Patch: Mar 22nd, ball chase cam + trail effect, award screen updates, new options

[lamster]

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March 22nd, 2010

Added "Ball Camera" spectate option to ball mode -- press C to toggle Free/Chase/Ball spectate modes
Added trail effect to ball

Award Screen: added "You..." stat box beneath MVP boxes for comparison

Ace XP gain is now slower on high player count servers to discourage XP farming: with 10 or fewer players aces gain experience at 140% the pre-patch rate; at 14 players experience accumulates at the normal rate; beyond 14 players experience accumulates slower in proportion to the excess player count (e.g. 20 players -> 14/20 = 70% normal XP gain)

Adjusted packet loss tracking for max ping kick detection

Added helper text for new Explodet players: "Press F to launch a rocket, then press F again to detonate it."
Added helper text for new Biplane players: "Press F and D simultaneously to fire both weapons at once."
Added helper text for new Miranda players: "Miranda's forward warp (hold UP) damages enemies in its path."

New console command "dnd" (do not disturb mode), type "/dnd true" into the chat window to activate, "/dnd false" to deactivate: suppresses in-game whisper messages and notifications
New display option "Show Notifications" under Options -> Gameplay: toggles visibility of notification boxes in bottom right (e.g. "<Friend> logged in")
New child safety option "Suppress names" under Options -> Account: replaces custom player names with "Player 1", "Player 2", etc

[tgleaf]

Lots of good improvements, so thank you!

The ball cam is a hit. It works great, and it's just what people have been asking for. The ball trails take some getting used to, but it has been suggested that they will assist with shot aiming and passing. I'd love the option to turn them off.

[ismettern]

Does this affect the veteran bars aswell? If it does wouldent that mean ace players gain veteran bars faster in 5v5?

[elxir]

Originally Posted by ismettern

Does this affect the veteran bars aswell? If it does wouldent that mean ace players gain veteran bars faster in 5v5?

No, as I see it XP is not affected in-game.

Let's say you kill a guy with three gold bars. You receive +30 XP worth of bars for yourself. That's in-game.

For ace (rank) purposes, you receive 30 * X, where X is the player count modifier.

[Anhi]

good to see lots of suggestions in the forums making it in the game, good job <3 nice patch

[andy]

very good patch. on an unrelated note a minor thing that i think should be implemented: when the ball is in possession of a a team it has a colour on the indicator (e.g. red) when it changes possession it changes colour on the screen indicator (e.g. blue) when it isnt in possession of a team it has a grey colour and this is very helpful. This doesn't happen in tbd with the bomb in neutral maps which is either red or blue and fades away slowly, when one of my teammates loses the bomb it takes some time for it to start fading and it isnt so obvious that they lost the bomb till after a few seconds.

EDIT: do spectating players affect the player count thus affecting experience gain?

[gemigemi]

Originally Posted by andy

EDIT: do spectating players affect the player count thus affecting experience gain?

I'm interested in this too. Especially on the ladder server where you always have spectators who can't even join the game due to StartTournament.

[Dekaiden]

Originally Posted by gemigemi

I'm interested in this too. Especially on the ladder server where you always have spectators who can't even join the game due to StartTournament.

Same here. Good observation.

Thanks for the ball chase cam. Been waiting for it Awesome adds guys; keep up the great work!

[lamster]

do spectating players affect the player count thus affecting experience gain?

No, for exp purposes the player count is based on non-spectator, non-bot (aces don't get XP for killing bots) players. For example, in a 5v5 ladder game with 6 spectators you'll still be seeing 140% XP gain.

[Nikon]

Great patch! but I agree with tgleaf I want the option to turn the trail off and on.

[matrin]

Ya i heard about the post for a ball camera, sounds cool ^^

[Saturn2K]

Could you add the contrail to the person carrying the ball too?

[poofighter24]

Of course tbd ladder gets 140% exp and ball ladder is stuck with 100%..

Other than that though, pretty good patch. Definitely would like an option to turn the ball trails off (they annoy me, and are completely useless to me) but the ball cam is everything I ever wanted as a frequent ball ladder spectator.

Thanks for the hard work.. even though tbd is apparently the devs favorite game

[lamster]

Actually ball ladder players will receive 14/12 = 117% normal XP gain which I'd guess often produces a greater overall XP gain than tbd ladder due to the general pace of that mode, respawn rate, and player count.

[poofighter24]

Originally Posted by lamster

Actually ball ladder players will receive 14/12 = 117% normal XP gain which I'd guess often produces a greater overall XP gain than tbd ladder due to the general pace of that mode, respawn rate, and player count.

Oh.

I'm stupid.

Carry on

[gemigemi]

Originally Posted by lamster

No, for exp purposes the player count is based on non-spectator, non-bot (aces don't get XP for killing bots) players. For example, in a 5v5 ladder game with 6 spectators you'll still be seeing 140% XP gain.

I am honestly positively surprised. I guess I've seen too many bad dev teams in my time and these little things tend to usually not be thought out well. I love your consideration for details.

[elxir]

Originally Posted by Nikon

Great patch! but I agree with tgleaf I want the option to turn the trail off and on.

This plz, trail is messing up my shooting

[nesnl]

Originally Posted by elxir

This plz, trail is messing up my shooting

How can the trail mess up your shooting when you don't even see the trail until after you have shot the ball?

[thatdarnedbob]

Does the modified XP still contribute to "Lifetime" XP at the normal rate, or at the modified rate?

[Evan20000]

I think the scaling may be messing with Ace Instincts. In a 1v1, I was getting 25 XP (3 bars) per kill against an opponent with no bars. Is this to be expected?

[lamster]

The modified XP rate affects permanent stats (lifetime XP, leveling up, etc).

The unmodified XP rate affects veteran bars. The behavior you observed is normal for a 1-life game mode: because kills are relatively rare and it's so much harder to build a streak in 1-life, kills are worth 25 XP. With ace instincts bars require 8 XP, hence 1 kill = 25 XP -> 3 bars.

[elxir]

Originally Posted by nesnl

How can the trail mess up your shooting when you don't even see the trail until after you have shot the ball?

Yea I thought about that after I posted. More like it messes up how I respond to the shot; how I move to get ready for a rebound or a bounce...things like that. The trail tricks me into thinking the ball will do something other than what I know it will do.

[Evan20000]

Originally Posted by lamster

The modified XP rate affects permanent stats (lifetime XP, leveling up, etc).

The unmodified XP rate affects veteran bars. The behavior you observed is normal for a 1-life game mode: because kills are relatively rare and it's so much harder to build a streak in 1-life, kills are worth 25 XP. With ace instincts bars require 8 XP, hence 1 kill = 25 XP -> 3 bars.

Ah, ok. Shows how much I know about 1v1. >.>

[number 3]

i love the ball trails

[Ajuk999]

Congratulations on your 100th Post Number 3!

I actually really like the ball trails also. The new options are great. The best part of this update in my opinion was the dnd or "Do Not Disturb" mode that I am sure will prove to be helpful. Thanks Lam and Karl!