Pablo, Kahlo, Dali, Death. Add some contemplation to your killing with the grand opening of the latest Execution map - Gallery!
On top of that, we're introducing a completely new Crafting system, have given Market and Overground a lick of digital paint, are giving away a brand new Trinket, and are kicking off a gold-gilded event for the next two weeks. Check out the video and read on for more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_mD9i0qTiM
New Execution Map: Gallery
Set in the fading splendor of London's South Bank, the retired Gallery is no longer the bustling jewel in the capital's crown, now acting as a base for the CDA at the foot of their Containment shield. The austere concrete haven's now been hit by a savage Jackal attack, whose Mercs have set about putting the brutal in brutalism.
Click for a larger view!
Three distinct areas connected by easy routes set the map apart from its Execution counterparts - The Gallery, Smokehouse and Skatepark.
The Gallery
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The gallery itself sits at the center of the map, a sad shell of the ark for contemporary art it once was. If Jackal attackers can push through the center, they have an easy picking of either Pylon.
The Smokehouse
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A recent addition to the appropriately named Smokehouse Restaurant was a commercial grade jet engine, falling from the sky under suspicious circumstances. If Jackal heads left from their spawn, they'll pass it en route to Pylon A
The Skatepark
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If Jackal heads to the right, they'll find themselves in the belly of a gallery of a different sort - an underground skate park that ploughs up towards Pylon B.
Gallery's very distinct locations have been created to aid in orientation, so you can better learn the map and communicate your position within it. We've now carried this philosophy over to our other two Execution maps...
Market and Overground Updates
Market and Overground have had several visual revisions to bring them in line with Gallery, flavoring areas that were previously nondescript and adding clear signage leading to Pylons A and B.
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Overground is now populated with a power station and a pub, while the ruined building near Pylon A has been CDA-clad.
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Market now lives up to its name, with the market filled out with crates, as well as more distinctive signage on the shops that surround the area.
Other Execution Mode improvements
- Added CDA Commander VO lines to the mode
- Added more info and Merc VO lines to the Best Merc pop-up at the end of rounds
- Added 'Match Point' pop-ups when a team is one round away from winning the Match
- Pylons are now marked as A or B on the minimap
- Updated end-game camera
- The countdown period at the start of rounds is now in color
- Jackal attackers will now receive XP for escorting the Bomb Carrier
New Feature: Crafting
In this update, we're introducing a brand new feature to replace the Trade In/Up System. It's called Crafting, and it makes the process of getting a Loadout Card in the rarity of your choice easier. Instead of Trading Up, you can Recycle your Loadout Cards for Fragments. You can Recycle all of your Lead cards, Iron cards or duplicates in a single action, to speed up the process.
Use Fragments alongside Credits to Craft a Loadout Card in your desired rarity. If you don't have enough Credits, you can use Crafting Kits instead, purchasable in the Store.
Weapon Kits are rare items found in Arsenal Crates, allowing you to lock in on one of your Merc's three Primary Weapons when Crafting. For more information on the Crafting system, including Fragment and Credit costs to Craft, check out Lead Designer Exedore's forum post here.
We're also adding the option to... that's right... bulk buy Equipment Cases in 5's and 10's.
Two New Trinkets
Two new Trinkets, paying their dues to Execution, have now hit the store.
First up is the totally awesome titular Chicken from London's ubiquitous 'Totally Awesome Chicken' chain (and Execution's Market), complete with obituary flair. Pick it up for US$4.99 in the Store.
If you log in before next Monday, you can snag this piece of Gallery memorabilia - the Graffiti Bite Trinket - for free! If you miss out, you'll still be able to buy it in the Store for US$2.99 or 15,000 Credits.
Giveaway Duration
- London (BST, UTC+1): 18:00 Thursday, July 7 - 18:00 Monday, July 11
- Los Angeles (PDT, UTC-7): 10:00 AM Thursday, July 7 - 10:00 AM Monday, July 11
- Sydney (AEST, UTC+10): 3:00 AM Friday, July 8 - 3:00 AM Tuesday, July 12
Classy Case Event
For the next two weeks, Equipment, Expert and Elite Cases in drops and the Store will be replaced with classy 'Golden' variants, which give you a higher chance of scoring Gold Loadout Cards. Prices remain the same, so get in there while your chances are golden!
On top of that, a Golden Equipment Case will hit your inventory every day you log in until the 21st of July. So log in! And play a game or two, unless your life has been reduced to a case-hoarding Dirty Bomb meta.
