Mid-Season update 7.6 - SUPER CASHBALL!

[p][/p][p]Hit the locker room Contestants, it’s time to suit up for SUPER CASHBALL! [/p][p]Welcome to the fast-paced, high-stakes 5v5 mode where you work as a team to throw the Cashball into the opposing goal! You can score even bigger by passing the ball between teammates, charging the ball and making it worth even more points! Earn up to 3 points in a single goal with a fully charged Cashball! A pass counts even if the ball touches the ground, so long as the next person who grabs it is on the same team.[/p][p]The match is split into two five-minute halves with a short halftime in between. At the final buzzer, if the ball is still in the air, it can still score, so those last-second throws are very much in play. Every second counts in CA$HBALL STADIUM.[/p][p]Looking for a comeback? Score in the last 30 seconds to get an extra 30 seconds on the timer! If a tie, the first team that reached the tied score will win.[/p][p]Choose your position wisely! Loadouts are locked and the best team has a balance: [/p][p]Each goal has a penalty zone around it, and if a player from the opposing team steps inside, they get Glitched. A Glitched player can’t pick up or carry the ball, nor can they use Gadgets or Specializations. So watch where you step and don’t get baited into the enemy zone! [/p][p]Success in SUPER CASHBALL is all about teamwork. Pass to charge, watch the zones, and always be ready to launch that final shot. [/p][p]SUPER CASHBALL will be available in Private Matches, as well! And keep an eye out for the leaderboard!  [/p][h2]CA$HBALL STADIUM
[/h2][p]All of this goes down in a brand new Arena: CA$HBALL STADIUM! The lights are up, the playing field is ready. [/p][h2]SPIN THE SUPER CASHBALL WHEEL[/h2][p][/p][p]From our generous Seasonal Sponsor, VAIIYA, we introduce the SUPER CASHBALL WHEEL! It comes with CASHBALL-themed prizes, with each a chance to be earned by completing Daily Contracts to get tickets! Everyone gets a free ticket to start and duplicate spins will get you a ticket part. Combine three ticket parts to make a new ticket for an additional spin. 
[/p][p]You’ve got 20 prizes up for grabs and the Zone Enforcer Set at the end if you successfully unlock them all! 
[/p][p][/p][h2]CUSTOMIZE YOUR COMMS [/h2][p]You can now pick how your Contestant sounds in the Arena, separate from the Face you have chosen, with the all new Voice Customization feature in the Appearance Tab. Some voices come with custom voice lines![/p][p]We still have some voice altering effects attached to certain items and those will still work, regardless of the voice you have chosen.[/p][h2]CHUCK THE HEALING EMITTER [/h2][p][/p][p]This update comes with CASHBALLS and Wheels, so why not throw one more round thing into the mix! Our brand new Twitch drops campaign will start today, and you’ll be able to earn Chuck the Ball! You’ll also get the Chuck nametag sticker, and a Chuck Charm, so even when you play Light and Medium, he’ll be by your side! [/p][p]All you need to do is tune in to any streamer playing in THE FINALS category and watch to earn! Make sure you have connected your Twitch account so you don’t miss out on your new best bud! [/p][h2]LOTUS REAPER SET + 2400 MB [/h2][p]
The Lotus Reaper Set has arrived and it comes with 2400 Multibucks, and some of the most striking pieces we have seen in the Arena to date! Bloom in silence, strike without mercy![/p][p][/p][h2]STORE UPDATE [/h2][p]Some moments in The Arena deserve to be recorded, and watched back, in beautiful 8mm quality - and now you can with the Overexposed FAMAS![/p][p]Check it, and much more, out in this week’s store:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h2]SERVER CRASH EXPLOIT [/h2][p]In some serious news, we have patched a critical exploit that allowed players to crash the servers. We’ve managed to compile a list of everyone who used this deliberate exploit in order to remove other players from the game. [/p][p]We’ll be returning the lost RS to players who were affected by this in a Ranked Tournament and permanently banning those who used this exploit to wreak havoc in the last few days. Game breaking exploits are serious and performing them deliberately is not permitted. [/p][p]To those impacted by this exploit, we’re sorry for the inconvenience and we appreciate all the reports that helped us identify the issue and ensure it could be stopped. [/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]A note on Melee from Design Director, Matt: [/h2][p]We wanted to share an update on the state of melee, since it's been a hot topic in the community lately. The goal is to clarify how we see melee and what kind of work we’re doing to improve it going forward.