"Season 1 Sortie" Unit & Matchmaking Adjustments
Live Period
Will go live after the maintenance on 10/26
Units
[h2]Preface[/h2]
During the 10/26 maintenance, we will perform our first unit rebalancing since the launch of GUNDAM EVOLUTION.
The development team has decided on what to adjust based on play data and the opinions of our players. We ask for your understanding, as there may be some tuning down of the abilities of the unlockable units to achieve a sustainable balance.
We will always try our best to explain our reasoning, including in this pos, as to why we are making changes every time a patch goes through. Our aim is to be sure players fully understand the vision of the development team when changes are made, but as we fine tune the game, there will undoubtedly be some balance adjustments that do not lead to better gameplay as intended. By informing you of our intent, we hope to receive more constructive feedback from you, which helps us to further improve the game with every iteration.
In the future, we are looking to implement balance patches on a monthly basis for GUNDAM EVOLUTION. We hope to continue receiving feedback from all players, including your thoughts on this balance patch.
[h2]Rebalancing Goals[/h2]
[h3]Changes to Gundam Exia and Zaku II [Melee][/h3]
The impact of melee units, especially Gundam Exia and Zaku II [Melee], on matches has been higher than expected, as they have a 2-3% higher win rate than ranged units, leading us to believe they need to be tweaked. These units have great abilities, but we must also consider the skill cap of the players using them as well. As such, we will only tune down their abilities slightly.
[h3]Improving Most Ranged Units' Sustainability in Battle[/h3]
Conversely, we also believe that ranged units somewhat lack the ability to affect the tides of battle, so we are increasing the overall ammunition count for the Main Weapons of units to increase their ability to continue fighting and provide them the tools to finish off an enemy they run into in one encounter.
Our goal is to achieve better unit balance by focusing on the above two points.
[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]
[hr][/hr][h3]Pale Rider[/h3]
- The G-Maneuver HADES was outputting much more damage than other G-Maneuvers, so we increased its activation threshold to lower the frequency of its use. Its general performance also outclassed other ranged units, so it will not be receiving an increased Main Weapon ammunition count to maintain balance.
- The duration of its EMP Grenade's slow effect will be extended to give more of a fighting chance against melee units. However, extending the current effect would make it too powerful, so the debuff itself will be slightly reduced.
[↑]Slow Duration Extended: 1 sec → 2 sec
[↓]Slow Effect Reduced: -50% → -35%
HADES
[↓]Activation Threshold: 7800 → 9200
[hr][/hr][h3]Gundam[/h3]
Beam Rifle
[↑]Ammo Increased: 7 → 8
[hr][/hr][h3]Sazabi[/h3]
- The immediate damage of the Beam Shot Rifle was too powerful at close range, so it has been slightly reduced. On the other hand, with ranged units getting more ammunition, we foresee its shield being broken faster, so we increased the range of damage fall off, allowing you to shoot further than before in battle.
[↓]Damage Reduced: 29 → 26
[↑]Damage Fallo Start Distance Extended: 500 → 600
[↑]Damage Fallo End Distance Extended: 1400 → 1500
[hr][/hr][h3]Methuss[/h3]
Arm Beam Gun
[↑]Ammo Increased: 12 → 14
[hr][/hr][h3]GM Sniper II[/h3]
Sniper Rifle
[↑]Ammo Increased: 5 → 6
[hr][/hr][h3]Asshimar[/h3]
Large Beam Rifle
[↑]Bullets Increased: 27 → 33
[hr][/hr][h3]Dom Trooper[/h3]
Giga-Launcher DR1 Multiplex (Projectile)
[↑]Ammo Increased: 7 → 8
[hr][/hr][h3]Turn A Gundam[/h3]
Beam Rifle
[↑]Ammo Increased: 10 → 12
[hr][/hr][h3]GM[/h3]
- As with the Sazabi, we foresee the GM's shield breaking faster with ranged units gaining additional ammunition, so we increased the range of damage fall off, allowing you to fight from a further range than before.
- By changing to the above, there would be a difference in the effective ranges of the Detonator Bomb and the Beam Spray Gun, which were both often used at close range. To combat this, we will increase the throwing speed and range of the Detonator Bomb, allowing it to be thrown within the new effective range of the Beam Spray Gun.
[↑]Damage Fallo Start Distance Extended: 1700 → 1900
[↑]Damage Fallo End Distance Extended: 2200 → 2400
Detonator Bomb
[↑]Throwing Speed Increased: 1000 → 1100
[hr][/hr][h3]Gundam Exia[/h3]
- The ability that starts its combo, the GN Sword (Rush & Slash), deals 20% more damage in a certain timeframe on average than expected. We've made changes to bring it closer to our expectations.
