Welcome, traveller, to my humble abode!
The abode itself isn’t mine, per se, but don’t let trivialities interfere; Take a seat by one of the fires as I read from a classic.
You’ll know Charles Dickens as the noted Victorian author of such great novels as Oliver The Whist, Niggling Nickelback, Great Expectorations, Our Mutual Target, and of course the unforgettable A Tale Of A City And Another Similar, Yet Contrasting, City.
But did you know that Charles invented Dickensmas as we know it? Thanks to his Yuletide yarns we writhe in a seasonal orgy of liver-detonating feasting, feigned social reconciliation, cloying family sentiment and mass material consumption.
“Bah, Hamburg!” I’m tempted to say. But these comfy holiday sweaters, Trinket trails and Ranking shenanigans have really lifted my spirits!
Then again, maybe it’s the brandy talking… Now, where was I?
Introducing Trinkets
You take your desk for granted. Crowding it with figurines, nick-nacks, and filthy post-it notes is par for the course, but spare a moment for the Mercs of the world with no portable alternative. Now bury the fear: Trinkets are here! These aesthetic add-ons attach to your Primary Weapon, to calm your nerves and provide light entertainment between spawn waves.
Trinket Hunt Event
Three Limited Edition Trinkets lie in wait for hardworking Mercs to find. For two weeks of the holidays, you can get them all simply by playing in matches. You’ll be able to track your progress towards each Trinket in-game, but be vigilant though, as on January 6th all progress will be lost and any remaining Trinkets will disappear forever!
[ul]
[li]Lump 'o Coal (3 hours play time) - Don’t let the inquisitive eyes and clever branding fool you, it really is just a lump of coal. Cute, though.[/li][li]Olde Flashlight (+12 more hours, 15 hours total) - For those ready to put in the hard yards. Apparently these things use oil instead of batteries![/li][li]Warm Snowman (+45 more hours, 60 hours total) - The truly dedicated will be rewarded with the Warm Snowman. A reminder of mortality attached to a death-bringer - How ironic![/li][/ul]
The Trinket Hunt event will take place on the following dates:
London (GMT, UTC): 18:00, Tuesday, December 22nd - 18:00, Wednesday, January 6th
Los Angeles (PST): 10:00 AM, Tuesday, December 22nd - 10:00 AM, Wednesday, January 6th
Sydney (AEDT): 5:00 AM, Wednesday, December 23rd - 5:00 AM, Thursday, January 7th
Limited Edition ‘What the Dickens?’ Merc Trinkets
Three Limited Edition Merc Trinkets will be available in the store until January 13th, for US$4.99 each.
‘Mine Sweeper’ Proxy adorably recalls the misery of the 19th century working class, ‘Arty Marley’ Arty is a genuine throwback to Scrooge’s ghostly business partner, and ‘Angel of Ire’ Sparks is really not happy to see you. She’s just not.
Limited Edition ‘What the Dickens?’ Loadout Cards
If wearing legitimately uncool sweaters during the holiday season makes you cool, ‘What the Dickens?’ exclusive Loadout Cards will make your Mercs the coolest. Available for one month only, these outfits will irrefutably prove that you spent more time online than with your family.
Dickens-flavored cases will be available until January 13th, featuring all Loadout Card variants:
[ul]
[li]Dickens Equipment Cases drop instead of regular Equipment Cases, and can be bought in the store for the same price as the regular Equipment Case, giving a 0.3% chance of scoring a ‘What the Dickens’ Loadout Card[/li][li]Dickens Elite Cases can be bought in the store for the same price as the regular Elite Case, and give a 10% chance of scoring a ‘What the Dickens’ Loadout Card[/li][li]Dickens Event Cases are given away as a bonus when you purchase a bundle of 10 Dickens Elite Cases, and guarantee a ‘What the Dickens’ Loadout Card[/li][/ul]
Drop the Dickens Event
During the first week of the Trinket Hunt Event, the ‘Drop the Dickens’ Event will take place. Dickens Event Cases, guaranteeing a ‘What the Dickens?’ Loadout Card, will randomly drop to lucky players throughout the event. Keep your eyes peeled when you complete matches - it could be you!
