Jan. 13, 2022 - PTS Update - Oshur Build 01

Discussion in 'Test Server: Announcements' started by RPG_Wrel, Jan 13, 2022.

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  1. RPG_Wrel Lead Designer

    The following PTS build unlocks on Jan. 13, 2022 before 6pm PT (3am CET).
    --
    UPDATE: We ran into an issue preventing Test from being unlocked at the previously mentioned 2pm.

    UPDATE-UPDATE: Aforementioned issue prevented us from unlocking tonight, but we should be good to go in time for the official playtesting tomorrow.
    --
    Download the Test Server client from this thread after reading the Test Server Policies: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/ps...st-test-server-policies-download-link.114038/
    --


    Introducing, Oshur
    Hey everyone, we're going to handle these patch notes a bit differently than usual. The island continent of Oshur is now available for public testing, and will be through launch. We're running a total of four "official" playtests, where we'll be looking to get massive battles going to more closely simulate live conditions, as well as record footage for use in the launch trailer and beyond. I want to stress that Oshur is still being developed, and there will be two separate Test Builds throughout this process. I'll outline the known issues for Test Build 01 below, to give you all an idea of what will change moving into Test Build 02 next week.

    Playtest Times for Test Build 01
    • Friday, Jan. 14 - 2pm PT (11pm CET)
    • Saturday, Jan. 15 - 11am PT (8pm CET)
    Players who log online during either of these test periods will receive the "Work in Progress I" profile banner attributed to their account after Oshur is released. In order to be eligible, you'll need to log onto PTS with the same account that you use on Live servers. There's no restriction to how long you need to stay, we just need to log that you got online during the test. The tests are expected to last roughly an hour and a half.

    How to deliver Feedback
    Once each playtest concludes, we'll be placing a Google Form below with focused questions about your experience. Additionally, we'll unlock this thread for comments after the first playtest begins, and it will remain open until the next PTS update. A Reddit thread will also be provided for folks who prefer to use that venue.
    • Friday Feedback Form: Feedback form now closed.
    • Saturday Feedback Form: Feedback form now closed.
    Cool Stuff in Test Build 01
    • Oshur is now accessible, and will auto-unlock itself 30 seconds after its Meltdown alert ends, to allow for testing.
    • Players start their excursion on Exodus-class Fleet Carriers armed with automated particle cannons capable of destroying enemy vehicles within range.
    • Vehicles, infantry, and projectiles now all interact with water in different ways.
      • Wheeled vehicles putter along the surface like boats.
      • Hover vehicles will hover above the water's surface.
      • Treaded vehicles will travel along the seabed.
      • Air vehicles are still a work in progress.
      • Infantry walk along the seabed, and entering the water from great heights will slow your descent.
      • Projectiles that enter the water receive heavy drag.
    • Loads of new bases.
      • 6 new Facilities (with 3 more on the way.)
      • 6 Large Outposts (3-point captures)
      • 18 Small Outposts (1-point captures)
      • 16 Open Field (construction-capable bases.)
    • Various balance and spawn system adjustments (detailed further down,) as well as bug fixes and QoL additions.
    Known Issues for Test Build 01
    • The unassigned exterior hexes are all currently considered out of bounds areas, but the vast majority of this space will be playable in the next build.
    • The "Trident Relay" facility is still in greybox on this build, and the facility is non-operable.
    • Air Vehicles have difficulty interacting with water at the moment.
    • A final tuning pass still needs to be completed on wheeled water vehicles, but they're mostly complete.
    • Various facilities are still in the process of cleanup, and have non-functional or incorrect assets (like gate shields.)
    • Some of the jungle plants have collision you can run into, noticeable at the Pommel Gardens base.
    • Sunderer Garage shields have yet to be implemented at any base.
    • Sunderer/Construction no-deploy zones are not yet implemented, but you can expect them to be much smaller on this continent than others.
    • The cloud bank surrounding Oshur overlays objects in the distance, instead of drawing behind them. This is similar to the issue where Suns/Moons/Planets do the same thing on other continents, and is especially prominent with lower render ranges. We're developing tech to address this.
    • Bastion Fleet Carriers currently don't currently have navigation set up properly for this continent, so they're liable to clip into the ground and engage in other shenanigans.
    • Dynamic NPCs (like grenades and ammo boxes) aren't currently affected by water drag, and are lacking underwater explosion FX where applicable.
    • "Trail" particle FX currently overlay the water and can look blocky and opaque.
    • You can currently build Construction underwater. This won't be the case in the future, however.
    • The water's surface, as visible from beneath, is placeholder art that will be updated in next week's build.
    Friendly Fire
    • Friendly fire damage is now reduced by 50% at all times.
    • Grief from friendly fire now decays 50% faster at all times.
    Dev Note: We'd like to take steps to resolving the pain point of friendly fire, without detracting from the heart of the experience or inviting the new problems that totally disabling friendly fire would create. We'll give these new values a go (though the 50% damage reduction may be too high,) and tune based on results.

