Patch Notes - 1.4.38 - 01-DEC-2015

by Alexander Garden in [ Patch Notes ] on, Nov 30, 2015 9:01 PM UTC 409  comments

Tuesday, December 1st @ 10AM – 1PM PDT
Patch Number: 1.4.38.0
Patch Size: 483 MB 

Greetings MechWarriors,

The Marauder is finally here. Players familiar with the BattleTech Universe and its history know and love this 'Mech for a multitude of reasons, and we are extremely happy and proud to help bring these Classic IS 'Mechs back into the fold and onto the modern battlefields of the Inner Sphere.

The array of Quirk and Equipment changes tested during our recent Public Test Sessions are being released into the wild with this patch, with full and comprehensive details provided later in these patch notes. While the Quirk changes are intended to better balance Clan vs. IS capabilities, the reductions to Skill Tree efficiency bonuses are intended to assist new players by reducing the discrepancy between standard and Mastered 'Mechs. To further assist new players in acclimating to MechWarrior Online, as of this patch new players will be placed into PSR Tier 5, rather than the previous starting point in Tier 4.

This patch features a long-awaited improvement to the 'Mech Cockpit Monitors. Currently releasing with one Dynamic 'Kill-Count' screen type and three animated screen types, these new monitor screens provide us with a good starting point for making further improvements to the Cockpit Monitor system, with more dynamic content options possible in the future. So long, Autodetect!

This patch also sees the release of our newly redesigned Cockpit Item screen, featuring a continuation of the aesthetic and organizational changes seen in our recent redesign of the Camo Spec screen.
The premier feature of this new Cockpit Item screen is the ability to preview any dynamic aspects of a particular Cockpit Item by equipping it and clicking the new Preview button. Using this feature players can now listen to a War Horn before deciding on a purchase, or view animations for items that may react after the player has achieved a kill.
A variety of new Cockpit Items are also being released in this patch, including 16 new Flags and three items derived from the 'serious' Cockpit Item contest.

Rounding out the patch we have an increase to the total amount of C-Bill Rewards received from the Cadet Bonus for new players, a slight rollback on the recent hitbox changes for the Catapult, Nova, and Jenner 'Mechs, two minor refinements to the Voting Screen, some HUD performance and rendering improvements, a fix for the long-standing issue where 'Mech names would sometimes not appear in the scoreboard, the release of the original Skull-style Resistance 1 Badges for eligible Resistance 1 owners, and an array of other fixes and changes.

Read on for all the details, and we'll see you on the battlefield!

- The MechWarrior Team


Change Log

Balance Pass

Quirk and 'Mech Adjustments

A complete rundown on all Quirk and 'Mech changes can be found in the Excel and PDF documents linked below.

Important notes regarding the above documents:

All Armor Strength percentage Quirks have been replaced with Additional Armor L/R value Quirks.
• Example: "Armor Strength (LA) +50%" becomes "Additional Armor (LA) +6"

In many cases, distinct Quirks for the same weapon type have been merged into a single Quirk.
• Example: "Medium Laser Range +25%" and "Energy Range +25%" simply becomes "Energy Range +50%"

Document Color Legend

Original Values column

Red text denotes a Quirk that has been either removed or reduced in this patch.
Green text denotes a Quirk that has been increased in this patch.
Blue text denotes a Quirk that has not been changed, or denotes Quirks that been merged with another Quirk in this patch.

New Values column

Red text denotes that the value of this Quirk has been reduced from its original. Red text does not indicate that the Quirk is a negative Quirk!
Green text denotes an existing Quirk that has either been increased in value, or denotes the addition of a new Quirk.
Blue text denotes either a Quirk that has not changed, or denotes a Quirk that has been merged with another.

AutoCannons

• IS LB10-X AutoCannon ammunition count increased to 20 (up from 15) to match the AutoCannon10 ammo count.
• All Gauss Rifles have had their cooldowns increased from 4.0s to 5.5s.
• IS and Clan AutoCannon/2s and Clan Ultra AutoCannon/2s have had their base heat reduced to 0.8 (down from 1.0).
• IS and Clan AutoCannon/2s and Clan Ultra AutoCannon/2s have been given a crit chance equal to that of Machine Guns (the crit damage multiplier for AutoCannon/2s and Clan Ultra Autocannon/2s is still 1.0).

