Dirty Bomb Patch Notes v44383 (26th March 2015)

(Chris Mullins) #1

Dirty Bomb returns with new Loadout Cards, Party Matchmaking, and more!

Welcome, welcome! If this is your first time, get stuck in and start making a mess – There are guns for that. If you’ve returned after helping out with the stress tests, WE DID IT! Dirty Bomb is back online. For Good. No more data wipes, no more major downtime. Stress test rewards are also waiting – Read on for more of those sweet infos, or delve into the brand new Dirty Bomb website for more (www.dirtybomb.com):

Highlights

Playing with Friends
One of the biggest requests from many in the stress tests has been party matchmaking, so we’re excited to bring it to Dirty Bomb through the magic of Steam and programming.
Once you hit Level 7, you’ll unlock Matchmaking, both Solo and Party. In order to reach the Party Matchmaking screen, click on the “Play with Friends” button, accessible under the Play tab. Once there, you’ll be able to pick which maps, game mode and region to play on, as well as bringing your friends in by clicking on the “Invite Friends…” button, which brings up a Steam Overlay window you can use to invite your friends. You can bring up to four other players along with you, and any remaining slots will be filled by other matchmaking players.

We look forward to reading your feedback on Playing with Friends, so be sure to let us know your thoughts in the Dirty Bomb Forums.

 [B][U]New Loadout Cards[/U][/B]

We’ve given Dirty Bomb’s Loadout Cards a complete makeover to make them sexier and more useful. Loadout Cards now come in seven rarities, which define the number of Augments they have, the weapons the Merc can use and what sort of outfits they feature:
• Default (0 Augments) (what each Merc starts with)
• Lead (1 Augment)
• Iron (2 Augments)
• Bronze (3 Augments)
• Silver (3 Augments)
• Gold (3 Augments)
• Obsidian (3 Augments) (exclusively obtainable via special events)

Loadout Cards are found in Equipment Cases, which drop randomly at the end of matches. You can now also buy additional Equipment Cases straight from the Store in exchange for Credits.

 [B][U]Trading Up Loadout Cards[/U][/B]

Craving some of those elusive Gold Loadout Cards right here, right now? Going hand in hand with the new Loadout Cards, we’ve also added a way to let you exchange unwanted Loadout Cards for a Loadout Card of the next highest rarity. Here’s how:
• Click the Loadouts tab, and select Trade Up Loadouts on the next screen
• Next, select the Merc you want to create a Loadout Card for along with the desired Rarity
• Finally, select the cards you want to exchange and pay the Credits transaction fee to create your new Loadout Card
• Each Loadout Card you create is randomly selected from all of the Loadout Cards available at the selected rarity for the selected Merc
• Trading up requirements are as follows:
o Iron Loadout Card: 3 Lead Loadout Cards + 500 Credits
o Bronze Loadout Card: 3 Iron Loadout Cards + 1,000 Credits
o Silver Loadout Card: 4 Bronze Loadout Cards + 2,000 Credits
o Gold Loadout Card: 4 Silver Loadout Cards + 4,000 Credits

This is a brand new system for Dirty Bomb, so please give it a go and let us know what you think on the official Dirty Bomb Forums.

 [B]Stress Test Rewards[/B]

If you played during the February stress test events, a huge thanks from the team for taking the time to help us put Dirty Bomb through its paces. You can pick up your exclusive Obsidian Loadout Card right now:

  1. Visit the Loadouts section

  2. Click the Cases tab

  3. Open the exclusive Beta Fighter Case that’s waiting for you there

  4. Enjoy your exclusive Loadout Card!
    If you participated in the January test sessions between the 6th and 20th this year, we’ve granted you in-game credits from the heavens – 30,000 of them!

