World War Z Patch Notes: Update 1.03 Offers Matchmaking Fixes And Stability Improvements

Another patch has dropped for World War Z, and this time, the developers are out to fix those stability and matchmaking issues for good.

It’s almost two weeks now since World War Z was released, and fans of the co-op zombie shooter genre are enjoying it thus far, despite its many issues. The first of its updates, patch 1.02, dropped last week and targeted the many connectivity issues surrounding online play. As somewhat of an avid player by now, I found that patch 1.02 fixed most of the issues I had in terms of connectivity, but I still found myself wanting some much-needed quality-of-life fixes as well as performance and stability improvements.

Since the road from launch and the first update hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for other players, Focus Home Interactive have taken to fixing more of the residual and constant problems with World War Z. A new patch, numbered 1.03, is here to focus on several things, including matchmaking, file corruption and stability improvements. The only caveat is it is only available for PlayStation 4 players, as of now. Focus Home has addressed this in the latest patch notes by saying:

Due to slightly different procedures between platforms when certifying patches, the updates will be ready at different times. Instead of waiting to release them all at once (and holding on to a patch that is ready to go), we will release the updates as soon as they are ready. The first ones will be on PlayStation 4. The updates for Xbox One and PC will arrive soon!

Understandable, since waiting for the other updates for other platforms to finish is counterproductive when they can roll out a fix for some of the players now. Here are the patch notes for update 1.03. (Full post can be found here).

PS4 Patch Notes

Stability:

• Fixed an issue that caused save file corruption.
• Fixed an issue with save backups restoring saves with 0 progression.
• Fixed a large number of connectivity, matchmaking and party system issues.
• Fixed a large number of gameplay crashes.
• Fixed a large number of gameplay bugs that caused inability to progress in levels.

Gameplay:

• You will now only gain XP toward weapon upgrades if you have purchased the prior upgrade for that weapon, i.e. level two must be purchased to be able to gain XP toward level 3.
• Fixed an issue that caused excessive aim assist in PvPvZ.
• Reduced Compact Shotgun damage in PvPvZ.
• Increased cooldown of “Please Stand Up” perk to 60 seconds.
• Marking items will now display its icon for your teammates.
• Reduced AI bots effectiveness especially on easy and normal difficulties.
• Increased objective timer to save friendly NPCs to 60 seconds on easy and normal difficulties.

UI:

• Minor fixes in UI and localization.

Trophies:

• Fixed an issue with “Strong immunity”, “High caution” and “The most effective way” trophies, which caused the goals to fail if you have failed them once during one game session.
• Fixed an issue with the “Sport kills” trophy, which was harder than intended to get.

In other World War Z-related news, Saber Interactive’s co-op zombie shooter ravaged through the UK Charts last week and sold one million copies in its first week. You can also find my review of the game here, in which I praised the title for being a worthy successor to the Left 4 Dead series, although criticized the handling of its online components.

World War Z is now available to play on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the Epic Games Store on PC.