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March Update Patch Notes
Greetings pilots!
On March 27, we'll be releasing our next major update for HAWKEN. The main focuses for this patch are balance adjustments, new cockpit customizations and several general feature improvements.
One of the most significant changes was to overall mech speed. We're pleased to announce that #increasethespeeds was a success and all overall mech movement speed has seen a decent increase in this patch. Another major addition is that of Challenge Modes in Co-Op. Players can now vote to apply special, game-changing properties to Co-Op matches and earn extra HAWKEN Credits as well as other rewards for completing challenges.
Below are the detailed patch notes for our March update. Enjoy!
Special Notices
- Overflow XP
- The Overflow and Universal XP system has been simplified so that Overflow XP is automatically transferred off max XP mechs into the Universal pool. Now, only 1 transaction is required to apply Universal XP to another mech. As a result of this, any previous XP that players had paid to be converted will be in the new Free Overflow pool.
- Updated messaging to represent changes to the Overflow system.
- Updated Post Match mech panel to display Overflow and free XP earned.
- We increased the amount of XP given for XP Transfers. Use to be 66 XP for 1 MC. It is now 120 XP for 1 MC.
- The Overflow and Universal XP system has been simplified so that Overflow XP is automatically transferred off max XP mechs into the Universal pool. Now, only 1 transaction is required to apply Universal XP to another mech. As a result of this, any previous XP that players had paid to be converted will be in the new Free Overflow pool.
- Team Balancing
- We made significant changes to team balancing in order to fix the numerical imbalances we've been seeing. More weight will now be placed on factors such as the size of each team and which team is losing or winning when determining where new players are placed.
- Parties may now be split up for a team switch if no one volunteers. If a player is switched in this manner, they will receive the same bonus as a player that volunteers.
- We made significant changes to team balancing in order to fix the numerical imbalances we've been seeing. More weight will now be placed on factors such as the size of each team and which team is losing or winning when determining where new players are placed.
- Mech Test Drives
- Any XP earned on a Test Drive mech will now be saved for the player. 90% of the XP earned will go into the normal Universal XP pool and 10% will go into the Free Overflow pool. The XP located here can be transferred to other mechs for free.
- The maximum FOV angle has been increased to 110 degrees and can no longer be manually adjusted to go any higher.
- Players that are team-switched will now receive a Hawken Credit reward in appreciation (shown as “TEAM BALANCE BONUS” on the post-match earnings page).
- If a player leaves in the middle of a match they will not earn any Hawken Credit rewards.
- Added an "Abandoned" statistic that is counted as a loss when calculating win/loss ratio. This will not affect players who are disconnected involuntarily.
General
- Increased run speed and boost speed for all mechs by 2 meters/sec unless specified otherwise.
- Added a 0.4 second delay to fuel regeneration after dodging.
- Dodging now causes mechs to appear on radar.
- Players can no longer fire their weapons immediately after boosting.
- Brawler
- Increased boost speed from 21.6 to 24.3 meters/sec
- Increased run speed from 12 to 14.5 meters/sec
- Decreased fuel tank from 130 to 126 liters
- Increased boost speed from 21.6 to 24.3 meters/sec
- Raider
- Increased armor from 480 to 515
- Increased boost speed from 32.4 to 33.7 meters/sec
- Increased overheat recovery from 4.25 to 5 seconds
- Increased armor from 480 to 515
- Predator
- Dodging now causes the Predator's cloak to temporarily break
- Incinerator
- Increased fuel generation from 7.77 to 8.5 liters/sec
- Grenadier
- Increased boost speed from 24.1 to 26.5 meters/sec
- Increased run speed from 14 to 16.5 meters/sec
- Increased boost speed from 24.1 to 26.5 meters/sec
- Brawler
- T32-Bolt
- Increased damage from 12.375 to 15
- Decreased time per shot from 0.3 to 0.2 seconds
- Increased falloff distance from 110 to 150 meters
- Increased damage from 12.375 to 15
- EOC Repeater
- Increased mine lifetime from 5 to 7 seconds
- Increased direct hit damage from 11 to 13
- Increased mine lifetime from 5 to 7 seconds
- Seeker
- Decreased damage from 55 to 50
- Corsair-KLA
- Increased damage per projectile from 18.75 to 21
- Flak Cannon
- Decreased damage from 14.85 to 13.5
- HE Charge
- The HE Charge can now be detonated in mid-air by pressing the deployment hotkey.
- Hologram
- Healing drones are now visible on holograms.
- Repair Charge
- Thrown Repair Charge items will now have a small disc base on the charge. It can also be thrown a bit further on a fully charged toss, similar to the Heat Charge.
- Heat Dispersion (Incinerator)
- Added damage falloff. Enemies within the inner radius (16 meters) will take full damage. Enemies outside the inner radius will take a percentage of the full damage depending on distance.
- This ability can now be used on the post-match carousel.
- Increased damage radius from 32 to 36 meters.
- Added damage falloff. Enemies within the inner radius (16 meters) will take full damage. Enemies outside the inner radius will take a percentage of the full damage depending on distance.
