News: Game Update 09 patch notes - 22nd May 2013

[DirtyBird]

All servers will come down for maintenance at 6:00 AM PT (3:00 PM CEST) (22nd May 11pm AEDT) to patch Game Update 09. Downtime is anticipated to be less than 2 hours. Players may note the following changes:

GU09 Patch Notes
The Lattice Link
With recent advances in technology, armed forces across Auraxis have developed the ability to more easily disrupt and manipulate the wireless communication and control protocols used by each of the Empires to take command of a base or facility. This has made the traditional methods for taking control of a region unreliable and potentially dangerous.

In order to maintain the integrity of their control protocols, the Empires have fallen back on an older system – a hard line network that physically connects bases and territories known as the Lattice Link.

While the hard line approach has been able to negate the recent security issues with using wireless technology, the Empires now require a friendly adjacent link to the Lattice in order to take control of an enemy installation.

Indar Battle Flow Improvements:
The flow of combat in the live hex system can be tough to understand and predict, and can give the sense of chaos as opposed to appropriate tactical choices as forces move from one target to the next. We'd like to attempt a different approach that we think will improve the flow of battle significantly.

• We have reduced the connections available on the map
  • Each region is connected to only a handful of other regions, creating clear conquest lanes
  • This will help direct players to the next fight, and allow you to predict the best places to set up defenses
• The Facility Forward Spawns have been removed - in their place are new Small Outposts
  • These function just like other Small Outposts. Their layouts are very similar to what the Forward Spawns were, plus the addition of Allatum Botany Wing and Saurva South Fortress.
• Some underutilized outposts have been removed as they did not improve the new conquest lanes
  • Nanite Pump Station
  • Archaeological Dig Site
  • ARC Bioengineering
  • Leopardwood Nursery
  • Spec-Ops Training Camp
  • Lost End Outlook
  • Mesa Comm. Station
  • Blackshard Platinum Mine
• Some outposts were moved to locations that better serve the new conquest lanes on Indar
  • Ceres Farms
  • NS Secure Data Labs
  • Seabed Listening Post
• Dahaka, Zurvan, and Peris have all had layout adjustments to help improve infantry combat flow in the Amp Stations.
• Nearly every outpost on Indar received some work to help secure the spawn rooms and the capture points. Our goal was to make it make it much tougher to impact these areas from vehicles
• Crown Capture Points relocated. We moved two capture points for the Crown down onto the nearby bridges. We also moved the spawn room back into the tower
• We adjusted the road layout on Indar to better match the conquest lanes.
• Viable redeployment points are now determined based off of “connected distance” across hexes rather than “as the crow flies”
• Warpgates on Indar that used to yield infantry resources should now be surrounded by regions that yield mechanized resources instead
• SCU Shields functionality changes – The generators that powered the SCU Shields have been removed. The SCU Shields now power down automatically when the base is 75% captured.

General Updates
Interactive Tutorial

• When creating a new character, players will now have the option to participate in a brief tutorial covering the most basic mechanics of PlanetSide 2.
  • This can be skipped via a checkbox on the character customization screen
• Existing characters can also run the tutorial at any time by going to the Support page and selecting the Go to Tutorial option.
• Covers:
  • Accessing main menu
  • Movement
  • Gravity Pads
  • Control Points
  • IFF Shields
  • Equipment Terminals
  • Recognizing Friend from Foe
  • Spotting
  • Basic Combat
  • Classes
  • Teleporters
  • Spawning
  • Redeployment
  • Warpgate Terminals
  • Instant Action

Instant Action Improvements

• Instant Action will first try to find a decent fight on your current continent. If it cannot find one it will look for the best fights on any continent. This should prevent instant action from taking players away from Alerts or off a continent they enjoy.

Added sensitivity slider for aiming down sights (<4x scope)

• If the default sensitivity feels “off” from what you’re used to, you’ll want to take a minute to re-adjust the slider to get it back to where you like it

The Helios and Connery servers will be merged with this update.

• All characters on those servers will be able to log in as normal, they’ll just find themselves on the new Connery server.

