PTS Changes - 8/26

This is a review of the changes and additions being tested on the Public Test Server (PTS). Patch notes collected for easy reference.

REVIEW

With this article, I will be touching on patch note items and giving my own take on the substance of these changes. Opinions may vary on each subject. Many of the patch notes are self-explanatory and likely do not require much discussion, such as the Lockbox changes and most of the bug fixes. If you have thoughts about certain changes, please comment on the article! The PTS exists for community feedback before sending a patch to the live servers. Constructive criticism is important!

I'll start this out by saying that my experience on the PTS has been good for the most part. The effort versus reward equation is still a bit off, but the Lockbox changes have made the chase quite a bit better compared to the live game.

The increase in health to Major Arkfall bosses is a very welcome change. They don't die as quickly as they currently do on the live servers, but I feel like they could increase their toughness a bit more. The buff to score is certainly an improvement.

The changes to the Thorn Liro Vendor and Reputation has been a long time coming. I never appreciated the fact that non-DLC holders could obtain what should have been DLC-only gear.

Updated Thorn Liro gear statistics

While there is a difference in the "EGO recharge on full reload" statistic, it doesn't make an enormous impact on general game play. I think it would be much more noticeable while running a build focused on EGO recharge, but only in respect to constantly running an EGO power.

They've reduced the Arkforge cost for rating increases by 50% and removed the auto-encryption for all but Legendary gear. While I feel like the 50% reduction should be wide-sweeping, this is a very good start. Combine these changes with T4 boxes having a 1-Epic minimum, our chances at Legendary gear will become a bit easier.

Overall, this PTS build is an improvement over the current live game. I'd like to see a slight increase in Keycode and Arkforge rewards, but it's certainly a bit better with the Major Arkfall bosses. There are still some issues with events ending prematurely, but I have it on good faith that the Dev team is working on fixing this problem. Hopefully they'll get it worked out before this build goes live. Other than events being overwritten by new ones, I haven't found a problem with any of the patch notes.

Good fortune, Ark Hunter!

 

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 Patch notes originally posted by PhantasieTrion throughout the Upcoming Changes on PTS thread.

(Items marked with * are being included with the 2.207 patch on 9/3 NA and 9/4 EU)

NEW CONTENT

• Pacifica Temple is under attack! Can you thwart the invaders at this deadly new Conflict Site?
• As requested by PTS players, the monthly grant now includes 75 keys. The 75 keys will be awarded during the next cycle of the monthly grant.
  • Note: There is a known bug where players who entered the original code for free stuff on PTS (prior to the addition of the monthly grant), many now not be receiving the monthly grant. We are working on a fix for this.

CHANGES

• Gulanee have been made less susceptible to explosive splash damage. Only very near hits will affect them. *
• The Matron, Progenitor, and Hellion have had their health increased during arkfalls. *
• The Thorn Liro Vendor no longer accepts transactions from ark hunters without the Castithan Charge Pack.
• Weapons on the Thorn Liro Vendor now adjust to match the EGO rating of the ark hunter that purchases them.
• The "On Full Reload Proc" changes that were already on PTS are still there, along with the following changes:
  • VBI EEC SMG blur – 10s (same as live)
  • VBI EEC HP-7 Wildcat overcharge – 10s (same as live)
• Paradise section of the map will max out at one Incursion and one siege at a time, This was true for San Francisco. *

• As requested by several PTS players, Secreters and Evangels now have PiPs so you know where they are on Map and HUD
• Reduced the Arkforge cost required to increase the rating of items by 50%.*
• Non-Legendary items will no longer be auto-encrypted. *
• Tier 4 Lock Boxes now always drop at least one Epic or higher rarity item. *
• Invaders in Silicon Valley now remain closer to their objectives. *
• The end screen menu for PvE events will no longer pop up until the player is out of combat. *
• Updated the names of the Tier 2 Lock Box, Tier 3 Lock Box, and Tier 4 Lock Box to Recruit Lock Box, Expert Lock Box, and Elite Lock Box respectively (though this change will not be fully implemented until we update the PTS client)
• The Machinist Supply Crate, Outlaw Supply Crate, Survivalist Supply Crate, and Veteran Supply Crate now guarantee at least 1 epic or better item. *
• All salvage matrix actions now complete nearly instantly. (See Rashere's post for more details) *
• Based on community feedback, we’ve removed the following weapons from the T2, T3, and T4 Lock Boxes. We plan to return these items in the future after they’ve been re-tuned. *
  - FRC Birdshot Pump
  - FRC Crash Boomer
  - FRC Incubator
  - FRC Innoculator
  - FRC Interceptor
  - FRC Magnum
  - FRC Matchlock Boomer
  - FRC Nomad SMG
  - FRC Particle Repeater
  - FRC Sawed-off Scattergun
  - VBI INF-27 Immunizer
  - VBI LM-12 Rocker
  - VBI Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle
  - VBI Short-Barrel Shotgun
  - VBI Shotgun
  - VOT Afflictor
  - VOT Auto Fragger
  - VOT Auto Lobber
  - VOT Breaker Cannon
  - VOT Infector
  - VOT Meteor Bolter
  - VOT Outbreaker
  - VOT Rebound Lobber
  - VOT Rebounder Cannon
• The following arkfall bosses have had their kill score values increased: *
  
  • Hellbug Matron
  • Hellbug Hellion Larva
  • Mature Hellbug Hellion
  • Scrapper Progenitor
  • Dark Matter Monolith
  • Arkbreak Gulanee

Note: This change was made to correspondingly compensate for an earlier PTS change increasing their health (and was also requested by the community)

BUG FIXES

• Resolved an issue with corrupt settings that was causing the chat window to not appear (some players may have to cycle through them to make them reappear). *
• Dominate Delta Bunker East pursuit “Defeat Piercer without dying” now completes correctly as long as the whole group is not forced to extract from the Piercer fight. *
• Areas to leave the Mark of the Defiant are no longer suppressed by Arkfalls.
• As reported on the Public Test Server, many areas where hellbugs could appear inside obstacles have been fixed for the Hellfire event.
• Fixed the visual bug causing 999999 to display on siege leaderboards sometimes. *
• Fixed a bug where shields that were already encrypted when received by the player did not get the capacity bonus until the player logged off. *
• It is no longer possible to duplicate perks. *
• Some mods in the Defiant Few Mod Cache has missing stats. These have been fixed (and will apply retroactively).
• Fixes for internal communications between servers which could cause what appeared to be lag.
• Fixed a very rare bug that could cause an internal linked list to become corrupted, eventually causing a server crash. This rare crash - the nemesis of Defiance engineer TheCrater - has been around since Beta!
• Invaders at Foster Temple will no longer stand stark still and hopelessly contemplate the futility of their existences. *
• Several lag and stability improvements. *
• Potential fix for entering the wrong phase at Towers Quarry.
• Enemies that do not contribute to score (turrets, Grid Guardians) will no longer display “Armor Break +0”.