Greetings Bloodhunt community and welcome to the Combat & Power Update patch notes!
By popular demand we have boosted three core game mechanics in Bloodhunt: weapons, Archetype powers, and the blood resonance progression all have been buffed to unleash more power in the combat system. These adjustments aim to enhance the combat experience and increase the intensity of the players’ encounters.
On top of that, we are adding a new weapon, a new artifact system with the first artifact, dynamic Camarilla Cache chests, additional balancing, bug fixes, and more!
But let us first go through the changes to the core game mechanics coming in this update.
Archetype powers
With the following changes, we aim to emphasize what makes each Archetype unique to play. We at times see players getting by a little bit too well just using their guns, which is why all Archetype powers are getting some facelifts. The goal is to open up for additional strategic play where your Archetype powers can more often be a deciding factor for winning an encounter. This will also likely shift the meta around a bit and give players a fresh take on the combat.
The most significant adjustments have been made for the Vandal, Brute, Siren, and Prowler.
Earth Shock (Vandal)
The base damage has been increased and is further multiplied the higher the point is that you drop from relative to the target you are applying the damage to.
This change allows for more potential damage of the power itself, especially when you use high-ground advantage and crash down on your enemies.
The knock-up force has also been reduced, making the window of helplessness of the target slightly shorter compared to before.
Shockwave Punch (Brute)
The knockback force of the Shockwave punch is increased, which makes it not as easy to follow up with ranged weapons as before. But the power has had its damage increased to compensate, and it makes the power more potent when pushing people off a high ground, which can be incredibly useful in the right situations.
Blinding Beauty (Siren)
The Archetype power will now also silence the affected opponent, but the duration of the effect is slightly shorter. Enemies may still use their powers as a reaction to your casting but find themselves in a worse spot if they decide to take the fight.
Scouting Famulus (Prowler)
Scouting Famulus now has the added effect of making enemies take more damage from all sources. This effect makes following up with ranged weapons (or even melee weapons) a good option. It also helps this ability be used more in combat since it has been lacking in utility when you already have your target in sight. Now it can help you get that extra burst damage if used in combination with an ambush for example.
We have also adjusted the Archetype powers for the other Archetypes; however, these have only had their previous values buffed.
Unyielding Charge (Enforcer)
The damage output has been doubled.
Shackles (Warden)
The cast speed has been sped up.
Sewer Bomb (Saboteur)
The damage output has been increased.
Rejuvenating Voice (Muse)
The instant heal amount has been raised slightly, and it now is more difficult for other players to interrupt the channeling.
Resonance progression
Feeding is a core mechanic in Bloodhunt and the players are supposed to use the feeding mechanic to heal, but also grow stronger throughout the match. However, we have noticed that many players either ignore or only utilize this opportunity to a limited extent.
Therefore, we have removed the initial limit of being able to only obtain three resonances before diablerizing or feeding on Entity to gain additional slots, so you can now continue to progress to your maximum total of 12. On top of this, you will also receive a filled blood resonance slot at random by committing diablerie or by feeding on Entity.
The path to increasing your resonances becomes more intuitive and less limited AND taking risks and spending time feeding and committing diablerie will feel much more rewarding.
To balance these changes, the number of civilian NPCs in Prague has decreased. You will now have to look around a bit more to find a specific resonant civilian.
Additionally, we have improved the visual representation of the resonances, partly to display the progression to maximum power more clearly, but also to make the progression through the different resonances feel more rewarding and more visually appealing.
Weapon rework
In this update, we are doing an overhaul of certain aspects of our weapons, where each weapon will have the same max range and falloff regardless of rarity and class.
Classes:
- Shotguns (Pump Shotgun (except Legendary), Double Barrel, Dual Shotguns)
- Short-Range (Pistol, Dual Pistols, Silenced SMG, Tommy Gun)
- Mid-Range (Assault Rifle, Light Machine Gun, Minigun)
- Mid-to-Long-Range (Toggler, Burst Rifle)
- Long-Range (Revolver, Marksman Rifle, 9-barrel, Hunting Rifle)
- Very Long Range (Sniper Rifle)
As an example, for Short-Range class weapons this means that regardless of which of these weapons or rarity you pick, all will have the same max-range and damage falloff.
