Let’s get this out of the way first: if you’re reading this review expecting us to just lambaste Star Wars Battlefront IIdue to the microtransactions controversy, then you’ll sadly be disappointed. While we do touch on that a bit, the review focuses more on the actual gameplay and how it fares (a game reviewer focusing on the actual gameplay — shocker!).
Having said that, we did give the game a fair shake trying out all the game modes available, testing the progression extensively by playing the multiplayer for hours. If you want to read how Star Wars Battlefront II is a game (and not as an “online casino”), then dive in, Padawan! As one can expect given MP1st is a multiplayer-focused site, the majority of the review will focus on the multiplayer modes, though we account the single-player portion as part of the overall score.
First Order
In Star Wars Battlefront II, you star as Iden Versio, an officer in the First Order. It’s a big departure from the usual Star Wars games where you often played as the Resistance (good guys), or as a Jedi. It’s a big gamble on DICE’s end, and one that pays off. Hearing the story from “the other side” gives the First Order soldiers a more human side and explains why they do the things that they do.
There are a few twists and turns in the 12 chapters Battlefont II’s story encompasses, but for the most part, it’s fairly predictable. What’s less predictable is the actual gameplay scenarios. Sure, there are the usual “go to a spot, clear all enemies before proceeding to the next level” sort of thing. Breaking the monotony of shooting are stealth scenarios, space battles, and even instances where you control Iden’s droid ID10.
The campaign lasts roughly 4-6 hours depending on if you spend time looking for collectibles, or just speeding through. While it’s a solid offering from DICE, the main draw of Battlefront II is, of course, the multiplayer.
Space Pirates
Let’s get it out of the way: Star Wars Battlefront II originally had a microtransaction-riddled progression system that was pulled at the final hour due to pressure from fans, and reportedly from Star Wars IP owner, Disney.
At the time of this review’s publication, Battlefront II has no microtransactions to speak of. No cosmetics, no gated Star Cards, no nothing. Of course, given that EA has been public about reinstating microtransactions back in, we don’t know for sure how that will work. For the sake of clarity and transparency, this review is being judged solely on the version we’re playing now, which has no microtransaction elements tied into progression.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the core gameplay of Battlefront II feels relatively the same as DICE’s 2015 Battlefront. I say “relatively” since there are a few major and minor differences that make Battlefront II one of the most puzzling multiplayer games I’ve ever reviewed.
Playing With a Full Deck
In case you haven’t been paying attention to Battlefront II’s multiplayer, the game employs Star Cards as its form of progression and abilities for all aspects of multiplayer. There are Star Cards for all four classes, all the Heroes, ships and more. For better or for worse, Star Cards are an integral part of multiplayer, and that’s where some of the main issues lie. In Battlefront II, you earn loot crates that house these Star Cards. You earn ’em by completing challenges, buying them for credits you earn in-game and so on. Speaking of which, the credits earn rate are a problem in of itself as well, given how random its given out at the end of every match. It’s gotten to the point that people even use homemade bots just to farm credits while going AFK.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to guarantee that the Star Cards you earn in loot crates won’t turn into duplicates. You do get credits and Scraps in crates that you can use to buy more loot crates, or craft gun attachments or Star Cards directly, so there is that little workaround. But for the most part, the Star Cards progression system is a deviation from the standard multiplayer progression shooter fans are used to.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the RNG-based progression system the Star Cards offer. It’s too random, and just randomizes progression. Its entire premise does seem like it was tailor made for microtransactions, which is not ideal for a balanced multiplayer game.
It Hurts So Fine
Another odd bit of gameplay decision comes in the form of time to kill (TTK). In Battlefont II, it seems the TTK is a tad too slow, making engagements last longer than they should. Not sure why this was changed since 2015’s Battlefront had it down pat.
Speaking of 2015’s Battlefront, one of the major complaints to that game was the lack of progression and unlocks — a fact DICE took to heart and made sure won’t be an issue in BFII. While I commend the studio for putting in a lot more stuff for players to unlock, it comes so at the expense of gating items and equipment, for the sake of gating them. Want a different gun from the base gun you’re using? Yeah, go kill X number of enemies first. Want an attachment for your gun? Yep, do X task first. It’s tedious enough that you have to do this with every class’ gun, but you need to do it for every gun to unlock every attachment as well, which is just grindingly annoying.
