Deployment 10 - Patch Notes - Tabula Rasa

9 Months Veteran rewards

• Emote /taichi
  
• Headlamp
  
• Pet - Lumin (Purple)
  
• Title - "The Shadow"
  
• XP Booster

• Palisades: Eloh Temples - The mission requirements to enter Eloh Temples
  have changed. Players wishing to enter Eloh Temples should speak with Warden
  Brocail and complete the mission 'A Spiritual Pilgrimage'. You will then be
  expected to complete the temples in order of Raging, Proud, Bowed,
  Protector.
  
• Palisades: Eloh Temples - The mission chains for Proving Commitment,
  Proving Justice, and Proving Conservation are no longer required to enter
  the Eloh Temples. These missions are still available for players.
  
• Plateau: Velon Hollow - This instance is now open for players to
  experience, along with the new missions Village of the Damned, Ancient
  Mysteries, Deadly Silence, These Old Bones, Mountain Spring Toxins, Holy
  Vengeance, and The Better Half. These missions can be obtained at New Velon
  Village and Wedge Rock Outpost.
  
• Boot Camp - Tutorial text now properly instructs player to press
  "T" to talk to NPCs instead of "F."
  
• Boot Camp - Final mission "Deployment" now has an objective
  indicator to lead player to the dropship pad that transports them to
  Wilderness.

• Reflective and Stealth armor optimization is complete. In the process of
  optimizing textures and meshes on these sets the art team has added minor
  refinements to the female versions to enhance their beauty.
  
• Two new Incendiary shotgun types have been added:
  
• Double-barrel shotguns appear at Level 23. These fire more slowly than
  standard shotguns, consume twice the ammo, and gain heat faster, but do more
  damage.
  
• Tri-barrel shotguns appear at Level 34. These fire more slowly, consume
  triple the ammo, and gain heat faster than standard shotguns, but do more
  damage in a wider arc.

• Some abilities were not correctly receiving a damage bonus based off the
  caster's Mind attribute. This has been corrected and the complete list of
  abilities that receive a corrective damage bonus are:
  
  
  
  • Lightning
    
  • Shrapnel
    
  • Fire Support
    
  • Ruin
    
  • Rushing Blow
    
  • Force Blast
    
  • Vortex
    
  • Concussive Wave
    
  • Scatter bombs
    
  • Tectonic Strike
    
  • Explosive Wave
    
  • Corpse Explosion
    
  • Feedback
    
  • Scourge
    
  • Self Destruct
    
  • Explosive Nanites
    
  • Controlled Fission
    
  • Reconstruction (Ranks 1-4)
  
  
  
  
• The following pets still receive a damage increase based off their
  master's Mind attribute. This is not a change, but stating what is already
  in the game and was communicated in a previous deployment.
  
  
  
  • Reanimation
    
  • Reanimation Wave
    
  • Clone
    
  • Trap
    
  • Turret
    
  • Bot Construction
    
  • Spotter
    
  • Reality Ripper
    
  • Crab mine
  
  
  
  
• All ranks of the Engineer ability Trap now have the same casting time.
  
• Renamed Force Blast Pump III from "Force Blast: Electromagnetic"
  to "Force Blast: EMP"
  
• The Guardian ability Vortex will now do Electrical damage
  
• The following creatures have had their VFX optimized for performance.
  
  
  
  • Bane Hunters
    
  • Bane Howlers
    
  • Bane Shield Drones
    
  • AFS Mech
    
  • Bane Stalkers
    
  • Bane Amoeboids
    
  • All versions of the Bane Caretaker; this includes the Regular,
    Holographic, and Polymorph version.
    
  • All versions of the Bane Technician; this includes the Regular,
    Holographic, and Polymorph version.
    
  • All version of the Bane Kael; this includes the Regular, Armored, and
    Polymorph version.
  
  
  
  
• All ability tool tips have been changed and will no longer have adjectives
  to describe the amount of damage or healing done. In the process many tool
  tips have been cleaned up to make them easier to read and understand, but
  not all tool tips have been reformatted. This reformatting will be complete
  with the next patch.
  
• 4 bosses previously were not dropping any junk loot or credits, only rare
  loot. This has been corrected.
  
  
  
  • Strider Master Thorq
    
  • Creeling
    
  • Stalker Overlord
    
  • and the Holographic Forean Elder inside Sanctus Grotto.
  
