Hey everyone!
We’re seeing more and more players able to get into games, but of course it’s still important for us to acknowledge that this is not the case for all players. This is why we’ve been working overtime to get fixes ready for you all.
Later this morning 08:00 (GMT) we have a client and server update going live that will combat a lot of these issues.
This is part of our active effort to improve the experience for players as often as we can. The biggest feedback we’re seeing is that players are loving the game when they can get past the matchmaker. We don’t want to push the update tonight as we don’t want to interrupt play for players who are currently ingame during peak times - we’re going to put the update out early morning to combat disrupting players.
So what’s fixed? Here’s an overview of tomorrow’s update:
Server Backfilling Fix
The biggest complaint we’re seeing is that players are getting into games but they’re 4v3 ,4v2 or even 5v0. This is obviously not acceptable. We spent today identifying the exact issue and we’ve put in a potential fix for this.
Players will now be able to join games in progress. If a player quits or crashes from an arcade or unranked game their slot will now become open again ready to be refilled. This means servers should more reliably fill slots and keep topping up games to keep high player counts.
This is a potential fix. We have successfully ran internal automated tests which reported that our fix does work. However, it’s much different when testing with thousands of live players (something we’re fast learning!). Please give us feedback on whether this is working or not.
Region Restrictions Lifted In Certain Countries
We were seeing issues where our third party server provider (Google) had some of its business services blocked in certain countries. The governments in these affected areas have blocked access to our third party security servers/matchmaking. This is not a decision we (the developers) made to block you. This is entirely political, we are not The United Nations, our powers only go so far!
This meant Battalion 1944 had restricted access to some of its servers in certain countries or regions, such as China, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and many countries in the Arab Nation.
This meant some players from these countries couldn’t even use our main menus without using a VPN. Quick example of the issue for complete clarity: https://gyazo.com/f9cb92ede1a9437f17ff6ebbc84bada8
We have worked on a workaround for these affected players so that a VPN will not be needed for these players. This will be done by redirecting requests from affected countries such as yours to a different third party - however this is not guaranteed fix. We are testing this fix tomorrow with our client update.
For further clarity: If this fix does not work we are going to ask Valve to remove the game from sale in the affected regions. We are a game developer - we’re not able to resolve international politics! This is particularly important because we are seeing large numbers of players from those regions review the game negatively on Steam for no reason other than politics between Google and their government.
Accurate Server Browser Player Numbers
The server browser will now accurately reflect the amount of players ingame!
This means players will experience less instant kicks when trying to join community servers. Previously players were trying to join full servers when it looked like the server wasn’t full. This is now fixed!
Basic Server Browser Improvements - Ordering via Number of Players
We’re working on multiple server browser filters this week ready for the 8th February Week 1 client update. This is of high priority for us!
In the meantime as a temporary measure we’re going to order servers by player count. This should enable casual players to search for servers in order of player counts to quickly find empty/active community servers if matchmaking unexpectedly goes down for whatever reason.
Extra Matchmaking Third Party Stability and Security
We’re re-introducing our second layer of matchmaking security. The third party data cap limit that destroyed our servers on launch day has been lifted. This means tomorrow when we launch our client & server update we will see better security across all matchmaking servers and more reliable matchmaking experience for all.
This also means when we launch competitive play we will see more data and extra stability.
Why Am I Not Gaining Levels/XP?!
We keep seeing complaints that XP is not being granted.
This is for two reasons:
- XP will never be granted on community servers.
The reason for this is to avoid the creation of idle servers where players can AFK to gain infinite War Chests. The bug is that players are seeing their XP bar rise after a community server match ends. This only happens on client’s user interface after a game ends, and doesn’t get sent to our backend servers where XP is actually stored. Sorry but… the cake (xp) is a lie.
A fix for this will be patched into Battalion 1944 in a future update.
- Player’s levels aren't updating!
We’re seeing reports of players reaching level 2 and going back to level 1. Don’t worry - this is just not updating on your client’s user interface/hud in the main menus. We have all of your XP stored nice and safely on our servers.
- End game scoreboard XP reward is incorrect?
XP gains / levels shown are incorrect on players UI.
Again - don’t worry! We have your actual XP stored on our servers.
We’ll be putting out a patch for all these XP & leveling issues at some point soon!
TL;DR Summary
We’re seeing great feedback from you guys about the game. We’ve already seen insanely high level play in the Blitzkrieg Battle Community Tournament, and this is only the 3rd day of Early Access. If you’ve ever dreamed of being a competitive player - Battalion 1944 is the most accessible FPS title with true grass roots beginnings. This is a super bright indication of what’s to come for the game competitively and all the more reason for players to practice for February 8ths competitive launch!
So the most important info:
Later this morning 08:00 (GMT) players will see a client and server update.
- Server Backfilling Fix
- Region Restrictions Lifted In Certain Countries
- Accurate Server Browser Player Numbers
- Temporary Server Browser Solution - Ordered via Number of Players
- Extra Matchmaking Third Party Stability and Security
We’re constantly trying to communicate with you guys to help with your issues. We’re going to keep putting out small fixes and patches to improve stability. We thank you for your patience
Finally, we would like to congratulate ‘The Ocelots’ for winning the first ever Battalion 1944 tournament. We were thrilled to see the grassroots stage of Battalion’s competitive side take off so well! Thank you to the whole team at The PlaysGG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeKNx7zX64M&feature=youtu.be
Full Blitzkrieg VOD available here: https://www.twitch.tv/theplaysgg/videos/all