Bugs and Balance Housekeeping Update - 22/07/2015 v47800


(Chris Mullins) #1

General

[ul]
[li]Updates to the Mission system:
[/li][LIST]
[li]XP Mission values updated so Game Mode and Support are now quicker to complete
[/li][li]Removed ‘Win X Matches’ missions as they were incentivizing unbalanced matches
[/li][li]Added new Missions for Competitive Matches, the Execution Game Mode and Secondary Objectives
[/li][li]Updated Merc Missions to be based around earning an XP type instead of playing ‘X’ matches
[/li][/ul]
[li]Clamped a number of video settings to address exploits such as completely disabling particle effects
[/li][li]Updated the auto-detect video settings when the game is first run to apply more appropriate graphics presets (High, Med, Low)
[/li][li]Updated the Competitive Matchmaking algorithm so it spends more time searching for players of closer skill-ratings
[/li][/LIST]

User Interface

[ul]
[li]Added Steam related options to the right click drop down panel on the scoreboard
[/li][li]Updates to the Spectator HUD:
[/li][LIST]
[li]Minimap now increased in size and shows all players with the correct team colors
[/li][li]Chat has been moved to the top left and players names are also correctly colored
[/li][li]Objective HUD is now positioned in the centre
[/li][/ul][/LIST]

Visual Effects

[ul]
[li]Improved the visual effects when Phantom is shot while his Refractive Armor is active
[/li][li]Updated the effects when a player is revived with defibs/REVIVR
[/li][li]Updated the REVIVR firing and impact effects
[/li][li]Improved the Katana trail effects
[/li][li]Made the Orbital Strike effects a little more impressive
[/li][li]Updated Skyhammer’s Airstrike explosion effects
[/li][/ul]

Audio

[ul]
[li]Added new firing audio for the Blishlok SMG
[/li][li]Tweaked footstep audio volume and falloff to make them more audible
[/li][li]Improved the mix for all weapon audio, including slightly quieter surface impacts
[/li][li]Frag Grenade bounces are now slightly louder when in range
[/li][li]Added exertion audio for Sparks when she is incapacitated or killed
[/li][li]Added glass breaking sounds for large and medium windows
[/li][/ul]

General Gameplay

[ul]
[li]Reduced the amount of kick when receiving damage, to compensate for the recent update to view-kick functionality
[/li][li]Players will now only spawn in game after choosing a Merc, once a map is loaded
[/li][li]Deployables are now easier to place in tighter spaces
[/li][/ul]

Fragger

[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where pressing ‘4’ could cause a Frag Grenade to be thrown
[/li][/ul]

Fletcher

[ul]
[li]Reclaiming a Sticky Bomb now only returns 50% of the cooldown
[/li][/ul]

Phantom

[ul]
[li]Phantom’s health has been lowered to 110hp (from 120hp)
[/li][li]Refractive Armor recharge time increased to 10s (from 6s)
[/li][li]Taking damage that exceeds remaining Refractive Armor energy will now also eat into health
[/li][li]Heartbeat Sensor detection no longer disables Refractive Armor but will still spot Phantom
[/li][li]Refractive Armor no longer prevents gas damage from eating into health
[/li][li]Refractive Armor is now slightly more visible when Phantom is moving
[/li][li]Cloaking/de-cloaking audio is now more audible to other players
[/li][/ul]

Sparks

[ul]
[li]REVIVR now deals the correct amount of damage to objectives
[/li][li]REVIVR battery now begins draining immediately, rather than when minimum shot charge is reached
[/li][li]Increased the rate at which the REVIVR battery is depleted while charging shots by 10%
[/li][li]Enemy REVIVR shots are now seen as orange in-game
[/li][/ul]

Ranged Weapons

[ul]
[li]K-121 Machine Gun - Reduced spread and recoil by ~5%
[/li][li]PDP-70 Automatic Sniper Rifle - This will no longer insta-gib players if it kills with a headshot
[/li][li]KEK-10 SMG - Bullet spread now increases ~7% faster while firing
[/li][li]Crotzni SMG - Bullet spread now increases ~10% faster while firing
[/li][/ul]

Melee Weapons

[ul]
[li]Added a turn-speed-limit for melee attacks to prevent exploits and reward initial aim
[/li][LIST][li]This will be fine-tuned based on player feedback and metrics
[/li][/ul]
[li]Cricket Bat - Reduced movement speed when equipped by 2.5%
[/li][li]Katana - Reduced movement speed when equipped by 2.5%
[/li][li]Katana - Secondary attacks now deal damage for a shorter period of time
[/li][/LIST]

