Rock Band 4‘s competitive expansion, Rivals, is gearing up for the game’s second season next week with changes to experience gain, Seasonal Rivals Points (SRP) and rewards.
In the second season, which starts Aug. 24, player-created crews will no longer receive first, second and third play experience bonuses as a group. Each player will now earn individual first, second and third play experience bonuses with a 10 percent decay every time a song is repeated. Players who replay a song 12 or more times will only earn 10 percent compared to the amount offered for playing a new song for the first time.
This change received mixed results from the Rock Band community, with some in favor of the new decay and others pointing out potential exploits with account switching.
Reddit user SegfaultDefault wrote that the new bonus would create an exploit in itself, allowing for users to continue challenges on alternate accounts to receive multiple first play bonuses on the same song.
Harmonix’s Community and Social Lead, Josh Harrison, replied to the user’s concern, stating the “XP system will not allow” for such an exploit.
Other users, like Shankerdoodle, are glad the play bonuses are given on an individual basis compared to the first time anyone in a crew plays a song.
Additional experience changes come in the form of challenge bonuses for playing a specific mode or instrument.
Harmonix is also tweaking how SRP works. SRP bonuses for placing into certain tiers during each week’s challenges will be simplified to a flat increase of the max points from the previous tier plus the crew’s contribution for the week.
Reward-wise, this season offers exclusive headgear resembling samurai helmets. These rewards can only be earned during this season, although the pieces will be permanent additions to player’s closets.
Rounding out the adjustments is the Season Spotlight Pass, which grants buyers a discount on 8 new DLC songs featured during the season’s challenges.
The Season Spotlight Pass will be available on the PlayStation and Microsoft stores on Aug. 24 for $13.49.