Today we are releasing an update for the game which adds new content, improves user flow, addresses optimization, and more. In this update we are also introducing a new way for players to test things even earlier on. We’ve added an ‘In Testing’ playlist to the server browser, where you can find unreleased maps and experimental features. We will keep servers up and running on this playlist, and schedule weekly community testing events for it. Our first ‘In Testing’ event will be today at 5:30 pm EST, and will showcase the new map Salerno. Salerno is based on the classic Day of Defeat map Avalanche. While the map is quite early, it is blocked out and we are excited to play it for the first time with you all. One of the more notable changes in this update is with Liberation. The mode has been changed in this update to be more balanced and eSports friendly. The new Liberation also contains a supply economy that treats supply differently than other game modes, enabling players to gain additional supply as rounds progress, evolving the field of battle as a match goes on. We hope many of you will play the mode and let us know your thoughts so we can improve upon it throughout early access, and consider whether this sort of supply economy makes sense for other modes in the game. We’ve been investigating ways to improve performance in the game and this update includes some further optimization. We still have a ways to go and will be addressing this gradually as we get closer to full release. We know many of you are still struggling with performance and we hope you will remain patient and provide us with feedback on this update whether you see any improvements or not. We’ve been analyzing a lot of data lately and have made some map changes which should make certain experiences more balanced. We’ve also noticed based on data that Patrol doesn’t seem very popular, so we have decided to move it from the official playlist to ‘In Testing’, declaring it as a “work in progress” game mode that we either need to improve or replace with something equally hardcore. If any of you feel attached to this mode, it would be great to hear your feedback on how it can be better.

New Features

• New “In Testing” playlists to allow players to help us test work in progress levels, game modes and other gameplay before they meet our standards of becoming official content.
• New Liberation matchplay experience
  • Supply gain economy
    • Supply costs balanced for eSports / competition.
    • Players may gain supply as a round goes on, allowing them to earn better weapons and equipment.
    • One supply is earned every time you capture an objective, and every time you get 5 kills/assists. This is intentionally skewed towards objective capturing to promote teamplay.
    • Tactics evolve over the course of the match as the most effective players become better equipped.
  • Updated game rules
    • 10 minutes per round instead of 15 minutes.
    • Best of 5 instead of best of 3.
    • Slower reinforcement waves (25% dead player ratio, 5 extra second deployment time).
    • Faster objective capture time (30 seconds instead of 40).
• New cooperative campaign rulesets
  • Within cooperative, you can now play through an entire campaign for any of the three factions in the game. There is an American Campaign, a Commonwealth Campaign and a German Campaign, which you can play in sequential order with your friends.

New Content

• New G43 model and 4x scope optics
• New map Salerno added to the “In Testing” playlist.

Optimizations

• Optimized all player related textures, including radios, third person weapon models and fuel tanks.
• Adjusted the distance at which the player model level of details load.
• Flamethrower dynamic lighting is now disabled by default (can be enabled in options).

Gameplay Improvements

• Improved the hitboxes on all player models.
• Increased the height of the third person deployed animations to prevent head glitching.
• Added spawn protection from artillery so players can no longer call in artillery on an enemy’s spawnzone.
• The amount of gear shown on a player model is now dependent on if you have a carrier or chest rig equipped.

User Experience Improvements

• Menu changes
  • Added player count display to the main menus.
  • Full servers are no longer filtered out by default, making people think there are fewer players playing the game than there actually are.
  • Custom games are now a bit more visible as a playlist option within the Multiplayer and Cooperative server browsers, instead of being in its own separate main menu section.
  • Removed difficulties from multiplayer/cooperative and have instead gone with a playlist system. Within these base official playlists servers can define whether they want death messages enabled or friendly fire disabled, which can be filtered by players.
• Officers requesting artillery will have their icons blink and grow larger for players equipped with a radio.
• New compass notifications
  • Players requesting backup will draw a blue compass needle.
  • Officers requesting artillery will draw a yellow compass needle to characters equipped with a radio.
• Patrol game mode has been moved from the official playlist into the testing playlist.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug in Entrenchment where players weren't respawning at the correct regroup point.
• Added some checks to reduce the chances of spawning inside one another in coop.

Cooperative Improvements

• Stronghold: enemy respawn timer has been split based on difficulty.
  • Hard defaults to 25 seconds.
  • Normal and Easy have been reduced from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.
• Stronghold: Sicily and Dog Red now have a higher enemy count for the initial beach invasion and will spread out more when fortifying.
• Entrenchment: Comacchio and Reichswald have had their enemy counts increased slightly.

Map Changes

• Ortona
  • Added more defensive positions on the top floor of the Cathedral at Axis side.
  • Added extra doorways in the Cathedral.
  • Added Alleyway at corner building near A Offensive.
  • Updated art on the Cathedral.
  • Fixed several issues throughout the map.
• Reichswald
  • Tweaked area around Offensive A to improve balance.
  • Reduced drop down areas too Offensive A to slow down Axis from reaching objective.
  • Added basement in chateau with multiple entrances.
  • Added tunnel from main road to chateau basement.
  • Added more defensive positions near chateau.
  • Relocated and removed some trees throughout the map to improve line of sight.
  • Fixed various glitches throughout the map.
• Sicily
  • Added stairway at the front of Offensive B.
  • Added new defensive positions near Offensive C.
  • Added new path to improve level flow towards Offensive C.
  • Added new accessible balcony near Tiger tank.
  • Fixed several issues throughout the map.

Modding / SDK

• Added game mode example maps to show community mappers how to support each of the game’s modes.
• Added environment example zoo maps to help community mappers quickly stylize their environments.