Updates to provide access to Steam Deck

Hello everyone! Another This Week in Gears awaits us, our first since Operation 8!




For this week, we'll be activating Vampiric FFA!

This event is all about 14-player Free for All with one mutator active.

• Vampire: You only heal when dealing damage, this presents the opportunity to go on an absolute rampage if you keep winning your fights.

Note: For this event, the Torque Bow spawns have been replaced by the Markza MK2.

Vampiric FFA also has a medal group to complete:

• Complete 5 Matches – 4 Stars
  
• Get 50 Eliminations – 5 Stars
  
• Do 50000 Damage – 5 Stars

Completion of this medal group will grant 3,000 Gear Coins




The juvies in this hive are electrifying and won't go down easy.

• Desert Swarm Drone – 250 Iron
  
• Desert Swarm Hunter – 250 Iron
  
• Hopscotch Loadout Execution – 500 Iron
  
• Taco Bloodspray – 250 Iron
  
• Alien Mark – 125 Iron

• Major Paduk – 500 Iron, 4,000 Gear Coins
  
• Museum Legacy Set – 850 Iron, 6,800 Gear Coins
  
• Juggler Expression – 300 Iron, 2,400 Gear Coins
  
• Atom Mark – 65 Iron, 500 Gear Coins
  
• Trace Bloodspray – 125 Iron, 1,000 Gear Coins

And here is what you can expect across the world of esports in Gears 5!

• Black Steel Queen Myrrah – $2.99 USD

As we mentioned last week, Gears Glory this month is all focused on Tattoos! For this, we've been asking you to send us images of your Gears ink! If you want to send yours use the hashtag #GearsGlory.

#GearsGlory been a while since i had this https://t.co/dY6zV3GqoC


Here's what server updates you can expect to see this week:

• Added the Pride Omen Weapon set to the Essentials store.
  
• Removed Ritual as the main menu map screen, the game will now cycle through a list of maps on the menu.
  
• Heroic Baird has now been added to the Heroic tab.
  
• Thank you to everyone who played with and gave feedback for the Markza Mk 2 prototype. Based on feedback and our internal testing we will be rolling out the following changes:
  • Lowering the body shot damage to require 3 bullets to down an enemy.
    
  • Lowering the ammo count to 20 total shots on pick-up.
    
  • 1-shot headshots will remain as-is.
    
  • In addition, collateral damage will be enabled for this rifle in the latest Versus events.

And as always, take care and have a wonderful week!

TC

Hello everyone! Operation 8 Drop 1 arrives tomorrow!

If you want more details on this drop, you can find our Reveal News post here! Now, let's see what lies ahead!




To kick off Operation 8 – Drop 1 we are creating a special playlist that will allow you to play on our newly released maps, Tomb, Ephyra, and Ritual. You can expect to play Control and Capture the Flag, and these will be 5 v 5 matches!

In addition to this, we'll be featuring the Markza MK2 as a special weapon swap in place of the Embar and Torque Bow, keep an eye out for it!

Additionally, we have a special medal group for this event, details are below:


Should you complete the medal group you'll be granted 3,000 Gear Coins

Enjoy!




In this Hive, speed is everything.

• Ketor Vrol – 250 Iron
  
• Armored Bernie – 250 Iron
  
• Puzzle Weapon Set – 850 Iron
  
• Not Worthy Expression – 300 Iron
  
• Vrol Banner – 100 Iron

• V-Day Sam – 250 Iron, 2,000 Gear Coins
  
• Line Art Full Set – 850 Iron, 6,800 Gear Coins
  
• 360 Curbstomp Execution Pack – 500 Iron, 4,000 Gear Coins
  
• Locust Rune – Kill Bloodspray – 125 Iron, 1,000 Gear Coins
  
• More is Better Banner – 100 Iron, 800 Gear Coins

With the launch of Operation 8, we have a special bundle you can purchase, details are below:

• Banner – Prowler
  
• 30 Days Boost
  
• Bloodspray – You Missed
  
• Character – Vrol
  
• Character – Bernie
  
• Expression – Photo Op
  
• 700 Iron
  
• Mark – Knife
  
• Predator Weapon Set

The bundle will cost $14.99 USD.

• Black Steel Queen Myrrah – $2.99 USD

To kick off August's Gears Glory, we're focusing on being inked up, tattoos that is! Send us your Gears-related tattoos with the hashtag #GearsGlory and we'll look to post our favorite ones each week!

• The Gnasher will no longer have brighter muzzle flashes on the 2 v 2 Allfather Arena map.
  
