The Shattered Warpgate game update has arrived on the Public Test Server (PTS)! We'll be hosting our first playtests on Friday, September 4, and Saturday, September 5, kicking off a series of PTS events to ensure we're able to focus our testing efforts on different areas of this massive update. PTS will remain unlocked in between playtests (unless we bring it down for a new patch - follow us on Twitter or Facebook for updates!).
Test Server installation can be found here: http://launch.daybreakgames.com/installer/PS2_Test_setup.exe
Read on for full patch notes!
The Shattered Warpgate
- While on PTS, you'll find an interactable object next to the new campaign vendor on Sanctuary handing out FREE STUFF. Interacting with this holographic Flash will provide you with currency and certain campaign items for testing purposes.
- Campaigns will be disabled in this initial update, and a limited pool of missions will be available to test.
- Esamir (and all continents) will be unlocked 100% of the time for this testing.
Playtest schedule for this first PTS patch is as follows:
- Friday, September 4 - 12pm PDT
- Friday, September 4 - 2pm PDT
- Saturday, September 5 - 12pm PDT
Here's what you'll be able to explore with this new update.
Esamir Upheaval
The continent of Esamir has gone through many changes since you last saw it. The Northeastern Warpgate has been destroyed, with the time-frozen remains of an ancient Vanu structure left in its wake, and a vortex of energy pouring into the sky.
- New Skybox: Esamir has gotten colder with an overcast sky, the auroras have gotten brighter, and the sky shudders with cracks of lightning overhead.
- Abandoned Bases: Due to hardline failures and defunct technology, many bases on Esamir have been abandoned for the snow to reclaim.
- Disabled Vehicles: Disabled during the explosion, derelict vehicles can be found scattered throughout Esamir, and with the right tech, able to be reclaimed.
- New and Modified Bases: After the collapse, empires scrambled to modify and construct new bases to accommodate the changed environment.
- New Warpgate Location: Nanite Systems has unveiled new "Haven" technology that acts as a pseudo-Warpgate for the eastern portion of Esamir.
- Revamped Lattice: The lattice has been reconfigured to conform to the new environment, and bases now tend to be fewer and farther between.
- Environmental Hazard: An Electrical Storm roams the battlefield, calling down deadly lightning bolts and overloading vehicle systems.
This continent is still a work in progress and will receive additional changes prior to the Live release.
Campaigns
The new Campaign system is one of the major features introduced with this update. Unlocking access to the Campaign will allow you to take on lore-driven story missions that explore the evolving war on Auraxis, and the minds of those behind it. It remains locked for now, but we'll explore this feature in a later PTS update once it's enabled for testing.
New Mission System
Players now have access to an all-new Mission system that offers up daily missions players can complete for rewards. All players can choose to accept a limited number of missions each day, with Members gaining additional daily mission unlocks. Missions come in a variety of rarities which represent difficulty, time investment, and intensity. The higher the rarity, the better the rewards for that mission type.
The mission pool available in this PTS update consists of the following:
- Transport Pilot: Ferry passengers to combat areas.
- Front Line Spawns: Deploy Sunderers on the front line.
- Cortium Run: Harvest and deposit cortium in allied Silos.
- Protection Protocol (NSO): Defend your allies with the Defector's Seraph Shield.
- Soldier and Shepard: Capture bases and earn experience leading a squad/platoon.
- Bounty Hunter: Kill a bountied target.
- Message Courier: Deliver communications intel from base to base in a Harasser.
- Mining for Elysium: Defend an orbital mining drill while it harvests.
- Transport Stormbound: A campaign themed version of the Transport Pilot mission that sends you into the storm on Esamir.
Indar Terrain Changes
- The Crown has received changes to capture point placement, and B point can now be reached from both the north, south, and eastern sides of the base through an underground combat area.
- Ceres Hydroponics has received some adjustments to reduce prop density, and adjust sight lines, and the hill to TI Alloys has received some new paths around the eastern side.
- TI Alloys has received reductions in its defensive capabilities, and the rock bridge connecting it to The Crown has been destroyed.
Sanctuary Changes
- Players will now log into Sanctuary initially.
- The visuals within and without Sanctuary has received much in the way of cleanup and improvement.
- A new "Social" chat channel is available for all Sanctuary-goers, allowing cross-faction chat throughout the station.
- Mission Boards are available within Sanctuary, that will take you to the Mission page on interacting with them. They've also been placed in each Warpgate.
- A campaign rewards vendor can now be found in the Outfit Quartermaster shop.
- Outfit Quartermaster/Outfit Recruiter have swapped places.
- FL-34 and SPRK-33 in the Black Market shop have swapped places.
- New "Havoc Rocket Pods" can be bought from SPRK-33.
- Speaking with FL-34 in Sanctuary will open the implant crafting menu for the player.
