3/29/22 6:15 PM
With this massive update, we've re-tuned many weapons, added more than 800 weapon attachments, revisited aspects of vehicle and infantry balance, and added new equipment that will expand your combat capabilities. Brace yourself for some very, very long patch notes.
When NSO went free to play (and received a revamped arsenal, new vehicles, and the ability to permanently align with a home faction,) in summer of last year, we mentioned allowing existing NSO outfits to migrate their members to a home faction, instead of having to disband and reform the outfit. This functionality has finally arrived, and the handful of legacy NSO outfits that are still holding on can properly migrate to a separate faction. NSO players without active memberships will remain in Freelancer status (functionality fixed in this update,) and will not be booted from their existing Outfit if membership lapses. Leaders of legacy NSO Outfits can now permanently align their Outfit to a home faction by speaking to Emerson on Sanctuary. This is a one-time transaction that will cause all the current members in our Outfit to move to the selected faction. Members who are online will need to relog (or re-zone into Sanctuary) for their home faction to be updated proper.
In celebration of the Arsenal Update, FL-34 and SPRK-33 got some new digs on Sanctuary. You can visit them in the same spot they've been holding down, but now with a totally new look. Additionally...
Â
The new Black Market directive, with new banner and Punisher variant rewards.
Tactical mine options have been added to each faction to add more defensive layers during point defense.
Flashbang Mine (VS only)
Â
EMP Mine (NC only)
Â
Concussion Mine (TR only)
Â
Havoc Mine (NSO only)
Cleansing Grenade (Combat Medic only)
Â
Havoc Grenade (Heavy Assault only)
Â
Timed EMP (Infiltrator only)
Â
Impulse Grenade (Light Assault only)
General
Â
Concussion Grenade
Â
Flash/Quick-Det Flash Grenade
Â
EMP Grenade
Â
Nanite Healing Grenade
Â
New empire-specific "Basilisk" (jack-of-all-trades) top gun options have made their way to the game. These new weapons have statistical variations that set them apart from the common pool Basilisk, and will be available on multiple vehicles. The Prowler, Vanguard, and Magrider will receive these new weapons as a part of the default equipment, and the Sunderer, ANT, and Harasser will be capable of unlocking them as an option.
N30 Trawler (New Conglomerate)
The Trawler is a slow firing, 30mm heavy machine gun that dishes out heavy damage over short distances.
Â
M18 Palisade (Terran Republic)
The M18 Palisade increases rate of fire over the first second, unleashing a barrage of machine gun rounds from its large magazine.
V42 Pariah (Vanu Sovereignty)
The Pariah is a stable, rapid fire plasma platform that offers consistent high-caliber damage over even long-range engagements.
General
Â
Reload Speed Certification Lines
Dev Note: In many, but not all cases, this is a buff to the reload speed cert line, with bigger gains at lower levels to increase accessibility to newer players.
Chimera
The changes here help compensate for the Chimera being a larger target, and give the non-Satyr main cannons more presence on the battlefield.
General
Â
CT-135 (Chimera Main Cannon)
Â
CT-150 Cyclops (Chimera Main Cannon)
Â
HCG-20 (Chimera Forward Turret)
Dev Note: Since the Chimera already had a unique "Basilisk" weapon, it's received some adjustments to set it apart. These weapons are now unlockable on the Harasser/ANT/Sunderer as well.
Valkyrie
Changes below help move the Valkyrie a bit further away from piñata territory by increasing its overall movement capabilities and its anti-vehicle effectiveness with non-VLG weaponry.
General
Wyvern
Â
Pelter Rocket Pods
Â
Hellion G20
Sunderer
Dev Note: The refire changes revert a long-standing adjustment that left Sunderer Basilisks less powerful than vehicles with only a single top gun. Reverting this renews the possibility of battle bus tactics.
ANT
Galaxy
Â
Nanoweave Armor (Suit Slot)
Dev Note: As part of the ongoing experiments with Nanoweave, we're pulling off the movement speed reduction and moving the resistances of sniper rifles into their own category that can be contested by this armor. Sniper Rifles traditionally have a low skill floor for the bodyshot damage they put out (yet feel bad when they're not given enough bodyshot damage, Daimyo being a good example.) Pushing more of the focus subtly toward headshots through this method is something we'd like to explore.
