Echo Combat Open Beta 3 — Gear Patch

Patch 12.0 brings new features, bug fixes, and basic stats to Echo Combat.

Patch Highlights

Echo Combat Open Beta 3:

Use new gear to test your strength and defenses to secure victory! Echo Combat’s third Open Beta Weekend event introduces new features, general bug fixes, map balances, and basic stats.

The Open Beta will be taking place this Thursday August 16th at 10:30 AM PDT / 17:30 UTC through Sunday August 19th at 10:00 AM PDT / 17:00 UTC!

Here’s a quick summary of Open Beta 3 and what you can expect:

Three new features including: Arc Mine, Stun Field, and Energy Barrier.

Overheated weapons are now holstered during cool down.

Echo Combat scoreboards now display Combat stats.

Echo Combat pre-match Defense set-up time has been reduced from 1 minute to 45 seconds!

A new defensive spawn exit has been added to the 3rd checkpoint on the Fission Map.

The CPU check that required users to have the AVX/instructions set, and unfortunately caused users to be unable to play the game, has been removed.

Stun Field

Gain the ground and control the payload by stunning enemies with the Stun Field.

Mechanics: Upon activation, this ordnance will stun all enemies within its area of effect.

The head or torso needs to be within the radius to be stunned.

For safety, the field doesn’t activate until it is far enough away so as not to catch the user in their own field; if you ever do move into your own Stun Field, you will be stunned though.

The ‘stunned’ state results in immobility (thrusters and grabbing are unavailable) and an inability to use weapons, tac-mods, or ordnances.

Once the ordnance is active, the Stun Field will continue running for 6 seconds and then dissipate.

Once active, the Stun Field can travel through player placed Energy Barriers.

Energy Barrier

Shield your teammates and regroup for that perfect, clutch win with the Energy Barrier.

Mechanics: The Energy Barrier allows combatants to place a stationary, shield-like barrier that can provide cover from enemy fire while still allowing the user and their allies to shoot through it.

When deploying, players can keep the activation trigger held down to see a preview of where the barrier will appear upon release.

The barrier inherits player velocity at the time of creation, but will begin to slow down shortly afterward. If the owner grabs the barrier, it will decelerate faster.

While barriers stop ordnances from passing through, they do take extra damage from Detonator explosions.

Active Stun Fields can pass through barriers.

Arc Mine

Separate and overcome your opponents by ensnaring them with the Arc Mine.

Mechanics: Once armed, the Arc Mine stuns the first opponent it detects within its radius.

Arming occurs shortly after the released ordnance slows to a full stop; its integrated dampener will cause this to happen soon after deployment even if it’s thrown.

An icon will appear above the ordnance as a confirmation that it’s armed, and will remain visible on your HUD so that you may easily keep track of its status.

The mine periodically pings to detect opponents within a radius of 3 meters; an opponent will only be detected if the mine has a clear line of sight to their head or torso.

The stun effect of the Arc Mine doesn’t last as long as the Stun Field, but when the Arc Mine detects an opponent (or is destroyed) its icon will flash to alert you to the activity.

To counter enemy mines, find and destroy them between pings. Enemy mines will also be revealed by the Threat Scanner.

Defensive Spawn Exit

Get back into the fray sooner! The new Defensive Spawn Exit gives you a third point of entry back to the payload.

Echo Combat Scoreboards

Track your progress with the new scoreboards! Compare scoreboard stats at the end of the match to see how you and your team stacked up.

General Echo VR Fixes:

Game audio should no longer cut out or be muffled inconsistently.

A certain target dummy’s health bar should now function properly.

Transition screens will no longer black out or blind players.

The Flanking Tunnel (and new Defensive Spawn Exit) are now visible on the Lobby map in the Combat Training Room, and in the War Room before an Echo Combat match.

When accepting an invite through the Oculus interface, “Party Invite” messages in the Arm Computer will promptly disappear.

Players can now leave parties through their Profile Page on their Arm Computer.

The Arm Computer now displays “In Combat” when friends are in a match of Echo Combat.

Fixed a rare issue that caused the game to crash after completing the tutorial.

Fixed a rare issue where cancelling a matchmaking search could break the “Find Match” button.

The spawn location for players in the celebration room has been adjusted to optimize your team’s end game celebration.

Game Balance:

The Threat Scanner now has 4 waves instead of 3, and the duration between each wave has been reduced.

The Threat Scanner can now ping enemy ordnances.

(Note from the Devs: With the introduction of new abilities and Tac-Mods, the threat scanner felt a bit less viable. A longer duration and the ability to find hidden Arc Mines adds the Threat Scanner back into the mix as an important TAC-MOD to choose.)

(Note from the Devs: With the introduction of new abilities and Tac-Mods, the threat scanner felt a bit less viable. A longer duration and the ability to find hidden Arc Mines adds the Threat Scanner back into the mix as an important TAC-MOD to choose.) Comet AOE has undergone bug fixing and is now more polished.

(Note from the Devs: While this isn’t a direct balance change to the Comet, the AOE being more consistent for the Comet may make it feel a bit more powerful when dealing chip damage to players. The AOE for the Comet was originally added to help players face off against enemy players juking quickly on the floor. Now that the Comet’s AOE is a lot more consistent players will need to rely a bit more on cover against the Comet and less on juking on the floor.)

(Note from the Devs: While this isn’t a direct balance change to the Comet, the AOE being more consistent for the Comet may make it feel a bit more powerful when dealing chip damage to players. The AOE for the Comet was originally added to help players face off against enemy players juking quickly on the floor. Now that the Comet’s AOE is a lot more consistent players will need to rely a bit more on cover against the Comet and less on juking on the floor.) The spawn times have changed from a wave spawner system to fixed duration time per death.

(Note from the Devs: Wave spawners have the advantage of grouping players up and are a bit more friendly to newer players by promoting players to move together. However, it can feel a bit unfair and confusing when you do hit the long duration or feel unfair when the game rubber bands from a team wipe (an early death unlocks the entire team). With the current shift in spawning mechanics and small map changes, like opening up the defensive spawn exit at the last checkpoint, we feel we can easier balance each point by adjusting spawning times and make the game more balanced over time.)

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!

Stats and progression are not tracked in the Arm Computer.

The MVP medal is temporarily disabled while we test basic stats for Combat.

Player’s gun is invisible to other players in the Lobby after swapping bodies.

Players who join a party, exit their current match and then are automatically transferred to the party leader’s match will be unable to access their pause button until they leave that match.

Target Dummies aren’t affected by the Stun Field.

Stun Field’s stun radius is larger than the radius of the VFX.

Echo Combat profile stats aren’t available to players (yet).

Players who join a match late won’t hear the SFX for Arc Mines that have already been placed.

There is no visible distinction between an Arc Mine placed by a teammate or an opponent.

Bug Fixes

Echo Arena/Lobby:

Players are no longer able to pass through the opposing team’s barriers when entering an Arena Match in a Combat body.

The “Sudden Death Overtime” screen will no longer continue when players restart a private match that has gone into overtime.

The “Tac Mod Ready” voice over will no longer play when entering the lobby in a Combat body or switching to it for the first time.

Players who die in the Lobby and enter a game before respawning will no longer appear permanently “dead” or invisible during the match.

Players who are stunned or dying when transitioning into a match will no longer see Stun FX for the entire match.

Authored reverb in Combat Area of Lobby.

Echo Combat Gameplay: