filed by Agent L
Our long interdimensional nightmare is over/returning. Play will begin on the website on Monday, 21 hours a day, 6 days a fortnight. The Umpires have passed along some communiques to help us prepare for the unpreparable.
Technical Details
Taking a cue from various holders of the Fifth Base, the developers have placed the Phone App in the Oven.
Which is to say: the promised app needs “a bit more polish”, and will not be available at the Start of Play. The Game Band has optimized the mobile experience for the app, and the desktop for the website, so the delay will leave phone users without good options. This agent had a suspicion that aiming for a specific day for app store release was a high hope to hold, but Play Must Continue. Speaking of which…
Temporal Details
Play has become less… continuous. Seasons will be run biweekly, with a 90 game On Season followed by a week long Off Season. The Umps promise that there will eventually be more things to do than be Off during that week, implying that there will be an aggregation of mechanics again. They have previously promised that there will not be Expansion Era levels of aggregation. That was fun. Let’s not do it again.
The On Season will itself not be continuous either. Three material plane hours of every 24 will be given to rest. This falls at 3-6 AM Central (Texas) time, or 9-Noon UK time. People have suggested that a rotating downtime could be fairer for fans around the globe – one of our correspondents lives in Material Plane Asia, where this pause is smack in the middle of prime viewing hours – but for now it’s at least predictable.
Finally, something interesting: The playoffs are now being referred to as the “Post Season” instead of the “postseason” in official materials. Posting has been a promised feature for this Era of Blaseball. Now, if this is going to be the only part of the season where we can Post about strategy on the website…
Thematic Details
The Spies will never have a parade. The Discord tradition of the Championship team getting a dedicated channel to celebrate in has been retired. Despite our occasional hubristic planning, we were never the type to be… perceived like that. And now we never will.
The prizes for Pressing Start during Fall Ball, as expected, are in reserve as cosmetic aspects of upcoming social features.
The Black Hole… is still there. “Messages from the void” are promised. Who else is still in there?
The website copy now promises that the core gameplay loop will involve Chips, rather than the old coins. Given the volume, I do hope that the Squid is not being required to cook all of them itself.
And of course:
We’re starting simple to get fans re-acquainted with the game, but don’t think that means there won’t be a heavy dose of Blaseball nonsense.
We don’t know what they’re talking about. Blaseball has always made perfect sense. All according to The Plan.
Logistics
Daily Debriefings will resume on Monday, and run for the entire On Season. Depending on the amount of material available, there may or may not be Debriefings during Off Season.
Just remember, win or lose, Spies Win.