That’s not even the worst part. Star Cards slots are also gated too. Sure, one can argue that reaching level 5 for a class won’t take long to open Star Card slot #2, but the fact that it’s even needed, just feels like artificial padding, and gives veteran players more advantages against the newcomers. As if learning the map, weapons, proper use of Star Cards and shooting mechanics weren’t enough advantages.
Note to devs: players don’t appreciate being given crappy weapons, equipment or gimping their capabilities just because of time played, or level number. Veteran players don’t need more advantages than the ones I mentioned above.
While I’ve dished out a fair number of complaints with BFII, the core gameplay is still sound. Add in the allure of the Star Wars license, and well, BFII might be an easy purchase for some. DICE has always been known to create balanced — and fun — games, and BFII is no different.
Either playing as a standard infantry grunt, a Jedi, a Wookie or another class, the core gameplay feels tight. Action is fast, frenetic, and satisfying enough that you’ll want to keep on grinding Battlepoints to be able to play as a Hero and lay waste to your enemies.
Adding to the appeal of the core gameplay are the audio-visual presentation. While some parts of BFII does look a bit inferior to the 2015 version (not sure if that’s just my eyes playing tricks on me), the game still looks drop-dead gorgeous. It’s even more impressive when you factor in 40 players fighting, an expansive stage to fight on, and other stuff happening (AT-ATs, etc.). In the audio department, DICE once again doesn’t disappoint. Lasers are fired off with that familiar sound, and the dialogue, music and sound effects match up with what’s happening on-screen to complement it.
Dogs Fighting in Space
I’ve already written an entire preview on Starfighter Assault based on the beta — Battlefront II’s space battles mode. For the most part, it plays the same, which is a good thing since DICE has nailed down this mode more than any other. If you ever wanted to fly an X-Wing or Boba Fett’s Slave-1, and feel like a badass in doing so, Starfighter Assault is the mode for you.
The only issue here is: a lot of players have managed to mine and collect Star Cards for their spacecrafts, and these affect the gameplay and match outcome greatly than in your standard infantry match (in my opinion). Missiles lock on faster, overdrive recharges quicker, etc., are just some of the Star Card abilities that available to players, which newcomers will surely when playing.
Of course, an easy solution for this is to grind for loot crates, craft Star Cards yourself, but for the initial few matches, be prepared to be blown to bits by enemy spacecrafts.
Universal Soldier
While Battlefront II has been mired in controversy for months now, there is a good game underneath all of the microtransactions and hate it managed to amass, no thanks to publisher EA.
An above average single-player campaign, paired with an oftentimes satisfying multiplayer component is no easy feat. DICE manages to do that with Battlefront II. Add in Starfighter Assault, and a competent local co-op mode, and you have the complete package that every Star Wars fan will gobble up willingly.
It’s just an annoying state of affairs that EA failed to see that when it wanted to shoehorn microtransactions into the game, and that effect is still felt with the Star Cards, and how Heroes can be bought in the game with in-game credits.
For Star Wars fans, Battlefront II is a no-brainer purchase decision, and I don’t blame them. Now for those just looking for a shooter, then Star Wars Battlefront II can scratch that itch, but just be prepared by some minor annoyances along the way. And of course, the ever looming threat of microtransactions is always there that can skew the game balance severely if haphazardly implemented.
Star Wars Battlefront II is an above average shooter, and the complete package when taken as a whole. Just be prepared for lots of game balancing, and tweaks to weed out the unbalanced progression system. If you can overlook those, then this is one battle you’ll want to be a part of.
Score: 7.5/10
Pros:
Complete package of single-player, multiplayer and space dogfights
Faithful to the Star Wars license
Starfighter Assault is space battles done right
Cons:
The presence of microtransactions is ever-looming
Star Cards and loot crates combo is an annoying progression system that shouldn’t be replicated ever
Not newbie friendly at all
Some odd gameplay decisions persist
Star Wars Battlefront II review code provided by the publisher. Reviewed on PS4 Pro, played hours of multiplayer using all classes, and a few Heroes as well. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.
While we just got a new Call of Duty: WWIIgame update yesterday, it didn’t manage to fix most of the issues still affecting the game. On the contrary, it even managed to introduce a few new ones. One of the few things that got tweaked is the nerfing of the “Primed” Basic Training perk that lessened flinch when being shot at. This nerf has proven to be unpopular with gamers, as even pro players have gone on to say that it’s a problem.