[/p][p]First and foremost, melee weapons belong in THE FINALS. We wouldn’t have added them if that weren’t the case. For a melee weapon to earn its place, it needs to be viable as a style of play, intuitive for both the user and the opponent, and feel like the kills it gets are earned. Let’s break that down.[/p][h3]Viability [/h3][p]In order to make melee weapons viable, they should be able to compete with fairly similar odds to guns, but that doesn’t mean they should always be as good as the best gun or other weapons. In a game with so many weapons of incredibly varied styles, some will always be more accessible and others more niche, that’s the reality of building weapons that are so asymmetric to one another. Melee weapons, shotguns, sniper rifles and bows tend to be more niche because they exist at the extremes of balance: very short or very long ranges, very fast or very slow fire rates, etc. This makes them notoriously hard to balance. They’re often underpowered, but when buffed can quickly become overpowered and frustrating to play against. This is just the nature of balancing for more extreme playstyles. Our goal to keep them viable is to make sure players have a chance to win without making them overly frustrating or too niche for regular play. It’s a hard goal to hit, thus we keep working toward it.
[/p][h3]Intuitiveness [/h3][p]For melee weapons to be intuitive, they need to behave in a way that most players can easily understand and expect, especially new players. This is where ‘melee tech’ comes in.  At its core, ‘Tech’ means discovering and using bugs and edge cases in the game’s code and design. Most FPS tech arises where one system meets another. For example, the Sword’s “super lunge” is the result of one movement system (the Evasive Dash) meeting another (the lunge). Likewise, the “phantom strike” tech exploits bugs and edge cases in our animation system to perform melee strikes without visible animations. We get this can be fun to discover and master, because it boosts a weapon’s power and often takes skill. But for others, it’s frustrating. It’s unintuitive, often invisible, and disproportionately strong. [/p][p]Our position on ‘tech’ has been clear since our Alpha and Beta, where we discussed ‘movement tech’ in our Meet the Makers podcast. We see ‘tech’ as a bug. When it disrupts balance or frustrates players, we aim to fix it, and in severe cases, may ban players who repeatedly exploit it. Occasionally, ‘tech’ emerges that is intuitive and doesn’t  break balance. In those rare cases, we may turn the ‘tech’ into an actual mechanic that is part of the game, but only if it fits. At the end of the day though, ‘tech’ is unintended and frequently harmful to the overall experience of the game.
[/p][h3]Current Melee Tech [/h3][p]Some recent ‘melee tech’ has put us in a tough spot. Without the tech, some items can feel underpowered, and with it, they become overpowered and frustrating to play against. [/p][p]We want to remove that ‘tech’ for the reasons explained above, but sometimes the work involved with re-writing a system can take a long time. So what then should we do with the frustration it’s causing in the interim? This is a tough problem to solve. Generally, we’ve solved this by nerfing the item in question while the ‘tech’ exists, until we have time to fix it properly, at which point we can re-buff the weapons. That is part of the journey the Sword has been through in recent months. It’s been nerfed to offset some ‘tech’ that was frustrating and making the Sword overly punishing to play against, while we made changes to its functionality. With 7.6, new functionality goes into the game that should address the ‘tech’ issue, allowing us to buff the Sword again. With the new functionality we can monitor how well the Sword does and go from there.[/p][p]Outside of the ‘tech’ issues, we’re aware that a lot of the melee weapons still lack the refinement of our guns and that’s something we want to tackle in the long-term. In 7.6, we’re making a number of balance changes to try and smooth out some of the lumps these items have, but many of them still need considerable re-works to get them to the best place possible for both their users and opponents. Re-works take time. We’re hopeful we can deliver a number of these in the coming seasons, but in the meantime we’ll continue to do what we can by balancing within our current systems.

Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of how we see melee and our approach to it. We also hope this explanation goes some way to explaining the various melee changes made in 7.6. As always, keep providing feedback and we’ll keep trying our hardest to be as solid and varied for different playstyles as we can.  [/p][p]
//Matt            
[/p][h3]Archetypes[/h3][p]Light[/p]

• [p]Replaced the Grapple Hook with the Evasive Dash in the default Loadout. The Grapple Hook must now be unlocked for VRs if not already owned[/p]
• [p]Replaced the M11 with the XP-54 in the default Loadout. The M11 must now be unlocked for VRs if not already owned[/p]
• [p]Moved the Frag Grenade from the Reserve into the default Loadout [/p]
• [p]Moved the Sonar Grenade from the Reserve into the default Loadout[/p]
• [p]Moved the Flashbang from the Loadout into the Reserve in the default Loadout[/p]
• [p]Moved the Smoke grenade from the Loadout into the Reserve in the default Loadout
  [/p]

[p]Medium[/p]

• [p]Moved the Goo Grenade from the Loadout into the Reserve in the default Loadout[/p]
• [p]Moved the Frag Grenade from the Reserve into the Loadout in the default Loadout[/p]
• [p]Replaced the Glitch Trap with the Explosive Mine in the default Loadout.The Glitch Trap must now be unlocked for VRs if not already owned[/p]
• [p]Added the Compact Reflector sight to the default AKM in the default Loadout[/p]
• [p]Added the Compact Reflector sight to the default R .357 in the default Loadout
  [/p]

[p]Heavy[/p]

• [p]Added the Compact Reflector Sight to the M60 in the default Loadout
  [/p]

[h3]Gadgets [/h3][p]Defibrillator[/p]

• [p]Increased charge time from 0.8s to 1s [/p]

[p]Dev Note: We want to move more of the risk of reviving a player with Defibrillators onto the reviving player, not the player they revive. We think this nudge should encourage players to find a safe spot to defib more often, but we’ll monitor the impact and try other solutions if this doesn’t have the desired effect.[/p][p][/p][p]H+ Infuser[/p]

• [p]VFX now use team colors, making it easier to tell who is healing who[/p]

[p]Healing Emitter[/p]

• [p]VFX now use team colors, making it easier to tell who is healing who[/p]

[p]Nullifier[/p]

• [p]Bullets will now pass through Nullified players[/p]

[p]Dev Note: This change only impacts hitscan bullet weapons for the time being, but we plan to address projectiles as well in a future update 
[/p][h3]Maps[/h3][p]SYS$Horizon[/p]

• [p]Rebalanced destruction for the Campus, Workspace, and Art Gallery buildings   
  [/p]

[h3]Mode[/h3][p]Cashout (World Tour and Ranked)[/p]

• [p]Any Vaults/Cash Boxes that have not been delivered to a Cashout Station by the time overtime starts will be despawned and removed from the match[/p]

[p]Dev Note: We’ve been taking in lots of feedback related to “double stacking” two Cash Boxes in the same Cashbout Station. After doing a detailed analysis, it’s clear that the biggest frustration point is doubling the Cash Boxes during the final phase, where the total value of a single Cashout can be huge. In this scenario, the second-place team almost always loses their spot, since all three other teams are incentivized to target them. The first place wants a weaker opponent next round, while third and fourth just want to qualify. Our data shows that regardless how much cash the second place team has already secured, this doubling scenario always disproportionately affects them negatively. It often occurs during overtime as well. This change is aimed at making sure second place teams that have already secured a lot of cash are more likely to qualify, by reducing how often large stacks of cash are available in the final Cashout during overtime. This change is a test and will run from 7.6 through to 7.9, at which point its impact will be re-assessed.    [/p][p][/p][p]Private Matches[/p]

• [p]Added the Ranked Cashout ruleset from Ranked Tournaments to Private Matches[/p]

[p]Dev Note: There are two known issues with mode that still need to be addressed, players get four respawn tokens instead of 2 and players can also swap items from their Reserve between lives. We aim to fix both of these soon, but we didn’t want to hold back unlocking this mode while waiting for fixes.
[/p][h3]Specializations[/h3][p]Healing Beam[/p]

• [p]VFX now use team colors, making it easier to tell who is healing who
  [/p]

[h3]Weapons [/h3][p]Dagger[/p]

• [p]Primary Attack[/p]
  • [p]Increased the outer width of the hit sweeps by ~40%, so that it better matches the weapon’s animation [/p]
  • [p]Decreased the inner width of the hit sweep nearest to the camera, to prevent the it hitting objects just outside the player’s field of view, making the weapon slightly more reliable[/p]
  • [p]Increased the duration of the hit sweep from 0.07s to 0.1s, making the weapon more reliable
    [/p]

[p]Dual Blades[/p]

• [p]Increased the hit sweep range by ~40cm, to bring it more in line with other melee weapons[/p]
• [p]Increased the hit sweep height by ~5cm, making the weapon more reliable[/p]
• [p]Decreased the inner width of the hit sweep nearest to the camera, to prevent it hitting objects just outside the player’s field of view, making the weapon slightly more reliable
  [/p]

[p]KS-23[/p]

• [p]Converted the KS-23 from a projectile weapon to a hybrid hitscan-projectile weapon[/p]
  • [p]KS-23 shots will be hitscan up to 25m, making it more reliable at closer ranges[/p]
  • [p]KS-23 shots will be projectiles after 25m, making it less likely to be used to snipe at longer ranges[/p]
  • [p]KS-23 projectile velocity reduced from 300m/s to 280m/s[/p]

