Outfit Wars - Qualification is much better, ironically the best change for everyday players because there won't be nearly as much leet outfit seal-clubbing as we've seen in the first two cycles of Outfit Wars. Outfit members require Loyalty 3, leaving outfits resets Loyalty to 0. The change prevents characters in participating in more than one outfit in Outfit Wars, I'm not sure how this will affect certain outfits, but this change does make it more fair. Cosmetic bundles - No comment, they're seasonal and unless you like the color pink or really like some of the weapons it's nothing outstanding. There's an exclusive camo in the camo bundle, there's a heartstring + blackheart bundle, Golden Commissioner + Lunar new year cosmetics bundle, a cupid horn bundle, and a cool pink Archer variant. Continent changes - Some changes to unstable continent stabilization increasing the time before auto-stabilization kicks in and increased pop requirements for a continent to stabilize. Eisa now isn't an Empire Strength objective (same VP value as any other base) and TI Alloys is removed for the time being. Will TI Alloys return, and in what shape? I don't know. I guess they'll replace the base with a crater that leads to SNA. War assets - ANVILs have their crafting times and/or weight decreased and Orbital Strikes now cost 15 Polystellarite. Great change, there will probably be much less OS spam and while expeditions are still a thing, they take time and will practically put OS in a somewhat comfortable countdown. Cortium bomb - Literally Counter Strike C4. It used to be very strong anti-construction and meme weapon, but now I'm not sure how strong they will be, probably a lot stronger given that they can be used indoors and now have to be disarmed instead of shot. If it triggers from friendly fire then they've given everyone super C4, but for now I can't confirm anything except what they've said and confirming anything about the Cortium Bomb will require some testing. Infantry changes - Burning resistance is basically new SFX as well as incendiary ammo ignoring explosive resistance. Fortify buff - Interesting, the implant seems a lot less useless and while I do prefer moving all the time, 0.1 seconds for 20% small arms (Rank4/5) and 50% explosive resistance (Rank5) is powerful. I'd put the time to stand still at 0.5 seconds, but for now - no comment on it's actual performance. And finally, NC MAX buffs - safe to say that AI NC MAXes aren't trash anymore! All NC MAX shotguns are full auto, have received improved DPS (Rate of fire, pellet count and a massive increase in minimum damage) and increases in mag size and reserve ammo. They aren't as strong as pre-nerf ScatMAXes, but they're quite good now, usable and now deal much more consistent DPS. Overall, nothing stands out as broken, some stuff got improved, I can't confirm how strong some items are right now, but overall this seems... pretty good.
Cortium bomb becomes a TF detpack. Could be useful on capture points to detonate on or near the 2 sec mark. Defenders rush in, pop. Will have to test its damage levels etc. Not too happy about some ALT disarming it though!
This was a swing and a miss. The format change allows a few more players to see desolation. But only players in outfits that can win the matches and play again. The longer qual time is also crushing on smaller outfits. Fielding a full 48 is tough for many. Fielding it multiple times over will either be impossible or burn out players. What you'll find instead: Outfits are forced to combine or stack to create teams. The loyalty 3 will be no deterrent. You can grind that in a day. Also they announced it before the change so some have moved before the 0 reset. I know I did.
NC MAXes everythere. They easily kill at 20..30м distance and are actually farming machines. Looks like they are overpowered
