TITLE UPDATE 10 – PUBLIC TEST SERVER [fase 3] – PATCH NOTES + SCREENSHOTS

Gameplay Changes

General

• Increased rifle base ammo capacity by 50% from 280 to 420
• Gunner specialization’s Emplacement talent Weapon Handling bonus reduced from +15% to +10%
• Note: UI text has not been updated, and will still say +15% in the talent description

NPC/Difficulty Balance

• Reverted the increases to base NPC status effect resistances in heroic and legendary difficulties during PTS phase 2.
  • NOTE: Some Legendary bosses and specific archetypes in Phase 3 unfortunately did not have their resistances reverted. This has already been fixed TU10 (where they’ve been fully reverted back to previously levels).

Developer comment: One of the obvious advantages to running a PTS in multiple phases is we can be afforded the opportunity to try experimental ideas while receiving immediate feedback. We knew this would be a controversial change, but wanted to try it anyway in order to see how it would affect the end-game meta. Unfortunately, one of the things we failed to do was appreciate just how much a blanket resistance buff to NPCs would affect the viability of non-crowd-control status effect builds. We never intended to release TU10 with any sort of nerf as significant as that, and fully intended to land somewhere much lower than the resistance values seen in PTS phase 2. Despite those intentions, we agree these resistance changes are not in the best interest of the game, so they have been entirely reverted in favor of addressing the particular crowd-control skills we feel are currently scaling too high in both uptime and frequency. More information on those changes can be found below in the Skills portion of these patch notes.

Loot

• Loot containers part of living world activities now scale with global difficulty

Developer comment: Several issues regarding loot not scaling properly in PTS phase 2 have been addressed. These are specified in the Bug Fixes section.

Exotics

Developer comment: TU10’s significant buff to weapon handling meant some exotic weapon mods no longer made sense or resulted in over tuned performance that no longer fit with the original design profile. We also took this opportunity to make improvements to underperforming exotic mods/configurations.

The Bighorn

• Big Game Hunter: Headshots now grant +2% Headshot Damage, up from +1%
• Increased optimal range from 27m to 40m
• Optics mod bonus increased from +0% to +30% Headshot Damage
• Magazine mod bonus changed from +7% Headshot Damage to +10% Reload Speed

Mantis

• Optics mod bonus increased from +35% to +40% Headshot Damage
• Muzzle mod bonus changed from +7% Headshot Damage to +5% Critical Hit Chance
• Now highlights weakpoints when aiming through the scope

Nemesis

• Optics mod bonus increased from +35% to +45% Headshot Damage
• Underbarrel mod bonus reduced from +15% to +5% Weapon Handling

Chameleon

• Adaptive Instincts: Increased the number of hits required to gain the body-shots buff from 60 to 75, and increased its weapon damage bonus from +80% to +90%
• Optics mod bonus changed from +15% Accuracy to +15% Critical Hit Chance
• Muzzle mod bonus changed from +5% Critical Hit Chance to +10% Accuracy
• Underbarrel mod bonus changed from +10% Critical Hit Chance to +10% Stability

Merciless/Ruthless

• Binary Trigger: Reduced the amplified weapon damage at 7 stacks from 900% to 500%, and the explosion damage from 1200% to 500%
• Muzzle mod bonus reduced from +20% to +10% Stability
• Underbarrel mod bonus reduced from +20% to +10% Weapon Handling
• Magazine mod bonus reduced from +15% to +10% Reload Speed

Developer Comment: Merciless was previously balanced for its very unwieldy handling and compensated with very high burst damage. With access to much higher weapon handling, this is being toned down dramatically.
Eagle Bearer

• Underbarrel mod bonus changed from +10% Stability to +10% Weapon Handling

Lady Death

• Breathe Free: Lowered the amount of maximum stacks from 40 to 32, and increased the damage amplification per stack from 60% to 75%
• Optics mod bonus increased from +5% to +10% Critical Hit Chance
• Muzzle mod bonus changed from +5% Critical Hit Chance to +5% Critical Hit Damage
• Underbarrel mod changed from +5% Critical Hit Damage to +500% Melee Damage

Pestilence

• Muzzle mod bonus changed from +10% Stability to +10% Accuracy
• Underbarrel mod bonus changed from +10% Weapon Handling to +10% Stability

The Chatterbox

• Optics mod bonus increased from +5% to +15% Critical Hit Chance
• Muzzle mod bonus changed from +10% Critical Hit Chance to +5% Critical Hit Damage
• Underbarrel mod bonus reduced from +15% to +10% Weapon Handling
• Magazine mod bonus changed from +10% Reload Speed to +10 Rounds
• Magazine base capacity reduced from 60 to 50

Liberty

• Optics mod bonus changed from +5% Critical Hit Chance to +5% Headshot Damage
• Muzzle mod bonus changed from +15% Stability to +5% Critical Hit Chance
• Magazine mod bonus changed from +15% Reload Speed to +15% Weapon Handling
• No longer highlights weakpoints when aiming

Regulus

• Muzzle mod bonus changed from +5% Critical Hit Damage to +20% Accuracy

Gear Sets

Foundry Bulwark

• Makeshift Repairs repair-over-time effect reduced from 40% of damage taken over 10s to 20% over 15s
• Improved Materials now increases Makeshift Repairs from 20% to 30% over 15s
• Process Refinery now increases Makeshift Repairs repair speed from 15s to 10s

Developer comment: The intention for Foundry Bulwark is for it to be the premiere gear set choice for tanks, or players looking to maximize their survivability, especially when paired with a shield such as the Bulwark. These values should better represent the level of survivability we intended this gear set to provide, as we still want situational awareness and smart positioning to be a factor in moment to moment decision making. The previous tuning during PTS phase-1 and 2 meant even bad play couldn’t be punished due to the overly generous damage reduction and self-repair strength.