Over on the WWII Subreddit, Michael Condrey, Sledgehammer Games boss, wrote a lengthy post explaining the patching process, and how the team rolled out “tuning adjustments to global flinch on all weapon classes.” Note that it seems this is a server-side update given there’s no actual patch that got rolled out.
In case you can’t read the embedded post, it reads:
Post launch game updates are uniquely complex, and delicate. #CODWWII is a feature heavy game, and we have several hundred developers actively making fixes and incorporating community feedback. Yet, when launching to many millions of players across the globe (under highly varied home network infrastructures), stability is always a priority for us. Part of our process is a rigorous QA testing phase. In addition, there are first party protocols for how updates get safely propagated to players. For fans, that means you are generally seeing changes several days or weeks after we’ve implemented them in the development environment at Sledgehammer Games. Rest assured, that doesn’t mean we aren’t working incredibly hard or fast to address feedback. It just means that there is sometimes a delay between the time we make the change at the studio and the time we can communicate it, and see it rolled out to the live community.
We have plenty of changes in coming updates, including the start of Ranked Play Season One: The Placement Season, beginning (tomorrow) December 1, 2017. In addition, based on player feedback and validated through internal playtests, today we released new tuning adjustments to global flinch on all weapon classes. These reduced flinch values provide better consistency while engaged in head-to-head combat. Jump online and let us know what you think.
We look forward to sharing more soon. In the mean time, please keep the constructive feedback coming. And thanks for your continued support!
Additionally, over on Twitter, Michael Condrey has called “Toughness” (a perk that appeared in past COD games to lessen flinch) a “crutch,” and revealed that the studio is “close” to the next update.
Toughness was a flinch crutch perk. I don’t want Primed to be the same, wrecks the meta. We’re close with next update. Keep your powder dry.
Have you played COD: WWII just now? Have you noticed gun flinch considerably toned down? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
In other COD: WWII news, make sure to check out our latest feature where we talk about post-patch impressions for certain games, and as you can guess, it kicks off with COD: WWII.
Are you a big Destiny 2fan, who just so happened to pick up a shiny new Amazon Echo device during the Black Friday sales? Well, I’ve got some good news for you!
Bungie has announced a new Alexa Skill which lets you bring Ghost functionality to Echo devices. This is the first-ever Alexa voice integration in a live game experience.
I’ll let the official breakdown tell you what exactly you can do with this new Ghost Skill:
The Destiny 2 Ghost Skill serves as a premier companion for Destiny 2players, creating brand-new ways to interact with the game, players can say, “Alexa, ask Ghost to…” with a variety of utterances — from “…tell me which friends are online,” to asking “…what should I do next?” giving recommendations for what to play next based on players’ real-time current progress, to “…call for back up,” which offers an easy way to interact with friends in their clan to enhance the social experience of Destiny 2, to “… equip my Raid loadout,” equipping players’ favourite weapons and armour for a number of different gameplay activities, to learning more about the world and characters of Destiny2 with a request like, “…tell me who are the Red Legion?”
In addition to the new free Ghost Skill, there’s also a limited edition Destiny 2 Ghost and Echo Dot speaker bundle available to pre-order for £129.89 (~$176). Alternatively, the limited edition Destiny 2 Ghost can be purchased on its own for £79.99 (~$108). The Ghost will become available on December 19.
Will you be giving the Alexa Ghost Skill a try? Let us know.
More Star Wars Battlefront IIskins have been found within the game’s files. A new YouTube video by DylanRocket provides an in-depth look at each character’s alternate looks, including Heroes. What’s more, there also appears to be a curiously contorted General Grievous skeleton. (Head to 6:45 for a good look at that!)
Here’s the General Grievous model that was leaked a while back:
With so many unreleased/unfinished skins in the game, it begs the question as to whether these have been scrapped indefinitely, or whether we’ll see them popping up in future updates. Here’s hoping it’s the latter!
What do you make of these unreleased cosmetic options? Do you want to see them eventually make it into the live build? And how about General Grievous? Think he’s coming soon? Let us know.
Overwatchprincipal designer Geoff Goodman took to the game’s official forums to discuss changes to Doomfist. He gave a breakdown of “Things that are fixed,” “Things we’re still working on,” and “Things we’re still investigating.”