This also means that if you wish to hit a target at a long-range range, you will no longer be able to use a higher rarity weapon that was designed to work at shorter ranges. Each class is specialized in its own range.
Artifact system, safes, and Expeditus’ boots
With this update, we have introduced a new Artifact system. Artifacts can be found at rotated locations across Prague.
- Safe locations will change for every match
- Safes can be opened without keys
- They will contain an artifact that will grant you certain abilities when picked up
- You will be able to utilize one artifact at a time
The first artifact added with this update is the Expeditus’ Boots. We know some of you miss the opportunity to traverse more smoothly across Prague, which is something that these will allow for. These boots grant you the ability to double jump (without desync issues!).
Dual Shotguns
The Dual Shotguns are two dual-wielded sawed-off double-barrelled shotguns with a capacity of four rounds. Practically they land somewhere in the middle of the other two shotguns. If fired in quick succession, they will do devastating damage at short range, which allows you to quickly take down or kill your opponent. The Dual Shotgun combines both burst and consistent damage, which makes them ideal for close-quarters combat (as with other weapons, these come in assorted rarities)
Camarilla Cache chests rotation
To reward exploration and add more dynamic factors to Prague, the Camarilla Cache chests will now rotate between locations in each match. In order to discover these locations, you need to either keep an eye out for them or activate your Heightened Senses. Be mindful that they still will require a key to unlock.
Bot changes
We continue to make various adjustments to the bot logic. In this one, we have made a couple of changes that make bots a bit smarter and more well-dressed.
Customization
The bots' vanity selections will now have different customizations, these will be random to make them less distinguishable from real players.
Better use of powers
Bots are now more selective when using their powers and more often will utilize them when it makes more tactical sense. For example, a Ventrue might use their Flesh of Marble power as a defensive maneuver, rather than using it immediately when spotting an opponent.
Less likely to use blood bags or armor while in combat
In certain situations, in the past, the bots would decide to start feeding from a blood bag or wearing a new armor whilst in combat. The bots have collectively decided to stop doing this.
Less likely to run past the target when in combat
Bots will now be more aware of their target location and will be less eager to chase them to the point of sprinting past them.
Sniper scope reticle
We have changed the sniper scope reticle to one that looks much cooler and that should also help with aligning the shots better!
Weapon balancing
The Dual Crossbows nerf you all asked for is here! The fire rate has been lowered and the area of effect drop-off damage has been increased (less damage farther away from the center). You will now need to adjust your aim and place each shot closer to the target to get the full damage potential from these.
We have slightly buffed the Hunting Rifle fire rate. This change should make it less punishing to miss a shot, and more reliably apply the bleed effect. Hitting multiple shots in a row still has diminishing returns and the damage from any previous bleeds is lost when you hit the same target in succession.
Lastly, the Gold Sniper Rifle can now reload a bit faster to compensate for its limited magazine size. The rate of fire should now match the other sniper rarities.
Matchmaker and networking adjustments
We have made several changes to the matchmaker to ensure that the player’s first experience in Bloodhunt is a learning experience, having time to practice against bots rather than immediately facing the absolute best players. Furthermore, we wanted a more dynamic matchmaker that could adapt to the number of players, so that it would be less strict when there are fewer players queueing versus when there are many. This adaptive ability is already live now but might need further adjustments in the future.
Additionally, we have implemented a change that prevents players from leaving the matchmaking queue when the matchmaker has found enough players to start a match. This will contribute towards maximizing the number of players in matches, will help prevent starting with uneven numbers in TDM (Team Deathmatch) matches, and will also help prevent groups with missing players.
Also, we have made several optimizations to improve the responsiveness and overall server performance. This is an ongoing process and further investigations are underway. We plan for additional improvements to this aspect in future updates.
Bug fixes and additional changes
- We sorted a rare issue where the player was unable to change Archetype in the Archetypes menu in Elysium
- We fixed an issue where the player sometimes would not enter a match after a match was found
- Golden rarity weapons can now spawn naturally in TDM
- Fixed an issue where the in-game medals would show a player name despite streamer mode being enabled
- Silence from Blinding Beauty will now interrupt the Katana’s Reflect ability
- Mastery challenges will now no longer appear in the Elysium HUD
- Resolved some issues with floating lamps in Prague