• Players will now receive appropriate penalties for continuing to disband Competitive lobbies.
  
• We've removing the ability to see the PC Icon in Public lobbies across Gears 5, this icon will stay in for Custom matches to help maintain esports integrity.
  
• We've added an option to add a delay to the expression wheel appearing, this can be toggled from instantly to 5 seconds which should help prevent accidental openings of the wheel while in combat.
  
• You can now toggle off the option to "Yank" a player over cover, sometimes a player will accidentally try to yank while trying to revive a DBNO player against cover which will help prevent this issue from occurring.
  
• A confirmation prompt has been added to the restart round option in custom matches.
  
• Addressed an issue that resulted in Hivebuster Mac not displaying a blue team shader when viewed from distance.
  
• We have updated the Scoreboard to provide more meaningful stats across the board for viewers and players.
  • Execution/Warzone: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, First Bloods, Revives.
    
  • KOTH/Control: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, OBJ Kills (any player you kill inside the objective.), Caps/Breaks.
    
  • TDM/Dodgeball: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Kill Streak (this is your current kill streak but will reset at the end of each round or if you die.), Revives.
    
  • Guardian: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Leader Kills, Revives.
    
  • Escalation: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Kill Streak, Caps/Breaks.
    
  • Gridiron/Capture the Flag: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Touchdowns, Denials.
• We've made the following changes to competitive mode scoring:
  • Players who are playing solo will now get a 25% boost to their score at the end of a competitive match (up from 15%)
    
  • Players will now receive 5,000 points for a victory in all team-based competitive modes.
• A voiceline is no longer played when killing an ally held by a meatshield.

Players will no longer have an invisible weapon when revived in specific circumstances in PvE.

• The Relic Weapons have now been moved into the "minimal" Gears 5 install; this addresses an issue with users crashing when loading Atrium.
  
• An exploit which allowed players to force all enemies to spawn in a specific location in Turbine has been fixed.
  
• Abyss no longer appears twice in the Horde Frenzy stats section.
  
• An issue with a door on the Trap Hive has now been addressed.
  
• Hoffman will now correctly call out a Warden when he marks it.
  
• Flame Grenadiers and Palace Guards will no longer fire their weapons while feared.
  
• Players will no longer continue to take damage from the poison puddles mutator at the end of a Horde wave.
  
• Lambent enemies will now have an outline when a Marksman uses their X-Ray ability.
  
• Rebuilding the Fabricator will now correctly cost 4,000 power.
  
• Sires will now move when targeting a Decoy.

• The Embar is now centralised in the weapon's customization screen.
  
• To address a crash, players are now unable to use Jack's abilities while in a vehicle in the Campaign.
  
• A specific cover has had its collision heightened in Training Grounds to prevent you jumping over it.
  
• The Chalkboard skin has now been restored to the correct version.
  
• The Made you Flinch expression now uses the correct Card image.
  
• Hivebuster Mac's ponytail should no longer behave oddly.
  
• A Level of Detail issue on the door inside the Cafe on Ephyra has now been addressed.
  
• An issue that resulted in the chatbox not working for some users has been addressed.

Operation 8 Drop 1 arrives tomorrow, the title update will launch at 10:00 am PDT.

However, you won't see any of the new Operation 8 – Drop 1 content until we launch our live update at 12:00 pm PDT!

For everyone here at TC, we hope you as always take care and get hyped for Operation 8 Drop 1, arriving tomorrow!

Hello everyone!

The time has come to talk about Operation 8! This post will cover everything you can expect to see when the operation goes live on Tuesday, August 3rd.


Before you dive into the full post, check out the Operation 8 trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLzwTa61ID0





Sergeant Bernadette "Bernie" Mataki is a legendary sharpshooter who fought for the COG in the Pendulum and Locust Wars. With a caustic sense of humor and an unerring sense of aim, Bernie is a relentless force on the battlefield.


A crusading zealot with a deep-seated hatred of humanity, Ketor Vrol is one of the first Locust and served Queen Myrrah alongside RAAM and Ukkon. Vrol is a high priest of the Locust Horde who leads his people in worshipping the Trinity of Worms, who created the sacred birthright of the Locust: the Hollows.





The Weilehan people once gave tribute to the Wakaatu at these ancient ruins. Controlling both the catacombs and the altar is key to avoiding unexpected flanks.


In Operation 7, we introduced Competitive mode, bringing with it seven total playlists, each with exclusive Leaderboards.

