Artifact will be entering beta for its 2.0 version, which is expected to completely reboot the game.
President of Valve Gabe Newell spoke about the development of Artifact's next update to reboot the unpopular game in last week's issue of the Edge magazine, where he mentioned that the developers of Artifact were calling the update "Artifact 2" internally.
Today, Artifact 2.0 was indeed confirmed to be happening in a Steam news post published a few hours ago.
The beta for Artifact version 2.0 will not feature the selling of cards, so you won't face an opponent with a stacked deck.
A drafting mode named Hero Draft will also be adds so you can craft a deck without the pressure of a game.
Access to the beta will be a simple executable (.exe) file with access being granted to limited accounts. Users who have previously played Artifact will be prioritised over those who have not.
Invites for the beta will not be sent out until the beta process has been finalised. This selection process will be mostly random
.
Valve has published a simple road map of the planned development of the Artifact 2.0 beta, with step 1 being labelled Test boring stuff
(the current stage). The next step in the process will be Trickle out invites, starting with players of the original release
– so if you have played Artifact before you may receive an invite at this step. The next steps are Work on the beta, eventually transitioning to an open beta
and simply Leave Beta
, with a note stating they hope it will be quicker than the beta for Dota 2.
Cards and decks from the original will not carry over into this new reboot, as Individual cards are likely to have been changed, removed, or [are] brand new
.
Valve has not given a set release date for Artifact 2.0, so be sure to keep an eye out on its Steam page.