New in the Depot
Empire Specific Weapons are now available for the Harasser

• VS: Proton II PPA-H and Saron HRB-H
• NC: Enforcer ML85-H and Enforcer C85 Modified-H
• TR: G30 Vulcan-H and P525 Marauder-H

Other Changes and Additions

• Lumifiber Trim now available for MBTs
• Lowered several infantry weapon prices and adjusted some MBT, Sunderer, and Harasser weapon prices
• Cert Holo Hood Ornament
• Kill Count Vehicle Decal
• Be on the lookout for additional sales

Infantry Updates
MAX class update:

• New VS MAX Ability: Zealot Overdrive
• Increases movement speed while active
• Speed buff does not increase with cert level
• Decreases armor effectiveness while active
• Increases weapon damage while active
• Damage increases with cert level

New NC MAX Ability: Aegis Shield

• Shield absorbs all incoming frontal damage while active
• MAX is still vulnerable from the side and rear.
• Shield has large health pool and fast regen rate
• Health pool increases with cert level

New TR MAX Ability: Lockdown

• Increases fire rate, projectile speed, and reload speed when deployed
• All the above stats increase with cert level
• Locks down the MAX into position and limits their turning radius until undeploying.

Buffed spot bonus xp

• All spot bonus grants are increased from 10 XP to 20 XP
• All squad spot bonus grants are increased from 15 XP to 30 XP

Concussion grenade changes

• All concussion effects will now correctly check line of sight.
• All concussion effects will now scale down based on distance from the impact point and how exposed the player was when the grenade went off.
• The duration of the concussion grenade has been reduced. This duration will now scale down slightly based on how far the player was from the impact point.
• Added unique audio feedback.

Flash Grenade Changes

• Adjusted the falloff of the screen effect so that it is more consistent across different times of day.
• Flash grenades will now remove a player’s UI if that player was close to the impact point.
• The duration of the flash grenade has been reduced. This duration will now scale down slightly based on how far the player was from the impact point.

Other Changes

• The majority of infantry weapons now have a reload threshold. The reload will still count if this threshold is reached and the reload action is interrupted.
• The default medic revive will now revive players at 50% health (up from 20%). The revive cert line has been adjusted to match the new start point.
• Minor adjustments to most TR iron sights and scopes to give a more consistent sight picture across different weapons.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused players who switched classes from a MAX while at low health to appear to have zero health as their new class.
• Fixed being able to fire chamber weapons at an increased rate by pressing reload during the chamber time.
• Removed the delay when swapping away from an in-use heal or repair tool.
• Fixed the missing magazine on the Infiltrator’s detect tool.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed the NC15 Phoenix from being reloaded while the player is still controlling the rocket
• High velocity ammo attachment for the T1B Cycler should now be able to be equipped
• Fixed high velocity ammunition giving a higher than intended velocity increase on certain weapons.
• Female VS infiltrators should now be able to display equipped decals properly
• Zoning during death should no longer cause the UI to display zero shields when spawning back in
• Serpent VE92 and the LC3 Jaguar’s weapon descriptions now properly list 2 fire modes, Automatic and Semi-Automatic
• Vortex VM21 should now display a Charge fire mode in the description

Vehicle Updates
Enforcer C85 Modified

• Model has been adjusted to look more NC.
• Adjustments were made to magazine size and shots per pellet so that it could damage armor and be more useful.
  • CoF no longer blooms after each shot
  • Increased magazine size from 3 to 5
  • Ammo Capacity increased from 60 to 100
    • Certifications now grant 5 additional shots per rank instead of 6
  • Added magazine size certification line. 1 rank that adds 1 round.
  • Time to reload increased from 2500ms to 3000ms
    • Certifications now reduce reload speed by -100ms per rank instead of -90ms per rank
  • Changed to a different resist type which allows it to do light damage to armor
    • Amount of pellets per shot reduced from 12 to 8
    • Damage per shot reduced from 250 to 150

