Crucible is not even three weeks-old and it seems players have already moved on. After a lacklustre launch, and big drops in active players, the developer has revealed how it’s going to address player response.
For one, two of Crucible’s game modes - Harvester Command and Alpha Hunters - will both be removed. This will allow the team to focus on Heart of the Hives, not to mention concentrate the remaining players into one hopper.
Broadly, the team will now work on key design changes to support Heart of the Hives. Some of these include the addition of voice chat, an option to surrender when matches are lopsided, and a way for the game to identify and kick AFK players. The developer is also working on other areas that received negative feedback, such as unstable framerate, hit feedback, and matchmaking.
Once things have stabilised and requested additions have been made, the developer plans to expand the game with new systems and make big design changes, but those will depend on community feedback.
The game’s pre-season will continue throughout both phases, with Season One currently lacking a launch target. “We’ll keep putting out builds regularly with bug fixes and improvements, we’ll share developer updates talking about the feedback we’re hearing and how we’re thinking about the systems and features going into the game, and we’ll continue to engage in active listening and conversation across our supported channels,” the developer wrote in a blog post. For now, if you’d like to stay up to date with everything being worked on, check out the developer’s Trello board.