We're happy to announce that due to overwhelmingly positive feedback we'll be adding Capture the Flag as our eighth and final competitive mode to Gears 5 for Operation 8 going forward. This mode will also have exclusive banners to unlock as well as a new leaderboard to climb!

Alongside competitive updates, we'll be adding more exclusive competitive rewards, some prototype weapons, and more, let's dive in!


In Operation 7 we gave away the Heroic Obsidian weapon set, which was awarded in batches if you finished playlists in the top 1000. We are still going to be offering this reward with the same criteria, but we'll be rotating through the weapon groups so that players can earn all the weapon skins without having to grind different playlists.

In addition to the above we're still granting the same top 100/1 rewards as last season but with one change: The Grandmaster Gnasher will be swapped out for the Grandmaster Obsidian Gnasher.



For Season 9 of competitive, we'll then swap the Obsidian Gnasher out for the Grandmaster Bloody Gnasher.



We are also adding new banners to earn for each of the competitive modes in Operation 8 so make sure to keep an eye out for that!

So just to recap, here's how the competitive rewards will now work:

• 100k points – Playlist Mark – 100k
  
• 500k points – Playlist Mark – 500k
  
• 1 million points – Playlist Master Banner
  
• If you finish in the top 1,000 – Some weapons from Heroic Obsidian Gnasher set.
  
• If you finish in the top 100
  • Playlist Grandmaster Banner
    
  • Trinity Skorge
    
  • Grandmaster Obsidian Gnasher
    
  • Golden Heart Bloodspray
• If you finish the season as the top player
  • Golden Gnasher Bloodspray

Throughout the development of Gears 5, we prototyped different weapons for inclusion in PvP, but, sadly many of them didn't make it into the game.

In Operation 8 we're going to be adding two prototype weapons to custom matches and events so you can try them out, however, they will not be customizable for skins.




Back in Gears of War Judgment we released a weapon called the Breechshot. As a prototype, the Markza MK2 exists to replicate that weapon's behavior.

The Markza MK2 is a five-round rifle, with the ability to instantly headshot an enemy, its drawback is a slow rate of fire which can cost the player opportunities or even result in their death.

To try and replicate that Gears of War Judgment feel we've also used the original crosshair that was present for Breechshot, which should help to achieve that same gun feel.




The Revive Grenade previously existed as the Stim-Gas Grenade in Gears of War Judgment, featuring the ability to continuously heal players inside the blast radius.

We used that as the inspiration for the Revive Grenade, which can revive Down But Not Out (DBNO) players. We imagine it can be a round changer in objective playlists.

We're incredibly excited to get these out to you and we look forward to seeing how you use them in customs!




Note: Ping will still appear on this scoreboard, this is just a bot game.

• Alongside all the updates above, we have some significant quality of life changes coming to the Versus experience, including some competitive changes.
  
• We're removing the ability to see the PC Icon in Public lobbies across Gears 5. The icon will remain in place for Custom matches to help maintain esports integrity.
  
• We've added an option to add a delay to the expression wheel appearing. , tThis can be toggled from instantly to 5 seconds which should help prevent accidental openings of the wheel while in combat.
  
• You can now toggle off the option to "Yank" a player over cover, sometimes a player will accidentally try to yank while trying to revive a DBNO player against cover which will help prevent this issue from occurring.
  
• We have updated the Scoreboard to provide more meaningful stats across the board for viewers and players.
  • Execution/Warzone: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, First Bloods, Revives.
    
  • KOTH/Control: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, OBJ Kills (any player you kill inside the objective.), Caps/Breaks.
    
  • TDM/Dodgeball: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Kill Streak (this is your current kill streak but will reset at the end of each round or if you die.), Revives.
    
  • Guardian: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Leader Kills, Revives.
    
  • Escalation: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Kill Streak, Caps/Breaks.
    
  • Gridiron/Capture the Flag: Kill/Death/Assist, Damage Done, Touchdowns, Denials.
• We've made the following changes to competitive mode scoring:
  • Players who are playing solo will now get a 25% boost to their score at the end of a competitive match (up from 15%)
    
  • Players will now receive 5,000 points for a victory in all team-based competitive modes.
• We've added the Relic Weapons into the Swap All and Custom Match weapon swaps list.

Throughout Gears 5 we have run multiple events across the game for Horde such as Nexus Siege, Escape from Kadar, and more.

We're happy to announce that at the start of Operation 8 we'll be adding all these event modes to Custom Games!

This will mean you can experience the Locust returning with Nexus Siege on a map such as Ephyra or mix it up with the Wakaatu on Ritual!

All the events you can now select from are listed below:

• Boss Rush – Survive 10 waves against bosses only.
  
