[PTS] PTS Update - 7/11

[PSNews]

PTS was updated yesterday evening with some potential fixes and additions to the game. Please log in to PTS, check them out (especially the squad stuff) and let us know if you see any issues with these changes via the /bug command. Thanks.

Squad Changes

Squad Creation

Players can now modify their squad’s default description, as well as basic recruitment and mentor status in the squad finder before pressing the Squad Create button.

Fireteams

Players are now filtered into fireteams upon entering a squad by default.

Any fireteam with less than 3 members will receive the auto-filled members.

Fireteam size is not restricted, and functions the same as it has in the past.

The default fireteam is now Hearts, though will likely change to Diamond in the future.

Outfit Hosting

Squads can now be flagged to “Host as Outfit.”

When a squad leader leaves or disconnects, leadership will be first passed to other outfit members.

If there are no remaining outfit members in the squad, instead of passing off leadership, the squad will disband.

Auto-Platoon

You can now flag a squad to automatically convert itself into a Platoon when new players are added.

Previously, you had to move a squad member to a new squad to “open” it for recruitment.

Additionally, newly created squads within the platoon will inherit alpha squad’s recruitment preferences (friends only, outfit only, private or public, etc.)

Mentor Squads

Squads can now be flagged as a “Mentor” squad.

Mentor squads cannot be turned into platoons.

Players BR15 and lower that using the auto-squad finder will prioritize being inserted into available Mentor squads over non-Mentor squads.

More to come on this feature in later updates.

Misc.

In the squad window, you can now right-click anywhere on a squad member’s bar to receive the options dropdown, instead of having to click the button directly.

The “/platoon promoteme” command has been removed.

Additional UI Improvements and Fixes

Map regions can now be colored separately in the UI from Facilities.

Events and alerts that are triggered on off continents no longer appear on the HUD of your main continent.

You can now see the alert status of continents that you're not currently on, from the map screen.

TAB screen once again shows alert status.

Implants

We’ve added a number of new implants for your perusal on the Test server, with more to come. You can find the “Implant Test Bundle” in the depot, which will unlock all currently available Test Server implants. These have not yet been added to the standard drop tables, and many of them are currently a work in progress. In the future we’ll be granting the ability to purchase implants with ISO-4 alongside other ISO economy changes.

New Implants

• Survivalist: Increases shield recharge rate and grants a temporary sprint speed boost when at low health.
• Athlete: Increases sprint acceleration, deceleration, and how quickly you get your hold-breath back.
• Sidewinder: Increases strafing speed at the cost of lower strafing acceleration and deceleration.
• Paratrooper: Light Assault only. Player takes less damage from targets directly beneath them. This implant will likely be redesigned in a later update.
• Electrotech: Engineer only. When your shields break, a pulse of repairing nanites will restore the health of nearby equipment.
• Mobility Mesh: Heavy Assault only. Reduces the mobility penalty while your shield is active.
• Mending Field: Medic only. Nearby allies who are critically wounded heal passively up to a certain amount of health.
• Symbiote: Passively grants a 20% small arms resistance that doesn't stack with Nanoweave Armor. If you’ve gone a certainly length of time without taking small arms damage, the symbiote will devour a portion of your health pool periodically.
• Gunslinger: Kills with sidearms increase your reload speed for a short time.
• Firewall: Infiltrator only. You can now interact with allied turrets to embed them with a firewall which increases the turret’s health pool, and provides an extra layer of defense when enemy Infiltrators attempt to hack them.

Implant Adjustments

Sensor Shield

Detection range reduction has been buffed for all ranks, and the rank 5 benefit (coldsuit) has been shifted to Sidewinder as a rank-5 benefit. This is still in flux, but Sensor Shield would receive something new in its stay, possibly reduced awareness range of automated turrets.

• Rank 1: From within 45m to within 30m
• Rank 2: From within 42m to within 26m
• Rank 3: From within 35m to within 20m
• Rank 4: From within 15m to within 10m

Minor Cloak

Fixed a bug that could turn your class ability on by attempting to fire your weapon while cloaked.

Uncloak delay for firing your weapon from 1.25sec. to 1sec.

Moving within Minor Cloak will no longer immediately reset your cloak countdown (but will immediately uncloak you per usual.) Now, the less time you spend moving, the faster you’ll be able to recloak.

Firing your weapon now resets the Minor Cloak countdown, ensuring that players no longer accidentally fall into minor cloak while engaged in combat.

Dev Note: This implant should now be more usable, while also feeling less clunky.

Assimilate

Tier 5 benefit from 30% of current energy restore to 10% of maximum energy restore.

Dev Note: Restructuring this benefit reduces the overwhelming synergy with Adrenaline Shield, while resulting in higher energy returns in situations where you’d normally deplete or get close to depleting your energy, since it no longer bases the regeneration on your current energy supply.

Nanomesh Specialist - Heavy Assault

Your overshield abilities now decay 50/55/65/80/80% slower while stationary, and 25/28/33/40/40% slower while moving. Rank 5: Your depleted overshield no longer has a delay before it begins recharging.

Dev Note: The rank 5 bonus and progression from ranks 1-4 have been swapped, and increased to be more useful in more situations.

Deep Operative – Infiltrator

Whenever you spend longer than a total of 30/26/20/12/12 seconds outside of cloak without taking damage, your cloak's visibility will be reduced by 75%. Dying or taking damage from enemy sources will reset the benefit countdown. Rank 5: Killing an enemy will remove 3 seconds from the countdown.

Dev Note: The small cloak visibility reduction of the previous Deep Operative was too weak to be noticed, and increasing that benefit as a passive could have turned out too strong. The middle ground now requires the Infiltrator to spend some time outside of cloak in order to accumulate the benefit of having a deeper one. We've also removed the rank 5 scan mechanic in place of a benefit that lets the player more quickly return to their enhanced cloak state.

Aerial Combatant – Light Assault

Now works consistently.

Fuel restorations are now the same percentage of maximum fuel, regardless of jump jet type.

Vehicle kills at rank 5 now restore 30% jump jet fuel.

Deployables no longer trigger Aerial Combatant.

Dev Note: These changes are mostly centered around cleaning up the implant, and offering a small increase on the energy return through vehicle kills.

Implants Misc. Changes

Implant Screen now allows filtering of Exceptional implants.

Breakdown Implants button now works if a filter is active.

Overdrive implant should work once again.

Infantry

Heavy Assault

Active Heavy Assault shields are no longer disabled when entering vehicles.

Added more specifics to Resist Shield, Adrenaline Shield, and Nanite Mesh Generator descriptions.

Nanite Mesh Generator first-cost from 12.5 energy to 10 energy.

Adrenaline Shield first-cost from 18 energy to 25 energy.

Dev Note: This change grants a small buff to NMG, a small nerf to Adrenaline Shield, and allows Heavy Assaults to retain active shields while in the rumble seat of a vehicle, this includes being the driver of a Flash, provided you turn on the shield before entering.

Misc. Additions, Changes, and Fixes

Summer Event items should be available on public test server.

Streamlined the way vehicle discounts from the Aerial Anomaly events work, potential performance improvements to be had, but won’t know without large-scale testing.

Shield shaders should no longer create a tearing reflection near the edges of the screen. This was most commonly seen while placing or viewing construction objects.

Fixed various MAX Ammunition Container bugs.

Reduced floating feet in idle animations.

Fixed knife sprinting animations.

Source: Planetside 2 Test Server: Announcements