Release Notes R64 (Playtest)

Aug. 8, 2022 patch

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RELEASE NOTES

We’ve developed four major releases since the suspension of our community play sessions in April and now we are a native “Coming Soon” Steam game with no more awkward game launchers or confusing registration process.

Let’s cut to the chase and see what key changes Releases 61-64 have brought.

SEASON PASS

We’ve added a long awaited Season Pass into our game.The test season features 43 levels.

WEAPONS

New weapon modifications:

  • Lupara Mitica legendary pistol. Gameplay buff is coming soon.
  • Impala Starfall epic sniper rifle has an increased effective damage distance by 12%.
  • TAC Antique epic shotgun has an increased damage to the head by 10%.
  • Zenith Deep Space epic assault rifle has an increased damage to the head by 7%.
  • Earl Mural epic pistol, with a decreased spread by 10%.

Weapon tweaks:

  • Tweaked first-person position and recoil feel of selected assault rifles (XM-40 Conciliator, XM-27 Pacifier, and Zenith).
  • All assault rifles: decreased movement speed while aiming down sights by 10%.
  • XM-27 Pacifier assault rifle (Tier 1): slightly reduced damage to the head.
  • Λ-3 Pilum assault rifle (Tier 3): increased delay between bursts.
  • Λ-9 Legatus assault rifle (Tier 5): increased rate of fire.
  • All submachine guns: decreased damage at medium range by 15% on average, new recoil patterns.
  • Z-940 Drachen submachine gun (Tier 1): slightly increased damage at effective distance and decreased damage at long distances.
  • Cinetech M5 submachine gun (Tier 2): slightly decreased damage to the head; slightly increased damage at effective distance and decreased damage at long distance.
  • Firespray submachine gun (Tier 3): increased damage to the head; slightly increased damage at effective distance. Default and extended magazines capacity was increased by 2 bullets.
  • Λ-1 Centurion submachine gun (Tier 4): slightly increased effective distance.
  • Tornado submachine gun (Tier 5): new and more accurate hip fire spread; slightly increased effective distance.
  • M2 Tactical SAS shotgun (Tier 3): the rate of fire increased by over 57%.
  • R21 Brute shotgun (Tier 5): increased rate of fire and increased accuracy.
  • Dragonfly sniper rifle (Tier 4): the rate of fire increased by over 63%.
  • TWD X-Treme sniper rifle (Tier 3): slightly decreased base and headshot damage; decreased stability.
  • SAG-8 Reaper sniper rifle (Tier 5): slightly decreased base damage, headshot damage, and piercing ability; increased zoom-in and reloading speed; increased stability.

Legendary modifications’ perks:

  • Pacifier Crusader legendary assault rifle: reloading the gun when you are at full health provides an increased rate of fire for one magazine. On perk’s activation you will see a visual feedback on the weapon. As expected, an increased rate of fire has a different sound to it.
  • Centurion Perforator legendary submachine gun: reloading after two kills increases the rate of fire for 6 seconds. On perk’s activation you will see a visual feedback on the weapon.
  • Earl Samurai legendary pistol: melee kills when holding the pistol restore a portion of health.
  • VX-7 Santa Muerte legendary sniper rifle: deals double damage for a moderate duration after a headshot, but doesn’t have an increased rate of fire as before. We also added visual feedback on perks’s activation and a different sound effect for the buffed shots.
  • Drachen Racer legendary submachine gun: Sprint/Dash cooldown is reset upon kill (applicable to Orbit, Mongoose, Strix, and Ram).
  • M5 Joker legendary submachine gun: the ammo is fed from backpack directly to chamber for a short duration after kill. We added a visual and audio feedback on perk's activation.
  • Black Falcon Cyber legendary shotgun: the ammo is being gradually reloaded into magazine when you are sprinting.
  • Svarog Cossack legendary pistol: for a short time after weapon selection, the first bullet deals double damage. Visual feedback for perk’s activation and special sound for the buffed shot were added.

Attachment tweaks:

  • Flash-bang ammo for the Lupara Compatta pistol: increased flash duration and decreased flashing range.
  • SULAKO SP5 silencer for the U44 Culverina pistol: increased damage drop at long range.
  • Warmonger parametric attachment for the Λ-9 Legatus assault rifle: Double kills instead of Rampage instant award increase weapon aiming speed by 30%, decrease hip spread by 50%, and reduce recoil by 30% for 10 seconds.

