[2019] Mar. 15, 2019 - PTS Update

Character Select Screen

• We've improved the character select and character create screens to elements to bring in more of the in-game UI flavor, while still revitalizing the look.
• These screens continue to be a work in progress as we polish it for Live.

Continent Stages

• Unstable Warpgates now operate in 3 tiers: unstable single-lane (as is on Live,) unstable double lane (which adds an additional lane along the edge of the map,) and stabilized.
• Unstable Warpgates will now check once every 2 minutes for populations on a continent once it's unlocked, and update the stability tier based on current population. (This can also skip tiers and completely unlock the continent at the 2 minute mark if enough players flood onto a new continent at once.) In addition, Unstable Warpgates stabilize over time in stages, if they have been unstable for too long.
• Unstable Warpgates no longer rely on the alert system, and instead immediately stabilize the continent up to the appropriate level.
• (Populations are tracking incorrectly on PTS at the moment, this will be addressed in a later update.)

Empire Carbines

• VE-C Horizon, MGR-C1 Charger, and MG-C1 Kindred have all received new audio.
• Made adjustments to attachments selections, and realigned certain optics.
• Fixed animations related to the Horizon.

Vehicles Prowler Rampart Defense Mesh (Defensive Slot)

• Added new defensive slot item that, while deployed, generates a shield layer on the Prowler that increases its effective health.
• This shield has downtime when fully depleted, and regeneration is paused for a brief period whenever damage is taken.
• If the Prowler undeploys, the shield is immediately removed, and redeploying will require the shield to regenerate from zero again.
• Each rank of this cert line will increase the regeneration rate per second of the shield layer.

Dev Note: In an effort to increase diversity of playstyles and further emphasize faction flavor, we've added a new defensive slot item that empowers the long-range, artillery characteristics of the Prowler. Magrider Magburner (Utility Slot)

• Rank 1 Magburner has been integrated by default, and Magburner's skill line has become a passive part of the vehicle instead of living in the utility slot.
• Added an additional rank to the Magburner skill line.
• Moved the cost of each tier up a rank, as the first tier is now free. Costs remain the same overall.
• Adjusted the regeneration rates of Magburner for better scaling at lower cost ranges.
• Fuel tank recharge to full from 35/30/25/20 to 35(default)/28/25/22/20

Dev Note: The Magburner ability has always felt important to the Magrider's overall feel, and with recent changes to how other vehicles perform, we felt like now was a good time to integrate this ability while taking some time to refine the cert line associated with it. This does leave the Magrider without a new empire specific ability, but we'll be posting ability candidates on PTS in later releases. Multi-directional Exhaust (Defensive Slot)

• Added new "Multi-directional Exhaust" defensive slot item that further reduces the time to recharge Magburner, and allows for limited horizontal strafe capabilities while Magburner is active.

Dev Note: As with the Prowler's new Rampart Defense Mesh, we wanted to add a faction flavored defensive slot that has a noteworthy change to gameplay, and can compete with other available defensive options. Misc. Bug fixes, changes, and additions.

• Fixed an issue where damage to a vehicle you previously owned, after pulling a new vehicle, would add grief points to your character.
• The first time a character loads into a zone after logging in, they should be resupplied. This fixes a handful of first-load issues indirectly.
• Made some performance improvements by touching some very fundamental parts of the codebase, please let us know if you see anything out of the ordinary. (Not related to DX11, though that should make its way to test in the coming days.)