Brand Sets

• Incoming Repairs brand set bonus increased from +15% to +20% on 5.11 Tactical and Richter & Kaiser GmbH

Weapons

Carbine7

• 7.6% -> 8.7% damage increase

CTAR-21

• 6.2% -> 8.6% damage increase

MPX

• 20.8% -> 17.7% damage reduction

Skills

Seeker Mine

• Cluster Seeker Mine targeting accuracy improved

Developer comment: The Cluster Seeker Mine is not intended to be as accurate as the Explosive variant. Once it is a certain distance from its target it locks the location it is aiming for and continues towards that regardless of where its original target agent has since moved to. This “bullcharge” behavior reflects the mini-mines’ less advanced technology and balances the skill mod’s effectiveness. This said, we have noticed that the Cluster Seeker’s accuracy has been a source of frustration so we’ve shortened the distance until it activates its “bullcharge” and adjusted when it decides to explode. These adjustments should make the Cluster Seeker feel more accurate, but these are measured steps as we do not want the skill to return to its OP TU7-state.

Hive

• Stinger Hive base damage reduced -20%
• Stinger Hive damage bonus per skill tier increased from +10% to +20%

Developer comment: In order to make investing in skill tiers have a greater impact on the Stinger Hive’s damage, we slightly reduced base drone damage, while doubling the amount of damage gained with each skill tier. These changes will result in a net buff for dedicated skill builds, with a 10% increase in Stinger Hive drone damage at skill tier 6 compared to TU9’s live values.

• Restorer Hive now gains +5% drone flight speed per skill tier

Developer comment: Increases to the Restorer Hive’s radius had the unfortunate effect of increasing the time it took for repair drones to reach their target the further they were from the hive. Increasing drone flight speed with each skill tier should help offset that somewhat counter-intuitive behavior when taking advantage of the increased area of effect, and make the Restorer Hive a more reliable tool for healers.

Chem Launcher

• Riot Foam Chem Launcher ensnare duration bonus per skill tier reduced from +20% to +10%

Firefly

• Blinder Firefly blind duration bonus per skill tier reduced from +20% to +10%
• Blinder Firefly base blind duration reduced from 6s to 5s

Pulse

• Banshee Pulse base confuse duration reduced from 5s to 4s
• Jammer Pulse base disrupt duration reduced from 4s to 3s

Shock Trap

• Shock Trap base shock duration reduced from 5s to 3s (PvP duration remains unchanged)
• Shock Trap base radius increased from 2m to 2.5m

Developer comment: One of the core objectives for the design team when working on Warlords of New York was to make the endgame challenging again, and to put a greater emphasis on both personal and group build synergy. When we shipped Warlord’s of NY, we reduced the maximum power deltas on gear, which meant players could no longer “over-gear” content like they could previously, which had the desired effect of making difficulty levels matter again. While we consider that a success, it also had the fortunate consequence of bringing to light a lot of degenerate NPC behavior that was always present, but entirely invisible, due to players being 4-5x more powerful than the content they were doing prior to Warlords. This re-tuning of the RPG mechanics has forced us to audit the economics of our NPC encounters in more ways than one, in order to address unfair, overly punishing, or generally overtuned NPC archetypes. We consider all of this a good thing, because it keeps us honest as developers, and the game as fair as possible, without compromising what makes difficult content fun and rewarding in the first place: the challenge.

With all that said, two things were clear from the start of Warlords launch: NPCs were too powerful, and player crowd-control (CC) skills were scaling too high. One became a necessary evil to combat the other, and so we were reluctant to make any changes to CC skills before addressing the core issue of NPC balance. We believe the tuning of NPCs and their scaling across the different tiers of difficulty is in a much better/healthier place as of TU9.1, and the generous amount of buffs to weapon damage and gear coming in TU10 will only further tip the scales in the player’s favor. In order to maintain a healthy balance between players and NPCs at the highest difficulties, and to preserve the integrity of our vision for endgame, we now need to address the power of crowd-control skills.

The changes outlined above were done to bring dedicated crowd-controller builds more in-line with what we expect their contribution to a fireteam to be. CC effects act as powerful force-multipliers, multiplying the strength of every individual on a team by both lowering/preventing incoming damage entirely, and enabling the group’s damage dealers to do so with impunity. The current tuning of CC effects on live (TU9.1) lead to NPCs on even legendary difficulty being snared/blinded/disrupted/confused for longer than the cooldown of the skill itself, giving them no opportunity to defend themselves, or fight back once the CC effect wore off. This inevitably lead to situations where the only time a group with a dedicated crowd-controller would come under threat was when NPCs reached immunity through diminishing returns from constant re-application of CC effects, or the CC effect itself failed to register or apply on activation (which we will continue to address and fix, now more than ever).

A more insidious, and less visible consequence of having overpowered crowd-control effects, is that it discourages the desire or need for any other form of group composition that isn’t 1x CC 3x DPS. Why consider bringing along a tank or healer, when your crowd-controller essentially does the job of both? There is no need for a healer if the group never takes damage, and no need for a tank if the NPCs are always incapacitated or rooted in place.

It’s important to stress that none of these changes were made to discourage bringing a crowd-controller to a gunfight. In fact, we’re more than confident that dedicated crowd-controller builds will remain the linchpin of any heroic or legendary group, due to just how powerful these CC effects are despite their reduction in uptime. What we do envision happening, hopefully, is a reconsideration of what to bring to your next gunfight, and that maybe the value of healers/tanks will increase as the proposition of smoothing out the bumps between crowd-control opportunities becomes something to consider.

PvP

Gear Sets
Foundry Bulwark

• Makeshift Repairs repair-over-time effect reduced by -50% in PvP

Weapons

• Shotgun PvP damage reduced by -12.5%
• Pistol PvP damage reduced by -10%
• Merciless/Ruthless: Binary Trigger amplified weapon damage and explosion damage reduced by -50% in PvP

Skills

• Firestarter Chem Launcher PvP damage reduced by -20%
• Stinger Hive PvP damage increased by 20%, scaling up to 65% at skill tier 6 (-55%/-10% from PTS2)
• Striker Drone PvP damage increased by 30% (20% increase from PTS2)
• Assault Turret PvP damage increased by 55% (25% increase from PTS2)

