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[Alexander Garden]

PATCH #38

Tuesday, December 18th
Patch Number: 1.3.361

Greetings MechWarriors!

In today’s patch you’ll find hot-fixes, gameplay fixes, performance improvements, and UI communication improvements. We know there are a few big issues out there, so we’ve addressed some of these in detail below.


BASE RUSHING

Base rush tactics, while they can be countered, are definitely not intended to be the only or best way to take a base. To deal with this, we've implemented two main changes.

The first is that players must now destroy three new small generators before gaining access to the Omega target – the orbital gun. Until such time as the three mini generators are destroyed, the Omega target will have a protective door covering its internal generator.

The second is a series of map changes designed to provide more cover and protected pathways after breaching the gates. The intention is that we want to see more brawling taking place inside the gates, and even deep into the base, but with less base-rushing tactics.

TERRITORY MATCH STATUS BAR

When coming out of a match it can be difficult to see your attack progression. To make your actions more transparent we've changed how the territory match status bar shows territorial wins and losses.

In the territory status bar each one of the slots represents a territory which is fought over. On CW’s initial release, this bar would fill with red or stay blue, depending on the total territory lost or won at a given time; territories-per-slot were relative.

Now when you fight over a given territory, each slot is hard-set to the specific territory for which you've battled. The result is that you won’t see a curve of attack wins, but will see each of the 11 slots change depending on whether a territory was lost or held. This should better reflect the dynamic and multi-battle status of a planet.

We now display an attacker win percentage instead of the total number of attacker wins. This more accurately tells players when a planet will successfully flip; anything over 50% means it will flip at the end of the combat window.

LOBBY ACTIVITY

Pending player activity is now displayed when in the matchmaking queue, so there is an indication of how many players are lined up looking to form a 12-person team. When there are fewer than 12 players, this pre-lobby window will indicate how close the matchmaker might be to creating a full 12-person strike team. The full team, with actual Pilot names, will still not display until a 12-person strike team is fully formed and in a lobby.

Due to the way matchmaking works for Community Warfare there may be many groups queued up to play, but the total players between the groups can't form a 12-person team. To help clarify this, our next step in the New Year will be to display the actual composition of the groups which are queued for a match. This will allow players to see on which planets they’re most likely to enter a match.

PLANET FINDER & PLAYER ACTIVITY

The planet finder now shows the total number of players fighting on a given planet, and splits the player numbers by attack or defense. If a player sees many people queued to attack, they will know that jumping into the defense queue should allow for a match to kick off sooner.

64 BIT CLIENT

In addition, we've included the option to run a 64-bit client. Please see our news post for more info.

See you out there!

- The MechWarrior Team


Change Log

Gameplay

• Players must now destroy three generators in order to gain access to the orbital defense gun (Omega target)
  
• The hit points on the main Omega target have been reduced to compensate for the extra generators
  
• The Omega target is now covered by a door
  
• Certain locations in map have been tweaked to provide attackers with more cover when trying to penetrate the base
  
• The match status indicator on the planet selection window now accurately reflects which territory was fought over

• The total percentage of attackers wins is shown on the planet selection UI, over 51% or more will cause the planet to flip at the end of the combat cycle.
  
• Players will now see match making activity in the lobby. Please note, due to how the match maker works, a number of different sized groups may be in queue at any given time; only when a full group of 12 can be formed will a match kick off. Therefore it may be possible that you will see a full window of players yet the MM is not able to kick off a match.
  
• The total number of attackers and defenders is now displayed in the planet search window
  
• Waiting times for an auto-win are now 10 minutes - this was the only change quickly available that should help factions with lower populations try to keep up with the larger factions.
  
• Loyalty points required per achievement have been increased – please note, players will not lose any achievement rank they have already unlocked
  
• Sulfurous Rift performance improvements: the factory area should no longer dramatically decrease framerate
  
• Replaced attacker DropShip 7 medium lasers to ERLLs. Attacker dropships now have 12 ERLL's.
  
• Removed defense DropShip ERLLs. Defense dropships now have just 7 medium lasers.
  
• DropShips will only fire their weapons if they are in range to hit for maximum damage.

Bug Fixes

• Many areas where players could get stuck on Sulfurous Rift have been fixed
  
• All Faction achievements now show the correct faction for which you’re gaining loyalty points
  
• The 'Exchange XP' button is now clickable
  
• Rewards no longer disappear when hitting “ready” on the planet info window
  
• Conquest HUD progress bar is no longer smaller than it should be
  
• User can no longer drag & angle the map without using the mouse buttons
  
• The Loyalty Points on the planet info will no longer change to 0 when selecting to attack/defend while in a Unit Group
  
• Dropping from the DropShip with a King Crab no longer causes collision issues with the claws
  
• Any selected planet will now display the planet battle status chart around the planet image
  
• Client side display of ‘Attack Phase’ no longer overflows and incorrectly displays 5 hours remaining immediately after ending an invasion cycle.
  
• Permanent Contracts now correctly display ‘Time Left’ and ‘Attack Phase'.
  
• The loading screens before an invasion match will now correctly display the win conditions for attack, defend, counter attack, and hold territory
  
• When a player is spectating, the orbital cannon’s health will no longer appear full
  
• A number of missing strings have been correctly updated
  
• Dead ‘Mech’s weapon doors are now properly cleaned up
  
• User can no longer pan and rotate the IS map at the same time
  
• General memory improvements made across the game
  
• Smoke particles will now fade out when a generator is destroyed
  
• Fixed Drop Deck resets
  
• Attack wins will now properly update when a user is already in the faction tab
  
• Breaking a faction contract in a unit will now properly update the unit coffer without needing to re-log
  
• Hanging cockpit items will now display again
  
• ‘Mech cockpits will no longer disappear
  
• Friends or people on your unit list will no longer show up as a blank space after being on notification
  
• Players can now break contracts which have more than two days remaining
  
• Players who have broken a permanent contract can now start a new contract without error
  
• Unit leaders can now disband their Unit without having to start a contract

Known Issues

• Faction achievements do not grant titles and other related rewards – this will come in the new year with new title functionality to allow titles to display in-game. Please see http://mwomercs.com/...oints-clarified
  
• Sulfurous Rift: when a player enters the internal out of bounds areas they will not get a warning countdown or die
  
• Unit coffer may not update properly upon donating – relogging will fix this issue
  
• Creating multiple ranks with the same name causes all but one to be deleted
  
• Going from dropdeck selection to the store causes the dropdeck to overlap with the dropdowns. To fix this, you will need to relog
  
• If a member of a Unit Group enters the store, their status in the social window may display “store” – this is a visual issue only, and will not affect actual status or gameplay
  
• When your contract ends, you will be abruptly taken back to the Faction selection screen
  
• Rarely, a user’s Faction icon may change to match other users Factions in the same Lance
  
• Ready/Not Ready buttons remain after leaving a Unit Group – to fix this select the same planet again and to switch back to the correct attack/defend buttons
  
• Rarely, the user will not see the rewards screen when returning to the Front End after the end of an invasion match
  
• Rarely, upon conclusion of a match, you will see the incorrect contract results screen. Please note you will get the proper rewards, regardless of the screen's message
  
• Rarely, users will not be disconnected at the end of round screen - if this happens, hit the exit match button
  
• When joining a Unit with an active contract of longer duration than your own, your contract duration will not update until you re-log
  
• Rarely, when playing with a high latency, names may not show up correctly on the end of round screen

We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

- The MechWarrior® Online™ Team