[PTS] Test Server Update - September 03, 2020

[PSNews]

PTS has been updated with the following changes.

Test Server installation can be found here: http://launch.daybreakgames.com/installer/PS2_Test_setup.exe

The Shattered Warpgate

In preparation for The Shattered Warpgate update coming to Live, we'll be patching PTS multiple times over the coming weeks to ensure we're able to focus our testing on different areas of this massive update.

• While on PTS, you'll find an interactable object next to the new campaign vendor on Sanctuary handing out FREE STUFF. Interacting with this holographic Flash will provide you with currency and certain campaign items for testing purposes.
• Campaigns will be disabled in this initial update, and a limited pool of missions will be available to test.
• Esamir (and all continents) will be unlocked 100% of the time for this testing.

Playtest schedule for this first PTS patch is as follows:

• Sept. 04, 2020 - 12pm PT
• Sept. 04, 2020 - 2pm PT
• Sept. 05, 2020 - 12pm PT

Here's what you'll be able to explore with this new update.

Esamir Upheaval

The continent of Esamir has gone through many changes since you last saw it. The Northeastern Warpgate has been destroyed, and in its wake are the time-frozen remains of an ancient Vanu structure, and a vortex of energy pouring into the sky.

• New Skybox: Esamir has gotten colder with an overcast sky, the auroras have gotten brighter, and the sky shudders with cracks of lightning overhead.
• Abandoned Bases: Due to hardline failures and defunct technology, many bases on Esamir have been abandoned for the snow to reclaim.
• Disabled Vehicles: Disabled during the explosion, derelict vehicles can be found scattered throughout Esamir, and with the right tech, able to be reclaimed.
• New and Modified Bases: After the collapse, empires scrambled to modify and construct new bases to accommodate the changed environment.
• New Warpgate Location: Nanite Systems has unveiled new "Haven" technology that acts as a pseudo-Warpgate for the eastern portion of Esamir.
• Revamped Lattice: The lattice has been reconfigured to conform to the new environment, and bases now tend to be fewer and farther between.
• Environmental Hazard: An Electrical Storm roams the battlefield, calling down deadly lightning bolts and overloading vehicle systems.

This continent is still a work in progress and will receive additional changes prior to the Live release.

Campaigns

Introduced with this update is the new Campaign system.

Unlocking access to the Campaign will allow you to take on lore-driven story missions that explore the evolving war on Auraxis, and the minds of those behind it.

We'll further explain this feature in a later PTS update when we've enabled it for testing.

New Mission System

Players now have access to an all-new Mission system that offers up daily missions players can complete for rewards.

A limited number of missions are available to accept each day, and All-Access Members gain more daily mission unlocks.

Missions come in a variety of rarities which represent difficulty, time investment, and intensity. The higher the rarity, the better the rewards for that mission type.

The mission pool available in this PTS update consists of the following:

• Transport Pilot - Ferry passengers to combat areas.
• Front Line Spawns - Deploy Sunderers on the front line.
• Cortium Run - Harvest and deposit cortium in allied Silos.
• Protection Protocol (NSO) - Defend your allies with the Defector's Seraph Shield.
• Soldier and Shepard - Capture bases and earn experience leading a squad/platoon.
• Bounty Hunter - Kill a bountied target.
• Message Courier - Deliver communications intel from base to base in a Harasser.
• Mining for Elysium - Defend an orbital mining drill while it harvests.
• Transport Stormbound - A campaign themed version of the Transport Pilot mission that sends you into the storm on Esamir.

Indar Terrain Changes

• The Crown has received changes to capture point placement, and B point can now be reached from both the north, south, and eastern sides of the base through an underground combat area.
• Ceres Hydroponics has received some adjustments to reduce prop density, and adjust sight lines, and the hill to TI Alloys has received some new paths around the eastern side.
• TI Alloys has received reductions in its defensive capabilities, and the rock bridge connecting it to The Crown has been destroyed.

