Y4S1 Designer’s Notes: Pre-Season

We have a few changes that will have an impact on gameplay. We are currently in the process of making tweaks and adjustments to some of the high impact Operators, while we continue reworks for Operators like Lion in the background.

These changes will come with the Y4S1 patch, and will be available on the Y4S1 Test Server. Please note that not all changes are final, and we will monitor feedback during the Test Server.

Ash

• Removed ACOG from R4-C

Ash is very popular, and very strong. Within the balancing team, we are challenging whether or not all Attackers have ACOGs by default, and feel as if Ash is a great place to learn what impact the removal of Attacking ACOGs will have. Also, her R4-C is currently picked 99% of the time, and this should help balance her weapon pick rate a bit more.

Maverick

• Increase swap time between SURI Torch and weapons

His ability to quietly make a hole in a reinforced wall and quickly swap to a weapon to punish Defenders is difficult to counter, so we will be increasing the amount of time it will take for him to swap from the blowtorch to a weapon.

We investigated making the sound louder, but that will require audio work that we cannot complete right now, and is therefore on the backlog of potential future changes.

Dokkaebi

• After 18 seconds, phone calls from Dokkaebi will hang up on their own
• Being in range of Mute jammers will prevent Dokkaebi from calling you
• Walking into range of Mute jammers will hang up phone calls during the call

Our goal with these changes is to reduce the Defender’s frustration when playing against Dokkaebi. By introducing additional options for countering her Logic Bomb will offer more choice for Defenders.

Capitao

• Increasing area of effect size
• Reducing damage per tick from 19 to 12

We are introducing an improved propagation system that will make the area of effect not to go through objects. We have been working in this new version for a long time and, finally, we are able to see it in action with Capitao’s asphyxiating bolts.

This new system allows us to improve the area of effect and, consequently, to reduce the damage inflicted by the bolts. With these changes we want to shift Capitao back to his original intention, which is that of an area denial Operator. Currently, his asphyxiating bolts are being used almost like a frag grenade, so the damage reduction and area of effect increase should reduce the viability of these asphyxiating bolts being used as frag grenades.

We will also be using the Test Server to experiment with different methods for how the area of effect from asphyxiating bolts interacts with the environment. We are looking for ways to increase how dynamic this area of effect can be when encountering environments with variable heights. Here is an example:

Clash

• Removing Muzzle Brake on Machine Pistol

The Muzzle Brake on Clash’s Machine Pistol is the worst choice in all scenarios now that it is fully automatic, so we are removing it.

Lesion

• Reduced Gu Mines damage per tick from 8 to 4

Lesion is currently very strong, and we believe that it has to do with the total amount of damage that Gu Mines can inflict to player combined with preventing sprint and defuser planting actions. In order to minimize that, we are reducing the amount of damage that a single Gu Mine can do each tick.

Breaching Charges

• Deployment animation is much faster
• Damage on Attacker’s side is reduced from 150 to 50
• Damage area of effect on Defender side is increased
• Lethal damage area of effect on Defender side is reduced

We wanted to make the breach charge safer and more comfortable for the attackers to use.

Current Status

Deployable Shield

We are reworking the Deployable Shield, which has always been difficult to place properly, and also offered very little insight into whether or not your body was protected. We are reworking how the Deployable Shield functions, and how it is used within the game.

Shield Operators

We are aware that the current playstyle for ballistic shields heavily favors direct gunfights instead of teamwork and tactical positioning. We are looking to address it by slowing down the speed of aiming down sights while having a shield equipped.

Lion

As mentioned in the intro, and in the Designer’s Notes from Y3S4.2, the Lion rework is in progress. More details at the Six Invitational!

Glaz

We want to bring Glaz back to the original intention of being able to hold an angle or corridor and lock it down without becoming a very strong entry fragger.

Blitz

We recognize that Blitz is one of the more frustrating Operators to play against. Increasing the amount of time required for him to aim down sights with his pistol is one of the ways we hope to alleviate this.

Additionally, we explored increasing the cooldown of his ability and tweaking how we detect flashes, but both of these changes will require extensive audio/code work, and are therefore on the backlog to look into for the future.