PTS Update 12-23-15

Discussion in 'Test Server: Announcements' started by BBurness, Dec 23, 2015.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. BBurness Developer

    This Test Server patch has a number of features and changes that are slated to launch in early 2016. Although many of these features are in an incomplete state, putting them out now allows us to get a jump on testing & iterating for when the team returns after New Years. Nothing here is final, so please feel free to speak up and participate in feedback/discussions. Many of the changes in this update will remain on PTS for several weeks before going Live, giving everyone a chance to voice their concerns.

    Features:
    • Max Battle Rank increased to 120: Note: XP is not retroactive, XP earned at BR 100 before this update will not count towards 100+ Battle Ranks.
    • Construction/(Wip) ANT: Limited early release of the Construct/ANT system; Intended for load/performance testing, this release will also let players drive the ANT, search for resources, and place a VP generator (only the generator will be available and is not much more than a big bomb atm) in order to provide feedback. Note: There’s still a lot to do, such as a new placement system and significant amount of polish/bug fixing. Also, currently only Amerish has no deploy zones for ANTs/construction, so try and restrict testing feedback to that continent.
      • There’s a known issue that can prevent existing characters from pulling VP Gens, new characters can be used to test this feature.
    Leadership Changes
    • (wip) Fireteams: Squad/Platoon leaders can subdivide their squad into smaller groups. This is an early version of this system with features still to come.
    • Additional Map AND Minimap context menu functionality with interactable indicators. You can now right click on ally player/waypoint indicators to:
      • remove waypoint
      • invite to squad
      • kick from squad
      • invite to platoon
      • kick from platoon
      • invite to create platoon
      • assign to alpha, bravo, charlie, delta squads
      • promote to squad leader
      • promote to platoon leader
      • (more options coming in the future)
    • Increased distance for spawning into squad vehicles from 600 meters to 1000 meters
    • Remove the ability for the squad leader to rename all of the platoon's squads
    • Reduced cooldowns for offensive/defensive markers from 5 minutes to 2:30 minutes
    • New invite all button in members screen that will invite all outfit members to squad/platoon
    • New button that allows a squad leader to remove their squad from a platoon
    • Squad HUD Indicator changes:
      • all squad members will show within 2500m
      • if you are platoon leader, all other squad leaders will also show and edge clamp
      • if you are a squad leader, then platoon leader will show and edge clamp
      • if you are a squad member, then squad leader will show and edge clamp
      • any vehicle containing squad members will show
    • Waypoints can now be removed individually without removing all other waypoints (live)
    Indar Changes

    Warpgates:
    • All warpgates are now updated using the newer updated Koltyr style layout.
    • Moved ocean WG over to the west slightly, added bridge crossing chasm that leads to the Ocean WG’s next lattice base, Indar Waste Treatment
    Small Outposts:

    NS Salvage Yard
    • Removed outpost from the Lattice
    Indar Waste Treatment
    • Added additional sunderer cover
    • Added larger CyA bldg on south side
    • Added hackable equipment terminal to CyA building
    • Redirected flow from warpgate, now uses a bridge going over the oceanbed chasm
    Briggs Labs
    • Added additional sunderer cover
    • Replaced Mini Spawn with Main Spawn
    • Adjusted cap point area, cover
    Indar Comm Array
    • Lowered top of mesa approximately 20-30m~
    • Added small Sunderer garage
    • Added better cover for attackers coming from Dahaka Southern Post
    • Increase pain field size on spawn
    • Moved vehicle spawn to front of base (goodbye ridiculous vehicle pads!)
    • Still WIP; this is an interim fix
    West Highlands Checkpoint
    • Removed outpost from the Lattice
    • Replaced with Large Sunderer Garage
    East Canyon Checkpoint
    • Removed outpost from the Lattice
    • Replaced with Large Sunderer Garage
    Sandstone Gulch
    • Removed outpost from the Lattice
    • Replaced with Large Sunderer Garage
    Blackshard Iridium Mine
    • Removed outpost from the Lattice
    Large Outposts:

    Camp Connery
    • Moved Cap Point out of Tower into nearby building
    • Added additional road on north side
    • Added additional cover + sunderer spots
    Indar Excav
    • Moved Cap Point out of Tower into nearby CyA building
    • Added additional road on north side
    • Added additional cover + sunderer spots
    • Redid B Cap point to be covered
    • Added equip term in J Building
    Indar Bay Point
    • Moved cap Point out of Tower into newly designed BldgO
    • Moved cap point into CyA building near Tower
    • Added extra roads to reduce chokepoints
    • Made it easier for attackers to progress over the vehicle bridge
    • Added under-truss maintenance bridge under vehicle bridge
    • Added additional roads to reduce chokepoints around base
    Quartz Ridge Camp
    • Removed teleporter building
    • Replaced MiniSpawn with Barracks
    • Added stairs to allow Infiltrators to hack vehicle terms, but not up to spawn plateau
    Facilities & Facility Satellites:

