News: GU08 Coming Tomorrow @ 5AM PDT via Higby

[Hamma]

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/i...d-when.121748/

Originally Posted by Higby

Hey all -

We're putting the final touches on what should be our biggest Game Update yet! We're really excited about some of the things being released in GU08 and think you will be too. So, I wanted give you guys a quick preview of what is coming with the update.

The biggest thing you're going to see right away in GU08 is the addition of the Harasser buggy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XPQMbkbyAY

The Harasser is a lightly-armored highly mobile 3-man assault buggy. Designed primarily for hit-and-run attacks and rapid strike team insertion, the Harasser fills a really fun role in the game. It has a dedicated driver, a gunner who has access to a top mounted 360 degree turret and a rumble seat which can hold any infantry class, including a MAX. Some cool tactics are opened up with the Harasser, some of my favorites so far are to use them with Burster MAXes as a fast moving AA response, equipping a Gate Shield Diffuser to soften up defenders in a courtyard before sending in troops to blow the gens, or of course, using the Turbo to launch yourself over cliffs to your firey death - which isn't so much a tactic, but it's still pretty fun. We can't wait to see the ways you guys use the Harasser to bring a new dimension to the vehicle gameplay on Auraxis!

Next up, we've got some MAX updates:

Each empire specific MAX is getting a new set of AV weapons, these are each designed to compliment the existing MAX AV weapons, by creating a long range AV option for the MAX, while the current ones will provide better overall DPS in close range situations. Since the item preview page is pretty good now, I'll let the UI do the talking on these new weapons:








We've also got a set of 2 new Helmets and 1 new set of armor for each empires MAX.

We're not 100% done with all the MAX updates yet, however. So, for GU08 have decided to hold off on releasing the new MAX abilities until we have have a bit more time to make sure they are properly tuned. With any new ability or item that substantially changes the way an empire plays in an asymetrical way, we need to be extremely careful about making sure they're perfectly tuned and counterbalanced before releasing them. By keeping these abilities on the Public Test server for a few more days and continuing to iterate and refine them based on feedback from our Public Test players, we hope to get all of the kinks worked out and unleash them on the rest of the servers soon!

MAXes aren't the only ones getting some new cosmetics with this update, each empire is getting a new infantry helmet that works on all non-MAX classes. These helmets were made based on a lot of requests for more sci-fi inspired helmet options, and we hope you dig them as much as we do.




Balance and Tuning changes:

GU08 is also bringing a substantial balance pass on many infantry weapons, virtually all carbines, LMGs, Assault Rifles and SMGs are being touched in one way or another, as well as many of the attachments. The exact changes will be available in the patch notes, but the general idea of this tuning is to carve out specific roles for each weapons, ensure that the weapons intended to shine at long range are doing just that, and that the ones that are supposed to be close quarters slayers aren't dominating in the medium and long ranges as well. This is being done in pursuit of a goal for us to lessen the dominance of any "one-size-fits-all" weapons in the game.

Tank armor has been increased for GU08 in order to give our lumbering armored friends a bit more survivability. This change mostly means that each tank is capable of taking 1-2 more standard infantry rockets worth of damage before turning into a pile of slag and getting eaten up by nanites. AP rounds for all tanks, and base turrets, as well as the Dalton and 30mm Tank Buster and Shredder Liberator weapons have a new resistance type which bypasses these armor buffs, making those weapons have the exact same number of shots to kill as previously, and further defining them as the best tank killing weapons on the battlefield.


UI updates:

On the UI front, we've got a couple enhancements that players have been asking for, some of the big ones include:

• The ability to separate the customized colors for players and facilities. Now, player and vehicle indicators on the map and hud can be colored with one setting and capture nodes, terminals, territory control and facilities with another.

• Capture progress bars on the map now animate to denote the direction the capture progress is heading, so you can more quickly understand if it's being captured or resecured.
• Capture progress bars on the HUD now show a time remaining, to be consistent with those on the map.
• Ability to preview items which are in a bundle
• Ribbons and stats now show correctly for vehicle weapons

Bug Fixes:

As always we've fixed a ton of bugs, some of the highlights include:

• Hitting WARP on a continent on the Warpgate map should now put you in the queue more reliably when the continents are heavily loaded
• Vanguard shield should no longer incorrectly drop when taking small amounts of damage from certain weapons
• Fixed an issue where two helmets appeared to be equipped simultaneously
• Many, many more!

