Hello one and all,
Today’s patch is a small update that focuses on matchmaking improvements based off of the feedback and information we received from Dirty Bomb’s last outing, while also addressing a number of bugs and annoyances that popped up during the test two weeks ago.
General
Matchmaking Improvements
Thanks to the thousands of you who took part in Dirty Bomb’s last test, we’ve had more data than Proxy can shake her cricket bat at. Matchmaking times were quick for the majority of players – great! That means we can afford to spend more time searching in order to make even better matches. We’ve done just that.
Dirty Bomb’s First Merc Rotation
This update sees Dirty Bomb’s Merc new Rotation system enter the fray. This time Proxy and Fragger will be replaced by Arty and the loveable rambo medic himself, Sawbonez.
Modes & Maps
Stopwatch and matchmaking reunite! This weekend’s test will be set up in the following manner:
- Competitive Matchmaking
- 5v5 Stopwatch - For those unfamiliar with Stopwatch, it’s a game of two halves. You play the first on either attack or defence, and then switch to the other for the second half. Make sure you don’t accidentally leave at halftime; you don’t want to receive a penalty!
- Server Browser
- 6v6 Objective
- 7v7 Objective
- 8v8 Objective
- Maps
- Underground
- Chapel
- Terminal
- Trainyard
Competitive Matchmaking = A Mercs Way of Life
Dirty Bomb’s Mercs are in it to win it. They don’t back down, and ideally, we don’t want the people controlling them to either; at least in Competitive play. So if you fail to finish a Competitive match, your dickish move of leaving your team to struggle on will receive a penalty. For the purposes of this test weekend, the penalty has been set to a 15 minute suspension from matchmaking.
Network connection drops or momentary disconnects need not trouble you however; as we still allow a short opportunity to for you to reconnect to the match again. Just make sure to jump back in sharpish!
Matchmaking Accept Volume Adjustment
Headset gamers won’t have their eardrums assaulted quite so vigorously whenever a match is presented to them via matchmaking – huzzah!
Additional Back-end Monitoring
We’ve introduced additional back-end data points that’ll allow us to examine the matchmaking process with even greater detail.
Improved Downtime Messaging
Rather than giving you a boring old authentication error code when Dirty Bomb has been taken offline, the game will now tell you that it’s in maintenance mode.
Xigncode Update
- Some users may have experienced a Xigncode false positive - we have tweaked the system so this should no longer happen.
Bug Fixes
End of Round Crash
Crashing after a match is never fun. We believe we have identified the root cause of players crashing at the end of a round, and have implemented a fix accordingly.
Merc Unlocking
Some of you came across a rather befuddling issue during our last test where attempting to unlock a Merc, would always result in Arty instead. This issue seems to have been caused by menu latency of all things! We have addressed this issue, so you should no longer experience it!
Known Issues
We’ve tackled the larger issues that popped up during Dirty Bomb’s last outing; however a number of smaller problems may still present themselves. If you’re affected by one, please visit the support section of the forum at www.dirtybombgame.com for troubleshooting tips.
Still needing to test the rotation system with these particular Mercs.