  
  
  
• Upper face items, like sunglasses, can once again be dyed using armor
  paint.
  
• The wind up on the Staff's ranged attack has been removed to fix certain
  bugs. This has increased the ranged attack speed of the Staff by more then
  150% so the damage has been reduced to compensate for this. The average
  Damage Per Second of the weapon remains the same though.
  
• The VFX for Feedback Rank 5 have been reduced when used against another
  player.
  
• The Critical Hit icons for every damage type have been changed to match
  the icons used in the Player's Attribute tab.
  
• A debuff Icon has been added for the Engineer ability Feedback.

• The following abilities can now be cast while the player is moving.
  
  
  
  • Rage
    
  • Bio Augmentation
    
  • Shield Extender
    
  • Lighting
    
  • Cure
    
  • Reconstruction
    
  • Scourge
    
  • Controlled Fission
    
  • Explosive Nanites
    
  • Feedback
    
  • Sacrifice
    
  • Reflection
    
  • Disease
    
  • Resistance
    
  • Viral Conversion
    
  • Tactical Evasion
    
  • Hack
    
  • Shredder Ammo
    
  • Polarity Field
  
  
  
  
• The following abilities have been altered and now have a longer duration.
  Because of this each ability's Micromech costs have been adjusted to reflect
  the longer duration.
  
  
  
  • Bio Augmentation
    
  • Bot Construction
    
  • Create Clone
    
  • Spotter
  
  
  
  
• The following abilities have had their casting times decreased.
  
  
  
  • Viral Conversion
    
  • Tactical Evasion
    
  • Hack
    
  • Polarity Field
  
  
  
  
• Ranks 2 and 5 of Cure have had their radius increased to 20 meters.
  
• The bead time on all Rocket Launchers has been reduced.
  
• The following abilities have been altered to use the Skill Proficiency
  System. The Skill Proficiency System is not new and players have already
  seen this with other abilities like Polarity Field and Spotter. Skill
  Proficiency is simply that as a player places more skill points into an
  ability every rank of the ability is improved. For example, with Polarity
  Field every time you place more skill points into the ability the debuff
  amount is increased for every rank.
  
  
  
  • Scatterbombs - the radius is increased for every rank as players place
    more skill points into the ability
    
  • Crab Mines - the amount of damage for every rank is increased as
    players place more skill points into the ability
    
  • Force Blast - the amount of damage for every rank is increased as
    players place more skill points into the ability
    
  • Explosive Nanites
    
    
    
    • This skill was altered to offer the Demolitionist more damage
      types and to take advantage of the Skill Proficiency system. Each
      rank will now offer a different damage type and the number of
      explosions will increase for every rank as players place more skill
      points into the ability.
      
    • Rank 1 - Sonic
      
    • Rank 2 - Laser
      
    • Rank 3 - Fire
      
    • Rank 4 - EMP
      
    • Rank 5 - Virulent
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  
• Torqueshell Rifles will now have an increased chance to hit their target
  when the Sniper has a full bead.
  
• Certain bosses on mid to high level maps now have the chance to drop an
  enhanced incendiary shotgun.
  
• The following Exobiologist abilities will now work in PvP combat on enemy
  corpses. These abilities will work in Squad and Clan PvP, but not duels.
  
  
  
  • Reanimation & Reanimation Wave - These two abilities will now
    create a clone of the enemy player and force the enemy to revive at the
    nearest hospital.
    
  • Cadaver Immolation - Like the PvE version this will cause the corpse
    to explode creating a large AOE explosion. Like in PvE combat there is a
    slight delay after the Exobiologist casts the ability and the explosion,
    but if the enemy player chooses to go to a hospital this will trigger
    the explosion early. Healing abilities though can cancel the explosion
    and resuscitate the effected player.
    
  • Hortimonculus - this ability will now convert an enemy player's
    corpse.
  
  
  
  

• Death Penalty Changes
  
  
  
  • Reduced the amount of time rez trauma is active. It is now active for
    only 2 minutes, 4 minutes and 6 minutes respectively. (It was active for
    5, 10 and 15 minutes before.) 6 minutes is the largest amount of rez
    trauma time penalty, now. (The stat penalty stays the same at 20% per
    level of rez trauma with 60% being the largest penalty possible.)
  
