Aug 20, 2018

PlanetSide 2 - Roxxlyy

Code Changes

We've made numerous changes to the code base that should not only remedy many of the performance issues found in the last major update, but should positively impact other areas of the game moving forward.

Developer Note: This is a very long road we are following towards getting the game more performant. This is a step in the right direction we hope, but still a long way to the finish line.

Meta

Unstable Warpgates
Unstable Warpgates will remain unstable for 3 hours at most before stabilizing. This will help servers like Briggs move through the continent rotations more quickly, as well as participate in continent events outside of peak hours.

Charging Warpgates
Warpgates now take less time to charge overall, bringing it closer to the three hour mark before you can start triggering a continent-wide alert.

Aerial Anomalies

Anomalies now spawn closer to the center of the map.
Anomalies will now never spawn in the same location more than once, and will respawn at every available spawn location before beginning another "loop."
Anomalies have also received a new look that appears from further away, lines up with the range at which you can receive points, and encourages players to leave the anomaly to do battle with incoming hostiles.
Added a speculative fix for ASP air vehicle discounts not being applied after an Anomaly alert ends.

Meltdown
Meltdown Alerts now increase experience gain by 25% for the duration of the alert.

Gaining Ground (New Event)

A new continent event has been added to the lineup.
The "Gaining Ground" event, similar to Biolab, Tech Plant, and Amp Station Facility Capture events, will ask each faction to control the most Large Outposts on the continent in order to win the event.
We've greatly reduced the frequency of the old facility capture alerts at the same time, as the intent has always been to phase them out when enough new event types made their way into the game.

Join Combat (Instant Action)

We've reduced the distance the center of a combat area will search for a valid spawn location nearby.
This change will reduce the amount of available instant action locations, but it will also be less likely to drop you into spawn locations that aren't very close to fights.
In short, better quality by sacrificing quantity. We'll be able to adjust this setting (or revert these changes) on Live without downtime, if need be.

Summer Is Winding Down

August 31st marks the last day for the Summer event, so be sure to try to complete directive before it's gone!

Until September 1st, we've unbundled and discounted the Heatwave weapons as well as some summer themed camos. We've also added released a new "Barren Desert" camo that will go back into hiding once this event ends.

In addition, all Infantry Weapons will be 30% off until September 1st.

Squad Improvements

Mentor Squads
Players have been given a new tool to help guide players through the rigors of combat on Auraxis. "Mentor Squads" can now be created in the squad pane.
Players less than Battle Rank 15 are encouraged to join Mentor Squads by prioritizing them when auto-finding squads, and with prompts through the squad pane.
Mentor Squads are stripped down versions of a typical squad, creating an environment that's more straight forward and easy-to-understand for newer players.

Mentor Squads...

Cannot be converted into Platoons.
Do not have access to Fireteam waypoints. (More about that further down.)
Do not have access to Offensive, Defensive, and Colored Smoke markers.

We have plans for more improvements to Mentor Squads in the future, and are looking forward to seeing how these squad types perform for players interested in guiding the next generation of Auraxian soldiers.

Squad Changes

Waypoints have received new visuals for clarity. No more confusion about which is a squad waypoint, which is a platoon waypoint, which is an alpha squad, but also squad ( ? ) waypoint?
Players can now modify their squad’s default description, as well as basic recruitment and mentor status in the squad finder before pressing the Squad Create button.
Squad bans now persist past character logoff, and last until the squad disbands.
You can now right click on a squad member to access the options dropdown (instead of clicking on the >> button.)
New squads will be started as public and recruiting, unless chosen otherwise from the squad pane.
Squads can now choose to auto-fill into a platoon, instead of having to open each squad individually.
Squads inside of platoons will inherit Alpha Squad's privileges.
Squad map indicators now show the player's facing direction.
Squad leaders can now toggle on or off Squad Beacon privileges.

Outfit Hosted Platoons and Squads

Outfits can now choose to "Host" squads and platoons by enabling the checkbox option when creating a squad.
Outfit hosted platoons will always pass leadership to another outfit member if the squad leader goes offline.
Outfit hosted platoons that have no more outfit members to pass leadership to will automatically disband.

Fire-team Changes

Joining a squad will now filter you into fireteams by default.
Fireteams now have access to a /ft chat channel, as well as a fireteam voice channel, bindable in the settings menu.
Fireteam leaders (the uppermost player within a fireteam list) now have the ability to place beacons and waypoints.
Fireteam beacon privileges can be enabled and disabled by the squad leader.

Misc. Squad and Platoon changes

/platoon promoteme was removed.
Orders chat has been removed and refunded.

Construction

New Directive
A new directive has entered the field. The Construction Directive will challenge players to build, support, and make use of construction objects on the battlefield. This directive line can be found under the “Strategic” Directive Category.

Tier 2 Reward

Solid Wall schematic – A schematic for a “Solid” variant of the Rampart Wall.

Tier 3 Reward

Blueprint Banner – A faction colored “blueprint” banner to display on your enemy’s death screen.

Tier 4 Reward

Auraxium Mandibles – A faction colored auraxium variant of the default Mandible ANT weapon.
“Builder” title – A title to show off your dedication to construction.

Implant System

The pool of implants has been doubled. These implants have been added to the normal implant crates, alongside the ability to craft the implants you want with ISO-4. More about that below.

