SMITE 2’s open beta rumbles forth in the shadow of another round of layoffs as this week brings a new patch with a roster addition, adjustments to the game overall, and the new-look Wandering Market battle pass feature.
For those who don’t recall, the Wandering Market will bring on a rotating collection of skins, cosmetics, and other rewards, with new collections added regularly. Items are bought with coins earned by gaining market XP, and coins persist as new collections launch, meaning players can either spend their shiny on the newly launched Rise of the Gods cosmetic collection or save them for later.
The other big feature is the addition of Rama, a ranged physical damage character that dishes out plenty of arrow-based attacks. The week of February 17th will also bring Achilles to the roster, who gets to switch between wearing defense-granting armor or go without armor for a boost to strength and movement speed.
Other additions in this patch include some changes to the MOBA’s four modes, balance adjustments to other gods on the roster, a new Mantle of Discord item that unleashes a shockwave when hit after a character’s health dips below a threshold, and several item tweaks and bug fixes.
As mentioned earlier, this patch lands at a point when Hi-Rez sub-studio Titan Forge Games saw roughly 20 devs laid off as a result of the open beta sequel not doing well enough to support its dev headcount from a fiscal standpoint. The layoffs further saw support for the original SMITE on Nintendo Switch get an end date of May 1st and admission that the one new character a week cadence until August would have to shift to one addition every two weeks at some likely earlier point.
