting to pick up after them.

It's so annoying lol. I had forgotten until now that last time I was playing I was on voice comms with people I know personally for most of it. Randoms are preeetty toxic.

Well, next play session was the opposite. In my first or second game, I got a really lucky break where we scored 3 goals in the first 30 seconds, and the opposing team forfeited. My teammates were inspired to party up, and we won about 80% en route back to plat 2.

Yeah, if you want to climb ranks and don't have friends to do voice comms, my advice is to just find ANYONE who has a clue what they're doing and hit that Party Up button. Once you have two coordinated people it's easy to find a third, and that way even when one of them has to leave you can keep playing with the other one. I've kept some kind of a team going for three+ hours that way.


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Yeah, I think I should try using the Party Up feature more liberally.

Back to plat 3! Whoop whoop

Ayyy

FeelsGoodMan

Had an abysmal initial 10 to get plat 3 div 1, 16 games later 15/16 win streak (I was diamond 3 prior) diamond 1 div 4. Is nice having free wins to get back into practice...

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metaIslug posted...

Surprising amount of discussion for such a relatively old game.

The way I see it Rocket League has ascended from a video game to a permanent esport tbh

Just finished promos and got diamond 3. Level of play still is basically the same as it ever was around this level. Do actually like the pass this season though, might pick it up and get champ rewards as usual.

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It's nice to be back at the rank where I belong...win rate is better and overall experience is just so much more pleasant because there's fewer surprises.