Additional Weapon Changes:

GAME MECHANICS

GAME PARTY (SQUAD)

  • Updated weapon descriptions in the menu.
  • The crosshairs of all pistols except the two-barrel Lupara Compatta (Tier 3) change their shape dynamically as feedback to pistol’s rate of fire and recoil.
  • Some weapon cosmetics categories (rail patches, stickers, trinkets) can only be applied to one weapon at the same time.
  • Tweaks in weapon tiers unlock cost (57% less for Tier 2, 10% more for Tier 3, and 5% more for Tier 4).
  • Increased initial weapon attachments unlock speed.
  • A kill counter was introduced to all Tier 1 weapons. It is Level 13 weapon progression unlock reward.
  • Weapon suppressors now heat up and glow hot red at continuous shooting.
  • High climb improvement: if you are performing a high climb and hit an obstacle, the climb is interrupted.
  • The movable car’s physics became more realistic.
  • We added some weapon inertia in first-person view when the character raises or lowers their sight.
  • If you are in a party, only your party leader can decide what the party shall do after the session end. The leader can choose to play again or leave to the lobby, and the decision affects everyone in the party. Of course, party members can choose to leave the party at session end.
  • We introduced a new Player and Party Status widget in the top right corner, showing the player’s info along with their party members.
  • Party members are displayed as avatars. And the party leader can be distinguished by the crown icon on top of the avatar.
  • By clicking your own avatar, you will get an option to leave the current party.
  • By clicking on any party member or an empty party member slot you will be shown a menu with such categories as My Squad, Friend Requests, My Friends, and Recent Players, along with a search field (Windows Ctrl+V combination is supported).
  • Clicking on a player will open the Player Info menu.

USER INTERFACE / MENU / HUD
MAPS/MODES

  • The Armory screen got a facelift according to the new general UI design.
  • If you press the Esc button when in any main screen except “Play” (Tasks, Operatives, Armory, Crafting, Store, or Inbox), you will move to the Play screen. When in the Play Screen, pressing the Escape will open the confirmation window to quit the game.
  • We improved the readability of objective icons. When they superimpose on one another, the farther icon increases its opacity, thus making the one in front easier to identify.
  • We also improved readability of the weapon attachment tooltip: bonus descriptions are now bullet pointed and in accented color.
  • The Task Panel in the Play Menu shows 5 most progressed tasks.
  • On the Character Customization screen, the camera now zooms in and out the chosen customization part of the body: the head, the upper body, or the lower body.
  • We introduced a new game session Summary Screen showing your rewards, unlocks, and scoreboard in three tabs.
  • The game session result screen may now show more information than the result itself (victory, defeat, or draw), providing additional information on player’s place, Expedition related stats, etc.

ESCORT MODE:

  • Bomb Dogs spawning from the Escort Wagon can now be killed when airborne.
  • Additional time for each checkpoint was decreased by 20 sec.
  • Initial attackers and defenders’ spawn points are now protected by a kill zone for the opposing team.
  • Tweaked spawn points.

EXPEDITION MODE:

  • Expedition features fewer encounters and perks you used to see before the pause in playtests. We’ll add new encounters and perks periodically.
  • Level tweaks and polishing.
  • Encounters tweaks.
  • Modifiers: The Lightning Anomaly has a new visual, while its damage and distance were tweaked.
  • Mode-specific Victory and Defeat Screens.

CQB and Death Lab PvP maps:

  • Spawn points tweaks.
  • Tweaks in positions of visual helpers (climbs, ziplines, etc).

The Intro Mission:

CHARACTERS

  • The Intro Mission now onboards the player how to change a weapon mid-game.
  • The Intro Mission starts up automatically when you launch the game for the first time. At further launches, it won’t auto-start even if you haven’t completed it.
  • Performance optimization.
  • The headgear has become a separate item in the legendary character outfits. Thus, you may apply a legendary headgear item with other body items. Alternatively, you can change the headgear in your legendary outfit.
  • New character cosmetics items.

Character progression:

  • The maximum level of character progression was set to 8.
  • Orbit’s progression rewards were resetup.
  • Rewards were revisited for almost all missions / game modes.
  • Abilities for Level 8 character progression:
  • * Pill: Projectile destroyer
  • * Malva: Medi-spray
  • * Kite: Claymore
  • * Brisa: Shock charge
  • * Mongoose: Flashbang grenade
  • * Strix: Fire wave grenade
  • * Ram: Explosive axe

ABILITIES:

  • Mongoose now has a leap ability activated by the SHIFT key. He leaps 3 meters forward. Cooldown: 5 seconds. Available at Level 1 of character progression.
  • Ram’s axe now has a bleeding effect, making it more efficient against beefy AIs.

OTHER:

  • We’ve performed a lot of tweaks and improvements to optimize game performance. Additionally, tons of various animation, texture, visual effects, and audio improvements and fixes have been introduced, including sprint-related animation bug fixes.
  • We’ve got a gorgeous new loading screen.
  • The Play of the Game feature was improved in terms of better timings.
  • After the game session, if you don’t press anything, the Play Again button will get activated automatically when the timer displayed on it is over. You can always abort the matchmaking for the next match by pressing the Cancel button.

New instant rewards:

  • “Theseus” for killing a Minotaur in melee.
  • “Axe in the skull” for kills with an axe (3 kills in PvP and 1 in PvE).
  • “Trust me” for non-lethal abilities use (2 uses in PvP and 5 in PvE).
  • “Slide kill” for 3 slide kills in PvE.