• Escape from Kadar – Survive 10 waves against Niles' creations.
  
• Horde Mania – Survive 25 waves with a short build period.
  
• Horde Roulette – Survive 10 waves of random enemy combinations.
  
• Jingle Juvies – Survive 20 waves of joyous Jingle Juvies.
  
• Mad Man's Monsters – Survive 20 waves against the Mad Man's Monsters.
  
• Nexus Siege – Survive 10 waves of Locust with no Fabricator.
  
• Predator Hunt – Survive 10 waves and battle the Wakaatu with no Fabricator.

Finally, we've also addressed the issues that stopped us from adding Turbine and Atrium to Horde custom games, you can expect to see these in at the start of Operation 8.




With a new Operation comes an all-new Tour of Duty with exclusive content to gather. See the full list below!



















All the stars earned from the dailies and medals will go towards earning the following rewards in the Tour:





Operation 8 will also see us increasing the total number of re-ups in Gears 5, as we go from 50 to 60. Just like before each new re-up grants an exclusive reward that can only be attained from that re-up!


The list below contains the amount of XP per level required in the specific re-up

• Re-up 51: Space Race Precision Set
  
• Re-up 52: King $#?@ Blood Spray
  
• Re-up 53: Space Race Assault Set
  
• Re-up 54: Crown Mark & Triumph Banner
  
• Re-up 55: Heroic Karn
  
• Re-up 56: Wipe Hands Expression
  
• Re-up 57: Space Race Power Set
  
• Re-up 58: Golden Crown Blood Spray
  
• Re-up 59: Space Race Loadout Set
  
• Re-up 60: Heroic Kait

For Operation 8 we're adding 17 new achievements across Gears 5, totaling an additional 500 Gamerscore. Details are below:





To celebrate Operation 8, we're happy to announce that from Friday, August 6 to Monday, August 9 we'll be running a triple XP boost event, this will also include Character XP!

This will go live at 10:00 AM PDT, so be sure to get your grind ready!

And that's it for our Operation 8 reveal. Keep an eye out for next week's This Week in Gears post which will contain the patch notes.
</div>

Hello everyone! A new week, and with it comes another This Week in Gears!




Our final event for Operation 7, lasting two weeks, Freeze Dodgeball is a variant of the classic Dodgeball game mode. All damage dealt will freeze, and each kill brings back a dead teammate. Respawns in this mode are extra fast.

<figcaption>Freeze Dodgeball Medal Table</figcaption>

Completing this medal group will grant you the Island Glow Indigo weapon set!






Ending Operation 7 with a Horde Event, we have Horde Roulette!

Horde Roulette is a 10-wave epic, every wave you face will provide random enemy combinations, will you get lucky?

This event will run for two weeks!




A longer, three-act hive, where players must fight their way down to the caves, and then back up again.

• Helicopter Pilot Tak – 500 Iron
  
• Foam Weapon Set – 850 Iron
  
• Surprise Gift Expression – 300 Iron
  
• Middle Finger Mark – 125 Iron
  
• Make it Rain Expression – 300 Iron

This feature store makes you feel like it's Christmas… in July! Check out the goodies below at a discounted price.

• Krampus Scion – 1,050 Iron, 7,000 Gear Coins (30% off)
  
• Nutcracker Shepherd – 1,050 Iron, 7,000 Gear Coins (30% off)
  
• Abominable Grenadier – 1,050 Iron, 7,000 Gear Coins (30% off)
  
• Nice Present For You Expression – 210 Iron, 1,680 Gear Coins (30% off)
  
• Gearsmas Tree Weapon Set – 595 Iron, 4,760 Gear Coins (30% off)
  
• Fruitcake Full Weapon Skin Set – 595 Iron, 4,760 Gear Coins (30% off)

And here is what you can expect across the world of esports in Gears 5!


The new split has started, read here for all of the information on the league – Gears Esports | Program Update – Split 3 Adjustments

• Chrome Steel Dom – 9.99 USD

• Lucha Libre Weapon Set – 9.99 USD

Our specially themed Gears Glory this month is all focused on Pets! For this, we've been asking you to send us your adorable images of you and your pets!

And as always, we've picked out some favorites!

#gearsglory can't play games without Sully by my side! https://t.co/45bnlpNuJm— Matt Gingras (@RealMattGingras)

Kait is always ready to fight locust! #GearsGlory https://t.co/ggX7uzyCuu— 🏳️‍⚧️ Claire-Bear 🏳️‍⚧️ (@BaryonyxHntress)


In addition to the above, we'll be releasing the following server update:

• The Striker's Bloody Breaker card now uses the correct values at level 4, 5, and 6.