Developer comment: We want dedicated skill builds to have multiple, powerful defensive tools for area denial/control. In an attempt to replace the loss in bleed damage on the stinger hive during the first wave of the PTS, we overcompensated with a buff to the hive’s base drone damage that made it too powerful in the hands of non-skill builds. In order to address that, we lowered both the base damage and PvP modified damage of the stinger hive’s drones but doubled the amount of damage gained from skill tiers. The end result is a -55% reduction in stinger hive damage compared to the PTS phase-2 values at skill tier 0, and -10% at skill tier 6. Compared to TU9 (live) values, it remains a 20%-65% increase in stinger hive damage in PvP.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a progression blocker in the Pentagon mission that occurred after being downed by a rogue agent counter.
• Fixed a progression blocker in the District Union Arena caused by killing Warhounds without entering the room.
• Fixed Ongoing Directive granting unlimited hollow-point ammo for specialization weapons.
• Fixed Merciless not triggering the explosion after granting 7 stacks.
• Fixed stack inconsistencies with the Press the Advantage talent of the Striker’s Battlegear gear set.
• Fixed the extra Season Pass Project Slot showing as restricted to Season Pass holders.
• Fixed delta error occurrences when in the Operation Dark Hours raid.
• Fixed an area in the Liberty Island mission where NPC’s would get stuck.
• Fixed the “Mad Bomber” talent losing functionality after the player respawns in Conflict.
• Fixed the Cluster Seeker Mine detonating at the NPC’s location when it was deployed.
• Fixed Signature Move’s Tip of the Spear talent not doubling signature weapon ammo for Demolitionists.
• Fixed NinjaBike Messenger’s Parkour talent not granting bonus armor.
• Fixed Bighorn’s headshots granting headshot damage stacks not working.
• Fixed UI inconsistencies in the Global Event reward menu.
• Fixed BTSU Datagloves Transference Overclock talent not granting skill haste for the Hive.
• Fixed Future Iniative’s Tactical Superiority talent not amplifying bonus damage correctly.
• Fixed System Corruption’s Hackstep Protocol talent not applying the 20% repair correctly.
• Fixed incorrect description of the BTSU Datagloves.
• Fixed incorrect description of the Negotiators Dilemma’s Hostile Negotiations talent.
• Fixed incorrect description of the Chameleon’s Adaptive Instincts talent.
• Blinder Firefly should no longer accidentally destroy itself when thrown from behind low cover
• Sticky Bomb Launcher projectile should no longer get stuck and blow up in your face when quick-deployed from behind low cover
• The Chameleon Exotic Assault Rifle no longer gains multiple body shot stacks for each marked target while wearing Negotiator’s Dilemma set.

Known Issues

• Some loot containers may not drop loot in missions on Legendary difficulty.
• Blinder Firefly’s cooldown being delayed after applying its effects is unintended, and will be fixed.
• Merciless/Ruthless is currently not gaining stacks correctly when used with Negotiator’s Dilemma.
• Negotiator’s Dilemma is still doing incorrect (lower than intended) damage against marked targets in PvP.

GEAR

Attributes

• Incoming Repairs no longer increases the amount of armor repaired by armor kits, talents or gear set effects.

Developer comment: Incoming Repairs was always meant to be the defensive attribute equivalent to Repair Skills, so that players could further enhance the amount of healing they receive from their skills, or the group’s healer. Unfortunately, the underlying code prevented us from differentiating between alternate sources of armor repair, such as those from talents and gear sets like Foundry Bulwark, or Firewall’s unique armor kit effect. We wanted to address this during the development of Warlords of New York, but chose to post-pone the fix in order to deal with higher priority issues at the time. We underestimated the extent to which this attribute would affect the new Warlords meta, and failed to predict the severity of degenerate gameplay it would cause when combined with certain talents or gear sets. It’s important to stress that this is not a PvP-only issue, or an instance of the PvP environment affecting PvE balance. Incoming Repairs was compromising both aspects of the game, and needed to be addressed, especially considering this update coincides with the release of a new raid. Not addressing the issue would mean forcing ourselves to balance all existing and future gear and talents around the knowledge that players could potentially (read: very likely) double the amount of repairs they receive, which stifles creativity and effectively limits player choice.

Sidearms:

• Double Barrel Sawed Off Shotgun – Optimal Range reduced to 8m from 11m

• 586 Magnum – 68.8% damage increase
• Police 686 Magnum – 68.8% damage increase
• Maxim 9 – 23.5% damage increase
• D50 – 17.5% damage increase
• First Wave PF45 – 13.5% damage increase
• Custom PF45 – 9.7% damage increase
• Military M9 – 8.7% damage increase
• 93R – 7.7% damage increase
• Snubnosed Diceros – 6.5% damage increase
• Officer’s M9 A1 – 6.3% damage increase
• Diceros – 5.9% damage increase

• M45A1 – 9.5% damage decrease
• Tactical M1911 – 9.5% damage decrease
• M1911 – 7.3% damage decrease

Exotics:

The Bighorn

• Damage increased by +11.2%
• Added functionality that provides additional headshot damage, full talent is now:
  • When scoped, switches to semi-automatic fire mode, dealing 450% weapon damage with each shot.
  • (New) Headshots grant +1% headshot damage. Stacks up to 50 times. Resets to 0 at full stacks.

Eagle Bearer

• Damage increased by +7.8%

Chameleon

• Damage increased by +32.8%
• Added functionality that retains your current buffs to the next combat encounter when combat ends, full talent is now:
  • Hitting 30 headshots grant +20% critical hit chance and +50% critical hit damage for 45s.
  • Hitting 60 body-shots grant +80% weapon damage for 45s.
  • Hitting 30 leg-shots grant +150% reload speed for 45s.
  • (New) Buffs refresh when out of combat.

Bullet King

• Damage increased by +2.6%

Nemesis

• Damage increased by +11.1%

Liberty

• Added functionality to provide extra damage if you’re trying to keep stacks, full talent is now:
  • (New) Hits grant +2% weapon damage. Stacks up to 30.
  • Headshots consume all stacks, repairing your shield for 3% per stack.

Regulus

• Increased initial bullet accuracy
• Changed Regulus 3rd attribute bonus from Damage to Armor to Headshot Damage

Merciless/Ruthless

• Damage increased by +12.5%
• Added functionality to provide extra non-explosive damage as well, full talent is now:
  • This weapon fires on trigger pull and release.
  • If both bullets hit the same enemy, gain a stack.
  • At 7 stacks, shooting an enemy deals <(New) 900% amplified damage> and creates a 7m explosion dealing 1200% weapon damage, consuming the stacks.

