Early Access Patch 7

Hey, Party-goers!

Early Access Patch 7 kicks off on September 13th, at 10:00 AM PDT / 17:00 UTC, after a 2-hour downtime at 8:00 AM PDT / 15:00 UTC! This update introduces a new Quick Access Desk feature, a faster way of doing GradeUPs, improved Social Grouping, and so much more!

The Return of Non-Elimination Brawl!

Due to your feedback on which Blanko Brawl mode you prefer, Non-elimination Brawl is back and set as the main mode of Brawl play; we’ve also re-enabled the bonus points multiplier for the later Stages! So get in there and play with no fear of being eliminated!

Additionally, we’ve heard your concerns over the experienced uptick in AFK players in your Brawl lobbies since the release of non-elimination Brawl. Please know that we’re working to combat this issue.

Quick Access

We’re introducing a new feature known as Quick Access. Through Quick Access, you’ll be able to review and change any equipped Blankos you have directly at the Desk!

We will continue to make updates to quick access but in the meantime you would still be able to access existing inventory, skills and mashup systems. You won’t be able to access the Crew options from the Quick Access feature yet, but you can still change your Crew from the bottom row of your Shelf!

GradeUP

Our GradeUP process is now much easier and quicker! Long gone are the days when you had to click through each individual XP Chip. Now, with our Quick Boost feature, you can quickly GradeUP your Blankos!

We’ll also be cleaning up the values for our XP Chips! Don’t be concerned if you have values that aren’t listed here, we’ll be sure to properly convert all XP Chips to fit the new value types for our upcoming XP Chips!

New values are as follows:

• 25 XP Chip
• 250 XP Chip
• 1,000 XP Chip
• 10,000 XP Chip

Social Grouping

We’ve vastly improved our Social Grouping feature for Early Access Patch 7! Now, you’ll be able to invite fellow Blankos to your group, even if they’re not on your friends list, and have a private chat channel with your group mates!

Where to take the Party?

So you’ve assembled your group, what now? As a group leader, you determine where the Party will happen! You can take your group into the Junction and into a Party via the Party Bus or a join code, given there’s enough room.

Note that the Social Grouping feature cannot be used to load into Brawl, the Blender, or Build Mode with your friends, and players will not follow the group leader if they're viewing the Shop.

Group invites only work on the Desk, this functionality is coming soon to the Junction. Once you accept a group invite, you’ll be taken to the Desk as well.

The Junction

New Look

The Junction has been moved around, giving it an all-new feel! Jump in and discover where your previous favorite places now reside! This is just the first step in making the Junction a more fun place with cool stuff to do. Stay tuned!

The gang is back!

Remember Chauncy, Willow, Jetpack Jenny, and all the other NPCs? Well, they’re back! Try to find them all within the newly rearranged Junction.

Gameplay Improvements

The Blanko Bat

We’ve updated how the Bat works to make it feel much smoother in terms of play! We’ve made it so you can easily choose between a light and fast attack or a strong and slow attack. All you have to do is to hold down the attack button for half a second longer, and you’ll hit harder!

We’ve also tweaked how a midair windup for an attack works! When attacking in midair, you can charge up an attack that will send you slamming back down onto the ground. The further you fall while charging up an attack, the bigger the attack radius will be when you land!

A New Look To Gameplay Elements

Vibes

Vibe colors have been updated! We wanted to ensure that it would be easier and more clear to differentiate between 10 and 50 Vibes. These new colors are

• Pink: 1 vibe
• Blue: 5 vibe
• Purple: 10 vibe
• Yellow: 50 vibe

Speed Boosts & Limiters

We’ve simplified Speed Boosts and Limiters! We’ve added new particle effects to help you more easily differentiate between them as well.

Liquid Effects

HAVE YOU SEEN OUR NEW LIQUID EFFECTS! These new effects are shinier and stand out much more!

Other Improvements

Cacti

The cactus is no longer the stun menace they were before, but don’t go hugging them just yet, they’ll still dish out some damage if you get too close!

Sprinting and Sliding

Sprinting and sliding feel much better and more accurate. We’ve changed how sliding works; previously, sliding uphill felt clunky and wonky. We’ve improved sliding to prevent that awkwardness when sliding uphill.

Improved lag compensation

For those of you with slower connections, you should see improvements to the game’s lag compensations starting in Patch 7.

Fixed ‘Multi-logging’

We’ve heard a lot of feedback about this! Players pseudo-multiboxing by logging into an account from multiple, or the same, machine(s) will no longer be able to abuse this bug and get an advantage on other players! This fix was a long time coming, and was fixed, in no small part thanks to the community’s efforts!

New Weapon: Necro-Rod

We’re working towards a collection of weapons that better fit the creative, unique nature of Blankos Block Party! The first weapon being introduced from this initiative is the Necro-Rod.