Here’s what players can experience now on the PTR, and in the future once the changes are finalized and implemented:
Things that are fixed
Wall slamming should be much improved. The wall slamming logic has also been simplified so players should find that a 45 degree impact angle is the cutoff between the target being slammed into the wall, or sliding off. This is the biggest change that should be noticeable instantly.
Rocket Punch now breaks breakables again. Not only was the bug fixed that caused it to no longer break breakables, but the system we have in place now should break them much more consistently than before.
Seismic Slam being canceled when landing too close to a wall should be fixed.
Seismic Slam will now ‘slide’ a small ways up ramps instead of instantly triggering. Winston’s leap has also changed in the same way. The slide distance is manually tuned so let us know if it seems like he is sliding up ramps too much or too little.
Things we’re still working on
Seismic Slam has a bug when you or your target is near a corner, it will sometimes not find them as a valid target. We have identified this bug but it is going to take a little longer to get a fix in place.
Ghost punches. This is an issue where you Rocket Punch and go through an enemy, instead of impact them. Some of these reports are latency related, but we did find an issue that was causing this to come up beyond just typical networking issues. Hopefully we’ll get in a fix in soon.
Corner bounce. This happens if you use Rocket Punch near a corner or edge, and it causes you to ‘bounce’ off and slide quite a ways away, probably messing up your punch. This is a recent bug caused by a seemingly unrelated change. We have identified why this can happen though, and are working on a fix for it.
Things we’re still investigating
Rocket punch vs. Rocket Punch/Charge. We get reports that it can feel really ‘random’ what happens when 2 Doomfists using Rocket Punch hit each other, or a Reinhardt using charge hits a Doomfist that is Rocket Punching. We’re still gathering data and information on this one, and hope to be able to improve the consistency of situation. The intended result is that both players should fall over, much in the same way that two Reinhardts charging into each other knocks both of them down.
Aerial Seismic Slam sometimes causing Grounded Seismic Slam. We’ve gotten reports of people being up in the air and using Seismic Slam sometimes triggering the ‘Grounded’ version instead of the ‘Aerial’ version. This one seems really rare so its pretty hard to track down, but we’re looking into it.
Goodman also mentioned that future patch notes will offer more details about bug fixes, instead of just tuning changes and features. This is in response to the community wanting more information.
Are you a Doomfist player? If so, what do you make of the changes? Let us know.
Appearing in the latest issue of GamesTM, PUBG‘s Brendan Greene spoke about the upcoming Xbox One version of the game, which is set to release on December 12.
Performance was one of the more interesting topics he discussed. He confirmed that 60fps is definitely the target for Xbox One X hardware, while base-level Xbox One systems may have to settle for 30fps.
Definitely on Xbox One X, 60FPS. On Xbox One, we’re not sure. We may have to limit it at 30FPS, maybe, but the last time I saw it, it was running at about 30 to 40. We’re still constantly improving it so, you know, the aim is to get to 60. That’s why we’re doing Game Preview, because I think the great thing about console is it’s a locked hardware system, so we can do really specific tweaks that tune it for those systems.
I have great faith that we’ll get there. The great thing about Battlegrounds is that it’s not…unlike the more high paced shooters, frame rate isn’t that important. Yes, it is important, but it’s not as important for us as it is in a twitch shooter. So we’re aiming for 60; not sure if we’ll get there, but that is our aim.
Nothing is certain yet, but we don’t have to wait long to see how the game runs for ourselves. December 12 is the day that Xbox owners can get their hands on PUBG and see what all the hype is about!
An upcoming Final Fantasy XV update will launch on December 12, making several changes to the Comrades multiplayer. What’s more, there are further updates planned for 2018, but details are scarce for now.
Find the list of patch notes for update 1.1.0 below:
Fixes
– Cases where the player’s level does not rise
– Cases where enemies do not appear in multiplayer quests
– Other things that prevent progress
Improvements
– Shorter loading time between Lestallum and Camp
– Shorter AI comrades generation time
Additional Content
– Timed Quests – Quick Matching-exclusive quests. Defeat a lot of enemies within the time limit.
– Witch’s Shop – Receive the buff effect obtained through a meal in exchange for the Timed Quest reward.
Drector of comrades, Kazuya Takahashi has released a FFXV 1 year Anniversary message, which you can watch below.
What do you think of the upcoming patch? Let us know below.
It looks like that China-exclusive PUBGmobile game, which we recently reported was in development, may be releasing sooner than we anticipated.
