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The People of Rivals of Aether: Europe – OliveOily

By hok0ri — March 14, 2024

This article is part of a community-made interview series featuring some of the top players and volunteers behind the grassroots European scene.

Welcome back, today I’m here with the interview of one of our best competitors, TO and old community leader, OliveOily!


View the other interviews from this series:

Who are you?

I’m OliveOily! A Dutch top Wrastor player. I’ve been a TO, I’ve been our community leader, and I’ve been just a competitor. I used to TO a lot, including my own local series and the official online RCS events.

These days I mostly just play at offline events, never want to miss a chance to meet up with the community.

 

When did you first join the community?

I first joined the community back in early 2017 though it took me a while to actually get invested and become a consistently present member of the community. I remember I first played the game just before Etalus was added.

 

What has been your best/favourite moment with Rivals?

It’s hard to pinpoint a single favourite moment. Winning Albion, or getting top 8 at Genesis are the first that come to mind. It’s not so much single moments that makes my time with Rivals so great. It’s the people I met through it. Most my friends, and most importantly my girlfriend are people I only got to get this close with because of Rivals events.

 

How would you describe your playstyle in Rivals?

Back when I was ranked the highest I ever was, and when there were the most events for me to travel out to, I tried to always strike second. Stay back, move a lot, and see if you can whiff punish everything with a quick down tilt. After the lockdown paused all locals I came back a bit more aggressive, but I want to go back to that playstyle.

 

What are you looking forward to most in Rivals 2?

What I’m looking forward to most in Rivals 2 is seeing new characters come to life. I’ve always been one of those people that go on and on about the scraps of lore the Rivals universe has. Seeing more of that come to life and become “real” will be great. I’m really hoping to see more story mode characters get to be in the game. Loxodont, Mayreed, that sort of thing.

 

Any closing statements?

I’d like to tell everyone to attend an international tournament if you can. Before lockdown we were getting players from so many different places coming together to make a big event. Ever since offline events had to take a break we’ve not seen one of those events happen again. A last one for Rivals 1 would be amazing.

 

Join me next Monday as we continue The People of Rivals of Aether: Europe!

Categories: Community, Esports, News | Comments: 0

The People of Rivals of Aether: Europe – Frikinin

By hok0ri — March 11, 2024

This article is part of a community-made interview series featuring some of the top players and volunteers behind the grassroots European scene.

Hello everyone, I am hok0ri and as part of this RCS season, I have had the opportunity to interview a few of the European community members, from those who have been here for a long while and cemented their place to members that have joined us more recently. I gave the following members the same questions, and it was really nice to hear their answers and see what they think of their time in RoAEU.

View the other interviews from this series:

For our first interview we have the king of good mornings and wonderful TO, Frikinin.

Who are you?

Good morning! ❤️

My name’s Frik, 24, single. I’m from Badalona, Catalonia. Though I’ve been playing rivals since before Absa and Etalus even came out, I’m mostly known for my contributions as a TO and as a moderator in the european and spanish communities.

I am *very* aware of most mistakes I’ve realised I’ve made, but people seem to be very thankful of my job here, so maybe it’s just me being too self-aware. At the end of the day, I just want everyone to have fun playing this good old *furry trash smash*.

 

When did you first join the community?

As I said, I got the game a long time ago, though I didn’t join the community until about early 2017. For the most part I was just in the small spanish community, and on some rare occasion, I’d go to EUcord to have some small chat or enter a Supernova or RCS.

Then, early in 2018, following the failed Nova League, Readek and I tried to follow up with Rivalry. It was a bit of a mess, but we managed to actually finish it! This effort got me closer to the EU community, but what finally drew me in full was attending Traction 4 later that year. I might be a pretty antisocial dude, but meeting so many people in real life kinda is a life-changing experience.

 

What has been your best/favourite moment with Rivals?

Well, it has to be either Traction 4 or 5.

4 got me to take the step to fully enter the community. Even if I felt lost, I felt incredibly welcomed by Oily, Slime, Mayoi, and… basically everyone. I wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t for that weekend.

5 was fun. Incredibly fun. It turns out that not being socially awkward makes you enjoy gaming more! Readek was also in charge of stream production™, and I spent a lot of time next to him helping him run that hell, subbing for him when his time to play came, and even come up with some ideas on the spot *(Remember that clip of Fireicey popping off from the end of that year’s PR? That was me!)*. It turns out that being involved with the production of a thing makes you enjoy it a lot!

 

How would you describe your playstyle in Rivals?