    Hvar Tech Plant
    • Greater Hvar Region – Lowered the height of Hvar plateau significantly
    • Disabled AV turrets from the flight deck
    • Moved superstructure farther back on plateau, opening up more space for fights between the Tech Plant and its satellite bases
    Hvar Northgate
    • Renamed to Hvar Databank.
    • Complete redesign
    • Pulled much of the fortification (walls, gate shield) out of the base to better balance its defensibility (still has a big height advantage)
    • Added sundy garages out front to allow fights to stick better
    Hvar Southgate
    • Renamed to Hvar Physics Lab
    • Complete redesign
    • Added sundy garage
    Hvar West Post
    • Complete redesign
    • Added sundy garage
    Tawrich Tech Plant
    • Removed unintuitive road between Tawrich Depot and Tawrich Tower
    • Disabled AV turrets from the flight deck
    Tawrich Depot
    • Readjusted base to better fit Lattice
    • Moved gate shield gen building in front of gate
    • Changed cap point building from CyA to BldgP
    • Widened road that leads to Tawrich tech plant
    • Still WIP
    Tawrich Tower
    • Can now attack Stronghold and Gravel Pass directly from Tawrich Tower
    • Added additional buildings and cover leading to Tawrich tech plant
    Mao Tech Planet
    • Disabled AV turrets from the flight deck
    Mao Southwest
    • Switched spawn + cap point locations
    • Increased size of base
    • Added extra gate shield facing Tech Plant Mao
    • Moved Gate Gen outside of base
    Battlefields:

    Quartz Ridge <-> Hvar Databank
    • Should now be much easier to fight from Quartz Ridge up to Hvar now due to the hill being less steep.
    • Added additional road to the east.
    Hvar <-> Hvar Satellites
    • Much more room between all of its satellites now, should be better fights here as a result
    Quartz Ridge <-> Indar Comm Array
    • Added road that was missing to better reflect its lattice connectivity
    Mao Southwest <-> Briggs Labs
    • Added additional roads + cover between these bases
    Heavy Shield

    Nanite Mesh Generator
    • Hit points reduced from 750 to 450
    • Drain per second decreased from 50 to 12.5
    • (Updated) Passive regen rate increased
      • Rank 1 - Changed from 12.5 per second to 15
      • Rank 2 - Changed from 13.1 per second to 16
      • Rank 3 - Changed from 13.75 per second to 17.3
      • Rank 4 - Changed from 14.6 per second to 18.75
      • Rank 5 - Changed from 15.6 per second to 20.4
      • Rank 6 - Changed from 16.6 per second to 22.5
    Adrenaline Shield
    • Hit points reduced from 750 to 450
    • Drain per second reduced from 50 to 18
    • (Updated)Shield points received per kill changes:
      • Rank 1 increased from 31 to 90 143
      • Rank 2 increased from 47 to 104 160
      • Rank 3 increased from 78 to 117 173
      • Rank 4 increased from 113 to 130 186
      • Rank 5 decreased from 157 to 143 200
    Resist Shield
    • Resists for Small Arms, Melee, and Anti-Vehicle projectiles decreased from 45% to 40%
    • Increased active duration by 50%
    Weapon Balance

