For Honor? For F&%$’s sake!
For Honor hasn’t been the biggest hit for Ubisoft. While the game launched to some decent reception and sales, the game has been in rapid decline ever since. The last we heard about it, For Honor lost around 90-95% of its player base on PC, which basically means close to no one is still playing this.
So how is Ubisoft going to fix this problem? With a host of new features, maps and modes to entice people back onto the battlefield. The most significant of these scheduled updates is the implementation of dedicated servers, something that has been desired since the open beta for the game commenced earlier this year. That is, sadly, further down the line then the rest of the updates coming.
So with the ability to actually finish an online match soon coming, how else can we expect to be doing battle? Well, two new seasons will be launching in August and November that will bring more heroes to unlock, new maps to wage battle on and some new gear to unlock. I wouldn’t be surprised if both were themed around their respective seasons (i.e. Summer and Fall), but we’ll just have to wait and see.
As for game modes, Ubisoft will be introducing ranked 4v4 matches and some variation on 4v4 PvP that it hasn’t bothered to disclose. There will also be a new training mode to help players hone their skills for online combat, which could definitely go a long way into welcoming newcomers.
Then there will be balance updates, of which Ubisoft is being kind of vague with regards to information. Instead of blindly throwing changes into the mix, there will be a new “public test environment” to iron out all the kinks in any planned fixes before anything goes live. You can actually get in on that testing right now if you own the PC version.
Overall, I’m not sure if there really is any way to salvage For Honor’s tarnished reputation. With Ubisoft emphasizing microtransactions and consistently providing spotty netcode with their games, most people gave up hope that this title would ever come around. With regards to a similarly structured game, Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft did make good on their commitment to improving the title, so hopefully For Honor can wrangle players back in.
I know that I’m personally excited for dedicated servers as even I had a hell of a time staying connected during the beta. It became near impossible to actually finish a match when one person would disconnect and throw the host migration service into a frenzy. With that out of the picture, maybe For Honor might actually be worth a damn as a multiplayer title.