  
  
  
• Also, the reuse timer on rez trauma kits has been reduced to 60 seconds to
  aid in even faster removal of any rez trauma.
  
• Clan Lockboxes
  
  
  
  • Clan lockboxes are now available in the game.
    
  • These lockboxes are only intractable if you are in a clan.
    
  • Clan lockboxes can be found in all persistent maps in towns designated
    as safety zones.
    
  • You can typically find them in front of barracks when one is present.
    If a barrack is not present, they can be found near player foot lockers
    in the town.
    
  • The lockboxes allow clans to:
    
    
    
    • Deposit and withdraw items
      
    • Deposit and withdraw credits
      
    • Deposit personal prestige which will permanently be stored as the
      clan's collective prestige. Prestige *cannot* be withdrawn once
      deposited.
    
    
    
    
  • Access rights for the lockbox are based on clan ranks:
    
    
    
    • Clan leaders and officers have full deposit/withdrawal rights.
      
    • All other ranks may only deposit into the lockbox.
      
    • A transaction log is available on the lockbox that shows the last
      100 transactions that have occurred.
      
    • A filter is available to limit displayed transactions to a
      specified keyword (such as a player name)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  
• Logout Timer
  
  
  
  • A logout timer has been implemented to prevent players from logging
    out to avoid death.
    
  • When logging out, you must wait for 10 seconds to elapse before your
    character can successfully log out of the world.
    
  • When quitting the game, you must wait for the 10 seconds to elapse,
    however, you may choose to quit immediately. Your character will still
    remain in the world until the 10 seconds have elapsed.
  
  
  
  
• Grey Market Vendors
  
  
  
  • Be on the lookout for Grey Market Vendors! Reports have been coming
    from combatants that a select few vendors are now selling Grey Market
    items. Intel indicates that these vendors are staying under the radar by
    selling their goods in hidden locations on the following maps:
    
    
    
    • Divide
      
    • Palisades
      
    • Plains
      
    • Incline
      
    • Mires
      
    • Plateau
      
    • Pools
      
    • Marshes
      
    • Crucible
      
    • Ashen Desert
      
    • Thunderhead
      
    • Abyss
      
    • Descent
      
    • Howling Maw
    
    
    
    
  • Grey Market Vendors offer high quality Armor and Weapons that can be
    purchased using Prestige Points.
    
  • Be sure to check these vendors often. They are known to frequently
    resupply their available goods, randomizing the high quality equipment
    that can be purchased from them.
  
  
  
  

• Looking for Squad - By typing /lfs or using the radial menu you can now
  bring up options for creating or searching ads. You can either press the
  generic button which will do all the work for you, or open up the advanced
  options to enter the specific criteria of the group you would like to be a
  part of. Once you match with ads like yours via the search option, you can
  right click to bring down a menu to whisper, join or invite that group
  leader in order to merge your squads. If you wish to see in depth details
  about that squad and their ad, just left click the person to get more
  details.
  
• Changed several icons in the overland map to make them more visible and
  better reflect what it is representing.

• Light triaging code (used with non-deferred lighting only) was optimized
  and now uses around 66% less CPU than before. This helps increase
  performance in "Low" and "Normal" modes.
  
• Terrain rendering code was optimized and now uses around 80% less CPU than
  before, and GPU performance has been optimized as well. Terrain rendering is
  now faster all the way around, increasing performance across the board. This
  does not affect the possible stall that single-core machines may see when
  terrain updates — that is a separate issue and discussed below.
  
• Terrain tessellation code was optimized and is now over twice as fast.
  This is the code that runs in a background thread and re-tessellates the
  terrain geometry approximately every 20m that the camera moves. It is the
  code that can cause a stall or hitch on single-core machines every few
  seconds while running around; this optimization helps minimize this stall on
  single-core machines. If you are still seeing a stall when terrain updates,
  go into Custom mode and set terrain quality to the minimum setting; this
  should drastically reduce or eliminate most stalls seen due to terrain
  updating. If you still experience a stall every time the terrain updates,
  start bringing in the view distance as well until it goes away. We will
  continue to optimize this as necessary to make single-core performance
  smoother.
  
• The "bubble" system mentioned on the website is now online —
  see "Partial Map Loading". This system reduces system memory and
  video memory usage of the client.
  
