Hi Fellows!
We’ve got an update for you regarding our planned Steam Early Access release date for Fellowship. In the video linked above, Community Director Hamish explains the release date update, upcoming changes and dives into a few other important topics!
In case you’re in a hurry, here’s a summary of the video and a few additional notes:
Steam Early Access Launch Date: We’ve made the decision to push back the release date by one week. You'll be able to play Fellowship in Steam Early Access on October 16th instead of October 9th!
We know you all want to jump in the game ASAP (trust us, we can’t wait for you all to jump in!), but there are a couple of key reasons for this very small shift with the Early Access release date:
- More time for changes & polish: The slight delay gives us the opportunity to put in extra polish and ensure the best possible experience for you all on day one when Fellowship enters Steam Early Access! As you all know, we’ve been having our private playtest recently – which has helped us identify changes we can make to the game. Having some additional development time, even if it's only a week (a week goes a long way!) will allow us to make the changes and polish we want to make so Fellowship is the best it can be when it enters Early Access on October 16th!
- To address the elephant in the room – we want to give Fellowship it’s time to shine: There are major game releases happening the week we originally planned to enter Early Access. Following Gamescom, we saw your all’s concerns about launching Fellowship during a major week for highly-anticipated game releases and recognized of course you all (like us!) wanted to make sure Fellowship has its time to shine in the spotlight. We always want to be transparent with our community and get your feedback, and this is no different! By launching Fellowship in Steam Early Access on October 16, it allows us to make sure the game does get in the spotlight and get the attention we and you all think it deserves!
Open Beta – No changes: No changes here, we absolutely can’t wait for you all to jump in! The Open Beta via Steam will still kick off on Thursday, September 18 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time and end on Tuesday, September 23 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. For the Open Beta, there will be a North America, Europe and Asia server available, and servers will be online 24/7! You can request access to the Open Beta via the game’s Steam page to be notified immediately when the Open Beta goes live.
At the very end of this blog, we have an Open Beta FAQ with quite a few answers to questions folks have asked since we announced the Beta. Make sure to check it out!
Leagues System & Matchmaking Updates: The Leagues System will be a new way to experience progression throughout Fellowship! With the system, you’ll be able to make your way through different leagues as your experience, gear, and item level improves. Matchmaking will set you up with players of similar item level, and you will then be able to pick a dungeon of suitable difficulty. Prepare to complete dungeon runs, enter higher leagues, and reap exciting rewards!
Our matchmaking game modes will remain about the same but will have some quality-of-life changes to make matchmaking even better. For modes, we’ll have Quick Play, and for now, what we’re calling Challenge (previously known as Ranked or Ranked Dungeons). Quick Play, like before, offers a more casual experience that’d give you a chance to try out new heroes, and not have to worry about gear as your gear will not matter but you’ll of course still have all your usual abilities per character! Our Challenge mode (name to be decided!), will have the Leagues System and really dive deep into the game’s progression, as you’ll work your way up to harder difficulty dungeons. The higher the league you’re in, the more challenging and rewarding dungeons will be!
Localization: Right at Steam Early Access launch on October 16, Fellowship will be playable in the following languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Korean, and Chinese! The game will launch in your chosen Steam language or default to English if it’s not supported.
Fellowship Content from Creators: Leading up to our Open Beta and during the beta, you’ll be able to watch some of your favorite creators play Fellowship on Twitch and YouTube. Beyond Open Beta, there’ll be even more content from press and content creators to be shared before, on and even after Early Access launch. Keep an eye on our social media channels and join our Discord to not miss out on anything!
Open Beta FAQ
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around! Below’s a quick FAQ addressing some questions we spotted since we announced the Beta. We’ll share this FAQ again when the Open Beta launches, so no need to memorize it!
There really is no signup, payment or key required?
Correct, there is no need to sign up, key or fee required for the Open Beta! It’ll be open to everyone!
How do I get into the Open Beta?
During the time of Open Beta from September 18 to September 23, you can head to Fellowship’s Steam page, click the “Join the Fellowship Playtest” to download the Open Beta build, and once it’s downloaded, you can jump in and play.
If you’d like immediately to know when the Beta is live (or just need a friendly reminder!), you can request access now via Fellowship’s Steam page.
When can I play exactly?
The Open Beta runs from September 18 at 10am PT (7pm CEST) to September 23 at 10 am PT (7pm CEST) and Fellowship will be fully playable for that whole time.
Can I stream/capture my gameplay?
There will be no NDA for this Open Beta. Streaming/video capture and talking about the playtest is highly encouraged!
What Heroes are available?
There will be 7 heroes for players to choose from during the Open Beta: 2 Tanks, 3 DPS, and 2 Healers. We’ll most notably have a new Melee DPS, Mara, available, and be bringing back Ardeos, everyone’s favorite fire-throwing DPS!
Will there be any new content in the Open Beta compared to the last playtest back in February?
There will be! Compared to the Steam Next Fest demo back in February, in addition to introducing a new DPS hero, Mara, the Open Beta will introduce new gameplay systems, including a fresh take on matchmaking and group finding, and an engaging progression system including Weapons, Gems, Talents, Crafting, Legendary items and more. Additionally, the Open Beta will introduce a new dungeon “Urrak Markets”, new gameplay features like cosmetic customization allowing you to change the look of different pieces of armor, new Gear, new Mounts, new visual element improvements and improvements on previous gameplay mechanics based on Steam Next Fest player feedback. The Open Beta will allow us to test multiplayer matchmaking improvements we’ve made and give us the chance to get one final round of player feedback before Fellowship’s Early Access launch.
Will there be servers in my region?
There are NA, EU, and Asian servers available during the Public Playtest.
What languages are the Open Beta available in?
We are planning to have the Open Beta available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Korean, and Chinese.
How do I share my feedback?
Join our Discord! Feedback can be shared in the #game-feedback channel.
What do I do if I encounter an issue during the Open Beta?
As this is still a Beta build, you may occasionally encounter issues with your game. If you do, please report them in the #bug-reports channel on Discord so our teams can track them.
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