And as always, take care and have a wonderful week!

TC

Hello everyone! Another This Week in Gears awaits!




Nothing fancy here… Torque Bow Tag returns for a special Versus event playlist! There are no mutators, no bots and this game mode is all down to your skill with a Torque Bow.

Like the childhood game just with less touching (no melee) and a little more on the line…like instead of being "it" you blow up.

Torque Bow Tag is a 5v5 TDM playlist where all players spawn with just a 5-shot Torque Bow. Nothing but regular tuning here so a kill is as simple as revving up and landing your shots. All weapons on the map have also been replaced to provide additional ammo.

Charge 'em up!


A hive with split paths and a choice between two saferooms.

• Heavy Armor Commando Duo – 350 Iron
  
• Heavy Armor Akagi – 250 Iron
  
• Heavy Armor Sanguino – 250 Iron
  
• Commando Weapon Set – 425 Iron
  
• COG Commando Banner – 100 Iron

• Tactics Onyx Guard Duo – 750 Iron, 6,000 Gear Coins
  
• Tactics Onyx Guard Casan – 500 Iron, 4,000 Gear Coins
  
• Tactics Onyx Guard Vermelo – 500 Iron, 4,000 Gear Coins
  
• Onyx Guard Legacy Set – 300 Iron, 2,380 Gear Coins (30% off!)
  
• COG Gear Banner – 100 Iron, 800 Gear Coins

And here is what you can expect across the world of esports in Gears 5!


The mid-season split has just concluded! Keep an eye on the next steps for the Gears Pro League on http://gears.gg/!

The full information on this week's matches and standings!

• Chrome Steel Dom – 9.99 USD

• Lucha Libre Weapon Set – 9.99 USD

Our specially themed Gears Glory this month is all focused on Pets! For this, we've been asking you to send us your adorable images of you and your Pets!

And as always, we've picked out some favorites!

• Kat's adorable pet Steve:

This is Steve, my gaming companion. He loves to watch me play Gears. Unfortunately due to neglect and handling issues from the previous owner I rescued him from he just watches from the safety of his tank 🙂 #GearsGlory

• This player 2 stands ready to serve the COG (they promised sausages)

• No words needed for this one

Two weeks ago, we ran a surprise Double XP/CXP event, this didn't quite go to plan as we didn't grant a boost to everyone and only those who had boost active got the actual XP boosts.

To make up for this, we're going to run this same XP event this Friday, July 16 at 9:00 AM PDT/5:00 PM UTC, this will run until Monday, July 19. In this event, everyone will be granted a one-day boost for each day the XP weekend is active.

Enjoy!


Commemorating the upcoming Gears of War's 15th anniversary, The Coalition and Laced Records have joined forces to bring stunning remasters of the original trilogy soundtracks to vinyl and streaming music platforms.

All three remastered soundtracks are now available to stream and buy digitally on major digital platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, and Amazon.

{LINK REMOVED}Pre-order and listen today!


In addition to the above, we'll be releasing the following server updates:

• Updated the Control rings on Foundation and Checkout
  
• The Bot Backfill option in Custom Free For All games has now been defaulted on.
  
• Fixed an issue that resulted in multiple boss spawns in Horde Frenzy
  
• Capture the Flag changes:
  • Spawn protection has been updated to 3 seconds (up from 2).
    
  • Respawn times have been reduced from 12 seconds to 11.
    
  • Capture the Flag has been added to the Quickplay Objective playlist.
    
  • Respawn time has been added as a custom option in Capture the Flag.
• Disbanding a competitive match in the pre-game lobby will apply penalty points to your account, if you get too many, you'll have to then complete community service to play in competitive again.

And as always, take care and have a wonderful week!

TC

Hello everyone! It's time, once more for another This Week in Gears fresh off the back of Operation 7 – Drop 2!




A throwback to Gears 3, this Versus Event is all about you versus another player. Set on the 2 v 2 Mercy map, this throws you into the Mercy Church to try and secure the victory. Oh, and of course the Gears 3 filter is enabled for this.

A special medal group is available to be completed during this, and you can find the full details on that below.

<figcaption>Mercy 1v1 Medal Group</figcaption>

Completion of this medal group will grant 3,000 Gear Coins!




Horde Mania features fast, intense waves and an extremely short build time. Your team will feel the pressure of near-constant action across 25 waves. All maps will be in rotation during this event, and we can't wait to see just how messy this will get!