New Implants

Jockey: Increases shield health when in a vehicle rumble seat.
Survivalist: Increases shield recharge rate and grants a sprint speed boost when at low health.
Athlete: Increases sprint acceleration, deceleration, and how quickly you get your hold-breath back.
Gunslinger: Kills with sidearms increase your reload speed for a short time.
Heavyweight: Grants a major reduction to flinch received from being struck by a projectile, but passively reduces your movement speed.
Response Jacket: Grants a resistance to successive explosive damage hits for a short time after you take explosive damage.
Ransack: Killing enemy vehicles at close range will restore a tick of ammunition for you and the vehicle you are in.
Critical Chain: Headshot kills grant increased rechamber speed for a short time.
Sidewinder: Increases strafing speed at the cost of lower strafing acceleration and deceleration.
Fortify: Interact with capture points to bolster your shield health for a short time.
Symbiote: You receive a passive small arms resistance so long as you've taken small arms damage recently.
Covert Drop: Taking damage from a fall will cloak you on landing.
Failsafe: When your shield breaks, it restores ability energy.
Salvage - MAX only: Killing other MAXes will instantly restore a chunk of health.
Paratrooper - Light Assault only: Taking damage restores jump jet fuel.
Electrotech - Engineer only: When your shield breaks, you send out a pulse that repairs nearby equipment.
Mobility Mesh -Heavy Assault only: Reduces the mobility penalty while your overshield is active.
Mending Field -Medic only: Nearby allies who are critically wounded heal passively up to a certain amount of health.
Firewall - Exceptional - Infiltrator only: You can now "hack" allied turrets to embed them with a firewall which increases their health pool.
Disengage - Exceptional - MAX only: When Emergency Repair is activated, you will knock back nearby enemy infantry and increase your sprint acceleration speed slightly for a time.
Avoidance - Exceptional: You no longer trip proximity mines, and spitfires require you to be 50% closer to acquire you.
Bionics - Exceptional: Reduces health pool by 400 while increasing personal shields by 400.
Cold Heart - Exceptional: Increases heat cooloff for a short period after a headshot kill.
Experimental Stims - Exceptional: Gives a random movement speed, reload speed, or small arms resistance buff when consuming a Medical or Restoration Kit.

Crafting Implants
Lady Luck not on your side? Players can now craft their desired implant by using ISO-4 in the Implant Foundry. Currently, all implants except Exceptionals can be constructed through ISO-4 alone.

Construction cost is based on the rarity (drop rate) of that implant.

Implant Adjustments
Minor Cloak

Uncloak delay for firing your weapon from 1.25sec. to 1sec.
Moving within Minor Cloak will no longer immediately reset your cloak countdown (but will immediately uncloak you per usual.) Now, short bouts of movement after being cloaked will allow you to re-enter cloak more quickly.
Firing your weapon now resets the Minor Cloak countdown, ensuring that players no longer accidentally fall into minor cloak while engaged in combat.

Sensor Shield

Detection range reduction has been buffed for all ranks, and the rank 5 benefit has been modified.
Rank 1: From within 45m to within 30m
Rank 2: From within 42m to within 26m
Rank 3: From within 35m to within 20m
Rank 4: From within 15m to within 10m
Rank 5: While walking, you are not detectable by recon devices at all.

Aerial Combatant

Fuel restorations are now the same percentage of maximum fuel, regardless of jump jet type.
Vehicle kills at rank 5 now restore 30% jump jet fuel.
Deployables no longer trigger Aerial Combatant.

Assimilate

Tier 5 benefit from 30% of current energy restore to 10% of maximum energy restore.
Dev Note: Restructuring this benefit reduces the overwhelming synergy with Adrenaline Shield, while resulting in higher energy returns in situations where you’d normally deplete or get close to depleting your energy, since it no longer bases the regeneration on your current energy supply.

Nanomesh Specialist - Heavy Assault

Your overshield abilities now decay 50/55/65/80/80% slower while stationary, and 25/28/33/40/40% slower while moving. Rank 5: Your depleted overshield no longer has a delay before it begins recharging.
Dev Note: The rank 5 bonus and progression from ranks 1-4 have been swapped, and increased to be more useful in more situations.

Deep Operative – Infiltrator

Whenever you spend longer than a total of 30/26/20/12/12 seconds outside of cloak without taking damage, your cloak's visibility will be reduced by 75%. Dying or taking damage from enemy sources will reset the benefit countdown. Rank 5: Killing an enemy will remove 3 seconds from the countdown.
Dev Note: The small cloak visibility reduction of the previous Deep Operative was too weak to be noticed, and increasing that benefit as a passive could have turned out too strong. The middle ground now requires the Infiltrator to spend some time outside of cloak in order to accumulate the benefit of having a deeper one. We've also removed the rank 5 scan mechanic in place of a benefit that lets the player more quickly return to their enhanced cloak state.

Misc. Implant Fixes and Changes

The ISO Recycler found in the Depot no longer gives players common implants, and will now only yield implants that are of uncommon or higher rarity.
The "Breakdown Duplicates" button now shows the proper breakdown value if you happen to own an exceptional duplicate implant.
The currency cap on ISO-4 has now been set to 100,000.
The breakdown value of Exceptional implants has been reduced from 1500 to 500.
Unowned implants are now filtered from the loadout screen by default.
Breakdown Duplicates button now works if you have a filter active.
Overdrive Implant works once again.

Jun 12, 2018

Construction Reconstructed - 6/12

PlanetSide 2 - Roxxlyy

The long-awaited Construction Reconstructed update is finally here, and it's bringing a slew of new changes to PlanetSide 2. We've recapped a couple of the major changes for you right here, but if you're hungry for more you can read the full patch notes here.

Continent Events

There are more ways to aid your faction in this war than ever before - new continent events have been added to diversify how you charge into battle.

With this update, we’ll be bringing back the old Facility control alerts and adding an all new event - the Aerial Anomaly. When a continent’s Warpgates are charging, Facility events will send you to control the most facilities of a certain type before a 30-minute timer runs out. During an Aerial Anomaly event, you will have to gather readings for your faction while in proximity of the anomalies appearing high above the continent. During this event, all air vehicles will be free to spawn!