Implants
- All exceptional implants can now be crafted for an ISO-4 cost from the crafting screen.
Firestorm
- This implant has been added to the drop table.
- Actual crafting cost has been instated at 3500.
- Recoil and CoF bloom penalty from 200% to 100%
- No longer uncaps horizontal recoil tolerance.
Mentor Chat
- Players who complete the Leadership tier 2 directive will now have access to Mentor Chat regardless of their current Mentor Rank.
- Replaced Implant Pack Tier 2 Leadership directive reward with "Mentor Chat Access."
- Players up to BR30 (and less than 100 directive score) now have access to /new chat, was previously until BR15.
War Asset Costs Overhaul
Changes to Map-based Resource Gain for Outfits:
- Upon a successful capture, bases award their full resource value to any participating Outfits above a contribution threshold of 1000 score.
- Outfits who own a base continue to gain resource ticks over time once every 5 minutes, (no changes from Live.)
- Sanctuary no longer offers resource trading.
- Expeditions have been retooled to provide larger resource drops with a consistent conversion.
- Assets can no longer be Overclocked at all. This is an experiment to see if the slowed pacing, coupled with the resource changes below, result in more diverse war asset usage.
War Assets now have resource type associations drawn more exclusively with their desirability.
Auraxium-based Assets
- Light ANVIL: 5 Auraxium for 3 ANVILs
- Medium ANVIL: 25 Auraxium
- Heavy ANVIL: 50 Auraxium
- Facility Modules: 10 Auraxium for 5 modules, duration from 10 minutes to 20 minutes, weight from 5 to 0.
Synthium-based Assets
- Citadel Shield: 25 Synthium
- Steel Rain: 15 Synthium, Weight from 50 to 25, Crafting time from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.
- Orbital Strike: 75 Synthium
Polystellarite-based Assets
Bastion Fleet Carrier
- Time to craft per asset increased to 12 hours per piece.
- 25 Polystellarite
- 20 Polystellarite
- 15 Polystellarite
- 10 Polystellarite
Colossus Tank
- 15 Polystellarite
Expedition Values
Synthium Short
- Cost from 100 Auraxium to 50 Auraxium
- Yield from 25-35 to 35 Synthium
Synthium Medium
- Cost from 150 Auraxium to 100 Auraxium
- Yield from 50-70 to 75 Synthium
Synthium Long
- Cost from 200 Auraxium to 150 Auraxium
- Yield from 75-105 to 150 Synthium
Polystellarite Short
- Cost from 50 Synthium to 25 Synthium
- Yield from 5-7 to 7
Polystellarite Medium
- Cost from 75 Synthium to 50 Synthium
- Yield from 10-14 to 15
Polystellarite Long
- Cost from 100 Synthium to 75 Synthium
- Yield from 15-21 to 30
Player Studio items
- Old War Heavy Assault armor and helmet (Terran Republic,) by Doku
- Armadillo Sunderer exterior, bumper, and tires (All Factions,) by Steveo
- Challenger Vanguard exterior plating (New Conglomerate,) by Lobstrex
- Response Infiltrator armor (NSO,) by binarycoder
- Ravenshroud helmet (Terran Republic,) by CountPoly
Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions
- To accommodate the additional rewards through the Mission system, alerts no longer offer ISO-4, A7, or Certs.
- Alert winners now receive 25,000 XP and losers/runner-up receive 10,000 XP.
- Daily Ribbon Bonuses have also been removed.
- Render distance can now be set for infantry/ground vehicle/air vehicles individually, this option can be found in the graphics settings.
- Minimap and Map zoom levels now persist between logins and while transferring continents.
- Attempting to promote someone to platoon leader will prompt you with a confirmation dialog.
- Using bad html in the Outfit MotD will no longer bleed into the rest of your chat box.
- Default keybindings no longer activates your vehicle utility with the horn key.
- Colossus now generates outfit logs when crafted or spawned.
- Cleaned up issues with wielded knife animations.
- NSO characters can now switch profile banners. A bug still exists with new NSO characters being equipped with the wrong default banner.
- SR-200 (NSO Sniper Rifle) no longer inherits camo applied to the character's body.
- Javelin cockpit handlebars now rotate correctly in first person.
- Black Market terminals now show weapon stats correctly.
- Water on Indar, Amerish, and Esamir have updated visuals.
- Fixed various broken props and stretched textures.
- We've re-enabled the old Tutorial for new characters.
Known Issues
- Esamir deep water is killing too quickly.
- Eisa Tech Plant's C point shows incorrectly on the map, it should be located outdoors on the center of the second story of the building. The capture area still exists, though the capture point itself is not visible.
- Ymir Ruins uses three normal capture points, instead of vehicle capture points, and the short capture timer has yet to be adjusted.
- Outfits with pre-existing Bastion components may not be able to craft additional Bastion pieces currently.