Countdown to BETA - 1 Day To Go!
The finish line is in sight; we’re almost there! Tomorrow, March 2nd, we’re finally leaving Alpha and entering the next phase in Robocraft’s development - BETA. With Robocraft entering BETA it means we lay down the final foundations of Robocraft’s core game modes and features. Tomorrow is Robocraft Day!
Tomorrow’s BETA update is a massive beast, one of our biggest in fact, with lots of great stuff including a completely reworked Normal Mode, new map designs, matchmaking improvements, balance changes and bug fixes.
For a more in-depth look at some of the changes have a look at the following blog posts from earlier this week:
- Day 4 countdown - Normal Mode Is Changing
- Day 3 countdown - New Maps
- Day 2 countdown - The Protonite Core
So, what’s in tomorrow’s update? Check out the extensive list below.
NEW:
- Normal Mode now 5v5
- Towers removed from Normal Mode and replaced with Mining Points
- The team objective in Normal Mode’ changed to ‘The Annihilator’
- Changes to the Protonium Reactors in Normal Mode - crystals now form on the tower as they are mined from Mining Points (essentially capture points).
- Introduction of Protonite Core game mechanic to Normal Mode
- Game maps re-worked:
- Earth - Birmingham Power station - totally new map for Normal Mode
- Earth - Vanguard’s End - minor changes
- GJ 1214b - Spitzer Dam - minor changes
- GJ 1214b - Ophiuchus Valley - totally reworked map
- Mars - Tihonium Canyon - major changes
- Mars - Tharsis Rift - totally reworked map
- New Adaptive Music System. Now the music which plays during matches will evolve based on events taking place, for instance when the Protonite Core appears the pace of the music is increased.
- New sound effects and voice overs
- All maps, including Test Mode have new skyboxes
- The Battle Loading screen now shows hints on how to play the chosen game mode effectively
OTHER CHANGES:
- No more Overclocker. All weapons, movement types, etc. have been balanced to Overclocker level 5 (in line with Basic Mode)
- ‘Respawn Escalator’ removed - respawn times are always 15 seconds long in Normal Mode
- Players will auto-respawn in Normal Mode
- ‘Protonivity Escalator’ removed
- At the start of a battle both team’s Fusion Shields are active
- A team’s Fusion Shield will deactivate when the opposing team owns all three Mining Points
- Fusion Shield healing is still active for allies when their base shield is down
- Players can’t move through an enemy shield to enter the base when it is active
- Players can’t shoot through an enemy shield when it is active
- If a player is in an enemy base and the enemy's shield becomes active, the player will take damage and lose the ability to fire their weapons but they can still use modules and move out of the base (through the shield)
- Matchmaking improvements to reduce the MMR difference between two teams
- Updated end of battle scoreboard now includes an ‘objective score’ which is gained by capturing points, destroying the Protonite Core and reactor crystals
- In Normal Mode, members of the same clan can now play on opposing teams in the same battle
- Increased the speed at which players level up
- Epic Carbon 6 Plasma forge costs increased
- Removed Ophiuchus Valley, Spitzer Dam and Tihonium Canyon maps from current BRAWL
- Reduced AFK (away from keyboard) detection time to 3 minutes.
- Added the word ‘cancer’ to the profanity filter
- Improved translations based on community feedback from German and French audiences. We have more improvements planned for these languages and others in future updates.
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Sprinter Legs have had their Carry Mass and Health reduced
- All Mech Legs have had their speed increased by 10 MPH
- All Hovers have had their weight and carrying capacity balanced
- All Tesla damage and energy per shot reduced
- Nano RMB functionality removed - Nano now requires manual aiming. Clicking the right-mouse button when using a Nano will now zoom in, the same as other weapons
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that caused the weapon loadout icons to flash red for a few seconds upon entering a game
- Fixed a bug that caused a cube to be placed in the wrong position when attempting to place a large cube on the bottom of a robot in mirror mode
- Fixed a bug that caused the yellow leader visual effect to play for everyone who spawned in even if they are not the leader in Pit mode BRAWL (does not apply to the current BRAWL)
- Fixed a bug that produced an error message when placing cubes too fast in mirror mode
- Fixed a bug that caused a server error when accepting an invite to a clan which makes you the 50th member
- Fixed an issue that made it possible for players to receive the exact same crate twice through a bad internet connection
- The 'load more' button in the clan search tab is now easier to click
- Fixed the splash loading screen text appearing incorrectly when playing at a high resolution
- Cleaned up a very messy looking hill on the Vanguard’s End map
- Sharpened the adverts in the lobby screen when playing at low quality
- Re-aligned the text on the XSOLLA in-game shop page when choosing your payment type
- Translated the ‘Disconnected Cubes’ dialog box into multiple languages
- Fixed a bug that allowed a player to remove the GUI (Game User Interface) from the crate opening screen which then prevented the player from collecting their final crate
- Translated the "User Does Not Exist" text for friend invites and whispers into multiple languages
- Translated "Clan Details" into multiple languages
- Translated "You have to Upload an Avatar to Create a Clan" into multiple languages
- Translated "Invite Already Sent" when adding a friend into multiple languages
- Translated the dialog box that appears when a player attempts to use a promo code that was previously used on their account into multiple languages
- Fixed a visual bug that occurred around the edges of test mode on higher quality settings