Diamondback

• Damage increased by +7.7%
• Text updated to clarify a new target isn’t marked until after the 5s buff.

Lullaby/Sweet Dreams

• Damage increased by +11.0%

Lady Death

• Damage increased by +18.9%

The Chatterbox

• Damage increased by +16.7%

NinjaBike Messenger Kneepads

• Added functionality to add bonus armor, full talent is now:
  • Performing a cover to cover or vaulting reloads your drawn weapon (new) and grants +25% bonus armor for 5s.

Dodge City Gunslinger Holster

• Added functionality that makes your hit do headshot damage, full talent is now:
  • While your pistol is holstered, gain a stacking buff every 0.3s, up to 100. When you swap to it, your first shot consumes the buff and deals +10% damage per stack.
  • (New) This deals headshot damage to anywhere you hit.

BTSU Datagloves

• Changed functionality to no longer grant group/raid-wide overcharge unless you are skill tier 6
• Added functionality to provide hive skill haste, full talent is now:
  • (New) Grants +15% Hive skill haste per skill tier.
  • (Changed) Detonating a hive refreshes your skill cooldowns and grants overcharge for 15s.If at Skill Tier 6, this effect also applies to all allies.
  • Allies receiving this effect are unable to benefit from it again for 120s.

Sawyer’s Kneeguards

• Added functionality to continue to provide damage bonus move for a short duration, full talent is now:
  • Cannot be staggered by explosions.
  • Increases total weapon damage by 3% each second you are not moving. Stacks up to 10 until you start moving.
  • (New) All stacks lost 10s after moving.

Mantis

• Changed Mantis 3rd attribute bonus from Critical Hit Chance to Damage to Targets Out of Cover

The Ravenous

• When an enemy with defensive primer stacks on them is killed, you now gain the benefit of those stacks without needing to detonate them first.

Talents:

Chest Talent: Headhunter

• Buff Icon now show how close to the damage cap you are at
• Now properly caps damage to your current weapon when you weapon swap
• Damage cap lowered with new functionality:
  • After killing an enemy with a headshot, your next weapon hit within 30s deals 125% of that killing blow’s damage in addition to it.
  • Damage is capped to 800% of your weapon damage. (New) This is raised to 1250% (lowered from 1500%) if your headshot damage is greater than 150%.

Weapon talent: Future Perfect

• Fixed issue with Overcharge lasting indefinitely if you weapon swap. It is intended for the buff to remain when weapon swapping, just not indefinitely.
• Perfect version on Mechanical Animal numbers adjusted:
  • Weapon kills grant +1 skill tier for 19s (from 18s). Stacks up to 3 times.
  • Weapon kills at skill tier 6 grant overcharge for 15s.
  • Overcharge Cooldown: 90s (from 80s)

Gearsets:

Negotiators Dilemma

• Damage value transferring between players was not scaled correctly
  • Previously transferred damage was higher than the initial damage the original target took.
• Damage transfers on the initial bullet that marks a new target
• Fixed some UI Feedback bugs
• Add a 15m range cap for the damage transfer whilst in PVP

Foundry Bulwark

• Healing of set in PVP was not scaled correctly, should now be in line with damage taken

Future Initiative

• Backpack and chest armor now have a Utility gear mod slot instead of Defensive
• Increased 2-piece Repair Skills bonus from +15% to +30%
• Increased 3-piece Skill Duration bonus from +15% to +30%

Hard Wired

• Increased 3-piece Repair Skills bonus from +15% to +30%

Aces & Eights

• 3-piece Headshot Damage bonus is now additive, rather than multiplicative
• Increased 3-piece Headshot Damage bonus from +20% to +30%

Brand Sets:

Alps Summit Armament

• Increased 1-piece Repair Skills bonus from +15% to +20%

Murakami Industries

• Increased 2-piece Repair Skills bonus from +15% to +20%

Richter & Kaiser

• Increased 3-piece Repair Skills bonus from +15% to +20%

Providence Defense

• Increased 1-piece Headshot Damage bonus from +10% to +15%

Airaldi Holdings

• Increased 2-piece Headshot Damage bonus from +10% to +15%

Grupo Sombra S.A

• Increased 3-piece Headshot Damage bonus from +10% to +15%

Skills:

Reinforcer Chem Launcher

• UI has been updated to clarify that the initial heal only affects allies and not the Skill user.
• The functionality has not changed.

BALANCE

PVP:

Talents

• Efficient: Reduced specialization armor kit bonus from 100% to 50%
• Versatile: Reduced the amplified weapon damage bonus for SMGs and shotguns from 35% to 25%

Skills

• Increased Striker Drone damage by 10%
• Increased Assault Turret damage by 20%
• Increased Stinger Hive damage by 75%

PVE:

Developer comment: We’ve seen players’ concerns about higher difficulties becoming too easy. Looking at game data and player strategies, NPCs in Legendary and Heroic are often too easily trivialized using status effects. In these top difficulties, we are proposing to raise NPC resistance to status effects to prevent them getting indefinitely locked in status effect reactions. This is a first pass and we will make adjustments for TU10 where needed.

Increased NPC Resistance to Status Effects:

• No changes were made to Story, Normal, Hard or Challenging. (These remain at previous values).
• In Legendary, base resistance for NPCs is now 40% (previously it was 25%)
• In Heroic, base resistance for NPCs is now 25% (previously it was 0%)
  • NOTE: This is additive with the existing veterancy resistance scaling
  • The veterancy resistances have been: Veteran 20%, Elite 25% and Named 35%.
  • For greater clarity, this means that for Legendary NPCs, the resistances are: Default (redbar) 40%, Veteran 60%, Elite 65% and Named 75%.
• Hunters base resistance is now 40% (previously it was 25%)
  • NOTE: Since all Hunters are “Named” NPCs, so their resistance is 75% (due to the above mentioned veterancy resistance).
• NOTE: Status effects have a minimum required duration of 0.5 second, so if the NPC’s resistance causes the effect to be less than that minimal duration, the status effect will not be applied. This is the same way status effect resistance works for players.

Loot:

Item power

• Updated item power distribution to have a better spread between minimum and maximum for all difficulties
• Increased minimum rolled item power for Field Proficiency/DZ caches, Clan caches and Season caches.