When a continent event occurs, it is selected randomly from a pool of available events. More event types will be added in future updates.

Meltdown alerts are also seeing some changes.

Once Warpgates are charged, the first faction to reach 41% territory control will trigger a Meltdown alert. At the end of the 90-minute alert, whichever faction is in control of the most territory will claim victory over the content - the triggering faction no longer needs to win in order to lock the continent.

Construction Changes

The construction system has been drastically altered to encourage more interaction for builders and less frustration for attackers. We're encouraging a group building mentality, requiring active maintenance and support to keep things running smoothly.

The majority of construction objects now cost between 50% and 70% less cortium to place them in order to reduce the initial barrier to building a base.

There are also new items to be constructed. The Flail can be used to send four anti-vehicle shells to a designated location. Spires have also been added under the Tactical category grouping. Spires are similar to modules, vulnerable to small arms fire, and share their exclusion radius with other spires.

The Pain Spire can be used to deal damage overtime to nearby infantry and MAX units, while the Routing Spire acts as a terminal that players can draw a deployable spawn point from.

These are just a few of the things that changed within the construction system; you can see the rest of the changes here.

New Weapons

Three brand new empire-specific weapons (designed by none other than doku) are now available on Auraxis! These Battle Rifles focus on slow, paced shots with high accuracy at medium to long range. The MG-HBR1 Dragoon (Terran Republic), the MGR-M1 Bishop (New Conglomerate) and the VE-LR Obelisk (Vanu Sovereignty) Battle Rifles are available to all classes.

If you're interested in picking up a new Battle Rifle and all of its attachments, you can grab a "Fully Loaded" bundle in the Depot that will include everything you need.

On top of all this, we've also made improvements to the UI, started rolling our squad changes, and more. Full patch notes that include all of today's changes are available here.

We'll see you on the battlefield, soldiers!

Apr 5, 2018

The Advanced Specialization Program - 4/5

PlanetSide 2 - Roxxlyy

“From this day forward, you will be a guiding light for our brothers and sisters, and an avatar of what they may one day become. Every step you take advances our evolution; each action will spread our influence; you will breathe our victories and bleed our progress.”
– Primarch Nora Therren, Horizon Division Officer

Advanced Specialization Program

Each faction has its elites, and you’ve been invited to join their ranks. The Advanced Specialization Program allows characters to unlock options specific to their playstyle, and enter a new tier of progression.

When characters reach Battle Rank 100 (or higher) they can opt into the A.S.P. by visiting the "My Character" page. Upon entering the A.S.P. the following changes are made:

Battle Rank is reset to 1, and characters can earn up to Battle Rank 100.
This new prestige of Battle Rank 100 cannot be reset more than once.
Characters retain all certifications and unlocks.
Characters gain a new Title and Rank icon.
At BR 1, BR 25, BR 50, BR 75, and BR 100, the player will earn an A.S.P. token.
The player can spend earned A.S.P. tokens to unlock new class permissions and benefits.

Unlocks Available through A.S.P.
Universal

Sidearm Primaries - Allows use of sidearms in the primary weapon slot.
Universal Smoke Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Smoke Grenades on all classes.
Universal Decoy Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Decoy Grenades on all classes.
Light Ground Discount - Reduces Flash cost by 50% and Harasser cost by 20%.
Ground Transport Discount - Reduces ANT and Sunderer vehicle cost by 20%.
Combat Armor Discount - Reduces Lightning and Main Battle Tank vehicle cost by 20%.
Light Air Discount - Reduces ESF and Valkyrie vehicle cost by 20%.
Heavy Air Discount - Reduces Liberator and Galaxy vehicle cost by 20%.

Engineer

Shotgun Secondary - Allows use of Shotguns in the secondary weapon slot.
LMG Access - Unlocks access to LMGs on the Engineer.
Assault Rifle Access - Unlocks access to Assault Rifles on the Engineer class.
Anti-Vehicle Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Anti-Vehicle Grenades on the Engineer.
EMP Grenade Access - Unlocks access to EMP Grenades on the Engineer.

Light Assault

SMG Secondary - Allows use of SMGs in the secondary weapon slot.
Concussion Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Concussion Grenades on the Light Assault.

Heavy Assault

Reserve Hardlight Barrier Access - Allows use of Reserve Hardlight Barriers in the Utility slot.
Flash Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Flash Grenades on the Heavy Assault.
Heavy Weapon Secondary - Allows use of Heavy Weapons in the secondary weapon slot.

Infiltrator

Sticky Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Sticky Grenades on the Infiltrator.
Flash Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Flash Grenades Grenades on the Infiltrator.

Combat Medic

Battle Rifle Secondary - Allows use of Battle Rifles in the secondary weapon slot.
Carbine Access - Unlocks access to Carbines on the Combat Medic.
Concussion Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Concussion Grenades on the Combat Medic.

UI Changes

Event "Alerts"
In anticipation of the upcoming mini-alerts, you'll see any non-Meltdown alert shown as an "Event." For the time being, the only "alerts" that meet this criteria are the Warpgate Stablization alerts.

Squad Browser
The squad browser has been reformatted for better viewing. The Leader's name is now listed first, and description listed last. In a later update, a player's Mentor rating will show to the left of their name, and creating squads will allow you to list them with a default description.
In addition, players can now press the "Create Squad" button to start a squad as the sole member.

Infantry Adjustments

Engineer
A new Utility Item, the Reserve Hardlight Barrier, has been added.
Reserve Hardlight Barriers function similar to the standard Hardlight Barrier, except that you can only carry up to two before needing to resupply, and they cost 50 nanites a piece.
Reserve Hardlight Barriers may be placed in close proximity to the Engineer's standard Hardlight Barriers.
Engineer Turrets can no longer be stacked on top of Hardlight Barriers, and they are now more easy to climb over.