Adrenaline Shield (Heavy Assault Ability)
Dev Note: Returning a couple hundred effective health after winning a firefight has more value than we were balancing against with previous numbers, the changes here reduce the effectiveness of Adrenaline Shield to make more room for alternatives.
Nano-Armor Cloaking (Infiltrator Ability)
Dev Note: Removing the extra 100 shield helps create more consistency surrounding weapons that should be able to one-shot an infiltrator (the Commissioner with a headshot, for example,) while ensuring, similar to Resist Shield, that the ability is active to receive benefits.
Symbiote (Implant)
Dev Note: This bug above effectively broke the implant in the majority of situations you'd find yourself needing it to trigger, and we've increased the health return to a more noticeable amount as well.
Experimental Stims
This update includes many sweeping changes that will broadly impact the balance of certain weapon archetypes. The areas below will be broken down into groups to make it easier to digest.
Directive Weapons
Dev Note: The changes above allow for customization of the weapons you've spent hundreds of hours working toward, and also factor into the subsequent balance adjustments that are made in each faction's weapon balance sections further down.
Sniper Rifles
Dev Note: The damage values for this new resistance are equivalent to small arms. This change will allow us to do is modify the bodyshot damage output from Nanoweave, as mentioned above.
Power Knives
Dev Note: Power knives consistently kill with two shots to the body or one shot to the head. This change is meant to dampen the effectiveness of specific setups, and give players more time to react to the burst of damage when the user can't land a headshot.
Sidearms
Dev Note: This is a subtle change that technically extends effective range, but won't be noticeable in most cases. More realistically, this change is closer to housekeeping.
Select Fire Modes
Dev Note: There are many weapons in the game that don't make use of their select-fire functionality, and realistically, it wouldn't make sense to try to tune all of that extra baggage to be useful. Removing the burst/semi-auto modes on weapons that don't lean on them will help streamline the weapon quality overall. Examples of weapons that make good use of alternate firemodes are the TRAP-M1, SABR-13, TS2 Inquisitor, LA3 Desperado, Phaseshift VX-S, etc.
Shotguns
Dev Note: The above changes aim to reduce the inconsistency and frustration of using these weapons, which was mainly caused by cone of fire spread stacked on top of the pellet spread. These changes are important when the new attachments and updated attachments come into play.
More than 800 new weapon attachments have been added, allowing for much more customizability. Those changes and additions can be found here, in quite possibly the most anxiety inducing way imaginable: https://imgur.com/a/zBKaoBw
Slug Ammunition
Slug ammo now comes in 3 flavors with different damage ranges with independent hipfire cone of fire values. It's intended for semi-auto shotguns to be the most desirable to use with slug ammo, where others have steeper tradeoffs.
Underbarrels
Dev Note: The changes here are meant to reduce some of the clunkiness of Underbarrels in general.
Compensator
Dev Note: Compensators tend to be used less as players learn to control vertical recoil. These changes push the attachment closer to relevance for more setups and skill levels.
Forward Grips
Dev Note: Advanced Forward Grips were previously given to weapons who already had top-tier horizontal recoil models, and the benefits of a grip far outweigh the drawbacks.
Laser Sights
Dev Note: Like above, Advanced Laser Sights were typically given out to weapons that already had top-tier hipfire cone of fire, only furthering balance discrepancies. Unlike most attachments, laser sights don't have a real drawback beyond opportunity cost.
Comfort Grip
Dev Note: Traditional Forward Grips offered no functional benefits to slow firing semi-auto weapons, so swapping them for Comfort Grips (which reduce the equip and unequip time of a weapon,) can be interpreted as a buff in almost all cases.
Mobile Prediction Laser
Dev Note: With the changes to cone of fire for shotguns, all shotgun laser sights have been converted to MPLs so that the attachment remains a relevant option for certain setups.
Disruptor Ammunition
Dev Note: Overall this results in a buff to any weapon using Disruptor Ammunition, and further increases its effectiveness against enemies with higher-than-typical shield pools.
Heavy Barrel
Short Barrel
Angled Forward Grip
Flechette Ammunition
KCAP Ammunition (Terran Republic only)
Dev Note: The accessibility of bonus damage through legshots might be too powerful, so we might move a different direction based on feedback.
