I had forgotten about Quake Champions, the free-to-play take on Quake 3 Arena that first arrived on Steam in 2017. But it’s still around, it’s still got, well, a handful of players, and today it got a surprisingly beefy update to mark the 30th anniversary of Quake, including a free battle pass for everyone.
The battle pass is the most obvious hook here: Befitting the big birthday of id Software’s OG 3D shooter, the season 30 battle pass includes a number of cosmetic rewards from 1996 and QuakeCons gone by, plus previously exclusive skins and the new Disintegrator rocket launcher and Goroth’s Earth Magic podium.
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Functionally, though, I think the update is the bigger deal. Despite its age and relatively small player numbers—it typically peaks at a few hundred concurrent players on Steam these days—the patch makes some significant changes, including an overhaul to the network code aimed at reducing packet loss and lag compensation, and improving projectile predictions. The amount of lag compensation will now vary based on your ping, problems with hit validation for high-ping players have been fixed, and the 160 ms ping limit required to connect to games has been removed completely.
A range of other fixes, optimizations, and tweaks have been made across the board, and a new “Random Champion Select” option has been added that lets players play as locked champions—when randomly selected—in practice, quick play, and ranked modes.
Universal weapon shaders have been added, characters and maps have been tweaked up in a range of ways, Quake 30th anniversary banners have been added everywhere—this is a sizable update by any measure, and particularly so for a shooter we included in our list of “eight ‘dead games’ that are still very much alive” two years ago.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed by players on Reddit. “I don’t know how [Quake Champions developer] syncerror convinced them to let him keep updating this game for so long but I’m grateful for his efforts,” redditor Fob0bqAd34 wrote. “When we got that battlepass some months back (or maybe it was last summer?) with a ton of the old weapon skins in one pass I thought that was going to be it. Hopefully he gets to keep quietly ticking away in the Sharma era as well.”
The patch notes for the Quake Champions 30th anniversary update are below.
Game Client UpdatesFixed the collision bug that pushed players out of the map, through the map geometry collision layerFixed being able to damage a respawning player by attacking their death location with a gauntletRaw Mouse Input fixes & optimizations • NVIDIA Reflex fixes & latency markers addedCode optimizations and cleanup for the damage summation markers codeCode optimizations and cleanup for the special movement input codeFixed Heavy Machinegun shader not applying when attempting to customize its shader prior to selecting any other weapons in CustomizationFixed the wrong champion medals being awarded after meeting the qualifications for a medal and then changing championsFixed an issue where you could see a static player doll in the map when a spectator enters Freefly cam modeFixed spectators not being able to exit Freefly cam mode after entering itFixed a crash in the camera manager when switching to a player that is currently deadAdded caching optimizations to improve performance when referencing user setting valuesReduced RAM size requirements for Texture Quality levelsQuality Settings will no longer be lowered for hardware that is too new to appear in our internal CPU & GPU databasesRemoved the fullscreen UI popup that would occur after a match when reaching Level 2, announcing that a new mode (Slipgate) has been unlockedFixed several cases of game crashesThreaded InputThis option is enabled by default as it has tested to improve performance under most conditions – however, this option is not recommended for Linux users and may not be ideal for mice using polling rates of 4Khz or greater.Added Threaded Input setting – Enables moving the input to a dedicated thread that runs at above normal priority. This has some benefit regardless of input mode but greatly reduces Raw Mouse Input latencySound UpdatesBroken Persistent SoundsFixed sounds that would remain persistent in the world after they should have endedPain SoundsFixed missing pain soundsFixed the incorrect pain sound playing when exactly 25 or 50 hpRestored pain sounds between 75 and 100 hpAdded Acid & Fire panic sounds when a damage-over-time effect