Patch Highlights

Echo Combat Open Beta 4:

Create your very own Echo Combat dream team by partying up with friends! Echo Combat’s fourth Open Beta Weekend introduces one of our most requested features, parties, alongside general bug fixes and game balances.

The Open Beta will be taking place this Thursday September 6th at 10:30 AM PDT / 17:30 UTC through Sunday September 9th at 9:00 AM PDT / 16:00 UTC!

Here’s a quick summary of Open Beta 4 and what you can expect:

· Parties

· Arc Mine balance changes

· Fission Map balance changes

· 2D Spectator Mode fixes

· Barrier Tac-Mod has been nerfed to last for 15 seconds instead of 25 seconds

· Spawn point timer at the 1st checkpoint has been increased by 2 seconds for Defenders

· Devs will be making game balance changes throughout the weekend based on Community feedback

Parties

· Parties can now be formed in Echo Combat!

Arc Mine Balances

· The Arc Mine now continuously detects enemies while armed, and allows detected targets a short window of opportunity to either escape from its radius before it stuns them or destroy the mine.

· Instead of pinging periodically, the Arc Mine will now constantly search for enemies within its detection radius.

· Upon detecting an opponent player, the Arc Mine will now emit a warning sound as it begins to activate.

· If a detected player can escape the mine’s detection radius before it finishes activation, the mine will now return to scanning. Skilled players can use this activation time frame to find and destroy enemy Arc Mines.

· The Arc Mine will now begin its cool down even while the player has an armed Arc Mine placed on the battlefield. If, upon full regeneration, the player pulls out a new Arc Mine, the original armed one will now disappear.

The Energy Barrier

To prevent players from turtling for extensive periods of time, the barrier created by the Energy Barrier Tac-Mod has been nerfed.

· The duration of the Energy Barrier, once generated, has been reduced to 15 seconds (it was originally 25 seconds).

· The Comet will now do slightly less damage to the Energy Barrier and will take a full clip to break it down.

2D Spectator Mode

2D Spectator mode is perfect for ESL teams practicing plays, players creating tutorials, or individuals looking to stream/shoutcast unofficial matches.

Note: To enter 2D Spectator Mode, players will need to enter Spectator mode, and then take off their headset.

· Audio has been enhanced and no longer originates from the center of the Arena.

· Points (ex: 2 points, slam dunk, 3 points, etc) will now be displayed under the GOAL text.

· Joust advantage is now displayed in Spectator view.

· Ready/Not Ready text will now appear beneath each Team’s Name in Spectator Mode.

· Team names are either Orange Team or Blue Team by default, however players can hit F11 to change their team name. (This will only work if everyone on the team has the same name to begin with, and is only visible in 2D Spectator Mode.)

Spawn Timers

The spawn time for the Defending Team at the 1st Checkpoint has been increased to now make pushing the payload out of its initial starting room easier for Attackers.

· The Defender spawn time for Checkpoint 1 has been increased from 6 seconds to 8 seconds.

Echo Combat Fission Map Changes:

There have been a number of changes to the environment in the Cargo Bay that serve to help the Attacking team push the Payload out of its initial room;

· Multiple new pieces of cover have now been added.

· Line of sight from overly dominant Defending team post positions has been broken by cover either being added or moved.

· Attackers will now have a number of safer path options to exit the initial starting room and engage with Defenders.

A detailed list of these specific changes are as follows:

· Two blocks/tetrahedrons have been moved to the right side of the Payload Room so Attackers will now have additional cover from the Attacker Spawn to the Flanking Tunnel.

· Players will now have a safer view of the Cargo Bay due to the addition of one block/ tetrahedron near the top, forward area of the Attacker Spawn.

· Players will now have a high ground path into the Cargo Bay, which also blocks LOS from spawning in the ceiling, due to the addition of another block/ tetrahedron in front of the Cargo Bay’s Main Entrance.

· Attackers will now have new low exit options outside of the Cargo Bay Entrance due to block/ tetrahedrons that have been added on ground.

· Blocks/ tetrahedrons on the left of the Cargo Bay have been shifted to now give Attackers a better angle into the Cargo Bay’s Entrance. This also now limits Defenders’ angle in to the entrance.

· The Flanking Tunnel Exit has been adjusted to now provide Attackers with cover and the ability to shoot in to the Cargo Bay.

· Attackers can now safely exit the Flanking Tunnel and take cover to shoot in to the Cargo Bay due to blocks/tetrahedrons that have been added outside the Flanking Tunnel.

· Two empty crates on the right side of the Cargo Bay are now solid.

· Solid barriers located around the crates to the left side of the Cargo Bay have been removed so that the crates are now more useful to Attackers rather than Defenders.

· Players will now have better navigation around corners due to blocks/ tetrahedrons that have been added on the left and right angles in the middle of the map.

· Players now have a better path to the large crate stacks due to additional blocks/tetrahedrons being added on the lower, left side of the room.

General Echo VR Fixes:

· The game’s application and music will no longer persist if the game is closed while loading a level.

· Level 50 players will max out their experience at Level 50 and will no longer see the ‘Level 50 Rank Up’ screen on their Arm Computer Tablets.

· Party Leaders will now hear audio feedback when a Party Member joins or leaves their party.

Known Issues

Due to Echo Combat still being in development, there are some issues that may come up while playing the game. But don’t worry, our Team is working on resolving these issues through scheduled hotfix patches!

· If the Party Leader disbands the party while a 6th member is attempting to join, this 6th member/player will experience in-game errors and/or issues.

· Fission Map in the Echo Combat Training Area has not been updated to reflect the latest changes to the Cargo Bay section of the map.

Bug Fixes

Echo Arena/Lobby:

· Fixed a rare issue where players searching for a game to Spectate would become a player on a team in that game instead.

· Improved the overall performance of 2D Spectator Mode.

· The Arm Computer will no longer flicker in/out when selecting friends.

· Target Dummies in the Combat Training area are now affected by the Stun Field.

· The Party Leader will no longer be stuck on the “Transitioning” screen if their party members quit while the Party is transitioning to the Lobby after a match.

· Echo Arena medals will now be displayed/rewarded accurately after Arena matches.

· Players with lag issues should no longer have issues grabbing the disc when either the player or disc are moving at high velocity.

· Parties are now split according to skill, rather than the amount of time the party has been waiting in the Lobby. If a highly skilled party is matched with a lower skilled party, then the parties will now be split up to try and create a more even match.

· If three parties of 2 players are searching for a match, the parties will now be able to join a match and one of the parties will be split.

Echo Combat Gameplay:

· SFX for the Threat Scanner will now only be heard by opposing players when they are within the scanner radius.

· Players joining a match late will now hear the SFX for planted Arc Mines.

· Players transitioning in/out of matches when in a Combat Body will no longer hear Respawn SFX.

· FX of the Stun Field will now more closely match its triggered area.

· Players who heal teammates with the Repair Matrix Tac-Mod will now receive the correct Elimination credit.

· Arc Mines will no longer break away/disappear from a player’s hand while being deployed.

· Combat matchmaking has been revised so players will no longer join a match as it’s ending.

· Players will now be able to send a party invite to other players using the orange button in their Profile page on their Arm Computer.

· The Repair Matrix healing effect will no longer persist when the player who deployed it dies.