• Added "Client.Audio.UpdatePeriodMilliseconds" parameter to the
  client.cfg file. This lets users override the default time (in milliseconds)
  between updating positional audio sound data. The default value provides a
  good balance between CPU utilization and audio accuracy. Lowering the value
  of this parameter will utilize more CPU but give smoother updating of
  positional audio sounds.
  
• Updated the notes section within the client.cfg file to give more
  information regarding the file and how to use it.
  
• Clean-up and modifications made to the Options screen in the Video tab.
  
• Added a new section labeled "Performance". Some new options are
  here and some existing options were moved here.
  
• View distance can now be modified in any mode (not just while in
  "Custom" mode)
  
• Added new option for "Preload Map Geometry" (see partial map
  loading).
  
• Partial Map Loading: Implemented partial map loading on client to save
  system and video memory. Instead of loading entire map into memory, only the
  area around camera is loaded.
  
  
  
  • Map geometry is loaded and unloaded on demand based on camera
    location.
    
  • Map loads faster; however, increased loading may be noticed when
    teleporting because client forces a synchronous load of geometry in the
    immediate area of the new location.
    
  • If desired, new system can be disabled so the entire map is loaded
    into memory as before (increases system and video memory usage, but will
    reduce geometry loading while playing). In the Options screen, in the
    Video tab, there is a check box labeled "Preload Map
    Geometry". By default, this check box is not enabled, resulting in
    the new system being active. Checking this box will revert to the
    previous behavior and load the entire map up front during the map load
    screen.
  
  
  
  
• Changes to Auto-Configure: More systems will auto-configure lower than
  before, prioritizing performance over visuals. Mostly systems that
  auto-configured "Video Quality" to High or Very High will now go
  to Normal.
  
• Changes to video settings within the predefined modes to optimize
  performance:
  
  
  
  • Low - No Changes
    
  • Normal - Terrain Quality is set to lowest value (improvement for
    single core machines)
    
  • High - Terrain Quality is set to lowest value (improvement for single
    core machines)
    
  • Very High - Terrain Quality is set to 50%, and software anti-aliasing
    is disabled (Note: Hardware AA is not compatible with rendering engine)
    
  • Ultra - Software anti-aliasing is disabled (Note: Hardware AA is not
    compatible with rendering engine)
    
  • Maximum - No changes
  
  
  
  

• There are several Bane weapon attacks that appear to pass through Force
  Fields and Walls, such as the Caretaker ranged attack or the Thrax pistol
  soldier's bullet. Players often experience this at a Control Point where
  they will attack from the outside, and then quickly run behind the force
  field. These attacks do not actually pass through walls. What is occurring
  is that the server calculates the damage the instant the enemy fires but the
  VFX are slow and don't "hit" the player until after they are
  behind the force field. The C&C team will be conducting an audit, and
  will be changing these VFX to be less confusing.
  
• Ranger Reinforcements are not doing melee damage.
  
• When using a cartridge ammo based pistol (with a clip of 20) if you hold
  down the mouse button and use the auto-fire the gun will eventually stop
  working and you will have to release the mouse button and reclick it to
  restart the auto-fire.
  
• Some tools are appearing with weapon mods on them. However those mods are
  not active.
  
• UI: RQS: Slider bar for setting frame rate does not display framerate
  selections
  
• Once clan leader has been inactive for 21 days, the clan leadership will
  be transferred to the longest standing officer in the clan. The Leader is
  demoted to officer. Once the new clan leader has been inactive for 21 days,
  the clan leadership will be transferred to the previous clan leader as he is
  now the ranking officer with the longest history in the clan This is a task
  for Core and they have been notified.
  
• Ability: Polymorph (Spy): Switching directions while initiating certain
  abilities (while polymorphed) may cause avatars to be rooted in place
  
• Wargame status window/results window do not appear if a party of 1
  surrenders-
  
• Inviting a player into your squad while you are in an instance will not
  initially allow the invited player to join the same instance as the squad
  leader. The invited player will not enter the same instance as the squad
  leader once they accept the squad invite and enter the instance. However,
  after the squad leader exits and re-enters the instance, he will be placed
  in the same instance as the invited character.
  
• Players have reported random client crashes in Howling Maw near -715, 195,
  -583.
  
• Military Surplus: You may not be able to purchase any items from the
  Military Surplus.
  