Augments

[ul]
[li]Chopper Augment melee damage bonus reduced to +15% (from 20%)
[/li][li]Lock-On Augment now correctly reduces Turret lock-on times
[/li][li]Steady Augment now correctly adds health to all deployables
[/li][li]Flying Pig Augment now correctly negates all fall damage
[/li][/ul]

Notable Bug Fixes

[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where players could be stuck after being revived
[/li][li]Fix for players sometimes not seeing the MM ranking in the game overview screen
[/li][li]Optimized UI code to aid Minimap performance
[/li][li]Removed the silencer from the Selbstadt .40 Pistol icon
[/li][li]Fixed several issues with Mounted Gun audio
[/li][/ul]


(shibbyuk) #2

Some nice changes there; notable in particular are merc selection fix and minimap optimisation! One or two controversial, too :wink: Instagib changes!? :eek: I look forward to trying it though.


(OenX) #3

Looking like one of the more solid patches. Great work, keep the bug fix train going!


(Kl3ppy) #4

Looking forward to the Phantom changes. The changes dont seem to bad, mabye the whining is reduced after the patch is live.


(BioSnark) #5

“Updated Skyhammer’s Airstrike explosion effects”
Hope that means it won’t sometimes cause a big performance hit for me.

Yay shakycam nerf and blish sfx!

Glad the heartbeat sensor is no longer a hard counter to the shield and hope the shield cooldown and katana chainsaw period nerfs, as well as heavy melee changes, add some skill to using the character effectively.

Wish weapons were nerfed in ways other than spread changes.


(FishStix) #6

Awesome update! Glad to see it!


(PixelTwitch) #7

Have to say the changes to both Sparks and Phantom are exactly what I was afraid of…

Direct nerf to a couple of Mercs that where already at the edge of viability in high end play…
These should have been small functionality changes and not simply “make them weaker” fixes…

Really feels like there are 2 results we always seem to get with Dirty Bombs balance…
Broken or Boring… So close to recommending we let people just go 2 fragger, 2 sawbones and 1 engie/fo/sniper at this point…


(Kl3ppy) #8

When will the healing station be nerfed?
At least make the healing stop when getting damage and after 2 secs without damage start healing again.


(potty200) #9

Phantom could do with his speed while running with a katana being slower. You have the same gain on speed as running with a knife as a sword :confused: You cannot back peddle quick enough after his appears out of nowhere.

Overall the whole merc destroys game play. People are scared to move in on attack and camp like bitches on defense all because of phantom. Honestly it puzzles me why he STILL has the best melee weapon, one of the best guns, the best ability and is as quick as a normal medium sized merc or as quick as a light merc when holding his katana. You desperately need a test realm as a merc like this cannot be released again. So much hate from so many players - Competitive AND casual.


(Kl3ppy) #10

sorry potty but if this is the case, the players are not able to adopt to phantom. Did you ever play as him? it is not that easy, good players will spot phantom and suddenly he is not that strong anymore. Better get used to him instead of whining.


(Nail) #11

lol, I find all the Phantom hate hilarious, the amount of rage and the level of vitriol coming from some people made me laugh, sorry I just don’t really get it, it’s a video game not life.I’d love to see a rotation of Phantom, Phoenix and Stoker just for the forum comments on Steam and Nexon


(spookify) #12

General

[ul]
[li]Updated the Competitive Matchmaking algorithm so it spends more time searching for players of closer skill-ratings[/li][/ul]

Did you find out what was wrong?
Any Chance my ELO team strength might be added to the end of the game?

User Interface

[ul]
[li]Added Steam related options to the right click drop down panel on the scoreboard[/li][/ul]

SWEET!

Visual Effects

[ul]
[li]Improved the visual effects when Phantom is shot while his Refractive Armor is active[/li][/ul]

Much Needed

Audio

[ul]
[li]Added new firing audio for the Blishlok SMG[/li][li]Tweaked footstep audio volume and falloff to make them more audible[/li][li]Improved the mix for all weapon audio, including slightly quieter surface impacts[/li][li]Frag Grenade bounces are now slightly louder when in range[/li][li]Added exertion audio for Sparks when she is incapacitated or killed[/li][li]Added glass breaking sounds for large and medium windows[/li][/ul]

Everyone needs to try the Blishlok after this patch! The audio is finally right which might actually make the gun feel better! Give it a shot! Cant wait!

General Gameplay

[ul]
[li]Reduced the amount of kick when receiving damage, to compensate for the recent update to view-kick functionality[/li][li]Players will now only spawn in game after choosing a Merc, once a map is loaded[/li][li]Deployables are now easier to place in tighter spaces[/li][/ul]

I like the kick so its good they are making more fine changes to it.

