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It’s that time again to give the community a peak into what lies ahead in the development schedule. Like last time we want to give you a 3-month-and-beyond look ahead, and we will update this list as it shifts over the next couple of months.
August
• New ‘Mech: Cyclops
• A beautiful old school ‘Mech, with the first passive group Radar boost in the game.
• Multiple Drop Decks
• Finally you’ll have the ability to operate and switch between up to 4 Drop Decks for both Scouting and Invasion each. Each player will be provided with 2 Scouting Drop Deck slots and 2 Invasion Drop Deck slots at the outset, with the ability to purchase 2 additional Drop Deck slots for each.
• Use Select ‘Mech screen when editing Drop Decks (**Originally set for September, now releasing in the August Patch**)
• Consistent use of the main Select ‘Mech select function for the new Multiple Drop Deck system, rather than the minor custom version you’ll see in the initial August patch.
• Ability to set favourite ‘Mechs in Select ‘Mech screen
• ‘Mechs can now be favourited for easy filtering.
• In-Game Store Improvements
• New Shopping Cart to streamline multiple purchases in one go.
• Attempting to purchase a ‘Mech without an available Mech Bay will now prompt you to acquire one directly, without needing to manually acquire one.
• Art update to Crimson Strait map
• A pure art pass for Crimson, featuring Time of Day and an array of visual improvements, but the gameplay has remained the same.
• Minor art update to Forest Colony map
• An art pass has been completed in the region of the new path introduced in the June patch. We have also reduced pop-in on shadows, textures, and geometry across the map.
• Gameplay and art improvements to BattleGrid and Mini-Map
• Leg orientation of Enemy ‘Mechs will now be displayed when they are in range of a UAV or when they are Tagged. These directional indicators snap along the 8 cardinal directions. Visibility of the Mini-Map has also been improved.
• Decal System improvements
• A few quality of life improvements to expand upon the Decal system, along with a collection of new Decals. Decals can now be flipped, filtered by Category, and Equipped Decals can now be ‘drag-and-swapped’ to easily adjust layering without needing to manually re-apply your Decals.
• Supply Cache Item Rarity highlights
• Items within a Supply Cache are now highlighted to indicate their degree of Rarity.
• Base variants of 2015 Loyalty ‘Mechs available for MC
• As usual, you can also expect an array of additional Map, ‘Mech, and general fixes, including an improvement to Connection duration when returning from a match. Look ahead to the August Patch Notes, to be posted on August 19th, for all the details!
September
Here is the list of items currently slated for September release:
• New ‘Mech: Night Gyr
• Regional Champion Cockpit Items for 2016 Tournament
• New Cockpit Items representing the Regional Champions to further grow the prize pool and show support your favored team.
• Terra Therma Map Redux (**PUSHED BACK TO OCTOBER**)
• Finally – Major game play revisions – almost a new map entirely. Originally set for the September patch, the new Terra Therma has been pushed to October to finalize some art and performance passes.
• Unit Management Improvements for Faction Play
• Minor but important quality of life improvements to Unit Management, such as Last Login timestamps for Unit members.
• Use Select ‘Mech screen when editing Drop Decks (**PUSHED UP TO AUGUST**)
• Consistent use of the main Select ‘Mech select function for the new Multiple Drop Deck system, rather than the minor custom version you’ll see in the initial August patch.
• New Champion Variants - Jenner IIC, Crab, Zeus, Orion IIC, Hunchback IIC, Grasshopper, Highlander IIC, Panther.
• Stock Mode for Private Matches (**Originally set for October, now releasing in the September patch**)
A new set of rules have been added to Private Matches which enforces the new Stock Mode ruleset.
• Players can enforce Stock Mode only.
• All ‘Mechs will be defaulted back to their originally purchased state in terms of loadout/armor/ammo/equipment/OmniPods.
• Champion ‘Mechs are loaded with the default loadout of their non-champion variant that they were built upon.
• Cockpit items and camo are unaffected.
• Players can disable Quirks
• All Quirks are nullified if this checkbox is selected.
• Players can disable ‘Mech Efficiencies
• All ‘Mech Efficiencies applied during the mastering of ‘Mechs are nullified if this checkbox is selected.
• The options above are activated via checkboxes and any combination of the three can be used in this new mode.
October
Here is the list of items currently slated for October. Keep in mind that the items listed here aren’t likely to be the sole items you’ll see in October.
• New ‘Mech: Huntsman
• 2016 Customer Appreciation Program
• Delivery of the loyalty items and conclusion of this year’s qualification period. Details on this years’ program will be coming very soon! The eligibility period for this years’ program will stretch all the way back to October 6th 2015 (the approximate end of the 2015 period of eligibility), and will run until October 23rd 2016.
• Stock Mode for Private Matches (**PUSHED UP TO SEPTEMBER**)
A new set of rules have been added to Private Matches which enforces the new Stock Mode ruleset.
• Players can enforce Stock Mode only.
• All ‘Mechs will be defaulted back to their originally purchased state in terms of loadout/armor/ammo/equipment/OmniPods.
• Champion ‘Mechs are loaded with the default loadout of their non-champion variant that they were built upon.
• Cockpit items and camo are unaffected.
• Players can disable Quirks
• All Quirks are nullified if this checkbox is selected.
• Players can disable ‘Mech Efficiencies
• All ‘Mech Efficiencies applied during the mastering of ‘Mechs are nullified if this checkbox is selected.
• The options above are activated via checkboxes and any combination of the three can be used in this new mode.
• Art update to The Mining Collective map (**Pushed to Looking Ahead**)
• Nothing too drastic, but minor error fixing and a nice art update.
• Terra Therma Map Redux (**Originally set for September, now set for release in October**)
• Finally – Major game play revisions – almost a new map entirely. Originally set for the September patch, the new Terra Therma has been pushed to October to finalize some art and performance passes.
• Optimizations to further reduce Loading and Connecting duration in the Frontend.
• Originally a Looking Ahead item, these optimizations are now currently in-testing for a planned October release.
Looking Ahead
And finally, here is a list of projects we’re working on but don’t have any solid patch dates for just yet:
• Energy Draw System
• PTS sessions are currently underway for testing of the Energy Draw system.
• Allowing Mechs to do ground alignment IK
• Has been delayed by some bugs, but will be released once we’re confident that it’s ready for primetime.
• Revamp of Assault game mode
• A very promising new game mode, but we are adamant that it must be a clear and noticeable improvement over the existing Assault before we commit to a release. This will likely be seen on PTS prior to full release.
• Improvements to Faction Play
• Including recent round table suggestions.
• Revamp of Skill Trees
• A major initiative – currently top secret, but more information will come in the future.
• Art update to The Mining Collective map (**Originally an October item**)
• Nothing too drastic, but minor error fixing and a nice art update.
• Improvements to equipping/un-equipping Mech items and modules
• Reworking Faction Play Searching/Lobby Screen into Separate "Searching" and "Lobby" Screens
‘Floating’ Chat for Frontend
As usual, thank you for reading and thank you for playing.