    Full Changelog

Ability Balance

 Proxy

• Increased Proximity Mine cooldown to 30s (from 25s)
o This increases the cooldown to the same as Fragger’s grenades and should marginally reduce her killing potential which is shown as being too high in the Echo data

 Fragger

• Reduced Frag Grenade damage to 150 (from 160)
o Careless Frag grenades will still kill Fragger but this should reduce the number of multi-kills seen in game, and bring him a little closer to the other Mercs in terms of stopping power

 Arty

• Artillery targeted at a wall will now land in front of that wall, rather than on top
o This should make the ability much easier to use and more effective in a large number of situations

 Skyhammer

• Reduced Airstrike cooldown to 70s (from 90s)
o This should make the ability a little more effective and fun to use, based on user feedback and XP/minute data

Weapon Balance

 Hollunds 880 Shotgun

• Increased shotgun pellet spread by ~10%
o This is to reduce the effectiveness of the Shotguns at range (a common complaint seen during the tests) without impacting their close-range power

 Remburg 7 Shotgun

• Increased shotgun pellet spread by ~10%
o This is to reduce the effectiveness of the Shotguns at range (a common complaint seen during the tests) without impacting their close-range power

 BR-16 Rifle

• Reduced bullet damage to 15 (from 16)
o Burst-fire rifles are currently slightly too effective compared to their counterparts and this should reduce their damage output without severely impacting their killing potential

 Stark Rifle

• Reduced bullet damage to 15 (from 16)
o Burst-fire rifles are currently slightly too effective compared to their counterparts and this should reduce their damage output without severely impacting their killing potential

 Dreiss AR Rifle

• Increased bullet damage to 25 (from 24) and Reduced Fire Rate to 300rpm (from 360)
o This should increase the one-shot effectiveness of the single-shot rifle as it will now deals 50 damage per headshot. The reduced the fire-rate to put more emphasis on well placed single-shots over spam

Gameplay
• Updated the amount of XP required to reach each account level
• Ranked matchmaking is now unlocked at level 7
• Default mouse sensitivity changed to 10 based on player data, as it was the most common non-default value used during the two matchmaking weekends
• Reloading now correctly cancels the iron-sighting of a weapon
• Updated several Support actions to award Support XP rather than Combat XP
• Removed automatic player idle-kick based on XP
• Healing effects are now more visible in first person
• Added gas damage and death events
• Changed Tier 1 Merc price to 30,000 credits

User Interface
• Added a Store tab to the main menu for buying additional Equipment Cases
• Muting and Vote-kicking players can now be performed on the scoreboard
• Vote kick now displays success or failure message after vote completes
• Added option for custom key-bindings for Merc switching when incapacitated
• Matchmaking region selection is now saved
• Added Australia region to matchmaking options
• V-sync is now forced ON in the front-end
• Removed 640 x 480 resolution option
• Tweaked FE background to improve foreground element visibility
• Several End Game Review screen improvements

Maps
• Underground:
o Replaced first capture objective with a destroy objective, also replaced secondary doors with generator powered gates
• All Maps:
o Fixed numerous collision & lighting issues
o Fixed numerous cut-scene issues
o Fixed objective logic when handling things like client reconnects
o Secondary objective doors will now kill players caught in them while closing

Art
• Loadout Cards:
o Updated all Loadout Card Merc poses, skins and lighting
o Updated weapon skins to reflect Loadout Card rarity
o Updated Merc skins for the new Loadout Card rarity system
• Increased the size of the green-dot on the Stark AR scope
• Updated various shop signs and posters throughout the levels

Audio
• Updated main menu music
• Added new music based on objective and match status
• Added several new short stings based on objective state changes
• Added audio for the different levels of badge awards
• Made the commander speech duck music and SFX
• Made in-game barks duck music and SFX more aggressively
• Added audio to end game review screens

Animation
• Improvements to the Basic Training intro cameras and character animations
• Fixed numerous animation issues including reloads not always playing in 3rd person
• Improved several first person animations

