We want to start by thanking you for all your comments on combat and character balance. They have driven the updates in this patch and helped us prioritize the changes.
For balance, we've been looking at all the characters, some feel too powerful in certain areas while some feel too underwhelming. That is why we have substantial changes for every character. Of course, we are looking forward to your feedback on these changes.
We also improved the general feeling of combat, by adjusting hit detection for the melee characters’ heavy attacks and by improving the behavior of the melee helper (lock-on system).
We are also introducing our first community event with a double XP weekend!
Looking further afield, we have of course the PvE mode to look forward to in July (you can learn more in our Dev Vlog #3 below), and an exciting rework of the winch mechanic, which we will talk about later. We will continue paying close attention to to the following topics:
- Character balance (their attacks, evading, abilities, perks...)
- AI combat improvements (targeting, prioritization...)
- Quality of life improvements (accessibility, UI)
Patch Notes
General fixes
- Melee targeting improvements, melee attacks without Lock-On are now easier to hit, target prioritization is improved (especially for sprinting attacks and Tooke's heavy attack)
- Melee attacks on crouched enemies should now hit more consistently.
- Tree branches and leaves collisions on Outpost fixed so they don't block arrows/bolts
- A new option called "Assassination Camera" allows players to disable the takedown mini-cutscenes
- Temporary community events and rewards are now displayed in the game
Character balance changes
Marianne
- Aiming now requires stamina and halts stamina regeneration.
- Roving Rogue reworked: Previously with the perk Marianne would pick up 2 bolts from a single bolt in the environment, with her bolts having a 25% chance to break on impact. Now with the perk Marianne picks up 1 bolt from a single bolt in the environment, but her bolts no longer break on impact
- Increased the delay between the moment Marianne aims and is able to fire, effectively removing Quick Shots.
- Smoke Bomb now affects AI in a smaller radius.
John
- Surging Smash no longer kills Tooke in a single hit.
- Surging Smash no longer removes Stamina for performing Light Attacks while sprinting.
- John is now able to use Wrath to cancel assassination attempts on his life.
- John is now unable to be assassinated when under the effects of Wrath. He still remains vulnerable to the Sheriff.
- John’s sprint attack is now less generous in terms of hit detection.
Tooke
- Heavy Attack no longer collides with friendly characters
- Healing Gas no longer affects AI negatively.
- Poison Gas now affects AI in a smaller radius.
- Poison Gas no longer hides the player from the Sheriff; other guards are still affected.
Robin
- Aiming now requires stamina and halts stamina regeneration.
- The flashbang's inflicted stamina penalty increased
- The flashbang is now more effective, removing UI elements such as the minimap for characters that are affected
- The flashbang removes lock on, and prevents affected character from locking on for the effect's duration
Smoke Bomb Changes
A person inside a Smoke Bomb's effect :- Is unable to see UI overheads for clients outside the smoke (Health / Tag Icons)
- Is no longer tagged by clients outside the smoke
- Is no longer displayed on the enemy's minimap/map
Bug fixes
- Fixed a rare PC crash after Alt-Tab while in Full Screen mode
- Fixed other rare crashes
- Various localization fixes
- Various UI fixes
- Fixed a bug when muting another player from the map could cause one player to stop their movement while the map is open
- Fixed a bug with players get stuck on the map UI after muting another player
- Fixed an invitation bug when players remained in their HUB after being invited
- Fixed Flash bombs resetting Robin/Marianne arrow/bolt charge
