Ready to drop into The Arena? This weekend in H1Z1 features a new unranked mode with a special ruleset, two BRAND NEW rewards, and a Crate Unlocking Sale - more details on each below!
Arcade Mode
H1Z1 is a highly competitive battle royale game, and we wanted to add an option for those who'd like to practice playing on the map without having their matches affect their Season rank. That's why we're introducing Arcade mode - this new option in the Play menu lets you jump straight into an unranked match!
Starting at 10AM PT on Friday, May 4, Arcade mode will unlock with a new special ruleset - HEAVY METAL:
Plus, what would a weekend event be without rewards? Read on below for how you can pick up the Heavy Metal Backpack from Arcade mode and the Heavy Metal Makeshift Armor from regular Battle Royale Solos, Duos, or Fives.
Note: With the addition of Arcade mode, you may notice that Events have been removed from the Play menu. Our intention is to use Arcade mode as a way to bring you fun and unique rulesets with exclusive rewards in an unranked environment. Unlike Events which had designated match start times, Arcade mode matches can be started whenever the mode is unlocked for play.
Weekend Rewards
Heavy Metal Backpack
To celebrate the launch of our new Arcade mode, there's a matching Challenge just for this weekend! Get 5 Top 25 finishes in the new Arcade mode between 10AM PT on Friday, May 4 and 10AM PT on Monday, May 7 to receive the NEW Heavy Metal Backpack.
Heavy Metal Makeshift Armor
Last week's Top 10 Challenge got you a Gilded Ebony Motocross Helmet, and we're bringing you a new reward for this weekend's grind! Just be one of the top 1,000 people across all regions with the MOST Top 10 finishes in Battle Royale Solos, Duos, and/or Fives between 10AM PT on Friday, May 4 and 10AM PT on Monday, May 7 to earn yourself the NEW Heavy Metal Makeshift Armor.
The bottom of this article will be updated once daily with the Top 10 Challenge leaderboards as the weekend progresses - be sure to check back to see where you stand, and the Armor will be granted to those who earn it next week!
Crate Unlocking Sale - 70% OFF!
Looking to clean out your Crate collection and refresh your look? Look no further - from 10AM PT on Friday, May 4 through 10AM PT on Monday, May 7, you can unlock any locked Crates you currently have for 70% OFF the regular price!
[UPDATED] Top 10 Challenge Weekend + Rewards!
[UPDATED 5:20PM PT on Friday, April 27 - The "triple health" ruleset and leaderboards for this weekend have been reverted, but the Helmet challenges still await you!]
Get ready to step up to the challenge this weekend with two BRAND NEW rewards and a limited-time Arctic Unicorn Mask - more on each below!
Weekend Rewards
Gilded Ivory Motocross Helmet
Do you have what it takes to get 10 Top Ten finishes in Battle Royale Solos, Duos or Fives? Complete this Challenge in-game and the NEW Gilded Ivory Motocross helmet is all yours!
Gilded Ebony Motocross Helmet
If you're looking for even MORE of a challenge, try your hand at the NEW Gilded Ebony Motocross Helmet - only the top 1,000 players across all regions with the MOST Top 10 finishes in Battle Royale Solos, Duos, and/or Fives between 10AM PT on Friday, April 27 and 10AM PT on Monday, April 30 will grab this limited-run reward!
Will you claim your spot at the top? The Gilded Ebony Motocross Helmet will be granted to those who earn it next week.
NEW Arctic Unicorn Mask - Available for a Limited Time
Continue your chilly collection with a brand new version of the Unicorn Mask available for direct purchase - the Arctic Unicorn Mask! This winter wonder is sure to help you keep a cool head when you're under fire. You'll want to nab this offer quickly though, as this mask will only be available until 10AM PT on Monday, April 30 - grab it in-game by clicking on the Arctic Unicorn Mask Message of the Day.
Which helmets will you get your hands on this weekend? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit!
Let's Celebrate the Pro League Premiere Weekend!
The H1Z1 Pro League kicks off this weekend, and we're headed to Las Vegas to bring you all the action LIVE! Whether you're joining us at Caesars to watch Game 1 or tuning in online, here's everything you need to know about the Pro League's Premiere Weekend.
How To Watch
Official Match 1 Livestream - 7PM PT on Saturday, April 21
The Premiere of the H1Z1 Pro League is kicking off at 7PM PT on Saturday, April 21, streaming live at www.facebook.com/H1Z1ProLeague. Head over there now to “Like” the page, and be sure to bookmark the official stream as well so you're ready to cheer on your favorite team. NOTE: While the first game is at 7PM PT on a Saturday, games for Weeks 2-10 will be broadcast at 7PM PT on Wednesdays - you can check the full schedule here.