A hive with different encounters each time you play.

• Sharpshooter Mikayla – 500 Iron
  
• Croc Weapon Set – 850 Iron
  
• Unicorn Banner – 200 Iron
  
• You Missed Bloodspray – 250 Iron
  
• "No" Mark – 125 Iron

• Kilo Squad Baird – 500 Iron, 4,000 Gear Coins
  
• Niles Legacy Set – 850 Iron, 6,800 Gear Coins
  
• Unicorn Bloodspray – 125 Iron, 1,000 Gear Coins
  
• Unicorn Mark – 65 Iron, 500 Gear Coins
  
• Clash Banner – 100 Iron, 800 Gear Coins

And here is what you can expect across the world of esports in Gears 5!


The Gears Pro League continues! As the push towards the end of Split 3 continues. For those of you watching the league, you can be in the running for a glorious weapon set (Syndrome) and Black Steel Kait!





The full information on this week's matches and the table can be found here!


Keep an eye out on the EGL Gears 5 Site for more tournaments taking place across EU and SA!

• Black Steel Armored Anya – 2.99 USD

Our specially themed Gears Glory this month is all focused on Pets! For this, we've been asking you to send us your adorable images of you and your Pets!

And as always, we've picked out some favorites!

#GearsGlory competition.

This is my Henry, he is literally a miniature locust brumack, masquerading as a pug. He is almost 2 years old, and he is my best friend. 🙂

It would be so cool to immortalise him in Gears glory. 🤍 https://t.co/0TTbeGBPe0— Skorge ART (@GearsofSkorgeX) [url]#GearsGlory @GearsofWar https://t.co/qb02aKEZDX— Jesse (@IBeardedLegendI) June 28, 2021


In addition to the above, we'll be releasing the following server updates:

• Added the Locust Sniper and Flame Grenadier to the Essentials store.
  
• Capture the Flag has now been added to Custom.
  
• Removed Mercy as the map you see on the Main Menu, the game will now rotate through each map giving you a different main menu on each launch.
  
• Addressed an issue with Mercy's rings on Control.
  
• The following maps have now been added to the competitive rotation for Execution:
  • Dam
    
  • Foundation
    
  • Harbor
    
  • Nexus
    
  • Reactor
    
  • Reclaimed
    
  • Regency
    
  • Speyer
    
  • Training Grounds

And as always, take care and have a wonderful week!

TC

Hello everyone!

The time has come to talk about Operation 7 – Drop 2! This post will cover everything you can expect to see when the operation goes live on Tuesday, June 29.


Before you dive into the full post, check out the Operation 7 – Drop 2 trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWl5KVy2_Ns





Jasi Tak is an expert pilot whose laid-back attitude belies a fearless spirit. When Colonel Hoffman requested Tak's help, he was eager to give his all to help Scorpio Squad in their fight against the Swarm.


The COG Commandos are elite special forces soldiers who went from fighting humans in the Pendulum Wars to fighting Locust after E-Day. They take whatever the enemy throws at them in stride – these soldiers are the best of the best, and they know it.





After decades of rest, Mercy's town center is once again under siege. A large balcony in the center dominates combat around the sanctuary, where outmaneuvering the enemy is key to victory.




Outmanoeuvring the enemy is key to victory in Mercy's claustrophobic Sanctuary.




To kick off Operation 7 – Drop 2 we are going to be introducing a new mode to Versus: Capture the Flag.

In Gears 5, Capture the Flag is a variation of Gridiron, with the following changes.

• Players now respawn after being killed.
  
• Elimination victories are disabled.
  
• Touchdowns are now worth 4 points (previously 2).
  
• Touchbacks are enabled – taking your flag to your own Endzone returns it to the center of the map.
  
• The Endzone capture counter no longer decays after a flag capture is interrupted, allowing you to chip away at the capture time.
  
• The flag spawn delay has been removed.
  
• The Round time has been increased.

Additionally, we have a special medal group for this event, details below:


Should you complete the medal group you'll be granted the Pink Phantom Weapon Set!

We cannot wait to see what you all think when this mode launches at the start of Drop 2!




At the start of Operation 7, we released updates to Custom Versus that brought in special mutators and visual effects! We have seen how much you have enjoyed the variations since then and we are happy to tell you about the following updates!


This option allows you to swap all weapons on the map and players loadout to any single weapon in the game, including event weapons like the Golden Gun or Cluckshot. This allows you to live your dream and have a match where everyone uses the pipe!