Difficulty scaling

• Regular loot from loot containers in Missions now scale with mission difficulty
• Targeted loot from loot containers in Missions now scales with mission difficulty

Loot Pools

• Warlords of New York brands can now also show up as targeted loot in DC, including Dark Zones
• KNOWN ISSUE ON PTS: For World Tier 5 players, not all targeted loot pools may be available at the same time

Crafting

• Increased minimum and maximum crafting results
• Added weighting to crafting results to have a better spread between min and max
• Removed final World Tier 5 crafting bench upgrade, as its power increase is now redundant

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue where targeted loot was not dropping on Story difficulty.
• Fixed an issue where Regulus and The Ravenous reconfigure blueprints would not show up at the crafting bench after purchasing them.
• Fixed an issue that could cause rubber banding during the Deactivate the Security Alert objective during the NSA Security Alert Classified Assignment.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent players to be ineligible to matchmake for the DARPA Research Lab Main Mission after finishing and not exiting The Pentagon Main Mission.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Welcome and NDA info screens on the PTS to be too dark.
• Fixed some weird stairs.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a Rogue Agent to spawn in an unreachable area causing a progression blocker during the Liberty Island Main Mission.
• Fixed an issue that caused boosted Level 30 to not be able to Fast Travel to Coney Island and The Pentagon.
  • This issue is still present for Kenly College.
• Fixed an issue causing the Banshee Pulse to not correctly adjust the effect duration and effect range/radius values after being modded.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Weakness Exploit debuff to stack several times.

New Exotics
SRS Sniper Rifle: Mantis

• Your scoped view displays additional information about enemies not targeting you
• Headshot and weak point damage against enemies not targeting you amplified by 50%
• Headshot kills reset the cooldown of the Decoy skill. This bonus will wait until the Decoy goes on cooldown if currently active

Mask: Vile

• Status effects also apply a damage over time debuff for 10s
• Total damage dealt is equal to 50% of your concussion grenade damage and increased by your status effect attributes

Double Barrel Rifle: The Ravenous

• On trigger-pull, fire both barrels at once
• When fired from the right shoulder, hits add offensive primers, and defensive primers when fired from the left shoulder
• Hits from one shoulder will detonate all of the opposite shoulder’s primers when present
• When detonated, each offensive primer deals 100% weapon damage, while each defensive primer grants +4% bonus armor and +10% amplified damage to armor plates for 5s
• Primer effectiveness is doubled at 10 stacks

Magnum Revolver: Regulus

• Headshot kills create a 5m explosion, dealing 400% weapon damage and applying bleed to all enemies hit.
• High base damage

Developer comment: The Ravenous & Regulus are exclusive to the upcoming Operation Iron Horse but are present on the TU10 PTS for balancing and feedback purposes

New Gear Sets
Eclipse Protocol

• Core: Skill Tier (Yellow)
• 2: +15% Status Effects
• 3: +15% Skill Haste and +30% Hazard Protection
• 4: “Indirect Transmission” Enemies that die while affected by your status effects spread those status effects to another enemy within 15m and refresh 50% the duration
• Chest talent: “Proliferation” Increases Indirect Transmission range from 15m to 20m and refresh percentage from 50% to 75%
• Backpack talent: “Symptom Aggravator” Amplifies all damage you deal to status affected targets by 15%

Foundry Bulwark

• Core: Armor (Blue)
• 2: +10% Armor
• 3: +3% Armor Regeneration
• 4: “Makeshift Repairs” Whenever you or your shield take damage, 40% of that amount is repaired to both over 10s
• Chest talent: “Process Refinery” Increases Makeshift Repairs from 40% to 60%
• Backpack talent: “Improved Materials” Increases Makeshift Repairs speed from 10s to 6s

Future Initiative

• Core: Skill Tier (Yellow)
• 2: +15% Repair Skills
• 3: +15% Skill Duration and +15% Skill Haste
• 4: “Ground Control” Increases you and your allies’ total weapon and skill damage by 15% when at full armor
• When you repair an ally, you and all allies within 5m of you are also repaired for 60% of that amount
• Chest talent: “Tactical Superiority” Increases Ground Control damage bonus from +15% to +25%
• Backpack talent: “Advanced Combat Tactics” Increases Ground Control proximity repair from 60% to 120%

New Gear Brand
Walker, Harris & Co.

• Core: Weapon Damage (Red)
• 1: +5.0% Weapon Damage
• 2: +5.0% Damage to Armor
• 3: +5.0% Damage to Health

New Talents
Weapon Talent: Future Perfect

• Weapon kills grant +1 skill tier for 15s. Stacks up to 3 times.
• Weapon kills at skill tier 6 grant overcharge for 15s.
• Overcharge Cooldown: 90s

Weapon Talent: In Sync

• Hitting an enemy grants +15% skill damage for 5s.
• Using a skill or damaging an enemy with a skill grants +15% weapon damage for 5s.
• Damage increases are doubled while both buffs are active at the same time.

Backpack Talent: Adrenaline Rush

• When you are within 10m of an enemy, gain 20% bonus armor for 5s. Stacks up to 3 times.
• Cooldown: 5s

Chest Talent: Headhunter

• After killing an enemy with a headshot, your next weapon hit within 30s deals 125% of that killing blow’s damage in addition to it.
• This damage is capped to 1500% of your weapon damage.

