Welcome Agents! Launch is finally here and we’re going to dive into the changes you can expect on day one. Before we give you the full rundown of this build of the game, a few things to clarify:
The launch build was stamped *before* we could dive into all the great feedback received in the Open Beta cycle. Some elements of feedback we could act on in the short term, others will have to wait a bit for post launch updates. For more details on some of those post launch changes head over here: https://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php?threads/a-reminder-of-post-launch-changes-the-team-is-working-on.2338935/
As always, your feedback is invaluable to the team and we take it very seriously. If something is not there yet it does not mean we are not seriously considering it/working on it. We’ll do our best to give you a transparent look at what we are working on regularly.
Now without further ado, let’s dive in!
General Changes
Jump Fatigue Tweaks
We’ve had a lot of feedback on the new jump fatigue implementation through our Open Beta cycle. We’ve tuned it for launch to be much less disruptive of normal movement while still slowing you down significantly if you mash it in a fight.
We are keeping an eye on reports that shooting jumping characters in close quarters is more frustrating than it should, so you can expect news on that front in the future.
Controller Tweaks
Refinement to controller quick turn when holding the joystick.
Created unique aim assist profiles for different weapon types to better tweak the experience for controller users. This gives us the power to tweak aim assist on a per-character basis if need be.
Base Max ammo pools tweaks
The overall max ammo numbers for agents has been toned down slightly. This should give the max ammo field upgrade a bit more value and give a bit more tactical depth to taking a fight. This does not affect the presence of ammo on the map or how much ammo you gain from a single pack or dispenser.
Recoil Smoothing
We’ve had a lot of feedback on the difficulty of hitting moving targets in the game and recoil has been a big part of that feeling. Expect less harsh recoil overall for a smoother shooting experience across the board.
Razer Chroma integration
The launch version of Deceive Inc. features full Razer Chroma integration for PC users. You can expect Game phase contextual patterns that evolve depending on the current state of the match, Event contextual patterns that react to actions like changing cover, hacking, taking damage and mapped key highlights to showcase your active keybinds.
Razer Chroma features are enabled by default but can be turned off in the general section of the in-game settings.
Levels
All Operations are a GO
With release, Operation Hard Sell, Silver Reef, Diamond Spire and Fragrant Shore are all part of the map rotations. Go get that package!
Spawn Pool tweaks
Diamond Spire and Fragrant Shore have received a fresh shipment of intel to fill their drawers a bit more. Diamond Spire has also received more intel overall to better pace the looting on all floors of the level.
Balancing Tweaks
We’ve got a big list of balancing changes to the entire cast. Our biggest changes are around fast firing weapons that take a lot of hits to eliminate a rival spy. We’ve tweaked the modifiers of this weapon archetype across the board to make body damage more reliable, limb shot less punitive and headshots a bit less of a modifier to compensate. In most cases headshots will do the same damage as before, but consistent body shots will lead to more reliable eliminations. We hope this makes these characters more accessible and less frustrating to use in prolonged combat.
Another area of focus has been on making weapon mods that were lacking a clear identity a bit more unique. We hope this makes choosing a weapon variant a more interesting choice in build making.
Squire
The overall goal with Squire this update is to make his base weapon feel more reliable and less headshot dependent. We also found the javelin to lag behind a bit and lack a clear identity. With this we want to pivot the javelin more clearly as the big damage, headshot dependent variant of squire’s weapon.
Base Weapon: Lance
- Increased damage from 15 to 17
- Reduced fire rate from 3.6 bullet second to 3.1
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
- Reduced headshot modifier from 1.5 to 1.3
Weapon Mod 1: Trident
No Change from Beta
Weapon Mod 2: Javelin
- Increased damage from 20 to 23
- Increased headshot damage modifier from 1.75 to 2.00
- Reduced fire rate from 2.45 bullet second to 2.40
Ace
Ace has been doing pretty well recently, as such we are not making radical changes to her balancing. We wanted to give a bit more personality difference to the jack of diamonds and give it more of a role as Ace’s most reactive option.
Base Weapon: Queen of Diamonds
- Raised fire rate from .75 bullet second to .8 bullet second.
- Raised fire reload time from 1.6 seconds to 2.3.
Weapon Mod 1: Jack of Diamonds
- Raised fire rate from 1.25 bullet seconds to 1.35.
- Lowered reload time from 2.4 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
Weapon Mod 2: King of Diamonds
No change from beta
Chavez
Chavez has been performing quite well recently. We simply put vigilante more in-line with other fast firing weapon changes we are making in this patch.
Base Weapon: Sentinel
No change from beta
Weapon Mod 1: Vigilante
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
Weapon Mod 2: Duke
No change from beta
Larcin
Larcin is seeing a bit more changes in this patch. We found his base weapon to be outclassed by his other options on all sides. We wanted to drive a clearer use case for each weapon in this patch. Silence will now be a more reliable option that is not headshot dependent, cadence will be a preferable long range option with bigger ammo capacity and violence will drive further the need to land that gun throw for big damage while keeping superior headshot damage on the bullets.
