Happy New Year everyone!
We want to start 2019 off on the right foot by communicating what we have planned for the next 2 updates. Please note that some of this information may be vague as details can change through playtesting and feedback. Our goal is to share with you the high level goals for these updates so we can start a public discussion regarding major changes to the game.
What about "X"?
You're probably wondering, where is the M113? Are we getting any new weapons? Etc.
All of that is still being worked on, but the point of this discussion is to highlight what is changing, not what is new. We will be discussing all newly coming content in a future post.
Anti-Vote Kicking Abuse
We've heard your complaints about griefers abusing the vote kicking system, plus microphone spamming as Spectators. Changes are coming to address these issues and here are the highlights:
I was boosted to level 99 but want to go back my original level
Some players were boosted to level 99 by a modified community server around the time the Christmas event kicked off. We do not have the capability to revert or rollback accounts to a previous level. However, we want to implement an option that allows the player to reset themselves to any level they want if they are currently level 99.
Map Balance
The following maps will be reviewed and modified to allow for a better balance between attacker and defender wins/loss ratios.
Major Revision to Territories Song Be
The Territories version of Song Be does not get played very often so we are planning a major revision to make this map more interesting and fun to play. Stay tuned for more details.
Overhauled Leaning System
Currently in progress is a major overhaul of how Leaning works in RS2. Currently the Leaning system does not allow you to move and lean at the same time. There are other legacy issues with the current system such as a lack of animation support for rotation, stance changes, or weapon actions.
[video]http://media.tripwirecdn.com/011419/lean_hue.webm[/video]
The new system supports movement while leaning as well as stance changes and various weapon actions. This makes "slicing the pie", or the ability to aim while rounding a corner, easier while maintaining a leaned stance. You will also be able to switch to a grenade, weapon, reload, etc, without moving out of your leaned position.
[video]http://media.tripwirecdn.com/011419/lean_cuchi.webm[/video]
Weapon Balance
According to the recent Community Survey, a majority of you agree that the Australian weapons really underperform. We agree too. Recoil and general weapon handling is being reviewed - these weapons will receive buffs:
Additionally, there are other weapons that are due for a buff. I won't get into details about those changes yet, but we will have a round or two of CTB feedback regarding these changes when they are ready.
There are few weapons which will receive a nerf:
Sniper Scopes
Overall, sniper scopes have been moved closer to the camera, allowing for more zoomable screen real estate. Smaller optics like the scope found on the 1891/30 PU have their iron sight sensitivity increased, allowing them to be more agile for medium distance shooting.
Additionally, the 1891/30 PU's reticle will be centered like it was in RO2. Its current reticle position is realistic but not user friendly at all.
Loadout Changes
Loadout changes are coming to every faction. The goal here is to better distribute primary weapons between different roles and allow for more weapon choices.
The following images show primary weapon selection for each Army's Roles throughout the war, including Early, Mid and Late War weapon loadouts. Weapon names that are bold are new additions to the Role and a strike-thru weapon name means it has been removed from the Role.
Early War (1965-1967)
Mid War (1968-1972)
Late War (1973-1975)
Feedback regarding Campaign weapon loadouts are welcomed. We are looking to finalize these changes for update 1.3.
Campaign Ability and Initiative Changes
Currently both teams have one "special ability" that can be used every 3 turns during the Campaign. This will be changed to be automatically applied Army specific bonuses. When a specific Army is used during the Campaign, its bonus will be applied to the results of the battle automatically. Some Armies will be more useful than other Armies, depending on the situation in the war.
Additionally, we want to introduce mechanics for the Initiative to exchange hands more often, rather than always going to the winner of the previous battle. This will give both teams more chances to decide the staging area of the next battle.
Level Requirements for More Roles
We are looking at introducing level requirements to roles that tend to require more skill such as Pilots and Marksman. New level requirements would not be very high but will allow us to funnel players through simpler infantry roles before moving on to roles that have a bigger impact on the team.