This mutator is now available in Custom Versus, all damage is converted into freeze damage, and dealing enough damage will provide your enemy a frosty death.


This option will allow you to enable many of our past holiday/special event hats in your Custom Versus matches.


We have also added the following modes to Custom, Brawl, and Control: SSG (Shotgun Snub Grenades).


We have used this update as an opportunity to make the following changes to Co-Op vs AI.

• We have updated the matchmaking criteria to make latency searching in Co-Op vs AI more reliable.
  
• We have swapped Brawl and Control in place of TDM and KoTH in our Co-Op vs AI playlists.

In addition to all the above, we will also be bolstering our competitive rewards for our top players!

If you happen to finish in the top 100 at the end of a season, you will be provided with the following rewards:













And if you are the cream of the crop and finish at the very top of a competitive leaderboard, you'll receive the prestigious Golden Gnasher Bloodspray.

These rewards will be available each competitive season going forward in Gears 5.


We're starting things off for PvE in Operation 7 – – Drop 2 with a new event!


Horde Mania is an event with fast, intense waves and an extremely short build time. Your team will feel the pressure of near constant action across 25 waves. All the maps will be in rotation during this event, and we can't wait to see just how messy this will get!

Alongside the event, drop 2 also brings with it more balance changes across PvE in Gears 5.

• Changed the behavior of the Super Charged mutator from "reduced ultimate cooldown" to "reduced cooldown while doing damage" to resolve an exploit with Jack's ultimate.
  
• Reduced the amount of freezing damage dealt from the "Freezing Grenadiers" mutator.
  
• Reduced the damage resistance of the "Heads Up" mutator on boss creatures.
  
• Fixed an issue where Palace Guards and Flame Grenadiers could not be stunned or affected by Fear.
  
• Fixed an issue where Palace Guards and Flame Grenadiers would regenerate health even if "Enemy Regeneration" was not an active mutator.

• Fixed an issue where flying enemies would get stuck inside interior spaces on Bunker.
  
• Fixed an issue where the wave would not end if all players went DBNO if a Palace Guard or Flame Grenadier was present.
  
• Rebuilding the Fabricator will now correctly remove 4000 power.
  
• Added the Smoke Grenade to the Fabricator.
  
• Grenades will no longer trigger the effects of The Hammer, Armored Shot and Serrated Edge.

• Passive will now correctly penetrate enemy targets.

• Slugger's "Power Shot" Skill Card will now correctly penetrate enemy targets.
  
• The damage bonus from Slugger's "Power Shot" Skill Card will no longer be lost while using Heavy Hitter.
  
• Slugger's "Tough Skin" Skill Card now correctly gives resistance to ballistic weapons only.

Operation 7 Drop 2 releases on June 29, and we are looking forward to it! See you there! In the meantime, have a wonderful week everyone, and watch our socials for more.
</div>

Hello everyone! It's time, once more for another This Week in Gears!


Our run of mutator-based events resumes with a two-week special event which runs up all the way until the end of Operation 7 – Drop 1!

This event is all about 14-player Free for All with two mutators active.

• Vampire: All damage provided heals you, this presents the opportunity to go on an absolute rampage if you keep winning your fights.
  
• Explosive Headshots: Should you happen to headshot an enemy, it'll cause an explosion taking out any enemies nearby.

Vampiric FFA also provides a special weapon set on, the Island Glow Orange weapon set. The medals needed to unlock it are below:


Completion of this medal group will grant <strong>the Island Glow Orange skin set</strong>.



A chaotic event to end Operation 7 Drop 1 we feel… we can't wait to see how you all get on!


Which way to go? Which way is forwards?

• Heroic Classic Baird – 40,000 Gear Coins
  
• Black Camo Weapon Set – 425 Iron
  
• G.O.A.T. Banner – 200 Iron
  
• EZ Bloodspray – 250 Iron
  
• Backpack Mark – 125 Iron

• Bubbles Legacy Set – Free!
  
• Xbox Pride Omen – Free!
  
• 8-bit JinnBot – 500 Iron, 4,000 Gear Coins
  
• Sweep the Floor Expression -300 Iron, 2,400 Gear Coins
  
• Flowers Mark – 125 Iron, 1,000 Gear Coins

And here is what you can expect across the world of esports in Gears 5!


The Gears Pro League is in full swing, with three modes played across each match.

And for viewers a glorious weapon set and Black Steel Kait up for grabs!





The full information on the events can be found on https://www.gears.gg/!




We're extremely excited to announce we have another Gears women's esports tournament coming up! Featuring a massive $5,000 prize pool, it'll take place on Saturday, July 3, 2021.