Enforcer ML85

• Model has been adjusted to look more NC.
• Slight Redesign of Enforcer ML85. It can now fire up to 10 rounds before reloading. When you are landing with most of your shots, the TTK is an improvement over the previous version. Projectile speed has been reduced slightly.
• New Description: “The Enforcer ML85 fires magnetically propelled HEAT darts. The magnetic launcher allows for smaller projectiles so more rounds can be loaded at once, requiring fewer reloads. This gives the ML85 strong and sustainable damage. NC use only.”
  • Clip size increased from 1 to 10
  • Reload speed reduced from 3250 to 3000ms
  • Direct hit damage reduced from 1500 to 700 (650 on Harasser version)
  • Projectile speed decreased from 300 to 200
  • Added fire rate of 1000ms
  • Ammo Capacity increased from 30 to 100
    • Ammo Capacity certifications increased from 3 to 10 per rank.
  • Outer blast radius reduced from 3 meters to 2 meters.

Proton II PPA

• Tuning pass done on PPA to make it a more competitive option. Fire rate should feel improved and it should do more damage to armor and has a slightly higher blast radius.
  • Changed to a different resist type, allowing more direct hit damage on vehicles.
  • Fire rate reduced from 600ms to 400ms
  • Max Direct hit damage reduced from 300 to 275
  • Max damage range increased from 10 meters to 50 meters
  • Minimum Direct hit damage increased 150 to 225
  • Min damage range increased from 100 meters to 150 meters
  • Inner blast radius damage reduced from 350 to 300
  • Inner blast radius increased from 1 meter to 1.5 meters
  • Outer blast radius increased from 3 meter to 4 meters
  • Clip size reduced from 60 to 50
  • Ammo Capacity reduced from 420 to 350
    • Amount granted from Ammo Capacity Certs reduced from 60 to 50 per rank.

Saron HRB

• Slight redesign of HRB. It can now rapid fire several shots before reloading. It is pin-point accurate on the first shot, but the cone of fire blooms significantly after the first shot. This allows it to ‘unload’ on targets at close range for a faster TTK. TTK at medium to long range should remain the same when waiting for the cone of fire to reset.
• New description: “The Saron HRB fires fast and accurate armor damaging beams. Accuracy of the HRB decreases significantly for half a second after each shot. VS use only.”
  • Removed firing delay
  • Magazine size increased from 1 to 6
  • Added Fire Rate of 200ms
  • Direct hit damage per shot decreased from 1500 to 425
  • Increased projectile speed from 250 to 300
  • Max ammo capacity increased from 30 to 180
    • Amount granted from Ammo Capacity Certs increased from 3 to 6 per rank.
  • Added cone of fire bloom per shot of 6
  • Added max cone of fire of 6
  • Added cone of fire recovery of 6 in 0.5 seconds
  • Reduced effectiveness of AoE sense it can be spammed against infantry more
    • Inner blast damage decreased from 750 to 350
    • Inner blast radius decreased from 1 meter to 0.5 meters
    • Outer blast radius decreased from 3 meters to 2 meters

G30 Vulcan

• Model has been adjusted to look more TR

P525 Marauder

• Model has been adjusted to look more TR

Bug Fixes:

• A new collision type has been added around the wheels of the Harasser, this should prevent the wheels from clipping into walls (and prevent the Harasser from going into small doors).
• Did some tuning on the Flash to make it handle a bit tighter like the Harasser.
• Remote viewed vehicles (this includes vehicles you are manning a turret for) should no longer wobble excessively
• Fixed some cosmetic issues with Harasser Lumifiber Trim if it was activated while the 3rd person camera was active and the driver did some seat switching
• Fixed the third person NC MAX animations appearing to constantly melee attack while sitting in the Harasser rumble seat
• The Harasser’s primary weapon should no longer hit players in the rumble seat
• Exiting the Harasser rumble seat while next to a grav pad should no longer continue to elevate the player until they crouch
• The Lightning’s Skyguard Maximum Ammo certification description should now accurately reflect the ammo capacity per rank

