Update 337 - Matched Play BETA

The Development team never stops and although at times some updates don’t seem as full of changes, there is always behind the scenes efforts being made. One of those biggest efforts over the last year has been our new Matched Play system, code named Thunderdome. Update 337 is our big unveiling to the general public of the new Matched Play BETA and a flurry of other changes and updates throughout the game.

Matched Play in its current state will allow 12 players to be matched by region and skill levels to the best of HIVE’s ability. You then play two rounds on an officially hosted server. The intent of this system is to create a better experience for players looking to get in and play as soon as possible and not wait on servers in spectator mode for a slot that may or may not open. There are still more planned features for the official 1.0 release of Matched Play and you can read more about the system here.

Update 337 also includes an updated version of one of our earliest maps MINESHAFT. Kash and Maptesting Group have been hard at work getting this update ready and we hope you enjoy the new gameplay brought on by the changes. Many other maps have gotten updates as well and as always a special thanks to each of the Map Leads on those respective maps as listed in the log below.

A new Armory UI has been added to the game that more reflects the visuals and information we wanted to share and felt was better for players to understand equipment effectiveness and uses. An updated implementation for the graphics option Ambient Occlusion has also been added that should help with input lag and large fps drops, it also looks much better which is a major plus too!

As always, there are many other tweaks and improvements listed below. We look forward to your continued feedback and support.

Remember all sales of NS2 and DLC directly affect our development budget and allow our team to continue work on NS2.

Changelog

Gameplay

• [Has been live since January] Cluster Grenades should no longer set enemies on fire and should no longer cancel abilities (Umbra, Crag heal etc)

• Damage is now increased to 72 in order to keep the damage intended by the prior fire values

Tweaks / Improvements

• New ‘Matched Play’ option in the Play menu. It is in a BETA state until the next patch. Feel free to provide any feedback on our discord server!

• Focused version of the game for 6v6 only

• System automatically groups 12 players based on their geographic location and their Hive Skill. With the aim of normalizing latency among all clients.

• Matched Play ranks and skills will use the player's current community rank until that player’s first Matched Play round is finished. Afterwards, the Matched Play skill-ranks will be handled separately.

• Map Voting is a priority-choice system, which means your first choice (of max 3) gets the greatest weight.

• Each Match is two rounds, one for each faction. Teams are automatically swapped for the second round.

• Friends Invitations and Groups Queueing are not implemented for the BETA, but we are looking very closely at adding these features for the Version 1 release of Matched Play.

• Players who intentionally leave an ongoing match will be penalized from using the feature, so as to encourage players to not create a detrimental experience for their teammates whom they match with.

• 1st penalty is for 1 hour

• 2nd penalty within