[p]Dev Note: This new approach to the KS-23 should make it more reliable at the close-to-medium ranges it is intended for
[/p][p]Riot Shield[/p]

• [p]Updated the Riot Shield’s hit sweeps to make them slightly more reliable and to better match the attack animations[/p]
• [p]Increased the hit sweep range by ~50cm, to bring it more in line with other melee weapons[/p]
• [p]Increased the lifetime of the hit sweep from 0.04s to 0.12s, making the weapon more reliable[/p]
• [p]Increased the outer width of the hit sweeps by ~70%, so that it better matches the weapon’s animation [/p]
• [p]Decreased the inner width of the hit sweep nearest to the camera, to prevent it hitting objects just outside the player’s field of view, making the weapon slightly more reliable[/p]
• [p]Decreased the attack duration from 0.9s to 0.81s, effectively increasing the attack speed of the weapon by 10%
  [/p]

[p]Sledgehammer[/p]

• [p]Primary Attack[/p]
  • [p]Increased the outer width of the primary attack’s hit sweeps by ~80%, so that it better matches the weapon’s animation [/p]
  • [p]Decreased the inner width of the hit sweep nearest to the camera, to prevent it hitting objects just outside the player’s field of view, making the weapon slightly more reliable
    [/p]

[p]Spear[/p]

• [p]Decreased the inner width of the hit sweep nearest to the camera, to prevent the Spear hitting objects just outside the player’s field of view, making the weapon slightly more reliable
  [/p]

[p]Sword [/p]

• [p]Primary Attack[/p]
  • [p]Increased damage from 74 to 88[/p]
  • [p]Increased the attack duration from 0.55s to 0.6s, slightly slowing the primary attack speed[/p]
  • [p]Increased the hit sweep height by ~5cm, making the weapon more reliable[/p]
  • [p]Decreased the inner width of the hit sweep nearest to the camera, to prevent it hitting objects just outside the player’s field of view, making the weapon slightly more reliable[/p]
  • [p]Slightly modified the hit sweeps to better align with the animations[/p]
• [p]Secondary Attack[/p]
  • [p]Increased damage from 105 to 120[/p]
  • [p]Decreased the attack duration from 1s to 0.75s, increasing the secondary attack speed of the weapon [/p]

• [p]Introduced rotation clamping to the Sword’s secondary lunge attack, preventing players from swinging 360 degrees while travelling. During the lunge, the Sword wielder is now clamped to a 40 degree forward angle[/p]

[p]Dev Note: The lack of constraint on the Sword’s lunge led to players often feeling they were hit unexpectedly when a player lunged them. This constraint makes the attack’s behavior more intuitive, allowing us to add back some of the Sword’s power that we’d previously reduced to address issues like the high rotation during lunges.[/p]

• [p]Increased the speed of the lunge from 1500 to 1750[/p]
• [p]Increased the range of the lunge from 5.5m to 7m [/p]
• [p]Introduced a new system to control stacking effect of Evasive Dash momentum together with Lunge (aka "Super Dash"), and reduced the stacking. Together with the high lunge speed, this now results an an average “Super Dash” distance of 17-20m, up from a range of 16-19m[/p]

[p]Dev Note: It’s taken us some time to implement new code to handle the unintended momentum exploit that was the “super dash.” In the interim, we nerfed the Sword lunge distance to reduce the maximum range a “super dash” could achieve, which was around 24m. With this new system in place and allowing us to control inherited momentum better, the lunge range has been buffed again as have some of the damage values.
[/p][h3]Animation [/h3]

• [p]Fixed a broken third person animation that could occur when reloading an empty CL-40[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where players could end up stuck in a corpse pose[/p]

[h3]Characters [/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue where certain lower body cosmetics could cause very thin legs on the character when combined with low heels[/p]
• [p]Improved appearance of Chromatique Dress for the Heavy contestants[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the Wise Wing Jumper would float when jumping and crouching[/p]
• [p]Fixed Medium and Light builds looking overly muscular when equipping a custom outfit using heavy muscular body types[/p]

[h3]Controller[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue where the text chat menu would sometimes not open when using a controller [/p]

[h3]Gadgets[/h3][p]Barricade[/p]

• [p]Ruby Barricade skin now correctly references Season 6 instead of Season 5
  [/p]

[h3]Game Modes [/h3][p]Cashout (World Tour and Ranked Tournaments)[/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue where players could incorrectly receive an abandon penalty, even when it appeared safe to leave due to a teammate never connecting to the match
  [/p]

[p]Private Matches [/p]

• [p]Enabled Super Cashball for the duration of the event 
  [/p]