Missiles

• IS LRM20 spread reduced to 6.2m (down from 7.0m). Cooldown of the weapon from 4.75s to 5.5s.
• IS LRM15 spread reduced to 5.2m (down from 5.7m). Cooldown of the weapon from 4.25s to 4.75s.
• IS LRM10 spread reduced to 4.2m (down from 4.3m). Cooldown of the weapon from 3.75s to 4.0s.
• Clan LRM20 spread reduced to 6.2m (down from 7.0m). Cooldown of the weapon from 5.0s to 6.5s.
• Clan LRM15 spread reduced to 5.2m (down from 5.7m). Cooldown of the weapon from 4.5s to 5.5s.
• Clan LRM10 spread reduced to 4.2m (down from 4.3m). Cooldown of the weapon from 4.0s to 4.5s.
• All IS/Clan SRMs have had their base speed increased from 300 to 400m/s.
• All IS Streak SRMs have had their base speed increased from 200 to 250m/s.
• All Clan Streak SRMs have had their base speed increased from 180 to 230m/s.
• IS SRM/2 spread reduced from 4.8 to 2.5m.
• IS SRM/2 heat scale maxfiring threshold increased from 4 to 6. *Note: Maxfiring is the number of launchers you can fire simultaneously free of heat scale.
• IS SRM/4 spread reduced from 5.2 to 3.5m.
• IS SRM/4 heat scale maxfiring threshold increased from 3 to 4.
• IS SRM/6 spread reduced from 5.7 to 4.5m.
• IS SRM/6 heat scale maxfiring threshold increased from 3 to 4.
• Clan SRM/2 spread reduced from 5.0 to 3.0m.
• Clan SRM/2 heat scale maxfiring threshold increased from 4 to 6.
• Clan SRM/4 spread reduced from 5.4 to 4.0m.
• Clan SRM/4 heat scale maxfiring threshold increased from 3 to 4.
• Clan SRM/6 spread reduced from 5.9 to 5.0m.
• Clan SRM/6 heat scale maxfiring threshold increased from 3 to 4.

Lasers

• Clan ER Small Laser Max Range reduced to 360 (400).
• Clan ER Medium Laser Max Range reduced to 688 (810).
• Clan Small Pulse Laser Max Range reduced to 297.
• Clan Medium Pulse Laser Max Range reduced to 561.
• Heat Scale has been properly added to the Inner Sphere Medium Pulse Lasers. The values have been set to the same as a normal IS Medium Laser. You can fire 6 at once with no heat penalty. Multiplier is set to 1.0.

Equipment

• ECM protective range will be reduced from 180m to 90m.
• IS Single Heat Sinks is having its cooling rate increased from 0.10 to 0.12.
• IS Single Heat Sinks that are inside the engine will have their cooling increased from 0.1 to 0.11.
• IS Single Heat Sinks will have their heat capacity will be increased from -1.0 to -1.2. This is increasing the maximum heat value for a 'Mech before it shuts down, not the speed at which it cools off.
• IS Double Heat Sink has its heat capacity increased from -1.4 to -1.5. This is increasing the maximum heat value for a 'Mech before it shuts down, not the speed at which it cools off.
• Clan Double Heat Sink cooling rate increased from 0.14 to 0.15.
• Clan Double Heat Sink capacity will be reduced from -1.4 to -1.1. This is reducing the maximum heat value for a 'Mech before it shuts down, not the speed at which it cools off.

Clan XL Engines

• When a Clan 'Mech loses a Side Torso, its Engine power is now reduced by 20% for the rest of the match. This reduction applies to all factors affected by the Engine, such as turn rate, torso twist, and top speed.

Revised Skill Tree values

Kinetic Burst

7.5%

Twist X

2.5%

Hard Brake

7.5%

Twist Speed

2.5%

Arm Reflex

2.5%

Anchor Turn

2.5%

Speed Tweak

7.5%

All unlisted Skill Tree values are unchanged.


New Cockpit Monitors

This patch features a long-awaited improvement to the 'Mech Cockpit Monitors. These new monitor screens provide us with a good starting point for making further improvements to the Cockpit Monitor system, with more dynamic content options possible in the future.

• 1 Dynamic Kill Count Screen type that keeps track of your kills.
• 3 Animated Screen types that are applied to the remaining monitors.
• Can be toggled On/Off in Options.
• Distinct color schemes for Inner Sphere and Clan.

