Rocket League Season 4 update patch notes: Casual leaving bans, Party Rank restrictions, more

The Rocket League v2.01 update is out and the Season 4 patch notes have everything you need to know what’s coming for the next series of content drops for the soccer arena.

Psyonix is experimenting with some minor changes throughout the game, with noticeable updates to the Casual playlist that the studio already said they’d keep an eye on if it needed changing.

Meanwhile, there’s going to be a new Arena called ‘Deadeye Canyon,’ a new car called ‘Outlaw,’ new 2v2 tournaments in all regions, as well as plenty of bug fixes that should make the game run better.

Rocket League Season 4 update

Matchmaking Penalties in Casual Playlists

Rocket League will now have a matchmaking penalty for people that leave in the Casual playlist. These will work similar to the Competitive Playlists bans.

Leaving once per day won’t merit a penalty, but quitting multiple times will start to escalate you through the seven different tiers of punishments.

To knock down the different levels, you’ll need to wait 12 hours before your ban tier decreases by one.

Party Rank Restrictions

Starting in Season 4, undersized Rocket League parties will now have to be within three ranks of each other.

This is mainly for people who generally duo queue in the Standard 3v3 playlist. Psyonix is aiming to “help preserve balanced competitive play” with the new restrictions but will monitor how people respond to it.

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While this might disrupt some duos, the change narrows the possibility of rank disparities for the competitive playlist.

Rocket League Trading Updates

Trading in Rocket League will get a bit more streamlined with the new trade review screen that’s been added with the Season 4 update.

Before players can agree to a trade, there’s going to be a new visual that plainly displays all items that have been involved in the trade.

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This should keep people from accidentally parting with something they may have offered. The final trade review screen will have a five-second cooldown before letting people accept the deal.

The devs have shipped a bunch of quality of life updates for the Rocket League v2.01 patch update so take a look at the complete notes below, courtesy of Psyonix.

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Rocket League v2.01 Season 4 update patch notes

The Headlines

• Today’s update prepares Rocket League for the start of Season 4. A second set of patch notes with more information will be posted at the start of Season 4
  • Season 4 begins on August 11 at 8:00 a.m. PDT (3:00 p.m. UTC)
• Streamer safe music functionality added
• Introducing penalties for players who quit Casual Playlist games early
• Added undersized party rank restrictions
• Player to player trading improvements

Changes and Updates

Streamer Safe Music

• Streamer Safe music allows you to play Rocket League’s included music tracks without worrying about DMCA violations while streaming or recording
• ‘Streamer Safe Music’ can be found under Settings > Audio
• Once enabled, Rocket League will remove or replace any tracks that may lead to a DMCA violation
  • The Streamer Safe setting works in conjunction with your chosen settings for Player Anthems, playing the soundtrack in-game, and playing the soundtrack during matches

Matchmaking Penalties in Casual Playlists

• To improve the average match quality in Casual playlists, we are introducing penalties for players who quit Casual games early.
• Similar to the matchmaking bans for Competitive Playlists, players who leave Casual Playlist matches early may be subject to a short matchmaking ban. Leaving a single match per day won’t result in a penalty, but repeatedly quitting escalates the length of the ban.
• There are seven ban levels for Casual Playlists:
  • First – 0 Minutes
  • Second – 5 Minutes
  • Third – 10 Minutes
  • Fourth – 20 Minutes
  • Fifth – 40 Minutes
  • Sixth – 1 hour
  • Seventh or more – 2 hours
• Once you progress beyond the first level, there is a 12-hour cooldown before the ban level de-escalates by one level.
• You can now “Vote to Concede” a Casual Match once enough time has passed, similar to Competitive play if your team wants to leave or simply proceed to the next match.
• We’ve made the following changes to backfill behavior
  • If a player leaves a Casual match, they will not be backfilled into the same match
  • Casual matches with a score difference of three goals or more will not be backfilled. Bots will replace any players who leave the match.

Undersized Party Rank Restrictions

• To help preserve balanced competitive play, parties of two playing in 3v3 Standard in Competitive or 3v3 Tournaments must be within 3 Ranks of each other
  • Examples of allowed undersized parties
    • Gold 3 + Platinum 3 (three ranks apart)
    • Diamond 2 + Champion 1 (two ranks apart)
  • Examples of disallowed undersized parties
    • Gold 3 + Diamond 1 (four ranks apart)
    • Silver 2 + Grand Champion 2 (fifteen ranks apart)
• This change does not apply to Extra Modes Playlists or Casual Playlists
• This change starts with Season 4

Player to Player Trading Updates

• Once both players have entered items and accepted terms, a new trade review screen will appear
  • This screen will display all items involved in the trade
    • All item details are visible at all times on this screen (Painted color, Certification, Special Edition type, Esports affiliation)
  • No new items can be added once this screen appears
    There is a five-second countdown before the Accept Trade button can be used
  • You can cancel out of the Trade Review screen if you want to go back and add/remove items

Game Ban Messaging

• New messaging will inform you if your account is close to a permanent ban
  • Similar to current ban messaging, and Report Feedback, this message will appear as a pop-up once Rocket League is started
  • “Due to the number of bans issued on this account, the next ban from Psyonix may be permanent. Please do not use harassing or toxic language in future matches. For more information, please go to support.rocketleague.com”
• Previous chat and game bans on your account are taken into consideration before this message is delivered

Player Count Display

• The way player population is displayed in-game is changing
  • Total players online is no longer displayed
  • Playlist population display has been changed. Based on a playlist’s population, players will see one of the following
    • Amazing
    • Great
    • Good

General

• Tactical Rumble is now available as a Rumble Mutator in Private Matches

New Content

Monstercat (Antenna)

• ‘AK’
• ‘A.M.R’
• ‘Arielle Maren’
• ‘Dyro’
• ‘Emily Vaughn’
• ‘Ellis’
• ‘Haneri’
• ‘Hayve’
• ‘Hoaprox’
• ‘KUURO’
• ‘PROFF’
• ‘Shingo Nakamura’
• ‘Saxsquatch’
• ‘Vintage & Morelli’
• ‘YUAN’

General

• Changed name of ‘Inamorata’ Goal Explosion to ‘Carbonator’

Bug Fixes

• Fixed appearance of trim on Octane when using Linares, Nooo! Decals
• [PC] Fixed a crash when loading into Utopia Coliseum (Snowy)
• Fixed appearance of several Trails when previewed in the Garage
• Fixed appearance of grass near player’s car on Forbidden Temple (Day)
• Fixed appearance (inconsistent lighting) for Visionary Wheels
• A loud, quick beat of music heard at game startup has been removed
• Fixed players logging in as Player 1 instead of their normal account
• Fixed matches not counting as completed when leaving a match during the final replay
• FPS improvements to some Arenas
• Fixed players logging on, receiving a “Syncing Failed” message, and missing their inventory
• Fixed players crashing upon loading into Utopia Coliseum