has been applied Death SoundsDeath Sound radius extended to 35m to match other character sounds Weapon SoundsThe volume of the RUTHLESS water railgun shot sound was reducedItem UpdatesPower-ups dropped from dead players will now have a minimum duration of 3 seconds remaining • Dropped Power-ups no longer pop up vertically before droppingDropped items now fall at the normal rate of gravityFixed in-game Lore drops, in addition to being able to unlock a readable lore item, it grants an in-game bonus to those who discover themFixed dropped items (weapons, powerups, flags, etc.) from being able to land on a player’s head and remain floating in the airBot AI UpdatesFixed Doom Slayer Bots so that they can now use their Berserk abilityFixed Scalebearer Bots so they can no longer run backwards during Bull RushFixed Scalebearer Bots so they can no longer accidentally cancel their abilities earlyFixed Strogg Bots so that they can now use their Drone Strike abilityArmor FeedbackTo provide players better feedback regarding how their combat encounter is going, we have integrated the armor hit beep system from Quake 4 and expanded upon it further. This new feedback will provide unique hit beeps when dealing damage to an opponent with armor, as well as provide visual feedback when that armor has depleted.Armor Hit BeepsYou will now hear a unique hit beep when you hit an opponent who has armorAUDIO Settings: Added ARMOR BEEP STYLE – includes OFF, Q4 and QC options Armor Break FXYou will now see special fx when the damage you deal depletes your opponent’s armorHUD Settings: Added ARMOR BREAK FX Armor Break SoundYou will now hear a special sound effect when the damage you deal depletes your opponent’s armorAUDIO Settings: Added ARMOR BREAK SOUND – includes OFF, POWER DOWN, ENERGY RELEASE, SHIELD PUNCH, and METAL TINK optionsAdditional Hit Beep OptionsAdded HITBEEP styles – includes:Mid-Tone (popularized in Quake 3)High-Tone (from Quake 4)Damage-Based (from Quake Live)Additive Damage (introduced in QC)Teamplay FeaturesTeammate Death POIsTeammate Death POIs have been added to assist in teamplay. These not just help you know when a teammate has fallen but can act as a sign of danger. Whether you choose to rush into that combat zone for revenge or heed its warning to find a new path is up to you.Show a Point of Interest markers at the position a teammate diesHUD Settings: Added TEAMMATE DEATH POIDrop CommandsNow available in team modes are the Drop Weapon and Drop Power-Up commands. Each command will drop the item if available and trigger a message in team chatDrop Weapon will drop the weapon with the current ammo count if you own below the weapon’s starting ammo amountSay CommandsAdded 6 Say Commands: Yes, No, Hi, Bye, Thanks, Sorry. Available in all game modes, issuing these commands will print a chat message and generate a local in-world VO message that everyone can hearShow Vanity Customizations ToggleEnabled by default, this new setting allows you to toggle off the in-game armor shaders, vanity items, vanity weapons (including their custom fx and sounds), and weapon shaders. This can be toggled on the fly in a match. You will still see all vanity in the Match Lobby and the Pre and Post Match Podium scenes to show off your style, but during gameplay all vanity will be removedWeapon Zoom ToggleActivating the toggle will keep the weapon zoomed in until you either untoggle or change weaponsCONTROLS Settings: Added ZOOM TOGGLEHidden Weapon PositionNew Hidden option sets the weapon and hands to be invisible and centeredAdded a Gauntlet icon to the ammo HUD, so that the gauntlet weapon selection is always visibleWeapon, Ammo, & Knockback UpdatesStarting Weapons now upgrade instantly without weapon switch downtimeWeapon Pickups will now always add the starting ammo count to your current ammo countKnockback is now applied immediately instead of queuing and applied in delayed batchesKnockback cap adjusted from 120 to 132, resolving the rocket jump penalty accrued in the prior updateChampion Specific Weapon LoadoutsWeapons are now equipped per Champion in CustomizationAdded an optional Equip on All Champions button Random Champion SelectThe Random Champion, selected in the Champion Roster, will make a random selection from all champions. This option allows players to play locked champions (albeit random) on Practice, Quick Play, and RankedIn Duel, it selects one champion at random that will be used for the entirety of the matchIn Sac Tourney, CTF Tourney, and TDM Tourney, selects a champion