Notable Bug Fixes
• Fixed issue with incorrect Mercs (Arty) being accidentally unlockedFixed server-browser ‘Has Players’ filter so it functions correctly
• Nitros augment now correctly speeds up Minigun spin-up time, rather than slowing it down
• Fix issue where players were seeing double the number of badges than which they actually earned
• Removed player collision from discarded sleeping bags
• Fixed the killer’s load-out card not always rendering in-game
• Fixed issue where game review does not show XP/Progression on stopwatch matches
• Fix for defib sound continuing after death
• Fixed win bonus for credits to use correct values
• Fixed issues with explosives not damaging Healing Stations
• Fixed Auto-join feature so it actually retries connection to server
• Fixed issues caused by continuous sprint and reload key spam
• Fixed for Mid-air badge being awarded for killing grounded players
• Fixed issue with contracts not getting full XP updates on stopwatch
• Fixed bugs with teams not being correctly sorted by skill-rating in Matchmaking
• Fixed issue where player with highest rating would be put on the same team every time
• Fixed bug with Grenade Juggler augment allowing the player to throw infinite grenades
• Fixed numerous audio bugs including several ability explosions not playing at all times
• Spectators no longer get their contracts updated at the end of match
• Using a mounted gun while holding a laser painter no longer causes all kinds of terrible things to happen
• Fix for spamming F breaking C4 plants
• Fix for MG nests not overheating when first mounting
• Fixed a bug where people can shoot through the container on the last delivery objective on Bridge

(Runeforce) #2

Two questions:

What happened to the ability to pick your Obsidian card? One is given to me at random.
During the last test, we were told “any merc you unlock now will be yours to keep forever,” but that is not the case, as you have to unlock everything again. What happened here?

(ragnak) #3

Will we ever get some real balance patch ? This patch didnt solve a single balance issue we have =/

(Talespin) #4

where the hell did nader, thunder, stoker, etc. go?

(Chris Mullins) #5

Do you have anything in particular in mind? The balancing is always going to be something which’ll bounce around and tbh weapons are usually getting little tweaks here and there to help with it.

(Chris Mullins) #6

We’ve only started off with a handful of mercs available, but have no fear, theres a whole load more to come in the future.

(Chris Mullins) #7

[QUOTE=Runeforce;522956]Two questions:

What happened to the ability to pick your Obsidian card? One is given to me at random.
During the last test, we were told “any merc you unlock now will be yours to keep forever,” but that is not the case, as you have to unlock everything again. What happened here?[/QUOTE]

If you are a founder then there was a cut off date for selecting your obsidian card, however if you raise a ticket here they should be able to hook you up: https://warchest.zendesk.com/home

(Mustang) #8

Pretty sure he’s talking about the obsidian card from the stress test weekends, not from founders packs.

(Chris Mullins) #9

Ah my bad. I read it wrong D:

[QUOTE=Runeforce;522956]Two questions:

What happened to the ability to pick your Obsidian card? One is given to me at random.
During the last test, we were told “any merc you unlock now will be yours to keep forever,” but that is not the case, as you have to unlock everything again. What happened here?[/QUOTE]

Just checking this now for you.

(Runeforce) #10

I was. Sort of. Got the two mixed up. I found a founders key in my mail which unlocked the 5 base mercs. So that is not an issue.

However, before using the founders key, the mercs that I unlocked during the last test phase is again locked to me. (With the founders pack and tutorial mercs enabled, only Arty remains locked.) During that test phase, it was stated [QUOTE=Silvanoshi;521119]Once recruited, you’ll own that Merc forever[/QUOTE]

(ragnak) #11

Me and many others said it so many times already that i dont feel like repeating myself but seeing that you are new here i cant blame you for not knowing, so just some gross imbalances:

  1. Healing station: Whoever stand on it is a demi god and a lot of mercs have no means to deal with it. I did seen a post about what they want to change but i cant grasp why is it taking so long especially that it ruins the game for a lot of players. Also if SD is working on something but its taking
    more time (say changing machanics) then sticky topic would be nice.