Changes to Objectives
Points will be awarded incrementally every few seconds while spending time in a Objective that's being captured. Players will still receive points for a completed capture on an enemy objective.
Squad Leader and Squad bonuses will be allowed to stack, rewarding teams who put whole squads in the objective with faster capture / uncapture rates.
Objectives already being captured lose the "progress" if the attackers on the objective are killed - they will now lose that progress much slower than before, if there is no-one on the objective. This allows attacking waves more time to take advantage of progress already made on an objective after a team wipe.
Objectives that are occupied by more than 1 enemy will block an Objective's capture but will not block capture progress. An objective will be allowed to progress to 99% but will not fully complete if more than one enemy occupies the Objective's capture area. Two or more enemies in an objective can stall out an opposing force from completing capturing a point, allowing reinforcements to provide backup to the contested objective. Additionally, this means that attacking teams cannot just overpower an objective by having more players in the objective and avoiding engagements with the enemy altogether.
We are going to try out reducing the distance North Vietnamese's Squad Tunnels can be placed from an objective to help Squad Leaders find useful spots for their tunnels close to an objective when attacking or defending.
Radioman
Radioman will have an option to spawn on the team's Commander in addition to the other spawns normally available to a squad member.
Changes to AH-1 Cobra Gunner Ammunition
Currently the Cobra's Gunner position has 50 grenades in its chin turret (M129 Grenade Launcher). This number of grenades allows the Cobra Gunner to shoot wildly into the jungle and destroy tunnels / squads of players without any concern for precision.
The number of grenades given to the Cobra's Gunner position will be reduced to 30 from 50.
We'll have more on future additions soon, so stay tuned!
We want to start 2019 off on the right foot by communicating what we have planned for the next 2 updates. Please note that some of this information may be vague as details can change through playtesting and feedback. Our goal is to share with you the high level goals for these updates so we can start a public discussion regarding major changes to the game.
What about "X"?
You're probably wondering, where is the M113? Are we getting any new weapons? Etc.
All of that is still being worked on, but the point of this discussion is to highlight what is changing, not what is new. We will be discussing all newly coming content in a future post.
Anti-Vote Kicking Abuse
We've heard your complaints about griefers abusing the vote kicking system, plus microphone spamming as Spectators. Changes are coming to address these issues and here are the highlights:
- Players will not be allowed to change teams if a vote against them is in progress
- Disallow Spectators from communicating via Voice Chat
- Limit how often players can change teams
- Additional logging for Admins to see who is starting vote kicks and who is being voted against
I was boosted to level 99 but want to go back my original level
Some players were boosted to level 99 by a modified community server around the time the Christmas event kicked off. We do not have the capability to revert or rollback accounts to a previous level. However, we want to implement an option that allows the player to reset themselves to any level they want if they are currently level 99.
Map Balance
The following maps will be reviewed and modified to allow for a better balance between attacker and defender wins/loss ratios.
- VNTE-ASau
- VNTE-Resort
- VNTE-AnLaoValley
- VNTE-QuangTri
- VNTE-LongTan
- VNSU-HueCity
Major Revision to Territories Song Be
The Territories version of Song Be does not get played very often so we are planning a major revision to make this map more interesting and fun to play. Stay tuned for more details.
Overhauled Leaning System
Currently in progress is a major overhaul of how Leaning works in RS2. Currently the Leaning system does not allow you to move and lean at the same time. There are other legacy issues with the current system such as a lack of animation support for rotation, stance changes, or weapon actions.
[video]http://media.tripwirecdn.com/011419/lean_hue.webm[/video]
The new system supports movement while leaning as well as stance changes and various weapon actions. This makes "slicing the pie", or the ability to aim while rounding a corner, easier while maintaining a leaned stance. You will also be able to switch to a grenade, weapon, reload, etc, without moving out of your leaned position.
