SMITE 2 Will Include Only A Fraction Of The Original Game’s 130 Playable Gods On Launch
Not all gods are created equal and only those who truly stand out will be making their way to SMITE 2. Titan Forge Games confirmed in an interview with PCGamesN that only 50 of SMITE’s roster of 130 gods, goddesses, and mythological figures will initially be included on launch day. They also talked about how they’re selecting which deity will make the cut.
Executive Producer Alex Cantatore says that roughly 25 to 30 Gods will be available during the sequel’s alpha phase with plans to ramp the roster up to 50 in Version 1.0. It’s less about the time and effort needed to port them over and more about ensuring that new players don’t get overwhelmed.
“One of the biggest reasons people tell us they don’t want to start playing a MOBA is because there’s 130 gods, each with four abilities and a passive, and I need to learn 600 things before I can even start to have fun, right?” Cantatore says. “We think it’s really important that we start at a lower number and get to the fifties pretty quickly because that’s a good number for diversity in matches, but it’s still a low enough number that you can learn it relatively quickly and not be overwhelmed.”
Long-time players needn’t have to worry though, as Cantatore says that they plan to increase the number of playable Gods pretty quickly. “We understand that people are waiting for their favorite Gods, [and] we really need to make sure that we’re getting the Gods over fast enough to make the current players really happy,” he adds.
The team will also be looking at each God for areas that need improvement based on feedback gathered from the original game, but their individual gameplay styles will remain largely the same. Ymir’s Ice Wall ability, for example, will be tweaked to allow players to easily place it behind them. While that’s currently doable if you’re moving fast enough, there’s always the possibility that it will be placed in front of you if you’re slowed for any reason.
This will be on a case-to-case basis as the team also wants to ensure that players will like the changes and will be comfortable with it. “If you change something and 40% like it, 40% don’t like it, 20% don’t care, that’s just a huge waste,” says PonPon Cooper, an ex-pro player and SMITE 2 advanced game designer.
“You know, in the long run, we would love to bring every God over, but there’s a lot of Gods to bring over,” Cantatore says. Loki fans will be happy to know that the Trickster God is already in the game and was one of the first ten Gods what will be making it to the sequel, despite the objections of some members of the team. Other Gods that have made the cut are Sol and Bacchus.
There’s currently no word on a release date for SMITE 2, but closed alpha testing is set to begin sometime this spring.
