Destruction AllStars update extends Season One and improves server sync

Vehicular destruction title, and PS5 exclusive, Destruction AllStars continues to evolve, with Lucid Games adding another set of refinements aiming to improve the core gameplay experience.

Upon recently revisiting the game, I found it to have slick presentation and fun single-player challenges, but felt that something was a little lacking when you went online.

Sometimes, you’ll be aimlessly driving and running around an area, filled with opponents, yet somehow feeling lonesome.

To try and address this, there have been changes to the slamming system. You use the right stick to ‘slam’ an opponent. Flicking it, causes your ride to fly forward at a higher velocity, but after using it you need to ‘cooldown’ the ability. These cooldowns are now significantly shorter, hopefully leading to more contact.

What has become known as ‘ghost hits’ – where rival players come near, don’t make contact, but you still received reduced damage – should now be less frequent as the team have worked to reduce latency between players thanks to revised server sync.

In light of these changes, which will also include two revised maps on the upcoming playlist, a rebalancing of the AllStars and Hero Vehicles plus some new cosmetic items, Season One has been extended and new tiers have been added to the AllStar Pass. You can now team up in online parties for solo game modes, too.

While I’m pleased to see a continual evolution, I can’t help but think that if these changes were implemented earlier, the community could have been larger – however, those the breaks with game development sometimes. This update certainly tempted me back into the game.

The full patch notes are included below.

Destruction AllStars, July Update, Patch 2.3.0 Changelog

New Features

• Multiplayer parties in Solo game modes – Players will now be able to join solo game modes together in a party, up to 4 per party and battle it out against each other.
• Bots – AI bots will now be in Multiplayer matches, filling up to 50% of the spaces available if not first filled by real players. Excluding Blitz.
• AllStar Pass Tiers – We’re adding 3 additional premium tiers to our AllStar Pass: Tier 1 – 25,000 AllStar Coins, Tier 2 – 500 Destruction Points, Tier 3 – Xander Wall Scrawl Skin
• Shop Re-Design – The location of the in-game shop has moved, it will now appear on the main menu. Everything about the shop has been redesigned showing off the in-game cosmetics to make it easier to see what you’re looking for.
• New Skins – New skins for your favourite AllStars will be getting released over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for them on the new store and when we announce them on social media.

Quickplay Playlist Added

• A new way of queuing for different game modes without limiting the actual amount of game modes available for selection. The QuickPlay game tile option will be trialled with the launch of patch 2.3.0 and will include the following game modes: Mayhem Solo & Carnado Solo
• Quickplay will be available 7 days a week, alongside Blitz which will be active Friday – Monday. These are subject to change and additional modes will be added when necessary.

Ghost Hits & Networking

• Fixed: Several tweaks and changes to our back-end systems which manage how hits register between players and how the overall networking is managed inside Destruction AllStars.
• No longer need to create a party – A party is now automatically created at the main menu meaning you can begin inviting people immediately instead of needing to create the party beforehand.

Design Balancing

• Shard Spawn Delay – Shards now have a spawn delay of 60s in matches, however, this does not apply to Blitz.

UI & Scoring

• Leader bonus – In Solo Mayhem and Carnando, the leading player is flagged as a leader with a KO marker. This person is worth more points when taken out via Wreck, Annihilation and Wreckover.
• Revenge bonus – In score-based modes, the player who previously KO’d you, will be marked for revenge with an AR marker (A black and white target icon). This player is worth more points when taken out via Wreck, Annihilation and Wreckover. The marker will only last for a fixed time.

General

• Resolved an issue where side slams would not be flagged correctly.
• Improved the vehicle spawner debris effects, look and time in the world.
• Impact sparks and particles now inherit velocity and generally look more dynamic.
• Camera shake is added when a user spawns in hero vehicles.
• Some vehicle wheel health zones have been realigned into the correct location, this should result in improved wheel detachment on some vehicles

For a full list of AllStar and Hero Vehicle balancing changes, you can view them on the Destruction AllStars Reddit.