Skillshot City News

Round modifiers change the game.

In GSA there are 3 battle royale rounds per match. At the end of each round, all players will now vote on a round modifier. The modifier that wins will become active for the rest of the match, affecting all players equally and changing the rules of the game.



In the screenshot above we see that there were 2 choices after I won the warmup.

Crate Race: After opening 30 crates, you'll get 2 vendor upgrades.
360 No Scopes: Spinning 360 degrees briefly makes your next bullet do +25 damage.

360 No Scopes got more votes because it has more meme potential, and so for the rest of the match everyone was spinning in circles frantically trying to one-shot one another.

[h2]Adapting to New Modifiers[/h2]
Modifers don't just add roguelitey variety. They also adds strategic depth. For example, with 360 No Scopes you might want to pivot to a sniper build, because sniper rifles have a long delay between shots anyway, giving you time to do a quick twirl before your next shot. Sticking with an SMG however won't let you make much use of this modifier, because you'd be better off just aiming at the enemy as you spray.

Once you decide to pivot to a sniper build, you'll then start making other choices in-game, like taking sniper-friendly skills that give you faster bullets. Before you know it, you're running a completely different build to the previous match, all because this wacky modifier won the vote. But had Crate Race won instead, you could go for something totally different (like movement speed skills to loot extra fast).

GSA's gameplay was already quite varied due to the random skill drafting, but with 3 round modifiers in each match and thousands of possible combinations, no two matches will ever be the same.



[h2]Round Wins Now Matter[/h2]
The cool thing about this feature is that if you win the round, you get far more influence over the vote. You not only get more votes than everyone else, but you get to decide what is even voted upon in the first place! This is determined by your modifier build.



In the screenshot above you can see I created a build for the Assassin class (the 6 modifiers shown on the right). Whenever I win a round while playing as Assassin, this build is used, and 2 of the modifiers are randomly selected for voting. In this case it was Crate Race and 360 No Scopes.

But I would have been happy for ANY of these modifiers to show up, because I specifically equipped modifiers that synergize nicely with the Assassin class. This synergy potential makes round wins really matter. Because no matter what gets voted on, you can be sure that as the round winner, the next modifier that appears will combo nicely with your class and playstyle.




With this version, there are 54 modifiers in the game, with more to be released soon! These modifiers are split into 18 commons, 12 rares, 12 epics, and 12 legendaries. Players start with all the commons unlocked and can start creating builds immediately. But to get the rest, you'll need to spend shards.



[h2]Spend Shards to Get Modifiers[/h2]
Shards are a currency that you mostly get from leveling up your classes.

When you get 100 shards, you can spend them to supercharge your next flask and make it drop a modifier. Doing this gives you a 10% chance to drop a legendary modifier, a 35% chance to get an epic or higher, and a 100% chance to get a rare modifier or higher. In the screenshot above I unlocked the legendary Thug Drops modifier, which changes how gangs work (more on gangs below!). Now I am free to equip Thug Drops to my modifier builds and give it a chance to appear when I win my next match.

It is also possible to get new modifiers without spending shards, but this is extremely unlikely. It's just a 0.2% chance to get a random legendary modifier for free in any flask. This is just for fun, and shards are the main way. Also, if you hit a duplicate modifier in the flask, that's OK. Those 100 shards will get turned into 100 ENRICHED SHARDS instead, which lets you buy legendary modifiers directly from the shop.



[h2]Sharing The Love[/h2]
The thing I love about this system is that you share these unlocks with others. You don't just unlock Thug Drops for yourself, no. It is a round modifier that affects everyone in the server. This means it's not just veteran players with 100+ hours in the game that get to experience this content. Whenever they win, we all get to try out some of the crazy legendary modifiers that they've unlocked.

It also means that if you're a more casual player, you can still get lucky, unlock a sweet legendary modifier, and be one of the only players in the entire game who has the ability to make this specific modifier appear. There will be many players who don't have that modifier, and haven't even played it before. And then suddenly when you win your next match, there it is. And if you're feeling generous, you can vote for this new legendary modifier just so they can try something new. In this way, unlocking new modifiers doesn't just benefit you, it benefits the whole community.

