As promised, Hi-Rez Studios has released the first patch for free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend in well over two years, and it's a substantial one.

Following a round of public testing that began in September, Hi-Rez today pushed out the update--dubbed Out of the Blue--for all players. It introduces three new CTF maps, dramatically changes classes and equipment, adds new weapons, improves the usefulness of vehicles, and quite a bit more.

In terms of classes, Hi-Rez has condensed them so that there are now only three, rather than nine. Each of these has nine loadout slots and be completely customized, which wasn't previously the case. There are some restrictions in place, such as those preventing players from equipping multiple weapons that are similar in type.

Because of how significantly everything has changed, all in-game purchases are being reverted. That means you'll get back all of your in-game gold and experience, and you'll receive the Ultimate Weapon Pack if you had any gold sitting in your account.

The full patch notes are incredibly long. Hi-Rez has shared them in full in this Google Doc, where you'll find detailed breakdowns on exactly how each weapon, vehicle, and piece of equipment has been adjusted.

Hi-Rez ceased development on Ascend back in mid-2013, when it announced that it would be shifting its focus to Smite. That game, a third-person MOBA, has proven to be successful enough that Hi-Rez has the resources to again offer a limited amount of support for Ascend. The company also recently made every game in the Tribes series (as well as some of the games that predate it) available for download for free.