Sanctuary Changes

• Players will now log into Sanctuary initially.
• The visuals within and without Sanctuary has received much in the way of cleanup and improvement.
• A new "Social" chat channel is available for all Sanctuary-goers, allowing cross-faction chat throughout the station.
• Mission Boards are available within Sanctuary, that will take you to the Mission page on interacting with them. They've also been placed in each Warpgate.
• A campaign rewards vendor can now be found in the Outfit Quartermaster shop.
• Outfit Quartermaster/Outfit Recruiter have swapped places.
• FL-34 and SPRK-33 in the Black Market shop have swapped places.
• New "Havoc Rocket Pods" can be bought from SPRK-33.
• Speaking with FL-34 in Sanctuary will open the implant crafting menu for the player.

Implants

• All exceptional implants can now be crafted for an ISO-4 cost from the crafting screen.

Firestorm

• This implant has been added to the drop table.
• Actual crafting cost has been instated at 3500.
• Recoil and CoF bloom penalty from 200% to 100%
• No longer uncaps horizontal recoil tolerance.

Mentor Chat

• Players who complete the Leadership tier 2 directive will now have access to Mentor Chat regardless of their current Mentor Rank.
• Replaced Implant Pack Tier 2 Leadership directive reward with "Mentor Chat Access."
• Players up to BR30 (and less than 100 directive score) now have access to /new chat, was previously until BR15.

War Asset Costs Overhaul

Changes to Map-based Resource Gain

• Upon a successful capture, bases award their full resource value to any participating outfits above a contribution threshold of 1000 score.
• Outfits who own a base continue to gain resource ticks over time once every 5 minutes, (no changes from Live.)
• Sanctuary no longer offers resource trading.
• Expeditions have been retooled to provide larger resource drops with a consistent conversion.
• Assets can no longer be Overclocked at all. This is an experiment to see if the slowed pacing, coupled with the resource changes below, result in more diverse war asset usage.

War Assets now have resource type associations drawn more exclusively with their desirability.

Auraxium-based Assets

• Light ANVIL
  • 5 Auraxium for 3 ANVILs
• Medium ANVIL
  • 25 Auraxium
• Heavy ANVIL
  • 50 Auraxium
• Facility Modules
  • 10 Auraxium for 5 modules
  • Duration from 10 minutes to 20 minutes.
  • Weight from 5 to 0.

Synthium-based Assets

• Citadel Shield
  • 25 Synthium
• Steel Rain
  • 15 Synthium
  • Weight from 50 to 25
  • Crafting time from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.
• Orbital Strike
  • 75 Synthium

Polystellarite-based Assets

• Bastion Fleet Carrier
  • Time to craft per asset increased to 12 hours per piece.
  • 25 Polystellarite
  • 20 Polystellarite
  • 15 Polystellarite
  • 10 Polystellarite
• Colossus Tank
  • 15 Polystellarite

Expedition Values

• Synthium Short
  • Cost from 100 Auraxium to 50 Auraxium
  • Yield from 25-35 to 35 Synthium
• Synthium Medium
  • Cost from 150 Auraxium to 100 Auraxium
  • Yield from 50-70 to 75 Synthium
• Synthium Long
  • Cost from 200 Auraxium to 150 Auraxium
  • Yield from 75-105 to 150 Synthium
• Polystellarite Short
  • Cost from 50 Synthium to 25 Synthium
  • Yield from 5-7 to 7
• Polystellarite Medium
  • Cost from 75 Synthium to 50 Synthium
  • Yield from 10-14 to 15
• Polystellarite Long
  • Cost from 100 Synthium to 75 Synthium
  • Yield from 15-21 to 30

Player Studio items

• Old War Heavy Assault armor and helmet (Terran Republic,) by Doku
• Armadillo Sunderer exterior, bumper, and tires (All Factions,) by Steveo
• Challenger Vanguard exterior plating (New Conglomerate,) by Lobstrex
• Response Infiltrator armor (NSO,) by binarycoder
• Ravenshroud helmet (Terran Republic,) by CountPoly

