Greetings Kindred, and welcome to the October patch notes!
With this update, we are bringing multiple long-awaited features and fixes! This list includes, but is not limited to: bot backfill, 42 player lobbies, the return of Trios (without bots), gamepad improvements that will give you more of a fighting chance, some very important rebalancing, and our FREE seasonal Halloween Pass so you may further spook the Anarchs of Prague.
Let’s dig our teeth into the notes by starting with the free Halloween Pass!
Halloween Pass
Celebrate spooktober in style with gothic makeup and tattoos for the season! This update brings you 25 tiers of vanity content, including 17 new items (listed below), with an additional 8 favorites from the past:
- 2 Masks
- 3 Makeup looks
- 3 Tattoos
- 2 Emotes
- 3 Player Icons
- 4 Player Banners
Added support for upscaling technologies
Bloodhunt now supports the cutting-edge XeSS upscaling technology for Intel’s Arc series GPUs, which uses machine learning to upscale the image. This greatly improves performance while maintaining excellent image quality.
We have also added support for the following upscaling technologies:
- NVIDIA DLSS
- AMD FSR 2.0
Gamepad aim assist improvements
One of the key complaints, when we used to have crossplay enabled, was that there was too big of a skill difference between using mouse and keyboard compared to gamepad. With this update, the gamepad aim assist has seen a big improvement and we now believe that it is in a much better place for those of you that want to enable crossplay. These improvements apply to both PS5 and PC gamepad users. Additionally, we have expanded the configuration possibilities:
- Every individual weapon category now has their own rotational and slowdown curves to make the weapons perform the best at their own individual ranges.
- It is now possible to enable and disable both rotational and slowdown aim assist in the game pad settings menu.
- It is now possible to change the strength of the rotational and slowdown aim assist in the game pad settings menu.
We will continue to work on the aim assist improvements and monitor the changes in accuracy data for controller once we have these new changes in the game.
We have also made some changes to the default keyboard configurations.
Default keybindings changes
We noticed that there was some frustration with our default key bindings in the previous patches, especially for TDM. So, they have been changed (note that you still can configure them yourself).
- Default keybind for Scoreboard is now [Tab]
- Default keybind for Inventory is now [V]
- Default keybind for Map is now [M] or [Tab]
Note: Only new players will have these default keybinds. Your current keybinds will not be reset.
Bot backfilling
To shorten your waiting times, bots will now supplement the lobbies that are not filled organically. The goal is that no player should have to wait too long for a game. We have also added an estimated queue time on each mode.
If there are many concurrent active players in a region at a particular time, the likelihood of matches with AI-controlled opponents in each game will decrease regardless of game mode (note that this does not affect Trios). Potentially, there may even be none. The opposite is, however, true as well: at certain times, with lower numbers of players, you might get matches where you face only bots.
As this is a newly implemented feature, we will monitor your feedback for additional tweaking. Here are its current functions:
- Bots can now backfill matches after a certain amount of time has elapsed.
- There is an indicator in the UI to show which game contains bots.
- Bots will re-fill Team Deathmatch sessions if players drop out.
The following queues now support bot backfilling:
- Solo
- Duos
- TDM
For Solo, Duos and Team Deathmatch, most games should now normally start within 90 seconds. The ratings of each player will, however, affect this (to prevent lopsided matches).
After a prolonged queue time in Solo, Duos or Team Deathmatch, a match will always start, no matter the player count.
All Battle Royale and Bloodhunt modes now again support 42 players (increased from the previous limit 32).
With all the functionality included in this feature, we believe that the overall player experience will be improved. Still, we are aware that we have a group of more competitive players who will feel that bots are much too easy and that bots should not be part of a pure competitive experience.
So for you, we are bringing back Trios!
Trios returns
Trios has traditionally been the preferred option for some of our more competitive players and will be re-activated with the October Update. In the past we had to remove it because it was the mode with the fewest total players and decreasing the total amount of modes in the game helped improve the overall matchmaking times. As matchmaking times will now become less of an overall concern due to the addition of bots, this mode has now been re-enabled.
To make this mode stand out as a more competitive experience, we’re enabling it without bots. Only human opponents allowed!
We will monitor your feedback on this choice and its popularity. If this implementation is appreciated, it will stay this way.
Crossplay Settings
The default settings regarding crossplay remain largely unchanged.
