Producer Update for May 18th, 2016

An update from King of the Kill Producer, Chris Wynn!

H1Z1: King of the Kill Producer Notes for May 18^th, 2016 

Hi everyone, and thanks for taking the time to give this a read.  I know that many of you have poured countless hours into H1Z1 and all of the developers thank you for that.  

This will be one of the largest updates we’ve executed this year and it contains a lot of great changes.  Some of the larger notes are detailed below, but this update also brings with it every change that has been on the Test server for the last couple of weeks. You can expect to see a full list of patch notes on Friday.

Ignition is Going Live FRIDAY!

Really excited to share that Ignition will be launching onto our Live servers this coming Friday, May 20^th.  With feedback from the public Test server runs and many, many internal play tests, we have put a lot of work into tuning this new mode to make it as fun as possible.  We think Ignition has turned out great. It truly captures all of the tension and excitement of Battle Royale while encouraging players to engage a new perspective and balance getting to the correct location while also searching for gear, and skillfully outliving the competition.

 For those of you not in the know, rather than parachuting into the action, Ignition starts each player off with their very own ATV and a pack of explosives strapped to their body. To stay in the game, players need to quickly gear up, jump on their ATV, and gun it to the safe zone before the time runs out and your explosives go BOOM!

Two of my favorite streamers, OPscT and AngryPug will be here in studio to livestream the new mode.  Be sure to tune into the King of the Kill Twitch channel at 2pm PST this Friday, May 20 to see Ops and Pug play the new mode and share some giveaways. 

A few tips here for you to help you find some early success.

• As you descend into the arena on your ATV, turn left or right to orient yourself in the direction that you want to head, this way you can set off as soon as you touch the ground.
• Be very aware of the safe zone locations! You will see a helicopter hovering over the safe zones, so look for these to help you find your way.  The ground will be clearly marked for you once you make it.  Red means you are not safe, green means you are.
• Don’t leave getting to the safe zone to the last minute. There is a real balance between gearing up, looting, and getting to a safe zone.  If you are outside of the safe zone when the timer hits zero, it is game over for you, so don’t let that happen.
• Once time expires, you have to remain in the ring for 30 seconds.  If you slip outside of the ring, you explode and are knocked out of the match.
• Look for the special airdrops at the end of the ring locks.  They may contain a loaded-up off-roader to help get you to the next safe zone and give you the extra advantage you may need to get the win.

Small UI Flow Change

In order to make selection of your preferred game mode or type more clear, we made a small change to the UI flow.  The classic server select screen should be thought of as a game select screen.  Remember to filter down to your region at the top, then just pick the game that you want to play.

• Battle Royale
• Battle Royale Team (2 or 5)
• Battle Royale: Zombies
• Ignition
• Skirmish (when available)

The Battle Royale button has been removed.  A lot of people use that button to join a game, but it is really unnecessary and just confusing now that there are various modes to choose from.  Just pick the game you want to play and click the “Join Game” button.

At the end of a match, we removed the “Play Again” button.  It didn’t do what you expect it to do, and will be different in the future with a whole new flow there.  So we simplified it for now and there will be an “Exit to Main” button in the lower right that takes you back to the game select screen where you can pick a game and join right into it.

Team Games

Ignition is not the only change coming to King of the Kill this week.  A number of improvements have gone in to help the team experience.

We have added an always on outline that is rendered around each character on your team.  This is visible through objects, walls, and other obstructions.  Just Survive players take note that this will also apply to groups in Just Survive.  So if you are grouped up you will be able to see those people in your group.

We fixed up some bugs that were resulting in teams getting split up and put into different games.  This is reliable again and you should count on ending up in the same game as a team.  If this ends up happening to you, please send some info over so we can check it out.

Those changes will be on Live with Ignition.  There is one more change working its way through to help with team play.  That is an option to allow you to enter a 5-man game with a team that is less than 5.  There will be an option to auto-fill or not auto-fill the rest of your group to make a 5-man team.  If you want to go in as a 3-man team into the 5-man game, you will be able to do that.

Sync’d Match Starts

I mentioned this last week and you will see changes in the Live environment this Friday.  Players now all begin at the same time at the beginning of a match in both Battle Royale and Ignition.  I saw some concern over sitting and waiting on people with slow machines.  This does have a time cap, initially set to 45 seconds, where it will start the match and stragglers will be at a disadvantage in starting behind the others.  In the majority of instances, the game will start prior to that time cap.  Our data shows that more than 90% of all players load faster than 45 seconds.

Rewards

A few changes to rewards are coming in this update as well.

First, all match rewards are being updated.  There will be all new items to earn by doing well in a match.

Additionally, rewards in the Skirmish are going to be distributed differently to dis-incentivize teaming.  You will now receive a loot bag drop, just like a crate drop, for spending time in the game.  Each reward in the bag should be unique, until you have earned them, all of course.

As a reminder, teaming or colluding of any kind is prohibited.  We are constantly monitoring these games and if you are caught breaking these rules, we will take action on your account.  This is looked at on a case by case basis, but that action can range from a suspension to an all-out account ban.  It isn’t worth it; teaming ruins the game for everyone else.  Don’t do it.  If you see some suspected cheating, please report the instance to h1z1cheater@daybreakgames.com.

Forced Scope

I know this has been a topic of discussion since we first talked about it.  This isn’t quite ready to go Live yet, but let me provide some context here.  Some changes will go in that not all people will agree with; this is one of them.  King of the Kill has a lot of medium to long range encounters given the nature of the experience and the design of the map.  Currently the scoped weapons are too easy and forgiving from long range.  We will be forcing a scoped view to add a bit of a trade-off to the power of the weapon.  If you are going to get the advantage of the scope, then you lose some of your peripheral vision.  It is a trade-off for you to decide on and balance as you are playing the game. 

Recent Bug Fixes

• Bombing run tuning so the area is not filled with bombs. I mentioned this in my last update and it will be Live this Friday.
• Jumping and entering a vehicle could result in a crazy shaky character in the vehicle.  We removed this bug, so expect your character to sit nicely.
• Seat swapping is now fixed.  May that exploit be forever dead.

 

That’s it for now folks, as always feedback is appreciated!