Pistol Changes
In light of the A.S.P. system, we've made improvements to most of the pistols in the game to keep them as desirable choices in the secondary weapon slot. The buffs primary focus on spammability from the hip, though some pistols received balances that held solidify their niche or differentiate them more from alternatives.

NS Pistols

NS-44L Blackhand

Max damage range from 5m to 20m
Equip time from 250ms to 450ms
Hipfire CoF while standing and crouching from 2 to 1.75
Hipfire CoF while walking and crouchwalking from 3 to 2.5

NS-44L Showdown

Max damage range from 5m to 8m
Refire rate while ADS from 500ms to 333ms

NS-44 Commissioner

Equip time from 250ms to 450ms

NS-45 Pilot

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.2 to 0.15
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.25 to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.75 to 1.5
Now has access to an extended magazine option that increases magazine size by 3.

NC Pistols

NC4 Mag-Shot

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.28 to 0.14
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to 1.25
Hipfire CoF while crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

LA8 Rebel

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.36 to 0.18
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25
ADS CoF while standing, crouching, walking, or crouchwalking from 0.3 to 0.1

LA3 Desperado

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.18
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 2 to 1.5

NC08 Mag-Scatter

CoF bloom from 0.5 to 0
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.25 to 0.5
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.75 to 1
ADS CoF while standing or crouching from 0.1 to 0.5
ADS CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 0.7 to 0.5
Vertical recoil while ADS from 1 to 2
Magscatter's Laser Sight attachment has been renamed the "MPL" and reduces hipfire pellet spread by -0.25

The Executive

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.28 to 0.14
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

TR Pistols

TX1 Repeater

Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 2 to 1.5
Hipfire maximum CoF from 7 to 2.5
Removed the semi-auto firing mode

TX2 Emperor

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.12
ADS CoF while standing, crouching, walking, or crouchwalking from 0.3 to 0.1

TS2 Inquisitor

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.2 to 0.15
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

The President

Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 2 to 1.5
Hipfire maximum CoF from 7 to 2.5
Removed the semi-auto firing mode

VS Pistols

Beamer VS3

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.12

Manticore SX40

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.28 to 0.14
Max damage range from 10m to 15m

Cerberus

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.36 to 0.18
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

Spiker

Hipfire bloom from 0.22 to 0.15
ADS bloom from 0.11 to 0.1

The Immortal

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.12

Vehicle Adjustments

Galaxy

Resistance type 12 (Flak Explosive) from -120 to -50

Dev Note: This increases kill time from a dual burster MAX from about 24 seconds to 36 seconds. For comparison, pre-CAI, the TTK of a burster max was roughly 38 seconds. An MBT/Harasser's Ranger versus the vehicle follows a similar pattern, from 26 seconds TTK to 39 seconds TTK.

Liberator

Bottom armor from 50% to 20%
Resistance type 12 (Flak Explosive) from -130 to -75

Dev Note: Not taking the belly armor into consideration, the new Flak resistance increases the Liberator's time to kill versus a dual burster MAX from roughly 15 seconds to 22 seconds. With the addition of default Afterburner, the vehicle's ability to get in and out of combat made it less necessary to lean on the belly armor as a defense mechanism. We've reeled in that benefit, from 50% to 20%, which also helps make air to air combat less tedious. Dalton shots to kill versus another Liberator's belly armor, for example, goes from a 9 shot kill to a 6 shot kill.

Valkyrie

Resistance type 12 (Flak Explosive) from -126 to -100

Dev Note: Valkyrie is the vehicle most prone to keeping its belly armor facing a damage source, and most likely to break line of sight with threats due to the vehicle's agility. Even so, we wanted to give the vehicle a bit more breathing room in those close situations.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

Using "/squad create" will create a squad for you. You currently have access to Squad Beacons, but they will not work correctly until you have more than one person in your squad.
Bastion Fleet Carrier's new model now has a collision mesh associated with it. (Meaning you can shoot at, and walk around on it agai... oh wait.)
Continent Control no longer appears in the TAB menu while Warp Gates are unstable.
Battle Rank icon descriptors now escalate every 10 Battle Ranks instead of each rank, this is only viewable on the death screen and My Character screen.
Armistice and Hailstorm SMGs should once again use suppressed audio when a suppressor is equipped.
Replaced the Implant Nav Menu icon with something more fitting.
Getting within 10 meters of a Cortium vein should no longer create a hitch.
Single Use Gold Camo's description is now more... descriptive.
Blackhand and Holiday sidearms now count as a Sidearm for the purposes of directives and implant usage.

Apr 5, 2018

The Advanced Specialization Program - 4/5

PlanetSide 2 - Roxxlyy

Advanced Specialization Program

Battle Rank is reset to 1, and characters can earn up to Battle Rank 100.
This new prestige of Battle Rank 100 cannot be reset more than once.
Characters retain all certifications and unlocks.
Characters gain a new Title and Rank icon.
At BR 1, BR 25, BR 50, BR 75, and BR 100, the player will earn an A.S.P. token.
The player can spend earned A.S.P. tokens to unlock new class permissions and benefits.

Unlocks Available through A.S.P.
Universal

Sidearm Primaries - Allows use of sidearms in the primary weapon slot.
Universal Smoke Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Smoke Grenades on all classes.
Universal Decoy Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Decoy Grenades on all classes.
Light Ground Discount - Reduces Flash cost by 50% and Harasser cost by 20%.
Ground Transport Discount - Reduces ANT and Sunderer vehicle cost by 20%.
Combat Armor Discount - Reduces Lightning and Main Battle Tank vehicle cost by 20%.
Light Air Discount - Reduces ESF and Valkyrie vehicle cost by 20%.
Heavy Air Discount - Reduces Liberator and Galaxy vehicle cost by 20%.