    MR11 Gatekeeper
    • Projectile velocity decreased from 500 to 450
    • Projectile drop increased from 0.5 to 2.0
    MR11 Gatekeeper-H
    • Projectile velocity decreased from 500 to 450
    • Projectile Drop increased from 0.5 to 3.0
    • Recoil increased from 0 to 2.0
    Warden
    • Maximum damage range to 15m, from 8m
    • Horizontal recoil to 0.18, from 0.18 to 0.22
    • Horizontal tolerance to 0.4, from 0.5
    • Added Underbarrel Grenade
    • Added Underbarrel Smoke attachments
    • Short reload to 2.5, from 2.15
    • Long reload to 3.4, from 3.05 (This corrects a bug to the reload speed that was on Live.)
    AMR-66
    • Maximum damage range to 15m, from 8m
    • Horizontal recoil to 0.18, from 0.18 to 0.22
    • Horizontal tolerance to 0.4, from 0.5
    • Added Underbarrel Grenade
    • Added Underbarrel Smoke attachments
    Eidolon
    • Maximum damage range to 15m, from 8m
    • Horizontal recoil to 0.18, from 0.18 to 0.22
    • Horizontal tolerance to 0.4, from 0.5
    • Added Underbarrel Grenade
    • Added Underbarrel Smoke attachments
    Guardian
    • Maximum damage range to 15m, from 8m
    • Vertical recoil to 0.51, from 0.58
    • Horizontal recoil to 0.135, from 0.14 to 0.17
    • Horizontal tolerance to 0.35, from 0.5
    • Projectile velocity to 680, from 650
    DMR-99
    • Maximum damage range to 15m, from 8m
    • Vertical recoil to 0.51, from 0.58
    • Horizontal recoil to 0.135, from 0.14 to 0.17
    • Horizontal tolerance to 0.35, from 0.5
    • Magazine size to 22, from 20
    • Ammunition capacity to 132, from 120
    Revenant
    • Maximum damage range to 15m, from 8m
    • Vertical recoil to 0.51, from 0.58
    • Horizontal recoil to 0.135, from 0.14 to 0.17
    • Horizontal tolerance to 0.35, from 0.5
    • Short reload to 2.0, from 2.5
    Pulsar LSW
    • ADS Moving CoF to 0.4, from 0.35
    Flash Grenade
    • Fuse timer to 1.5 sec., from 3 sec
    Medical Applicator
    • Revive range standardized to 6 meters at all ranks.
    Flash Suppressor (Attachment)
    • Increases minimap detection range by 15m
    • No longer increases CoF bloom
    Misc:
    • Lightning tanks may now unlock Engagement Radar
    • Players can now safely drop from a Valkyrie by default
    Bug Fixes:
    • Base capture progression arrow now shows on map screen
    • VP points for capturing both warpgates is now permanent
    • Fix bug that prevented victory points from being awarded for owning all facility types in certain situations
    • Fix that should make damage from C4 attached to a moving vehicle much more reliable
    • Fixing erratic blinking of centralized HUD ammo/ability bars when at warning levels
    • Potential fixes for various minimap bugs regarding indicators disappearing or not showing up
    • Up x 34
  2. Iridar51

    Amazing changes top to bottom, I hope all of them make it to Live. Battle rifles with underbarrels got me giggling though.

    Always nice to see that devs aren't just twiddling their thumbs and counting cash from pink camo sales. Your work is appreciated!
    • Up x 13
  3. TheRunDown

    I would like to see the colour blind interface, icons and hud options I discussed with Andy Sites making it's way to PlanetSide 2 sometime this year..

    Empire Colours just isn't enough.. it's not fexible enough to change small details, such as deployable and explosive icons.. I have trouble working out Friendly AV Mines and Enemy AV Mines by the tiny icon and colour, and apparently so do loads of other TR cause they constantly TK them..
    • Up x 2
  4. TheRunDown

    There is also a large number of bases with broken or none existent "No Deploy" zones..
    Such as Ghanon Southern Crossing off the top of my head..
    There are far to many bases you can either park at AMS next to the spawn room or on the Capture point/s.

    I think it's time to start putting double no deploy zones on some bases, long bases, one at spawns and one on point/s..
    It's starting to become a problem with the new meta being to spam Sunderers, and near impossible to defend any base when there's a AMS on the capture point.


    Also remove Nanite cost from vehicles and re-add vehicle timers :)

    K-thx-bye
  5. Erendil

    Cool changes. The max damage range will of course help up close, and the recoil and Tolerance changes should help a bit w/ high ROF accuracy. I'm Updating PTS right now to test.

    lolwat?? Not sure where you got this idea from. I would much much MUCH rather have more acccuracy or a straight up ROF/damage buff to the primary fire mode like the ones I suggested here than a UBGL which I can't seeing helping out its role much as a DMR.

    Trying to change the basic usage of an entire weapon class like this after 3 years is a bad idea IMO. It's much better to just improve on what it already had. Still, I'm trying to keep an open mind. it's worth checking out I suppose.


    Lots of other great changes in this update tho. Directive BR changes look good. Thumbs up esp on having the courage to implement HA Shield and GK changes. Flash Suppressor might actually be semi-useful now. I look forward to exploring all the base updates.
  6. Erendil

    Since PTS keeps crashing on me at 94% loading, I've been playing w/ the Solstice SF UBGL on Live. So far, if the BR's UBGL is anything like that, it's worthless on a Battle Rifle. It will do nothing to improve my survivability or ability as a marksman and it actually makes things worse by forcing me to give up the foregrip.

    If it's like that on PTS. PLEASE do not let the UBGL go to Live. Get rid of the UBGL and give the BR's primary fire mode better accuracy/ROF/Damage buffs. Battle Rifles will be in no danger of stepping on a sniper's toes because the classes that can use BRs have no cloak so they will always be at a disadvantage as marksmen.

