Patch 1.2 - DLC #2 - Arkbreaker - 12/10/13

Any note marked with a red asterisk (*) at the end means it was added or adjusted due to direct feedback from our Alpha Test Server players. A huge thank you to all that gave us feedback!

== DLC EXCLUSIVE FEATURES ==

 

CALL DOWN ARKFALLS

• Use an ark spike at an impact window to call down an arkfall. Breach the fallen ark and take what you find in these new instances!

NEW MISSION LINE!

• Run through six missions and two side missions in a race against time! Stop the Dark Matter from gaining the power to call down arkfalls and become the Arkbreaker.

NEW BOSS BATTLE

• Volge Warmaster: Deep within the largest Arkbreaks, this monstrosity waits to do battle with 16 or more more ark hunters.

ACCESS TO NEW WEAPONS

• Owners ofArkbreaker will be able to use these new weapons:
  • All Volge Sniper Rifles, Volge Pistols and Volge Assault Rifles!
  • More than 25 newly updated Arkbreaker Signature weapons can be earned from Arkbreaks.

IMMEDIATE DLC BONUSES: ARKBREAKER STASH AND MORE!

• Receive the Volge Engineer outfit and helmet combo, plus an Arkbreaker Stash with your DLC purchase. The Stash has a random rare Volge weapon, plus a random rare spike, stim, and grenade to get you started! *

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== ADDITIONAL FEATURES ==

The following content, features, and improvements are included for all players!

CO-OP EVOLVED

• Solo mission maps can now be accessed in the Matchmaking menu. Fight Nim or Jackleg Joe with your friends whenever you want!

ENTER THE ARKBREAKS

• Keeping with the spirit of Defiance's co-op expansion, all players can take part in these new instance and earn rewards! However, some new weapons do require Arkbreaker to use.

NEW MINIBOSS

• Volge Huntmaster: A new breed of Viscera has come down with the latest arkfall. This "Huntmaster" can synthesize combat drones to help hunt its prey.

NEW CONSUMABLES

• Spikes: High tech pillars which can be deployed to provide powerful buffs to your allies.
• Stims: High tech drugs and nanites which can be injected to boost individual performance.
• Grenades: Grenades are now consumables, and now obey the new rules of these consumables.
  • Ego Perks: Guardian Angel and Mad Bomber no longer modify the cool down on Grenades.
  • Mastery, Rarity and Synergy bonuses that previously modified the cool down on Grenade usage now increase the damage of your next Grenade.
  • Grenades can now be altered by effects triggered from equipped items or abilities.
  • Grenade variety has been reduced and match the format of Spikes and Stims.
  • Enemies and missions now drop Common, Uncommon, and Rare variations of each type of grenade (Frag, Bio, Pyro, Cluster, Flashbang, Infector).
• Players may carry only one stack of each type of spike, stim, and grenade. Picking up a new consumable will refill your current stack of that consumable, regardless of rarity. If the new consumable is a higher rarity, it will upgrade and replace your current consumables.

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== GAME UPDATE ==

 

GENERAL

• Daily and Weeklylogin rewards are granted to an account when theylogin after a daily or weekly contract cycle!
  • The Daily reward is a common grenade, and the Weekly has one of each of the following: common grenade, uncommon spike, and uncommon stim. *
• Daily and Weekly login rewards now grant Arkbreaker players some consumables. *
• The main world has been split into 2 segments the Northern Bay Area and San Francisco. This will allow more players per server! As a result, there is now a loading screen when crossing the Golden Gate bridge.
• Exchanging salvage for keys at lockbox vendors no longer requires Scrip.*
• Independent minor arkfalls now grant keys to all participants, not just the few with the highest inscrutable contribution number.*
• PvP kills now have a chance to drop the lowest rarity of spikes, stims, and grenades. *
• Daily contract objectives now show up on the main map and minimap!
• Non-Hellbug Arkfalls will be much more common thanks to the rebalancing of spawn rates for each type of Arkfall.
• To help clarify which mods will change or add a scope overlay to weapons, we've changed the detail icon on sight mods that do not change the scope overlay (if it’s a sniper rifle mod) or add a scope overlay (all other weapons) to look like a sight instead of a scope.
• The Charitable title from Extra Life is now fully in the game. You should receive yours automatically within the week!