during the pick phase, ensuring that it is a unique selection within the teamIn Duel Rounds, makes a random selection during the pick phase, ensuring that it is a unique selection within the squadIn all other modes, it picks a Mystery Champion that cycles at random with each respawn, with ability cooldown retainedUniversal Weapon ShadersAll weapons that currently have shader support now support 23 universal shaders, which have been made available for free to all players, instead of needing to own different sets of basic weapon shaders for every individual vanity weaponBasic weapon shadersRed, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Lime, Green, Teal, Blue, Purple, White, Grey, Charcoal, and Black Basic Shaders Camo weapon shadersGrasslands, Forest, and Snow Camo Shaders Patterned weapon shadersBlue and Brown Patterned Shaders Mastery weapon shadersIthagnal, Cthalha, Goroth, Volkerh, and Master ShadersUI Player HUD UpdatesBuff & Debuff player info HUD (such as Quad, Protection) shows a remaining duration number when duration is 5 seconds & below (and shows decimal durations when duration is 3 seconds & below) Pre & Post GameFixed the Drag/Move Player hit detection of the bottom right pillar in the Custom Game 4v4 LobbyFixed a the Add-Bot [+] UI elements appearing on top of the Settings UI when passing Party-Leadership to a player actively in the Settings menuAdded new tips to the map loading screensFixed the persistent menu blur bug when leaving the Battle Report after a matchChampion Updates All ChampionsChanging champion mid-game no longer resets the ability cooldown AnarkiDisabled weapon switch during ability usage, while still allowing you to queue the switch, which will execute after the Injection completesFixed the Anarki hoverboard sounds’ Teammate Volume support AthenaGrappling Hook: Fixes & updates to pull speed accelerationBJ BlazkowiczIncreased the maximum speed cap from 650 to 900 upsStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 apIncreased Walk Speed from 160 to 280 ups (for silent walking)Fixed BJ Blazkowicz’s SUMMERTIME outfit attachments when combined with the GOLDEN CROWNClutchStarting armor reduced from 100 to 75 BarrierBarrier: Breakable shield, increased duration that degrades as it receives damage, with a maximum of 200 dmg received before breakingBarrier: Both duration and damage soak share the same energy pool. For example, while the shield can withstand a maximum of 200 dmg before breaking, if half of its duration expires before taking damage only 100 dmg is needed to burn through the shield’s remaining energyBarrier: Shield sound now alters pitch as duration depletesBarrier: Fixed incorrect movement settings during ability usage, including move speed 300 instead of 320 and max speed of 750 instead of 600Mining Laser: Duration is now 3 seconds, instead of the remaining time from Shield duration DodgeNo Dodge Passive while the Shield is active • Spawns with 1 of 3 dashes availableReduced stamina regen from 0.33 to 0.3Improved the responsiveness & accuracy of the Dodge Stamina UIAdded a 10ms delay between executing dodges to address small issues when rapidly executing dodgesUpdated the Air-Dodge passive title & description to Dodge Jump, to fully encompass both Air-Dodge and Ground-Dodge mechanicsDeath KnightIncreased the maximum speed cap from 650 to 900 upsStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 apFixed the “bayonet” bug that would leave the sword extended outward while holding a weaponFixed Death Knight’s Humiliation vanity not staying equipped Flame StrikeFixed the splash damage from the fireball projectiles, they will now always add the flame dot Charring PassiveFire Dot – Increased from 6 dmg x 5 sec (30 dmg max) to 9 dmg x 5 sec (45 dmg max)Doom SlayerIncreased the maximum speed cap from 650 to 700 upsStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 ap BerserkImproved enemy visibility in Berserk, making them appear solid white (with an enemy outline colored arrow)Duration reduced from 5 to 3 sec (to reduce the distance he can run away when using berserk passively)Duration restored in full when he lands a punch, resetting the remaining berserk time to 3 seconds (to encourage offensive usage)Added a sound effect when a punch lands, to help it feel more visceral and for punches to feel like they are making contactAdded magnetism, trails, and new pickup sounds for blood punch bubblesFixed a bug with the weapon drop and hand raise that resulted in being stuck without fists or a weapon during or