Manticore Ammunition (Vanu Sovereignty only)
Cerberus Ammunition (Vanu Sovereignty only)
Â
Equinox VE2 (VS Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: These changes carve a niche for the Equinox as a more mobile weapons platform, in addition to the wide attachment variety.
CME (VS Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: Removed much of the random deviation from this accuracy-focused weapon, elevating it to one of the most accurate assault rifles in the game.
Equinox VE2 Burst (VS Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: The Equinox VE2 Burst is actually a burst-variant of the Pulsar VS1. Changing the naming convention to resolve this literally unplayable bug.
VX29 Polaris (VS LMG)
Dev Note: Major buff that moves this support LMG in the direction of the Naginata and Promise while aiming down sights, without being quite as accurate as either.
VA39 Spectre (VS Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: These changes make the progression from scout rifle to semi-auto sniper a bit more apparent as semi-auto snipers in general are made more useful.
Phantom VA23 (VS Sniper Rifle)
Â
Nyx VX31 (VS Scout Rifle)
Â
Eidolon VE33 (VS Scout Rifle)
Â
Parallax VX3 (VS Sniper Rifle)
Â
Solstice SF (VS Carbine)
Â
Orion VS54 (VS LMG)
Â
Beamer VS3 (VS Sidearm)
Â
Cerberus (VS Sidearm)
Â
Manticore SX40 (VS Sidearm)
Â
Spiker (VS Sidearm)
Â
We've moved to a new formula for VS' heat-based weapons that are based on a non-heat based weapon. Adding a heat mechanic to a weapon now (in most cases) reduces the magazine size by 20% of the base weapon, heat recovery delay is now based on damage per magazine, heat bleed-off is based on a percentage of the long-reload of a weapon, and overheat penalties are now equivalent to the base weapon's long reload speed.
Additionally, reloading these weapons only makes use of their overheat penalties, instead of short and long reload times, and isn't affected by reload speed modifiers through implants or suit slots. This is a bug we caught too late into development to correct, and will need to be amended in a later update. Lastly, the changes below are very strict and will likely need tuning. We can take these weapons in a couple of different directions, but will need to observe Live conditions before choosing which path to take.
Betelgeuse 54-A (VS LMG)
Dev Note: This weapon mostly receives usability nerfs, but has been indirectly brought in line with cross-faction alternatives through attachment selection.
Darkstar (VS Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: This weapon's innate forward grip benefits can be stacked with an attachable forward grip as an option.
Eclipse VE3A (VS Carbine)
Dev Note: The new integrated Impulse Underbarrel will allow Light Assaults to propel themselves around the battlefield with ease, and can be swapped out for a variety of other rail attachment options. Kept the integrated laser sight in exchange for a hit to projectile velocity.
The Immortal (VS Sidearm)
Dev Note: Aside from the heat mechanic changes, this weapon receives innate Soft Point Ammo to further its maximum damage range.
Revenant (VS Scout Rifle)
Dev Note: Attachment options here are expanded to include Manticore Ammunition.
Parsec VX3-A (VS Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: Minimum damage is increased to further the one-shot kill range, on top of the heat mechanic addition.
Chaos (VS Shotgun)
Dev Note: No changes here beyond the heat mechanic and sweeping shotgun changes.
Skorpios (VS SMG)
Dev Note: Removed the long-range integrated attachments for this weapon in exchange for a built-in Vented Power Core.
Â
Jackhammer (NC Heavy Weapon)
Dev Note: Considerable buff to the Jackhammer's ability to reliably output damage, and carries over some of the sweeping shotgun changes were needed.
NC6S Gauss SAW S (NC LMG)
Dev Note: With there being as many flavors of 167 damage model weapons in the NC arsenal as there are, these changes provide a second 200 damage model option for LMGs. The Gauss SAW S mainly takes a small hit to refire rate and mag size for a faster reload and slightly more controllability.
EM1 (NC LMG)
Dev Note: Major buff that moves this support LMG in the direction of the Naginata and Promise while aiming down sights, without being quite as accurate as either.
Gauss Compact Burst (NC Carbine)
Dev Note: Gauss Compact Burst is actually a variant of the standard "Mercenary" carbine, and this naming convention fixes that.