INVENTORY IMPROVEMENTS

• Items can now be favorited!
• Favorite items cannot be sold or broken down.
• Favorite items sort to the top of the list.
• You can now 'mass breakdown' all items in your inventory that aren't favorites.
• You can now 'sell all' all items at merchants that aren't favorites.
• Item comparisons will now compare to appropriate items based on their type. Weapons compare to weapons, grenades to grenades, shields to shields.

QUICK MATCH UPDATE

• Quick Match now attempts to match players with an instance that has at least one player in it. and can accommodate the most players.
• If the player has been in queue for a time and no one has joined this larger match, they will be grouped with smaller matches that are closer to reaching the needed number of players.
• If no matches exist that a player character is eligible to join, a random instance will be picked which has the fewest number of players required to start.
• The game now keeps track of players who select the Quick Match matchmaking option, so that it can make additional attempts to better match them with other players.

TUTORIAL UPDATES

• Mutants and skitterlings now reward a minimal amount of XP and loot.
• There are now less mutants to distract players from completing the first few missions!
• Removed combat enemies from holo training areas.

VARIOUS FIXES

WEAPONS

• Enemies in Thorn Liro arenas now grant experience and weapon experience. *
• The Charge Weapon pack from the Castithan Charge Pack DLC was bunk. Some weapons legendary, one was common, and none of them had stat bonuses. This is no longer the case, in a change that is retroactive to all weapons that currently exist.
• Shotgun magazine rarity bonuses have been fixed so they are additive rather than multiplicative. The persons responsible have been subjected to a rick-roll.
• The Volge Battle Rifle, Clustershot, and a handful of other projectile weapons have been fixed after some projectile updates scrambled them. That is to say, their spread is now significantly more accurate. Enjoy! *
• Common grenades now drop with greater frequency. *
• Ammo Caches now give 250 pistol ammo instead of 150, because that was pretty strange.
• Rocket Launcher Stocks (First Stage Booster) are now available from the Explosive Mod Vendor.
• Nano converter mods are now available for Assault Rifles, Pistols and Rifles.
• Sight Mods for BMGs/Infectors/Detonators now be drop from Soleptor, Top-Notch and VBI Mod Caches.
• Supplies vendors now sell common grenades which will refill any grenade rarity you have above them.*
• Particle Ultimag pistols now have the proper amount of mod slots available after EGO rating 1625.

UI/ART

• Resetting keybinds back to default will now more reliably work.
• Faces will no longer sometimes show the wrong texture in character creation.
• Character models now more reliably show when the appearance of that model is changing. Notably so if you are a Castithan wearing Liberty Heavy Trooper.

WORLD/MISSIONS

• Sutro Tower conflict site: the interaction to complete the "Override Primary Turret Targeting System" step is no longer blocked.
• Ladders have been added to Serenity Academy for additional play space.
• The side mission "Slam for Slam" now has a locator on its final objective.
• After completing the first Arena mission you no longer have to wait 20 minutes to talk to Ferik.

ENEMIES/NPCS

• Multiplied the Scrip dropped from enemies. *
• Enemies in arkfalls now more consistently drop Scrip. *
• Hellbug Warrior Syphon: Warrior will now attack players in the San Francisco region.
• Bob and Phil, the caretakers at Crystal Lake, have taken back those awful things they said about your mother. Since you have forgiven them, good person that you are, they are no longer hated. *
• Ranchers in Point Bonita Refinery now walk normally instead of whatever-the-hell they were trying to do before.
• The Matron now appropriately performs her power up ability while underground.
• Scrapper Arkfall cores can no longer be destroyed while their shields are active.

[PS3]

• Added a Region Select option to thePatcher. You can now switch to/from North American or European servers.
  • Note: Characters are stored per server, so your characters do not transfer (nor are they lost if you switch; when you switch back they will be available on that server again).