The Public Test Server (PTS) will be taken offline on Friday, February 14 at 3:00 PM PST (11:00 PM GMT) to bring you the newest Escalation Test update.
Thank you everyone for helping us test the upcoming Escalation game update on PTS! We're continuing to gather community feedback, make improvements and fixes, and add additional polish to each major feature, which should be reflected in the large update we're pushing today to the the Test Server. Today's patch should have most of the major structures in place, including an accelerated Outfit Wars loop that will allow players to freely participate in tournaments on PTS.
Read on for full patch notes:
OUTFIT WARS
Outfit Wars is now available for public testing! As shown on our recent livestreams, Outfits will be able to participate in a special competitive event that pits top-scoring Outfits against one another (read here for an Outfit Wars breakdown). On the Public Test Server, players will need to create new Outfits (or join ones that already exist there) in order to participate. Only Outfit members that qualify and place in the brackets will be eligible to join the War.
Outfit Wars matches have now been enabled on a recurring schedule. There will be two Outfit Wars that take place each day (EU and NA primetime), starting tomorrow, Saturday February 15, and running through Tuesday, February 18. They will follow the schedule below:
First Outfit War:
- Opt-In Phase Begins: 8:00 AM PST / 4:00 PM GMT
- Outfits must opt-in during this phase by using the Outfit Wars tab.
- Qualify Phase Begins: 11:00 AM PST / 7:00 PM GMT
- At least one base must be captured in order to earn points during the Qualify phase.
- Preparation Phase Begins: 11:30 AM PST / 7:30 PM GMT
- This phase is meant to allow players to let their Outfits know that they've successfully qualified for a match.
- War Phase Begins: 12:00 PM PST / 8:00 PM GMT
- When this phase is active, Desolation will be unlocked, and the game mode will go through its routine.
Second Outfit War:
- Opt-In Phase Begins: 3:00 PM PST / 11:00 PM GMT
- Outfits must opt-in during this phase by using the Outfit Wars tab.
- Qualify Phase Begins: 6:00 PM PST / 2:00 AM GMT
- At least one base must be captured in order to earn points during the Qualify phase.
- Preparation Phase Begins: 6:30 PM PST / 2:30 AM GMT
- This phase is meant to allow players to let their Outfits know that they've successfully qualified for a match.
- War Phase Begins: 7:00 PM PST / 3:00 AM GMT
- When this phase is active, Desolation will be unlocked, and the game mode will go through its routine.
Outfit Wars Scoring has been adjusted as well.
- Facilities and Large Outposts are now worth 15 points on capture, and 6 points per 5-minute tick.
- Small Outposts and Construction bases are now worth 5 points on capture, and 2 points per 5-minute tick.
SANCTUARY
- The "Nascent Expeditions Representative" in the center shop will now allow you to "trade" resources with her. While on Test Server, resources will not be deducted at this vendor, so if you need more Outfit resources for crafting, you can gain them from her.
- From the "Outfit Vendor" in the right shop, players can purchase a consumable / deployable flash that is equippable in the Utility Slot (for now.) The "Flash XS-1" is available for Merit, and must be restocked on-board Sanctuary when you've run out.
- Collision with enemy players has been removed in this zone.
- We've made numerous geometry fixes, and have added ways to get out of some of the pits players could get stuck in, like the one near the Atrium window.
- The patrolling Bastion beyond the Atrium window has modified visuals (no contrails, more docile engines,) and the audio has been removed.
- Shop icons have been added to the Sanctuary minimap.
- The "Expedition Coordinator" in the center shop will now be more responsive based on the state of your expeditions being crafted/finished in the Outfit armory.
- Updated visuals of Equipment Terminals.
- An initial blockout (a blockout is a rough form with very little detail) of the external structure that orbits Sanctuary's hub will now be visible from the various windows aboard Sanctuary.
RESOURCE GAIN IN THE WORLD
- Capturing Small Outposts now grants 5 Auraxium to any participating Outfit.
- Capturing Large Outposts and Facilities now grants 25 Auraxium to any participating Outfit.
- Owning bases with your Outfit still provides the tick rates shown on the map. Ticks occur every 5 minutes.
DESOLATION
- Various terrain and cover adjustments have been made. This zone is still very much a work in progress.
- Vehicle and Air pads have had their visuals converted to Construction-style structures, and we've reduced the number available to two of each.
- Currently, each pad has its own Cortium supply with which to pull vehicles from, but in later updates we'll be adding a main Silo structure which fuels all pads, similar to the normal construction system.
- Nanite recovery in this zone is still broken, and will be fixed in a later update.
- This zone no longer appears unlocked when it is unavailable.
- Relic H is now properly connected to the Warpgates.
BASTION FLEET CARRIER
- Bastion no longer moves or fires without active waypoints, and waypoints will be removed when the Captain exits the Captain's seat.
- Bastions now require four separate War Asset components to be crafted before the Bastion itself.
- Captains no longer receive grief points when allies are damaged by running into the vehicle.
- Interacting with the Bastion preview model in the terminal no longer causes framerate drops.
- Bastion map icon no longer detaches itself from the player's map indicator.
- Players can now redeploy into a Bastion despite leaving and re-entering the zone.
- NSO characters can no longer deploy into Bastions belonging to other players.
WAR ASSETS AND OUTFIT PAGE
- Six more Expedition types have been added to the War Asset menu. In the future, only one Expedition will be active at a time.
- A.N.V.I.L. no longer floats above the ground for some players.
- A.N.V.I.L. now reserves its landing area, preventing players and vehicles from clipping into them before it lands.
- A.N.V.I.L. waypoints will now reject placement if they are placed too close to a vehicle or player.
- Citadel Shield no longer enters a state where its bubble can stay up indefinitely.
- Outfit Name has been added to the Home screen.
- Improved the UI feedback for buttons in this screen. It should now be more obvious why something can or can't be crafted.
- Steel Rain no longer pulls players out of vehicles.
MISCELLANEOUS
- Optimized the HUD health elements to reduce framerate spikes.
- Fixed an issue causing players to be unable to Warp to other continents through the map screen.
- A7 currency no longer resets when the player logs out.
- Cycling through weapons in Sanctuary no longer causes audio spam.
- Cortium icon is no longer missing from the Construction terminal.
KNOWN ISSUES
- A minimum of three Outfits are required to qualify for a full match in the War Phase. Get organized!
- If a spawned Flash XS-1 is despawned (via the owner re-deploying), if a player is in the rumble seat they will become unable to move.
- There are some visibility issues in some of the interior structures (Command Centers) in the Desolation map. As a result, terrain geometry will disappear when inside them.