Gauss Compact S (NC Carbine)
Dev Note: Similar thread here, the Gauss Compact S was a variant of the Mercenary, but without the "Select Fire" attributes, it's been renamed to something more fitting its nature.
MGR-C1 Charger (NC Carbine)
Dev Note: This is a significant buff to the weapon, as a 600rpm model (100ms refire) is near top-tier for the 167 damage category. This change also does away with shots to kill discrepancies that can be tied to bouncing between two damage models.
NC9 A-TROSS (NC Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: Small adjustment pushes the refire rate to 5% slower than the Reaper DMR, instead of the 7%ish it was at before.
Gauss Rifle S (NC Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: Small change to give the S variant more visible benefits when compared to the standard Gauss Rifle.
AF-8 Railjack (NC Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: This is long overdue, given the theming of the weapon.
Gauss SPR (NC Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: These changes make the progression from scout rifle to semi-auto sniper a bit more apparent as semi-auto snipers in general are made more useful.
Impetus (NC Sniper Rifle)
Â
EM4 Longshot (NC Sniper Rifle)
Â
AF-A7 Shadow (NC Scout Rifle)
Â
Warden (NC Scout Rifle)
Â
LA8 Rebel (NC Sidearm)
Â
LA8 Rebel (NC Sidearm)
Â
LA3 Desperado (NC Sidearm)
Â
Gauss Prime (NC Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: Stacking HVA on top of this weapon makes it the highest projectile velocity assault rifle in the game. The forward grip benefit can be stacked with an optional forward grip for heavy horizontal recoil reductions.
19A Fortuna (NC Carbine)
Dev Note: We keep the laser sight benefits in exchange for the reduced bullet velocity here, allowing it to equip non-laser rail attachments and replace the impulse underbarrel if desired.
NC6A GODSAW (NC LMG)
Dev Note: Very few changes made here, as the availability of attachments will push an already solid weapon just a bit further.
The Brawler (NC Shotgun)
Dev Note: Expansion of magazine size with a small reload bump blends the Mauler and Sweeper's proficiencies. These changes take place on top of the sweeping shotgun changes mentioned above.
The Executive (NC Sidearm)
Dev Note: Novel bump to the max damage range in exchange for the mag size reduction, and access to Disruptor ammunition. With the bumped damage and changes to Disruptor ammunition, you can stay above a 167 damage model and retain three-tap headshot potential in spite of that.
Tempest (NC SMG)
Dev Note: The "long range" benefits (and drawbacks) of this weapon have been removed, but can still be opted into through attachments. We kept the innate 35 round magazine and longer reload time, and the allowed this weapon to take Disruptor ammunition, among others.
The Moonshot (NC Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: This weapon becomes capable of one-shot a bit further out, and projectiles now pierce a single infantry target as an added bonus.
GD Guardian (NC Scout Rifle)
Dev Note: Attachments do most of the heavy lifting on this weapon, but it's been given a more manageable reload in line with its predecessor.
Â
T7 Mini-Chaingun (TR Heavy Weapon)
Dev Note: These changes drastically increase the potential of this weapon, for one on one encounters and room clearing alike.
T5 AMC (TR Carbine)
Dev Note: These changes give a bit more in return for the lower rate of fire, allowing it to function with more mobility and control.
MG-S1 Jackal (TR SMG)
Dev Note: These changes increase the usefulness of the BX Adapter in far more situations, and prevent it from harming the base usefulness of the weapon as it had before.
T9 CARV-S (TR LMG)
Dev Note: These changes make the CARV-S far more controllable than it was previously.
T1S Cycler (TR Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: Same as above, small change that provides a clearer differences when compared to the default Cycler.
SABR-13 (TR Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: The above changes create consistency with the weapon's recoil, and reduces the number of potential kicks horizontally in a single direction from 3 to 2.
MG-HBR1 Dragoon (TR Scout Rifle)
Dev Note: General usability buff to this weapon.
T16 Rhino (TR LMG)
Dev Note: Major buff that moves this support LMG in the direction of the Naginata and Promise while aiming down sights, without being quite as accurate as either.
TRAP-M1 (TR Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: The above changes should make this weapon far more usable than it has been previously, as we start treating it more like a semi-auto sniper rifle, and less like an awkward scout rifle.
