March 9th, 2023 Free-To-Play Change list

March 9th, 2023, Change List

FREE TO PLAY

• POPULATION: ONE is Free to build! Free to climb! Free to fly! Free to design your own maps!
• And now: Free to Play!
• The game will be free on Meta Quest 2 / Pro
• Oculus Rift and Steam will now be priced at $19.99 . Players who purchase the game on Steam/Oculus Rift platforms will be granted 1,200 ($20) worth of Bureau Gold (BG) into their account.
• ALL New Players will receive FREE additional Bureau Gold (300 BG) when they first launch the game.

Squads Evolving Map

• A Sandbox map has replaced Outpost Hill.
• Terrain has been modified on the Eastern side of the map.
• This map will receive consistent changes throughout 2023.

Classic Squads Original Map

• Classic Squads in the original Season 1 map (Bureau Base and Tower are open).
• Revisit classic areas such as Ridgeline, Cliffside, Complex 33, and the Refinery!
• Bots will be added to Classic Squads in matches with lower-skilled players.
• Note: Bot-filled matches feature is rolling out over time and won’t be available to all players right away.

Original Banana Bundle

* All players who own POP1 before the free-to-play transition automatically receive the Original Banana Bundle:

• Legendary “PJ Potassium” Character Skin
• Legendary “Prestige” Character Skins (4)
• Rare “Prestige” Full Gun Set (14)
• Exclusive Title: “Original Banana”
• Exclusive Calling Card: “Celebration”
• Exclusive Spray: “I Was Here”
• 1,000 Bureau Gold
• Full Access to the level progression track

Graphics Update

• Doubled texture resolution and improved colors for environment, characters, and guns.
• Dynamic objects (characters, guns, build walls) now have real-time shadows.
• Higher resolution for environment shadows.

Store Update

• New store bundles will be featured in the Shop. These bundles have a chance of returning. Get them while you can!
• Note: All old bundles before this update will stay limited and never return to the store.
• Individual Character Skins and Gun Skins are available in a catalog format.

Single Player

• Bots have been improved to be more competitive and will change difficulty based on your skill.
• New Single Player Rewards: Win Single Player matches to unlock rewards.

Game Balance Changes

• All gun damage numbers and ranges have been adjusted to make them more specialized. Now, each weapon more accurately fits its intended role for close, medium, or long-range fights.
• Bananas per inventory slot have been reduced from 2->1, but now heal 100 health instantly.
• When using an item that heals over time (health and shield soda), their active healing effects are now canceled if damaged by an enemy player. Being damaged by the Battle Zone does not stop the healing.
• Ghost movement speed while knocked down has been increased.

Sandbox

• The SMAW Rocket Launcher has been added to Sandbox!
• Rocket Launcher rarity can be set to change damage output.
• More room sizes available: players can select either “12 Players” for more limited size rooms, or “24 Players” for larger rooms when hosting a game.
• New “Loot Cluster” asset for easily placing down 6 loot nodes at once.

March Monthly Rewards

*Play an active game mode (Classic Squads, Squads, Adventurous Playlist, etc.) to make progress towards the Monthly Rewards!

* Monthly Rewards Tiers:

• Dark Arrival P90 (P90 gun skin) - 2 Matches
• Sweats, sweat everywhere (Spray) - 5 Matches
• Dark Arrival MK18 (MK1 gun skin) - 10 Matches
• Seeing Red (Calling Card) - 15 Matches
• Dark PJ (Urban Guerilla)- (Character skin) - 25 Matches

• Select the MONTHLY tab in the Main Menu to see your progress.
• Come back every month to unlock a new set of rewards.
• Rewards will be available for purchase in the Social Store the following month.

New Moderation Tools

• New reporting button next to each player name on the mini-map. Use this button to easily report offending players.
• New description text field when reporting a player for providing additional details which may speed up the report process.

General

• For Free to Play Users: “All Access” can be purchased for the XP progression track to gain access to level 11 rewards and above.
• Deathmatch Game Mode is no longer available in POP1 Custom Rooms. Use Sandbox to play Deathmatch!
• Training Park now teaches users how to mute and report other players.
• Added the ability to skip the intro animation sequence and decreased the game’s overall launch time.
• Introduced a new floating keyboard used by the Game Explorer and report menus.

Bug Fixes

• Improved accuracy of muzzle flash position.
• Fixed Ghosting and Muting not persisting between matches.
• Voice chat now persists during the loading sequence between games again.
• Team Chat Only fixes to improve reliability.
• Fixed issue where dropping ammo would also empty the magazine of any guns using that ammo.
• Fixed an issue with Nametags and Health Bars not being visible.
• Fixed an issue with “99” being shown next to some players’ names on the mini-map.
• Fixed rare issue causing bullets to stop registering for all players in a server.
• Fixed assorted XP-related exploits.
• Fixed collision issues around the outside of The Tower.
• Fixed an issue where users could load Single Player game modes while in a squad.
• Fixed issue that allowed players to remove fog on PCVR.
• Fixed issue that allowed users to switch teams during matches in Custom Rooms.
• Fixed issues involving Ghosting and Reporting other users.
• Fixed the “Help” button in the settings.
• Fixed issue where Main Menu could erroneously say “edge-casey” as the username.
• Fixed issue that could cause grenades to be stuck beeping infinitely.

Terms of Service

• BigBox VR’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy have updated and are available here:
• https://www.bigboxvr.com/terms-and-conditions
• https://www.bigboxvr.com/privacy-policy

Support

• For support visit [http://support.bigboxvr.com](http://support.bigboxvr.com) to get access to self-help resources or file a ticket.

Known Issues

• The reticle will sometimes stay yellow after reloading. Switching guns should fix this.
• A brief loss of audio is sometimes encountered when joining a voice chat channel on Quest 1 & 2 without headphones. This is due to enabling echo and noise cancellation features.
• Steam VR users playing on an Oculus headset: When Purchasing Bureau Gold, you will need to take off your headset to approve the purchase.
• If you see a notice that you need to "update to play" but don't see it in the store, uninstall and reinstall POP: ONE to force the upgrade to happen. You won't lose any progress or data.

See you in game!