    Spawn System
    There have been some changes to the spawn system that brings it a little closer to where it was a few years ago, but loosened up a bit. This mostly steps away from the Spawn Priority system that was introduced in 2019, and ended up giving far too much freedom after the first few iterations. The goal behind these changes is to reduce the speed of the redeploy meta, and move back toward more prominent vehicle transport. There are compromises with the current tuning will still allow for easy spawning locally, and Join Combat/Reinforcements Needed will still be capable of delivering you across the map when it matters.

    Construction Changes
    There won't be much more than bug fixes in this test build, though you'll see some quality of life and balance adjustments to Construction before release. An example of some of the changes coming to Test Build 02 include increased to harvest and deposit speeds, as well and increased Cortium capacity on uncommon and common cortium veins, among others. Removal/Restrictions on Routers is something we've lined up, but haven't made a final decision on just yet.

    Infantry/Vehicle Balance
    Kobalt (Ant/Sunderer/Harasser/Flash/MBT)
    • Max damage from 200 to 167
    • Min damage from 154 to 143
    • Magazine size from 100 to 60.
    • MBT/Flash/Harasser ammo capacity from 500 to 600.
    • Sunderer/ANT ammo capacity from 750 to 600.
    • Ammo restock per tick standardized at 120, this is a buff for all platforms.
    • Magazine size skill line now increases magazine by 5 per rank, instead of 13.
    • Ammo capacity cert line now provides one magazine worth of ammo per rank, instead of the previous 150.
    Dev Note: These changes reduce the damage output and overall uptime of the weapon across all platforms.

    NSX Amaterasu
    • Projectile now despawns after 15 meters.
    Dev Note: This is an experimental change meant to make the tradeoffs between the standard knife and Amaterasu more even.

    UI QoL
    • A new HUD compass has been added to the top center of the screen. This compass relays cardinal directions as well as bearing, and can be disabled in the Interface Settings menu.
    • ISO-4 currency now shows in the Depot screen, alongside DBC and Certs.
    Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions
    • Spawn-capable vehicles deployed on an incline will no longer occasionally cause your character to spawn in at an angle.
    • Prototype vehicles now count toward Heavy Assault's Air Deterrence Directive.
    • "Treasured" MSW-R now has charge handle on the correct side of the weapon.
    • Fixed an issue with Sunderer Ambulance cosmetics showing low LoD models at short distance.
    • Fixed an issue where 1-person squads weren't filtered correctly from the squad finder.
    • Fixed an issue where having the Glaive IPC's targeting device in-hand when interacting with NPCs would prevent you from switching weapons.
    • Ammo Siphon ability for TR MAX now works with the M3 Pounder HEG.
    • You can no longer earn Mining Drill mission credit from enemies or while dead.
    • Scrolling in the marketplace with no category selected will no longer create a null error.
    • Fixed various NSO-related construction system issues that impacted highlighting of base assets.
    • Fixed an issue where Construction Outpost bases on all continents would use larger-than-intended map indicators and text.
    • Hacked vehicle terminals no longer prevent remote vehicle spawning. This is a temporary fix for friendly vehicle terminals sometimes incorrectly reporting as hacked.
    • Up x 6
  2. Dr0c

    I know this is a early build, but I hope performance on this map is improved heavily. The worst is flying towards the center from the Flotilla at any point. 200Fps average on live to 30fps average on test server. Probably does not help that there is a issue currently with high graphics being the only setting that works to see things.
  3. Hawkseye501

    It's worth noting that LOD's probably aren't working as intended or aren't implemented yet. This will probably straighten out because its not much more complex than Hossin for sure, even with water effects added for Hossin.


