Update v3.8: A new homepage, orb duels and leaderboard seasons
A front door worth walking through
Version 3.8 is mostly about first impressions and long term goals. The homepage has been rebuilt from the ground up, duels can now be played for Mystery Orbs, and the leaderboard can finally be given a fresh start.
The homepage, rebuilt
The old front page was a wall of text with a button on it. The new one is built around the game.
The artwork sits behind everything, with a live killcam reel mixed into it at low opacity. Those are real clips from real matches, playing behind the headline, cycling to the next one when each finishes.
Underneath the play button is a row of live numbers:
- How many bombers are registered
- How many games have been played
- How many bombs have been planted
- How many BomberCoins are in circulation
The four game modes are artwork cards now. They sit in grey until you hover over one, and then that card alone turns to full colour. Hovering also opens two buttons:
- Join game drops you straight into the room
- Spectate lets you watch first
That second one matters. Not everyone wants to be blown up in their first thirty seconds, and being able to watch a room before you commit is the difference between a visitor and a player.
Clicking a mode no longer stops at an extra screen with a single Play button on it. If you picked the mode, you meant it.
Further down the page you now find the Server Status panel from the lobby, the current tournament, the latest wager duels, the Play of the Week clip, and the newest articles with a proper thumbnail on each.
Duel for Mystery Orbs
BomberCoins are not the only thing worth playing for any more.
From level 50 you can choose to play your 1v1 duel for Mystery Orbs instead. The currency picker sits right above the stake, wherever you happen to be: the lobby card, the homepage, a challenge in chat, or the player list.
A few things worth knowing:
- Coins and orbs have separate queues. Two players with the same number but a different currency are never matched against each other.
- Orb duels carry no house fee. The winner takes the whole pot.
- Your stake is held while you wait, and you get it straight back if you leave the queue.
- Everyone in chat sees that you are looking for an opponent.
Starting a duel from the homepage now asks for your stake first and then puts you into the queue as soon as the lobby loads, instead of leaving you to find the queue yourself.
Leaderboard seasons
The leaderboard can now be split into seasons.
When a season closes, the final standing is archived and the competitive numbers start again from zero:
- Kills, deaths and wins
- Games played and playtime
- Killstreaks
- Your wager rating and win streaks
What a season reset never touches is everything you have built up:
- Your level, XP and prestige
- Your BomberCoins
- Your Mystery Orbs and craft items
- Your skins, crates, bank and market orders
A new season resets the scoreboard, not your account.
Features that unlock as you play
Three things now open up as you progress, rather than being available from your very first match:
| Feature | Unlocks at |
|---|---|
| Market | Level 10 |
| 1v1 Wager | Level 15 |
| Clan Wars | Prestige 1 |
If you have prestiged at least once, the Market stays open no matter what your current level is. You have walked that road already.
Anything still locked now shows a padlock with the requirement on it, in the Hub and on the website alike, so you can see what you are working towards instead of clicking something that quietly refuses.
And a handful of smaller things
- The release notes inside the game now come from the same source as the website. They had drifted apart, and the in-game list had been stuck on an old version for a while.
- Mystery Orbs now use the real item artwork everywhere instead of an emoji.
- Tournaments moved into the main navigation, and are finally reachable on mobile too.
- The tutorial can be replayed from the options menu, under Help.
- The Last Man Standing description was simply wrong. You do respawn in that mode. What actually happens is that the map does not reset until everyone has died at least once, so the last survivor keeps the round going.
See you in the arena.