Post by Killua on Nov 12, 2021 10:51:07 GMT -5
Community Update #20. Optimizations / Bug hunt / Targeting tweaks / Christmas Update
Hey, we are back with Community Update! Strap in everyone, we'll be talking about the Christmas update.
But before we get to that...
# ...here's what happened this week
* We've delivered event tokens for tech issues this and last week. Don't forget to grab them in the "Offers" menu before Nov 14th (6 am UTC)
* We also unlocked Typhon in the Workshop this week. Nebula, Wasp, and The Eye are now available for Au.
# 7.5 optimizations
In 7.5 we have reworked our robot deployment code. Before, the game was stuttering visibly each time a new robot spawned. The optimizations were expected to improve the situation.
Now we see really good results in our data. Below are the graphs for the average time spent "frozen" per match before and after 7.5.
There's a significant reduction in client freezes, especially on devices capable of running "Performance" and "High" presets.
[Total freeze time on high-end devices \(before and after 7.5\)](https://preview.redd.it/ase8efzpd6z71.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=738c82a5a4466f728de668a69201cb5dcdb924f4)
As for the low-end devices, the difference is not that huge... or so it seems in relative. It's still pretty significant in absolute numbers.
[Total freeze time on low-end devices \(before and after 7.5\)](https://preview.redd.it/ci23opzpd6z71.png?width=648&format=png&auto=webp&s=8dd724a90a13a966d6ad60af8a54d9c0b2f794c4)
We continue working on code optimizations. Let me know if you noticed any difference in your game's performance!
# Ao Jun, Demeter, Hades bugs
We keep receiving reports on Ao Jun, Demeter, and Hades bugs. Those proved to be hard to reproduce on our end – so we'll really appreciate your help with those.
If you stumble upon an issue, please send our support folks (or right here in this thread) a detailed description of the problem, the time when it happened, your player ID, platform, and video recording of the problem
That's generally a good approach for reporting issues – by including all the extra info, you help us catch and fix them much faster.
# 7.7.7 aka 'the Christmas update'
I'll kick it off with some disclaimers:
* Springfield visual update won't be making 7.7.7. The environment artist who's currently in charge of the map got sick (get well, dude!) – we're not making it in time, unfortunately.
* HD graphics for PC, on the other hand, seem to be doing well! We expect to get them ready for 7.7.7.
## Major feature: item tiers
With most of our big projects being finally complete or close to completion (I'm talking about Remastered, Orbitals, server protocol rework) we can finally get to the QoL stuff. Tiers are definitely a QoL thing — they are a visual representation of how strong and how complex a robot (or a weapon, or a module) is compared to all others.
[Updated Workshop screen. Golden frames are for tier 4 robots, purple is for tier 3. ](https://preview.redd.it/tp77mb28e6z71.png?width=732&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5df02bd8f29c76d52a91ee175ea4af1f359ecd7)
[Hellburner is tier 3.](https://preview.redd.it/wq1f6p28e6z71.png?width=722&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a57822f7f54bad0f331614f33667eefe6a54057)
To summarize why tiers are important, here are 4 key points:
* **Consistency**. Most other equipment pieces already had their tiers visualized, now robots and weapons will have as well.
* **Navigation.** There's a lot of content in the War Robots, which can be daunting, especially to the newer players. Tiers should lay everything on a more comprehensible progression track.
* **Clarity**. Why won't we buff Golem to Hawk's level? Because it's tier 1 to Hawk's tier 4. Upgrade costs and timers, module slots — all that is based on the item's tier, and now it must be clear.
* **Terminology**. Instead of vague "starter robots" (is Leo a newbie robot if yoi can meet it all the way up to Champions?), we can now say "tier 1" robots. Tier 1 is a very well-defined category, which should help us resolve discrepancies in our communication.
[All pictures are work-in-progress. Don't mind Bulgasari's T4 color – it's T3 in fact \(woah, that's a lot of components\)](https://preview.redd.it/krgswp28e6z71.png?width=738&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2dd1fe29992122dd802974bca0c111da53fcdcb)
Now, I need to emphasize: **tiers that will come to 7.7.7 are a purely visual UI change, not a rebalance or anything.** We wanted to do that for months, if not years. All items were already balanced according to their respective tiers — from the basic equipment that is good for learning the ropes up to the top of the meta juggernauts with all the extra abilities and effects.
Amazing people of [fan wiki](https://warrobots.fandom.com/wiki/War_Robots_Wiki) captured the idea pretty well: few outliers aside, their attempt at tier distribution is close to perfect.
preview.redd.it/o4ubq0xbe6z71.png?width=798&format=png&auto=webp&s=c736717aead94e0fe7836dfef1901490e4fc041b
Still, the tier definitions were never described anywhere in the game — and now they will be. More details are to come soon when tiers will be ready to show up on the test server.