Clan Color Scheme



Inner Sphere Color Scheme



New Cockpit Item Screen

This patch sees the release of our newly redesigned Cockpit Item screen, featuring a continuation of the aesthetic and organizational changes seen in our recent redesign of the Camo Spec screen.

The premier feature of this new Cockpit Item screen is the ability to preview any dynamic aspects of a particular Cockpit Item by equipping it and clicking the new Preview button. For example, using this feature players can now listen to a War Horn before deciding on a purchase, or view animations for items that may react after the player has achieved a kill.

Please note that the new Cockpit Monitor screens do not display inside the Cockpit Item screen.



New Cockpit Items

• C-Bill Medallion (Hanging Item)
• Phoenix with Amber (Hanging Item)
• Phoenix War Horn (Mounted Item)
• Phoenix (Standing Item)
• Gas Mask (Standing Item)
• Bonsai Tree (Standing Item)
• Locket (Hanging Item)
• Country Flags (Standing Items)

• Argentina
• Belarus
• Chile
• Croatia
• Cuba
• Hungary
• Indonesia
• Lithuania
• Malaysia
• Northern Ireland
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Slovenia
• Thailand
• Uruguay
• Wales


New 'Mechs

Pictured variant: MAD-3R [S]

Marauder (Heavy)

One of the first designs to embrace a non-humanoid configuration, the Marauder was hailed as the pinnacle of BattleMech design when it was unveiled in 2612. As with the Warhammer, the Marauder quickly became a heavy BattleMech of choice across the Star League Defense Force. Its battlefield performance—along with its unusual, menacing outline—even gave birth to the belief that claiming a kill against a Marauder was a hallmark of personal prominence.

Release date for MC: March 15th 2016
Release date for C-Bills: April 19th 2016

Loadout details and discussion of these new 'Mechs can be found in a dedicated post here.


'Mechs now Available for MC

Crab

• CRB-27: 1,520 MC
• CRB-20: 1,485 MC
• CRB-27B: 1,700 MC
• CRB-27SL: 2,860 MC

Loadout details for the Crab can be found in a dedicated post here.


Map Fixes and Changes

• Boreal Vault: Fix for a bad building LoD.
• Forest Colony: Fix for an issue where 'Mech reflections in the water wouldn't be blocked by rock pillars.
• Emerald Taiga: Fix for an issue where 'Mechs could fall out of the world.


'Mech Fixes and Changes

Hitboxes have again been adjusted for the following 'Mechs, blending the changes from last patch with their original states. These changes reduce the expansion of Side Torso exposure introduced in last patch.

• Catapult
• Nova
• Jenner


Voting Screen Changes

• Timer has been increased to 20 seconds (from 15 seconds).
• Audio cues will now play at the 3-2-1 and 0 marks.


Other Fixes and Changes

• Improvements made to the Spectate Commentator HUD performance.
• Improvements made to the 'Mech HUD performance and rendering.
• Fixed an issue where 'Mech names would sometimes not appear on the scoreboard and/or EoR screen.
• The original Resistance 1 Skull-style Badges have been provided to eligible Resistance 1 owners.
• New accounts will now start in Tier 5 instead of Tier 4.
• Added a new Master Volume slider.
• Various fixes and changes to loading screen tips.
• Select 'Mech and Store: Hovering over a Champion, Hero, or Special 'Mech portrait card will flip the portrait and display that 'Mechs associated boost.
• Faction Play: A one-time introductory pop-up has been added when accessing Faction Play for the first time, describing the game type and stressing its high skill ceiling.
• Faction Play: Fixed an issue where groups of 11 members were unable to launch into a match.
• Faction Play: Fixed an issue where the oldest player or group in queue would sometimes not be used to form a strike team.
• Fixed an issue where the UI will display 'Quick Play' instead of 'Rejoin' when a player has left or been disconnected from a match.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to ready up their Trial 'Mech within a public group.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to exit the 'Edit Consumables' in a private lobby or group.
• Fixed an issue where the social info pop-up would keep appearing when the player returns to a lobby.
• Fixed a crash users could experience when closing the client.
• The Cadet Bonus received over the first 25 matches of a new account has been increased to a grand total of 12,500,000 C-Bills (up from the previous total of 7,983,000 C-Bills).


Known Issues

• MechWarrior Academy: The new Cockpit Monitors will appear disabled when first entering the Academy. Power-cycling your 'Mech will activate the monitors correctly. This will be fixed next patch.

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