The game’s website has been updated to show a new trailer and a December 1 date. This is likely an announcement of some kind, rather than a launch date, but who knows?
Take a look at the new PUBG mobile game trailer embedded below:
As stated before, the PUBG mobile game is being described as a “full fledged mobile port” which will allow “players jumping over to mobile … to take advantage of their play on PC and maintain a consistent experience.”
Obviously, we won’t really know how fantastic an experience the mobile port is until it’s out in the wild. I think the majority of us are curious to see how a game that struggles to run smoothly on a high-end PC, performs on a phone.
The latest For Honor patch is now rolling out for all platforms, making bug fixes to several fighters, including: Gladitator, Shugoki and more. In addition to this, Ubisoft has made some balancing changes to Shaman, reducing the damage of Wild Cat’s Rage.
Find the full list of 1.15.1 patch notes below:
Fighter:
Peacekeeper
– Zone attack Cancels recovery time increased by 200ms
Developer Comments: The Peacekeeper Zone attack is one of the fastest attack in the game and the second part could be cancelled instantaneously. It was creating infinite combo with revenge. The decision to add a recovery time is to make the move fairer and prevent the revenge abuse.
– [Bug Fix] Counter Guardbreaking a Peacekeeper Guardbreak was not applying the same Damage Reduction modifier as all other heroes which led to possible abuse in group fights.
Valkyrie
– [Bug Fix] Resolved an issue that would cause the Shoulder Pin to sometimes be blocked in situations where it shouldn’t; especially against Nobushi.
Shugoki
– [Bug Fix] Resolved an issue causing the range of the Demon Embrace to be shorter than expected.
Developer Comments: Bug that the community has identified quickly. We unintentionally changed the range of the Demon Embrace by fixing the multiple issues affecting collisions with this move on the last version. The original range has been restored. The wall splat Demon Embrace is guaranteed again.
Gladiator
– [Bug Fix] Resolved an issue causing the Gladiator to be bumped by his opponent while throwing him against a wall.
Aramusha
– [Bug Fix] Resolved an issue that caused “Ring the Bell” to not be interrupted correctly when the Aramusha is hit while performing it.
Shaman
– Wild Cat’s Rage damage reduced to 20 (from 25).
– Wild Cat’s Swiftness damage reduced to 20 (from 25).
– Wild Cat’s Pounce damage reduced to 20 (from 25).
– Basic Heavy Opener damaged reduced to 27 (from 33).
Developer Comments: Since we removed HP Regen when at Critical HP, it is no longer necessary for the dodge attacks to do 25 damage to kill an opponent.
We reduced her Basic Heavy Openers. Since she uses a variety of moves in real fights, this should reduce her win rate, without impeding her ability to fight.
– Wild Cat’s Rage Hit recoveries increased to 1000ms (from 700ms), and move forward 0.5m more.
– Wild Cat’s Rage Normal Blocked recoveries increased to 800ms (from 700ms).
Developer Comments: The intention is that the Shaman will now be unable to perform this move and then immediately dodge back to do it again – because the opponent can now beat that with a risky Guard Break.
– [Bug Fix] Shaman can no longer switch targets during the running portion of Wild Cat’s Rage, Predator’s Hunger, or Predator’s Mercy. Before, Shaman was able to start running at one target, then whip around and actually attack a different target – this is no longer possible.
What do you think to the latest patch? Are you thankful for Shaman’s nerf? Let us know below.
Welcome to a new feature here on MP1st where we talk about the latest patch and how it affects a game. Note that we won’t do this for every title update for every game, but just for highly anticipated patches that we’re looking forward to since it’s set to add new features, significant gameplay tweaks, and the like.
For the feature’s debut, we’re taking a look at Call of Duty: WWII and its latest update that got rolled out yesterday, November 29, 2017. You can check out the complete list of fixes, here.
New, Noticeable Additions/Tweaks:
Headquarters is now optional – On consoles. players didn’t have a choice when it came to the new Headquarters social space. Like it or not, you were forced to stand around (or glitch around) in (mostly empty) servers. Not anymore. This is a huge change that should be appreciated by those who’d rather play than interact with other players.
BAR nerfed with added recoil – Feels the same, to be honest. If a nerf was needed, maybe the fire rate being toned down would have been a more noticeable difference.