*But wait, there's more*! I now give the floor to Matthew with the test server update.
## Test Server: what's new?
This weekend, we'll be finally testing the items from the Christmas update. Let's go!
**New drone: Ironhearth**
This drone will protect you from both Freeze and Blast effects. Note that on this session its weapon may be acting up a bit — we'll definitely fix that later.
[Vacuum cleaner and heater – all in one drone.](https://preview.redd.it/9rigm2lfe6z71.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c72c0093a5c16cf00382a0633bdb9e6be0a7e771)
**Fujin update**
One of the most iconic robots (it is basically looking at you from the game's icon) will receive a small rework. In this test session, Fujin can walk with the shield on. It's a small change, but we expect that it will have a significant impact in the lower leagues. And that's definitely not the last T1-T2 update we'd like to make.
[Here it goes, here it goes!](https://preview.redd.it/e8focv0ue6z71.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1c0ebcb14cf3791b5a72fbdf11c8c323cc0ebb5)
**New passive module: Repair Amplifier**
A new module that works similarly to the Nuclear Amplifier, but boosts your survivability instead of damage. The more damage your robot receives, the bigger the regeneration bonus it gets until the end of the battle. Once the maximum bonus is reached, the robot receives extra defense points and starts restoring "gray" durability as well. Stacking several Amplifiers increases the rate at which the bonus increases, but doesn't boost the maximum effect.
**Vertical targeting tweaks**
Last but not least: we fiddled around with the targeting system a bit. It should improve how your robot lock on targets that are directly above or below you. Murometz and Fafnir have issues with that specifically, but issues also occur on other robots as well.
Also, we *targeted* the cases when your aim randomly shifts to the enemies on the screen's edge. With tweaks on this test server, the reticle should prioritize the targets in the center of the screen more often. On one hand, if you really need to shoot that pesky back-stabbing Scorpion you will have to move your camera and actually aim at it. On another, this should make your targeting do what you want in all other cases.
Let us know if you will notice the difference!
*More 7.7.7 content to arrive for the next test server weekend. Join the test server* [here](https://www.facebook.com/Walking War Robots.test.page/)*.*
# ***
That's it for this Community Upda... woah, that's a lot of words. Hope you liked it!
See you next week!
Hey, we are back with Community Update! Strap in everyone, we'll be talking about the Christmas update.
But before we get to that...
# ...here's what happened this week
* We've delivered event tokens for tech issues this and last week. Don't forget to grab them in the "Offers" menu before Nov 14th (6 am UTC)
* We also unlocked Typhon in the Workshop this week. Nebula, Wasp, and The Eye are now available for Au.
# 7.5 optimizations
In 7.5 we have reworked our robot deployment code. Before, the game was stuttering visibly each time a new robot spawned. The optimizations were expected to improve the situation.
Now we see really good results in our data. Below are the graphs for the average time spent "frozen" per match before and after 7.5.
There's a significant reduction in client freezes, especially on devices capable of running "Performance" and "High" presets.
[Total freeze time on high-end devices \(before and after 7.5\)](https://preview.redd.it/ase8efzpd6z71.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=738c82a5a4466f728de668a69201cb5dcdb924f4)
As for the low-end devices, the difference is not that huge... or so it seems in relative. It's still pretty significant in absolute numbers.
[Total freeze time on low-end devices \(before and after 7.5\)](https://preview.redd.it/ci23opzpd6z71.png?width=648&format=png&auto=webp&s=8dd724a90a13a966d6ad60af8a54d9c0b2f794c4)
We continue working on code optimizations. Let me know if you noticed any difference in your game's performance!
# Ao Jun, Demeter, Hades bugs
We keep receiving reports on Ao Jun, Demeter, and Hades bugs. Those proved to be hard to reproduce on our end – so we'll really appreciate your help with those.
If you stumble upon an issue, please send our support folks (or right here in this thread) a detailed description of the problem, the time when it happened, your player ID, platform, and video recording of the problem
That's generally a good approach for reporting issues – by including all the extra info, you help us catch and fix them much faster.
# 7.7.7 aka 'the Christmas update'
I'll kick it off with some disclaimers:
* Springfield visual update won't be making 7.7.7. The environment artist who's currently in charge of the map got sick (get well, dude!) – we're not making it in time, unfortunately.
* HD graphics for PC, on the other hand, seem to be doing well! We expect to get them ready for 7.7.7.