[video]http://media.tripwirecdn.com/011419/lean_cuchi.webm[/video]
Weapon Balance
According to the recent Community Survey, a majority of you agree that the Australian weapons really underperform. We agree too. Recoil and general weapon handling is being reviewed - these weapons will receive buffs:
- L1A1
- L2A1
- Owen Gun
- F1 SMG
Additionally, there are other weapons that are due for a buff. I won't get into details about those changes yet, but we will have a round or two of CTB feedback regarding these changes when they are ready.
- M1917 Revolver
- MAT-49
- Makarov
- M1911
- M3A1 Grease Gun
- SKS
- M1 and M2 Carbine
- M18 Claymore
- Type 56 / 56-1
- M1918 BAR
There are few weapons which will receive a nerf:
- M1 Garand
- M1A1 Thompson
- 00 Buckshot
Sniper Scopes
Overall, sniper scopes have been moved closer to the camera, allowing for more zoomable screen real estate. Smaller optics like the scope found on the 1891/30 PU have their iron sight sensitivity increased, allowing them to be more agile for medium distance shooting.
Additionally, the 1891/30 PU's reticle will be centered like it was in RO2. Its current reticle position is realistic but not user friendly at all.
Loadout Changes
Loadout changes are coming to every faction. The goal here is to better distribute primary weapons between different roles and allow for more weapon choices.
The following images show primary weapon selection for each Army's Roles throughout the war, including Early, Mid and Late War weapon loadouts. Weapon names that are bold are new additions to the Role and a strike-thru weapon name means it has been removed from the Role.
Early War (1965-1967)
Mid War (1968-1972)
Late War (1973-1975)
Feedback regarding Campaign weapon loadouts are welcomed. We are looking to finalize these changes for update 1.3.
Campaign Ability and Initiative Changes
Currently both teams have one "special ability" that can be used every 3 turns during the Campaign. This will be changed to be automatically applied Army specific bonuses. When a specific Army is used during the Campaign, its bonus will be applied to the results of the battle automatically. Some Armies will be more useful than other Armies, depending on the situation in the war.
Additionally, we want to introduce mechanics for the Initiative to exchange hands more often, rather than always going to the winner of the previous battle. This will give both teams more chances to decide the staging area of the next battle.
Level Requirements for More Roles
We are looking at introducing level requirements to roles that tend to require more skill such as Pilots and Marksman. New level requirements would not be very high but will allow us to funnel players through simpler infantry roles before moving on to roles that have a bigger impact on the team.
Changes to Objectives
Points will be awarded incrementally every few seconds while spending time in a Objective that's being captured. Players will still receive points for a completed capture on an enemy objective.
Squad Leader and Squad bonuses will be allowed to stack, rewarding teams who put whole squads in the objective with faster capture / uncapture rates.
Objectives already being captured lose the "progress" if the attackers on the objective are killed - they will now lose that progress much slower than before, if there is no-one on the objective. This allows attacking waves more time to take advantage of progress already made on an objective after a team wipe.
Objectives that are occupied by more than 1 enemy will block an Objective's capture but will not block capture progress. An objective will be allowed to progress to 99% but will not fully complete if more than one enemy occupies the Objective's capture area. Two or more enemies in an objective can stall out an opposing force from completing capturing a point, allowing reinforcements to provide backup to the contested objective. Additionally, this means that attacking teams cannot just overpower an objective by having more players in the objective and avoiding engagements with the enemy altogether.
We are going to try out reducing the distance North Vietnamese's Squad Tunnels can be placed from an objective to help Squad Leaders find useful spots for their tunnels close to an objective when attacking or defending.
Radioman
Radioman will have an option to spawn on the team's Commander in addition to the other spawns normally available to a squad member.
Changes to AH-1 Cobra Gunner Ammunition
Currently the Cobra's Gunner position has 50 grenades in its chin turret (M129 Grenade Launcher). This number of grenades allows the Cobra Gunner to shoot wildly into the jungle and destroy tunnels / squads of players without any concern for precision.
The number of grenades given to the Cobra's Gunner position will be reduced to 30 from 50.
We'll have more on future additions soon, so stay tuned!