Greetings Pilots! It's been a while, and I do apologize for that, but we think it will have been worth the wait. With this update, we finally have the foundations in place for the sprint to release. With a new awards system, the backbone for future SP and CO-OP content, major backend changes and code updates, a lot of fixes and more.

Server Changes

Pilots, just a quick note that Heliborne is operating using a new Data Layer with this update. Unfortunately this has also caused several issues with some of our Azure based servers. What this means, is that we are prepairing a new server pack for you to play on, that should help with performance and connection issues. However, there's one major change here, and that revolves around us having to shut down our current SEA server as we look for a better alternative for our SEA players. We're hoping the new data layer and updates to the server backend will give our SEA players a good experience on the EU and US servers until we can get a replacement SEA server operational. Again, this is not a permanent change. We apologize for the inconvenience. -Rayne

New Aircraft

*The MD-500 has been added to the vehicle lineup. This Helicopter has been placed at Tiers 2 and 3.

New Features

- Personal player profiles have been added. These profiles are shown upon player kill, as well as in the new Career tab. - Rewards for effective actions in combat have been added. There are a total of 28 awards in this update. - Rank progression has been added and is based on rewards gained. - Player awards can be placed in a player's profile. - The first batch of steam cosmetic items has been added, this includes a few helmets and patches. - Helmets can be shown in a player's profile. - Cosmetic items are awarded at the end of the match.

Bug Fixes and Changes

- Added keybind to trigger gun reload manually - A special sound when gun reload is finished has been added - Fixed a crucial bug in gun reloading, encounters with enemy guns may become deadlier with this patch - Fixed precision bug in stationary and moving ground AA guns - they should become much more accurate now. - Ground AA time before maximum precision is increased and damage output is lowered - to compensate giant increase in AA gun precision - "enemy lock" has been added, a locked enemy is marked with ">" "<" symbols and his nickname is always shown, a lock looks like this - "> enemy name <" - Enemy lock is done automatically when targetting enemy in sight - Keybind to trigger a manual enemy lock has been added and is toggleable (by default - E, works only in flight) - Locking on an enemy now assists with gun shooting - this is nothing heavy, just a small aim assist that help with adjusting aim distance to that enemy - it should be easier to shoot at locked enemies than an enemy without lock. - All ATGM's angle speed is decreased - ATGM additional vision distance is now slightly smaller - Taking hits while in ATGM aiming mode now "shakes" helicopter - Mortar team ammo increased to 30 rounds - Recon helicopter "spot" ability is now shown in the UI - "spot" ability now spots targets for longer period of time - "spot" ability now informs all friendlies on the map - "spot" ability now puts spotted enemy soldiers on the minimap for a 30 minute period (this allows recon helicopters to "paint" enemy manpad positions for friendlies, for example) - The Recon helicopter's detect ability has had its range increased in distance - Flares now blind manpads for a short period of time (~10 seconds) - RPG soldiers now have 4 rocket launches - RPG soldiers now shoot at enemy helicopters inside a larger range zone (~220m) and have had their accuracy increased - Door gunners default operation mode is now set to AUTO - Camera zoom is now saved between game sessions - All spawn positions now have a defensive "force field" around them, approximately 300 meters in radius, you are safe from enemy damage inside these areas. - Several small fixes in armament option text layout - Updated camera for advanced control scheme - Snap look left / look right actions for advanced control scheme - Looking around in advanced control scheme is now possible with mouse - AH-1Z and AH-1S turret gun damage output is increased - All agile helicopters have had their roll increased during high speed turns - Filters for nations and generations added on Hangar and Squadrons screens - Fixed squad price calculation problem when changing current squad generation - Fixed water visuals on khost map - Mortar unit maximum accuracy increased by 30%