Season 3


Release Date	March 29, 2023
PTS Begins	March 2, 2023
PTS Ends	March 6, 2023

Announcement Video

Roadmap

Each week leading up to Season 3 will contain more information from the development team and will be presented in the below order. CW means Calendar week for each information release.

CW 4 - Giving a fair chance to everyone
CW 5 - A new menace
CW 6 - Technical updates
CW 7 - Prospect Station upgrades
CW 8 - Visions of TC:F
CW 9 - Public Test Server
CW 10 - Pass of the Fortuna kind

Fundamental changes

The state of The Cycle: Frontier will have several large changes in the near future following the release of Season 3. Listed below are some of the major ones, what they mean, and how they will impact the game moving forward.

The game will no longer have a forced wipe after each season. The last global wipe will happen on the 29th of March along the release of Season 3 and several things are being looked into to accommodate this change.

No forced wipes

No more global wipes does not mean that players themselves cannot initiate a wipe. The exact details are not yet available, but the below are expected/hinted as part of it.

Manual Wipe for players
- Players will be able to manually wipe (prestige) their progress, rather than have a forced wipe. This allows anyone to start fresh at any time (exact requirements, if any, to be able to wipe haven't been revealed yet), while not forcing anyone who does not wish to do so.
- Potential rewards will be handed out for players that prestige.

Economy changes

A large part of the Economy will change with Season 3, outlined below are some of the changes.

Weapons will have their costs changed.

Crafting will have its cost and recipes changed.
- Some new recipes will be added for attachments.
- New recipe for a grenade using howler materials.

Ammo will be split into new types and rarities, and each weapon will require one of these (instead of the usual Light/Medium/Heavy) and may require scrips.

Key usage will change and some keys will be available in the shops.
- New key available: "Progenitor Corridor Key".
- Rarity of some keys will change.

Loot rooms will be overhauled with new appearances and different loot.
- Loot rooms that have their keycards' rarity increased will have more and better loot.

Quest rewards will be reworked.

Quests

The Faction campaigns are getting overhauled and Badum will receive his own quest-line.

Early quest-lines have been reworked.
- Certain quests have new objectives.
- Certain objectives have been adjusted for less grind.

New quests have been added in the early and mid-game.
New quest-line from Badum at end-game.
Some quests have been removed or replaced in mid-game.

Mark I and Mark II weapons

Season 3 will add variants of existing weapons, these will be of a different rarity than the original weapon, with separate stats and modding capabilities.

Mk.I Weapons will be weapons that are of a lower rarity than their original counterpart and will allow players with less progression to attain and test high-end weapons with less risk.

As an example, Exotic and Legendary weapons will only have Mk.I versions of a lower rarity.

Mk.II Weapons will be weapons that are of higher rarity than their original counterpart and will give players the possibility to use a weapon that they are comfortable with, further into the progression.

As an example, White and Green weapons will only have Mk.II versions of a higher rarity.

Original weapons will act as MK I or MK II depending on the new weapon added, but will retain their normal name.

A handful of MK I weapons will be available in shops.
- Mk.I ASP Flechette
- Mk.I Hammer
- Mk.I ICA Guarantee

Changes to Matchmaking

Several changes as tweaks for matchmaking is planned for season 3 in order to ensure longevity and allow players to manually wipe, without putting themselves in a bad spot, changes will be made to the matchmaking.

Work is also being done in order to further ensure that players get the best experience possible, with fairer matchmaking, but also making sure to keep the mix of tension and excitement of not knowing who you will run into.

All these changes will be done through changing and adding additional parameters into the matchmaking and should hopefully result in a better experience for everyone. One such addition is gear being hinted at as a factor in MMR.

Full details about the new matchmaking has not yet been announced.

Changes to starter packs

How starter packs work will be changed.

More information on this is expected in the near future from the E-commerce team at Yager.

Public Test Server

A public test server was available from 2nd of March until 6th of March. Separate client download was required.

Content in the PTS was not final. Some planned features could have been missing, while other features might have been work-in-progress. Players were informed to expect bugs and issues to occur.

Feedback and bugs for the PTS had specific channels on the Discord in order for Yager to gather information easily during the test.

PTS Feedback

After the PTS was concluded, Yager closed of the PTS-channels on discord and compiled the feedback.

Yager later provided some answers and response in the PTS Feedback summary blog, giving some insight into further changes and planned areas to improve on before release as well as for post-release patches.

Improved Audio

Season 3 will include changes and updates too the Audio, making the game sound better and more immersive than ever before.

New features

Howler

The Howler will freely roam the skies of Fortuna, changing how Prospectors approach each area.

Using sound for locating and attacking prospectors from a distance, this new menace will provide new challenges and tactics for both low and high-tier prospectors.

