The shooter game Gears of War 5 is releasing a new update today, October 8. The update addresses the way Flashbangs work, based on feedback from the gamer community. Fans of Gears 5 have complained that Flashbangs are too powerful, according to a Microsoft blog post.
Flashbangs are used to force the fight by flushing enemies out from strong defensive positions. They are designed to play the same role Smokes used to play in previous installments of the Gears series.
According to many Gears 5 players, Flash grenades are annoying and negatively impact the gaming experience. Flashbangs are too strong and are too common. For instance, in the horde mode, players can launch a series of Flash grenades against enemies. The fans of Gears 5 have asked the developer for a solution to these issues.
A live update was designed to introduce two key changes: the default loadout grenade selection will be Smoke rather than Flash, and the Flash blind duration will be lowered to 0.3 seconds from 1 second.
This is intended to improve the gaming experience and still allow the oncoming player to make their initial move with a tiny moment of opportunity. After taking a Flashbang hit, players will be able to better re-position for incoming fights.
In Gears 5 multiplayer mode, players now start matches with one Smoke grenade. Smoke grenades deny critical vision, allowing for difficult flanks and pushes. This change is intended to encourage the use of Smokers.
Even more changes to Flashbangs will be introduced in another update scheduled for mid-October. With that update, the positioning of Flashbangs will become more important. If the other player is in cover, Flashes will no longer work.
Another issue addressed is the higher-than-normal pings experienced by players in Europe. The Gears 5 team has released a "silent" update that has improved the situation for players in the EU. According to Microsoft, the problem was related to the new matchmaking system.
Players in South Africa and other parts of the world are still experiencing similar matchmaching issues. Microsoft announced that they found a fix already and will soon release more information on the matter.