Gameplay Changes

Missions

• Reduced how many elites will spawn in the following mission:
  • Manning National Zoo
  • Coney Island Ballpark
  • Coney Island Amusement Park
  • Camp White Oak
  • Space Administration HQ
  • Federal Emergency Bunker
  • Wall Street
  • Liberty Island
  • Pathway Park
  • Stranded Tanker
  • The Tombs

Loot

• General
  • Added all new season 2 weapons/gear to general loot pools
• Targeted loot
  • Increased targeted loot drop chances for all mission and Control Point difficulties
  • Added new season 2 brand to targeted loot rotation in New York
• Named Items
  • Increased named item drop chance in regular Dark Zone loot
  • Increased named item drop chance in targeted loot everywhere
• Exotics
  • Added Warlords of New York/Season 1 Exotics (excluding The Bighorn) to targeted loot
  • Added Warlords of New York/Season 1 Exotics (excluding The Bighorn) to general Exotic loot pools (Heroic/Legendary/Raid/Exotic Cache)
  • Coyote’s Mask drop from Coyote no longer has a minimum season level requirement
• Control Points
  • Removed regular weapon/gear loot containers not scaling with difficulty from Control Points
  • Increased the amount of scaling loot from the big Control Point reward container
• Legendary
  • Increased NPC loot drop chance for Veterans and Elites on Legendary difficulty

Vendors

• Added Named Items to both Open World and Dark Zone vendors
• Increased prices for Named Items
• Increased item quality for all vendors
• Vendors no longer sell Superior quality items at maximum level

SHD Levels

• Added Field Proficiency cache to SHD level-up after reaching the maximum season level
• Increased crafting material rewards for spending SHD level points in the Scavenging category

Conflict

• Added Season/SHD experience gain on Conflict level-up

Rogue Agent Encounters

• Every Rogue Agent killed will now drop loot
• Rogue Agent encounters no longer occur during time trials

Control Point Officers

• Players revived by a Control Point Officer will now have 80% of their armor restored (Previously 0%)
• Reduced the likelihood of Control Point Officers being downed in combat

Bounties

• Bounties acquired by speaking to characters in the open world will always be set to the difficulty at time of acquisition or higher.
• This affects the Snitch and civilians rescued during the Public Execution or Rescue Living World Activities.
• Scheduled bounties, such as daily and clan bounties, are unaffected.

Developer comment: Bounties acquired in the open world should always provide challenge and loot appropriate to the world they were acquired in. Upping your global difficulty now has the added benefit of improving all bounties you acquire within it.

Projects

• New Season Pass Holder Project Slot.
  • Season Pass holders now have access to an exclusive daily mission which provides a large bonus to XP.
• Weekly SHD Requisition Project Slot
  • Endgame players at World Tier 5 and Level 40 now have a weekly supplies donation project which rewards them with an exotic cache.
  • (For World Tier 5 players, this replaces the previous daily SHD Requisition project.)
• Legendary Mission Project
  • After TU10, completing any legendary mission will grant you the Weekly Legendary Mission project slot.
  • Completing the designated legendary mission will reward you with an exotic cache.

Developer comment: With the addition of “re-rolls” to exotics available through crafting, we created the new Weekly projects to provide a reliable supply of exotic components or exotic items.

PvP

Developer comment: This is a first pass at addressing TTK (time-to-kill) in PvP via global/individual weapon damage adjustments, and is not necessarily representative of final values. We will be closely monitoring PTS1 feedback in order to make further adjustments as needed, with additional tuning planned for PTS2.

• Global Modifiers
  • Increased MMR PvP weapon damage by 12%
  • Reduced global PvP weapon damage by 20%
  • Reduced Assault Rifle PvP weapon damage by 15%
  • Reduced Rifle PvP damage by 5%
  • Reduced SMG PvP damage by 10%

• Skill Modifiers
  • Reduced Bleed damage from Stinger Hive, Mortar Turret and Explosive Seeker Mine by 75%

• Weapon Specific
  • Increased Double Barrel Shotgun PvP damage by 20%
  • Reduced Pestilence PvP damage by 10%
  • Reduced Classic M1A damage by 5%

Developer comment: With TU10, there have been significant buffs made to the base damage of assault rifles, SMGs, and shotguns in particular. In order to prevent those weapons from becoming overly powerful in PvP, we’ve had to lower their PvP damage modifiers to compensate.

Note: Assault rifles are still tuned to be 10% stronger than default in PvP in order to compensate for their innate Damage to Health bonus being less useful against other players when compared to other weapon archetypes.

Additional PvP Balance Adjustments (Coming in PTS2)

• Negotiator’s Dilemma
  • Reduced the range at which marked targets can damage each other when critically hit (PvP only).
  • Added visual UI feedback when in range of another marked target.

• Imperial Dynasty
  • No longer automatically applies burn status effect to the nearest enemy in range.
  • Now requires maintaining range and LOS (line-of-sight) for 3 seconds between the holster bearer and nearest enemy before applying the burn status effect.
  • Added visual UI feedback to reveal the radius of effect in PvP and an indicator for LOS between the holster bearer and nearest enemy.

Developer comment: This should help address the lack of contextual feedback in PvP, and add a much needed window of opportunity for counterplay, or potential to avoid the incoming effect entirely.

• Pestilence
  • Plague of the Outcast damage-over-time effect no longer triggers True Patriot’s white debuff armor repair effect. (PvP and PvE)

Developer comment: While we like to embrace emergent or unintended mechanics when the end result is unique and fun gameplay, True Patriot’s white debuff explicitly states it requires shooting the debuffed target in order to receive the armor repair effect. Pestilence’s DoT managed to bypass this restriction, making it and True Patriot (especially when combined with Incoming Repairs) scale to disproportionate levels of power when used together.

Weapon Balance

Weapon Handling Changes

• 1% Weapon Handling now gives 1% Weapon Accuracy, Stability, Reload Speed, and Swap Speed, up from 0.25%.
• Reduced the maximum amount of Weapon Handling rolled on gear by 4%, to a maximum of 10% at level 40.

Developer comment: In the current meta, Weapon Handling on gear is considered a dead stat with no significant benefit. In TU10, equipping a piece of gear with +10% Weapon Handling will now give you:

• +10% Accuracy
• +10% Stability
• +10% Swap Speed
• +10% Reload Speed

This should hopefully make Weapon Handling a strong complimentary attribute for players looking to increase their overall accuracy/stability (bloom + recoil) and/or reload/swap speed. Making the % amount of Weapon Accuracy/Stability/Swap Speed/Reload Speed gained from Weapon Handling 1:1 will also remove another element of arcane knowledge from the game and reduce the need for additional mental math when determining whether the bonus is an upgrade or not.

Weapon Damage Changes
Developer comment: Sidearms and Exotics are still being adjusted and will be updated in PTS Phase 2.
Some damage increases are large and might be toned down after testing.