- Turret Mode (All)
- It is no longer possible to spam the turret mode animation.
- Turret mode now features a walk animation when moving instead of sliding.
- It is no longer possible to spam the turret mode animation.
- Turret Mode (Grenadier)
- Now has unique effects for the more powerful projectiles.
- General
- In order to earn daily win achievements, the player must now be in the match for a minimum period of time (currently 3 minutes for Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch and 5 minutes for Missile Assault and Siege).
- The health trigger for the "Heavy Damage" base warning was changed from 500 to 750.
- Time in the pre-match pen is no longer considered as part of match time.
- The health trigger for the "Critical Damage" base warning was changed from 200 to 300.
- In order to earn daily win achievements, the player must now be in the match for a minimum period of time (currently 3 minutes for Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch and 5 minutes for Missile Assault and Siege).
- Co-Op
- NEW Challenge Modes
- Players can now vote on various challenges to earn special rewards in Co-Op.
- Speed Freaks
- Enemy movement speed is increased by 250%
- Enemy armor is decreased by 25%
- Reward: 150 Hawken Credits (Daily), 15 Holo Emote Charges
- Enemy movement speed is increased by 250%
- Glass Cannon
- Enemy armor is decreased by 25%
- Enemy damage is increased 150%
- Reward: 150 Hawken Credits (Daily), 35 Consumable Charges
- Enemy armor is decreased by 25%
- Trust Your Eye
- Indicators are only visible when your reticle is on a target.
- Radar is disabled, rely on your direct vision!
- Reward: 150 Hawken Credits (Daily), 1,500 XP
- Indicators are only visible when your reticle is on a target.
- Speed Freaks
- Players can now vote on various challenges to earn special rewards in Co-Op.
- NEW Challenge Modes
- Last Eco
- Blocked off an unfair sniping spot above a large rock formation overlooking the AA from the blue base. This spot was extremely unfair for the opposing team since it was near the spawn area and the base turret would protect their flanks.
- NEW Cockpit Customization
- Cockpit Decorations
- Cup of Noodles
- Fire Extinguisher
- Tow Rocket
- Hellfire Missiles
- Red Puffer
- Green Puffer
- Cup of Noodles
- HUD Colors
- Can now manually adjust colors for friend, foe and neutral HUD indicators.
- Custom Reticles
- The initial "friend online" notification will now show a number for friends online, rather than displaying one notification for each player.
- Game chat messages that are not allowed due to spam prevention will no longer be deleted. You will be notified of the spam prevention and your last attempted message will remain in the chat box for an easy resend.
- Server status ticker added to menus.
- Added match length to post-match statistics.
- Added a numerical scale for weapon statistics to the weapon statistic display.
- On the garage/cosmetic screens, healing drones and taunts can be viewed by pressing their respective hotkeys.
- Players can now purchase Meteor Credits and redeem product codes from the Market menu.
- Killstreaks are now shown on player indicators and on the visor
- Neutral color skull = 1 kill
- Friendly color skull = 5 kills
- Foe color skull = 5 enemy kills
- Neutral color skull = 1 kill
- Current view direction now remains when exiting healing instead of resetting the mech orientation.
- Cosmetics now equip correctly after making bulk purchase in Cosmetics during Post Match.
- The missile silo UI for Missile Assault will no longer rarely show only one silo indicator.
- Turret mode collision box now extends to the ground. Grenades can no longer be shot under it.
- Players can no longer use the Blockade to get on top of towers on Origin.
- Ties in Deathmatch are now appropriately reflected on the post-match results. Two tied players will each see themselves above the other.
- Color-block paint patterns now look consistent on all mechs.
- The Vanguard and Rocketeer's turret mode will now give the correct damage reduction.
- In the VR Training, players no longer hover forward at a slower rate than in other game types.
- In the key bindings UI, secondary key bindings will now be assigned to the second spot instead of the first.
- The Kill Cam now highlights the Technician's weapon instead of Technician image.
- In Co-Op, the AI health bar on top of the UI no longer becomes wider than UI when AI upgrades armor.
- At high FOVs, cockpit and items are clear and no longer blurry.
- Switching to Japanese/Russian language will now give instructions on what to do next (now prompts the player in original language to restart).
- Players can no longer instantly fire when jumping after a boost.
- The key bindings UI now updates properly if the player changes a key binding to a number.
- EU from battleships no longer gets stuck on sky collision boxes on Origin.
- Fixed a bug where AA missiles would miss the ship and fail to damage it.
- Fixed Siege battleship turret missile visually hitting itself on rare occasions.
- Fixed a broken/empty mech showing on winner’s carousel if a player had left the game.
- Fixed recoil animations on the G2 Assault.
- G2 Assault and Predator third-person weapons no longer appear mirrored from what first person shows.
- The Fred BSOD skin is now represented on holograms
- Fixed softlock with the cursor unable to move when logging back in at the garage after a network disconnection.
- Reduced strong flickering shadows on cockpit that happened in certain areas on medium/low settings.