Primed nerfed – This is a baffling move given the global tweak to flinch has not been rolled out yet. In any case, early reports indicate a mixed bag, and is a crutch perk for most. Will need further testing to make sure, That said, global flinch should have been adjusted first before tweaking this at all.
Headquarters got even more broken (no, really!) – While people were alone in HQ, it at least worked as intended. After yesterday’s update, a stuttering issue was reported and confirmed by MP1st. Thankfully, there’s an easy fix, but it’s a fix that didn’t need to exist in the first place.
Division Prestige got borked! – For some reason, Prestiging a Division got broken after the latest update. It got so broken that it made games freeze up. Thankfully, a client-side update has been dispatched earlier today that fixed it.
Still can’t connect to matches – Not sure if it’s just me, but I don’t think it is, but I still have a hard time getting into matches. The fastest one for me to enter is team deathmatch, but usually it takes a few minutes as well. As for Domination, Hard Point, etc., it can take literally 15-20 minutes or sometimes never to get into a match. No clue what’s causing it but it needs to be sorted ASAP.
Overall:
A minor step in the right direction, but I honestly expected more given the litany of issues still plaguing the game. Let’s hope we get a new patch soon to fix some of the technical issues. At this point, almost a month since launch, fans have a right to expect more — especially for things that should be working since day one (HQ, matchmaking, etc.).
Did you notice anything new in the latest COD: WWII update? What needs fixing ASAP? Let us know in the comments below.
Battlefield players, time to suit up! DICE has turned on the Battlefield 1 double XP switch for the game and it’s happening now! This double XP event also applies to Battlefield Hardline, and Battlefield 4 and lasts until December 3!
This double XP weekend is part of the Holiday events DICE has mapped out for today, until end of December. There’s also a new Zodiac Mission (Sagittarius) for Battlefield 1 that will net you a dog tag if you manage to complete 25 squad orders.
Don’t forget to check out the updated Battlepack Revision #63 that got rolled out today as well. For BF1 Premium members, don’t forget that the Turning Tidesexpansion will be available on December 11.
If you’re hopping into Battlefield 1, make sure to PTFO and spot. See you on the battlefield, soldier!
Brawlhalla patch 3.05 improves PS4 client performance and implements new skins for Teros and Ragnir: Ranirsaurus Rex and Gatekeeper Teros.
In addition to this, a new brawl has been unleashed, US-West servers have been relocated to improve performance, and more.
For the patch highlights, see below:
Mallhalla
New skins for Teros and Ragnir!
– Ragnirsaurus Rex – “Clever Boy.”
– Gatekeeper Teros – “A set of skull and bones you don’t want to cross.”
The Ancient Chest has been recovered! It holds 18 skins total including three chest exclusive skins which are:
– White Fang Gnash
– Fangwild Fawn Ember
– Winged Serpent Nai
Brawl of the Week – 3v3!
– Unranked 3v3
– 3v3 Mapset (Large maps)
– 8 minutes, 3 stocks per player.
– Friendly Fire Off.
US-West Servers
We are not happy with the consistency of performance our servers in US-West has been showing us. While the majority of time they were fine and working as expected, they definitely have had experienced periods of low performance. Rather than continuing to work with the data center to try to fix it, our best path forward has been to find a new provider. Please let us know if your experience improves!
– Relocated US-West servers to a new data center aiming to improve performance in the US-W region.
User Interface
– Offline tournament mode brackets hotkey artwork has been updated.
PlayStation Performance
– Improved memory performance on PS4, which fixed some crashes that could occur when running the game for extremely long sessions.
Game Balance
This week’s balance updates are primarily focused on shifting the rewards for a couple overperforming kits for better emphasis on varied move selection. Players should find clearer differences in timing or potential range and setup location from key attacks for the following weapons.
Sword
We have increased the speed bonus the Down Light receives from movement to place its potential range more squarely between that of the Neutral Light and the Side Light when each is performed at maximum speed. This serves to create more separate zones of threat for greater effective move selection when approaching.
– Sword Down Light: Increased bonus speed received from movement, such as a dash.
Blasters
The Blasters have the reward on their longer ranged options on the ground slightly reduced to be more in line with similar options on other kits. Toward this end, the maximum range on the Side Light has been slightly reined in, while also slowing the damage build from the most common combos. The Ground Pound receives a bit more base stun to prevent opponents from being able to retaliate before the user recovers.
– Blasters Side Light: Decreased Damage from 18 to 15; Slightly reduced maximum horizontal range.