As you can see, this is one of our largest updates to the game so far! We can't wait to get GU08 out to you guys so you can check out all the awesome. Luckily for all of us, the wait won't be long, baring any last minute issues we run into, GU08 will be released to live servers Tomorrow morning at 5am PDT!

See you on Auraxis!

-
Matthew Higby - @mhigby
Creative Director, @planetside2

[DirtyBird]

Great additions to GU08.
Not so great time its being released @ 10PM AEST

Now if they would just use the same functionality to allow us to change squad colors in platoons.
Or at the very least, make Charlie squad anything but VS purple plz.

[KesTro]

Originally Posted by DirtyBird

Now if they would just use the same functionality to allow us to change squad colors in platoons.
Or at the very least, make Charlie squad anything but VS purple plz.

Make 'em flamingo pink, stylish and efficient and let's be honest here it fits them well.

[Corvo]

The optimist in me is still hoping they did make changes to T5 AMC that would make it worth equipping

[bpostal]

So...this means they've unfucked the colors on the main map then right?

[Corvo]

Originally Posted by bpostal

So...this means they've unfucked the colors on the main map then right?

They'd better.

I have mixed feelings about them not including MAX ES abilities in this patch. On the one hand it was supposed to be a "MAX GU", on the other I was disappointed to see TR MAX Lockdown without animated spikes actually bolting it to the ground, so hopefully they will take their time and add that

[PredatorFour]

Yes! My mag AP rounds are going to be used ALOT more now sounds great

[Ghoest9]

STORMTROOPER HELMET!!!!

I wish NC could get that instead of that silly scuba mask.

[ChipMHazard]

Right on time it seems. Here's hoping we actually get detailed patch notes about the weapon and attachment changes.

[DirtyBird]

Here's hoping we can get list of the "many, many more" bug fixes.
Although the undocumented stuff is always pretty interesting as well.

[Retroman]

Hei... the NC also demand that cool stormtrooper hat! Looks really sweet

[Hamma]

Looking forward to the Helmets and the Harasser. Nervous about the weapon balance tweaks.

[Carbon Copied]

Without quoting numbers of TTK on individual weapons (because to be fair I don't care - I use what feels right for my play style not necessarily which kills fastest) - I think on face value of the attachment changes they're trying to give each class of weapon more of a unique feel; might mean abit of relearning a few of them and finding new set ups but anything that increases the gap in the "feel factor" between types I think is a good step.

Looking forward to pretty much everything in this patch!

[Chewy]

To quote the raven
"I'ma fuck you up!"

(2 points for the first to get the reference)

After thought edit-

Thinking about it how is the Raven not an upgrade to the Falcon?

Falcon stats
1 round mag
2.4 reload time
700 damage

Raven stats
5 round mag
1.5 reload time
490 damage
48 RPM

Falcon DPS
60 / 2.4(reload) = 25(RPM), 60 / 25 = 2.4(RPS) * 700 = 1,680 (DPS) ???????? Something off here

Raven DPS
60 / 48(RPM) = 1.25(RPS) * 490 = 612.5(DPS)


I know I fucked up something but can't for the life of me find out what, maybe it's just to late for me to be thinking. Can someone please tell me what the hell I am doing wrong? With a mag size of 1 the Falcon can only send 700 damage every 2.4 seconds. That should mean its DPS is lower than the damage per round thanks to it just not being able to fire again. Is this math right?

1 is 41.6% of 2.4 (1 / 2.4 = .416).
41.6% of 700 is 291.6 (.416 * 700 = 291.6)
So Falcon DPS should be 291.6, but the math above. WTF did I do wrong?

[Ruffdog]

Cool I might just get my Prowler AP rounds out again. Its been weird that HEAT kills tanks as fast as AP