Hey all,
A small balance & hotfix update has gone out tonight which addresses Matchmaking, Pet Chatter bugs, and Cosmetic Balancing.
Matchmaking Updates
Some small adjustments have been made Matchmaking over the past 2 days, which have served to better ensure that queue times remain low. Note the slower queue times were exacerbated today due to an error which caused our Steam Storefront to temporarily go into an un-published state.
Matchmaking is now more varied, and allows for faster flips between queue priorities; better serving it's primary purpose as an anti-abuse tool, rather than having the unintended effect of fully isolating players into small groups.
This system will continue to be adjusted as time goes on, with a view to ensure it promotes a healthier game environment, while still encouraging unique match-ups between players.
Cosmetic Balancing
Most of the current In-Game Cosmetics were balanced around far lower tier rewards, far lower Artifact reward rates, and far lower HQ bonuses. This resulted in new players winning their first t10, and unlocking almost a quarter of the lighting and model options immediately.
As a side-effect then, everything outside of the top 5-10% of cosmetics were completely ignored and waysided, very rarely being seen in the game (outside of the Default Dan HS builds).
A full rebalance has been done across all Cosmetics, placing them at a higher value. To balance the Artifact Gain Rate from this, the arts earned per coin invested has been slightly decreased. However, due to the general coin increases, players who have unlocked all (non-gold) Cosmetics will see around a 25% gain in their daily Artifact returns.
Pet chatter hotfix
The latest patch (hilariously) started making players refer to themselves in the third person when their pets spoke. This has now been fixed up on the latest patch.
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Thanks to everyone who has provided their feedback on the Matchmaking systems, and the content rolled out across the 1.7 Patch Cycle. More updates coming soon - In the meantime, Join us on our Discord, keep hitting that Vault, and keep yourselves safe! ❤️