after ability usageBlood Punch sound added when earning a kill with BerserkEisenIncreased the maximum speed cap from 650 to 700 upsMax Extra AP reduced from 175 to 150 apStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 apImproved Eisen armor decay rate from 1pt every second to every 2 sec Sentry TurretAdded Damage Summation audio support for hitbeeps from turretsAdded Overhead Health Bars for both friendly and enemy turrets; health bars on enemy turrets are visible when the turret is either below full health or when it has obtained any armor upgradesDecreased the turret’s max health from 120 to 100 hpIncreased the turret’s starting health from 120 to 125 hpStarting Armor 0 ap, Max Armor 50 ap, Max Extra Armor 75 ap. Armor is granted via the updated Repair passiveImproved Turret armor decay rate from 1pt every second to every 2 secsDamaged health now regens back up to 100 hp, healing 5 pts every 1 sec when it does not receive any further damage for 5 secondsReduced activation delay from 2.0 to 1.5 secAdded an a health and armor info status indicator above the ability info to show when you have an active turret deployed and how healthy it is • Fixed turrets from eternally bouncing on jumppadsThrowing a turret into a kill zone will now grant 80% of your cooldown back, as it isn’t exactly fair that we destroy the turret and you lose your cooldown just because we decided the turret was placed in an unallowed location. We grant 80% instead of 100% to discourage spam and exploitationRepair PassiveRemoved the armor regen passive, in favor of a new Turret Repair passiveEisen can now deny Light Armor pickups when at max armor by standing near the pickup for 2.5 sec. Any armor Eisen picks up will also be applied towards the deployed turret to “upgrade” the turret’s stackSalvage PassiveShards will now grant 5%, Light Armors 10%, and Heavy Armors 10% cooldown reductionGalenaIncreased the maximum speed cap from 650 to 900 upsStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 apImproved the fitting of the QPL SEASON 3 BELT with Galena’s ACOLYTE Outfit Unholy TotemHitbeeps will now play when damaging enemy totemsDamage Numbers will now appear when damaging enemy totemsAdded Overhead Health Bars, Enemy Arrows, and Owner Names for friendly totemsAdded Overhead Enemy Arrows for enemy totems, when targeted Owner Names, and when damaged Hit Beeps and Health BarsTotems now receive Quad Damage, Protection, and Spawn Protection FX to show when they will deal or can receive more damageAdded fire SFX to totems when 3 totems are deployedTotems you own will now appear solid through walls, to differentiate them from totems belonging to a teammate GalenaFriendly totems will now appear yellow through walls when 3 overcharged totems are deployedEnemy totems will now have a visible SFX ring around them that is visible in any lighting quality settingStarting Health increased from 60 to 75, Max health increased from 60 to 75Damaged health now regens back up to 75 hp, healing 5 pts every 1 sec when it does not receive any further damage for 5 secondsThrowing a totem into a kill zone will now grant 80% of your cooldown back, as it isn’t exactly fair that we destroy the totem and you lose your cooldown just because we decided the totem was placed in an unallowed location. We grant 80% instead of 100% to discourage spam and exploitationFixed applying the Super Shotgun’s close range bonus damage towards totems; damage was capped at 80 dmg with the Super Shotgun but you can now deal 120 dmgSlightly increased the totem’s weapon collision mesh, so that close range shotgun pellets don’t miss when expected to hitKeelIncreased the maximum speed cap from 600 to 800 upsStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 75 to 50 ap Grenade SwarmFixed grenades sometimes explode 3 times instead of once Reinforced PassiveImproved self-damage reduction from 60 to 67%Improved splash damage reduction from 20 to 33% Stockpile PassiveImproved ammo box cooldown reduction from 10 to 20%NyxIncreased the maximum speed cap from 750 to 1000 ups RangerIncreased the maximum speed cap from 650 to 900 upsStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 apRanger Gladiator outfit renamed to BRAWLER to avoid having two armor sets with the same name (Strogg’s GLADIATOR, which is based off of the Q2/Q4 Strogg Gladiator enemy). BP art for new reward addedDire OrbVelocity reduced from 1000 ups to 900 upsShoot Delay after throwing increased from 0.4 to 0.5 secShoot Delay after teleporting increased from 0.4 to 