Echo Arena, the 3v3 competitive VR game and e-sport has gotten a few updates along with a new Lobby 2.0 (Patch 9.0). According to Echo Games Medium page, Ready At Dawn has rolled out a new layout for the Echo Arena lobby, increasing its size so much that it needs a map to point out the changes.
Background
As one of the best Oculus games for fitness and now as a Vive game thanks to ReVive, Echo Arena is an active and intense, free to play, multiplayer and team-based version of extreme frisbee that’s set in an online VR arena. In the arena, 2 teams of 3 use zero gravity and mini rocket boost to fly through the air, move around structures and obstacles, stun other characters with punches, and all while trying to throw their virtual disc into the other team’s goal.
The Updates
Echo Arena’s Lobby has been renovated to have a practice area for personal use that players of all skill levels can use in between games or whenever they feel like. This change gives players a quarter-court’s worth of space, literally, in zero-G space, to throw around a personal disc (find the button on your arm computer) by themselves or where they can use the community disc to practice throws, passes, offensive and defensive moves, or just to hang out and warm up before a match.
If you don’t want to group up for a 3v3 game and want to practice your skills first, head over to matchmaking and create a private match. Once in a private match, you can practice floating around, boosting, and throwing the disc solo. This is a great introductory area for any newbie to start off playing Echo Arena so they can have a low-stress, zero expectation way to train and practice before diving into to a competitive game.
When you’re in-game you’ll see that there are launch tubes that get used to propel players through space in the arena. Players use it to launch themselves further than their mini rockets can thrust them in order to gain a lead towards the other team’s goal. Now, there are launch tubes that can be used for practice! So, if you’re new to Echo Arena you can jump inside them and practice shooting out of them like a pirate in Sea of Thieves! Maybe skip this one until you get your zero-G legs if you get motion sick inside VR games with a lot of simulated inertia.
There’s a bigger brawl room so players can punch up their teammates and randos to practice stunning others and blocking return punches before they head into a game. Punch/stun and block practice is important to keep up with because doing so will help you keep your team’s disc or can help you take possession of your opponent’s.
There are also new holo tables that designate which players are in the lobby and where they are located. This is for player identification, so you know who you’re floating around with and meet some new friends or a teammate!
Check out the trailer for the newest Echo Arena lobby down below!
The backboard no longer has grooves in it and is now smooth and flat. Also, team leaders are not the only changemakers for each party. Now, anyone in the team’s party can change rules via their terminal up until match starts, signal that their team is ready, restart the match, switch teams if they feel like it, and players can go in/out of spectator mode as they please. So, everything has gotten freer in the way of controls and gives players a way to take a break more easily than before.
A huge bug fix is that players can’t use their head or shoulders anymore to hit and move the disc. This seems like it would leave players with a tense neck, so thank goodness that’s gone. Also, throwing is slated to be more consistent due to some fine tuning with player’s hand positioning on the disc’s center of mass that previously made discs less accurate.
Fixes with mute and invite icons in player profiles are now working, so you can mute yourself! There’s also an unfinished “Echo Combat Under Construction” section of the Echo Arena lobby, which is reported by Oculus to be something they’ll disclose more about at a later time.