Hello one and all, welcome to Dirty Bomb’s latest Dev Blog update. With many a Merc body strewn about London’s streets after Dirty Bomb’s latest test, we’d like to have a quick chat about how the recent weekend test went, and what we’re looking to change for the next one beginning on 6 March.
Our thanks go out to everyone who took part in the test. While there were certainly points that we can improve upon, the weekend as a whole went well.
Weekend Evolution
Things got off to a roaring start with player numbers shooting through the roof on Friday evening. As the weekend flew by, we implemented a number of changes to Dirty Bomb to improve everyone’s experience. Let’s take a look at the larger changes that were made:
[ul]
[li]Matchmaking Upgrade[/li][LIST]
[li][]With matchmaking times being lower than expected (lower = better), we updated MM to place a greater emphasis on skill while maintaining relatively low search times. You may have noticed better quality matches on Sunday. [/li][/ul]
[li]Reduced Penalties[/li][ul]
[li][]Penalties were somewhat severe at the start of the weekend as they were designed for Competitive (Ranked) matchmaking, rather than casual play. Normally new players wouldn’t be able to go into Competitive/Ranked MM straight away, so we made the penalty system significantly more lenient. [/li][/ul]
[li]Levelling Bug Fix[/li][ul]
[li][*]A levelling bug was identified early during the test. Teams at Splash Damage & Nexon worked late into Friday night to get a hotfix built and deployed on Saturday morning. The fix was implemented before any players were affected [/li][/ul]
[/LIST]
A Dirty Rear End?
As it turns out, Dirty Bomb’s back-end infrastructure was mostly clean. With such a large number of players jumping into the game at once, we had some concerns that everything might crawl to a halt. For the most part things held up well.
Friends & Parties
You want to be able to easily play with friends and so do we. We’re 100% on the same page, getting party matchmaking up and running as soon as possible is one of our top priorities right now, so keep an eye on future updates for more info about parties.
Kill Them With FIRE!
A number of smaller bugs surfaced during the weekend, which is great! That’s precisely the point of these tests. We’d rather see bugs now and fix them, than have them show up when more people are playing.
We received a ton of feedback and info from you that has helped us to track down & crush bugs. Thanks for that, be sure to keep it coming! Our focus for the next test is to nail down some of the bigger issues, the chief culprits being:
[ul]
[li]The End of Round Crash[/li][LIST]
[li][]This was the biggest bug that reared its ugly head during the weekend. It must die a painful death! [/li][/ul]
[li]Merc Unlocking [/li][ul]
[li][]Apparently the super computer overlords that power Dirty Bomb are big fans of Arty….so much so that they insisted that he be unlocked ahead of other Mercs that players had selected to unlock. The overlords have received a stern talking to. [/li][/ul]
[li]Authentication Failure[/li][ul]
[li][]Although a relatively small number of players experienced this, networking problems are never fun. This’ll be tricky, but we’re working on making improvements.[/li][/ul]
[li]Xigncode Oddities[/li][ul]
[li][]A number of people had trouble with various Xigncode compatibility issues. There is an ongoing process in place to improve Xigncode detection. Some of those improvements will be made for the next test. [/li][/ul]
[/LIST]
Dive back into Dirty Bomb on the 6th of March!
With bugs, networking and anti-cheat oddities being tracked down and trampled, we’re looking forward to fewer interruptions during this weekend’s test. The Mercs will be ready to rock on the 6th of March at 9AM PST/5PM GMT.
While plans can always change, hardcore Dirty Bomb fans will appreciate Competitive matchmaking now featuring the 5v5 Stopwatch game mode instead of Objective. You’ll get to play on both attack and defence once again!
Oh, and don’t forget this is your last chance to qualify for the Limited Edition Loadout Card. If you haven’t already, make sure to log-in and complete a match by the 9th of March at 10AM PDT/5PM GMT.
See you on the streets of London on the 6th!
The Dirty Bomb Team
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