• Grey Market Vendor: Armor with no mods can be purchased.
  
• Grey Market Vendor: Items in Divide exceed the level range designed for
  that area.
  
• Certain conditions may cause clan chat to break.
  
• Ability: Ranger: Tactical Evasion cast time has not decreased.
  
• Ability: Grenadier: Scatterbombs rank 4 and 5 do not have explosion visual
  FX.
  
• Mission: Your Part of the Bargain: Cannot complete "collect energy
  matrix" objective.
  
• There have been some compatibility issues with Vista 64 and NVidia 8000
  and up series video cards.

10.3

• Fixed an error with the logos door in Howling Maw.
  
  
• Fixed an error where Holograms in the Temple of the Proud Patriarch
  despawn after killing a player that fails the mission.
  
  
• Fixed an error in the Temple of the Proud Patriarch where dying and
  failing still allows you to complete the mission.
  
  
• Corrected an issue with Missing Merchandise that removed player flags when
  abandoned or failed.
  
  
• Armor Shard pieces were not dropping of creatures in the mission "A
  Little Charity", this should be fixed

10.5

• Scatterbombs - The initial implementation of Proficiency to Scatterbombs
  did not offer the flavor and uniqueness that a Tier 4 skill should have. We
  have responded to this by changing Proficiencies implementation.
  Scatterbombs now increase the chance to critical hit on a per-pump basis.
  This adds unique value to the skill that similar skills in previous tiers
  lack. Other attributes of this skill have been rebalanced to accommodate
  this mechanic. We will be watching this skill to make sure that is delivers
  a fun and new gameplay experience to our Grenadiers.
  
  


• Explosive Nanites: Damage scale is now consistent with other Skill
  Proficiency abilities.
  
  
• Static map geometry (trees, rocks, architecture, etc.) no longer fades
  when first seen.
  
  
• Fixed shader issue that caused a very small subset of systems to error out
  when launching the game .
  
  
• Fixed bug with on-the-fly map loading (preloading map geometry disabled)
  that caused attached lights and collision volumes to sometimes load at the
  origin instead of being properly attached to the geometry.
  
  
• Changed logout timer from 30 to 10 seconds.
  
  
• Mission: Climbing the Corporate Ladder briefing no longer references the
  wrong NPC for completion.
  
  
• Mission: Twisted Metal: players now receive credit for both Neobot Wardens
  and Neobot Reconstructors.
  
  
• Mission: Missing Merchandise: Player flags now removed on when abandoning
  or failing a mission.
  
  
• Fixed an issue in the CELLAR Arena that allowed players to jump into the
  arena.
  
  
• Fixed an issue in the PvP Wargame Map that allow players to get in
  inaccessible areas.
  
  
• Map: Eloh Temples - Players will now only be able to access the Hospital
  point for the section of Eloh Temples they are currently in.
  
  
• Mission: Saving the Herd Patriarch: Objective for bringing a healing disc
  to Wohlgemuth will now complete properly.
  
  

PTS Only

• Abyss: Dybukkar Garrison (PTS) - A new instance map, "Dybukkar
  Garrison," is available on the Public Test Server along with new
  missions: "Dybukkar Stops Here!", "The Dybukkar
  Investigation", "Weak Side Blitz", "Destroy, Destruct,
  Demoralize", and "The Drug War". Dybukkar Garrison is
  designed for level 50 and is accessible from the Dybukkar Underground area
  of Torden Abyss. These missions can be obtained at Archeron Outopost on
  Abyss, and inside Dybukkar Garrison.
  
• Wargame Map changes:
  
  
  
  • A death effect has been added
    
  • Changed team staging area
    
    
    
    • The staging area is no longer in tower, but a small corridor space
      
    • Made medics unkillable and respawnable
      
    • Footlockers have been added
      
    • A very tough forcefield has been added
      
    • Removed high fence from staging area for easier viewing
      
    • The staging area sign now tells people which team needs help (does
      not enforce, just helps balance)
    
    
    
    
  • Now, only combatants get teleported to staging on a win instead of
    everyone on the map
    
  • More money is now given by the level up NPC
    
  • Now only players can go through team teleporters
    
  • Vendors will no longer be perma-killed
    
  • Implemented a prototype solution for circumventing base defenses.
    
  • Base defenses have been beefed up, but put on much longer respawns