– Blasters Down Light: Decreased Damage from 18 to 14.
– Blasters Ground Pound: Increased Stun from 17 to 19.
Bow
We have altered the Bow Down Light as most levels of play had settled into searching for Down Light for the Neutral Light combo. A dodge window has been opened, trading stun for a damage increase to keep the attack on par with other ranged setup tools. We have also softened the angle of knockback for the Side Air and adjusted its force in kind, to push its use case further from the Down Air.
– Bow Down Light: Decreased Stun from 19 to 16; Increased Damage from 12 to 14; Increased Recover time on miss from 4 Fixed/20 Variable to 4 Fixed/22 Variable.
– Bow Side Air: Angle of knockback considerably more horizontal; Force changed from 32 Variable/80 Fixed to 34 Variable/68 Fixed.
Signatures
Several Signature attacks have also been altered, such as Asuri’s Side Sword which has received a base stun increase for stronger hits at white to light yellow damage values. Given the total horizontal coverage and speed of Sentinel’s Down Katars, we have decreased the damage range to be closer to other similar attacks. Jhala’s Side Axe sees a shift in timing, trading some minimum charge time for a faster recover time, resulting in a overall duration for a quicker pace in battle.
– Asuri Side Sword: Increased Stun from 17 to a range of 27~22.
– Sentinel Down Katar: Decreased Damage from a range of 32~28 to a range of 28~24.
– Jhala Side Axe: Increased Minimum Charge time from 14 to 15; Decreased Recover time from 17 to 14.
For the full list of (extensive) patch notes, click here.
What do you think of the latest Brawlhalla patch? Are you looking forward to the new brawl? If so, let us know in the comments.
As part of the Call of Duty: WWII game update rolled out yesterday by Sledgehammer Games, people who did the Prestige glitch got temporary bans to their accounts and their stats reset. Unfortunately, that also included legitimate players as well.
If you’re one of the legit players hit by the temporary ban, check now as Sledgehammer Games has announced that they’ve restored the incorrect bans! Yes, the studio knows it laid down the banhammer wrong in some cases, and have fixed it.
FYI – We’re aware that a recent #CODWWII security enforcement sweep may have resulted in some incorrect bans. For players who haven’t used exploits, we’re working to resolve asap.
UPDATE: Maintenance has been completed and we’ve restored incorrect bans to the last backup before the security sweep yesterday. Thanks for the patience.
Don’t forget, Sledgehammer only fixed it for those incorrectly hit. If you used some sort of glitch to Prestige, then don’t go complaining you’re still banned.
In other Call of Duty: WWII news, if you’re experiencing the Headquarters stuttering issue, we posted a fix for it that’s super easy to do.
AMD has announced the “Adrenalin Edition” version of their Radeon Software. This major driver update is said to improve things “from great to greatness,” though no real specifics have been given.
While there’s little in the way of information on how this new driver update will enhance gamers’ experiences, there is at least a shiny new trailer.
Check out the 1-minute showcase of abstract shapes, which ultimately turn into a Radeon graphics card, below:
We won’t have to wait long to find out what the “Adrenalin Edition” Radeon Software does, as it’s scheduled to release sometime in December 2017.
Are you an AMD graphics card owner looking forward to some improved software features? Or are you a curious Nvidia buyer who wants to know what the competition has up their sleeve? Let us know in the comments below.
While the PlayStation Plus offerings in North America is already known, some gamers might be wondering what games will be free for Asia PS Plus members. Sony recently released a video showcasing the PS Plus December 2017 free games, and as one can expect by now, it’s better than what the people from the West are getting.
The big one is Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank for the PS4, along with Knack. Rounding it out are Dungeon Punks, The Last Blade 2, and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. Check out the trailer below.
Just to put things in comparison, NA PS Plus members will be getting the following games:
Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition
Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends
Syberia Collection PS3
Xblaze Lost: Memories, PS3
Forma.8, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
Wanted Corp, PS Vita
Compare that to Asia PS Plus:
Ratchet & Clank
Knack
Dungeon Punks
The Last Blade 2
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (PSVR required)
As someone who’ve played and finished Ratchet & Clank, it’s definitely a must-play game even if you’re not a platformer fan. There’s a reason it’s averaging a mighty 85 on Metacritic and it’s not due to nostalgia.