London (GMT, UTC): 18:00, Tuesday, December 22nd - 18:00, Wednesday, December 30th
Los Angeles (PST): 10:00 AM, Tuesday, December 22nd - 10:00 AM, Wednesday, December 30th
Sydney (AEDT): 5:00 AM, Wednesday, December 23rd - 5:00 AM, Thursday, December 31st
Introducing Ranked Seasons
Your rank will then reset, and you’ll be put into placement matches for the first official Ranked Season.
For the remainder of the Pre-Season, we’ve made the following changes:
[ul]
[li]Enabled Friendly Fire in Ranked Matches[/li][li]Enabled Vote Kick in Ranked Matches (don’t be a Dickensian!)[/li][li]Added a Ranked Season Overview page to the Profile stats menu[/li][li]Increased matchmaking search times to focus on finding closer-skilled players[/li][li]Updated the skill rating algorithm to factor in recent Win/Loss ratio[/li][LIST][li]This will mean if players are consistently winning/losing a lot, then they will move up/down the Ranks more quickly[/ul][/li][/LIST]
Trade Up Discount
Because two holiday events just aren’t enough - From now until Monday, all Trading Up costs are reduced by 20%!
London (GMT, UTC): 18:00, Wednesday, December 16th - 18:00, Monday, December 21st
Los Angeles (PST): 10:00 AM, Wednesday, December 16th - 10:00 AM, Monday, December 21st
Sydney (AEDT): 5:00 AM, Thursday, December 17th - 5:00 AM, Tuesday, December 22nd
Balance Changes
Augments
- [li]Guardian Angel - Now receive an audio warning whenever nearby enemy air support is a danger to you and 20% reduced damage from air support abilities[/li][LIST][li]This now also includes Kira’s Orbital Laser and the audio has been updated to make the timing and positioning more obvious[/ul][/li][li]Pineapple Juggler - Now allows you to melee hit back mid-air grenades and other projectiles[/li][ul][li]This also includes Airstrike Markers, Heartbeat Sensors and even Sticky Bombs and Molotov Grenades if timed correctly[/ul][/li][li]Quick Eye - Now also reduces the raise/lower times of iron-sighting, as well as increased movement speed when sighted[/li][li]Bomb Squad - Now adds an on-screen indicator to all enemy deployables within line of sight, making them much more visible[/li][ul][li]This includes items like Turrets, Stations, Mines, Sticky Bombs etc
Proxy
[ul]
[li]Reduced Proximity Mine cooldown to 20s (from 25s)[/li][li]Increased Proximity Mine detection radius to 1.92m (from 1.6m)[/li][li]Slightly reduced intensity of Proximity Mine glow[/li][/ul]
Fragger
[ul]
[li]Reduced Frag Grenade damage to 170 (from 180)[/li][/ul]
Thunder
[ul]
[li]Reduced fuse time on Concussion Grenade to 1.2s (from 1.6s)[/li][li]Increased maximum Concussion stun duration to 6s (from 5s)[/li][li]Increased maximum Concussion stun movement reduction to 99% (from 80%) - this recovers over time during the stun duration[/li][/ul]
Vassili
[ul]
[li]Increased Heartbeat Sensor detection radius to 14.4m (from 12.8m)[/li][/ul]
Redeye
[ul]
[li]Reduced time it takes to spot enemies with IR Goggles to 0.2s (from 0.3s)[/li][/ul]
Dreiss AR
[ul]
[li]Increased damage to 27 (from 26)[/li][li]Reduced maximum bullet spread and spread increase rate by ~15%[/li][/ul]
Timik-47
[ul]
[li]Reduced recoil by ~10%[/li][/ul]
SMG-9
[ul]
[li]Reduced bullet spread by ~2%[/li][li]Reduced recoil by ~3%[/li][/ul]
Blishlok
[ul]
[li]Reduced bullet spread by ~3%[/li][li]Reduced recoil by ~6%[/li][/ul]
Hollunds 880
[ul]
[li]Reduced pellet spread by ~6%[/li][li]Increased effective range by ~6% [/li][/ul]
Remburg 7
[ul]
[li]Reduced pellet spread by ~5%[/li][li]Increased effective range by ~8% [/li][/ul]
MoA SNPR-1
[ul]
[li]Increased rate of fire to 50 RPM (from 46)[/li][li]Reduced reload time to 2.4s (from 2.6s) [/ul][/li]FEL-IX
[ul]
[li]Increased rate of fire to 46 RPM (from 40)[/li][li]Reduced reload time to 2.5s (from 2.6s)[/ul][/li]PDP-70