Engineer

Shotgun Secondary - Allows use of Shotguns in the secondary weapon slot.
LMG Access - Unlocks access to LMGs on the Engineer.
Assault Rifle Access - Unlocks access to Assault Rifles on the Engineer class.
Anti-Vehicle Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Anti-Vehicle Grenades on the Engineer.
EMP Grenade Access - Unlocks access to EMP Grenades on the Engineer.

Light Assault

SMG Secondary - Allows use of SMGs in the secondary weapon slot.
Concussion Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Concussion Grenades on the Light Assault.

Heavy Assault

Reserve Hardlight Barrier Access - Allows use of Reserve Hardlight Barriers in the Utility slot.
Flash Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Flash Grenades on the Heavy Assault.
Heavy Weapon Secondary - Allows use of Heavy Weapons in the secondary weapon slot.

Infiltrator

Sticky Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Sticky Grenades on the Infiltrator.
Flash Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Flash Grenades Grenades on the Infiltrator.

Combat Medic

Battle Rifle Secondary - Allows use of Battle Rifles in the secondary weapon slot.
Carbine Access - Unlocks access to Carbines on the Combat Medic.
Concussion Grenade Access - Unlocks access to Concussion Grenades on the Combat Medic.

UI Changes

Infantry Adjustments

Max damage range from 5m to 20m
Equip time from 250ms to 450ms
Hipfire CoF while standing and crouching from 2 to 1.75
Hipfire CoF while walking and crouchwalking from 3 to 2.5

NS-44L Showdown

Max damage range from 5m to 8m
Refire rate while ADS from 500ms to 333ms

NS-44 Commissioner

Equip time from 250ms to 450ms

NS-45 Pilot

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.2 to 0.15
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.25 to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.75 to 1.5
Now has access to an extended magazine option that increases magazine size by 3.

NC Pistols

NC4 Mag-Shot

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.28 to 0.14
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to 1.25
Hipfire CoF while crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

LA8 Rebel

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.36 to 0.18
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25
ADS CoF while standing, crouching, walking, or crouchwalking from 0.3 to 0.1

LA3 Desperado

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.18
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 2 to 1.5

NC08 Mag-Scatter

CoF bloom from 0.5 to 0
Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.25 to 0.5
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.75 to 1
ADS CoF while standing or crouching from 0.1 to 0.5
ADS CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 0.7 to 0.5
Vertical recoil while ADS from 1 to 2
Magscatter's Laser Sight attachment has been renamed the "MPL" and reduces hipfire pellet spread by -0.25

The Executive

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.28 to 0.14
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

TR Pistols

TX1 Repeater

Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 2 to 1.5
Hipfire maximum CoF from 7 to 2.5
Removed the semi-auto firing mode

TX2 Emperor

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.12
ADS CoF while standing, crouching, walking, or crouchwalking from 0.3 to 0.1

TS2 Inquisitor

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.2 to 0.15
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

The President

Hipfire CoF while standing or crouching from 1.5 to 1
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 2 to 1.5
Hipfire maximum CoF from 7 to 2.5
Removed the semi-auto firing mode

VS Pistols

Beamer VS3

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.12

Manticore SX40

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.28 to 0.14
Max damage range from 10m to 15m

Cerberus

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.36 to 0.18
Hipfire CoF while walking or crouchwalking from 1.5 to 1.25

Spiker

Hipfire bloom from 0.22 to 0.15
ADS bloom from 0.11 to 0.1

The Immortal

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.24 to 0.12

Vehicle Adjustments

Galaxy

Resistance type 12 (Flak Explosive) from -120 to -50

Bottom armor from 50% to 20%
Resistance type 12 (Flak Explosive) from -130 to -75

Resistance type 12 (Flak Explosive) from -126 to -100

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

Using "/squad create" will create a squad for you. You currently have access to Squad Beacons, but they will not work correctly until you have more than one person in your squad.
Bastion Fleet Carrier's new model now has a collision mesh associated with it. (Meaning you can shoot at, and walk around on it agai... oh wait.)
Continent Control no longer appears in the TAB menu while Warp Gates are unstable.
Battle Rank icon descriptors now escalate every 10 Battle Ranks instead of each rank, this is only viewable on the death screen and My Character screen.
Armistice and Hailstorm SMGs should once again use suppressed audio when a suppressor is equipped.
Replaced the Implant Nav Menu icon with something more fitting.
Getting within 10 meters of a Cortium vein should no longer create a hitch.
Single Use Gold Camo's description is now more... descriptive.
Blackhand and Holiday sidearms now count as a Sidearm for the purposes of directives and implant usage.

Feb 8, 2018

The Unstable Game Update - 2/8

PlanetSide 2 - Roxxlyy

The Unstable Update

Unstable Warpgates

“This is not a decision we take lightly, we know now that travel through these unstable warpgates leads to abnormal behaviors and higher rates of pattern incoherence syndrome.
All corpsman are directed to pay special attention to the mental health of our forces, especially in combat areas reliant on an unstable warpgate.”

- Dispatch from the office of Colonel Everhart, 5th Division Chief Medical Officer

The Unstable Warpgates system is here!

Newly opened continents will be put in an “unstable” state where the majority of territories will remain offline until population reaches a certain threshold. For the time being, Unstable continents will also automatically go online after two hours so that off-peak times of day still have an opportunity to rotate the continent.