[↓]Cooldown Increased: 8 sec → 10 sec
[↓]Max Damage Reduced: 350 → 300
[hr][/hr][h3]Marasai[/h3]
Compared to other units, the stats for the Marasai did not steer too far from expectations, but its single combo would almost always land a kill, which boosted the final blow numbers. In response, we will be decreasing the start of the combo, the shot speed of Sea Snake (Ensnare). Although the change will unlikely affect you at short range, we expect it will require more skill to land the snake at further distances.
Sea Snake (Ensare)
[↓]Shot Speed Decreased: 7500 → 5000
[hr][/hr][h3]Mahiroo[/h3]
Operating Mahiroo requires an understanding of the maps, and in the higher tiers of ranked play, the average damage of its Main Weapon, REN-DO Grenade, comes in second only to Pale Rider. Taking its current state into consideration, we will forego changes to its Main Weapon to avoid disrupting the balance.
However, the fact remains that this unit’s win ratio and damage inflicted are lower than expected. Therefore, we are implementing basic changes to improve its playability, such as reducing the cooldown for Forward Flip Kick and Toroidal Shield with Internal Mega Particle Cannon and boosting the
damage of its G-Maneuver.
Forward Flip Kick
[↑]Cooldown Reduced: 6 sec → 5 sec
Toroidal Shield with Internal Mega Particle Cannon
[↑]Cooldown Reduced: 12 sec → 10 sec
REN-DO Grenade (Rush)
[↑]After Splitting, Damage Increased: 140 → 180
[hr][/hr][h3]Zaku II [Melee][/h3]
- In higher tiers of ranked games, this unit does not dominate others in terms of damage output, but we have decided that its G-Maneuver, Large Heat Hawk (Rotating Slash), is too powerful and can turn the tides in an instant. We will not change its duration, but we determined it would be more satisfying to tune the damage output and give the enemy team a better chance to take down a Zaku II [Melee] during its G-Maneuver.
- In addition, the concept behind the Zaku II [Melee] design was to have it be a close-range combat unit, but its Main Weapon, the Large Heat Hawk (Slash), worked at long ranges. We will be adjusting the range of the weapon, so it is most effective at mid-range.
[↓]Effective Range Reduced: 1170 → 900
Large Heat Hawk (Rotating Slash)
[↓]Damage Reduced: 250(375) → 200(250) *Numbers in () indicate damage amount when enraged
[hr][/hr][h3]Unicorn Gundam[/h3]
Beam Gatling Gun
[↑]Ammo Increased: 50→ 55
Matchmaking
[h2]Implementation Details[/h2]
[h3]Discontinuing Party Rating Restriction for Casual Matches[/h3]
This was planned for the 9/29 maintenance, but will be implemented this time.
We will abandon the requirement for party members to be within 3,000 rating points, allowing you to form parties for casual matches as you wish.
[h3]Changes to Rating Restriction for Parties Joining Ranked Matches & Changes to Matchmaking Logic[/h3]
We have tightened the gap for rating restrictions of parties joining ranked matches in order to balance matchmaking. The logic will also be adjusted because the gap between ratings will be smaller when matching teams.
We hope this allows players to face teams closer to their rating, but an adverse effect is that it may become harder for parties to group together and slightly increase queue times. We ask for your understanding.
[h3]Changing the Amount of Rating Points Gained/Lost from Ranked Match Result[/h3]
We changed the amount of points gained or lost to your rating after a ranked match according to your rank in the 9/29 maintenance, and have monitored movement. As a result, we will rework this change to affect some of the higher ranks.
[h3]Adjusting Leaver Penalty[/h3]
We relaxed penalties in the 9/22 maintenance for players who left mid-game, but we have confirmed that players are leaving games on purpose in order to avoid losing rating points on a defeat. In consideration of the other players, we will once again be updating the penalty.
We believe most connection issues faced during the initial launch period have been resolved, but we will continue to investigate and address the problem that causes some players to disconnect. We sincerely apologize to players affected by this issue, and we ask for your patience until we resolve the problem.
While looking into the Error Code "0" problem that users have been getting, we have found that an unstable network connection can cause the problem. For a better experience, please try to play the game on a broadband connection if possible.
[h2]Future Changes[/h2]
As mentioned in the Developer's Blog, we are working on adjusting the matchmaking system. We will notify you of details and dates when they are confirmed, so we ask for your patience as we work to address these challenges.
Thank you as always for your continued support of GUNDAM EVOLUTION!