2020-06-25

Developer Blog - 1.17 Update

In this blog, we are going to deep dive into changes coming in 1.17 update.

We’ll be focusing on the changes that affect Ranked Defuse and Defuse game mode.

A detailed list of changes can be found in our 1.17 Patch Notes, which can be found from HERE

Ranked Season 3 changes

New Rank & Rank Distribution In Season 3

Ranked Season 3 introduces a New Rank Placement, Iron, divided into four divisions.

This new Rank placement is positioned below Bronze and will be providing much-needed granularity for players currently competing at the lower end of Bronze.

With this, we’re also adjusting the placement distribution on already existing ranks. Ranks from Bronze to Platinum are a bit easier to reach while reaching Master or Spec Ops will be a bit harder.

Locked to match & Gradual leaver penalty

We’re also adding some improvements to the Ranked system based on the feedback we received. Many of you mentioned that some players are leaving Ranked Matches during warm-up affecting the whole competition experience.

We’re adding a gradual leaver penalty at any point during the match, including warm-up.

Players will be locked and committed to ranked matches once all players have accepted to join. Players can reconnect to the match at any point while it is in progress and can not enter other matches while they have ranked matches in progress.

Previously players could accumulate three penalties before receiving a suspension. Now, players who leave ranked matches and do not rejoin will receive an immediate suspension after the match ends.

The suspension period is based on the number of penalties the player has accumulated recently.

These penalty levels drop one level after a certain time.

First penalty: 30 min suspension

Second penalty: 1-day suspension

Third penalty: 2-day suspension

Fourth or more penalty: 7-day suspension

Profile changes

As a player, it’s crucial to know your skill and strategy improvements. We’ve added more statistics to recognize your in-game performance.

Your player profile contains:

• K/D ratio: Kill and death ratio
• Ranked Matches: Wins and Losses for each season
• Rank: Current Rank & Highest Rank Achieved

Defuse & Ranked Defuse gameplay changes

Rounds to win - 13 round format

Ranked Season 3 introduces 13-rounds to win. This format lessens the initial pistol rounds’ impact on the rest of the match, giving teams more chances to have a comeback and streamlining the competitive aspects of the game.

It unifies the tournament form, which also uses the 13-rounds format.

Freeze & Buy time increase

We’ve increased the freeze/ buy-time to allow teams to communicate better before the round starts. It provides all sides more time to buy their equipment.

These new timers apply to Ranked Defuse and Custom Defuse only.

Defuse economy changes

The 13-round format addresses the pistol-round impact throughout the match. Players are now receiving a higher reward when losing a pistol round. Also, the consecutive loss reward will keep its benefits for longer.

The system works like this on pistol rounds:

The team losing the round will receive a loss-reward as if they’ve lost 2nd time in a row. This benefit will remain active until the team has lost four times in a row as they will then receive the most significant loss reward.

The system counts how many rounds a team has lost in a row to determine the round loss reward. The old system reset this count after each time a team won a round after consecutive losses. With the update, it only drops the count by one after each round won. This gives the losing side more chances to come back even after losing again after one single win.

Faction weapons & weapon balance update

Assault rifles

Both factions will now have four assault rifles available to them.

• SA58 and HK417 being the shared options
• SA58 is a good option for a low price
• HK417 as a great option for long-range compared to the other assault rifles

The most notable change is AK-47 and SG551 rifles being on The Breach arsenal only. The M4 and AUG rifles are moving to the Coalition exclusively. We also updated the overall weapon balance to compensate for it.

The Defuse game mode is about offense and defense. That said, playing on defense should be easier generally speaking, and most of our maps support it.

It means when playing on defense, it should be easier to win rounds getting that economic upper hand. We adjusted the AK47, SG551, M4, and AUG weapon prices so that The Breach has cheaper rifles than the Coalition balancing that advantage.

The AK-47 and M4 are both great weapons, and while AK-47 might be more potent in most situations, players can still win gunfights with M4 against AK-47 by using the right range and positioning. SG551 is a more powerful version of AK-47, and it has the upper hand against M4 on most occasions. We felt that these three assault rifles are already in a good position with the new balance.

