Weekly Playtest 14

Weekly Playtest 14
Released - July 11th, 2019

Update Size - N/A

In-match drops balance

 * Dev Comment: Last week we made a significant change to how players acquire credits and items during a match, by removing most credit pickups across the map and introducing random item drops to the loot tables of all AI enemies. We received a lot of feedback on this. While some of it was rather critical, the majority (over 50%) of returning players in our feedback survey thought it made the game better or much better. With both perspectives in mind we feel like the new system still needs more work and iterations before we can assess it fully. For this week we toned down drop rates a lot and reintroduced alternative ways of getting the credit you need.
 * Early game low level AI enemies no longer drop items.
 * We reduced the overall chance of item drops.
 * Some of the credit pickups are back on the map, but with lower chance of spawning.
 * Players might come across them, but can’t count finding some in the same spots every match anymore.

Vehicles are making a return

 * Dev Comment: After a brief and hotly debated first outing in playtest 10 our vehicles went back to the workshop and got quite the makeover. We received a lot of feedback and sought to incorporate as much of it as possible. We still think vehicles can be a great tactical addition to the game and look forward to your feedback on the next iteration. Here are all the changes:
 * Vehicles have received a brand new design, a fresh coat of paint and new sound effects.
 * You can no longer activate them at will from the start of the match. Instead they have to be purchased in the Gear store for 125 credits.
 * Vehicles are now entities that remain in the match and on the map once called down.
 * This means that when you get off your vehicle, it will remain in the environment.
 * This also means that carelessly parked vehicles might get stolen by other prospectors.
 * Your own vehicle is marked on the map and the mini map with a distinct icon to help you find it, in case you don’t remember where it’s parked or if another Prospector “mistook” it for theirs.
 * Vehicle speed has been reduced by 20%.
 * Vehicles now have a health bar and can be destroyed.
 * If a player riding a vehicle gets shot at, both the player and the vehicle will get damaged.
 * If a vehicle is destroyed this will cause AoE damage in its vicinity.
 * If it is destroyed while a Prospector is on it, they will get dismounted in addition to taking AoE damage.
 * Like other structures with a health bar, vehicles can be repaired using the Revitalizer Gadget.

General Improvements and Balance

 * Sprint is no longer cancelled when switching weapons.
 * You can now purchase items in the gear store while sprinting.
 * SFX Improvments on guns
 * ADS sound was added.
 * Equip and Holster SFX were updated.
 * Hitmarker sounds based on critical and non-critical damage were updated.
 * Grenades and radial damage should now damage AI enemies and players as expected.
 * The End of Match rewards of uncommon materials were increased for Asure Tree, Titan Ore and Polimetallic prefabricate, and lowered slightly for Nickel and Cadmium to even them out.
 * We raised the credit reward for each completed contract from 28 to 50.

AI Improvements and balance
 * Dev comment: We recently added more variants for the existing enemy types. For this week we’ve focused on fine tuning the Warden variants, making them more robust, but also tuning down the damage of the Warden Brute, which attacks in melee. Additionally we added two brand new variants of the Spitter.
 * Hurlers have been added to the game.
 * This new Spitter variant uses a shotgun like cone attack that is most dangerous at short range.
 * Skulkers have been added to the game.
 * This other new Spitter variant attacks players with a long range, single shot attack.
 * We recoloured new and existing variants of the Spitter AI enemy to make them more distinct and recognizable.
 * The good old Spitters are now a bit bluer, with a matching colour for the projectile.
 * The Bombardiers are teal, the impacts matching this colour as well.
 * The new Skulkers and their projectiles are purple.
 * The new Hurlers are yellow with the VFX to match.
 * Warden & Warden Brute HP was increased from 2000 to 3000.
 * Evolved Warden HP was increased from 3500 to 4000.
 * Stability thresholds (aka staggering) was increased for all Warden variations.
 * Brute Warden damage was reduced from 300 to 200.
 * Other AI types have seen an HP decrease of ~20%.
 * Spitter projectile prediction was reduced.

Weapon Improvements and Balance
Dev Comment: This week we went through all the guns and made tweaks and general cleanup. We first looked at the time it takes to go ADS and found some to not be in line with their weapon category. We also made a lot of changes to the scope mods in order for them to be more responsive. Lastly we started to look at how much we increase the size of each gun as you ADS and how much they zoom in. Now they should be closer to their intended usage and the categories be slightly more distinguished against each other (PDW don’t zoom in as much as an AR, etc).

FOV


 * The following weapons have been tweaked to not take up as much screen space when in ADS, and have had their ADS zoom level reduced:
 * Bulldog
 * Hammer
 * Autopistol
 * Scarab
 * Asp Flechette Gun
 * Voltaic Brute
 * Additional tweaks
 * Phasic Lancer now takes up less space while in ADS
 * PDW now has slightly reduced ADS zoom
 * Scrapper now has slightly reduced ADS zoom
 * Lacerator now has slightly increased ADS zoom

Targeting time


 * Scarab Pistol increased from 0.1s to 0.15s.
 * PDW increased from 0.2s to 0.25s.
 * Asp Flechette Gun increased from 0.2s to 0.25s.
 * Scrapper increased from 0.18s to 0.2s.
 * Voltaic Brute increased from 0.2s to 0.25s.
 * Phasic Lancer increased from 0.25s to 0.35s.
 * KBR Longshot increased from 0.3s to 0.45s.
 * Basilisk increased from 0.5s to 0.55s.
 * Guarantee decreased from 0.7s to 0.6s.

Mods


 * Bolt Action
 * “1.5x Scope” – Now doesn’t reduce weak spot damage.
 * Kinetic Arbiter
 * “1.5x Scope” – Targeting time change was increased from 75% of base to 80%.
 * Advocate
 * “1.5x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 250% of base to 200%.
 * “4x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 350% of base to 275%.
 * Phasic Lancer
 * “4x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 350% of base to 250%.
 * KOR-47
 * “1.5x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 250% of base to 175%.
 * Gorgon
 * “1.5x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 200% of base to 150%.
 * “4x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 300% of base to 250%.
 * KBR Longshot
 * “1.5x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 175% of base to 135%.
 * “4x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 175% of base to 135%.
 * “8x Scope” – Targeting time change was increased from 130% of base to 150%.
 * Lacerator
 * “1.5x Scope” – Targeting time change was increased from 115% of base to 125%.
 * KARMA-1
 * “8x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 130% of base to 120%.
 * Guarantee
 * “1.5x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 150% of base to 125%.
 * “4x Scope” – Targeting time change was reduced from 200% of base to 150%.

Bug Fixes

 * Grenades and radial damage should now damage AI’s and players as expected.
 * Fixed an issue with FOV resetting too quickly when going out of sprint
 * Fixed some client hitches related to the squad scoreboard.
 * Fixed a bug where Battle Server was idling forever if it didn’t get a response from Backend at a certain point.
 * Fixed a bug where, upon reaching the maximum faction level, it would display as “Lv. 0” in the pre-match lobby instead.
 * Fixed a bug where a user could enter the station when not starting the game through EGS.