Wild Assault Dev Log #29: Balancing, balancing and balancing!

[p][/p][p]Hello Wild Ones![/p][p]Wild Assault Season 1 is coming to an end soon! As our first Early Access season, we've delivered 20 live updates with key improvements including character collision fixes and Battle Pass system refinements.[/p][p]As teased in last week's dev log, today we're diving deeper into the Season 2 balance adjustments! These changes resulted from multiple rounds of in-depth studio discussions, where we finalized the core direction. We'll continue refining specifics through ongoing optimizations.[/p][p][/p][h2]1. Valiant Balancing[/h2][p][/p][h3]1.1. Basic Specs Adjustment[/h3]

[p]Lowered basic HP for large Valiants, including Ryan, Vladimir and Zhenshan: 200 → 180.[/p]

[h3]1.2. Hongying: The Medic Angel[/h3]

[p]First Aid Capsule (Q)[/p]
- [p]Significantly reduced the wind-up time for tossing the capsule.[/p]
- [p]New trait: Retrieving the capsule now resets the cooldown of her E ability.[/p]

[h3]1.3. Marquez: The Deadly Toxin[/h3]

[p]Gas Grenade (Q)[/p]
- [p]Significantly reduced the wind-up time for launching the gas grenade.[/p]
- [p]Improved overall ability VFX & SFX quality, and enhanced ability activation player feedback.[/p]
[p]Toxin Trap (E)[/p]
- [p]Marquez's mines no longer detonate when defused by enemies.[/p]
- [p]Marquez's mines now chain react and detonate other mines within the explosion radius.[/p]
- [p]Improved overall ability VFX & SFX quality, and enhanced ability activation player feedback.[/p]

[h3]1.4. Vladimir: The Righteous Flame[/h3]

[p]Fury Cannon (Z)[/p]
- [p]Increased the explosion falloff range, reduced splash damage, and reduced the explosion radius.[/p]

[h3]1.5. Ryan: The Tough Cop[/h3]

[p]Smoke Grenade (Q)[/p]
- [p]Reduced the ability's cooldown and duration.[/p]
[p]Reckless Charge (E)[/p]
- [p]Reduced initial sprint speed.[/p]
- [p]Removed attack detection during the speed-up phase. Ryan will no longer knock down or deal damage to enemies during the initial acceleration of his charge.[/p]
[p]Repression (Z)[/p]
- [p]Ryan can now extend the ultimate's duration through successful takedowns.[/p]

[h3]1.6. Jack: The Sharp Tracker[/h3]

[p]T-28 Projectile Launcher (Q)[/p]
- [p]Significantly reduced the wind-up time for launching the projectile.[/p]
[p]H-6 "Bloodhunt" (E)[/p]
- [p]Scan distance: 75m → 110m. (1m≈3.28ft)[/p]
- [p]Jack's movement is no longer restricted while the ability is activated.[/p]
[p]D-37 Wolf Pack Artillery (Z)[/p]
- [p]Jack's movement is no longer restricted while activating the ability.[/p]

[h3]1.7. Akai Hime[/h3]

[p]Departure (E)[/p]
- [p]Reduced the slide & melee damage: 110 → 100.[/p]
- [p]Sliding within the effective range of ENCOUNTER (Q) now grants her an additional stealth effect.[/p]
[p]Enigma (Z)[/p]
- [p]Enemies will now be disarmed for a short period of time if they hit the decoy left by Akai Hime's slide while her Ultimate is activated.[/p]

[h3]1.8. Uly: The Land Diver[/h3]

[p]Uly's Scuba Party (Z)[/p]
- [p]The SN3100 Ulymobile now moves faster while Uly's Ultimate is activated.[/p]
- [p]Instead of only squadmates, Uly's entire team can now use the holes created by his "Land Diving" ability as deploy beacons.[/p]

[h3]1.9. Zhenshan - The Vanguard Will[/h3]

[p]Passive[/p]
- [p]Jumping during ability casting is no longer restricted. You can now activate Zhenshan's rolling by pressing the tactical sprint key, and it will cost additional stamina.[/p]

[h2]2. Weapon Balancing[/h2][p]Once again, we'd like to communicate with you on our weapon balancing philosophy:[/p]

[p]Main approach: Our idea is to create differentiated weapon designs that highlight each weapon's strengths and weaknesses, establishing a distinctive, balanced ecosystem where weapons counter each other in a stable and healthy way.[/p]

[p]To make that happen, we've made detailed plans covering multiple aspects regarding specific weapon balancing tasks:[/p]

[p]Redefining weapon roles to address assault rifles being severely outclassed.[/p]
- [p]Buff SMGs at close range while reducing their mid to long-range effectiveness.[/p]
- [p]Enhance assault rifles' mid to long-range performance (reduce spread, increase late-stage recoil, fine-tune recoil patterns).[/p]
[p]Optimizing DMRs:[/p]
- [p]Improve sustained long-range precision.[/p]
- [p]Reduce spread.[/p]
- [p]Differentiate DMRs through unique recoil patterns.[/p]
[p]Snipers: Further fine-tune damage capability at long range.[/p]
[p]Fine-tune weapon ADS delay and ready-up times.[/p]
[p]Rework problematic weapons: Resolve balance issues caused by unclear positioning of shotguns and machine guns.[/p]
[p]Optimize damage distribution across different body parts: Prevent arms from acting as "chest shields" that block weapon damage.[/p]
[p]Attachment System Overhaul:[/p]
- [p]Remove unreasonable attachments from certain weapons.[/p]
- [p]Rebalance attachment stats to reduce excessive negative attributes.[/p]
- [p]Clarify attachment roles to reduce confusion.[/p]
- [p]Create a more intuitive system that better supports weapon performance.[/p]

[p]For us, balance is an ongoing journey. Moving forward, we will continue making regular dynamic adjustments focused on player experience. We always welcome players to share their thoughts and suggestions about Valiants and weapon experience in Wild Assault![/p][p][/p][h2]3. Upcoming Bug Fixes[/h2][p][/p][p]Finally, we've fixed those bugs you've all been asking about in our internal builds. However, these fixes still carry some major stability risks. We're planning more internal testing rounds to make sure everything runs smoothly before release. You can expect these bug fixes to go live with Season 2.[/p]

[p]Fixed the incorrect M88 ammo count when reloading an empty magazine.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where the Home Defender's bullet count was behaving abnormally.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue in the WA Raid mode where deploying during point capture would make both objectives and teammates disappear from the deployment screen.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where players couldn't interact with certain event related items after reconnecting from a network disconnection.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where the camera stuck on the deployment screen after reconnecting from network disconnection, preventing player from controlling the Valiant.[/p]
[p]Fixed deployment screen errors caused by unsynchronized variables during high-latency conditions.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where Marquez's E ability collided with the camera.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where weapon models would unexpectedly disappear when triggered by a melee attack while equipping a weapon attachment that modifies magazine capacity.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where equipping the extended magazine on the PPSH-45 did not function properly.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where Erwin's PPSH-45 equipped with an extended drum displayed incorrect ammo counts after activating Q ability and switching back to primary weapon.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where Erwin’s Q ability healing SFX would incorrectly persist when switching weapons during the ability.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where Erwin’s Q ability (Revive) would fail to activate under high-latency conditions.[/p]

[p][/p][p]That's all for this episode! We'll reveal more info about the upcoming Season 2 very soon. Feel free to chat with us in the comments. Hope you have a great weekend ahead! 😉[/p][p][/p][p]Combat Cat Studio[/p][p][/p][h3]Follow us on social media ⤵️[/h3]