Have you ever heard about epicondylitis? Tennis elbow? It means there’s an inflammation in your elbow’s tendons that makes your whole arm hurt badly. There’s also a chance for it to be chronic.

I haven’t really played much Rivals since mid-2020. Me getting diagnosed with epicondylitis happened to coincide with Oily stepping down as the RCS TO, which is a neat coincidence, and the reason I took the “job”.

My playstyle as a TO is to try to maximise everyone’s fun. I guess that’s what everyone who’s doing this as volunteer work is doing, but I like to add a bit of empathy to every DQ related to bad connections, thank everyone who joins for their time, and generally try to create a good mood in chat in the middle of an ocean of @pings for sets and salty 0-2’ers.

If the powers that be force me to talk about my actual playstyle, I think the best description is “intentional stupidity”. By that I mean, I’m aware I suck. My best placing is a 6th (wasn’t better because I had to leave) at EURAS, many moons ago; and I haven’t really put much effort into labbing or grinding. At some point I guess I just decided the funniest approach would be to embrace sucking so much, and fishing for stuff that shouldn’t work. A random fstrong in neutral sounds as such a bad idea that many players around my level don’t consider it “an option their opponent will use”. But it works! Sometimes! Usually only once in the set! And I get to have a laugh, which is the most important part of the game!

 

What are you looking forward to most in Rivals 2?

Not much, I guess? There’s a chance that not being able to play has gotten me a bit disinterested in how Rivals 2 will come out. I’ll say, though, that it looks great! If I can let the TO inside me speak, I’m just hoping the new rollback saves us a lot of trouble and DQ’s!

 

Any closing statements?

Someone will have to fact-check me on this, but I’m probably the only “player” in here who has never PR’d, so it’s an honor to be here typing these words! I’m glad me being here running a discord or some brackets has brought joy to a few hundred people.

Oh, and take care of your body: Remember to sit upright and keep a comfortable position at all times!

Good morning! ❤

 

Join me Thursday as we continue The People of Rivals of Aether: Europe!

Categories: Community, Esports, News | Comments: 1

Genesis X Workshop Roster

By SBS — February 1, 2024

This year we’re doing something new for the workshop roster at Genesis X! We’re taking as many of the characters submitted for the Rivals Workshop Character Creation contest as we can, and having players battle it out with only these brand new community creations. This decision was made as a way to show off the countless hours of work put in by creators across the community for the contest, giving them their own event to celebrate crossing the finish line.

Download the collection of characters right here and start practicing for Genesis today:

With the help of workshop community leaders, we worked through the 100+ characters submitted in order to get an understanding of each character’s potential power levels, whether or not they have game breaking bugs, and if they have been completed to a playable standard. We would like to emphasize that any characters not in the collection for the above reasons are not disqualified from the Character Contest itself, they have just been removed from the playable Genesis X roster. We have also worked with Workshop Community leaders to allow custom stages related to their creations as an option for players to go to – both players must agree to play on Workshop stages in order to play on them in bracket. The Workshop stages eligible for competition at Genesis X are included in the Official Collection. If you have questions regarding the list, please contact us via Twitter and we would be happy to answer.

This collection includes a healthy variety of characters and stages that competitors will be able to use throughout the bracket. Given that this character list is a showcase of developer contest submissions, a lot of these characters were recently released to the public and may not have every detail ironed out. With that in mind we are banning any infinite combos and infinite stalls that may be found leading up to the event. Should any players break these rules, they will be automatically given a game loss on a first infraction, then a set loss on a second infraction.

Genesis X is just on the horizon and aims to be a celebration of the Workshop Community’s dedication to creation. We hope you’ll join us either in person or at home as the entire workshop bracket will be streamed on February 16th!

Categories: Announcement, Community, Esports, Events, News | Comments: 1

The RCS Finals are Here!

By SBS — January 26, 2024

We’ve once again got two separate RCS Finals events this year to support both the NA and EU regions. Here’s a preview of what’s in store:

North American RCS Finals

The North American Finals for RCS Season 8 comes to a head at a familiar battleground. Genesis X (Feb 16th-18th) in beautiful San Jose, California aims to cap off another competitive year of Rivals, with multiple attendees collecting Major championships and several more competitors right on their heels.

The top NA pointholders heading into the season finals.

CakeAssault sits on an insurmountable point lead resulting from his consistent awe-inspiring performances throughout 2023. As such, he has earned a $500 travel voucher to Genesis X, where he aims to win his fourth Genesis in a row and fifth overall.

