In this latest edition of Designer's Notes, we'll go into detail about the balancing changes that'll come with the Y8S1.2 Balancing Test Server and give you some insight into the reasons behind them.

BALANCING MATRIX AND TOP OPERATOR BANS

WIN DELTA VS. PRESENCE

Please note that we are using presence to gauge the popularity of an Operator. This notion had to be introduced to reflect the implementation of the pick & ban.

Presence definition: pick rate of an Operator when not banned. Win Delta: The Win Delta is aggregated from Operator's Win Deltas per Bomb Site.

OPERATOR BAN RATE

OPERATOR BALANCE

CAPITÃO

SMOKE DART

• Duration: Increased to 11s (from 9).

The Smoke Dart and Smoke Grenade both share the same visuals and utility therefore it's only natural to normalize the duration across the board.

KAPKAN

9x19VSN

• Sights: Removed 1.5x.

Kapkan has a highly lethal kit. It gives him a variety of different ways to kill his enemies. By removing the 1.5x sight from his weapon, he will need to be more careful with direct engagements and rely a bit more on his utility.

ORYX

T-5

• Sights: Removed 1.5x.

Oryx's popularity has increased season over season. Players are enjoying his ability to rotate faster than any other defender and surprise attackers. Since the change of his primary weapon, his presence has increased more than 25% and his KD is one of the highest at the moment.

The addition of the 1.5x sight to Oryx's kit brought attention to him. The T-5 with this sight is an extremely powerful combination (which is why we took it away from Lesion back in Y5S4). So now that players have realized the potential of Oryx's abilities, we'll be removing the sight.

WAMAI

MP5K

• Sights: Add 1.5x.

Last year, Wamai was hit twice in a row. First by removing the 1.5x from the MP5K and then by increasing the recoil of the AUG. The combination of these two changes have caused his win delta to suffer more than we anticipated, so he will recover the sight.

TACHANKA

SHUMIKHA LAUNCHER

• Ammunition: Increased to 20 projectiles (from 14).
• Magazine size: Reduced to 5 (from 7).

9x19VSN

• Sights: Added 1.5x and 2.0x.

Having a launcher equipped as a defender is dangerous, as it can leave you exposed to a rushing attacker. but we still believe that launchers can be viable on defense, so we will continue exploring ways to find their fit in the game.

We've previously improved Tachanka's Shumikha Launcher, to make it more reliable at ranges other operators can't match, but with this update we want to focus on improving how long he can deny an area. Tachanka was already one of the best in this category but because of his smaller area of denial it left players feeling they needed to use more projectiles to compensate. By increasing the number of projectiles, Tachanka can clearly be seen as the best option to deny a narrow area. However, as the game's fire system can be quite taxing, we will reduce the magazine size to prevent the stacking of too many areas in a short period of time.

WEAPON BALANCE

EXTENDED BARREL

BASE STATS

• Damage bonus: Reduced to 12% (from 15%).

The initial reaction to the Extended Barrel rework was like that of the Silencer, in that it was the potential dawn of a new meta. It is easier to see the benefit of a flat damage increase with the Extended Barrel versus gaining a perk while leaving damage untouched as with the Silencer.

Normally the pick rate of a new change goes up drastically because of the novelty and starts to fall after time is spent playing to evaluate the pros and cons. While this evolution stays mostly true in high ranks, it hasn't been the case in lower ranks where we have seen the presence of the attachment go up slowly.

While veteran players tend to evaluate the usefulness of the new attachment depending on how they will play, the rest of the population is seeing the damage buff as something good to always have. We, instead want the selection of an attachment to be a thoughtful decision.

We've been happy with the effect the Extended Barrel's adjustments have had on the game, but we will reduce the damage bonus to make the decision to use it a bit tougher.

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