The U.S. presidential election is nearly upon us and just when you thought the last political shots had been fired, The Culling has a final trick up its sleeve that could decide the outcome of the race. That’s right: Trump and Hillary masks are making their way to the island (sorry, Gary Johnson). In the final hours before Super Tuesday, Culling contestants will show their support by dressing up as their favorite candidates. Hop on a private server (hosted in Frank’s garage), build a wall around your Airdrop landing pad, and leak the blood of your enemies. Step aside, Washington Post, The Culling is ready to flex its influence and rock the vote! The new patch will be released on Monday, November 7th. Servers will be down starting at 8AM Eastern for *up to* 4 hours. In addition to goofy rubber masks, this patch has A LOT going for it. For months we’ve been systematically targeting various core game systems and overhauling them to be more balanced, more competitive, more fun and more... “more”. This time we have Airdrops, Economy, and Match Events in our crosshairs. You can read the details below, but the short version is that we now have Early-, Mid-, and Late-Match Airdrops that only become available at specific time intervals (provided you have enough FUNC). Coupled with a stingier economy, we expect Airdrop choice to be more interesting strategically and more critical to the outcome of matches. Perhaps the most exciting thing about this round of changes is that for us it represents a critical milestone on our Early Access roadmap. At this point we’ve addressed all of the game systems that required overhauls, which frees up more of the team to focus on the Major Update that’s still in the works. There will be more patches before the update, but they are likely to involve fine-tuning, rather than huge shifts. This is the stimulus package we’ve been looking for. In a tip of Frank’s fedora to the Cullmunity, we’ve made a few timing tweaks to Blocking and Shove, we’ve added Cullmunity tournament-winner banners to the Cullmination, and we’ve made it easier to view the scoreboard when you’re spectating. We’ll see you on the island! #Frank4Pres EXTRA BONUS SECTION: Hot on the heels of their Culloween event, the Cullmunity is gearing up for their biggest tournament yet to close out the year. The Cullclusion (http://theculling.com/blog/2016/11/3/cullclusion-pre-qualifier-event). More guests, more prizes, and the biggest purse to-date; it doesn’t get much better than this. Proceeds from entry fees for the tournament are being delivered to the Texas Homeless Network, helping those in need during this holiday season. That’s literally a win-win when you put your money where your mouth is! You sign up and get more details on the Cullclusion here. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-cullclusion-2016-tickets-27792364711) But what if you want to put your fist where your mouth is? Well you’re in luck friend, there’s an option for that. Each weekend leading up to The Cullclusion on November 18-20th we will be running Pre-Qualifiers to help contestants book their very own free ticket to the tournament! Windows will be open starting on 12pm EST and closes 6pm EST ( Nov 5/6, 12/13). During this time period, a contestant merely needs to meet the following minimum requirements to be entered in the running. Minimum Requirements: Play at least 10 matches during the time period Win at least 1 game Get a minimum of 3 kills in a single game If you haven’t registered for the free Pre-Qualifiers, what are you waiting for? Click here ! (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pre-qualifier-for-the-cullclusion-event-tickets-28860449381) Cosmetics