0.5 secThe orb now has 75 pts of health and can be destroyed when shot, triggering the orb to explode. The explosion can be triggered by anyone: Ranger, teammates, or enemiesThe orb’s damage output is now based on it’s time in flight, gaining damage over time & distanceScalebearerIncreased the maximum speed cap from 600 to 800 upsStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 75 to 50 apFixed an IK animation crash in the Scalebearer’s animation set when trying to reach a target position during weapon-aiming that was unreachable Bull RushFixed the Scalebearer sensitivity bug, where sometimes the default rotation limits are not restoredFixed Scalebearer Bull Rush sometimes passing through the enemy target with a collision (especially at high ping) SlashNo changes. SorlagStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 75 to 50 apStroggStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 apWill no longer drop Stroyent when he commits suicideFixed Golden Crown power-up shaders • Fixed Golden Crown crash behaviors that would occur when cloaking & decloaking Drone StrikeDrone: Fixed Peeker’s camera view angles from updating if its Strogg owner’s body enters a teleporter domainFixed Peeker’s drone flight sounds persisting after deathVisorStarting Armor in Duel reduced from 50 to 25 ap Piercing SightPiercing Sight now exposes the enemy’s health and armor informationIncreased the volume of Visor’s third-person ability VO and reduced how much the occlusion muffles its volumeGame Mode UpdatesLobbies/QueuesIn a ranked match, when a player disconnects from the lobby/match, the leaver still gets the existing forfeit loss, but now loses SR. The remaining opponent now also gets a forfeit win persisted to their profileAdded Unholy Trinity TDM to the Bot Practice queueAdded support for disabling the Score Limit, by setting Score Limit 0 in Custom GameMatchesFixed the max warmup time bug, which would allow warmup to go on forever, instead of being capped to 120 secFixed the Auto-Abort system, to properly end matches when no enemies remain in gameAnti-Griefing system will now exit the current match and send you back to the main menu, instead of closing the game application DuelDead player bodies will now hide at the minimum respawn time (3 seconds) — so that it doesn’t convey when an opponent chooses to respawn. This also allows you to use the Hide Dead Bodies option without being penalized2v2 TDMDead player bodies will now hide at the minimum respawn time (3 seconds) — so that it doesn’t convey when an opponent chooses to respawn. This also allows you to use the Hide Dead Bodies option without being penalized. Instagib • IG Matches in Quick Play now last for 10 minutes with no score limitSacrificeActive Abilities are now canceled on Soul Pickup, just like we do in CTF during flag pickups • Added an Announcer VO countdown from 10 to 1 as the point reaches 90-99% captured Clan ArenaAdded First-Person Spectating while dead to replace the third-person spectatingSlipgateAdded First-Person Spectating while dead to replace the third-person spectatingUnholy TrinityUHT Matches in Quick Play now last for 10 minutes with no score limitSpectatingFixed spectators having a delay changing the spectator player, when the followed player dies and has entered the death HUD UIMap UpdatesAll MapsQuake 30th Anniversary Banners added Blood CovenantRemoved an unused out-of-bounds jumppad Blood RunAdded a teleporter from the Tri-bolt mid-level to the Super Nailgun / Power-Up roomFixed a hole in the wall mesh near a statueFixed the position of an out-of-bounds breakable urn, placing it back into the map Church of AzathothFixed missing game mode flags for items in the disabled obelisk areaFixed the position of an out-of-bound breakable urnRemoved the out of bounds jumppad CitadelRemoved out of bounds fireplace reference inside the central jumppad Deep EmbraceRecreated ocean mesh from scratch for performance optimizationsFixed three small holes in the map mesh InsomniaFixed holes in the window frame mesh near HMGRuins of SarnathSwapped the SG spawn and SG player-spawn locations (so that you don’t have to turn around to pick up the Super Shotgun)Fixed three small holes in the map mesh Tower of KothThe smaller version of Tower of Koth will now be used in DM, TDM, IG, i9, and UHTThe larger version of Tower of Koth has now added the support beam above the central mid-level teleporter that was introduced in the smaller version of Tower of Koth
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