While in an unstable state…

HIVEs cannot be placed.
Meltdown alerts cannot be triggered, meaning that the continent cannot be locked in this state.
Many regions become disconnected from the lattice and made uncapturable.
Disabled regions can still be traversed, and the terminals remain hackable.
A population of more than 96 players will cause the Warpgates to stabilize.
These regions will also automatically stabilize after two-hours unstable. This functionality may change in the future.

The intent of this system is to…

Increase fight density on off continents, or during off-peak hours.
Mitigate the “free” Meltdown wins taking place on off continents.
Give players in queue for main continents an alternative to waiting in VR zones.

Koltyr VR

The continent of Koltyr has been re-purposed as a VR training area where players of all factions can join in and test weapons and equipment on one another in a casual environment that doesn’t record statistics. Players can reach Koltyr VR from the world map screen, or through a Warp Gate Terminal.

Some additional information about this zone…

VR loadouts are used, meaning all weapons and equipment are at max level, unlocked, and do not need to be purchased for use.
Up to 33 players on each of the three factions (99 total players) can make use of this continent.
Up to two instances of Koltyr can exist at any time currently.
Flash, Sunderer, and Lightning are the only available ground vehicles.
Experience gain is disabled.
Friendly fire is disabled.

Vehicle Bases and Lattice Adjustments

Three new vehicle-capturable bases have been added to Esamir and Indar, and two additional vehicle-capturable bases have been added to Amerish. These open-areas contain a single capture point, and can be fortified with construction objects to create a fortress of your own design. In addition to the new base areas, we’ve made adjustments to some base capture points and lattice connections to reduce map stagnation and increase lane flexibility.

Indar
(New) Sunken Relay Station has lattice links to Howling Pass and Mao Watchtower.
Removed the lattice link from Howling Pass to Mao Watchtower.

(New) Berjess Checkpoint has lattice links to Regent Rock Garrison and Scarred Mesa Skydock.
Removed the lattice link from Regent Rock Garrison to Scarred Mesa Skydock.

(New) Lowlands Trading Post has lattice links to Indar Excavation and Quartz Ridge Camp.
Removed the lattice link from Indar Excavation to Quartz Ridge Camp.

Other Adjustments
Removed the construction no-deploy zone from where the Abandoned NS Offices used to be.

Amerish
(New) Solus Nature Annex has lattice links to Xelas North Gate and Silver Valley Arsenal.
Removed the lattice link from Xelas North Gate and Silver Valley Arsenal.

(New) Cobalt Geological Outpost has links to Cobalt Communications, West Pass Watchtower, and The Scarfield Reliquary.
Removed the lattice link from Cobalt Communications and West Pass Watchtower.

Other Adjustments
Lith Corps. Central, expanded Sunderer and Construction no-deploy zones.
Adjusted some BioLab capture point building geometry.
Sungrey West Gate received more spawn room cover.

Esamir
(New) Tapp Waystation has lattice links to Andvari Frozen Reservoir and Pale Canyon Chemical.
Removed a lattice link from Andvari Frozen Reservoir and Pale Canyon Chemical.

(New) BL-4 Recovery Point has lattice links to East River Sky Station and Terran BL-4 Crash Site.
Removed the lattice link between East River Sky Station and Terran BL-4 Crash Site.

(New) Untapped Reservoir has lattice links to Rime Analytics and Mattherson’s Triumph.
Removed the lattice link between Mattherson’s Triumph and Untapped Reservoir.

Mani Biolab

Added a lattice link from Mani Fortress to Mani Tower.
Added a lattice link from Mani Tower to Mani Lake Satellite.

Andvari Biolab

Added a lattice link from Andvari Barracks to Andvari Frozen Reservoir.
Added a lattice link from Andvari Frozen Reservoir to Andvari South Bank.

Ymir Biolab

Added a lattice link from Ymir Southern Reach to Ymir Mine Watch.
Added a lattice link from Ymir Mine Watch to Ymir Eastern Way Station.

Other Adjustments

Echo Valley Substation now has a lattice link to Nott Communications.
Apex Genetics now has a lattice link to Rime Analytics.
Removed a lattice link between Rime Analytics and Saerro Listening Post.
East River Sky Station, expanded Sunderer No-Deploy Zone.
Saerro Listening Post, [A] point has been moved out of the tower and converted into a vehicle capture point east of the base.
The Traverse, [A] point is now a vehicle capturable point.

New Empire Specific LMGs

The next batch of empire specific weapons, designed by D0ku, have been released to the public. You’ll find three new LMGs in the Depot, as well as Fully Loaded bundles for each.

VE-H Maw (Vanu Sovereignty)
The newly developed Maw LMG provides Vanu soldiers with a decisive mix of reload speed and stopping power, thanks to advances in cooling techniques. It’s equipped with a 60 round magazine that fires 167 damage projectiles at 600 rounds per minute.

MGR-L1 Promise (New Conglomerate)
Designed with sustained fire in mind, the Promise LMG is an accurate, high rate of fire weapon without a harsh penalty for laying on the trigger. It’s equipped with a 100 round magazine that fires 143 damage projectiles at 698 rounds per minute.

MG-H1 Watchman (Terran Republic)
With the highest rate of fire of any light machine gun, the Watchman excels in sending metal down range, and its large magazine size ensures you have enough lead to share. It’s equipped with a 125 round magazine that fires 125 damage projectiles at 857 rounds per minute.

Infantry Adjustments

VE-S Canis (VS SMG)

Unstable Ammunition no longer penalizes cone of fire.
Base rate of fire from 500rpm to 550rpm

Dev Note: The baseline rate of fire increase helps push Canis into a more competitive position. Unstable Ammunition dropped the cone of fire penalty, as the more recent headshot multiplier reduction was sufficient to balance out the power of the attachment.

