Game Update 13: Creative Director's Letter
https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/.../#post-1973270
Quote:
Hey all -
Game Update 13 is right around the corner and it brings some pretty exciting change to Auraxis. Here are some highlights of the major changes and additions you can expect to see with the update. As always, last minute issues can pop up and delay some of these, but this is what we're looking at right now.
Esamir Lattice and Facility Refresh
The icy expanse known as Esamir has had a major facelift with virtually every facility and outpost modified and enhanced, with some being completely replaced. The goal with these changes is to enhance gameplay flow and help support the addition of the lattice connections on the continent. There are a lot of threads with screenshots floating around on the forums to check out, but I'd highly recommend (and humbly request) that if you can you spend some time on Public Test (Click for more info) Checking out the changes for yourself and providing some feedback. We could use all the help we can get finding bugs and areas in need of polish, so if you do hop on to Public Test please do make use of the report a bug feature - it really does help us out tremendously to have extra eyes on this kind of change.
Implants!
Implants are a consumable item that can be used to enhance your soldier with gameplay perks for a limited period of time. Each implant is equipped per-loadout and has a limited duration which is consumed only while that loadout is active. The implants are designed to give unique benefits that allow players to further refine their role & personal play-style without imparting an over-the-top player-power benefit.
Here are the currently planned implants we're launching with GU13:
Awareness: auto-spots enemies who damage you or that you damage
Battle Hardened: reduces camera shake from explosions and flinch
Clear Vision: Protects against concussion and flash grenade
EMP Shielding: Protects against EMP Grenade effects
Enhanced Targeting: increases the range that you can see enemy health bars and names
EOD HUD: Allows you to detect enemy explosives in a short radius around you
Regeneration: Slowly regenerates health over time when not in combat
Safe Landing: Reduces fall damage
Sensor Shield: Makes you undetected on enemy radar/motion sensors
Thermal Reduction: Prevents the wearer from being highlighted by thermal vision
We will be starting with these implant types available with more being added over time.
In addition to the implants we're putting in some feedback about implant resistance, so when you, as an EMP grenade user hit someone using an EMP Shielding Implant you'll receive some feedback to let you know it wasn't effective.
Implants will have relatively short durations (Measured in hours, not days) and low costs. Like weapons, they'll be available to purchase for both Certification Points and Station Cash. We're still finalizing the durations and costs for these items, but we'd love to hear feedback on the system.
Platoon Enhancements:
We're continuing to implement suggestions from players for platoon and squad management, with GU13 we've got two big player requests coming in:
- Platoon voice channel management, ability for platoon leaders to set platoon VOIP channel to only be used by squad leaders
- Platoon leader waypoints per squad, ability for platoon leaders to set individual squad waypoints for Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta squads.
Spawn Changes:
Several enhancements to the respawn window:
- There is now a category for Squad spawn points, if you're not in a squad this will allow you to auto-join a squad.
- We've added some more respawn options, these should allow you to respawn at more locations near where you died, previously by default you were able to spawn at the nearest outpost, large outpost and facility (in addition to local spawn points, squad spawn points and reinforcement requests), now you'll be able to spawn at the nearest linked base (or adjacent base on non-lattice continents) in addition to the above, this should create some more consistently available fallback / reinforce positions.
- Chat window added to the respawn screen
ESF Updates:
We are working on some extensive ESF changes that Kevmo has outlined (here). These changes are going to be coming over the next 2-3 game updates, starting with GU13. With GU13 you can expect:
- Retuning of the default and rotary nose guns
- When an enemy vehicle is destroyed via crashing, suicide or the player logging out the last player to damage the vehicle (within 10 seconds) will be awarded a kill credit.
New Weapons:
There are 4 new weapons coming with GU13:
- NS-7 PDW SMG: This SMG has a lower damage drop-off than all the other SMGs, allowing it to perform well at short and medium ranges. Its low recoil and very quick center speed (fastest in the class) allow those with good burst control to extend it's range even further.
- NC LA3 Desperado Pistol: This 2x burst pistol has a fast burst but slower overall rate of fire. The fast burst mixed with moderate damage makes this pistol a solid choice at close range, though low accuracy will limit its effectiveness at range.
- TR TS2 Inquisitor: Equipped with an extended magazine by default, this pistol gives the TR a solid all-around option that has very high sustainability and damage output per magazine.
- VS Cerberus: High upfront damage mixed with an above average rate of fire for that damage class makes this pistol a good choice at close range. Low accuracy will limit the pistol‘s effectiveness at range.
Suit Slot tuning:
- The cert costs for the Ammo Belt cert line have been retuned.
- Advanced Shield Capacitor has been tuned to make shields recharge significantly faster.
Vanu weapon audio update:
Most VS infantry weapons have had their audio significantly updated to be more impactful and satisfying.
And of course we have a pile of bug fixes and other misc. polish and tuning coming with the update too numerous to list, and full patch notes will be available as we get closer to releasing the update.
Our current plans are to release GU13 next Wednesday, 6/24.
As always, we're excited to hear your thoughts and feedback on the update and these upcoming features, and once again encourage you to check out the changes on Public Test before they go live next week!
See you on Auraxis!
-
Matthew Higby - @mhigby
Creative Director @planetside2
Discussion post: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...d-when.141224/