Fort Destiny Friday (Vegas Edition!) - 1PM PT on Friday, April 20
Fort Destiny Friday will be streaming LIVE from Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino! While we're in a different location than usual, we're still going to have a bunch of fun - tune in for giveaways, and we may even bring on a few special Pro League competitors to help us with some Deal or Steal. You can watch it all on both www.twitch.tv/h1z1 and www.facebook.com/h1z1 at 1PM PT on Friday, April 20.
H1Z1 Pro League Preshow - 2PM PT on Saturday, April 21
Game 1 of the Pro League starts at 7PM PT on Saturday, April 21, and we'll be hosting our own Preshow starting at 2PM PT on both www.twitch.tv/h1z1 and www.facebook.com/h1z1. We'll be taking you behind-the-scenes of the Pro League Premiere Weekend experience, from the info booth to the Arena. We'll also be featuring more interviews from additional H1PL players, so you won't want to miss out.
Giveaways & Items
Weekend Challenge - H1PL Season 1 T-Shirt
We're celebrating the Premiere Weekend of the H1Z1 Pro League with a special in-game Weekend Challenge just for you! Get five top 100 finishes in Battle Royale Solos, Duos, or Fives between 10AM PT on Friday, April 20 and 10AM PT on Monday, April 23 and you'll earn the brand new H1PL Season 1 T-Shirt.
NEW Arctic Frostbite AR-15 - Available for a Limited Time
This weekend only, there's a brand new version of the fan-favorite Frostbite AR available for direct purchase - the NEW Arctic Frostbite AR-15! The chilling effect around this weapon makes you look even cooler as you ice your opponents. Act fast though, as this weapon will only be available until 10AM PT on Monday, April 23 - you can grab it in-game by clicking on the Arctic Frostbite AR-15 Message of the Day.
H1Z1 Pro League Team Pack DLC
Represent and support your favorite H1Z1 Pro League teams by picking up one of the Team Pack DLCs! There's a unique pack for each of the 15 teams featuring a team jersey hoodie and parachute to show off in-game. If you're looking to grab everything at once, there's the All-in-One Pack that includes the items for all 15 teams PLUS a special H1PL Offroader so you can drive around in style! The proceeds from the Team Pack DLCs support the teams equally and help contribute to League operations.
Other Pro League Giveaways & Items
Looking for how to get your hands on a certain H1PL or team-specific item? Here's a full breakdown:
Be sure to tune into our Friday and Saturday streams as well, as some other items may be making a special appearance as giveaways or during Deal or Steal!
Which teams are you most excited to see take the stage for the H1Z1 Pro League Premiere Weekend? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!
Live Game Update - April 19th
Live servers will be coming down for an update starting at 2PM PT tomorrow (about 19 hours from now) for an estimated 3 hours. Here's what's included in this patch:
General Updates
There is now a gameplay option to show the map by default when entering Fort Destiny.
Kill Receipts are now shown when in Team Spectate.
Reduced match countdown timer from 60 seconds to 35 seconds.
Optimized particle effect textures for a minor performance gain for mid to low end GPUs.
Optimized how the client retrieves group member information from Steam for a minor performance gain.
Bug Fixes
Players can no longer bypass ping restrictions by grouping.
Weapons no longer occasionally appear to animate vertically when crouching and aiming down sights.
Level 100 celebration emote is no longer spammable, which was causing performance issues.
Fixed a material in certain houses that could muffle footstep volume.
Player indicators are now above the toxic gas on the mini-map, making them less difficult to see.
Developer Letter: April Update
What is up everyone!
The H1Z1 team has been working hard and we're excited to share some details about today's major update. If you're looking for even more details, please take a look at the full patch notes for this update. This update casts a wide net in terms of what it touches, so without further delay, let's get right into it.
Performance
Let's lead off with one of the most important features of this update: performance improvements. The Core Tech team has been extremely busy diving deep into how the engine runs and they discovered quite a few issues when it came to multi-threaded vertex buffering. So, what does that mean? In short, there were a lot of places in H1Z1 where a process that could be handled by multiple threads would essentially get stuck, which would result in a stutter.
Some of the fixes included the following improvements:
The Core Tech team would like to extend their thanks to the community for continually providing examples of micro stutters and performance issues. Those examples gave us an extremely solid starting point to begin our investigations, and they help expedite the process of finding proper solutions. Please keep those examples coming as we will be continuing our endless pursuit to make H1Z1 perform as best as it can.
Pro League Items - Coming Soon!
As many of you know, the H1Z1 Pro League is starting extremely soon with their inaugural match at 7PM PT on Saturday, April 21 - all live from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. With the addition of the Pro League, we wanted to show support on our end with some special and extremely attractive team skins. On top of these skins looking fresh, a portion of the proceeds will go right to the Pro League AND to the teams equally. Check out some of these amazing items below!