MG-S1 Jackal (TR SMG)

Base projectile velocity from 350 to 400.
Suppressed audio now uses the correct rate of fire.
BX Adapter icon changed.
BX Adapter received an updated tooltip.
BX Adapter no longer reduces ammo capacity.
BX Adapter reload speed from 2.25sec./2.92sec. to 2sec./2.6sec. (Same as the default reload.)
BX Adapter can no longer be equipped at the same time as the Hybrid Suppressor.

Dev Note: We decided to keep the BX Adapter a niche attachment while fixing some quality of life issues it created. The velocity increase helps the weapon play more nicely with Hybrid Suppressor, and complements the accuracy focus of the base weapon.

MGR-S1 Gladius (NC SMG)

Default magazine size from 28 to 26.
Ammo capacity from 168 to 182.

Dev Note: This weapon was mostly where we wanted it to be, but needed a bit of tuning in the damage per magazine department. The mag size reduction removes some of that damage per magazine, while still keeping it between an unmodified Cyclone and the Blitz SMG. The magazine reduction indirectly creates a more substantial tradeoff for the SPRW attachment as well.

Vehicle Adjustments

Lightning

Removed braking penalty on Racer chassis.

Dev Note: The previous brake reduction was causing issues with the lateral friction while moving over hills and rough terrain. This change makes the vehicle easier to control all around.

Saron LRB (Scythe Nosegun)

Magazine from 65 to 60

Dev Note: Adjustment based on player feedback to help reel in some of the Scythe's strength against other ESF with the default weapon.

Galaxy
Lockon Jamming Field
Added the Lockon Jamming Field defensive slot.
While equipped, the Lockon Jamming Field will passively protect allied vehicles from lockon attempts and proximity-based lockons, but not the galaxy itself.
Operates within 100/125/140/150m.
Dev Note: The addition of this defense slot opens a new route for support capabilities when accompanied by allied vehicles faced with the specific threat of lock-on or proximity-lock projectiles from ground or air. Vehicles are still susceptible to flak while this affect is active. This ability will receive a new mini-map icon, similar to Proximity Repair or Ammunition Galaxies as well as new visual FX, in a later update.

Nanite Proximity Repair System
Increased the maximum range of the Galaxy’s proximity repair for air vehicles from 50m to 75m.
Updated the tooltips to better describe the repair rate and distances.

Vehicle Ammo Dispenser
The Galaxy’s vehicle ammo dispenser no longer has different resupply ranges for air and ground vehicles. The ranges have received a slight increase, and now affect all vehicle types equally.
Ranges have been changed as follows…

Rank 1: 50/40m for air/ground to 50m for all vehicles.
Rank 2: 65/55m for air/ground to 75m for all vehicles
Rank 3: 80/70m for air/ground to 90m for all vehicles.
Rank 4: 95/85m for air/ground to 100m for all vehicles.

Dev Note: Increasing the range of Proximity Repair and Ammo Dispenser is intended to promote the support capabilities of the Galaxy, and reduce mid-air collisions from friendly vehicles…

Liberator
LF-100 Afterburner (Utility Slot)

No longer takes up the utility slot, and has been integrated into the vehicle.
This skill line can now be upgraded from the Passive Certs area of the vehicle.
The regeneration rate of the default afterburner is 40 seconds.
The first rank of the passive cert line now reduces the regeneration rate to 30 seconds.
Corrected an incorrect tooltip in rank 4.
Certification cost from 250/375/550/750/1000 to 100/150/200/400/1000.

Dev Note: Afterburner has been best-in-slot on the Liberator for as long as it has existed. With the recent pivot to a more sustained fire role, the value of fire suppression and flares has been increased, but the trade for afterburner remained too high. A default afterburner should make the vehicle more enjoyable to fly, add more flexibility for which engagements it can participate in, and lower the cert investment for players looking to make use of the Liberator.

M60-A Bulldog (Liberator Tailgun)

Direct damage from 250 to 400

Dev Note: This change is primarily intended to reward aim against light-armored targets, like ESF and Harasser, moving the shots to burn/kill from 5/6 to 3/4 for ESF and from 7/8 to 4/5 for Harasser.

Harasser

Tank Cannon (type 7) resistance from -20 to -50

Dev Note: In most cases, this reduces the number of main cannon shots to kill a Harasser by one.

Player Studio

Fuzzbuket’s Arbiter Helmet and Armor set (Terran Republic) can now be found bundled in the Depot.

Bug Fixes and Misc.

Fixed a bug where remote clients would see players replay their firing animation after reloading a burst weapon.
Fixed a bug with players being ejected from squad-spawned vehicles whose pilot is not the owner of the vehicle.
A Join Combat prompt will appear for idle players below BR20, encouraging them to join the fight.
Modified Koltyr-related tooltips.
You should no longer see padlocks over capture points while in an enemy territory that is connected to another enemy territory.
Removed the wildly inaccurate queue timer from continent queue UI.
Removed server population indicators on character creation.
Headshots will now display a headshot damage indicator.
Wielded knives should no longer break when entering or exiting a vehicle.
MAX units may now flip vehicle capture points.
Bastion fleet carrier received a makeover, and is still a work in progress.
The /squad promoteme command now provides a more descriptive prompt.
Added various messaging for squad actions when promoting or petitioning players.
Implants on the death screen now show their proper rank.
Bounties have been disabled in VR training zones.
Speculative fix for newly opened servers setting correct continent control.
Tank Mine responsiveness fix pushed to Live. It was missed in the last update, and remained on PTS. This is unlikely to fix server/client issues, but they should still function more smoothly in more situations.
Modified reward messaging during a Meltdown alert.
Modified forward grip position for Canis SMG.
Modified description for NC6 Gauss SAW and LA1 Anchor.
Solid Dark Green Camo icon should now more accurately represent the color of the camo.
Nanoweave Armor no longer prevents Resist Shield from protecting against headshot damage.
Mini-map UI population chart properly reflects faction color settings.

