After several days of testing the Paladins OB44 patch to the Public Test Server, Hi-Rez Studios finally dropped it to the Live Server yesterday. The Open Beta 44 update arrives with a size of 996 MB on Steam and the non-Steam version requires around 700 MB. As previously reported, the new patch features Survival Mode, new maps, Dreadhunter skin for Drogoz and the most-awaited Season 1. Season 1 includes Legendary Cards, Talent System and the new currency called Essence.
According to the official patch note which has been released few days ago, Radiant Chests can now be purchased with Gold and drops Essence instead of Gold for every duplicate. Also, free Radiant Chests will be rewarded for Mastery Levels. However, it seems like the patch has several known issues regarding the abovementioned situations.
As posted on the Official Forum of Paladins, Radiant Chests that drop several duplicate cards does not refund any essence. Apparently, the post said that Hi-Rez is now working on a fix regarding this issue. In addition, there are several players who have not yet received their free Radiant Chests for Mastery Levels. However, the post mentions that they will be receiving their chests soon. It was also posted that the previously owned cards are missing.
On the other hand, players also noticed that the Frontline Champion Barik went missing from the Champions list. Later on, Hi-Rez confirmed via the Forum's post that they temporarily disabled Barik as well as the Survival mode. Probably, they are working on a fix for that as well.
So far, the new game patch receives mixed reactions from the fans. Some players are excited with the new talent system, while others are not. Overall, it seems like a decent patch. However, majority of the players are worried that the game might slowly become a fee-to-play game.