Greetings SUPERVIVERs! Today we’re covering some additional tuning we’re looking at regarding Domination, as well as our upcoming Hudson gameplay update. We’ll also preview some major updates to the breach item shop, with the goal of reducing friction during your purchasing downtime. Let’s drop in!
Domination
Last patch we shipped our second prototype mode - Domination. We wanted this mode to be a bit more chaotic and free-flowing than the more structured style of tournament, and we’ve been eager to see what you’ve thought.
One piece of feedback we received is that capture points feel like they change hands very quickly, leading to some situations where the game devolves into very short back and forth recaptures. We think it’s important that capture points are reasonably assailable so there’s no significant defender advantage, but we also think you shouldn’t need to bear hug the point constantly to prevent a sneaky back cap. So we’re looking at increasing the time it takes to capture a point, so it’s not as much of a “blink and you miss it” surprise.
Hudson
Let’s talk about our favorite big bullety boy! Hudson’s been struggling in the meta for a little while now, and we’ve been looking for ways to give him a little more of his edge back. Historically, when Hudson has been over the line, it’s usually been because of his LMB. So we’re treading cautiously and focusing on giving him better playmaking tools and zone control, rather than just more damage.
Some examples of areas we’re exploring is giving Hudson more flexibility over his Barbed Wire placement. This lets him be much more effective at locking down small areas or blocking escape paths, and generally lets Hudson players make more choices about how to control space rather than locking them into one style. We’re also looking at some changes to his ultimate, specifically rewarding Hudson for landing executes, and giving him more opportunities to do so.
Items and Shop
In our last couple blogs, we’ve talked about some of our goals with our Armory changes. Specifically looking to decrease the complexity of the system and make it more clear what you’re getting at a glance (so you can get back to BLASTING). Now that we’ve made some changes to the items themselves, we’re also examining the store, specifically adding clearer recommendations and taking another look at perks as a category.
First up - item recommendations! While players can set favorite items per hunter in the Armory menu, we wanted to do a better job of making item options clear for people who are playing a new hunter or just haven’t engaged with that system. Building on some of our learnings from tournament mode, we’re adding a recommendation system that gives you a handful of options to choose from for each slot. You can always go into the full shop if you’re looking for an item that’s not recommended.
Now that we’ve done an item pass on grips, kicks, and relics, we’re turning our attention to perks. Perks are in an odd spot at the moment. They improve your Hunter’s stats, so they’re obviously desirable, but are so much less impactful than other categories, and take up a disproportionate amount of space in both players mindshare, and the shop UI. We’re exploring a couple changes here - both in terms of reducing the number of perks/perk slots, but also making perks more like small bonuses you can discover in the world, rather than a checklist you have to purchase each game. Stay tuned.
That’s all we’ve got to cover today! Hope those of you who celebrate turkey day have a fulfilling time with both food and family.