Meaning, Solo Bloodhunt and Team Deathmatch both run without crossplay. Whereas our Battle Royales Duo and Trio come with crossplay enabled by default (but the setting still can be disabled in the options menu).
TDM improvements
We also continue to iterate on Team Deathmatch and here are the highlights:
- Scoreboard has been updated to include Score, Eliminations and Deaths.
- Assists no longer count as Eliminations on the scoreboard but are still counted under Score.
Weapon balance changes
Looking at both the community feedback and the hard data, there are some weapons that stand out in terms of utilization and efficiency. The goal with the balancing in general is that each weapon should be viable and have both strengths and weaknesses. To emphasize these, we are making some necessary adjustments, starting with the revolver’s hip fire accuracy and recovery.
Revolver:
- Reduced hip fire accuracy
- Slightly reduced speed of spread recovery
- Slightly increased accuracy penalty per shot
- Slightly increased spread cap
Hip firing the revolver has been a bit too accurate at longer ranges. With these adjustments you will want to aim down sights a bit sooner to fully utilize its precision.
Tommy Gun:
- The spread was increased
The Tommy Gun has both a large magazine and a high damage output. Slightly reducing its accuracy emphasizes its weakness. You will still get a good pay-off from the weapon if you work around it by keeping it to medium or shorter range.
Crossbow and Dual Crossbows:
- Increased projectile speeds across the board
We’re making Crossbows more consistent by increasing the projectile speed by a decent bit. Now, the opportunity for direct hits increases, but you can also more reliably land your area effect shots where you want them before the enemy moves out of range.
- Dual Crossbows explosion damage 30 -> 40 per projectile
- Reduced the damage falloff and falloff distance
The Dual Crossbows are now getting a buff with some more damage as well as more consistent damage output for when you just barely catch someone in the explosion.
- Crossbow gas radius 4m -> 5m
We’re increasing the radius of the Crossbow gas to make it slightly better at its job as a tool for denying area for enemies.
Toggler:
The toggler is the favored weapon of many, and for good reason. It has had a high damage output, and the choice between being very accurate at long range, but also extremely efficient in its short-range burst mode. To differentiate it more (and indirectly make other weapons more viable) we are doing the following:
- Reduced hipfire accuracy of the Toggler's precision mode
- Slightly increased max spread
This change should force you to aim down sights a bit sooner if you want to keep consistently hitting those headshots with the precision mode of the Toggler.
Gold weapons:
You’ll be finding new Gold weapons all over Prague, while some have been rotated out. Can you find them all? We have also slightly increased Gold weapon drop-rate from Entity Strongboxes.
Clan and Archetype balance changes
A standout for balancing in the written feedback has been clan Toreador. Statistically, it’s on top for the clan with the overall highest survival rate. Therefore, we’re making some necessary adjustments to make it more in line with the other clans, starting with the Muse.
Muse
The Muse has been climbing the top tier list of all Archetypes, which is why we’re making a few tweaks to it.
Rejuvenating Voice
- Delay after cancelling the healing effect has been slightly increased
This makes it take just slightly longer before you can act after cancelling Rejuvenating Voice, making it just a bit riskier to use it mid-combat.
- You may no longer climb whilst using Rejuvenating Voice.
Born from an oversight, we’re now removing this possibility that was not really an obvious mechanic anyways.
- Instant healing was reduced from 40 to 35.
Slightly reducing the direct healing powers. We still want healing to be a powerful tool, but not by such a margin.
Final Act:
- Muse passive revive time -5s -> -2.5s in solos and -10s -> -5s in group.
You’ve told us that the reduced revive time has been frustrating to face, feeling the need to instantly finish any Muse because of the high risk of them getting up so quickly. For this reason, we’re adjusting the bonus to half of what it used to be.
Siren
Blinding Beauty:
- Blinding Beauty outro 0.5 -> 0.3
- Blinding Beauty damage 50 -> 30
- Blinding Beauty aerial slowdown removed
The Siren is about risk vs reward, and we’d like to keep it that way. But with these changes, we’re aiming to make it just a bit less “all or nothing” in its approach. The damage is lowered as a counterbalance, but with the extra time you have with the faster outro, you can make up for it by attacking sooner. Or, if you missed your blind, you could start escaping more quickly.
You’ll also notice that you are not slowed down when using this power in the air anymore. This is to not make it so freely punishable and open for the Siren to use their movement we all love to approach from more unexpected angles with more speed and make it harder for enemies to counterattack.