No matter what happens next month, one thing is for certain: the winner will walk away with the lion’s share of a huge pot bonus. The Genesis X prize pool is just under $8,000 at the time of this article’s release and will continue to rise as we approach Season 8’s conclusion. Keep an eye out and help contribute to the Finals Pot Bonus as we introduce one of our most ambitious Genesis skins of all-time.

Genesis X will also be a momentous occasion for another reason. Over the course of the weekend, we will be simultaneously running the first ever publicly available Rivals 2 bracket, which reached its entrant cap of 256 attendees within just the first few days of its announcement. Be sure to tune in as we aim to stream plenty of matches. While there is no monetary prize, honor and the players’ chance to engrave themselves in the history books are on the line in what promises to be an exciting celebration of our upcoming title.

European RCS Finals

Across the world we have another exciting RCS Finals brewing on February 10th-11th. This features 2 days of events including Singles, Doubles, and Workshop. The EU Rivals of Aether scene has been hard at work in Season 8, building a community-funded Finals Pot Bonus while blowing past each of its three stretch-goals with $3,300 raised and counting.

The EU rankings has a favorite of their own with Fireicey commanding a near-perfect season. Fireicey has only three set losses total across the season, and a full sweep of every bracket he has attended. He’s also won five out of six EU RCS events, including all four online brackets and the larger of the two offline events.

The top EU pointholders heading into the season finals.

Of the EU funds raised, $250 will be allocated to each side event – Doubles and Workshop. The EU community also had unique stretch goals in the RCS shop this year. Through reaching these they added the November and December Online Majors, unlocked player interviews by community leaders, and also unlocked a combo video to highlight their scene.

After chatting with EU community leaders, we’re excited to announce that seven different interviews will be posted to our site, ranging from current/former stars to the hard working volunteers holding up the scene from behind the curtain! For the combo video – plans are also in the works to collect clips from each major for a greater community showcase to be released when ready. We have seen what the EU scene can do with their annual PR videos and cannot wait to see how it turns out.

Categories: Community, Esports, Events, News | Comments: 0

Rivals of Aether Balance Patch 2.1.7.0

By SBS — December 18, 2023

Edit 12/19/23: This post has been updated to reflect the 2.1.7.1 changes (listed with a 2.1.7.1 hotfix note).
After the conclusion of the last events of 2023, we’ve got a fresh new balance patch to address some focal points we’ve noticed throughout the year. This patch once again focuses primarily on our four newest characters, while taking a brief pass at our two Guest Characters and a few bug changes to our favorite snake. Let’s dive in:

Mollo is getting a bit of love in the bug fix department and a tad more help connecting the multihits of his up strong.

  • Up Strong: Hits 2 and 3 angles changed 160 > 155 to help the move connect into itself more consistently.
  • Bug Fix: Flashbangs now do nothing if the target is already in flashbang stun.
    • This should fix scenarios where a second flash bang explosion would knock players out of the first stun early.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed Walltech and Tech In not dropping a held bomb.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bombs disappearing in Clairen’s plasma field when they should explode in his hand (bombs will still cook in Mollo’s hand within the field, and will not explode unless he releases them or is hit).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed Fspecial using an incorrect hurtbox when tossing a held bomb.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed Firecrackers not applying explosion immunity to every explosion.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bombs hovering underneath platforms if they roll off of a lower platform.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bombs not reflecting back at opponents after Mollo parries a bonk hitbox.
  • Bug Fix: Forward Strong: Fixed bomb toss coming out before the melee hitbox (bombs now release while the melee hitbox is active).
  • Bug Fix: Dash Attack: Fixed thrown bombs appearing to teleport upwards for one frame.
  • Bug Fix: Dash Attack: Grabbing bombs now uses a projectile only hitbox for greater consistency.

This patch we decided to tackle some of the more gimmicky playstyles Olympia can implement while also making some nice QoL changes to a few of her specials.