99SV (TR Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: These changes make the progression from scout rifle to semi-auto sniper a bit more apparent as semi-auto snipers in general are made more useful.
KSR-35 (TR Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: Same as above.
HSR-1 (TR Scout Rifle)
Â
AMR-66 (TR Scout Rifle)
Â
RAMS .50M (TR Sniper Rifle)
Â
TX1 Repeater (TR Sidearm)
Â
T4 AMP (TR Sidearm)
Â
TX2 Emperor (TR Sidearm)
Â
TS2 Inquisitor (TR Sidearm)
Â
Havoc (TR Shotgun)
Dev Note: The adjustments to this weapon are on top of the overall changes to shotguns detailed elsewhere. The main draw of this weapon now becomes the semi-auto stat base being given automatic fire capabilities.
T1A Unity (TR Assault Rifle)
Dev Note: The attachment access and innate forward grip benefits (that can be stacked with another forward grip) set this weapon apart from its predecessor. Unity is also the only TR assault rifle capable of equipping Heavy Mags in the ammo slot to increase its magazine size beyond the initial 40 rounds.
TRAC-Shot (TR Carbine)
Dev Note: The TRAC-Shot keeps its built-in laser in exchange for a minor penalty to projectile velocity, and a variety of non-laser attachment options.
T9A "Butcher" (TR LMG)
Dev Note: Extended magazines doubles the weapon's ammo, giving it the largest LMG magazine size in the game. This is also the only high rate of fire LMG to have access to KCAP ammunition, among other options.
Shuriken (TR SMG)
Dev Note: The "long range" benefits (and drawbacks) of this weapon have been removed, but can still be opted into through attachments. We kept the 40 round magazine, and reduced the reload slightly to make it more manageable. This innate extended magazine can now be stacked with the optional rail attachment to bring it up to 50 rounds total.
The President (TR Sidearm)
Dev Note: Turning this traditionally burst-fire weapon into an automatic increases its effectiveness and usability. A special extended magazine attachment allows for twice the magazine size if opted into.
Bighorn .50M (TR Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: The changes here help fulfill the fantasy of the weapon being extremely powerful, and allow for one-shot headshots at any range.
DMR-99 (TR Scout Rifle)
Dev Note: The DMR-99 becomes the highest rate of fire weapon capable of equipping Explosive Ammunition.
Â
SR-100 (NSO Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: These changes make the progression from scout rifle to semi-auto sniper a bit more apparent as semi-auto snipers in general are made more useful.
SR-L75 (NSO Sniper Rifle)
Â
SR-150 (NSO Sniper Rifle)
Â
BAR-A75 (NSO Scout Rifle)
Â
SG-ARX Rutheford (NSO Shotgun)
Dev Note: With these changes, the Rutherford becomes a usable pump action shotgun from the hip that transforms into a Thumper alternative while aiming.
CB-ARX Newton (NSO Carbine)
Dev Note: As with other directive carbines, a default Impulse launcher has been added for maneuverability.
U-ARX Dirac (NSO Pistol)
Dev Note: The changes here more effectively push the idea of a precise pistol that can function over range.
PMG-ARX Schrodinger (NSO SMG)
Dev Note: Big improvement to ammo capacity given the unique nature of this weapon.
SR-ARX Einstein (NSO Sniper Rifle)
Dev Note: Didn't need much in the way of changes here.
XMG-ARX Galilei
Dev Note: Increased reload speed makes this weapon a bit more functional, and this weapon can equip extended magazines to push the reload economy even further.
Â
NS-AM7 Archer (Common Pool Anti-Materiel Rifle)
Dev Note: The benefits here push the Archer into a much stronger position against vehicles and MAX units, and allows for more consistent one-shot kill potential against infantry with a headshot.
Â
NS-AM8 Shortbow (Black Market Anti-Materiel Rifle)
Dev Note: The Shortbow becomes much more usable after these changes, reeling in some of the tradeoffs it made for its close-range optics and hipfire.
NS-30 Tranquility (Black Market, Common Pool Scout Rifle)
Â
NSX Yawara (Black Market, Common Pool Sidearm)
Â
The Legion Armor and Helmet set by Doku are now available in the Depot.
TR Heavy Assault wearing Legion Armor and Legion Captain Helmet. Loyalty until death, strength in unity.
Â
Â
-----