Fragger

[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where pressing ‘4’ could cause a Frag Grenade to be thrown[/li][/ul]

Phantom

[ul]
[li]Phantom’s health has been lowered to 110hp (from 120hp)[/li][li]Refractive Armor recharge time increased to 10s (from 6s)[/li][li]Taking damage that exceeds remaining Refractive Armor energy will now also eat into health[/li][li]Heartbeat Sensor detection no longer disables Refractive Armor but will still spot Phantom[/li][li]Refractive Armor no longer prevents gas damage from eating into health[/li][li]Refractive Armor is now slightly more visible when Phantom is moving[/li][li]Cloaking/de-cloaking audio is now more audible to other players[/li][/ul]

I like the tweaks I just hope you didnt go to far and make him useless. He’s a good merc for what he is made to do. Basically an assassin getting one kill and hopefully the gib. Also great is disrupting things but good players and good team stick together so you actually need to be very good to play him to get more then one kill and really disrupted a good team. Remember this is only the second tweak and I am hoping his HP will return to 120 and some more visual things can be done to his cloak especially when he is on the move.

Sparks

[ul]
[li]REVIVR now deals the correct amount of damage to objectives[/li][li]REVIVR battery now begins draining immediately, rather than when minimum shot charge is reached[/li][li]Increased the rate at which the REVIVR battery is depleted while charging shots by 10%[/li][li]Enemy REVIVR shots are now seen as orange in-game[/li][/ul]

Sparks is weak already in my mind and her controls are messed up.

Ranged Weapons

[ul]
[li]K-121 Machine Gun - Reduced spread and recoil by ~5%[/li][li]PDP-70 Automatic Sniper Rifle - This will no longer insta-gib players if it kills with a headshot[/li][li]KEK-10 SMG - Bullet spread now increases ~7% faster while firing[/li][li]Crotzni SMG - Bullet spread now increases ~10% faster while firing [/li][/ul]

Im glad the K-121 is back so sort of back! I did not think Smooth was going to tweak the KEK or Crotzni but rather slightly buff the SMG-9… I hope the guns still “feel” good!
Personally I would have liked to see decrease to bullet spread while firing for the Blishlok and the D-AR… It seems like I loss control of those guns way to fast…

[SIZE=4]Melee Weapons

[ul]
[li]Added a turn-speed-limit for melee attacks to prevent exploits and reward initial aim[/li][LIST][li]This will be fine-tuned based on player feedback and metrics[/li][/ul]
[li]Cricket Bat - Reduced movement speed when equipped by 2.5%[/li][li]Katana - Reduced movement speed when equipped by 2.5%[/li][li]Katana - Secondary attacks now deal damage for a shorter period of time[/li][/LIST][/SIZE]

Nice Changes

[SIZE=4]Augments

[ul]
[li]Chopper Augment melee damage bonus reduced to +15% (from 20%)[/li][li]Lock-On Augment now correctly reduces Turret lock-on times[/li][li]Steady Augment now correctly adds health to all deployables[/li][li]Flying Pig Augment now correctly negates all fall damage[/li][/ul]

Notable Bug Fixes

[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where players could be stuck after being revived[/li][li]Fix for players sometimes not seeing the MM ranking in the game overview screen[/li][li]Optimized UI code to aid Minimap performance[/li][li]Removed the silencer from the Selbstadt .40 Pistol icon[/li][li]Fixed several issues with Mounted Gun audio[/li][/ul][/SIZE]

“Notable” Changes :slight_smile:
Any luck finding the server bug that doesnt allow people to join another server or ranked MM game after leaving a server? I still time out everytime I leave a server and try to join another. I have to leave the game and party every-time…
Fix the bug where people click inv[/I]ite and nothing happens?

[U]Anti any luck mousing over the ranks at the end of a game so the text of the rank is displayed?

Any Changes to the ranking being done? The symbols and the ranks seem backwards to me? I can never tell if I am going up or down or what is the best rank. Right now you go Cobalt 3 to Cobalt 1 however you gain a V shaped thing on your rank so it looks like you have 3 of them making you Cobalt 3? WTF! I hope you are working on a system so noobs like me know instantly and with out thinking what is good and bad and what direction it goes.[/U]


(Domipheus) #13

Looking forward to this update, many notable and welcome changes.


(spookify) #14

[QUOTE=PixelTwitch;534811]Have to say the changes to both Sparks and Phantom are exactly what I was afraid of…

Direct nerf to a couple of Mercs that where already at the edge of viability in high end play…
These should have been small functionality changes and not simply “make them weaker” fixes…

Really feels like there are 2 results we always seem to get with Dirty Bombs balance…
Broken or Boring… So close to recommending we let people just go 2 fragger, 2 sawbones and 1 engie/fo/sniper at this point…[/QUOTE]

I ringed in a scrim yesterday and they needed me to play engy to replaces their missing player. I wasnt very happy because I had more kills then the fragger and if you want to win the Fragger needs to have 2:1 more kills then anyone on your team other then another solider (At Least that is what DB feels like).

