"It’s a little bit more than we can take on" - Why Smite's rarest skins aren't coming to Smite 2 for now

If you've been keeping tabs on the Smite community ever since Smite 2 was announced, there's been one major point of controversy surrounding an otherwise positive glimpse at the game's future. That elephant in the room is the transfer of Smite 1 content - the heaps of time and money spent that won't transition directly into the new frontier.

It's a touchy subject among a portion of the player base with a lot of investment into the game, so to learn more I sat down and threw some questions at executive producer Alex Cantore on how Titan Forge Games landed where they did, and what OG players will actually be rewarded with when Smite 2 eventually launches.

The conversation starts with Divine Legacy, the team's answer to how to reward the players who have showed up over the years. As the reveal stated that all players will eventually be able to unlock all rewards. This was something the team was keen on due to the different platforms Smite has released on over the years. If you're a day one Epic Game Store player, you couldn't have had access to the earlier years of content. It's meant to be a celebration of Smite for all players, after all.

I wanted to find out what unique stuff old-school players will earn for themselves - and it turns out there are unique rewards for older players! "You’ll get skins in Smite 2 as part of the Divine Legacy, but you’ll also get a number of badges that reflect unique things that are on your account" explains Cantatore. "I think there are 70 things we’re tracking in this. Some of them are ownership of old limited skins like Archon Thanatos, or if you had the closed beta Smite 1 avatar, you’ll get an icon for that.

Hang on, the reveal said newer players can get everything right? Cantatore clarifies: "They’ll get everything in terms of the progress bar unlocks, so all ten skins. But there are some badges that you won’t be able to get because you weren’t a closed beta player for example. That’s a good point, we could have been clearer on that."

While badges for your Smite 2 account are a nice nod to the precious skins and accomplishments of older players, there's been a public outcry for the rarer tier five and limited skins to transition over. During the reveal, Titan Forge explained why bringing over everything isn't feasible, but what about a few of the really special ones? Unfortunately, Cantatore explained why that wasn't on the cards right now.

"We’ve looked into it. I think that the issue with those skins is that those are the most complicated skins to produce and create. Each one has very specific and unique technology that was created in Smite 1. Each of them are more work than a god, and bringing them over will be more work than a god! So we have thought about it, and we’ll continue to talk to the community and work through this stuff. At the current time, it’s a little bit more than we can take on with the number of gods we need to release."

Conversations from parts of the community stem from more than just the rarer rewards players have worked for over the years, there's also a financial element to it. For this, Titan Forge Games are implementing Legacy Gems - a Smite 2 currency that will match 1:1 the number of gems you've spent on Smite 1. These gems will be used to buy half of most things in Smite 2 - so it's essentially a 50% coupon.

Legacy Gems that come over into Smite 2 will have the same relative buying power as Smite 1 too - as Cantatore made it clear that inflation or drastic pricing changes will not be hitting the sequel. On top of that, the new Smite 2 currency should be a lot fairer for those buying in smaller quantities.

"We are going to be moving to a slightly different number of gems that you get per-dollar. They aren’t going to be called gems in Smite 2, they’ll be something new that we aren’t sure of yet. But the reason we’re changing is because in Smite the currency has a really hard scale, where you’re making a poor financial decision if you don’t buy the $100 gem pack, because you get so many bonus gems for buying the $100 gem pack."

He elaborates: "We don’t want our players to feel like they have to give us $100 or else they’re making a mistake, so we’re going to make the scaling smoother so you’ll still get a bonus for buying the bigger packs, but it won’t be as stark. So that’s changing, but the general cost for a skin or anything like that will be about the same."

The team at Titan Forge Games have found themselves in a tricky situation - one that not many studios have found themselves in. Unlike Overwatch or CS2, the ability to transition skins over to the sequel isn't nearly as simple. The result is that - while efforts have clearly been made to make the transition as smooth as possible - they're inevitably ripping off one hell of a band aid.

“A lot of us come from the community" states Cantatore. "We tried to think of a plan that would make the community as happy as we possibly can with the constraints of us not being able to do everything." According to Cantatore, Titan Forge Games took various approaches to the transition to a group of NDA's community members, until they reached the current strategy that was described as “more generous” by some of these the group.

“At that point, we were like maybe that’s enough. Maybe we’ve found a good level where we can give players something they’re happy with in this transition, even though we can’t give them everything. You’re getting all your money that you can use for 50% new stuff, you can show off your mastery and some of your specific Smite 1 skins. Hopefully players will feel happy with that, and feel like there’s something waiting for them in Smite 2.