UI Updates
Cleaned up the display of minimap icons

• Icons are now smaller assets to mitigate the shimmering-effect and to decrease the footprint
• Self indicator used in the rotating minimap is now more transparent
• Decreased the glow on the assets for better readability
• Squad and platoon indicators are now smaller and more transparent
• Indicator sorting reconfigured to always show enemies as the top layer

Added a new Instant Action toggle hotkey

• Default binding is the “Home” key. This hotkey functions very similarly to Redeploy and can be canceled by pressing the hotkey again.
• If using Instant Action with the hotkey it will display the destination location where it will take the player.
• If Instant action is on cooldown when a player presses the hotkey, that player will receive a message indicating the remaining time on the cooldown.
• If it is used as a MAX or when instant action is unavailable then players will get appropriate error messaging.

Map Polish

• Players can now have Territory Control, Enemy Activity, Ally Activity or any combination of the three toggled on at the same time (if they dare!). Territory Control will show up as colored borders if Enemy and/or Ally Activity filters are toggled on.
• Region rollover is now indicated by outlining the region in white instead of highlighting the fill
• Resources toggle panel is now combined with the Filter toggle panel
  • You can now click on the filter and resource text to toggle their filter checkboxes

New Map Viewing Options – Facility Links, Resource Flow, and Influence Cloud

• The facility connections filter will show how facilities link to each other and their relationships with neighboring facilities.
• The resource flow filter will show warpgate-connected facilities via their links (supply lines).
• The influence cloud filter is an alternative display option to territory control. In this view, each facility generates heat in the owner's faction color (large facilities will appear brighter than outposts), creating amore dynamic display than the region boundaries.
• Added terrain filter option for players that want to turn it off in the map screen

Other Changes

• Now able to set waypoints via the minimap by right-clicking it
• A sound now plays when you receive a tell
• Expanded minimap ([H] by default) now shows compass
• Warpgate spawn points no longer have any cooldown
• Added “Ultra” quality settings

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with the Depot where some bundles would improperly display as unlocked if you owned certain items within the bundle
• MAX units should now be able to request rides from Harasser drivers through the radial action menu
• Fixed issue with placeable ammo indicator not showing properly tinted icon
• Fixed an issue which caused the Loading screens to not show their percentage loading properly
• Fixed issue with changing Fixed Minimap setting not updating the player indicator in the minimap.
• Non-silenced weapons will now correctly show players on the mini-map.
• Generators should now display correct timer values on the Map and Minimap
• Corrected a typo in the description for the AF-18 Stalker

Facilities Updates
VR Training:

• Changed the equipment terminal in front of the VR spawn tubes into a Warpgate Terminal.

Bug Fixes

• Generators can no longer be overloaded without having proper territory adjacency
• Support beams on bridges should now render at appropriate distances
• Stopped a jump pad at the Allatum Bio Lab from launching you into a tree

[ChipMHazard]

So the tutorial will have to be expanded on later it seems, from that list it's still too sparse in what it actually explains.
So players will finally be able to cancel long reload animations and still get the reload, actually been hoping for this.
No more trying to get Harassers into buildings? Challenge accepted.
A balance run on utility grenades? Looks good.

Still not sure on the MAX ability balance, but we'll see whether or not they clegged that up soon enough. I'm sure that players on the live server are going to quickly find ways of "abusing" them in unintended ways.
The notes should have mentioned that Lockdown scales differently with the various weapons, unless that's changed. Lockdown is goin to make the whole burster MAX balance discussion even more hotly debated though.

Perhaps one of the most important changes, besides the SCU on, is that we will no longer be seeing players flying around overloading gens for that sweet xp [I like how they actually put this under the bug fixes part:/]... Well, we will for the first couple of days until they realize it's not actually a bug preventing them from being xp whores, but a feature

Overall looking forward to testing out, and I do mean testing, the update on the live servers. Especially the lattice system.

[NewSith]

...

[Figment]

[Stew]

TUTORIAL Will still suck

but rigth now what iam afraid of is the new VS maxs ability this crap could ruins the game other than thats it seams to be a really really good update

[Koadster]

Still no mention of MAX Transport mode, are they even bothering working on it.

