News: Game Update (2012/10/12)

[MasterCalaelen]

The servers have been updated so here is a little information about changes you may notice.

Underslung Weapons Available

Need a little extra punch? Strap one of our new under slung weapons to a Carbine or grab a Shotgun when you breach your next base. Whether it's a high explosive grenade or devastating shotgun round, you'll clear a room with ease. Certify for using these weapons today

Empire Heavy Weapons

Every soldier knows a successful engagement requires significant amounts of firepower. Prove yours is bigger and show up with a Jackhammer or Lasher to turn the tide of battle. Check out the Store and earn yours today.

Notable Changes:

● Certification just got easier (lower) on a number of weapon attachments.
● Population bonuses now display appropriately. We just wanted to remind you how outnumbered you were.
● Vehicles now pass through shields without any graphical anomalies. And by anomalies we mean randomly vaporizing personnel traveling through it. So no more hosing that smell out your Sunderer!

World:

● Generator destruction effects and voice over are now available.

Weapons and Certifications:

● Shotguns are now available for purchase. We'd like to remind you these are not for "hunting game' in the Warpgate.
● Underslung grenade launchers and shotguns are available for compatible weaponry. The keyword here is compatible so please stop duct taping things to light machine guns.
● Heavy weaponry such as the Jackhammer, Lasher, and MCG are now available. We aren't sure why you'd carry anything smaller than these but hey, we don't judge size.

Vehicles:

● The Lightning, Vanguard, and Prowler now have certifications for Tank Rotation and Braking Force. However, these will not prevent you from being "that guy" in the armor convoy.
● Vehicles now have a critical damage state. This means they are on fire. Beyond the fact you are basically roasting in a mobile easybake oven, it's going to affect their performance.
● Good news! Fire suppression system certifications have been added to repair critically damaged vehicles. We advise not breathing in the fumes from these systems. Look we can't safety test everything.
● Aircraft have had their health increased to compensate for critical damage. Stil keep in mind this just means you are roasting in a fast moving easybake oven.
● Composite Armor for aircraft now also reduces Flak damage and is now 4 ranks. We still don't advise playing chicken by hovering in front of a Burster armed MAX unit.
● Tanks now have access to Proximity Radar certifications. A reminder if they can see you, they can run you over. Pedistrians do not have the right of way.
● The Liberator is now much more resistant to Flak and slightly more resistant to antiaircraft fire. Paint, better armor, silly putty on the wings. We've just stopped guessing how it's being improved.

The following weapons have had some tuning adjustments.

● P525 Marauder
● G30 Vulcan
● Enforcer C85 Modified
● Light Aircraft Rotary cannons
● Light Aircraft special weapons

Resources:

● Resources have been renamed to be more intuitive.
● Auraxium is now only rewarded to active players. This means you can probably stop killing people idling in the Warpgate. Probably.

Social:

●Outfit tags are now displayed on player names. You can now get out there and embarrass your Outfit at will.

Performance:

● We continue to make performance optimizations to improve your gameplay experience.

The Patch Notes can also be found on our Wiki: http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/...82012/10/12%29

[Crator]

Originally Posted by MasterCalaelen

Shotguns are now available for purchase. We'd like to remind you these are not for "hunting game' in the Warpgate.

Don't they know telling kids not to do something usually has a reverse effect?

[Morsong]

Looks good to me. Going to check out some videos now. Wish I had the specs to play this, but what's that saying? The longer you wait the better it tastes?

[Morsong]

^ hehe. true. very true. lets hope that doesn't happen then.

[WiteBeam]

Awesome. Who wrote this description? He/she should write all of them. Pretty amusing.

[Geist]

Originally Posted by WiteBeam

Awesome. Who wrote this description? He/she should write all of them. Pretty amusing.

Have you seen the last three patch notes? RadarX has been working his ass off providing us entertaining yet informative notes about patches.

[WiteBeam]

Originally Posted by Geist

Have you seen the last three patch notes? RadarX has been working his ass off providing us entertaining yet informative notes about patches.

I must have only read the highlights written by other people.

[Hamma]

Yep RadarX writes them all up

[SniperSteve]

JH is OP

[AnamNantom]

Originally Posted by Hamma

Yep RadarX writes them all up

Hah, on a stream he said it was maybe him, maybe some other people, depending on if you like them or not. :P

[WildEagle]

Can someone post pics of them please?

[SpottyGekko]

I'm kinda sad to see the unique resource names being replaced with generic "Vehicle Resources" and "Infantry Resources" and "Air Resouces". Very bland.

But I guess it does make the game more "accessible"...

[AnamNantom]

Originally Posted by SpottyGekko

I'm kinda sad to see the unique resource names being replaced with generic "Vehicle Resources" and "Infantry Resources" and "Air Resouces". Very bland.

But I guess it does make the game more "accessible"...

I agree about that. I didn't mind using my brain and a little thing called memory to associate what went with what. Color and shape recognition for the win. It adds more flavor to know what exactly we are resourcing.

One thing though, I'm thinking they are going to make it more complex. I read where they plan on having more resources, rare ones, on different planets and etc eventually.

[SpottyGekko]

Originally Posted by AnamNantom

I agree about that. I didn't mind using my brain and a little thing called memory to associate what went with what. Color and shape recognition for the win. It adds more flavor to know what exactly we are resourcing.

One thing though, I'm thinking they are going to make it more complex. I read where they plan on having more resources, rare ones, on different planets and etc eventually.

Well, it was mentioned that there may be more "rare" resources added when (and if) they add player-built structures. But that was part of Smed's wishlist for future development. That may be a year or two down the line.

Seeing as they are already struggling to get a balance between accessible game play, solo-player needs, outfits and how to make money from Cash Shop sales, I'll not hold my breath on too many extra things being thrown into the mix in the near future.

This last patch feels like the game has changed to "territory conquest lite". The non-facility hexes count for trivial amounts of resources. With auraxium being tied solely to XP now, we are back to zerging as many bases and outposts in the shortest possible time.

EDIT:
Just spotted this Tweet from Smed:

They might as well abandon the whole resource system and just use timers. I don't quite understand this, what will players use to buy stuff in the Cash Shop if auraxium goes ? Or are they going to rename auraxium to "Cash Shop Resources" to make it more "intuitive" ?

[Zulthus]

I too would like to see resources removed and replaced with in-depth facility benefits. I don't log on to capture territory in order to get vehicles/MAXes, I log on because I like massive vehicle warfare and battles. I think the game would be better off with timers.