Lastly, the AUG rifle lacked the power to compete against AK-47 or SG551, which is why we increased its maximum and minimum damage. Now the damage output of AUG is more than enough to fight against The Breach arsenal. On the other hand, we also thought that AUG required something to counter the damage changes, which is why we also increased its spread and recoil, making it harder to control and aim.

SMGs

Both factions will have three SMGs in their arsenal. MP5 is the only one available for both. The MPX and Vector being on The Breach arsenal only, and MP7 and P90 are moving to the Coalition exclusively. A natural split considering the role of each weapon and balance.

We’ve received tons of feedback regarding the MP5 feeling underpowered. We decided to give it a small buff by decreasing its spread per shot. Meaning the initial shots with MP5 are now more accurate.

Other than splitting MPX and MP7, the two SMGs remain unchanged. These are relatively equal power, and both feel good for their price.

The P90 and Vector are both high-end SMGs mostly used for anti-eco and force-buy situations. Both are a valuable option over the SA58 rifle due to their power.

P90 is an excellent SMG, and it has been a typical “Run’n gun” weapon. What has been lacking is accuracy, which is what we have now increased. We wanted to give P90 more accuracy to make it more competitive against Vector or other weapons in its price range. However, we also gave it a small decrease in movement accuracy, but this shouldn’t affect its Run’n gun capabilities.

Vector is a weapon that has received vast feedback from the community— Mostly commenting on how it might be too powerful due to its accuracy and fire rate. We didn’t want to change the fire rate as we think it is what defines Vector. We also decided to give it a bit more firepower on a close range to compensate for the long-range lost power and a bit less accurate. Also, its price increased to match its strength and to have it comparable to P90’s price.

Shotguns

Shotguns were an easy decision to split to each faction. The Breach will have M1887 and Coalition FP6, having two single-shot shotguns and one auto-shotgun.

Super 90 will remain for both factions. M1887 is the only shotgun to receive any balance changes because it is now a Breach weapon only.

We decreased it’s spread and movement inaccuracy to give more power for those offense push situations you might encounter when playing on the Breach side, really making it a powerful weapon for shooting while moving.

Snipers

TRG 22 and URatio will remain for both factions. TRG being a cheaper early-round sniper and Uratio being the powerful weapon with one shot capabilities. The two remaining automatic-sniper riffles will split. The M14 will be part of The Breach’s arsenal and SVD Coalition’s arsenal.

Pistols

The only pistols split are XD .45 for Coalition and Dual MTX for the Breach, both for close-range and fast fire rates, making it a natural split.

The rest of the pistols will remain available for both factions. Some could argue that Deagle and MR could’ve been part of the split, but instead, we decided to re-balance them to give them both a more unique purpose.

We wanted to change the Deagle more towards what we initially wanted to be. A powerful, expensive, and hard to control pistol. The Deagle had heavy recoil, but in reality, it was only a camera shake we had added to make it “feel artificially powerful” With the update, we’ve reduced the effect making it easier to handle. But changing the recoil didn’t change the fact that it still lacked the damage to be the power pistol we wanted it to be.

We decided to increase its damage and made it so that the damage drop-off starts on the shorter range. The new Deagle was identical to MR96 before the 1.17 update. We wanted it to be different from MR, so we decided to change MR instead.

We take a lot of inspiration from real life, which is why we ended up decreasing MR 96 damage. Deagle uses high caliber bullets, which make it a powerful pistol. MR 96 is also a very powerful pistol but uses a bit lower caliber bullets (depending on variant), which means lower damage in our in-game world. The MR 96 is still accurate and easy to control, making it powerful in the right hands. On top of this, we decreased the price of MR to give players a chance to buy some extra utility instead during pistol rounds.

XD .45 had its range increased to make it a bit more compatible against other pistols. It also decreased its spread per shot, making the first few shots a bit more accurate. Similar changes were made to MTX as it remains still an expensive pistol. We gave MTX a damage increase to justify its price, and also, due to the same reasons as XD getting its spread per shots decreased, we decreased the spread per shot value for MTX.

Last but not least. GSR1911 has been a great all-around option for pistol rounds, making other pistols like XD or MR less appealing. We want to mitigate that by decreasing its range, making it a bit less potent on longer ranges.

We’re excited about the update and we’re looking forward to your feedback.

See you in game!

- C-OPS Development Team