Still no fix to the MCG, how hard can it actually be?

No multiple cosmetics even though it was stated for GU09.

Meh.

[KarrdeBRBU]

Originally Posted by Stew

TUTORIAL Will still suck

but rigth now what iam afraid of is the new VS maxs ability this crap could ruins the game other than thats it seams to be a really really good update

Or it will more likely cause us to evaporate quickly. I'd rather have the shield TBH.

[RWJP]

They've made the Saron even more powerful? Seriously?

Only at SOE could it be sensible to turn a high accuracy, high power, single shot anti-tank weapon into a high accuracy, high power, high rate of fire, large magazine anti-everything weapon.

[OmegaPREDATOR]

Originally Posted by ChipMHazard

Still not sure on the MAX ability balance, but we'll see whether or not they clegged that up soon enough. I'm sure that players on the live server are going to quickly find ways of "abusing" them in unintended ways.

We will see but I will no more fly near a VS or TR territory cause of AA MAX !!! And they will not going into biolab now with the NC MAX shield (less possibility to them to kill our MAX from far, thats great).

ps : could we have NC territory with only biolab interconnected by walkways and tunnels ? Could we, could we ???

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by OmegaPREDATOR

We will see but I will no more fly near a VS or TR territory cause of AA MAX !!! And they will not going into biolab now with the NC MAX shield (less possibility to them to kill our MAX from far, thats great).

That's actually a good point. I have no idea how good the ZOE ability will be with bursters. Apparently Lockdown was balanced with the bursters in mind, so they said at least. Still sure that planes are going to be going down fast, especially with more than one burster MAX in lockdown.
I foresee scattermaxes being used as mobile shields, while having infantry behind them up the stairs in Bio Labs. Or just being dicks and blocking the doors. Going to be most interesting

Originally Posted by OmegaPREDATOR

ps : could we have NC territory with only biolab interconnected by walkways and tunnels ? Could we, could we ???

Oh, that would indeed be a most painful experience for any TR/VS.

[Assist]

Originally Posted by Stew

but rigth now what iam afraid of is the new VS maxs ability this crap could ruins the game other than thats it seams to be a really really good update

Shows how little you've played with/against VS MAX since they fixed the few exploits with zoe.

[Koadster]

Originally Posted by ChipMHazard

That's actually a good point. I have no idea how good the ZOE ability will be with bursters. Apparently Lockdown was balanced with the bursters in mind, so they said at least. Still sure that planes are going to be going down fast, especially with more than one burster MAX in lockdown.

Higby stated Bursters are not affected by either lockdown or ZOE

[Azren]

SCU Shields functionality changes – The generators that powered the SCU Shields have been removed. The SCU Shields now power down automatically when the base is 75% captured.

So they even removed the little tactical choice we had... I hate this change.

New in the Depot
Empire Specific Weapons are now available for the Harasser

VS: Proton II PPA-H and Saron HRB-H
NC: Enforcer ML85-H and Enforcer C85 Modified-H
TR: G30 Vulcan-H and P525 Marauder-H

So TR just won the game. GG SoE!

Never mind that the community insisted that HEAVY WEAPONS do NOT belong on a LIGHT vehicle.

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Koadster

Higby stated Bursters are not affected by either lockdown or ZOE

Ah, I thought that NS weapons would only be affected differently by the Lockdown i.e. a smaller bonus.

Interesting. Was an obvious choice before on what to use Lockdown with, now.. Not so much for me.

[Sunrock]

Well re: TR AA MAXes in anchor mode. You will only be able to turn 180° making you a sitting duck of the ESF comes in from high altitude and dive down behind the back of the AA MAX.

Sure it will be slightly harder to kill off TR AA MAX from the air. But it's already a risky idea to try to pull it off so the anchor mode will not really change much in reality regarding air. At least not when it comes to faction, platoon, squad balance. 1 Vs 1 ESF Vs MAX it will slightly but this game is not balanced after 1 vs 1 fights in all scenarios. It's balanced for team play.