    EDIT: I'd also like to add that a UBGL only really seems to be useful on an Engie due to the tiny ammo pool, so Medics and HAs using BRs won't really get much benefit.
  7. RocknRoll

    Wow... just logged in to say thx for that awesome progress. I like everything of that list and hope that changes make it live soon. Thx team, really mean it
    • Up x 2
  8. RocknRoll

    Im lookin forward to the new battle rifles. Ye, the UBGL may not have that much uses, but i dont feel compelled to use it. I think the UBSL can be actually interesting on a BR. Also: UB stuff may look awesome on a BR
    • Up x 1
  9. Erendil

    Yeah I'm psyched to try them out too and see how much the recoil and damage range buffs will help. :cool:

    I suspect most people who use BRs will feel this way about the UBGL. IMO it just doesn't fit the BR playstyle, and IMO it's certainly not worth giving up the foregrip. And if it has little use, and nobody wants to use it, then it should be scrapped in favor of further buffs that actually will be not only useful, but actually wanted by the playerbase.

    Interesting, perhaps. It would be "interesting" on just about any weapon. That doesn't mean it will actually be useful or beneficial to the playstyle encouraged by the weapon itself.
  10. ZenzotuskeN

    Please make BR 100-120, Retro Active. i just like logging in and playing and not worrying about Ranking Up. I've played for many, many hours every day to this day despite being BR 100 and all that additional exp not meaning anything after that change feels like we are getting the short end of the stick again.
  11. Huishe

    Nerfing gatekeeper? Really? We have one good range AV secondary and it's nerfed?

    You know, i've been watching videos about ant and thinking that maybe it's time to play again. But now i'm starting to reconsider. For god's sake, just swap enforcer and gatekeeper if people think it's good for TR and enforcer is too bad.
  12. Sevak

    Of course nerfing HA shield is a good idea, but why does adrenaline shield(max rank) recover less from a kill, whereas resist's duration is increased by 50% which is way too much.
    Adrenaline shield is very expensive to be this useless, think about it...
    #justiceforadrenalineshield
  13. day ofm one


    It is not that the other factions guns are too bad.

    The problem is that the Gatekeeper has very high accuracy over very long range and more sustained DPS than any other gun.

    It was just better in all terms.

    The rebalance it got doesn't really seem to hit that badly, it sill has 100 m/s more velocity than Enforcer and Saron and it has projectile drop now, there was barely any before.
    • Up x 3
  14. ZephyrBurst

    It got the exact thing it needed. It wasn't necessarily OP, but its consistent and very reliable damage was too much. This brings it down a notch and keeps it very effective at what it does.
    • Up x 1
  15. Inex

    I think I like all these changes.

    More XP treadmill - yay for ****** grind. :D
    Construction system - Awww yisss.
    Leadership - Hype.
    Indar - Another 3 or 4 updates like this and it might be worth playing on.
    Gatekeeper - Good stuff, looks like it's mainly putting some gravity on those laser-missiles.
    BattleRifles - Lolwut? I'm not complaining but it's interesting outside the box thinking to make these more attractive.
    Flash Grenade - Still not useful, but at least it might actually catch somebody now.
    Med/Flash Sup/Misc - Neato.

    But the biggest will be the wave of tears coming from the HAs. I kind of expect it to be reverted under the weight of the crying (similar to what happened when DBG tried to kill the Reverse Maneuver), but the forums & reddit are going to be the best entertainment this side of Vegas for a couple of weeks.
    • Up x 1
  16. VonStalin

    HA shield nerf? I might come back if this goes live. <3
    • Up x 4
  17. HadesR

    All looking good :)

    But


    I can't help but feel that the UBsmoke addition is pretty pointless UNLESS you also disable the option in the INI files that allow for the removal of smoke effects.
  18. Cyropaedia

    I'd like to see an Empire-specific ceremonial sword or NS Katana for reaching the new Battle Rank cap.

    It would perform on par with our power up knives.
    • Up x 1
  19. DrStahlbart

    So, I tested out the ANT thing with a fellow TR (sorry JackTS, couldn't say goodbye because the game crashed). We have blown up some VP generators to see the inpact. For now it seems like if a VP explodes, you either die or wont get any dmg at all. My ant exploded but I havent got any dmg (was two meters away). There is no between. He also found some green marks (another type of harvestable ressources?).

    All in all this can, and will most probably, become huuuuge. Cant wait till february. :)
    • Up x 1
  20. nehylen

    Same general sentiment as Iridar (amazing changes from top to bottom), and same giggling on the UB attachments for BR.
    But then, why the hell not? :D
    I'd rather see those guns' bias be reduced or annihilated though.

    A bit sceptical on the Flash suppressor, as i would've thought of exactly the opposite change: bloom increase kept (perhaps milden) and lowered detection range on minimap: Flash suppressor, like suppressor is about discretion, just not the full discretion package. Still nice, whichever way you pick!

    Fully agree with theRunDown on colour blindness issues, as a fellow colour blind: current options are insufficient. For instance being unable to change squad colours, beacon colour (confusion between VS/NC beacon) is a pain in the eye.

    Also to be proper, the change of the Revenant should include a slightly better ads CoF (make it 0.20 instead of 0.25) , which is the trademark of the VS default guns along with the short reload. That should do it.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.