- Fixed a bug where no sound would be heard when destroying deployable turrets/scanners/scramblers.
- Post-match results scale/spacing altered for less overlap.
- The Co-Op spectator camera should now be smoother.
- The turret mode spectator camera should now be smoother.
- Fixed mouse buttons stuck on rotating if a popup dialog appeared while rotating mech.
- If a player's own grenade bounces into his mech, it explodes now instead of going through.
- Base lifter activation distance/position is now more consistent and slightly lower.
- Fixed the end animation for repair mode not playing in certain cases.
- Fixed joining match in progress not showing proper scoreboard.
- Fixed a bug where an off-screen objective below you might rotate 360 degrees around screen instead of shortest path.
- Fixed locked radar rotation not showing proper positions for points above or below player.
- Fixed a bug where Shields could be placed on a mech's head and stuck there.
- Improved visibility for EU/health orb collection effects.
- Fixed possibility of wrong loading screens showing if config updating changed order of lines.
- Sound for depositing EU in base lifter is now audible.
- Fixed a bug where running into EU trees could cause poppy/bouncy collision.
- Applied camos no longer affect Incinerator progression chassis pieces.
- Fixed turrets showing an active ability indicator.
- Fixed a bug where a mech needed to be re-saved if camo sliders were adjusted.
- RD-SC4NNER animation deploys 3 seconds faster, to sync up with actual repair time.
237 Comments
Ashfire908
Mar 25 2014 05:45 PM
Silverfire
Mar 25 2014 05:53 PM
LoC_TR
Mar 25 2014 05:54 PM
Estif
Mar 25 2014 05:56 PM
- Players that are team-switched will now receive a Hawken Credit reward in appreciation (shown as “TEAM BALANCE BONUS” on the post-match earnings page).
- If a player leaves in the middle of a match they will not earn any Hawken Credit rewards.
- Added an "Abandoned" statistic that is counted as a loss when calculating win/loss ratio. This will not affect players who are disconnected involuntarily.
This is beautiful ;_;OdinTheWise
Mar 25 2014 05:57 PM
DFTR
Mar 25 2014 05:59 PM
Feel aerial attacks and retreats may still be too strong; but I have to see how it feels once ground movements are taken into consideration_
I feel dense for not realizing this but which one's the Blue base_ Prossk_ Sentium_ I thought we were always blue whichever team we took_ I think they're talking about Sentium (western most base_)
KejiGoto
Mar 25 2014 06:00 PM
TheFrostnessMonster
Mar 25 2014 06:05 PM
Love they way this update is going, keep up the good work. Thanks for the speed buffs, etc. Time to go own with My raider
Love you guys
TetsuyaHikari
Mar 25 2014 06:05 PM
005Wxp
Mar 25 2014 06:09 PM
PhasmaFelis
Mar 25 2014 06:16 PM
I was told before that Test Drive XP stayed with the Test Drive mech, and you acquired it if/when you bought the mech in future. Was that true_ I think I liked that better than this, true or not...
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EU from battleships no longer gets stuck on sky collision boxes on Origin.
These, too.
Hijinks_The_Turtle
Mar 25 2014 06:16 PM
Other than that, this looks pretty good.
Dorro
Mar 25 2014 06:19 PM
borsdy
Mar 25 2014 06:21 PM
Quote
These are a priddy big deal in my mind, great work
PlagueDoctor
Mar 25 2014 06:25 PM
But for the most part yay for the changes!
Sirjj
Mar 25 2014 06:29 PM
Luminescent
Mar 25 2014 06:29 PM
I'm pretty sure they are referring to the spot I marked in the map below
Superkamikazee
Mar 25 2014 06:30 PM
Not to sound like a whiny gamer here, but can full controller support be looked into_ I'm building a basement home theater with a projector, htpc, 7.1 surround sound, and would love to not have to use a keyboard to launch a game etc. Now that Hawken is on Steam (big picture mode) I think full controller support may be something to address.
burns1124
Mar 25 2014 06:31 PM
h0B0
Mar 25 2014 06:32 PM
And these patch notes contain a perfect example of the behavior i brought up.
This gameplay mechanic was pointed out publicly by hawkenites for as long as i remember. It even apeared on one of the first cockpit shows near OB launch. As far as i know we've received no feedback from the devs stating that this was an unwanted mechanic, i've seen no feedback from the community complaining about this mechanic.
This isn't the first time a change like this has been seen. We've lost the ability to use items whilst repairing and turrets now have collision.
All these mechanics have one thing in common they were never announced as broken or intended. And when changed can lead the reader to not understand the design choices behind them.
These are extreme cases but they apply to all balance changes in this patch. Why did the EOC get a buff_ Doesn't it already ahve the highest burst potential primary_ Why was there a delay added to fuel regen after dodging when there is already a delay_
shosca
Mar 25 2014 06:39 PM
Add a det or he and you go over 370
Phantasmo
Mar 25 2014 06:50 PM
Fivelon
Mar 25 2014 06:52 PM
ropefish
Mar 25 2014 07:07 PM
Darigaaz
Mar 25 2014 07:18 PM