Update 1.4
General topics
Release date:
- Still for October, without a specific date.
PTS
- As announced, technical test and public launch were postponed.
- After the discussion with the ETF, they realized, they wanted to add specific features to the PTS build so that players can give feedback about those features.
- Is planned to be launched next week – but that is not definitive yet
Learnings
Time to Kill / Time to be killed
- They really wanted to identify the core problems with the game to solve that, before they move ahead with more content
- They collected immense amount of data and put them into graphs and analyzed them
Results
- The enemies in endgame are too bullet-spongy and deal way to much damage
- There is no build diversity – when you do not have a very specific build you are not effective in endgame.
- You also need specific Skills / and Gear Sets.
- That means, there is a very limited amount of good builds and that is not what an RPG game is about, there needs to be variety and multiple ways to build an effective character.
- That makes the game very difficult – not only for solo but also for unoptimized groups.
Time to kill and Enemy Scaling
- There is a huge difference between 1-30 and in the endgame.
- While the time to kill is pretty linear in 1-30 and increases exponentially as soon as you hit endgame
Best gear vs. optimized gear
- While the time to kill for 1-30 with best/random and min-maxed equipment is close and linear, there is a huge difference in endgame between best/random gear and min-maxed gear
» Statistic
Stats
Gear mods
- Level 12: mods contribute 6% to the damage
- Level 30: mods contribute 40% to the damage – they are a critical part of the builds (and that is even a low number, because it does not include weapon mods)
Skills
- Level 30: Skills contribute 78% to the damage (when you cap electronics it is even more)
Takeaways
- The game is balanced for the best possible build and since there is a huge damage gap between the best equipped and worst equipped player – the game is therefore very difficult for the average player.
- The NPCs are too powerful
- The difference between the best-equipped player and the average equipped player should not be that big.
- Gear mods are too powerful in endgame and have a too big impact on the build
- Skills are too powerful
- SmartCover and Pulse are the most used skills
Update 1.4 changes
General changes
- Fixing enemy health and damage post level 30 so that it is linear and not exponential
- Time to be killed in comparison: Now it takes 2.1 seconds to be killed by a standard Riker – it will be 6 seconds in 1.4.
- Time to kill in comparison: Now it takes for an unoptimized build / unmodded ACR 3.8 seconds to kill a Riker – it will be 2.1 seconds
Graph (thanks to
/u/oji310)
http://i.imgur.com/Ql7mT3F.png
Difficulty progression
Now you can play normal/hard mode missions without big problems – but the gap between hard and challenge mode is huge and you basically need challenge mode gear to even play that content.
Reworking the difficulty scaling in endgame
- Greater granularity
- Even transition to endgame not huge difficulty spikes
- Better loot and mission rewards
- linear equipment progression
- Support solo players
- RPG/Shooter experience back
- Clearer path through endgame, what to do, where to get better gear and how to improve your character.
New World Level
- Players can now select the World Level when they hit level 30.
- You are able to set the level of the NPCs and the loot to a specific level.
- Named roamers are back in the open-world (Bullet King lives!) and now you can farm open-world again
- The World Level can be changed at any time
- There will not be level 34 / 35 NPCs
- The World levels will be unlocked as you progress
The World Level will affect the enemy levels of:
- Missions
- Open World
- Incursions
- Underground
World Level impact
- Tier 1 (Level 30 enemies – GS 163 loot (rare 182)) – no challenge mode
- Tier 2 (Level 31 enemies – GS 182 loot (rare 204)) – challenge mode is unlocked
- Tier 3 (Level 32 enemies – GS 204 loot (rare 229))
- Tier 4 (Level 33 enemies – GS 229 loot ) – heroic mode in Incursions is unlocked
Normal / Hard / Challenge / Heroic selection
- Challenge-mode will not be scaled to four players per default, so you could play it solo now
- When you are in a group, the enemies still scale up to the number of players.
- Elite NPCs are now smarter as before – so they will not be just bullet sponges but move faster and more tactical.
- Heroic will only be available for Incursions
- This difficulty will not increase enemy level – but the amount of loot you get
Gear Score Changes
- Max Gear Score will be 229, so Gear Sets have the same as the highest possible high-end
- High-End items will be more important now, since they are at the same level as Gear Sets
Loot
- All enemies are able to drop the best loot of that Tier. But of course trash mobs have a less chance than a named enemy.
- Trash-mobs in Incursion are not included in that.
Matchmaking
- You matchmake with people on your World Level
- You can also play with players on a higher World Level and get the loot-drops from there (power leveling)
- You can also join players in a lower World Level to help them out
Dark Zone / PVP
- Dark Zone selects the World Level for you
- PVE Dark Zone: they are listening, but there will not be specific Dark Zone Changes in 1.4
- The World Level also applies to the Dark Zone
- The Dark Zone Bracket is still calculated based on your gear score