Other Archetype tweaks
Looking at the other clans, there were two standouts that needed some adjustments from a balancing point of view. Starting with the Prowler’s Power.
Prowler
Scouting Famulus:
- Cooldown 22 -> 18
- Reveal duration 1 -> 2
The Prowler has gone from a top pick in Early Access to a bottom pick for many in recent times. With these changes, you’ll have a lot more uptime with more casts and being able to track enemies for a bit longer even as they leave the area.
Enforcer
- Flesh of Marble intro vulnerability time on startup 0.3 -> 0.1
The Enforcer nerf proved effective. Perhaps a bit too much so. We’ve seen frustration from getting killed after you activated Flesh of Marble but before the Power was in effect. This will make it feel more reliable to use as a reaction to incoming damage.
Heavy Landing Quality of Life changes
Heavy Landings:
We’ve gone through how each Power interacts with heavy landings to make sure they cause less frustration.
Here’s the full list:
- Soaring Leap, Blinding Beauty, Flesh of Marble
Activating one of these Powers before heavy landing will not cancel their effects. Rather, it activates them despite you being in the landing pose after their initial delay.
- Shockwave Punch and Scouting Famulus
These Powers should no longer go on cooldown if they were interrupted by a heavy landing before the projectile has formed.
(Known issue: Sewer Bomb should belong in this category in the future but will be fixed in a later patch.)
- Subjugating Charge, Earth Shock, Scourge Blade Dash
These are instantly activated and should not be able to trigger a heavy landing after they are activated.
- Rejuvenating Voice and Katana Reflect
These Powers are interrupted if you heavy land while channeling, just as before.
- Vanish
This Power remains as before, as the invisibility effect activates instantly.
- Projection Dash
A fix has been done that should resolve the issue of Projection Dash not working if used right before a heavy landing.
Quest changes
- Removed time limits to Seasonal Quests and changed their name to “Main Quests”.
- Seasonal quests are now permanent content.
For the quest Doublethink, Part 3:
- Removed the requirement of the enemy being a Brujah.
- Removed the requirement of killing while Bloodhunted.
The objective is now “Kill 5 players with a Katana” instead of “Kill 5 Brujah players with a Katana while Bloodhunted”
For the quest Ogre and the Beast, Part 4:
- Removed the requirement to use a Crowbar.
- Removed the requirement for the targeted player to be Ventrue.
Objective is now “Kill 10 players” instead of “Kill 10 Ventrue players with a Crowbar.”
Bug Fixes
What would an update be without bug fixes?
Movement
- Wall Grind and Wall Jump have been polished, reworked, and bug fixed!
This should result in the player getting fewer ghost Wall Jumps and fewer instances of being pushed off a Wall Grind from a small collision bump.
- Fixed some issues which caused player desync.
- Resolved an issue which caused the player to get stuck in an infinite falling animation when sliding to the edge of a roof or prop.
As the movement mechanics and their related effects are at the heart of Bloodhunt, optimizing them has been important to us. These fixes should result in fewer glitches in mobility.
Visual and customization fixes
This is a list of fixes to visual anomalies polishing the vanity content in general.
- Thumbnails for several hair colors now display the correct hair color.
- Fixed several issues with clipping and misplacement for skins, textures and tattoos.
- Fixed several issues with character appearances and cloth materials.
Quest related fixes
- Fixed a long list of quest and item descriptions.
- Fixed an issue that caused some current quests to disappear between matches.
Gameplay improvements
- Camarilla Cache Keys are now picked up automatically.
- Fixed a rare bug which caused exceptionally long (20+ minute) waiting times.
- Resolved an issue which caused semi-automatic fire rate to be lower than intended.
Fixes specific to the PlayStation 5
- Fixed some video playback speed issues with the Tutorial videos.
- Resolved an issue where the game crashed while watching the “Survival Essentials” video.
Final words
As always, your feedback has been essential for us in determining what our priorities should be when it comes to our development capabilities. We feel that this update will help resolve multiple key issues that many of you listed, such as long matchmaking times, which now will be a thing of the past with our latest bot backfill feature. On top of that, we have improved the gamepad aim assist to give you a fair chance when you play versus mouse and keyboard. Furthermore, we’ve made a long list of requested balance changes.
We hope you will enjoy this update and wish you all an early Happy Halloween in Prague.
See you at dusk,
/Sharkmob
