Patch 2.5 introduces crossplay and improvements to certain features that were introduced in our previous Lab phase including Team Deathmatch and Arcadium. As we explained recently, we are now in the Hyper Scape Lab phase of the Season 2, and we are going to let our players experience certain features while they are still in beta, to gather feedback from our community.
NEW FEATURES
CROSSPLAY (SOFT LAUNCH)
Patch 2.5 finally introduces the long-awaited crossplay feature! Crossplay will enable you to play online with friends and players over different gaming systems.
For this first iteration we will offer full crossplay between consoles, and by-invite for PC. On console, if crossplay is enabled you will be able to play freely together between Xbox and PlayStation. PC players will also be able to invite their friends on console and play with them directly, however their party will be matched into the PC queue.
Crossplay additions: - Added crossplay option in Settings -> Account, set to ON by default - Can be disabled in-game on PS4 - Can be disabled in system settings on Xbox (Xbox Live Privacy Policy) - Cannot be disabled on PC
- Added crossplay option to initial flow for new players
- Added new Social menu
- “Friends List” displays all friends from Ubisoft Connect and your current platform
- Allows you to invite friends from any platform to play together
- Shows pending Game Invites from friends
- “Block List” displays players you have blocked all communications from
- “Recent Players” list shows all players from your current and previous match
- New contextual player options added in Squad Menu and Social menu
- The following options were added: Add Friend, Invite to Game, View Platform Profile and Block Player
- Player Platform icons are now shown next to Contender names to help identify who is on your platform, any console, or PC for matchmaking
- Xbox players will be able to see who has an Xbox account linked to their Ubisoft Connect account, and view their Xbox Live profile
*Important: PC joining the full crossplay pool will be coming later, once an acceptable gameplay balance solution is found. This is the first step in our effort to decrease lobby waiting time and improve the number of players in matches. Stay tuned for more official communications on future crossplay news! *
WINTER FESTIVAL
Winter is coming to Neo Arcadia in December! Between December 15-29, you will be able to enjoy the Winter Festival event, the snowy Neo Arcadia, its magical outfits and items in the Shop.
Don’t miss out on exclusive cosmetic items and bundles, which will only be made available during this event. For more details, check out the Marketplace from the Hyper Scape HUB.
GAME MODES
TEAM DEATHMATCH IMPROVEMENTS
Major additions: - Victory Condition were updated to give players more time to compete: - Score: First team to reach 50 points (previously 40 points) - Timer: Team with the highest score after 12 minutes (previously 10 minutes) - Random Map support added: - Every match will now randomly pick 1 of the 3 maps (Foundry, Hillside or Bus Depot). New maps are planned to be added to this pool in the future. - Challenges are now enabled and will progress when playing the game mode. - Interactions with Twitch Crowncast are now fully supported.
TDM Improvements and bug fixes:
- Polished Respawn Phase:
- The Scoreboard is now shown immediately on death.
- A sound is now heard when respawning.
- Polished Game Mode UI:
- Teams & score display has been improved to make victory conditions more readable.
- The match info now shows the number of players in the match rather than the number of squads.
- Polished Scoreboard:
- Updated the visuals.
- Added a "Deaths" stat with a new icon.
- The World Map has been removed entirely. You will now be able to see the match through the Scoreboard.
- Polished End of Match flow:
- Winners and losers now see their appropriate crowning ceremony.
- Holograms now show the player with the most eliminations in a match.
- Ultimate Grace will now announce the match intro and start.
- In Twitch Crowncast, unused stats have been hidden.
- Fixed an issue where players could keep fused weapons from the warmup phase if they dropped them before the start of the match.
- Fixed a bug where matches would not end properly if one team quits.
- The remaining team now wins.
- Fixed a bug where if you died with a melee weapon you would respawn with weapons in a strange state.
- Fixed an issue where the Scoreboard did not remove players who have left the lobby.
- Fixed an issue where Scoreboard was showing incorrect stats.
- Fixed an issue where team member voice chat could be heard by other team members that were not in the same squad even when all squad members were muted.
- Fixed an issue where players that were not in the same squad could be seen during the Crowning Ceremony screen instead of squad mates.
- Fixed an issue where players with the Squad Filler option set to Off could still have other players added to their squad.