    Feedback:
    -Terrain & MBT's
    Pulling MBT's from some bases/floatillas is discouraging because of slopes. They can't climb where most vehicles frequently pass through to shortcut to another island, forcing MBT's to detour around the island instead. Not a satisfying experience. Slopes just need flattened a tad in certain high travel areas.

    -Facility outdoor infantry cover
    Outdoor areas of facilities seem a bit plain. Could use more cover for infantry rushing armor columns outside instead of getting pounded at a door.

    -Kobalt Nerf
    Please don't nerf the Kobalt into a gun no one uses. It'll be half as good at typical kill ranges (10-15m). It does need a nerf, but I fear this is a tad too far. Waiting to see how the changes feel on the PTS but I'm not optimistic sadly.


    The continent looks great, thank you all for the hard work and for making moves to invest in PS2. This is good stuff. I'll continue to support you guys.


    P.s. Bring Koltyr back for the graveyard shift people. Send us some love!
    -Playing since 2014, Emerald.
  4. JustGotSuspended


    Would be cool if we could deploy vehicle elevators or some ramps to avoid this problem.
    • Up x 1
  5. Botji

    Aside from bugs like Chimera not being able to do damage to anything while its floating on water as well as the Siren gaining unlimited ammo(never have to reload) while floating on water..

    I think Oshur looks nice but it also looks really small, quite a few places on the map would be crowded with just 3-4 MBTs, largely due to how 'fenced' in a lot of bases are with the cliffs which results in the actual ground space anywhere near the bases being really limited which to me seems like a huge oversight considering how vehicle heavy the continent is likely to be, even a small tank zerg would struggle to not drive over each other not to mention how things will end up during prime time.

    I expect most or all connections to the islands will be a congested hell of Sunderers, Harassers and tanks slowly crawling their way over bridges or attempting to get up on the high cliffs from the water and with the Spawn deploy/construction areas supposedly being smaller I assume the artillery limits will be too, will be very surprised if there are not a dozen and two construction bases put up just to rain artillery down on these small chokepoints, bridges and defensive positions. Constant. Artillery. All. The. Time.

    I suspect pilots will also be crying salty tears as there is very limited cover to abuse so lock-ons and flak will actually be sort of almost effective for once which we all know is more than enough to send them into a panic filled hissy fit and flying under the water will not be popular for how slow it is and how vulnerable they become to proxy lock on weapons or just a enemy ESF camping them above surface(backed up by a number of G2A weapons on the different islands, all within range).


    Cant help but think that larger islands with larger beaches and smaller cliffs would work better, have the factions do a D-day type of attack and set up construction bases to push further inland. Its much too late now to change things though.
  6. math368

    I would really like to add the option of being able to swim when sprinting
    underwater with swimming animation when crazy not to think it's completely stupid to
    market underwater if I fall in the water my sundere floats I won't get it back because I don't
    know how to swim so really it makes us add swimming you did not add water and our characters are unable
    to swim. the name of the bases is buggy on the map and in google asks for some base we preferred to put the names, please provide them on the map we have its name error string ID not found you could check before launching tests things must work works anyway. and the base invisible wall completely bug it's a disaster
    • Up x 1
  7. AntDX316

    Submarines, swimming gear that could be in the utility or other slots, jet skis? boats? could all matter otherwise people will just redeploy if they are underwater who doesn't want to appreciate the amazing scenery and visual effects with all VFX turned on.

    The never used tertiary fire could be of use to develop for underwater items and abilities.
    • Up x 3
  8. Degenatron

    I didn't see this in the Known Issues list:

    There seems to be a issue with the LOD models for most objects if the Graphics Quality is set to anything lower than "High". Most world models don't render at all.

