We’d like to start by thanking all our players who spent time sharing their questions in our Blackcrest AMA channel. 

The questions there have inspired our Devs to provide to share more insights on the new Blackcrest event, headed your way this October 27th. 

So, take a seat and your favorite drink as we take you through the basics and not-so-basics while we try to cover the community’s questions. 

What is Blackcrest and how does it work? 

In case you missed our season live show and first reveal, Blackcrest is an all-new event, which features an exclusive roguelite inspired mode, where you’ll have to upgrade a prototype of the Bugatti Tourbillon, provided to you by the Blackcrest Society to run missions for them. 

During the event, you will be tasked with completing missions, that will reward you with Blackcrest Bills, Blackcrest Shards and Decoders. 

What are those rewards for? 

They’re our event currencies: 

• Blackcrest Bills: Used to improve your car into the event, which improves your performance in missions, helping you earn more rewards.
• Blackcrest Shards: Used to upgrade your Nexus core, apply tech upgrades and modifications (explained later) and pay for mission expenses (like healing) and some store items. 
• Decoders: Used to unlock rewards in the Decoder section. 

How do Missions Work? 

To start a mission, you will need to use a Deployment Ticket. 

You will receive 2 Free Deployment tickets each day during the first 17 days of the event, and they will both refresh every 24 hours. 

Don't worry! The tickets will be cumulative, so even if you miss logging in, you'll still get 2 tickets every day over the first 17 days of the event 

Each Mission consists of several races, each with it's own goal and objectives for you to complete. 

During each race, make sure to pay attention to your Health Bar and Alarm level, which will also persist throughout the entire mission. 

Before each Race, you will be able to select a new Perk or Perk Improvement that you will have available for the rest of the mission. 

Keep an eye out for Special Races during your mission! Some races will have you face special opponents (no spoilers; you’ll know them when you see them) and offer you the chance to heal up or reduce your alarm level before starting. 

They are also your main source of Decoders! Surviving the race will award a nice bundle of decoders for you to spend on rewards.

Your goal should be first to survive the whole race and then to complete as many objectives as possible during each race, since each objective increases your final Loot Score. 

As you reach Loot Score milestones, you will unlock rewards for you to claim upon extracting from the mission, whether you succeed or fail. 

You will be able to increase the total amount of races included in each mission by upgrading your Nexus Core. 

Wait... Perks? 

Ah! Yes! This is the best part! As we mentioned before each Race during a mission, you'll be able to select from a choice of 3 Perk options. 

A Perk is pretty much a Power-Up for sorts. Complete the listed conditions (like 4s of Airtime or 3 Barrel Rolls) to activate an ability (like Ghostmode or Explosions). 

You'll be able to have a total of 3 Perks active throughout your Missions, so choose wisely! 

In our debut, you will have a total of 6 core perks to choose from, but each one can be upgraded to level 5 through a branching system of upgrades, letting you fully customize your ability and how it plays out on the race. 

Perks will definitely make each run feel unique! 

You Also Mentioned Decoders 

As we mentioned, Decoders are unique items that are mainly obtained by completing special races in each mission. Those special races are harder than usual, but once completed, provide decoders. 

There are also some decoders to be obtained as objective rewards or when completing a mission. 

You will be able to obtain rewards from this event by using your obtained decoders in the aptly named Decoder section. 

Here you can decipher panels, in a minesweeper fashion, to discover rewards for you to claim! Rewards include blueprints for the Batur and Tourbillon with plenty of credits along the way. 

You'll also be able to claim the keys for the Bentley Batur and Bugatti Tourbillon by clearing 5 and 30 panels respectively. 

And what about Car Upgrades and the Nexus Core? 

You'll be able to spend your Bills on several upgrades for your car; that will improve its performance, maximizing your chances to survive the mission and making it easier to complete objectives. 

With Shards, you’ll be able to upgrade mods and the Nexus Core. 

Improving the Nexus Core is key to maximizing your earnings for each mission deployment. 

Upgrading the Nexus Core will increase the number of Races, and Special Races (awarding Decoders) that are included in each mission. 

A mission with more races will also allow you to get further in your Loot Milestones, increasing the total rewards you can earn each time you use a deployment ticket, so make upgrading your Nexus Core your top priority!

Upgrading mods will also be very useful, as they provide benefits like extra perks at the start of a mission, more decoders obtained on special races, and starting with objectives already obtained. 

This sounds like a lot... 

Not to worry! We'll ease you into things and the first 3 missions; they will act as a tutorial, that will take you through the entire thing. It's much easier to pick up than it sounds, and we're sure it will all click fairly quickly once you get your hands on it. 

But I have more questions! 

Yes, quite a few actually! So, now that the basics are covered, we're going to try to address the most burning questions we could provide an answer to. 

• Will I be able to get the Bentley Batur or Bugatti Tourbillon for free? 
  You will receive 34 free deployments for free over the first 17 days of the event. That should comfortably get you past the 5 Decoder Panel Milestone, granting you the key to the Bentley Batur. 
  For the Tourbillon, you’ll need to spend some extra shards on more Deployments and upgrades to get you there. 
• Is this the new DS or Road Test? 
  No, far from it. This is its own separate event and although the similarities with the Road test car upgrade mechanic have been raised, this is a whole new beast and far more ambitious in scope. Drive Syndicates will continue to run, and you’ll see it return next season. 
• So, how often will it return? 
  This we don’t know yet! We’ve invested a great deal into something we thought was new and fresh and that you might enjoy, so we’re looking forward to hearing your feedback to help improve and set our plans moving forward. 
• How grindy is the event? 
  As commented before, you will receive 34 mission deployments for free during the first 17 days of the event, and you can spend your shards purchasing a few more, but there will be a maximum of 51 total Deployments you’ll be able to do during the event. 
  We’ve made sure to include plenty of different perk options and potential strategies to make sure it stays fresh and fun each mission. Make sure to make every run count! 
  Once you start upgrading your nexus core and techs, the number of decoders you earn on each mission increases, allowing you to decode full panels faster! 
• What if I hit 0 HP during the event? 
  Well sorry for you to learn it this way... but you’re dead. Not to worry! We all live digital lives now! You’ll be able to claim all your earned Loot so far and get ready for the next run. 
• I’ve heard the Tourbillon runs a bit slow... 
  In the event, you’ll be running the Blackcrest Society’s Prototype with a significantly lower top speed and acceleration than the outside of the event model, as they’ve probably had to remove some things to make space for all those cool perks you’ll be getting. Just to make things clear, this is only the car for the Blackcrest event and will not impact the car’s performance outside of the event. 
• No, I meant, in general, outside of the event. 
  Ah, we’ve been reading the comments too. Some of our early testers pointed out the fact that it can’t match the top speed of our other top cars, but the Tourbillon aims to offer a smoother and more consistent experience. 
  While the other cars have certain quirks that make them struggle to achieve or maintain their top speed, requiring considerable skill to overcome, the Bugatti Tourbillon does away with that and offers a much easier ramp to top speed and the ability to consistently maintain it. 
  So, it might not hit the top speed, but you will have a much easier time reigning in this beast and will offer a more “All-rounder” king. 
  Anyways, we’ve setup a free max try event for the Bugatti Tourbillon this weekend, so why not check it out? 
  We’ll still keep an eye out on your feedback in case tweaks are needed. 

And that's a wrap! We hope this has helped address most of your burning questions and hot topics, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts once you can get your hands on Blackcrest this October 27th! 

See you on the track, Legends!