SMITE honors ‘painting god’ Bob Ross in next week’s update

I almost feel sorry for a patch like the one hitting SMITE next week — it’s got new skins for Erlang Shen, Sol, Thoth, Kuzenbo, and Thanotos in addition to mechanics updates — but the bit that’s getting all the attention is the tribute to painter Bob Ross, whose estate apparently licensed his likeness and his “happy little trees” catchphrase for use as a SMITE character. He’s part of a new Sylvanus skin, if you’re wondering, and Hi-Rez is cheekily calling him “undeniably one of the true Gods of painting.” Why do I get the feeling the art team pitched this as a joke they never believed would actually happen?

Hi-Rez also notes that it’s testing balances changes on the PTS right now that won’t go live with the rest, though they may go live with 4.9. The goal with the tweaks is to fix the “snowballing” problem of a match that appears to be lost just a few minutes in.

“While we see players are able to come back from these scenarios, it can feel devastating and demoralizing to have such a hill to climb off the first few moments of the game. To counteract this, we are adjusting the Experience needed to reach Level 2 to from 308 to 225. What this means is that the first wave of Minions, even when split by 2 players, will provide those players with enough Experience to hit Level 2. Gold Fury is also becoming a bit more difficult and the early game reward toned down to lessen the lead that an early Gold Fury can provide.”

The Bob Ross bundle and associated goodies arrive on May 9th for PC.