    Here is an example video:



    I'm running a GTX1660Ti with NVidia Driver version 456.71. Windows 10 Pro x64 - Build 19041

    I do not have these issues on Live. I realize this may just need a final rendering pass.

    For anyone else who has this issue, the fix is to set Graphics Quality to "High". All other settings can remain the same.
    • Up x 1
  9. AntDX316

    you have to remove your "wall hacks" to fix it
  10. AntDX316

    Need to swim and shoot like in this game.


    There should be areas that are kind of shallow with hopefully some kind of cover(rocks, coral, etc.), so people can pop in and out of the water (heal, respawn, revive). Like how control points are in buildings with those stacked up boxes.

    The bullets don't have to instantly fall with a 5000x gravity multiplier when they hit the water. Guns don't have to "not" fire. They can just travel slower and have less range(bullet drop sooner) like using a HESH vs the AP tank rounds that fly further and quicker.

    Like this in a way, but not have the bullet drop so much at short range that it's no longer fun. It should fly significantly far enough. [IMG]
  11. brucethemoose

    There's no colossus terminal or warp terminal anywhere on Oshur.

    ... Is this intentional?
  12. Whiteagle

    Are you threatening me with a GOOD TIME?!

    See this is why I've always said we needed a functional Entity Map Transfer System (WORKING WARPGATES!!!) before a Water System!
    Right now Oshur is just another Continent Map but with it's Engagement Lanes effectively narrowed to a couple hundred meters in width, meaning you're squeezing a Continent's worth of Population into fighting through thin corridors.
    Combined with the classic three-way split of a Planetside 2 Continent Map, it creates the Strategic-level equivalent to hallway firefights where a good fifth of your Continental Population are all concentrated on stagnating chokepoints the entire night.

    While Oshur's Archipelago layout does give us better options for flanking maneuvers, it's STILL the same stale continental Meatgrinders that are mostly decided by whoever can throw their weight of numbers around the most efficiently.
    Again, what a Water System gives us is this means to effectively narrow the Engagement Lanes, funneling Population towards key areas to fight over, but limited to the same old Individual Continental Lattices and Populations leaves us with the same issues of Grinding Stalemates between Factions we already see on the landlocked Maps.

    If we had an Intercontinental Lattice however, able to "Teleport" Players and their Vehicles from a Point on one Continental Map to an entirely different one, then we could EXPANED the connection of these "Continental Beachheads" into Continent sized Oceanic Lattice Maps similar to Oshur, with lower total populations granulated into many smaller Fights across several of these Oceanic Maps.
    An added bonus is that Oceanic Maps won't need near as much Development Resources as most will only need to be focused on the Continental Lattice/Engagement Lanes

    Indeed, even just a continuous "Underwater Jump" function would be appreciated, it is rather annoying to leave a floating vehicle abandoned because you can't get back up to it.

    A Bluewater equivalent to the Bastion would be another nice addition; Not as Powerful or Crew Intensive but still able to operate as a sort of Mobile Aquatic Fire Base to complement the Island Hopping Fights.
    Also BRING BACK MUH LODESTAR!!!

    Another possible maritime addition would be something I've pitched since around Launch; The AMPHIBIOUS Battle Frame Robots, BFRs that aren't much more powerful than MBTs and are FAR less maneuverable on land, but their legged nature allows them to either walk right up the beach or switch into a marine mode for much faster Aquatic Travel.
  13. lemurwrangler

    Please note [ Removal/Restrictions on Routers ] = membership canceled
  14. Degenatron

    The Saturday Playtest went very well. I had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the flow of the islands. Overall the outdoor infantry combat areas that I played at were well built, with good cover.

    The only real negative I gave in the feedback form was for the Interlink Facility. The "single hallway" design really hurts the defenders. The backdoor of the spawn room isn't really exposed as an option for them. A few defenders caught on after a while, but it was only a few.

    If you're going to leave it, I'd highly recommend 1-way shields over the windows in the hallway of death. It's bad enough having to charge the hallway without also having "farm ports" to your left and right. On the other hand, if they had 1-way shields there, it might help provide cover to flankers circling the outside. Maybe not, since the hallway is exposed to the point defenders.