The howler will require more effort to bring down compared to the already existing creatures, but will not be the only risk involved as other players will hear and see the fight from afar, forcing anyone brave enough to take on this flying beast to also keep an eye on the ground.

The Howler boasts from a number of different attacks, both melee and ranged. These ranged attacks can get stuck on terrain and act as area-denial mines.

Howler Nests

Scattered throughout Fortuna are the Howler's nests containing dangerous eggs. These nests will slightly alter the area they occupy, making some of the already well-known places of interest more exciting, and giving new reasons to explore them again.

While a good source of loot, prospectors need to be careful when approaching the eggs in a nest and be prepared to relocate and heal when necessary.

Anyone entering the area of a howler nest will need to stay alert and be able to adjust their plans accordingly as the eggs will protect themselves.

Offering new loot for prospectors, one should not only be wary of the nest itself, but also of other prospectors, coming to discover the new secrets that these areas may hold.

Howler Grenade

By collecting Howler Darts from the Howler, prospectors will be able to craft Howler Grenades. These Grenades can be used for crowd control as they deal minimal damage, but adds a disorienting effect on anyone hit by them, much like the howler screams.

Loadout presets

Prospectors will have the possibility to save up to 3 different loadout-presets in order to more quickly get back on the surface for further prospecting.

Free Loadout Runs

When dropping onto Fortuna III, prospectors will be able to select if they want to use their own gear or use a random faction-based loadout for free.

This Free Loadout Run allows players to land on the surface without the risk of losing any gear, while still being allowed to evac with anything they can carry.

The feature is aimed to help prospectors that are low on gear and resources, as well as to allow players to try out new weapons, without having to worry about losing money in the process.

In order to mitigate the impact on the economy these free items could have, the loadouts' randomization is limited to a maximum of Rare (blue) items, and a cooldown period must pass before you can use another free loadout. For those that do not like their random loadout, they can re-roll it once every 24 hours.

Changes to the station

The station is getting a rework for Season 3, overhauling the experience a prospector will have on Prospect Station.

The overall feeling of the station will be more of a dirty, gritty place in lack of space. More things are in temporary storage along the walls and areas, etc.

More NPCs will be added around the station in order to make it appear more lively and give it a more natural feeling, along with busy robots and drones roaming the station to handle its needs.

The key changes that can be expected are as follows:

Facelift on the shops and faction headquarters.
More buildings and more compact layout of the surrounding parts of the station.
Some new objects will be added and some will be removed.
Most grass, trees and flowers will be removed.
Some of the signs will get a makeover.
New NPCs with additional behaviours.
Roaming drones that fly around the station.
New building for Osiris.
Captured creatures and samples of dead creatures scattered around the station.

New skins and archetypes

As always new skins and archetypes are slated to come with season 3 and we got a sneak-peak on some of those during Frosty Frontier Fest.

New archetype coming in season 3 called 'Unbound Synth'
New archetype coming in season 3 called 'Artillery'
New Advocate skin coming in season 3

Weekly updates and developer media

Below is a list of official articles and media released, covering content and changes for Season 3.

Articles

Giving a fair chance to everyone by providing Free Loadout Runs for players, reworking the matchmaking and planning for the future.
A new menace, Howler is coming in season 3, along with minor map-changes, new loot, quests and more.
The war on cheats is continuing on all fronts. A lot has been done but more is on the horizon and Yager is dedicated to reduce the impact from cheaters.
Prospect station overhaul will give a new face to the station, making it feel more alive, but also represent the constraints of living in space.
MK I and MK II weapons are coming in Season 3, giving the weapons we have come to know, new utility and broader usage.
Season 3 Public Test Server is available from March 2'nd until March 6'th.
PTS Feedback summary and input from developers on planned changes and tweaks.

Media releases

Youtube videos

Livestreams

48 hour stream and Season 3 countdown

An upcoming 48hour long livestream, followed by 24hours of countdown until release of Season 3 is planned to be held ahead of the servers going down for the Season 3-update.

Yager will be on-stream, playing the game during the livestream and potentially answering some questions in the chats. Make sure to join in when you can!

More info can be found on the Discord and the stream is planned to be held on the official twitch.

Unconfirmed content

Below is content that is hinted or rumoured, but not yet confirmed as part of S3-launch. This could appear before or after the start of season 3 as well.

More redeemable codes can be expected in S3^[1]

Events^[2]

References

↑ Feralus, Discord Message: "What exactly of it? The code part, yes absolutely." was stated in response to "If I had to guess the Frosty Frontier Fest was a systems test for S3 things. This is all wildly speculative though"
↑ Yager, thecycle.game website: "Events"

[1] Feralus, Discord Message: "What exactly of it? The code part, yes absolutely." was stated in response to "If I had to guess the Frosty Frontier Fest was a systems test for S3 things. This is all wildly speculative though"

[2] Yager, thecycle.game website: "Events"

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