- Fixed an issue where the Victory bark was playing for the losing team during the Crowning Ceremony.
ARCADIUM IMPROVEMENTS
As previously mentioned in our previous 2.3 patch note, we’re hard at work on important improvements for the mode, some of them based on your feedback. This time we’re adding “Navigation Pick-Ups” all around Neo Arcadia to help you practice your navigational skills, with or without hacks. Some of them are easier to obtain than others so see if you can reach them all!
Item pick-ups have no effect, this is for training purpose.
Item pick-ups have been placed at the following locations:
- Outside of the Throne Hall (Easy)
- North West of the M.O.N.A. Landmark (Easy)
- North T-LOOP Building (Medium)
- The Line (Hard)
As a reminder, to access Arcadium you can go to the Play portal's Train tab. To exit, simply open the menu and quit to the Hyper Scape HUB.
SYSTEMS
IMPROVED MAMMOTH FEEDBACK
We’ve added feedback under the Mammoth Mark I reticle to show how many pellets have hit the target. The reticle will now display Normal hits in white and Critical hits in red.
IMPROVED HEALTH BAR
The enemy health bar has been reworked to make it more readable during combat: - Better & faster health loss animation when hitting a target. - Removed the health chunk divisions to make the bar easier to read. - New color.
IMPROVED COMBAT AUDIO FEEDBACK
A series of audio improvements have been made to the core combat feedback: - Improved Critical hit sound. - Improved Normal hit sound. - Improved player & team elimination confirmation sounds.
IMPROVED SQUADMATE VISIBILITY
To make squadmates easier to spot we’ve added a color filling that matches the color of their squad widget and outline: • The color filling will appear when a squadmate is 20m away from you and will then gradually increase as the squadmate gets further. • This filling, like the outline, is not occluded and thus helps to identify your allies’ current position, even if you are separated by several buildings.
IMPROVED MARKETPLACE LAYOUT
The Marketplace’s visual layout was improved to simplify navigation in a single tab and have quick access to all offers. Players will see everything listed below in one single tab: - Daily Gift - Daily Offers - Weekly offers - Battle Pass offers - Currency offers
NEW CURVE SETTINGS SUB-MENU
We’ve regrouped advanced controller curve settings inside a new sub-menu to simplify the settings menu and prevent manipulation errors. The following settings will be found in that sub-menu: - Extra Speed (Horizontal / Vertical) - Extra Speed Delay - Extra Speed Time - Controller Dead Zones - Controller Outer Threshold - Aim Assist
QUALITY-OF-LIFE
IMPROVED STARTER PACK VISIBILITY
- We’ve added a specific screen in the Hyper Scape HUB to improve the visibility of the Starter Pack.
- You will now be able to see and explore in the 3D preview the items that you may own if you purchase the pack.
DAILY GIFT END OF MATCH NOTIFICATION
- At the end of a match, if a player hasn’t redeemed their Daily Gift yet, a notification will now be shown to remind players to go back to the Marketplace and claim the gift.
BUNDLE IMPROVEMENTS
- Added the “Equip” button after purchasing a bundle. You will now be able to equip the items of a bundle directly after purchase.
BUG FIXES
GAME MODES
- In Arcadium, fixed an issue where eliminating a drone did not show the drone’s name in the kill feed.
- Refer to the Team Deathmatch section above for numerous fixes in that mode.
WEAPONS
- Fixed an issue where holding the shoot button with the Skybreaker would prevent the player from reloading the weapon or shooting again.
SYSTEMS
- Fixed an issue where some in-game news would be duplicated for players who play Hyper Scape on multiple platforms.
- For controllers, fixed an issue where turning the Auto-sprint setting on and moving to the front left or right would cause the screen and the character’s hands to shake violently.
- For controllers, fixed an issue where turning to the left would make the character turn a lot slower than they do if they turn to the right.
- On PC, fixed an issue where the game’s interface would display abnormally after a player clicked the “Find Another Match” option and switched to another screen while waiting in the Lobby.
- On PC, fixed an issue where switching from Full screen mode with a non native resolution to Borderless mode would cause massive FPS drops.
CROWNCAST
- Fixed an issue where the Leaderboard did not show the elimination leader while watching a Team Deathmatch match.
GENERAL
- Fixed multiple crashes and improved the general stability of the game.
- Fixed several text and localization issues.