• New Trump and Hillary masks are available to everyone for a limited time! Halloween masks have been retired Balance and Gameplay Airdrops and Economy
• New Suite of Airdrops Early (Tier 2 Melee weapon + Crude Crafted Armor + Random Stim) (FREE)
• Random Blade
• Random Bludgeon
• Random Axe
• Random Spear Mid (Tier 3 Melee Weapon + Reinforced Crafted Armor + Random Stim) (100 FUNC)
• Bowie Knife
• Kukri
• Sabre
• Tactical Machete
• Pipe Wrench
• Baseball Bat
• Survival Spear
• Tomahawk Late (Tier 4 Melee Weapon + Tactical Body Armor + Random Stim) (200 FUNC)
• Katana
• Sledgehammer
• Trident
• Fireman’s Axe Utility (can be called up to 3X, available at match start, 100 FUNC)
• Tracker
• Backpack
• Man Tracker
• Alarm Gun
• Silent But Deadly Golden Arm
• Backpack
• 3 Javelins Medic
• Backpack
• Med Kit I
• ron-4-Skin
• Muscle Man Milk Trapper
• Backpack
• Steel Snare
• Steel Snare
• Explosive Mine Bait Crate
• Explodes and deals 50 damage when opened Airdrops now have an elapsed match time requirement in addition to a FUNC requirement. -Early, Utility: Match Start -Mid: 6 minutes elapsed (19:00 remaining) -Late: 12 minutes elapsed (13:00 remaining)
• With the exception of Utility Airdrops, Airdrops can be called once per match
• Airdrops now spawn directly over the landing pad and take 45 seconds to arrive
• Airdrop landing pads no longer spawn randomly, there are a fixed number of pads and locations
• Default loadouts utilize Early Airdrops and Load Dropper
• Improved item orientation in Airdrop crates
• Load Dropper perk reduces Airdrop call-in time from 45 seconds to 15 seconds (previously provided instant delivery) Recycle Value Updates
• Hemo Blast Stim: 10 FUNC (previously 20)
• Explosive Mine: 20 FUNC (previously 25)
• Remote Explosive: 20 FUNC (previously 30)
• Sabre: 25 (previously 30) Removed several activity- and time-based FUNC Rewards
• Time Alive (1, 2, and 3, these were providing a total of 100 FUNC)
• Crouch through trap
• Distance Traveled (1 and 2)
• Stim Use
• Opening various crates Dev comments: This overhaul of Airdrops and Economy is intended to accomplish several goals: Airdrop contents are balanced, allowing players to choose based on weapon preference. While the previous “themed” Airdrop approach was fun (and may see a return in some form), it meant that certain weapons were favored based on the quality of the companion items. The introduction of a time-gate mechanism allows us to control the pace of weapon progression, which in turn increases the relative value of each tier of melee weapon. Tier 2 and Tier 3 melee weapons each enjoy a 6-minute window where they are (nearly) guaranteed to be the strongest weapons in play. When coupled with a more restrictive economy, we expect the choice of an Early-, Mid-, or Late-Game Airdrop will be much more interesting from a strategic risk/reward standpoint. With Early-Match Airdrops available for free at the very start of the match, inexperienced players have a clear path to gearing up that doesn’t require intimate map knowledge (for effective scavenging) or understanding of the crafting system. We’ve all seen new players enter fights empty-handed, which isn’t particularly fun for anyone. We expect some aggressive veterans will also favor Early-Match Airdrops and rely on Holo Spawners and body-looting to provide Late-Match gear. By removing the majority of activity-based FUNC bonuses, including the controversial “charity FUNC,” passive players will have a much more difficult time accessing Holo Spawners or Late-Match Airdrops, creating a strong incentive for aggressive play. While still valuable, Load Dropper is no longer a must-have perk for a player who wants to guarantee an Airdrop. All Airdrops will alert other players to your location and can potentially be contested, but they can no longer be stolen in transit. While some of the gameplay associated with snagging an Airdrop as it traveled across the map was exciting, having all Airdrops spawn directly above their landing pad creates a host of new gameplay dynamics. Melee Combat
• Blocking: Reduce minimum block duration by 0.1 second (from 0.5 seconds), making total minimum block time 0.7 seconds (matches jab time)
• Shove: Extend shove time by 0.1 seconds, making total shove time 1.1 seconds
• Shove Animation: Shove animations should better illustrate the timing of shove, with an explosive pop at 0.1s, and a long follow-through where the shoving player is visibly vulnerable. Dev comments: The community has spoken! Several of you have voiced concerns about the slow feel and added vulnerability of blocking since our last changes, so we’ve reduced the minimum block time by 0.1 seconds. Coincidentally, this makes Jab and Block timing match exactly, which must be fate. We’ve made Shoving more of a risk by extending the duration by 0.1s and reworking the Shove animation to do a better job of visually communicating how vulnerable a player is after a miss. End of Match Map Changes
• End of match gas iris behavior updated. With ~7 minutes remaining, the gas iris pauses for 5 minutes. With 2 minutes remaining “Standing Room Only” begins and stops with 0 minutes remaining.
• With ~7 minutes remaining, “End of Match” Gas Pylons appear near in 4 key locations near the central arena. When triggered these pylons shut down large portions of the playable space, driving players toward the center. Dev comments: We’ve been struggling to find a solution to the phenomenon we consistently see in high-stakes matches (i.e. tournaments): Lots of players alive at the Standing Room Only phase, resulting in a messy brawl with questionable “who can survive longest in the gas?” tactics. When a tournament is on the line, it is difficult to incentivize aggressive play, but punitive action against passive players didn’t seem appropriate. Through changes to gas shutdown timing and placement of strategic gas pylons that only appear near the end of the match, we have created a scenario where we expect much higher attrition during the late game phase (from 7 minutes remaining until 2 minutes remaining), with only a few players remaining as the match winds down to Standing Room Only. Note that “End of Match” Gas Pylons behave identically to all other Gas Pylons in terms of radius, duration, and damage. Level Changes
• Community Tournament Winner Banners Added Dev comments: We are proud to display banners commemorating the winners of notable Cullmunity-organized tournaments.
• Fireworks at Grab My Package destinations Dev comments: This helps draw players to the location where Grab My Package will land, making it more contestable.
• Match Events now occur in 3 phases -Early (@ 4:00 elapsed) The Chokening Loot Express (Can deliver Mid and Utility Airdrops) -Mid (@ 10:00 elapsed) The Chokening Grab My Package (Can deliver Mid, Late, and Utility Airdrops) -Late (@ 18:00 elapsed) Loot Pinata (Can deliver Mid, Late, and Utility Airdrops) Three-Crate Monte (Can deliver Mid, Late, and Utility Airdrops) (Note: Two events happen per match, always at different match phases) Dev comments: We have new events planned for the upcoming major update, but in the meantime we’re embracing the Early-Mid-Late scheme of Airdrops and reformatting our Match Events to create a more cohesively paced experience that still offers the prospect of early access to a higher-tier Airdrop. Spectator Mode Features
• At match end, spectators automatically view the scoreboard
• Holding Tab key allows spectators to view the scoreboard (mappable key) Advanced Tutorial Changes
• Room 1 Mandroid has an on-screen damage display
• Auto Bow and all stims are now included on pedestals
• Recycler is available Dev comments: These changes make our internal QA testing easier and will allow the community to test and confirm their own theories.
• Holo Spawners no longer contain Hemo Blast Stims, have a higher chance to contain ranged weapons
• .357 Magnum, SMG, and Rifle have had minor accuracy tweaks
  
  
  
  
  [ 2016-11-04 19:37:15 CET ] [ Original post ]