This scrim was the least fun I had playing DB. Some no name clan with a sniper that didnt miss. With no anti-cheat it is very un-insuring that people werent using something but I kept my mouth shut because we will never know…

I am unsure what to think about the one merc system and possible a draft system. I think if everyone had one nade the game would be a lot more even, buts thats just me…

If you can kill and repeat you are going to win DB! That is what the game is… One mistake and you either win or loss there’s really no forgiveness in the maps.

Im staying away from Comp and Leagues… This game isn’t ready; in all categories: Maps, Balance, Anti-Cheat and performance.


(BMXer) #15

[QUOTE=spookify;534905]I ringed in a scrim yesterday and they needed me to play engy to replaces their missing player. I wasnt very happy because I had more kills then the fragger and if you want to win the Fragger needs to have 2:1 more kills then anyone on your team other then another solider (At Least that is what DB feels like).

This scrim was the least fun I had playing DB. Some no name clan with a sniper that didnt miss. With no anti-cheat it is very un-insuring that people werent using something but I kept my mouth shut because we will never know…

I am unsure what to think about the one merc system and possible a draft system. I think if everyone had one nade the game would be a lot more even, buts thats just me…

If you can kill and repeat you arent going to win DB! That is what the game is… One mistake and you either win or loss there’s really no forgiveness in the maps.

Im staying away from Comp and Leagues… This game isn’t ready; in all categories: Maps, Balance, Anti-Cheat and performance.[/QUOTE]

Id be willing to bet I know who that “sniper that didn’t miss” is. The lack of anticheat is going to be a huge problem for the dirty cups league if they don’t do something about it quickly. There are AT LEAST 3 teams with cheaters in NA that are currently in the league. There are a dozen or so players signed up with VAC bans on their Steam profiles. Literally the most hack riddled FPS game ive ever played by a long shot.


(INF3RN0) #16

It is rather annoying that the current state of the anti-cheat in DB is so bad… however I usually try to give most players the benefit of the doubt. There have been quite a few players that have proven themselves to be legitimate, but you never really know sometimes. The best way to negate all doubt imo is to stream with a webcam on the mouse/screens. It is already proven that a hacker can hide their cheats on stream, so sadly the webcam is a necessity these days. We really need demo replays otherwise.


(potty200) #17

It’s not so much the ones who try hide it that are annoying me atm. It is the ones who blatantly cheat and are proud of getting away with it. Last month i’d encounter a cheater ever 5-6 games. Now I am bumping into one more than 50% of the time. The problem is only going to get worse as they advertise in game chat how easy it is to get a cheat and not get banned.


(Smooth) #18

[QUOTE=PixelTwitch;534811]Direct nerf to a couple of Mercs that where already at the edge of viability in high end play…
These should have been small functionality changes and not simply “make them weaker” fixes…[/QUOTE]

I share your concerns regarding these Mercs in high-level play, the way some other games handle the introduction of new Mercs is banning them from competitive play for a few weeks/months after release to get them more balanced. We don’t really want to go down that route right now (but might do later down the line when drafting becomes a reality) I’d much rather have a ‘test realm’ for these kind of things and we’re currently working through the potential logistics of getting that set up.

Right now though we need to focus on the bigger picture, which is addressing some of the key concerns with these Mercs. After that we can update them again based on the next wave of data and feedback

High level balance is something that’s going to evolve over time as is the Competitive game mode itself. There’s a lot we still plan on doing still and we’ll never stop fixing and balancing.


(spookify) #19

I’m the opposite of you potty… I fear the person that try’s to hide the haxs more then the blatant haxer… The Blatant haxers are very easy to report and ban. The ones trying to hide it are the ones I hate… Again in my post above there’s some weird NA clans right now. Every shot they fire you feel like you are getting hit by a ton of bricks! I have played against some very good people and clans and there is just a different feel to the game.


(Kl3ppy) #20

[QUOTE=Smooth;534951]I share your concerns regarding these Mercs in high-level play, the way some other games handle the introduction of new Mercs is banning them from competitive play for a few weeks/months after release to get them more balanced. We don’t really want to go down that route right now (but might do later down the line when drafting becomes a reality) I’d much rather have a ‘test realm’ for these kind of things and we’re currently working through the potential logistics of getting that set up.

Right now though we need to focus on the bigger picture, which is addressing some of the key concerns with these Mercs. After that we can update them again based on the next wave of data and feedback

High level balance is something that’s going to evolve over time as is the Competitive game mode itself. There’s a lot we still plan on doing still and we’ll never stop fixing and balancing.[/QUOTE]

Do you have any Echo data about Phantom (k/d ratio, overall played time etc) you can share?