Base Weapon: Silence
- Increased base damage from 9 to 10
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
- Reduced headshot modifier from 1.5 to 1.3
- Increased reload speed from 1.1 to 1.0 second.
Weapon Mod 1: Cadence
- Increased base damage from 8 to 9.-Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
Weapon Mod 2: Violence
- Reduced bullet damage from 13 to 10
- Reduced fire rate from 4.75 bullet second to 4.5
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
- Increased reload time from .8 second to 1.2 second.
- Increased thrown weapon crit modifier from 2.0 to 2.5 for BIG bonk damage.
Xiu
Weapons
Xiu is probably the character with the best use case for the fast firing tweaks. With these changes, we want to increase the extremely fast time to kill for landing only headshots. By the same token, we are also making kills far more reliable overall by mitigating the penalty on limb shots. We are once again trying to drive weapon personality further by giving Longshen a better use case as Xiu’s harder hitting longer ranger option.
Base Weapon: Zhulong
- Special note* Xiu’s stats were not correct in the open beta build, this is compared to the next fest balancing which was the correct one
- Reduced base damage from 10 to 9
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
- Reduced headshot modifier from 1.5 to 1.3
Weapon Mod 1: Longshen
- Increased damage from 8 to 10 per shot.
Weapon Mod 2: Xuanwu
- Reduced damage per shot from 7 to 6
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
- Reduced headshot modifier from 1.5 to 1.3
Expertise
We fixed an issue where Xiu’s expertise would not use the correct values. Here’s the rundown:
Expertise Base: Cobra’s Deceit:
- 45 meters max range for a shift instead of 40.
Expertise mod 1: Serpent’s Bluff
- 10 meters max range to set your recall target instead of 40.
Expertise mod 2: Python’s Ruse
- Each jump now has a max range of 15 meters, this used to be 40 meters each.
- You now have a 2.5 seconds delay to shift again. No more holding the next jump infinitely.
Hans
Hans has been in an interesting spot recently. His base weapon and weapon mod 1 have been underperforming quite a bit while his weapon mod 2 has been dominating the game very fiercely. With these changes, we hope to give every weapon a clearer use case and a more evident drawback to the uppercut variant.
Base Weapon: The Hook
- Increase damage from 40 to 45 (when all pellets hit).
Weapon Mod 1: The Jab
- Increase damage from 25 to 30 (when all pellets hit).
- Increased headshot multiplier on ADS from 1.5 to 1.75.
Weapon Mod 2: The Uppercut
- Reduced fire rate from 1.8 shot second to .8 shot second.
- Reduced ADS shot damage from 50 to 30.
- Slowed reload speed from 2.1 to 2.2 seconds.
Expertise
- The duration of all Hans expertise status effects has been extended from 3 seconds to 4.5 seconds to give better utility in closing the gap with rivals.
Cavalière
Cavalière's base weapon was underperforming a bit recently. As before, we are removing a bit of emphasis on headshots and making her time to kill more reliable overall by raising base damage and lowering limb shot modifiers impact. This change also carries well with the hydras where landing only headshot would create extremely low TTK, but hitting limbs would make kills extremely long to get. This should really shrink the extremes on both sides. For the wyverns, we want to reward headshots more and make it more of a precision alternative while punishing going only for body shots only a bit more.
Base Weapon: Dragoons
- Increased damage from 10 to 12 per shot.
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
- Reduced headshot modifier from 1.5 to 1.3.
Weapon mod 1: Hydras
- Reduced damage per shot from 13 to 10.
- Increased fire rate from 4.25 bullet second to 5.00
- Increase headshot multiplier from 1.5 to 2.0.
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
Weapon mod 2: Wyverns
- Changed limb shot modifier from .75 to .9 in accordance with fast firing weapon tweaks.
- Reduced reload time from 2.1 seconds to 1.8.
- Reduced headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 1.5.
Yu-Mi
The split pellets have been a dominating force in Yu-Mi’s arsenal recently. Having headshots modifiers on a weapon that behaves like a shotgun creates a very random experience for victims that could lead to almost instant death in some cases. We hope to make the pellet a more reliable and less frustrating weapon that we can better balance with these changes.
Base Weapon: Tactical Slingshot
No Change since beta
Weapon Mod 1: Experimental Split Shot
- Removed headshot multiplier from this mod to make it closer to shotgun behavior (like hans).
- Changed damage of pellet before split from 34 to 30.
- Changed the charged damage multiplier from 1.5 to 1.6.
- Changed damage of pellets once splitted from 7 to 6.
Weapon Mod 2: Heavy Longshot
No Change since beta
The team is keeping track of several top known issues and workarounds in the Support Knowledgebase here: https://support.deceiveinc.com/en/knowledgebase
Thank you for your continued feedback and support, Agents!