A familiar sight returns to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds with the start of Season 11 of ranked play. The PUBG team has posted the update 11.1 patch notes to its website, and amongst them we see that Paramo is making its return this coming season. The update is on the PTR on PC, too, so you can give it a whirl to see what it's all about.
You can play Paramo in normal and custom matches, though we're waving goodbye to Haven and Karakin. Paramo still has its random elements, but you'll notice that one extra randomised location is now a possibility. The devs have also increased the secret room and care package helicopter's spawn rates, while fields now have more cover.
The PUBG team also explains that it's limiting the number of playable maps to five from update 11.1 onwards. While the group enjoys making new maps, they're making matchmaking and map rotation a “pretty difficult task”. The dev adds: “We know that our players have very different tastes when it comes to map size, but the consensus has generally been in favour of the large 8×8 maps.
“Because of this, Erangel and Miramar will always be available, with the remaining maps cycling in and out of the remaining three slots. Cycling out maps also gives us the opportunity to work on them a bit for when they make their return. For Update 11.1, Paramo will be replacing Karakin in the rotation.”
We’re also getting a new feature this season called Emergency Pickup. Essentially, you send a giant fulton balloon into the sky and ride it to the safe zone’s centre when it attaches to an aeroplane. Neato.
Season 11 marks the start of a new runtime for each season. Now, they’ll run for two months at a time and will no longer align with Survivor Passes. Adjustments have been made to the ranked reward table to compensate for that.
“Players use rank emblem rewards a lot, especially at high ranks and we’ve found most players tend to use the emblem from the most recent season, rather than older seasons,” a member of the PUBG team explains. “So, to better emphasise and represent your recent ranked achievements, ranked emblems and similar symbolic rewards will now only be available to use for the season in which you received the rewards. Ranked skin rewards are still permanent items available for use across any season.”
You’ll also notice that spawn rates for weapons in ranked mode have increased to be similar to esports mode on all maps. As such, item spawns have increased by 30% to 40% to reduce time spent looting.
Weapons are also getting a balance pass, with the Mini-14, VSS, and SCAR-L getting their damage increased. If you’d like to check out the notes in full, you can find them on the PUBG website.
If you’re looking for more of the best battle royale games to try out, you know where to click. You can also pick up PUBG on Fanatical if you haven’t got it yet.