Fine Tuning Update - September 2015


It's time for another Fine Tuning update! Along with our usual round of Balance Changes and Bug Fixes, we're making a significant update to the Lobby screen. Read on for more...

Lobby Changes

The lobby is getting an overhaul. All players now settle in a single stack on the right, and more space is given to your Squad. Changing your Mercs and loadouts is now a simpler process, with the option to quickly change the Loadout Card of a Merc already in your squad.

Lobby Timer Changes

We've sped up the timers between matches to get you from game to game a little bit faster!

Warmup Duration to 15s (from 20s).
Game Review Duration to 25s (from 30s).
Lobby Map Voting Time to 15s (from 25s).

Objective Mode Lobby Changes

We've changed how teams are organized in our public, casual Objective matches. To improve team balance and the quality of matches, players are not assigned a team until just before the match begins, and Locking In is no longer necessary.

For those that prefer playing on the same team as your friends, this change does not affect Private Matches, Stopwatch Mode or other, non-public Objective matches.

Balance Changes

Phantom

Significantly reduced the visibility of his Refractive Armor when moving slowly.

Sparks

Reduced the amount of time REVIVR spends overheating to 3.3s (from 5.0s).

Fragger

Reduced maximum Frag Grenade count to 1 (from 2).
Reduced Frag Grenade cooldown to 17s (from 30s).

Bushwhacker

Reduced Turret health to 110hp (from 120hp).
Increased Turret lock-on time to 0.6s (from 0.5s).

PDP-70 Sniper Rifle

Reduced magazine size to 10 rounds (from 11).
Increased reload time to 2.8s (from 2.6s).

KEK-10 SMG

Reduced effective range to 18m (from 19m).
Increased reload time to 2.0s (from 1.8s).

Hochfir SMG

Reduced initial bullet spread by ~10%.
Reduced reload time to 1.8s (from 1.9s).

Timik-47 AR

Reduced spread and recoil by ~5%.
Increased effective range to 29m (from 28m).

Ahnuld-12 Shotgun

Increased rate of fire to 95RPM (from 86).
Reduced reload time by 0.2s, independent of how many shots are reloaded.

Other Changes

Nader

Martyrdom cooldown is now visible when incapacitated.

Redeye

Redeye's IR goggles may now be toggled while using a mounted gun.
Friendly Smoke no longer blocks Defibrillator revives.

Proxy

Fixed bug where Proximity Mines were noticeably floating.

Gameplay

Weapon inspection is now visible when spectating another player in first-person.
Fixed bug where Friendly Fire settings were sometimes enabled for Competitive Matches.
Fixed bug where the number of placement matches required for a Competitive Ranking were not correctly displayed.
Fixed bug where players could become stuck inside elevators.
Fixed bug where Turrets could be placed inside generators.
Fixed bug where ironsighting after firing will fire again.

Animation

Improved the SMG9 third-person reload.
Fixed bug with the Simeon .357 iron sight being off-centre.

User Interface

Account Levels are no longer visible in Competitive Matches, as teams are sorted by Competitive Rank.
All ammo sources will now show up on the HUD when low on ammo.
Accepting an invite to a Private Match now takes players directly to the lobby.
Fixed bug where the voting UI position would change.
Fixed bug where only the creator of a Private Match could see the state of the Friendly Fire option.

Audio

Completely reworked the weapon fire audio for the Caulden Pistol.
Mercs will now automatically thank medics that revive them.
Bullet-by audio has been enabled - enemy bullets are now audible when speeding close to the camera.
Updated audio when unlocking items in the Menu.