[ul]
[li]Increased recoil by ~10%[/ul][/li]Grandeur SR
[ul]
[li]Reduced vertical recoil by ~15%[/ul][/li]
Other Changes
[ul]
[li]Made Objective the first Game Mode to be unlocked[/li][li]Execution is now unlocked at Level 3[/li][/ul]
Gameplay
[ul]
[li]Removed the Win Execution Rounds missions[/li][li]Increased the XP given per magazine of Ammo to 20XP (from 15XP)[/li][li]Increased all hand-thrown grenade bounciness by ~10%[/li][li]Tapping ironsight and releasing fire no longer almost-instantly resets hip-fired bullet spread[/li][li]Enabled Pausing in Private Matches[/li][li]Synced reloading gameplay timings more closely with individual weapon animations[/li][LIST][li]MP 400 - ammo is now given 0.43s earlier in the animation[/li][li]Empire-9 - ammo given 0.51s earlier[/li][li]FEL-IX - ammo given 0.91s earlier[/li][li]Blishlok - ammo given 0.63s earlier[/li][li]K-121 - ammo given 0.49s later[/li][li]Simeon .357 - ammo given 0.10s later[/li][li]Smjüth & Whetsman .40 - ammo given 0.10s later[/li][li]PDP-70 - ammo given 0.11s later[/li][/ul][/LIST]
User Interface
[ul]
[li]Added new Minimal and Super settings to the video options[/li][li]Updated the advanced settings section in the video options menu[/li][LIST][li]Changed name of One Frame Interval to Thread Sync and inverted the behavior[/li][LIST][li]Off - Improved performance at the cost of input latency[/li][li]On - Reduced input latency as the cost of performance[/li][/ul][/LIST]
[li]In-game chat messages now carry over from in-game, to the end review screen and the lobby[/li][li]Made the matchmaking Rank of all players visible in Party lobbies[/li][li]Spectators will now correctly see which team has won at the end of the match[/li][/LIST]
Audio
[ul]
[li]Continued improvements on the overall mix to prioritize important gameplay audio[/li][li]Reduced the incoming hit notification audio so players can hear incoming gun fire more clearly[/li][li]Improved the outro cinematic audio on Chapel[/li][li]Reduced the sound of footsteps when turning on the spot[/li][li]Updated the supporting audio for the Chopper Augment[/li][li]Added new audio for when players Rank up or down after a Ranked Match[/li][li]Audio polish passes for Revive Notifications, Stilnotto Stiletto, Airstrikes and Heartbeat Sensors[/li][li]Added audio for opening and closing gates on Dome[/li][/ul]
Maps
- Dome - Players can no longer jump on the sale sign near the brewery
Notable Bug Fixes
[ul]
[li]Fixed bug where Merc dialogue was still audible when Dialogue Volume was set to 0[/li][li]Fixed bug where Proximity Mines and Turrets could become silent[/li][li]Fixed bug where Concussion Grenade audio effects would play for team-mates and through walls[/li][li]Fixed bug where using admin commands to restart a map would break Stopwatch mode win rules[/li][li]Fixed bug where the EV destination marker was not visible in the second round of Stopwatch[/li][li]Fixed bug where Thunder could get XP for hitting team-mates with a Concussion Grenade when Friendly Fire is ON[/li][li]Fixed bug where players could receive combat XP for damaging team-mates with abilities when Friendly Fire is ON[/li][li]Fixed bug with Sticky Bombs breaking carryable objective interactions by making them bounce off carryables[/li][li]Fixed bug where the Healing Station could heal through certain sections of wall[/li][li]Fixed bug where players could accidentally reclaim items deployed behind them[/li][li]Fixed bug where footstep audio could sometimes be missing[/li][li]Fixed bug where explosives could deal no damage to someone delivering a carryable objective[/li][li]Fixed bug where the C4 could disappear in Execution rounds[/li][li]Fixed bug where no bullet casings were ejected when firing the MK46 while ironsighted[/li][/ul]