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

• To accommodate the additional rewards through the Mission system, alerts no longer offer ISO-4, A7, or Certs.
• Alert winners now receive 25,000 XP and losers/runner-up receive 10,000 XP.
• Daily Ribbon Bonuses have also been removed.
• Render distance can now be set for infantry/ground vehicle/air vehicles individually, this option can be found in the graphics settings.
• Minimap and Map zoom levels now persist between logins and while transferring continents.
• Attempting to promote someone to platoon leader will prompt you with a confirmation dialog.
• Using bad html in the Outfit MotD will no longer bleed into the rest of your chat box.
• Default keybindings no longer activates your vehicle utility with the horn key.
• Colossus now generates outfit logs when crafted or spawned.
• Cleaned up issues with wielded knife animations.
• NSO characters can now switch profile banners. A bug still exists with new NSO characters being equipped with the wrong default banner.
• SR-200 (NSO Sniper Rifle) no longer inherits camo applied to the character's body.
• Javelin cockpit handlebars now rotate correctly in first person.
• Black Market terminals now show weapon stats correctly.
• Water on Indar, Amerish, and Esamir have updated visuals.
• Fixed various broken props and stretched textures.
• We've re-enabled the old Tutorial for new characters.

Known Issues

• Esamir deep water is killing too quickly.
• Eisa Tech Plant's C point shows incorrectly on the map, it should be located outdoors on the center of the second story of the building. The capture area still exists, though the capture point itself is not visible.
• Ymir Ruins uses three normal capture points, instead of vehicle capture points, and the short capture timer has yet to be adjusted.
• Outfits with pre-existing Bastion components may not be able to craft additional Bastion pieces currently.

Source: Test Server: Announcements

[PandaFraHelvete]

what happened to the wasp vehicle for cortium harvest and all that concept about taking the payload into orbit?

[Ansic]

The whole event got scraped. I really want WASP to be a thing but it's dead for now.

[Wolkenwand]

Eisa tech c point ?

[Fallengud]

what happened to the wasp vehicle for cortium harvest and all that concept about taking the payload into orbit?

This is not the full list of the missions in the final update

"The mission pool available in this PTS update consists of the following:"

This could mean that there are missions not yet available on PTS

[Fallengud]

I did a quick look on the PTS:
- if your harasser gets destroyed on your currier mission (for example you manage to crash it), then its failed (you cant restart it i think)
- there are some good missions for SLs and PLs, with high rewards (210 certs for capturing and defending 2-2 bases, with at least 24 people in the platoon for PLs)
- there are transport missions for gal and valk pilots (fly a lot and your gunners should get kills) and I also see a mission for sundie deployment
- Esamir lost some walls, but not all of them
- the minimap (and the map screen) is not yet updated, where east river skystation should be based on the map, theres a small scale amp station called Jord or whatever
- there are some new items at the vendors: slowing ammo for the thumper (slows fire rate and reload speed too!), same effect grenade for heavies, ESF rocket which disrupts repair on vehicles, lightning grenade (not clear for me if it overloads vehicles or makes a lightning strike to the location where it was thrown)
- Eisa 3 point confirmed, 1 point at front doors, first floor, 2nd point behind vehicle bay, ground flour, 3rd point just outside the middle, southern side
- deep water insta kills you, you dont have to try it
- RIP Ymir biolab

[MrFFF]

"Players who complete the Leadership tier 2 directive will now have access to Mentor Chat regardless of their current Mentor Rank."
"Attempting to promote someone to platoon leader will prompt you with a confirmation dialog."
NICE!

"To accommodate the additional rewards through the Mission system, alerts no longer offer ISO-4, A7, or Certs."
Not nice...

[Fallengud]

The rewards feel a bit too low atm, compared to the effort you need to do them, but hopefuly they will change it