On top of the bigger features listed above, the team has been busy working on all areas of the game as well. You can read the full patch notes here, but here are some of the highlights:
To reiterate, these are some of the highlights so check out the full patch notes if you'd like more details on the specifics!
Much Appreciation
As always, the H1Z1 team is endlessly grateful to have such an interactive community. We've been building the game together for years, and we're looking forward to continuing this tradition with you. As with any patch, there's always more to follow - we appreciate your insight, and we'll need your feedback to make sure we get it right.
See you in the pit,
Tony "Carto" Morton
Lead Systems Designer
Game Update: April 12
This patch focuses primarily on optimization for micro stutters, bug fixes, and more.
Micro Stutters
Performance and micro stutters have been our top priority for many months. Recently, we have been focusing the internal structures that were optimized pre-Windows 10 Creators Update. These should reduce many of the micro stutter symptoms that have been idenitifed by our internal QA teams as well as the community. A huge thank you to everyone who has sent videos and information - these have been immensely helpful as we have been able to reproduce and address specific issues and find opportunities to optimize the game code. Here are the specific changes in this update:
Battle Royale Updates
Auto Royale Updates
Bug Fixes
Known Issues
Test Server Update & Smash: Micro Stutters and More!
With this weekend's Test Update, we need YOUR HELP to jump in, play, and let us know your experience! We'll be hosting Test Server Smashes at the below times, with rewards to match:
APAC Test Server Smash Solos - 4AM - 7AM PT on Saturday, April 7 (8PM - 11PM JST on Saturday, April 7)
Fives - 4AM - 7AM PT on Sunday, April 8 (8PM - 11PM JST on Sunday, April 8)
EU Test Server Smash Solos - 10AM - 1PM PT on Saturday, April 7 (7PM - 10PM CEST on Saturday, April 7)
Fives - 10AM - 1PM PT on Sunday, April 8 (7PM - 10PM CEST on Sunday, April 8)
NA Test Server Smash Solos - 5PM - 8PM PT on Saturday, April 7
Fives - 5PM - 8PM PT on Sunday, April 8
And of course, the rewards:
You can only earn the above rewards once, and all rewards will be granted after the weekend ends.
Combat Training (formerly known as Combat Zone) will also be open at the times and regions listed above for those that would prefer to test the new update that way. Read on below for the full patch notes, and be sure to fill out the in-game survey once you've played as well!
Micro Stutters
Performance and micro stutters have been our top priority for many months. Recently, we have been modifying the internal structures that were optimized pre-Windows 10 Creators Update. These should reduce many of the micro stutter symptoms that have been idenitifed by our internal QA teams as well as the community. A huge thank you to everyone who has sent videos and information - these have been immensely helpful as we have been able to reproduce and address specific issues and find opportunities to optimize the game code. Here are the specific changes in this update:
Battle Royale Updates
Auto Royale Updates
Bug Fixes
Weekend Event: Show Me The Bunny Returns for 2018!
Spring is in the air and there's a brand new Chocolate Rabbit Mask waiting to hop into your inventory! From now until 10AM PDT on Monday, April 2, log in to H1Z1 and play 5 matches of Battle Royale (Solos, Duos, or Fives) to complete the Show Me The Bunny Event Challenge this holiday weekend.
Are you dressed in your Sunday best? Share your latest outfit using the Chocolate Rabbit Mask with us on Twitter, Reddit, or Instagram!
Server Maintenance: March 27
Live servers will be coming down at 7PM PT tonight (approximately 7 hours from now) for server maintenance expected to take about 2 hours.
This maintenance includes the updates listed below, and you may also notice a new item has "hopped" into the Helmet section...
Trees no longer disappear when viewed at a distance with certain settings enabled.
Fixed an issue that could cause players to lose the ability to shoot after exiting a vehicle.
Reordered the Play menu to be back to what it was before the previous patch.
Play Auto Royale DUOS this weekend only!
GRAB A FRIEND AND TRY OUT THE NEW GUIDED ROCKET LAUNCHER!
This weekend only, we're adding a new variation to Auto Royale - Duos! From now until 10AM PT on Monday, March 26, it only takes one driver and one passenger to bring home the win.
To celebrate Auto Royale Duos for the weekend, there's also a limited-time Event Challenge: complete three games of Auto Royale and you'll receive the Red ARV skin!
Plus, we've added a brand new weapon just to Auto Royale - the guided rocket launcher (LG-IR)! If you thought this mode was an explosive spectacle of mayhem before, wait until you get your hands on this weapon out of Purple or Gold pickups. The guided rocket launcher is available in both Auto Royale Duos and Auto Royale Fours.
What's the craziest shot you've gotten with the new rocket launcher? Share it with us on Twitter, Instagram, or Reddit!