Assault Rifles

• AK-M – 15.8% damage increase
• F2000 – 14.3% damage increase
• Military AK-M – 13.2% damage increase
• Black Market AK-M – 13.2% damage increase
• FAL – 12.0% damage increase
• FAL SA-58 – 12.0% damage increase
• FAL SA-58 Para – 12.0% damage increase
• SOCOM Mk 16 – 11.4% damage increase
• Tactical Mk 16 – 11.4% damage increase
• Mk 16 – 11.4% damage increase
• AUG A3-CQC – 11.2% damage increase
• Honey Badger – 10.9% damage increase
• FAMAS 2010 – 10.6% damage increase
• ACR – 9.7% damage increase
• ACR-E – 9.7% damage increase
• Military G36 – 9.5% damage increase
• G36 C – 9.5% damage increase
• G36 Enhanced – 9.5% damage increase
• Carbine 7 – 7.6% damage increase
• Military P416 – 7.4% damage increase
• Custom P416 G3 – 7.4% damage increase
• Police M4 – 6.8% damage increase
• CTAR 21 – 6.2% damage increase

LMG

• Classic M60 – 12.5% damage increase
• Classic RPK-74 – 12.4% damage increase
• Military RPK-74 M – 12.4% damage increase
• Black Market RPK-74 E – 12.4% damage increase
• Military M60 E4 – 9.2% damage increase
• Black Market M60 E6 – 9.2% damage increase
• Military L86 LSW – 8.5% damage increase
• Custom L86 A2 – 8.5% damage increase
• IWI NEGEV – 2.6% damage increase
• Stoner LAMG – 2.0% damage increase

• M249 B – No changes
• Tactical M249 Para – No changes
• Military MK46 – No changes
• MG5 – No changes

• Infantry MG5 – 3.2% damage decrease

MMR

• Model 700 – 14.9% damage increase
• Hunting M44 – 13.5% damage increase
• Classic M44 Carbine – 12.5% damage increase
• G28 – 11.4% damage increase
• SOCOM Mk20 SSR – 9.3% damage increase
• SR-1 – 8.6% damage increase
• Custom M44 – 8.1% damage increase
• M700 Tactical – 8.1% damage increase
• M700 Carbon – 8.1% damage increase
• Covert SRS – 6.0% damage increase
• SRS A1 – 6.0% damage increase

• Surplus SVD – 2.9% damage decrease
• Paratrooper SVD – 2.9% damage increase

Rifles

• UIC15 MOD – 21.6% damage increase
• 1886 – 21.3% damage increase
• LVOA-C – 12.1% damage increase
• M1A CQB – 10.7% damage increase
• Lightweight M4 – 10.5% damage increase
• SIG 716 CQB – 8.7% damage increase
• SIG 716 – 6.7% damage increase
• ACR SS – 3.7% damage increase

• SOCOM M1A – No changes
• M16A2 – No changes

• USC .45 ACP – 2.8% damage decrease
• Urban MDR – 5.5% damage decrease
• Military Mk17 – 11.8% damage decrease
• Police Mk17 – 11.8% damage decrease
• Classic M1A – 12.6% damage decrease

SMG

• Tommy Gun – 38.8% damage increase
• PP-19 – 29.6% damage increase
• Enhanced PP-19 – 29.6% damage increase
• MP7 – 27.5% damage increase
• MPX – 20.8% damage increase
• M1928 – 20.0% damage increase
• P90 – 15.6% damage increase
• Converted SMG-9 – 15.8% damage increase
• Black Market T821 – 15.4% damage increase
• Police T821 – 15.4% damage increase
• Vector SBR .45 ACP – 14.7% damage increase
• CMMG Banshee – 12.5% damage increase
• Police UMP-45 – 12.0% damage increase
• Tactical UMP-45 – 12.0% damage increase
• AUG A3 Para XS – 11.8% damage increase
• Enhanced AUG A3P – 11.8 % damage increase
• Tactical AUG A3P – 11.8% damage increase
• Converted SMG-9 A2 – 11.6% damage increase
• MP5A2 – 10.0% damage increase
• MP5-N – 10.0% damage increase
• MP5 ST – 10.0% damage increase
• Tactical Vector SBR 9mm – 5.9% damage increase

Shotguns

• M870 Express – 23.3% damage increase
• Military M870 – 23.3% damage increase
• Custom M870 MCS – 23.3% damage increase
• Super 90 – 23.2% damage increase
• Marine Super 90 – 23.2% damage increase
• Tactical Super 90 SBS – 23.2% damage increase
• SASG-12 – 21.3% damage increase
• Tactical SASG-12 K – 21.3% damage increase
• Black Market SASG-12 S – 21.3% damage increase
• SPAS-12 – 18.6% damage increase
• KSG Shotgun – 9.0% damage increase

Gear Set Changes

Ongoing Directive

• Main Talent
  • Hollow-Point Ammo is no longer dropped on kill, and instead automatically added to your active weapon when killing status afflicted enemies
  • Backpack Talent (New)
• “Trauma Specialist”
  • Increases the duration of your bleed status effects by 50% and all bleed damage done by 100%
  • Increased 3-piece Reload Speed bonus from +20% to +30%

Tip of the Spear

• Main Talent (PVE)
  • Aggressive Recon’s weapon damage buff is now gained when dealing specialization weapon damage, instead of on specialization weapon kill
• Main Talent (PVP)
  • Aggressive Recon’s weapon damage buff is now gained when dealing grenade damage, instead of on grenade kill
• Backpack Talent (New)
  • “Signature Move”
  • Increases specialization weapon damage by 20%, and doubles the amount of specialization ammo generated by Aggressive Recon

Aces and Eights

• Main Talent
  • “Poker Face” backpack talent is now a baseline effect:
  • Flip an additional card on headshots
• Backpack Talent (New)
  • “Ace in the Sleeve”
  • Amplifies 1 extra shot when revealing your hand

System Corruption

• Main Talent
  • Now repairs 20% of your armor in addition to granting 50% bonus armor
  • Increases total weapon damage by 1% per 5% bonus armor gained, up to 20%

Striker’s Battlegear

• Main Talent
  • Reduced the number of stacks lost on missed shots from 3 to 2
  • Backpack Talent
  • No longer reduces number of stacks lost on missed shots
  • (New) Increases total weapon damage gained per stack of Striker’s Gamble from 0.5% to 0.65%.

