Sep 21, 2010

Global Agenda: Free Agent - Valve

Updates to Global Agenda have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Major Highlights

German Language Support: This release contains German Language support. To change to German, use the OPTIONS menu on the Global Agenda Launcher. If you find errors or oddities in the German translation, please report on the Version 1.38 Test Server forums.
Achievements: A full achievement system has been added. Players can view achievements using the ACHIEVEMENTS tab on the Agent Profile screen. Some achievements will award helmets or other flair as they are achieved.
Quick Swap Profiles: Players can now purchase multiple equipment profiles for each character from a vendor in Dome City, using Tokens. Each profile can have unique Skill Tree, weapon, and armor choices. You can change profiles anywhere that you can equip. Each new profile that you purchase costs twice the number of tokens as the previous profile. [MORE TO FILL IN]
Special Vanity Items: This release introduces two new special/rare items -- Magic Elf Goggles, which you wear during PvP matches and cause all enemies to appear to have elf heads (so you can have fun shooting them); and a Vanity Pet (Sparky), which follows you in Dome City while also giving your character a 50% groundspeed boost while in Dome City. See below for more information.
Auction House: The Auction House has undergone major improvements to make it easier for players to buy and sell. See below for more.
Arena Matches: The Arena matches now occur on a timer (similar to Raids). After the timer goes off, there is a 10-minute "signup" period in which players can join the queue (in pre-made teams of up to 10 players). After the sign-up period, teams will be matched against one another based on skill level. [REWARDS? OTHER DETAILS ON HOW THIS WORKS?]
Double Agent Matches: Double Agent matches now occur on a timer (similar to Raids). After the timer goes off, there is a 10-minute "signup" period in which players can join the queue (in pre-made teams of up to 10 players). After the sign-up period, teams will be matched against one another based on skill level.[REWARDS? OTHER DETAILS ON HOW THIS WORKS?]
Mission Queuing: A variety of changes have occurred to Mission Queuing to make it easier to get matches across all server regions (North Amer, Europe, etc) and to improve backfilling. More details below.
Tokens: You can now earn a maximum of 50,000 tokens in a week. Likewise, you may hold a maximum of 50,000 tokens in your bank. The daily limit on tokens has been removed (in favor of the weekly cap).
Boosts: Purchased player boosts now double credits and double end-of-mission loot in addition to XP and Tokens. Players should now inspect the STATS screen on Agent Profile to see key information on their active boost. Several bug fixes have also been made to the boost calculation.
New PvE Consumables - Four new craftable PvE consumables have been added. More details below.
AvA Rewards
Modifications and Repair Kits -- You may know add a modification to a particular weapon or armor piece using the "wrench" underneath the weapon or armor on the Agent Profile screen (verus having to use the Modification Implant kiosk in Dome City). When you press the wrench, you will be prompted whether to Repair the Item (using a repair kit), or Mod the Item (using a Mod).
Timer in Special Ops PvE Missions -- If you initially enter the Boss Room with less than 4 minutes remaining in a Special Ops mission, the timer will be reset to 4 minutes (giving you additional time for the boss fight).
Inspect -- Inspect now occurs using the "X" key by default (instead of left-mouse click). This can be changed using the CONTROLS menu. You may now inspect players inside the Open Zone.
Other:
- Melee devices no longer give backtsab buff when backstabbing a turret.
- Healthbars no longer display in Dome City.
- Combat Rating: Now display skill number in addition to Stars.

Auction House

STOCK MARKET MODEL: Most items sold on the Auction House will now use a "stock market" buy/sell model. Under this model, the seller provides a price for the item that is being sold (the "ask" price). Buyers then see all items of that type and at that same price grouped into a single line on the auction house screen. Buyers see the lowest 5 selling prices for any given item. Buyers can purchase one or more of the same item from different sellers by simply providing a price (the "bid" price) at which they are willing to purchase. The auction house will automatically reconcile the transaction with all the different sellers (on a first-in-first-out basis) who sold their merchandise when any single buyer completes a purchase. Some specialized and unique items will continue to be sold using the standard auction model of incremental bids over time. The auction house makes the decision about which model to use (stock market or standard auction) based on the item type.
NEW SIMPLIFIED SELLING SCREEN: The Auction House UI has undergone significant changes. When you select an item for sale, the panel automatically populates the quantity for sale with the total you have in inventory (of course you can change that) and with the current market price for this item (the lowest ask price, also something you can change).
ITEM CATEGORIES: There are now just a hand full of item categories on the left side of the auction screen and no confusing sub-types.
PREVIEW: You may now preview Auction House items on your character prior to buying.
OTHER FIXES: Various defects addressed related to expanding and collapsing menus.

Mission Queueing

SERVER REGIONS: There is no longer a drop-down to select your server region on the Mission screen. Instead, your default server region (North America, Europe, etc.) is chosen automatically when you login, based on your IP address. You can modify your default server region on the SETTINGS menu. When you queue for a mission, you will be paired in matches with others from your default server region, unless no match can be made within a reasonable waiting period, at which point, you may be matched onto another server region. If you do not wish to ever be matched into a match on another server region, you may uncheck the flag to "Match on other Regions".
BACKFILLING: If the "Volunteer me for late backfills" checkbox is checked on your SETTINGS menu ("on" by default), you will be aggressively backfilled into existing matches if a team is short players. Players that are backfilled into matches will receive the full reward for the match, as if they were in the match from the beginning.
TIME TO NEXT TIMER-DRIVEN MISSION: For those missions queues that are only available at timed intervals (such as Raids), the Mission screen now displays the time until the next mission availability.
MISSION ACCEPT DIALOG: You no have 30 seconds to accept a Mission (used to be 60 seconds). The Mission Accept dialogue will show a countdown of how many seconds you have remaining to accept the mission.

Special Vanity Items
There are two new special, craftable "Vanity" items in the 1.37 release. Magic Elf Goggles, which you wear during PvP matches and cause all enemies to appear to have elf heads (so you can have fun shooting them); and a Vanity Pet (Sparky), which follows you in Dome City while also giving your character a 50% groundspeed boost while in Dome City.
To craft these items, you must possess a special blueprint. Only a very limited number of blueprints for these items will be placed on the Auction House for bidding. One you win this blueprint, you can craft unlimited items with it.
One or more of the components for the special items must be purchased from Carter's Accessory store, using tokens. This is to limit the number that can be crafted per day, as well as increase the value and rarity of the items.

Craftable PvE Consumables

There are four new craftable PvE Consumables in Version 1.37:

Lasting Damage (Rare) - Provides 10% damage boost for either 15 minutes or until you die or leave the mission instance. Stacks with all damage buffs.
Lasting Energy (Rare) - Provides 30% power recharge for either 15 minutes or until you die or leave the mission instance.
Lasting Regeneration (Rare) - Slow regeneration for 15 minutes or until you die or leave the mission instance. Stacks with all Healing.
Repo Android (Epic) - Deploys a powerful Repurposed Android.

Each consumable is craftable, and the items should be available for crafting them either through salvage or a new vendor in dome city. Note that the item for crafting the Repo Android comes only from salvaging Epic items. This is a new component item.
You must level your crafting along the Consumable path to craft Rare and Epic items.