You, and your team, can register to get involved at https://www.smash.gg/xboxtournaments! We can't wait to watch the action go down!


For another weekend the team at EGL will be running another week of their EU open series!

Featuring matches of Control, Escalation and Execution 2.0 this tournament offers prize money up for grabs and the opportunity to square off against top teams in Europe & South America!

Look out for how to sign up on the @EGLGears Twitter!

Also, if you missed the announcement the upcoming Open Series has had its prize money doubled! Read here.

• Black Steel Locust Sniper – 2.99 USD

• Street Art Weapon Set – 9.99 USD

Our specially themed Gears Glory this month is all focused-on Pride! For this we've been asking you to send us GIFs or images of you doing an MVP pose at the end of your game with your Pride banners!

And as always, we love picking out some of our favorites!

[link]https://twitter.com/Zahid_16at/status/1401282937178443781[/link]

Academy Anthony in Style

[link]https://twitter.com/Lust_1999/status/1401997202860412928[/link]

Jesse's two favourite characters

[link]https://twitter.com/KobeTrouble/status/1401438957083181056[/link]

KobeTrouble finishing his night in style

[link]https://twitter.com/GowSykos/status/1402324865294741516[/link]

GowSykos happy that his Swarm is happy with the MVP!


In addition to the above, we'll be releasing the following server updates:

• Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause players to be gibbed from further away than intended.
  
• Fixed an issue where coverslip speed boost in Execution was higher than intended.

And as always, take care and have a wonderful week!

TC

Hello everyone! It's time for another This Week in Gears!


A new event in this Operation, this is all focused-on Control, with the following loadout in play. Shotgun, Snub, Grenades (SSG).

We very much look forward to seeing how these matches go as we know that dedicated communities have run their own matches with these settings.

This event will run for one week.




The hive, an epic journey.

• Dress Uniform Hoffman – 500 Iron
  
• Targeting Monitor Weapon Set – 850 Iron
  
• Melodramatic Expression – 300 Iron
  
• Niles Mark – 125 Iron
  
• Hoffman Banner – 100 Iron

• Rainbow Dust Legacy Set – Free!
  
• Pride Omen – Free!
  
• Savage Elite Hunter – 4,000 Gear Coins, 500 Iron
  
• Long Count Expression Pack – 2,400 Gear Coins, 300 Iron
  
• N00b cutout bloodspray – 2,000 Gear Coins, 250 Iron

And here is what you can expect across the world of esports in Gears 5!


The Gears Pro League is in full swing, with three modes played across each match.

And for viewers a glorious weapon set and Black Steel Kait up for grabs!





The full information on the events can be found on https://www.gears.gg/!


For another weekend the team at EGL will be running another week of their EU open series!

Featuring matches of Control, Escalation, and Execution 2.0 this tournament offers prize money up for grabs and the opportunity to square off against top teams in Europe & South America!

Look out for how to sign up on the @EGLGears Twitter!

Also, if you missed the announcement, the upcoming Open Series has had its prize money doubled!




Black Steel Anthony Carmine – 2.99 USD


Our specially themed Gears Glory this month is all focused on Pride! For this we've been asking you to send us GIFs or images of you doing a MVP pose at the end of your game with your Pride banners!

Here are some of our favorites:

https://twitter.com/BananaBrainsZEF/status/1399949740192808962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Hollow Storm Sam rockin' it!

https://twitter.com/GoWMills/status/1400118413977063425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Black Steel Anthony getting hyped for Pride!

https://twitter.com/Luis42249256/status/1400496956053626891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Kait posing like only Kait can for Pride


We had initially planned to launch Escalation as a mode in competitive, however we've had to delay this due to some last-minute issues, we'll update you on this when we know more.


Recently, we've taken action against accounts that have either boosted or cheated on the competitive leaderboards, as each week goes by we want to ensure that the players at the top of the leaderboard are in fact the top players.

We will continue to monitor and take action where necessary.


In addition to the above, we'll be releasing the following server updates:

• The game tiles in the competitive menu have been reordered, Execution & Guardian are now in the top row, Control & FFA in row 2, and TDM & 2v2 in row 3, Escalation will be in the fourth row.
  
• The ring rotation for Reactor has been updated in the Control (esports) game mode.
  
• The Mulcher has been replaced for the Torque Bow in Execution 2.0 matches.
  
• The Scorcher’s ammo in Versus has been reduced from 105 to 60, additionally the clip size has been reduced to 30 from 35.

And as always, take care and have a wonderful week!

TC