Brand Set Changes

Overlord Armaments

• Increased 2-piece Accuracy bonus from +10% to +20%

Douglas & Harding

• Increased 2-piece Stability bonus from +10% to +20%
• Increased 3-piece Accuracy bonus from +10% to +20%

Fenris Group AB

• Increased 2-piece Reload Speed bonus from +10% to +20%
• Increased 3-piece Stability bonus from +10% to +20%

Developer comment: This together with the change to Ongoing Directive was done to make Accuracy/Stability/Reload Speed have a more noticeable benefit on brand/gear set bonuses alongside the improvements to Weapon Handling.

Talent Changes

• Leadership: Bonus Armor increased to 15% from 12%
• Spike: Skill Damage Duration increased to 15s from 8s
• Reformation: Skill Repair Duration increased to 15s from 8s
• Creeping Death: No longer goes on cooldown if there are no valid nearby enemies to apply a status effect to. Status effects applied now properly copy the source status effect’s damage and duration.

Skill Changes

• When Shock Trap’s active duration ends, its cooldown is refunded an equal number of seconds that it was active.
• Stinger Hive, Mortar Turret, and Explosive Seeker Mine now display its Bleed Damage and Duration

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the Gunslinger talent icon. No longer uses the Gunslinger emote icon
• Fixed Empathic Resolve talent to no longer buff’s a skill’s owner when a skill proxy is healed
• Fixed Trauma talent to correctly scale with the Status Effects attributes
• Fixed Unstoppable Force talent to no longer trigger when your own skills die
• Fixed FPS drops related to having Rogue Agents in your proximity
• Fixed FPS drops in Invaded Dark Zone during extraction
• Fixed FPS drops in Invaded Dark Zone when new group member joins the session
• Fixed various FPS drops encountered in main missions.
• Fixed crashes experienced by AMD Ryzen 1000 series CPU’s users
• Fixed Striker’s Battlegear gear set gaining stacks from shooting group members, dead bodies and friendly NPC’s
• Fixed a location in Tidal Basin stronghold where players could get stuck
• Fixed a location in Roosevelt Island stronghold where players could get stuck
• Fixed an unreachable ammo box in the Roosevelt Island mission
• Fixed a bug causing players to be unable to abandon the Liberty Island mission under certain circumstances
• Fixed not being able to see chat when in a downed or dead state
• Fixed a location in DARPA Research Lab that would not drop loot near the player from enemies in an unreachable area
• Fixed a bug allowing players to bypass the Liberty Island boss fight
• Fixed multiple occurrences of the respawn button being available despite group wipe when fighting Rogue encounters
• Fixed control point UI incorrectly displaying normal difficulty regardless of global difficulty
• Fixed not being able to choose difficulty on sub Level 40 characters, if a Level 40 character have Heroic global difficulty active on the account
• Fixed the Hard Wired talent resetting the Chem Launcher cooldown when firing the Chem Launcher
• Fixed weather effects and grass sometimes present in sewers
• Fixed an issue causing the True Sons tank firing animation to desync
• Fixed Cleaner engineer weakpoint being targetable by the Firefly despite being destroyed
• Fixed players being able to see enemy health bars while blinded.
• Fixed missing blueprint name in the reward unlocked UI prompt.
• Fixed an issue causing the Airburst Seeker Mine to not explode under certain circumstances
• Fixed various occurrences of NPC’s getting stuck
• Fixed a location on the Wharf Conflict map that would render players invulnerable
• Fixed Tidal Basin stronghold not being on the leaderboards
• Fixed a placeholder icon present when the Shock Trap is affected by a debuff
• Fixed Negotiators Dilemma marks incorrectly staying active on players after respawning
• Fixed inconsistencies in the weekly invaded mission rotation
• Fixed players being able to detonate Sticky Bombs when affected by the disruption effect
• Fixed friendly control points sometimes showing manhunt symbols when in another players group
• Fixed SIG 556 not granting materials when deconstructed
• Fixed a T-pose caused by interacting with the in-game store when having the minigun equipped.
• Fixed the leaderboard incorrectly showing information from the previously viewed mission
• Fixed some UI elements being partially off screen when in the Seasons menu
• Fixed the Plague of the Outcasts debuff incorrectly spreading to mechanical NPC’s.
• Fixed Reanimated Global Event kills from group members not counting as progression
• Fixed Reanimated kills not counting if the reanimated NPC does not shoot after being reanimated
• Fixed “Improved Sticky Payload” not increasing stats for several Sticky Bomb variations
• Fixed several ladders not being climbable in the open world
• Fixed a Grand Washington Hotel progression blocker caused by enemies getting stuck in spawn closets
• Fixed Polarity Switch Global Event progress counting in missions with no Global Event modifier active
• Fixed inventory UI showing an incorrect number of mods stored
• Fixed “Decoy Housing Shell” not increasing health value of the Decoy
• Fixed “Trap Charge Improvement” not increasing duration of Repair and Shrapnel Traps
• Fixed Polarity Switch Global event modifier not updating if activated after starting a mission
• Fixed an issue allowing instant reload of weapons by swapping over to an empty weapon and back
• Fixed the Space Administration HQ mission being completable without defeating all enemies.
• Fixed incorrect Skill stats shown when having a skill at least at Skill Tier 1 and which is not equipped
• Fixed description inconsistencies between the Pulse skill and its skill mods
• Fixed description inconsistencies between the Hive skill and its skill mods
• Fixed players incorrectly taking armor damage when reviving a teammate with the Shield equipped
• Fixed multiple skill mods not increasing the radius of Airburst and Mender Seeker Mine
• Fixed multiple skill mods increasing the charge speed of the Jammer Pulse
• Fixed the loading screen not updating the progress bar when accepting a group invite on PS4
• Fixed Drone skill pathfinding causing it to get stuck under certain circumstances
• Fixed the Plague of the Outcasts debuff occasionally not jumping over to another target
• Fixed an incorrectly setup spawn closet near the Ivy Tunnel Control Point, causing NPC’s to get stuck
• Fixed Striker’s Battlegear not counting shotgun pellets individually for stack gain
• Fixed Public Executions spawning too many NPC’s on Challenging difficulty and above
• Fixed various locations where players could get stuck in the open world
• Fixed a location where the player could fall through the map in the open world