This new weapon not only introduces a slick visual standard for weapons to the game of Blankos, but also a new mechanic: homing! Lock on to your foes and let the power of the Lord of the Dead do the rest.

This weapon is the first step in bringing more creative guns into Parties that use shooting mechanics. We want there to be options for all players to enjoy the KO experience, even if you aren’t the most mechanically skilled.

Weapon Improvements

Early Access Patch 7 introduces a slew of weapon changes that will hopefully give each weapon an individual, and important, feel. Although each weapon should have its strong suits and shortcomings, there shouldn’t be a ‘one gun beats all’ dynamic. Let’s take a look at these changes!

Assault Rifle

• Increased damage by 50%
• Decreased rate of fire by 4%
• Now fires in a 3-round burst

The goal of these changes was to make the Assault Rifle more unique, and not a slower firing SMG, while maintaining its superiority over the SMG and Pistol and medium to long rangers.

SMG

• Decreased damage by 14%
• Decreased rate of fire by 12%
• Reduced accuracy at range

The goal for these changes was to allow for the SMG to remain strong at close range, but dial down their long range effectiveness.

Pistol

• Decreased damage by 25%
• Increased rate of fire by 200%

The goal for these changes was to allow the pistol to better compete with the other weapons.

Style Updates

For this patch, we’ve updated some Perks for all of the Styles in Blankos.

With the reduction of stun-based mechanics and props, we wanted to ensure that stun-based Perks were replaced with new options.

Respawn across all featured maps has been improved to feel snappier, which also invalidated the Quick Comeback perk.

Other changes overall were to replace Perks that were not as useful.

Note: Some perks are situational; since parties vary significantly, we aimed to ensure that Style Perks give players options to solve the problems they struggle with the most.

N.O.O.B.

Foundation Perks

• Removed Quick Comeback (Respawn from knockout dramatically faster)
• Removed Bounceback (Recover from being stunned twice as fast)
• Added Invigorated: Spawn with a 50 health shield that lasts 15 seconds.
• Added Boxer: Shove deals +5 damage

Trickster

Foundation Perks

• Removed Quick Comeback (Respawn from knockout dramatically faster)
• Removed Knock Block (Knockback resistance)
• Removed Vibin’ (Regain 15 energy pers second while dancing)
• Added Fight Training: Shove now has 3 charges
• Added Hang On: Slow how fast you slide down walls
• Added Bopper: Allows you to bounce off of other players’ heads

Wrecker

Foundation Perks

• Removed Quick Comeback (Respawn from knockout dramatically faster)
• Removed Knock Block (Knockback resistance)
• Added Ghost Run: Pass through other Blankos while running
• Added Reach Out: Collect vibes from farther away when shoving

Power Perks

• Removed Drop and Hop (Get a height bonus if you jump right after a Ground Pound)
• Added Drop Zone: Your Ground Pound’s area of effect is 50% larger

Tanker

Foundation Perks

• Removed Vibe KO (Regain 50 energy whenever you knock a Blanko out)
• Added Boxer: Your shove does 5 extra damage

Power Perks

• Removed Duck and Run (Gain a speed boost when your activated shield is broken)
• Added Floatier Bubble: Fall much slower with bubble shield on

Tracer

Foundation Perks

• Removed Quick Comeback (Respawn from knockout dramatically faster)
• Removed Bounceback (Recover from being stunned twice as fast)
• Added Fight Training: Shove now has 3 charges
• Added Hang On: Slow how fast you slide down walls

Hidden Perks

Hidden Perks are Perks that can be unlocked at certain levels in the GradeUP system, randomly rolling for one once that level is reached. Each Hidden Perk has the same drop chance and cannot be rerolled or removed.

• Removed Dazed and Refuel (Gain 10 health whenever you stun a Blanko)
• Removed Gibe and Refuel (Regenerate 10 health per second while taunting)
• Removed Attention Hound (Regain 5 health and3 energy per second while using an Attention emote)
• Removed Re-Fresh Moves (Regain 15 energy per second while dancing)
• Added Bopper: Allows you to bounce off of other players’ heads
• Added Big Pockets: Your max ammo count is increased by 50%
• Added Greedy: Drop 25% fewer vibes upon taking damage
• Added Slipstream: Running grants a trail that gives your allies a speed boost

Mystery Boxes

We’ll be implementing a new system of drops for SOME of our upcoming Blankos. This new method of drop is in the form of Mystery Boxes!

A Mystery Box purchase entitles you to one out of a set of four Blankos. The odds of drawing any of the four Blankos are even, meaning you have an equal chance of receiving any one of the four featured Blankos.

Due to regulatory limitations relating to the purchase of paid probability-based items in Belgium, Slovakia, and the Netherlands, we are prevented from selling Mystery Boxes in these regions.

Thank you for your continued support of Blankos Block Party in Early Access! We’re extremely excited to share this major update as we get closer to the official launch of Season 1!