    Suggestion: Possibly add some generators w/ shields to make the interlink play out in stages? Possibly a generator below the control point to unlock the control point and a generator right in the middle of the hallway of death that would provide a shield at the exit. The hallway of death shield would be like a vehicle gate shield, only blocking bullets but allowing all infantry to pass through. That would give the defenders a cover door right there at the opening to stage up and poke from. At the same time, the attackers could pass through it to get to the generator and destroy it, leaving the hallway as originally intended. Just a thought. The flip-side of the idea is that having all these different shield types, so close together, could be confusing to players.

    Spent a lot of time at Emerald Arboretum - wow, what a fantastic base. I really enjoyed it. I can see that being a favorite. Just a bummer it's so deep in enemy territory.

    Bug: Ammo Printer implant wasn't working. I was trying to resupply an NSO tank as an NC player riding on the rumble seat and as the secondary gunner. But the driver said they also had ammo printer, and it wasn't working for them either.

    Oshur is shaping up to be a real show-stopper. Thanks guys!
  15. Hagloping

    One loss for the health of the whole game, I'll take these odds.
    • Up x 6
  16. Zhihu

    it would be cool to have a fishing minigame where you could fish up knives
  17. Nighda Venesis

    Aesthetics | Video
    Yes. I love the cloudy skybox and slightly colder than usual colors for tropical islands. It gives Oshur a very clear feeling with potential for rainy or stormy weather. The water's appearance could use some improvement, but we'll see how that is in Test Build 02.

    Aesthetics | Audio
    I really love the sounds of leaves in the light breeze from all the flora, and the occasional nonexistent seagull chiming in over the calm waters.

    High Ridge Security Spawn Building
    Currently incredibly spawn campable from above. As a source for ideas I suggest using a spawn building like the new Interlinks have where the top floor has wide shields on the longer sides, placing said longer sides opposite to the north eastern door with the top floor on the same level, and allowing the ground floor shields to lead to the stairs for the second route from the north.

    High Ridge Security Banana Building
    The terrain in the northwestern inner side of the building is currently sloped downward as such to allow one to walk under and shoot from beneath the building.

    Centri Mining Operation Entrance Stairways
    Currently these look to be very farmable by Airhammers, Banshees, and Lights. As a source for ideas I suggest making the exit plateau a bit longer so they can't get as good an angle. Also, rework those noseguns so they're more unique A2A options instead of infantry farming tools. pls

    Centri Mining Operation Graphics
    I noticed some open spaces where the skybox is visible in some locations between the terrain and the entrance building assets. The cosmetic ones with chimneys may have this as well but I don't recall.

    Mirror Bay Watchtower
    Currently seems decent. It seems very defender sided, but can be cut off with some effort. Will also depend on how well Viridian East Terrace plays once its hard spawn actually works.

    Emerald Arboretum
    I enjoy.

    Interlinks
    These seem overall well done to me. My biggest worry is how the open flaps on the roof of the point building will play out. They may need some reworking, but I think it's a good idea to have some sort of opening there. Perhaps angled stairs leading down would be better. I have not played at any Interlinks so far.

    I played during the 45min alert of Test Build 01 Playtest 2. I assume the alert was cut in half due to the audio bug. I hope fixing that will fix the one existing currently on live.
    • Up x 1
  18. VeryCoolMiller

    Sorry but in real word as soon a bullet enter in the water it stops in 2 meters (maximum).
    And this may be a good occasion to release new underwater weapon based on darts and harpoons.
    • Up x 3
  19. JustGotSuspended

    Pretty sure planetside 2 is not a realistic game. Anyways there's some guns that shoot bullets underwater that travel further than others, some can pierce steel past 60m based off a quick google search.

    Also appears that guns fire more efficiently underwater, as the water allows bullets to rechamber faster than in air.

    Point of the game is to be fun, not realistic. I'd much rather most guns behave in a fun but usable manner underwater, perhaps some better than others. But if firing underwater is gonna have the same effect as lazily tossing a wet noodle on someone, then we may as well prevent firing underwater all together and just let people melee each other to death.
    • Up x 1
  20. karpekin

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