The game will launch with "Ranked Lite" where you will have a MMR and it will attempt to match you with similar skilled opponents. It will be a separate queue from casual play. Every month there will be "soft reset" that will compress player ranks but not totally reset your porgress.
Seasonal Skins are not FOMO. See the Deep Dive: Currencies and Cosmetics video. Skins have several different rarities based primarily on if they're a simple retexture or if they're more involved.
They are aiming for 4 new characters a year, released as they're done. They'll try not to release a new character right next to an official tournament. More details in next week's video.
La Reina is still a year or two out, she is not in the first 4 characters. The first 4 characters have been worked on for about 2 years. They might do a development documentary on her.
Story mode is still coming, eventually. They had to downsize their team so story mode got cut, but they could still bring those people back on as soon as January if all goes well. Story mode is planned to come out in chapters that focus on different parts of the story or different characters. Chapters might have different structures like being a platformer, roguelike or a (small) metroidvania.
Plushie news is wait and see, will be pretty far in the future. There will likely be re-runs on old plushie designs.
Console plans is a longer term goal (more than a year, maybe 2 years). They want crossplay and cross-progression. They're looking to be a more complete package (with Story Mode chapter 1) before they launch of console. Might be similar to what they did with Rivals 1 Definitive Edition.
Colorblind and other accessibility options such as character outlines are in the works. Palettes by design might not be very distinct which might cause problems but they'll add accessibility features based on feedback.
UI and menus revamp is in the works. They hired somebody to work on it with the rest of the team. They're largely restricted by team size but if the game is successful they'll be able to add a lot more polish.
Custom Colors is on the roadmap but is not a high priority. They modified their tech to make it possible, but might have issues with it not fitting in with the game's progression, accessibility and UI.
Chef Loxodont is available at launch in the Bucks shop as the first Epic level skin. If you level up like crazy you could even unlock it during the Next Fest demo.
Next Fest will let everyone play the game for a full week. All announced characters and online play (but not Arcade mode). Achievements and more things will be in the full release but not Next Fest.
There will be additional bundles at launch to gain additional currency and items, they'll be a "no-brainer" good deal. You cannot buy Aether Bucks until the full launch. Aether Bucks is the best way to support the devs.
There will be palettes for all skins, available in the Coin Shop if you can use (ie you own the skin it belongs to).
Early Bird Wrastor will not be available again. Things available outside the game (like eSports skins) may not always be available, but things inside the game like Battle Pass rewards will always be available.
Graphical Options will be something they improve over time.
Playable Tutorials are not available on launch but are planned, there will be ingame and web resources like infographics, 101 videos and a wiki at launch until proper tutorials are implemented.
As they release characters it will be in a 50/25/25% split. Half of new characters will be returning characters, a quarter will be from the Aether expanded universe (like Fleet and Loxodont), and the last quarter will be totally new. It will be some time before the entire original cast comes back. No plans for Guest characters like Ori, Shovel Knight. EDIT: The "Workshop 4" seem to be considered Original Cast.
Workshop is post launch (at least a year or two down the line), the tech is there but there's a lot of work that has to be done first before it can be implemented. There are a lot more unknowns for Rivals 2 than Rivals 1. Probably equal priority with Console launch.
Rivals 2 is designed to be very long running.
Ranked is account based, not character based.
The fully featured version will have rewards and monthly soft resets. (Lite will not have resets.)
If you buy something in the rotating coin shop, a new cosmetic of the same type replaces it. (Skins replace skins, icons replace icons, etc.)
Events will typically have 1 free skin. (1 event per month, 12 free skins a year.)
The Bucks shop does not rotate, items do not leave it.
Character progression tracks have 1 common skin confirmed. (Didn't say there aren't more, but tone didn't suggest it.)
Character progression tracks have aetherbucks on them, but eventually character levels just earns coins.
They haven't done the math, but you can "probably" get all premium skins for one character just by playing.
There are 4 cosmetic rarities, common, rare, epic, legendary. Chef Lox is epic, no legendary skins exist yet.
They want to ensure the game is ready for "general audience" players before console launch.
Bundles with currency and items will be available at launch, and will be a "very good value for your money".
They will continue to improve performance as much as they can, even post-launch.