  2. Fragger: Demi god without healing station, god when standing on one. He have the best weapons in the game, his main weapon is obviously too strong and br-16 is probably as well (the nerf didnt solve the main problem of the gun so it will probably stay overpowered).
    Last nades nerf was worthless, honestly, it doesnt even touch on the problem as if it was blindly nerfed without idea what to do with it.
    How can SD balance team not see that easy to use almost impossible to spot flying at supersonic speed grenade is a problem. Instead of nerfing damage that doesnt do anything they should increase cook time and travel time, making it both harder to use and offering more counter play.

  3. Perks that affect sound: Unless those were removed its a huge mistake to add such aguments to the game, especially that there is already TONS of problems with audio (mostly because of things being too loud/too quiet). Also it would be pretty fantastic if i could hear anything when im getting hit instead of that super loud “you are getting hit” sound and i dont remember when i last time could localise someone by footsteps =/.

Those are my main grips at the moment that should be fixed NOW, not somewhere in the future. There is a ton of minor ones as well (light classes with shotguns, mg still not having visible trackers most of the time [more of a bug i guess], mines that are obviously too good as an offensive tool, etc) but i can deal with them.
Fragger, healing station and poor sound are kinda hard to deal with so it would be nice if there was at least a confirmation that its being worked on. Sorry for being a bit passive-aggressive but its frustrating that those things didnt get fixed for over 6 months already =/.

(Chris Mullins) #12

[QUOTE=Runeforce;523016]I was. Sort of. Got the two mixed up. I found a founders key in my mail which unlocked the 5 base mercs. So that is not an issue.

However, before using the founders key, the mercs that I unlocked during the last test phase is again locked to me. (With the founders pack and tutorial mercs enabled, only Arty remains locked.) During that test phase, it was stated[/QUOTE]

Ahh ok, I’m with you now. Essentially over the last two years we’ve done quite a few wipes between tests to refresh and update the game. In the description Silvanoshi posted he was referring to how the new mechanic worked for unlocking Mercs, however didn’t account for wipes.

It sucks that you’ve had the game reset so many times, but its just one of the necessary evils of being a pre-release tester. I can guarantee that there will be no more wipes of any data, so everything you unlock will always be yours. You can quote me on that :slight_smile:

(Mustang) #13

Quite the opposite, I love the wipes.

Hope to see a prestige mode where we can have wipes again!

(Nail) #14

I got 6 mercs and 6 Obsidian cards, I’m pretty happy with that

(Shadwblade2652) #15

I would like to see boosting in this game, sort of like in other games (the counter-strike series comes to mind as a good example), where a player can use another player to reach heights that he would otherwise not be able to.

In order to balance this, I would suggest that these characters that are able to boost be the light ones, such as Proxy, so as to make it impossible for heavy infantry like fragger to be able to get to these heights.

Although it’s probably too late to add something like this, I’d at least like to see a way to let players stand on top of one another in order to boost up to areas (even areas that are accessible, just in a faster way, for example). This would add another element of teamwork - requiring players to coordinate their movements through multiple angles, rather than the current method of forcing the players through 1 or 2 main chokepoints that are hard to enter.

Just my thoughts.

Also, why is Fragger $10, compared to the $6 that other characters are?

(Nail) #16

grenades are $4

(spookify) #17

Just played a 7v7 stopwatch vs 6 shotguns and one skyhammer… 3 auras and 3 proxys on bridge by far the worst experience of my life…

(montheponies) #18

Remember when nades were removed from all classes to “reduce spam”. I literally just ran around a server filled with mines, nades, airstrikes and shotguns. Getting killed by an SMG was a novelty :slight_smile:

(Szakalot) #19

8v8 servers should have increased cooldowns across the board.

(Protekt1) #20

So what is the deal with founder skins? When/how do we get those? I had the package that included all 5.