[PTS] July 15, 2019 - PTS Update

[PSNews]

Mentor System Expansion

Fresh recruits enter the battlefield on a daily basis, and now we're giving you more tools to get them into fighting shape!

Mentor Rating

We've introduced a new Mentor Rating system that recognizes veteran community members that have made it their goal to help new players.

Mentor Rating is earned each time a Mentor Ribbon is awarded. Mentor Ribbons can now only be earned while leading a Mentor Squad when players beneath BR30 earn battle ranks.

Mentor Rating decays slowly over time, so it needs to be maintained to keep the benefits.

Mentor Tiers

Mentor Rating is sorted into tiers for recognition. These tiers are shown when players are hosting Mentor squads in the squad finder.

In a later update we'll be making this tiering more visible.

• Copper Tier: 0 - 199
• Silver Tier: 201 - 499
• Gold Tier: 500 - 799
• Auraxium Tier: 800 - 1000

New Player (Welcome) chat

All players beneath battle rank 30 will have access to the New Player chat channel, where they can ask questions and receive answers from our most dedicated veterans.

Silver Tier and greater Mentors can also read and speak in this chat channel, and their name will be prefaced with the word "Mentor" for clarity.

Players can access this channel by using one of the following commands:

• /new
• /newplayer
• /mentor

Be Here for the Right Reasons

We didn't want this system to have too many gameplay rewards, because we want the players who pursue Mentor Rating to be doing so for the right reason, and that is to help new players.

PlanetSide 2 has a fairly violent learning curve, and the community is one of the most helpful resources new players have access to.

Be respectful and helpful in these channels, as we won't be tolerating any malicious behavior, and this can have very real implications on your account.

Infantry

Ambusher Jump Jets (Light Assault Ability)

• Ambusher Jump Jets now ticks up energy over time, instead of recharging instantly.
• Implants and other equipment that effect energy restoration (and consumption) now also impact Ambusher Jump Jets in a similar manner to other abilities.

Flight Suit (Light Assault Suit)

• Cooldown reduction on Ambusher Jump Jets has been removed.
• Now increases the regeneration rate of Ambusher Jump Jet fuel by 10/15/17.5/20%.

Paratrooper (Implant)

• Now affects Ambusher Jump Jets at all ranks.
• Energy regeneration from 2/3/4/5% to 3/4/5.5/8% restoration.
• Rank 5 benefit changed to reduce fall damage for 6 seconds, instead of increases bottom armor.

Aerial Combatant (Implant)

• Rank 5 benefit no longer instantly recharges Ambusher Jump Jets.
• Aerial Combatant now restores the same maximum fuel to Ambusher Jump Jets as it does to other jump jet types, at all ranks.

Failsafe(Implant)

• Now works with Ambusher Jump Jets at all ranks.

Assimilate (Implant)

• Rank 5 bonus now restores Ambusher Jump Jet energy as well.

Heavyweight (Implant)

• Now plays a particle effect on activation.

Survivalist (Implant)

• No longer triggers when health drops below 40% and instead triggers when the player's shield is depleted.

Dev Note: This change increases the effectiveness of Survivalist on non-Carapace loadouts.

Assassin (Implant)

• This implant has been restructured, and the percent chance to trigger has been removed.
• Kills beyond 150/125/100/50m will remove spot checks on the player, and conceal them from spot attempts for 1 second.
• At rank 5, headshot kills will also trigger this ability, and targets you damage with any weapon will be spotted.

Gunslinger (Implant)

• Now activates when NSO characters kill other NSO characters.

Mending Field(Implant)

• Rank 5 benefit should now work with NSO characters.

Electrotech(Implant)

• Rank 5 benefit now despawns enemy non-turret deployables, instead of destroying them.

Advanced Shield Capacitor (Infantry Suit)

• NSO Combat Medic and Heavy Assault now have access to the Advanced Shield Capacitor suit slot.
• Advanced Shield Capacitor now reduces shield recharge delay by 1 second, in addition to its pre-existing benefit. (This benefit does not stack with Survivalist implant.)

Dev Note: This change should help bring ASC back into a more competitive place with certain loadouts.

NS-44L Showdown (Rare, Common Pool Sidearm)

• ADS movement speed multiplier from 0.25x to 0.5x

Dev Note: Minor change for feel while doing some cleaning of other elements relating to the aim down sights firemode.

Construction

While the role of construction is about where we intended it to be with the last revamp, we want to continue to improve upon it incrementally. We've increased the health of objects that players typically use to defend the perimeter of a construction base, reducing the amount of soft points to break into a base. In an effort to try to make construction more interactive, we've started looking toward ways to introduce activated effects similar to the Structure Shield module. Ammunition Towers will have been given a new repair effect that players can turn on to heal nearby allied vehicles. We'll continue to monitor how these changes perform on test, and continue to iterate based on feedback.

• Sunderer Garage, Infantry Tower, Pillbox, and Solid Wall health from 12,000 to 24,000.
• Cortium drain on modules from 0.5 per second to 0.25 per second.
• Ammunition Towers now show an icon on the minimap.
• Ammunition Towers can now be activated to repair all vehicles within 15 meters of the tower for 50 health per second for 25 seconds.
• Repair Module now repairs Solid Walls
• Construction build time for all objects from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

• Speculative fix for outfit applications crashing when being viewed.
• Fixed an overlapping ammunition indicator for weapons that don't use ammunition.
• Enabling and disabling Bloom in the UI now works.
• Cert Horn explosion now appears on low settings.
• Thumper's Disruptor ammunition will no longer duplicate its effect on multiple grouped targets.
• Ammunition Belt now properly provides additional ammunition to the Thumper.
• A "Craft Implants" button has been added to the Implants section of the loadout screen.
• NSO characters will no longer be damaged by allied Pain Spires.
• NSO characters now have a default horn on the Lightning.
• NSO Light Assault Rocklet Rifle now updates its firing modes when special ammunition is applied.

Source: Planetside 2 Test Server: Announcements