Classy Case Duration
- London (BST, UTC+1): 18:00 Thursday, July 7 - 18:00 Thursday, July 21
- Los Angeles (PDT, UTC-7): 10:00 Thursday, July 7 - 10:00 AM Thursday, July 21
- Sydney (AEST, UTC+10): 3:00 AM Friday, July 8 - 3:00 AM Friday, July 22
Ranked Mode Enabled
After squashing bugs relating to Ranked Mode, we're finally able to switch it back on! We've also added a 'Recent Matches' section to your Profile, giving you information on the last 10 matches you've had.
Jump in-game and get your competitive on!
Balance
Burst Fire Rifles
We took a look at the much talked about burst-fire rifles and have decided to reduce the rate of fire during the 3-bullet bursts.
With this increased time between each bullet during a burst, players will be less likely to land all three shots in the same spot (especially on moving targets) and the overall damage-per-second output of the burst-rifles will be lowered.
We've also slightly increased their reload times, nudging them towards the slower-end of the Assault Rifle spectrum.
BR-16
- Reduced rate of fire during a burst to 720 RPM (from 800 RPM)
- Increased reloading time to 2.2s (from 2.0s)
Stark AR
- Reduced rate of fire during a burst to 800 RPM (from 857 RPM)
- Increased reloading time to 2.2s (from 2.1s)
Sniper Rifles
We've reduced the number of rounds for the PDP-70 Sniper Rifle, so players have to be more careful with their shots and spamming will be less effective.
We've also increased visibility and duration of the bullet trails for semi-automatic sniper rifles, so it's more clear when Redeye is firing through smoke.
PDP-70
- Reduced magazine size to 9 rounds (from 11)
- Increased visibility and duration of bullet trails
Grandeur SR
- Increased visibility and duration of bullet trails
Shotguns
Ahnuld-12
The Ahnuld-12 Shotgun has been out-performing other shotguns, largely due to its range, so this is being toned-down a little.
- Reduced damage falloff start distance to 3.2m (from 3.84m)
Pistols
We've generally improved Pistols across the board to make them more viable, especially when compared to Machine Pistols.
The main focus has been on making the the more powerful pistols hit harder (but fire slower) while also creating more distinct differences between each one.
DE. 50
- Increased damage to 26 (from 20)
- Reduced rate of fire to 257 RPM (from 360 RPM)
Caulden
- Increased damage to 20 (from 19)
- Reduced rate of fire to 327 RPM (from 360 RPM)
Simeon .357
- Increased damage to 30 (from 25)
- Reduced rate of fire to 225 RPM (from 300 RPM)
Smjüth & Whetsman .40
- Increased damage to 34 (from 27)
- Reduced rate of fire to 200 RPM (from 300 RPM)
- Increased recoil by ~10%
Selbstadt .40
- Increased damage to 17 (from 15)
- Reduced rate of fire to 400 RPM (from 450 RPM)
- Increased recoil by ~10%
Machine Pistols
Tølen MP
- Increased rate of fire to 750 RPM (from 732 RPM)
Empire-9
- Reduced effective range to 11m (from 12m)
- Increased recoil by ~10%
Other Changes
User Interface
- System messages are now colored yellow in the chat window to make them stand out
Gameplay
- Heavy Melee attacks no longer reduce mouse sensitivity
- Melee attacks can now only deal damage to targets who are in front of the player (in a 140 degree arc)
- Quick Melee now defaults to using Light Melee Attacks
- Added Quick Heavy Melee as a new key-bind, defaulting to Mouse 4
- Players will sometimes automatically inspect their weapon before the match begins
- Players who are idle for 60 seconds will now automatically trigger a Kick vote against themselves
- Players who are idle for 180 seconds will be automatically Kicked by the server
Audio
- Updated the Badge award audio, reducing length and volume
- Added additional audio to the Voting interface
- Friendly gunfire is now slightly quieter than enemy gunfire
Notable Bug Fixes
- Fixed bug where Stopwatch matches would sometimes incorrectly end in a Draw when a team had actually Won
- Fixed bug where jumping on a player's head could cause you to de-sync from the server and cause issues
- Fixed bug where the Guardian Angel Augment would sometimes be incorrectly triggered
- Fixed bug where rapidly changing Merc during warmup could hurt performance on the server
- Fixed bug where deployables could block the healing from Phoenix's Healing Pulse
- Fixed bug where Skyhammer was not correctly receiving 'Splash Damage' XP from Airstrikes
- Fixed bug where Sparks would swap back to her Machine Pistol (rather than REVIVR) after Quick Throwing a Health Pack
- Fixed bug where explosive audio would not play if an explosion was a killing blow in an Execution round
- Fixed bug where players could get outside of the map using grenade-jumps in several spots on Overground