[2021] Weekly Feedback & Discussion: 3/30-4/5

Hey all!

As always, we'd love to hear what you've got on your mind. Please let us know any feedback, suggestions, critiques and anything else that comes to mind. Let us know your thoughts below!
Lots of notes this week, read 'em below:

• Hit a bit of a snag with how we're doing a new party list/friends list, but we'll probably implement this in the patch after this one, as we're not trying to hold things up any longer.
• SDK is awaiting verification from Epic, but there isn't really anything left for this. We're also looking into mod compatibility and there could be some issues with existing mods, which we're investigating. As for the SDK itself, we do have the ability to launch the SDK independently of the patch, so if necessary the update can come and then the SDK when it's cleared to be released.
• Development wise we're looking at testing as the main focus now, and we'll be doing a content hold to get things sorted out quickly.
• Side note, this patch isn't going to be content-heavy - mostly tech fixes and improvements, as well as some balance.
• A little bit of talk about 2XP/Gold events - we've separated gold/xp gain so we can alter the multiplier without having to update. :)) We're planning quite a few events in the future!
• Level optimizations for Grad- Castello, and other maps will also receive the same treatment. We started this a bit later on in the update cycle so we're going to hold until the patch after this one, we don't want to break anything and have to delay an update. These optimizations take weeks for a single map, but preliminary testing shows a big reduction in draw calls, which are the things that makes your GPU cry :) We'll need to test this, so it won't be coming yet.
• Audio work on catapults, weapon draw, and misc. sounds and attenuation settings are being worked on.
• Optimization work on textures, etc. affecting characters which are planned for the future.
• New animations have been done for polearms, which are planned for the future. Crushed is implementing them on characters and making sure the blending, misc. cosmetic things on them are good to go. These are going to come in the future, as attack animations are a massive gameplay change and we want to make sure they are as good as possible.
• We've fixed the server join/leave spam when a banned person attempts to join.
• Misc. backend fixes.
• Lots of good work on Noria, tweaking the color grading and some long-distance, background assets. (Noria is the big desert map we showed off)
• 3D work on level assets, the small castle wall details on Castello were very resource-hungry, which are being. This is planned for a future build.
• Update on me, I'm up to date on everything and I'm focusing on improving things on the moderation side. Expect to see some more in-game admins and moderators around on our different platforms!
• Development on other maps that are yet to be announced ;)
• UI, armory rework: some icon implementation and perk display changes.
• Some mockups and potential changes for armory customization, to get rid of the endless lists we currently have. It should end up prettier and more useful in the future!
• Refactoring siege engine code, so this might make things work a bit better with 'vehicles'. This is a work in progress.
• Other misc. tweaks and fixes.
  

Thanks for reading, you can catch last week's thread here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mordhau/comments/mbxyjw/weekly_feedback_discussion_323329/