Rock Band 4 Gets Big New Update, Here's What It Does

A big new update for the music game Rock Band 4 is out now, adding a new Seasons mode and a Mission system, while a number of bugs are fixed with the patch as well.

Seasons, a change to the Rivals Challenge format, in Rock Band 4 run for eight weeks. You start with the Bronze ranking and move up from there; no longer can you be demoted if you take time off, which sounds like a nice thing. Of course there are rewards to rack up for moving through the ranks, and you can read more about them here on Harmonix's website.

As for the new Missions system, this is a list of tasks you can take on, examples playing five big rock endings and one that asks you to miss just one note in a song. Some Missions tie in to your Crew, where each member contributes to an overall XP goal. There are also timed missions, themed missions, and "Secret" missions, Harmonix says.

Here are some other notable highlights from Rock Band 4's new update:

• You can now press one button to look at the different items in the Activity Feed
• The Feed has been streamlined, so you will no longer see notifications for when someone earned an allotment of XP, while Rivals notifications are going to be "far less frequent"
• In the Music Store, recommendations now have "better individual tailoring"
• The Rock Band companion app is updated with the ability to enter the Rivals hub and see scores and percentiles, XP earned, and an overall ranking bar
• Vocal Overdrive has changed so you can disable audio activation so that a door slam or any other unexpected noise won't activate the Overdrive
• Stuttering and drag should be improved thanks to Harmonix doing "deep, deep code dives"

Here are the rest of the patch notes for the new Rock Band 4 update, as written by Harmonix:

Rock Band 4 June Update Patch Notes

Song Gameplay

• Fixed issues to prevent seeing ‘Checking Setlist’ during an online session
• Improved game performance during songs
• Vocals can now toggle off audio-based Overdrive activation
• Fixed an issue related to Pro Drums fast cymbal tracking
• Fixed an issue with perfect solos awarding 99% performance and fewer points
• Fixed an issue where Vocals would see incorrect post-song stats online
• Fixed issues with disappearing gems on guitar and bass after pausing
• Fixed PS4 issues with legacy controllers online
• Fixed an issue with Pro Drums conversion for Spotlight Songs
• Fixed an issue with the ‘roll lane’ display on Drums and Pro Drums
• Fixed an issue with certain Freestyle Guitar Solos
• Standardized a scoring issue on guitar and bass
• Standardized the location of drum fills
• Fixed an issue with instrument icons after a Big Rock Ending
• Fixed an issue with Vocal scoring
• Added lanes to some songs
• Fixed an issue with BRE exploits
• Adjusted track opacity
• Improved visibility of beat lines on note track
• Fixed an issue with the ‘Complete a song in Brutal Mode’ trophy/Achievement in Rockudrama
• Fixed an issue with Play Together
• Fixed an issue where the strum bar would not adjust Breakneck Speed during a song
• Fixed an issue where whammy activity was not appearing online
• Fixed an issue with songs that have No-Part on guitar or bass

Game Audio

• Added new shell audio (menu songs)
• Added new SFX to some events
• Standardized song audio levels. Content from RB1, RB2, LEGO, and initial DLC now -3 db, RB3 and RB3 era DLC now -1.5 db, bringing them in line with Rock Band 4 era releases

General Fixes

• Fixed an issue related to viewing other Crews
• Level cap raised to 100
• Can now Sort by Play Count(with retroactive data for plays)
• Can now reset filters with one button to display all songs
• Fixed an issue where Crews with projected Rivals Points exactly equal to their Tier's Safe and Promotion thresholds would be incorrectly demoted or not promoted
• Fixed an issue where some eligible songs might not appear in the "Rivals Challenge Songs" menu in the Music Store
• Fixed an issue where the Activity Feed messages on the Rivals Hub would not correctly represent the most recent activity
• Fixed an issue where Crews were being sorted incorrectly on the Find Crews screen
• All Badges are now awarded directly to players, existing Crew Badges have been converted
• Fixed a display issue for the Fame bar in Rockudrama
• Crews that have not participated for two or more consecutive Rivals Challenges will no longer appear in the Tier Distribution or be included when calculating Rivals Points
• Adjusted top leaderboard scores to address exploits that are now fixed
• Removed deleted Crews from leaderboards, prevented future persistence
• Fixed an issue with the speed of ‘Invite Friends’ in online gameplay
• Fixed an issue with how ‘Rewind’ tracks appear in the Music Store
• Fixed an issue when comparing users on the Crew XP screen
• Reduced the number of Rivals messages that appear on the main menu Activity Feed, including Crew XP and Spotlight score notifications
• Fixed an issue related to your visual placement on leaderboard screens
• Improved legibility and spacing of font
• Fixed an issue with Crew Admin notifications
• Fixed an issue with text display in several languages
• Fixed the ‘continue’ prompt on the Main Menu
• Fixed an issue with the help bar on the ‘Send a Message’ screen
• Fixed an issue where some places in Rockudrama had visual tearing
• Fixed an issue where Recommendations in the Music Store could recommend content you already own
• Fixed an issue where Recommendations in the Music Store could recommend content you cannot purchase
• Improved suggestions made by the Recommendations section of the Music Store
• Fixed a visual issue that caused song data to overlap other Store elements
• Fixed an issue where not all players in a band would unlock Rockudrama assets upon completion
• Improved some animation blending
• Adjusted Awesomeness Detection