[h2]Weekly Modifiers[/h2]
There are also weekly modifiers. These rotate every week, and they are added to everyone's build. So you have your 6 equipped modifiers, and then the 2 weekly modifiers bring the total up to 8. These are randomly shuffled up and then 2 are chosen for voting each round. This means that we'll see the weekly modifiers more often, and if you want you can strategize around them.



In the screenshot above we see:

Gold Rush: 30s into the round, multiple rare loot crates will land in the safe zone.
Skill Scan: Reveal nearby enemies for 5s after casting a skill.

Gold Rush combos nicely with Scavenger, as they duplicate every bit of loot they pick up. And Skill Scan synergizes with Caster, as they tend to run more active skills due to faster cooldowns. If you're feeling sweaty and want to try grind the leaderboards, it might be worth focussing on one of these 2 classes for a couple of days to get an edge! These change every Friday and Monday morning.



This version takes GSA one step closer to GTA with the addition of Gangsters!

You'll sometimes find a gang of 4 gangsters guarding some loot. If you capture the loot by standing inside the yellow circle for 5 seconds you will gain +$5000. Unless of course the "Thug Drops" modifier mentioned above is in play, in which case a far more valuable supply drop will land instead.



However, these gangsters are tough, and will kill you fast. You normally need to kill all 4 gangsters before trying to capture their loot. They have 200 health each and high damage. You can't just run in blind or you'll die. You need to actually think about how you take them out, ideally smart and one at a time. You might even want to take some AoE skills like Radiate or use Molotovs to take them out faster.

[h2]Risk vs Reward[/h2]
One of the gangsters will have a red backpack that is emitting smoke. When this gangster is killed he will explode, dealing 100hp damage to nearby enemies. This might be a good way to kill the other gangsters fast, if you can line them up just right.

But it's risky. The risk is that this explosion will also aggro the remaining gangsters permanently. This makes them chase you forever across the map and gain infinite vision of you too. This is a huge risk, because gangsters hurt and the last thing you need in this city is to make more enemies. So if you go for the backpack guy, make sure you take the rest out at the same time! Otherwise, maybe save that guy for last.




- Skill builds now only have 8 slots instead of 12. The middle 4 slots (for Epic and higher) have been removed for simplicity. The old system was too complex, and with round modifiers now ALSO getting their own builds, it was too much.

- The first active skill gives +30 max hp when you claim it. This rewards players who take at least one active skill, which ultimately makes the game more fun and varied for everyone.

- Brought back the mission arrow that shows the nearest mission civ. This helps new players always find something to do. Don't know how to farm? Just follow the arrow, do a mission and repeat. Just like in GTA2.

- Reworked the real-money prices of Uranium, Starter Packs and Legendary Packs. Also changed what's in them. They have the same general value as before, but the Starter pack now gives Epic flasks instead of XP Flasks, and the Legendary Packs cost $10, but gives more uranium than before. The Deluxe DLC is unaffected.

- You can now auto-open flasks to drastically reduce clicks. Right click flasks to queue them up, then click open. The game will go through all the flasks in the queue, spending ACID, shards and magnets as needed. This is useful for players who have stockpiled a lot of ACID and flasks and can't be bothered to click a bunch of times. Now you can queue them up and let it run while you go get a cup of coffee. Any new round modifiers or legendary drops will be indicated for you when it's done.

- Added a feature that lets you spend uranium to entirely swap all the DNA from one class to another. View it in the skills page. This helps players who invested all of their ACID and flasks into a single class (usually Assault as that's the starting one), but then feel trapped. You can now shift all of that data onto another class to try something new.

- Added some sick new menu music!





[MINOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES]

- We only lose half our XP instead of all of it on death.

- We get just +1 score for overtime kills instead of +2 score. The focus is now more on your level.

- Players in general move, shoot and reload very slightly faster.

- Bullets now "attach" to the ground so you can shoot enemies behind slopes.

- Random skills mode now gives +10% instead of +20% cash and XP.