Feb 8, 2018

The Unstable Game Update - 2/8

PlanetSide 2 - Roxxlyy

The Unstable Update

Unstable Warpgates

HIVEs cannot be placed.
Meltdown alerts cannot be triggered, meaning that the continent cannot be locked in this state.
Many regions become disconnected from the lattice and made uncapturable.
Disabled regions can still be traversed, and the terminals remain hackable.
A population of more than 96 players will cause the Warpgates to stabilize.
These regions will also automatically stabilize after two-hours unstable. This functionality may change in the future.

The intent of this system is to…

Increase fight density on off continents, or during off-peak hours.
Mitigate the “free” Meltdown wins taking place on off continents.
Give players in queue for main continents an alternative to waiting in VR zones.

Koltyr VR

Some additional information about this zone…

VR loadouts are used, meaning all weapons and equipment are at max level, unlocked, and do not need to be purchased for use.
Up to 33 players on each of the three factions (99 total players) can make use of this continent.
Up to two instances of Koltyr can exist at any time currently.
Flash, Sunderer, and Lightning are the only available ground vehicles.
Experience gain is disabled.
Friendly fire is disabled.

Vehicle Bases and Lattice Adjustments

Added a lattice link from Mani Fortress to Mani Tower.
Added a lattice link from Mani Tower to Mani Lake Satellite.

Andvari Biolab

Added a lattice link from Andvari Barracks to Andvari Frozen Reservoir.
Added a lattice link from Andvari Frozen Reservoir to Andvari South Bank.

Ymir Biolab

Added a lattice link from Ymir Southern Reach to Ymir Mine Watch.
Added a lattice link from Ymir Mine Watch to Ymir Eastern Way Station.

Other Adjustments

Echo Valley Substation now has a lattice link to Nott Communications.
Apex Genetics now has a lattice link to Rime Analytics.
Removed a lattice link between Rime Analytics and Saerro Listening Post.
East River Sky Station, expanded Sunderer No-Deploy Zone.
Saerro Listening Post, [A] point has been moved out of the tower and converted into a vehicle capture point east of the base.
The Traverse, [A] point is now a vehicle capturable point.

New Empire Specific LMGs

Infantry Adjustments

VE-S Canis (VS SMG)

Unstable Ammunition no longer penalizes cone of fire.
Base rate of fire from 500rpm to 550rpm

Base projectile velocity from 350 to 400.
Suppressed audio now uses the correct rate of fire.
BX Adapter icon changed.
BX Adapter received an updated tooltip.
BX Adapter no longer reduces ammo capacity.
BX Adapter reload speed from 2.25sec./2.92sec. to 2sec./2.6sec. (Same as the default reload.)
BX Adapter can no longer be equipped at the same time as the Hybrid Suppressor.

Default magazine size from 28 to 26.
Ammo capacity from 168 to 182.

Vehicle Adjustments

Lightning

Removed braking penalty on Racer chassis.

Magazine from 65 to 60

Rank 1: 50/40m for air/ground to 50m for all vehicles.
Rank 2: 65/55m for air/ground to 75m for all vehicles
Rank 3: 80/70m for air/ground to 90m for all vehicles.
Rank 4: 95/85m for air/ground to 100m for all vehicles.

No longer takes up the utility slot, and has been integrated into the vehicle.
This skill line can now be upgraded from the Passive Certs area of the vehicle.
The regeneration rate of the default afterburner is 40 seconds.
The first rank of the passive cert line now reduces the regeneration rate to 30 seconds.
Corrected an incorrect tooltip in rank 4.
Certification cost from 250/375/550/750/1000 to 100/150/200/400/1000.

Direct damage from 250 to 400

Tank Cannon (type 7) resistance from -20 to -50

Dev Note: In most cases, this reduces the number of main cannon shots to kill a Harasser by one.

Player Studio

Fuzzbuket’s Arbiter Helmet and Armor set (Terran Republic) can now be found bundled in the Depot.

Bug Fixes and Misc.

Fixed a bug where remote clients would see players replay their firing animation after reloading a burst weapon.
Fixed a bug with players being ejected from squad-spawned vehicles whose pilot is not the owner of the vehicle.
A Join Combat prompt will appear for idle players below BR20, encouraging them to join the fight.
Modified Koltyr-related tooltips.
You should no longer see padlocks over capture points while in an enemy territory that is connected to another enemy territory.
Removed the wildly inaccurate queue timer from continent queue UI.
Removed server population indicators on character creation.
Headshots will now display a headshot damage indicator.
Wielded knives should no longer break when entering or exiting a vehicle.
MAX units may now flip vehicle capture points.
Bastion fleet carrier received a makeover, and is still a work in progress.
The /squad promoteme command now provides a more descriptive prompt.
Added various messaging for squad actions when promoting or petitioning players.
Implants on the death screen now show their proper rank.
Bounties have been disabled in VR training zones.
Speculative fix for newly opened servers setting correct continent control.
Tank Mine responsiveness fix pushed to Live. It was missed in the last update, and remained on PTS. This is unlikely to fix server/client issues, but they should still function more smoothly in more situations.
Modified reward messaging during a Meltdown alert.
Modified forward grip position for Canis SMG.
Modified description for NC6 Gauss SAW and LA1 Anchor.
Solid Dark Green Camo icon should now more accurately represent the color of the camo.
Nanoweave Armor no longer prevents Resist Shield from protecting against headshot damage.
Mini-map UI population chart properly reflects faction color settings.