Hello everyone!
Update 1.1 is currently slated to be in community hands in just a few days via the Community Test Branch on August 25th and 26th for a test weekend! Along with Multiplayer Campaign, Update 1.1 has many Quality of Life improvements and gameplay changes that are coming as well - and today we want to share some of them with you.
First up, the NLF faction is having changes made to its roles, to help differentiate it from the PAVN:
- NLF Guerilla
- Added M1 Carbine
- Removed AK-47
- NLF Scout
- Added Type 56 and Type 56-1 (no AKM)
- NLF Sapper
- Added MAT-49
- Removed SKS
- NLF Machine Gunner
- Added Punji Trap
- NLF Radioman
- Removed AK-47
- Added Mosin Nagant 91/30
- Added Punji Trap
- NLF RPG
- Added Punji Trap
- NLF Commander
- Added Punji Trap
There are some upcoming weapon changes as well:
- Reduced horizontal recoil of the M2 / M1 Carbine
- Slightly reduced horizontal recoil of the Type 56 / 56-1
- Reduced sway on all Sniper Rifles - especially for SVD and XM21
- Reduced recoil when using Machine Gun bipods
- 40% ADS movement speed increase for M37 Riot Shotgun and the Sawn-off IZH shotgun
(Community Map Highway 14 Joins The Official Lineup With 1.1)
Many maps are also having their reinforcements adjusted to bring them into better balance as well as a potential optimization pass. We’ll be using the CTB to evaluate the effectiveness of these changes, so be sure to participate and let us know if you see improvement!
Along with these map, weapon and role changes, many community requested features, improvements and even new settings are also on the way:
- Players will now be able to place traps and tunnels without looking directly at the ground
- Tunnels and traps can now be placed anywhere, but with a time penalty for harder surfaces such as rock and concrete
- Commanders will now see a cooldown bar on their abilities
- A new checkbox has been added to the graphics settings to enable or disable texture streaming (in and out individually)
- A new volume slider has been added to the audio settings so players can adjust their first person headshot audio volume
And as some of the eagle eyed warriors in the community noticed in the last announcement, players will now be able to equip two facial accessories. No longer will you have to choose between those glasses and beard.
Since we’ve started talking about the upcoming Multiplayer Campaign and 1.1 Update, we have seen players asking for even more details. To help with that, we have gathered some of the top questions and have answered them!
Update 1.1 Q&A
Q: Is there any mechanic to stop faster loading players from always getting preferred roles (in MPC or general gameplay)
- No mechanic as of yet. Ideally this a problem that is addressed in the base game as well. I imagine we will need to find a fair way to give first picks to players rather than the first-come-first-serve unrestricted system we have at the moment.
Q: Is there any mechanic to delay round start until more players have loaded (so maps don't start with 5 players
- There is already a pre-round duration that servers can set. We will make sure one is set by default.
Q: How is what region that is attacked by a team decided?
- Players on attacking team have 60 seconds to communicate and vote for a specific region to attack. Different regions have different maps and armies to choose from.
Q: Was that a character that had both a mustache and glasses in the placeable HMG video?
- Yes, facial hair and eye wear are split off into different categories now.
Q: How many HMG's are deployable - and on maps where they are available? Does it remove the previous map ones?
- Deployable HMGs will replace indestructible static DSHKs on current maps.
Q: How can HMG's be moved/destroyed?
- The player on the HMG can choose to disassemble the HMG and put it back into their inventory (with movement penalty) and place it in a new location. HMGs can be destroyed by explosives and the pickup item will respawn at its spawn location (similar to Helicopters).
Q: Which maps will have the new deployable HMG’s?
- Our intention is to have this available in all maps, but subject to change as we observe how the maps play out and player feedback.
Q: Are any more official and community maps coming to the game?
- We have a few more community maps we want to make a official but they require more work to be put into them before they are ready.
Q: Can server admins add custom maps to the campaign?
- Absolutely, server admins will have the option to add custom maps to the regions of their choosing.