The good thing here is, players who are in the US (or any country/region) that wants the Asia PS Plus free games can do so by getting an Asian PS Plus subscription, initiate the download, go back to their main account and carry on. It’ll work like you have a NA PS Plus membership.
Hopefully, NA gamers will get a better deal next month, but given how Asia PS Plus offerings have been better the past few months, I suspect the trend will continue.
This is likely to be an already prepared gameplay trailer, as opposed to live gameplay, but it’s certainly something that PUBG fans will want to tune in and watch.
What are you hoping to see from the first bit of PUBG desert map gameplay? I wouldn’t mind having a look at new weapons, vehicles, outfits, and locations, all crammed into an action-packed sequence!
DICE has released a new Star Wars Battlefront II game update today, and it’s out now on all platforms! On the PlayStation 4, it’s at 860MB and is called 1.04. Thankfully, the entire patch notes list has been released as well.
One of the biggest new tweaks is the end of match MVP screen where it won’t show the same player in all five categories. Here’s what DICE had to say about it:
With this redesign, we will highlight players based on their score instead of specific “honors”. This means that a larger number of players will have the chance to become highlighted in the End of Round MVP screen.
Additionally, players will no longer get an error message when quitting the game. Check out the complete patch notes below that includes a lot of in-game tweaks in terms of Battlepoints earn rate.
Release Notes – Patch 1.03
Reduced the amount of Score and Battle points gained by using the Disruptor Shot mod for the NT-242 when used against vehicles.
Reduced the amount of Score and Battle points gained by using the LAAT Gunship against vehicles.
Reduced the amount of damage the Stinger Pistol ability does against Heroes & Villains.
Boba Fett can no longer capture objectives while hovering high above the objective.
Blocked of some areas on Kamino and Naboo where players could use aerial units to gain an unfair advantage over other players.
Tweaked the spawning positions when playing Strike on Kamino.
Tweaked the combat area on Tatooine when playing Strike.
Tweaked the combat area on Endor when playing Blast.
Tweaked the combat area on Hoth when playing Blast.
Tweaked the spawning positions of Starfighters when playing Galactic Assault on Tatooine.
Tweaked the spawn positions of the AAT when playing Galactic Assault on Kashyyyk.
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Jakku.
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Kashyyyk.
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Endor.
Fixed several collision issues on the Death Star II.
Fixed several UI issues in the spawn screen when playing Heroes vs Villains.
Fixed an issue where the objective markers would not update correctly during Galactic Assault on Endor.
Fixed an issue where some automatic doors would not open when approached by Villains in Heroes vs Villains.
Fixed an issue where texture was missing near the East Gate Control when playing Strike on Yavin IV.
Fixed an issue where the reticule from Lando’s Sharp Shot ability would remain active longer than intended.
Reduced the amount of the damage the NT-242 with the Disruptor Shot mod does against the AT-ST.
Fixed an issue where the Scan Dart ability would not work correctly when used on doors.
Players will no longer be able to start a round if the pre-round requirements are not met.
Fixed an issue where the HUD would indicate that friendly forces are taking damage when being hit with by the Ion Charge ability on the AT-RT.
The Heavy Trooper’s Impact Grenade ability VFX now works as intended.
The DLT-20A Targeting Rifle VFX now works as intended.
The Pulse Cannon ability VFX now works as intended.
Fixed several issues with the End of Round screen where tall characters would not fit in the screen.
Fixed an issue where the players could not Zoom after switching weapons from an overheated TL50.
Fixed several clipping issues that occurred during the campaign.
Fixed an issue where Iden’s Star Cards will display their multiplayer stats during the Campaign.
Fixed several animation issues for Heroes and Villains.
Fixed several texture issues in Arcade mode.
Fixed several collision issues in Arcade mode.
DICE mentions that the studio is looking into balance changes for Heroes vs. Villains mode in the next title update. Hopefully, they also touch upon the gameplay issues we listed in our list of changes we want to see ASAP.
It’s another week, that means another Battlefield 1 Battlepack Revision has made its way into the game. For this week, the Battlefield 1 Revision 63 Battlepack (Suez) contents can be seen below. You can decide then if you want to use your Scraps or save them for Battlepacks that you deem are better.
There’s a good possibility that this week’s Battlepack Revision won’t last the entire week given the Holiday events DICE has lined up for Battlefield 1 for this December. Also of note, this December will see the release of the Turning Tides expansion for Battlefield 1 Premium members, too.