  • Jab 3: Hitpause adjusted, 7 + 2.5 > 10 + 0.55.
    • This should make the move feel more natural, particularly at higher percents. Previously, after a jab 3, Olympia and her opponent would be stuck in hitpause for longer than most strong attacks.
  • Neutral Special: The projectile now creates a broken crystal when intercepted or parried.
    • This keeps the gem throw on cooldown longer, punishing Olympia for a failed projectile spawn by making her wait longer before re-casting.
  • Neutral Special: Lowered projectile hitstun multiplier, 1.0 > 0.8.
    • This allows opponents to act out of hitstun slightly quicker after being struck by the projectile.
  • Forward Special: Using the move a second time without getting hit or walljumping will now remove the move’s vertical air stall.
    • This primarily removes the ability to link multiple uncharged Forward Specials in a row. Using this and cancelling into a wall jump offstage will still allow the move to function the same as the previous patch.
  • Down Special: Jump cancels now put Down Special on cooldown for 10 frames.
    • This removes a gimmicky edgeguarding strategy that would allow Olympia to refresh down special armor in place with a small window of vulnerability. The strategy now has more time between armor refreshes and requires Olympia to leave the ground.
  • Bug Fix: Forward Special jump cancel buffer now lasts entirely through hitpause, removing instances where slight mistimed jumps due to varied hitpause would cause the input to be lost.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Fixed the Streetwave Skateboard prop appearing small online.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Down Special: Fixed not being able to turn around on early hits.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Forward Special: Touching the ground during Forward Special no longer consumes the aerial vertical stall.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Forward Special: Being in hitstun now properly refreshes Forward Special’s vertical stall.

Pomme is living her best life right now. She’s getting a small change to make recovering against the wall feel better and some small bug fixes.

  • Neutral Special: Parried notes no longer extend their active time if already parried.
    • The lifetime of a note is long, but this change also removes the infinite parry loop that players could go for.
  • Up Special: Multihits can no longer be ground-teched (players can still wall-tech these hits).
    • This should remove scenarios where players could crouch and the edge of stage and hold down to consistently tech out of the move.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed Vince destroying projectiles after being parried.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed being able to bypass Olympia’s crystalization by instant-floating.

Hodan is getting an important change to his neutral special hurtboxes and a few bug fixes that should help with his consistency.

  • Neutral Special: All hitboxes during the spirited and unspirited spins have been edited to form a U-shape below and to the sides of Hodan.
    • This change keeps the hitboxes on the outer edge of the move while appropriately leaving Hodan vulnerable to attacks from above. The change aims to make the move less safe to use in all aspect of play, including low recoveries.
  • Bug Fix: Parrying your own reflected mudwave no longer gives you iframes.
  • Bug Fix: Up Strong: Fixed the slam action placing opponents *just above* platforms, causing them to bounce off with low KB rather than fall through at full speed.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.2 Hodan Neutral Special updated again to remove the ability to spike opponents with its outer hitboxes.

Ori is getting a few changes to address some of the overly safe options during recovery and a few specific neutral circumstances.

  • Uspecial: Getting parried no longer lets you float (you can still walljump out of it).
    • This change makes Ori’s up special less safe to use prectably during recoveries since Ori cannot drift away or try to float for an edge cancel. This change also removes Ori’s ability to cancel parry stun by closing the leaf and fastfalling during landing (primarily a Blazing Hideout tech).
  • Mollo’s Finisher explosions can now hit you even after you Bash them.
    • Since Mollo’s finisher bomb explodes on a delay, there would be situations where Ori would toss the bomb and run directly into an explosion and take no knockback, often looking strange to players and spectators. Ori is still protected from all other bomb explosions after bash since they can be thrown directly next to the player, exploding on impact.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed Hodan’s Sweatwhirls immediately disappearing after getting bashed.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that would occasionally let Ori cancel a whiffed bash 4 frames earlier than intended. Bash landing lag should be consistently 10 frames now.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Bash: Fixed a rare case with Mollo bombs, punching and bashing it at the same time.

More pogo fun and some rocky bug fixes!

  • Down Air: Shovel Knight can now pogo off of Elliana’s mine.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed the rock disappearing for a frame when thrown by various moves. (This also applies to kragg’s rock.)
  • Bug Fix: Fixed rock not bouncing off of Ranno bubble similar to Kragg’s rock.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Down Air: Fixed bouncing off of Elli mines having too much range.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Down Air: now has SFX and VFX when bouncing off of lily, Elliana mines, and Absa clouds.
  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Down Air: Can now bounce off of Mollo bombs.

Elliana’s recent changes to her mine have come with a few bugs that we decided to patch up.

  • Bug Fix: Fixed mines occasionally turning transparent when stuck on players.
  • Bug Fix: Two Ellianas kicking a mine on the same frame no longer duplicates it.

We have a small bug fix added in Hotfix 2.1.7.1.

  • Hotfix 2.1.7.1 Bug Fix: Fixed some small artifacts appearing on smoke clouds.

We have a new replay feature added in Hotfix 2.1.7.2.

  • Hotfix 2.1.7.2 Added a Green Screen option to replays.

Categories: Community, News, Patch notes | Comments: 6

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