We’ve had some big updates over the last few months, but our dedicated Proxy has her eye on a few changes that’s she’s just been killing to make. Alongside this, we’ll be running a 24 hour test of our Casual Matchmaking system to see how it performs in its Alpha state. Take a peek at the changes that’ll hit with the upcoming Fine Tuning update!
Casual Matchmaking Alpha Test
We’re one step closer to permanently releasing our new Casual Matchmaking System for more evenly balanced matches, but we need your help to get there! Next Monday, we’ll be testing an Alpha version of Casual Matchmaking to see how it performs on a large scale - Specifics will be announced next week.
XP Balance Pass
To help balance out XP earning rates between Mercs, a number of tweaks have been made to Ability XP values. Some Cooldown timers and Reclaim percentages have been adjusted to compensate.
Aimee
- Increased Spotted Assist to 100XP (from 70)[/*]
- Increased enemy Spotted to 40XP (from 20)[/*]
- Reclaiming a SNITCH Device Mine now returns 65% of the cooldown (down from 80%)[/*]
Arty
- Increased Artillery Splash Damage to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
- Reduced calling in Artillery to 10XP (from 15)[/*]
- Reduced Ammo Pack thrown XP to 5XP (from 10)[/*]
Aura
- Reduced Healing Station deploy to 10XP (from 30)[/*]
- Reduced Healing Station Reclaim to 5XP (from 10)[/*]
Bushwhacker
- Increased Turret deploy to 50XP (from 30)[/*]
- Increased Turret Lock-On XP 20XP (from 5)[/*]
- Reduced Turret Reclaim to 5XP (from 10)[/*]
- Reclaiming a Turret now returns 65% of the cooldown (down from 80%)
[/*]
Coaly
- Fixed bug where the Coalsplitter Trinket would misbehave[/*]
- Coalsplitter Trinket has now been given his very own Obituary flair[/*]
Fletcher
- Increased Sticky Bomb Splash Damage to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
Fragger
- Increased Frag Grenade throw to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
- Increased Frag Grenade Splash Damage to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
Kira
- Increased calling in Orbital Strike to 30XP (from 25)[/*]
- Increased Orbital Strike Splash Damage to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
- Increased Ammo Station deploy to 40XP (from 30)[/*]
- Reduced Ammo-Station Reclaim to 5XP (from 10)[/*]
- Reclaiming an Ammo Station now returns 65% of the cooldown (down from 80%)[/*]
- Increased Ammo Station cooldown to 25s (up from 20s)[/*]
Nader
- Increased Grenade Launcher fire to 10XP (from 5)[/*]
- Increased Grenade Launcher Splash Damage to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
Phantom
- Increased Stalking XP to 4XP/s (from 1 per second)[/*]
Phoenix
- Reduced activating Healing Pulse deploy to 10XP (from 20)[/*]
- Reduced Self Revive to 10XP (from 20)[/*]
Proxy
- Increased Proximity Mine deploy to 25XP (from 15)[/*]
- Increased Proximity Mine Tripped XP to 30XP (from 10)[/*]
- Reclaiming a Proxmity Mine now returns 65% of the cooldown (down from 80%)[/*]
Redeye
- Increased Spotted Assist to 100XP (from 70)[/*]
- Increased enemy Spotted to 40XP (from 20)[/*]
Sawbonez
- Increased Health Pack thrown to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
Skyhammer
- Reduced Ammo Pack thrown XP to 5XP (from 10)[/*]
Sparks
- Increased Health Pack thrown to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
Stoker
- Increased Molotov throw to 30XP (from 15)[/*]
- Increased Molotov Ignite to 30XP (from 10)[/*]
- Increased Ammo Station deploy to 40XP (from 30)[/*]
- Reduced Ammo-Station Reclaim to 5XP (from 10)[/*]
- Reclaiming an Ammo Station now returns 65% of the cooldown (down from 80%)[/*]
]Thunder
- Increased Concussion Grenade throw to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
- Increased Concussion Grenade Concussed to 20XP (from 10)[/*]
- Increased Concussion Grenade Concussion Assist to 100XP (from 10)[/*]
Vassili
- Increased Spotted Assist to 100XP (from 70)[/*]
- Increased enemy Spotted to 40XP (from 20)[/*]
Other Changes
User Interface
- Merc Selection (F1, F2, F3) keys are now bindable in the Options menu[/*]
- Updated default Voting key-binds. Page Up is now Vote Yes, and Page Down is Vote No. These are now bindable in the Options menu[/*]
- Added additional feedback to Voting, letting players know who called a vote, when certain votes are disabled and when a vote succeeds[/*]
- Removed the number of ‘No’ votes being shown on the Voting UI, since only reaching the required number of ‘Yes’ votes matters[/*]
- The Assault Course now has a locked icon and accompanying tool-tip explaining how it is unlocked[/*]
Gameplay
- Added a new option aptly named “Reload cancels reload”. When enabled, pressing the reload button a second time will cancel a current reload[/*]
- This gives players with the Double Time Augment a quick way to cancel out of a reload, since Sprinting does not[/*]
- Optimized the context-based (ie. Help-Up, Mount MG, Objectives etc.) interaction system for improved performance[/*]
Notable Bug Fixes:
- Fixed bug where Stopwatch rules would sometimes Draw, Win, or Lose incorrectly[/*]
- Fixed bug where server performance could sometimes significantly degrade over the length of a game[/*]
- Fixed bug where EMP’d Proximity Mines would detonate when the effect wore off if a stationary enemy was nearby[/*]
- Fixed bug where some Steam Achievements would incorrectly unlock when the game was first booted[/*]
- Fixed bug where trails for some Grenades and Abilities were not visible[/*]
- Fixed bug where players were unable to join a password protected server[/*]
- Fixed bug where the game could crash when exiting the Tutorial or Assault Course [/*]
- Fixed bug where players killed by explosive weapons were not able to view the killer’s information[/*]
- Fixed bug where incorrect information was shown if a player was killed by an enemy that was already dead[/*]
- Fixed bug where Ammo Packs and Airstrikes could go through the blast door in the Tutorial [/*]
- Fixed bug where a window in Dome allowed players to get under the map[/*]
- Fixed several collision and VO bugs in the Assault Course[/*]
Private Matches Disabled
Work on Casual Matchmaking has meant rebuilding the match flow from start to end, affecting all areas of the game including Private Matches. As a result of the changes to the match flow, we’ve been forced to temporarily disable Private Matches until we can make needed adjustments.