- The requirements for the "earn trophies" daily challenge is doubled. But the 4th daily requirements is halved.

- Vendor upgrade costs now increase by $3000 instead of $2000 per purchase.

- Civs and cops no longer use pistols against you at wanted level 1, even if you shoot them.

- Level ups only give +5 instead of +10 max hp.

- Everyone spawns with 20% shield, which goes up to 60% after 4 kills.

- Improved bot pathfinding and difficulty.

- Added new civilian missions.

- We can now carry up to 5 nades instead of 4 at a time.

- Chemicals restore charges every 40s instead of 60s.


[CLASS CHANGES]

- Heavy's ROF perk now gives 1.0% ROF per level, but +3.5% when below 50% health (instead of a flat 2.5% all the time).

- Caster's active cooldowns restore +50% instead of +40% faster.

- Criminal no longer goes undercover and looks like a cop. That perk is replaced. Criminal's new perk is called "Shifty Civilians" and will cause the nearest civilian to teleport to your location when you shift (25% of the time).

- Scientist's gain +$500 instead of +$1000 for deaths nearby chemicals.


[SKILL CHANGES]

- Backtrack healing now ranges from 20% to 50% instead of 20% to 80%

- Blade Mail protection now ranges from 9 to 27% instead of 10 to 40%, but it begins at 40% health instead of 30%

- Medical Supplies nerfed to have healing and throw go from 6 to 24 instead of 8 to 32

- Mana Shield protection now ranges from 8 to 32% instead of 10 to 40%

- Boots of Travel now kicks in after 0.7 instead of 0.8s

- Shrapnel damage now ranges from 24% to 96% instead of 20% to 80%

- Venom Shot seeking speed is now 70 instead of 50

- Illicit Income gives 2x cash and XP for all levels

- XRay Vision now reveals slightly more players

- Blade Fury now does 2x damage vis civs/cops/gangsters

- Shockwave heals 1 less health per bullet for all levels

- Bullet Time seeking now ranges from 10 to 70 instead of 10 to 40 degrees/s

- Flying Dagger damage is now 85% to 115% instead of 70% to 100%

- Mirror Image gets +10 health



The next major feature will be a monthly battle pass. It will include a bunch of shards, ACID and other goodies in both the free and paid tracks. It will have fun weekly missions, and make it easier to unlock more round modifiers (and there will be a LOT more coming!).

I'm not sure exactly on the design of the battle pass yet, but I am sure that I don't want it to expire. If you buy it, you won't need to rush to complete it. You should be able to progress at your own pace.

Anyway, that will be a while away. And there are a lot more modifiers to create in the meantime.

Cheers and happy new year!
Ben (bencelot).

This is a summary of the biggest changes over the last few months. A few of these features have been live for a while, but I hadn't made a Steam announcement for them yet. If you've played the game recently you might have seen some of these, but if not, here's what's new in the world of GSA!



Explosive Boxes
There are fun new ways to kill people.

Some of the loot crates are now shown in red. These are explosive and will deal 60hp damage to anyone nearby, including yourself! If you want to claim the loot inside them you should shoot them from afar first, as running into them to open the crate will hurt. They crates also deal extra damage vs vehicles and are a great way to initiate a fight!






Car Physics Kills
Even cooler, when cars explode the car body will now blast forwards out of the explosion.

The car will deal huge roadkill damage as it slides across the ground, killing anyone caught in it's path. So now you can set traps by parking cars in chokepoints. I like to drive a car up to an incoming supply drop where I know a lot of enemies will be, and then pull off trick shots like these.



Pretty Graphics
Various parts of the game look better. The lighting is more vibrant and colourful. The circle of death is easier to see as it now has a little row of dots showing its edge.





The Uranium Shop
Players can now finally spend their Uranium! If you have or buy the Deluxe Edition DLC, you will get a bonus 3000 uranium, but everyone can also earn uranium for free. Daily challenges, leveling up, and opening flasks all give uranium, which you can spend in the new shop.

The shop displays new offers every day, selling things like ACID, Magnets, direct DNA purchases and various Flasks. Most popular are the class-specific flasks, which guarantee Epic or Legendary drops for your favourite classes.

