New patches for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds don’t arrive quite as quickly as they used to. But if all the new updates for PUBG are as substantive as the game’s September patch, most players are probably going to be OK with Bluehole’s new, unstructured release “schedule.”
The bad news is this month’s update still doesn’t introduce the new maps promised earlier this year. Bluehole previously said the new environments, which will provide players with an arid desert and a snow-covered mountain to explore, would debut in 2017. But it looks like we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed for the next patch, which Bluehole seems to think will drop in or around November. But there are still plenty of reasons to be excited about the latest PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds update to roll off the line.
This month’s update takes new steps to cut down on the idle farmers that take up a few spots in the vast majority of PUBG matches. According to the studio, this month’s Battlegrounds patch introduces a new change that will prevent those players from collecting BP at the end of the round. (No word on how Bluehole will determine who is/isn’t an idle player, though.) The new PUBG patch also continues to expand the game’s weather system, adding a foggy climate that should make it much harder for snipers to line up long-range shots. The latest update also adds a new town to the game’s existing island map, giving players a handful of new structures (east of Stalber) to explore the next time they fire up the game.
Bluehole also provided Battlegrounds fans with an update on the vault system teased at E3. The studio says vaulting and climbing still isn’t ready for public consumption; however, it plans to begin public testing some time in November. There’s no word on whether or not we can expect a full release during the same month or if Bluehole expects to leave the system in testing for an extended period of time. But it’s probably safe to assume they’ll want to have vaulting finalized before launch day, which is still expected before the end of 2017.
Here are the full patch notes for the next PUBG update, via Steam:
Client Optimization
Optimized shadows
Improved performance on low-end PCs by optimizing buildings
Optimized client and server performance when there are multiple vehicles in a close vicinity
Optimized UI
World
Added Foggy weather
The foggy weather effect will hinder player sight on the map. This weather effect has a low probability to occur
In order to test the weather effect, the foggy weather will have a higher chance to occur during test server gameplay, but will be reduced for Live servers
Enhanced graphics of the sky in pre-existing weather effects
Added a new town, East of Stalber
UI/UX
Added new Option to change Cross-hair color
Added new Double Tap feature in control options for leaning (Default keys set to Q and E)
Added new option to improve the visual effect of going from free look back to character's line of sight
Added new key binds when using Consumables
Teammates' names are now representative of their current postures (IE Standing, Crouching, Prone, etc)
Added new key bind to mark your current position on the map (Default key set to Insert)
Added a new key bind to center the map around the character's current position (Default key set to Space)
Added a new key bind to use the Consumables in the order of Med Kit, First Aid Kit, and Bandage (Default key set to "-")
Added a new feature to reset the zeroing distance using Mouse wheel click
Adjusted the position of the Report window
Added a new feature in Settings, called “Inventory screen character render” to turn off character rendering in Inventory screen to improve performance.
New Item
Added a new weapon, the Mini-14. The Mini-14 is a lightweight and compact 5.56 semi-automatic marksman rifle
The weapon uses sniper rifle attachments for both the muzzle and magazine slots, and can take any type of optic sight
This weapon has lower damage stats than other DMR's, which is compensated by very high muzzle velocity and low bullet drop
Gameplay
Distance at which shadows are rendered are now synchronized across all graphics settings to ensure fair play
Characters who are knocked out while underwater will now have a breath gauge as well as take additional damage over time
Adjusted the balance of several weapons:
Increased the Crossbow reload speed by 35%
Tommy gun has been removed from Care Packages and become a world spawn. It now supports attachments such as the Silencer, Vertical Foregrip, and Magazines
Horizontal recoil scale has been clamped for greater consistency for weapons with high horizontal recoils
You may now holster grenades by switching to another weapon or unarmed state unless the grenades have already been cooked
The firing mode of weapons will now remain consistent with the firing mode that was selected, after dropping a weapon and picking it back up again
Adjusted the collision damage of Motorcycles
Actions
Recoil animations are updated for all weapons
Adjusted animations and balance of throwables
Decreased fuse time of the Flash Grenade to 2.5 seconds
Increased the lethal and injury ranges of the Frag Grenade
Improved the animation for throwing grenades to allow for increased speeds and more accurate trajectories, but decreased visual trajectory distance of throwables
Cooking of grenades is now manual (Default key set to R)
You may now toggle the throwing mode between overhead and roll (Default key set to Right Mouse Click)
The movement speed of a character affects the trajectory of throwables
Improved leaning animation; leaning on the left side to expose less of the body
Sprinting will no longer prevent regeneration of breath gauge and will stop leaning state automatically
You may change your stance while reloading without cancelling the reload
Sounds
Added new sounds when using Consumables
Adjusted the audible ranges of reloading and window breaking
Added a new sound for collisions between vehicles and characters
Added new sound for the animation of removing the grenade safety pin
Bug Fixes
Characters that fall or glitch underneath the map will now be reset to the ground automatically
Fixed a bug where FOV slider value would be improperly set inside of vehicles in FPP mode, regardless of FOV slider setting
Fixed a bug resulting in clients freezing when changing controls in the options
Corrected the descriptions of certain weapon attachments
Fixed animation bugs of other characters after reconnecting to a game
Fixed several bugs related to the Spectator mode
Fixed a bug of the breath gauge appearing at zero at the start of the game
Reloading will now cancel if a character loots an item with Right Click during reload
Fixed a bug with the honking sound remaining persistent when opening the map or performing other actions while honking
You may no longer set different features on a single key bind in the Options
Fixed a graphic bug of the Magazine position on the weapon in the Inventory screen when switching to a different weapon
Others
Revised the BP methodology to prevent BP farming and idle users from gaining BP
Added FPP Leaderboard for all regions with FPP
NVIDIA ShadowPlay Highlights™ now works on Window 7 and Window 8 (However, if Windows Aero is disabled it may not work)
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently available in Early Access.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in 2017 and however long Bluehole supports PUBG in the years ahead.