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• [p]Speculative fix for an issue where players could sometimes end up in the wrong body when revived
  [/p]

[h3]Maps [/h3][p]General[/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue where pre-placed Ziplines in maps could become partially invisible [/p]
• [p]Adjusted the health values of various open and closed fences, so they are more appropriate and consistent[/p]
• [p]Fixed a small number of lighting issues[/p]

[p]
Bernal[/p]

• [p]Fixed ladders and ziplines not having appropriate sponsor colors[/p]

[p]
Kyoto[/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue where Arena Carriables could be thrown through paper walls without breaking them[/p]
• [p]Made various texture optimizations to help performance[/p]
• [p]Fixed a number of small collision issues, to hopefully improve player movement[/p]

[p]
Las Vegas Stadium:[/p]

• [p]Fixed a bug that triggered the “Hackout” Game Show Event outside of the World Tour event[/p]

[p]
Monaco[/p]

• [p]Fixed a collision issue that allowed players to get underneath the ground mesh in Monaco[/p]
• [p]Fixed a zipline in the park hovering above the ground
  [/p]

[p]Skyway Stadium[/p]

• [p]Slightly adjusted the aircon vent path on the inner side of the Medical Center so they don't break when the wall next to them is dematerialized
  [/p]

[h3]Rendering[/h3]

• [p]NVIDIA DLSS 4 Transformer model now uses the newer “K" preset instead of "J"[/p]
• [p]Updated DLSS version from 4.0.0 to 4.0.2
  [/p]

[h3]Settings[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue on the Settings screen where the Push to Talk button would not be correctly shown the first time the player loads the screen
  [/p]

[h3]Specializations [/h3]

• [p]Improved the hit detection of the Winch Claw when using it while interacting with a Zipline [/p]

[p]UI [/p]

• [p]Fix Sprays overlapping with UI in customization screen when previewing [/p]
• [p]Fixed rarity display issue for the Off the Grid and Silent March outfits in the Sponsorship menu[/p]
• [p]Fixed gamepad navigation sometimes breaking when backing out of the Contestant menu[/p]
• [p]Fixed gamepad navigation sometimes getting stuck in Style and Appearance customization menus[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where Quickplay Points could be missing from the end of round progression screens after a match[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where previously earned Recruit & Rise rewards could appear in the end of round summary [/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the respawn timer could continue to count down after the team disconnected[/p]
• [p]Made improvements to player card rendering when viewed in-match[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where character particle effects could remain visible after navigating to the Career screen[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where props used during emotes would not drop to the floor correctly in the Contestant screen
  [/p]

[h3]VFX [/h3]

• [p]Improved the visibility of the firework VFX in the Fourth of Mayhem RPG Skin to match the intensity of Rocket Resolution RPG Skin
  [/p]

[h3]Weapons[/h3]

• [p]Melee attacks will no longer move the player towards targets that are currently invulnerable[/p]
• [p]Increased the rarity to Epic, and introduced animated effects to the Buffer Overflow Weapon skins! Thanks for all of the support on Twitch! 
  [/p]

[h3]Security [/h3][p]With update 7.3, we mentioned changes coming to our anti-cheat systems, and a few questions popped up in response. So we thought we’d take this update to give you a bit more information: [/p][p]Kernel-Level Anti-Cheat Isn’t New[/p][p]Easy Anti-Cheat is a kernel-level program, and it’s been implemented in THE FINALS since early betas. However, we’re currently testing additional anti-cheat tools to collect feedback on what’s best for the game long-term. There’s no set timeline here, but we’re obviously cautious not to disrupt the game while testing and planning. [/p][p]Modern cheats use advanced methods, including external hardware and AI, that target the game from the outside in ways that are hard to detect. To effectively protect the experience for fair players, we need anti-cheat tools that can see what’s interacting with the game process directly on the player’s computer.[/p][p]We understand privacy concerns. Our anti-cheat is focused solely on identifying threats to the game. We do not collect information about your personal files, nor do we monitor unrelated activity. [/p][p]Steam Deck and Proton Support[/p][p]We noticed the concern about Linux following our last update. We’re testing everything across all platforms, and have made it very clear to our partners that Proton and Steam Deck are important to our development plans. While we don’t officially support Steam Deck due to our required dependence on Proton Experimental, we are committed to ensuring compatibility, and we work with external partners to fix issues before we ship a patch. The experience of every player is important to us. Despite many factors, we are still dedicated to supporting it because we know it matters. However, general Wine support is not tested, and native Linux support is not planned. [/p][p]Thank you for your continuous support. We’ll have more to share in the next major update!

//Chim and Tom [/p]