Uranium makes account progression more strategic and gives you more control over how your account progresses. You can even wishlist your favorite skills by right clicking on them, and they will appear in the shop more often, allowing you to buy DNA directly on your favorite skills and classes.



Progression & Flasks Streamlined
The new progression system has seen many improvements since it was released 5 months ago. Huge thanks to all the Early Access testers who gave feedback on this!

Flasks are more convenient to claim as there are no longer any inventory limits. You can stack flasks infinitely.

You have the option to convert regular class flasks into Epic flasks. This means that flasks for the classes you don't play are no longer useless. You can turn them into Epics which are always useful.

The flask animation got a lot of criticism for being too slow, so that has been sped up 2x faster. And there is also a new "QUICK MIX" option that removes the animation entirely (except for when an Epic or Legendary is about to pop out).



Automatic Skill Builds
The recently added skill builds got a huge improvement due to the new "Auto Build" feature.

By clicking the AUTO button the game will automatically assign 12 skills to your build for you. It chooses these skills based on 3 factors. The rarity of the skill, hardcoded synergies that I know work well with that specific class, and most importantly, your personal skill usage.

The game will track how much you use each skill based on your "votes" when you click the skills during drafting in-game. Then based on this information it creates a build that prioritizes your favourite skills. It works pretty well, and is convenient for new players who aren't sure what skills they like yet.



New Survivor Income Loot Drops
The survivor income is the biggest source of XP in the game. This is a battle royale after all, and survival needs to matter. But it used to work in a fairly confusing way. Now it works like this:

Roughly once per minute, every survivor in the game will receive a special supply crate that lands right next to them. This contains a huge amount of XP, far more than you will get from other sources like cops, missions or kills. Only survivors get this though, not zombies. So if you want to farm up and become as strong as possible for the round 3 showdown, you need to stay alive!

This mechanic is more visual and intutive to new players. But it also adds interesting gameplay considerations for veterans. You get a 3 second warning before your box drops, which gives you just enough time to get to safety to claim it. You can also claim other player's income boxes, if you can somehow kill them before they claim it. The semi-random nature of the drops means you never know when it will come, and so when you hear the warning beeps you have to think fast to ensure you successfully claim this huge source of farm.



Random Class Options
You can now select a random class before you join a match. This gives you a subtle +10% XP boost, to compensate for the fact that you aren't able to counter of use your best class. This is in the rougelitey spirit of the game, and rewards players who have mastered every class. There's also a "Random Everything" mode, which also will not only randomise your class, but also your skill build too. Since this feature was added about 25% of players have been using it, from the looks of the leaderboards.



Hundreds of Tweaks to Skills, Classes and Mechanics
There are too many micro tweaks to list here, but they're all listed in the changelogs in game. Here are some of the highlights though:

- Added a new Kill Frenzy loot pickup, inspired by GTA2. This triggers a mission where you have 30s to kill 5 enemies.
- Added a new DOUBLE DAMAGE loot pickup, also inspired by GTA2. Collecting this gives you double damage for the next 3 seconds. It's good to camp one of these and wait for an unsuspecting victim to come nearby.
- New loot crates are randomly hidden on rooftops, encouraging exploration and rewarding players who know how to do parkour.
- Killing enemies now gives cash and XP based on your kill streak. $100 and 10xp per streak. So if you kill your 8th player without dying, it gives $800 and 80xp. This rewards survival, and puts a big focus on quality instead of quantity kills.
- Added a camera zoom option, which lets you zoom the camera out to see your surroundings better.
- Scoring is reworked. It is now based entirely on placement of each round, with later rounds giving more score. Your level or kills now have no impact on your score. This is important as it frees you up to just focus on the survival and build optimisation, instead of feeling the need to constantly grind kills to keep up.
- Free to Play players can now play all the survival mode difficulty modifiers. This allows them to compete with Deluxe DLC players on the daily leaderboards for top score.
- Boxes cast line of sight shadows more aggressively, creating more line of sight blockers in the map. We used to be able to see over a 5m tall box, but now we can't. Creating more interesting gameplay fighting around these.
- Too many class and skill balances to list here. Check the changelog in game!




