As we launch into 24/7 Closed Alpha, I thought it would be a good time to share a general roadmap of where we are taking SMITE 2 as we march towards our free-to-play launch in early 2025. We are intending to drop a new release every 3 weeks during the 24/7 Closed Alpha period.  During this time, we are committed to advancing the following pillars. We are making the game with the community, for the community. These are the things we believe we should be prioritizing based on the feedback we have received so far. But we very likely will continue to change this list based on player feedback. You’ll also note that we don’t have a specific order of what we’re releasing, when. That’s because we want to listen to you. If there’s something we need to prioritize, we will. If there’s something that’s less important to you, it will come later. Keep in mind – There’s only so much we can do in three weeks. Some of these tasks will take a lot longer than that to accomplish. But we wanted to keep our update cycle short, so that we can deliver more frequent updates and improvements. [h3]Gameplay Content [/h3] [b]More Gods[/b] [list] [*] Our intentions are to release 2 Gods every 3 weeks.  Some releases will be 2 Classic Gods, others will be 1 Classic God and 1 all-new God. [/*][/list] [b]New Modes[/b] [list] [*] We are working to bring Joust to SMITE 2 as the next game mode.  We know there are passionate Joust – and Duel – players who are eager to play their favorite mode. [/*] [*] We expect Assault to follow Joust and Duel [/*][/list] [h3]New Player Experience[/h3] [b]Improving Onboarding of New Players[/b] [list] [*] The game right now is very unfriendly to all-new players, and we’re well aware that’s a major issue. Our focus so far has been entirely on the core gameplay experience.  [/*] [*] We have a lot of things we want to add over time. The following list is just a small sample of the things we have planned. [list] [*] Welcome videos, explaining Arena and Conquest [/*] [*] Arena and Conquest Tutorials [/*] [*] New Player Quests [/*] [*] New Player Level Up Rewards [/*] [*] New Player Daily Login Rewards [/*] [/list] [/*][/list] [b]Improving In-Game Experience for New Players[/b] [list] [*] Right now, we’re close to SMITE 1 parity on the in-game experience. But there are things that are missing that are helpful for new players, and a whole lot more we have planned. It will take a while to get through the whole list, but here are some of the things we are working towards. [list] [*] New player-focused item store improvements [/*] [*] Item builder [/*] [*] Notifications when an Item can be upgraded [/*] [*] Better indications for what you are targeting, and if that target is last-hittable [/*] [*] Improved messaging feedback about in-game events [/*] [*] Indications of your initial pathing from base, into lane, based on role [/*] [*] Jungle wayfinding signposts [/*] [*] Tower indicator for minions still alive [/*] [*] Console screen space setting [/*] [*] … and a lot more [/*] [/list] [/*][/list] [h3]Competitive Improvements[/h3] [b]End of Match Stats[/b] [list] [*] To begin, we want to expose the match details that players are accustomed to seeing in SMITE 1 – damage done, damage taken, wards placed, etc. [/*] [*] Beyond that, we are capturing more data than we had in SMITE 1 and we are working on the right way to expose it – like damage done by specific abilities. [/*] [*] Note that you can currently see post match stats on [url=https://tracker.gg/smite2]tracker.gg[/url], but we want to get that in-game as well [/*][/list] [b]Ranked Leaderboards[/b] [b]Role Priority Queuing[/b] [b]Spectator[/b] [h3]More Progression Systems[/h3] [list] [*] Even more ways for players to engage with the game and feel like you’re always making progress. [/*] [*] This is somewhat intentionally vague. But we are excited for some new systems that we just aren’t ready to share more about yet. [/*][/list] [h3]Toxicity[/h3] [list] [*] Improvements to existing systems [list] [*] Deserter [/*] [*] AFK [/*] [/list] [/*] [*] Empowering our customer support team with improved tools [/*] [*] A lot of hidden, behind-the-scenes work to address toxicity that we can’t fully talk about yet [/*][/list] [h3]Feedback[/h3] As noted above, we have big plans over the next several months, but we are ready to pivot. [list] [*] Entering 24/7 is an opportunity for you to tell us what you want, what you feel is missing, and what you want addressed [/*] [*] Please join our Discord, fill out the surveys linked from in-game, and tell us what you think. We’re reading and reacting to it all, and you really are shaping the direction of SMITE 2.  [/*][/list] We are very excited to enter the 24/7 Closed Alpha phase with you. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but I couldn’t be more excited to take this journey with you, our players. Thank you for being a part of our community, and I can’t wait to see where the future takes SMITE 2.   - Travis Brown, Executive Producer