## Major feature: item tiers
With most of our big projects being finally complete or close to completion (I'm talking about Remastered, Orbitals, server protocol rework) we can finally get to the QoL stuff. Tiers are definitely a QoL thing — they are a visual representation of how strong and how complex a robot (or a weapon, or a module) is compared to all others.
[Updated Workshop screen. Golden frames are for tier 4 robots, purple is for tier 3. ](https://preview.redd.it/tp77mb28e6z71.png?width=732&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5df02bd8f29c76d52a91ee175ea4af1f359ecd7)
[Hellburner is tier 3.](https://preview.redd.it/wq1f6p28e6z71.png?width=722&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a57822f7f54bad0f331614f33667eefe6a54057)
To summarize why tiers are important, here are 4 key points:
* **Consistency**. Most other equipment pieces already had their tiers visualized, now robots and weapons will have as well.
* **Navigation.** There's a lot of content in the War Robots, which can be daunting, especially to the newer players. Tiers should lay everything on a more comprehensible progression track.
* **Clarity**. Why won't we buff Golem to Hawk's level? Because it's tier 1 to Hawk's tier 4. Upgrade costs and timers, module slots — all that is based on the item's tier, and now it must be clear.
* **Terminology**. Instead of vague "starter robots" (is Leo a newbie robot if yoi can meet it all the way up to Champions?), we can now say "tier 1" robots. Tier 1 is a very well-defined category, which should help us resolve discrepancies in our communication.
[All pictures are work-in-progress. Don't mind Bulgasari's T4 color – it's T3 in fact \(woah, that's a lot of components\)](https://preview.redd.it/krgswp28e6z71.png?width=738&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2dd1fe29992122dd802974bca0c111da53fcdcb)
Now, I need to emphasize: **tiers that will come to 7.7.7 are a purely visual UI change, not a rebalance or anything.** We wanted to do that for months, if not years. All items were already balanced according to their respective tiers — from the basic equipment that is good for learning the ropes up to the top of the meta juggernauts with all the extra abilities and effects.
Amazing people of [fan wiki](https://warrobots.fandom.com/wiki/War_Robots_Wiki) captured the idea pretty well: few outliers aside, their attempt at tier distribution is close to perfect.
preview.redd.it/o4ubq0xbe6z71.png?width=798&format=png&auto=webp&s=c736717aead94e0fe7836dfef1901490e4fc041b
Still, the tier definitions were never described anywhere in the game — and now they will be. More details are to come soon when tiers will be ready to show up on the test server.
*But wait, there's more*! I now give the floor to Matthew with the test server update.
## Test Server: what's new?
This weekend, we'll be finally testing the items from the Christmas update. Let's go!
**New drone: Ironhearth**
This drone will protect you from both Freeze and Blast effects. Note that on this session its weapon may be acting up a bit — we'll definitely fix that later.
[Vacuum cleaner and heater – all in one drone.](https://preview.redd.it/9rigm2lfe6z71.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c72c0093a5c16cf00382a0633bdb9e6be0a7e771)
**Fujin update**
One of the most iconic robots (it is basically looking at you from the game's icon) will receive a small rework. In this test session, Fujin can walk with the shield on. It's a small change, but we expect that it will have a significant impact in the lower leagues. And that's definitely not the last T1-T2 update we'd like to make.
[Here it goes, here it goes!](https://preview.redd.it/e8focv0ue6z71.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1c0ebcb14cf3791b5a72fbdf11c8c323cc0ebb5)
**New passive module: Repair Amplifier**
A new module that works similarly to the Nuclear Amplifier, but boosts your survivability instead of damage. The more damage your robot receives, the bigger the regeneration bonus it gets until the end of the battle. Once the maximum bonus is reached, the robot receives extra defense points and starts restoring "gray" durability as well. Stacking several Amplifiers increases the rate at which the bonus increases, but doesn't boost the maximum effect.
**Vertical targeting tweaks**
Last but not least: we fiddled around with the targeting system a bit. It should improve how your robot lock on targets that are directly above or below you. Murometz and Fafnir have issues with that specifically, but issues also occur on other robots as well.
Also, we *targeted* the cases when your aim randomly shifts to the enemies on the screen's edge. With tweaks on this test server, the reticle should prioritize the targets in the center of the screen more often. On one hand, if you really need to shoot that pesky back-stabbing Scorpion you will have to move your camera and actually aim at it. On another, this should make your targeting do what you want in all other cases.
Let us know if you will notice the difference!
*More 7.7.7 content to arrive for the next test server weekend. Join the test server* [here](https://www.facebook.com/Walking War Robots.test.page/)*.*
# ***
That's it for this Community Upda... woah, that's a lot of words. Hope you liked it!
See you next week!