The next major feature will be a literal game-changing new "round modifiers" system. How will it work?

In a match of Gene Shift Auto, there are 3 rounds, lasting 5 minutes each. Soon, each of these rounds will have a special modifier or minigame activated during it. I will create a bunch of these modifiers, but only one will be active at a time. Some ideas I'm thinking of are:

- The Floor is Lava! Areas of the map turn to fire, changing how we move about.
- Meteor Strike! Meteors will randomly fall from the sky, giving 2s warning before hitting the ground.
- Turbo Guns! Everyone will fire bullets +50% faster.
- Spinning Saws! Giant saws will spin at various chokepoints in the map, requiring timing to get through. Just like dungeon crawling in Skyrim.



Each round, a new random modifier will be chosen. This will add huge amounts of variety and replayability, and really lean into the roguelitey vibes too. Players will need to adapt to the changing situation if they want to survive and farm as well as possible.

Even cooler is how these modifiers are chosen. They are chosen semi-randomly, but importantly they will ultimately be decided by the winner of the previous round. If you win round 1, then you'll be the one who decides what modifier is active in round 2! This seems super fun to me. The stakes for winning rounds 1 and 2 will become huge, knowing that you'll be deciding the gameplay for everyone else in the server next round. Getting to choose also will have subtle gameplay advantages, as you might be able to choose a modifier that you are especially good at, or that synergises nicely with your build.

Anyway, this will be released in a couple of months, so stay tuned!

Cheers,
Ben (bencelot).

Heyo! Just a small patch today. There are some balance changes and a rework to how we earn Shards.

Shards still don't do anything, so this rework doesn't really matter yet. But we now earn them from leveling up our classes. We also need a certain number of Legendary skills in a class to reach the next level.

To make sure we all get the right class level and get the correct amount of Shards, I've had to roll back everyone's class levels a bit. This will let you reclaim up to the new right class level, get the right amount of shards, and also get a free +300 ACID for each class level up. Woo!

This version also now has a RANDOM CLASS BUTTON. This is to encourage players to experiment and get more variety in their gameplay. You will gain a slight +15% cash and XP boost to compensate for the lack of reliability. Or randomize your skills too for +30%!

Enjoy!

----

[GENERAL CHANGES]

- Made the chat log bigger and integrated Discord.

- Daily challenges must now be claimed from the main menu.

- Added pretty visual effects whenever you claim resources in the menu.

- Added a coming soon button for the shop.



[SHARD & CLASS LEVEL CHANGES]

- Shards are no longer earned from earning excess DNA on your legendary skills, nor are they earned from leveling up.

- Shards are instead earned by levelling up your classes. You get +30 shards and +300 ACID per class level up.

- Class levels now have 2 requirements. You need X amount of trophies like before, but now you also require a certain number of legendary skills on that class.

- This makes higher class levels harder to reach, so to compensate, gun skin cosmetics are now unlocked at earlier combined class levels.

- Everyone's shards have been reset and class levels rolled back, so you can re-level your classes to get up to the new amount, and get the right amount of shards.

- FYI, Shards will eventually be used to unlock alternative class perks, letting us swap existing perks out for new ones. Coming soon!



[EXCESS DNA CHANGES]

- Excess DNA that you earn when a skill reaches Legendary is no longer turned into shards. Instead it is stored on the skill itself.

- For every 5000 excess DNA that you earn, your skill will gain +1 medal level (the old way of earning skill medals is removed).

- These medal levels contribute towards your total class medal count, which is a new requirement used to unlock higher class levels.

- It now takes 5000 instead of 4500 DNA for a skill to reach legendary status. All players have their existing epic and legendary skills boosted by +500 DNA to compensate.

- You can now make progress towards your next magnet from earning excess DNA (previously excess DNA didn't count and was "wasted").



[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]

- Shotguns have 35 instead of 30m range and slightly better accuracy.

- Rare loot crates spawn more frequently in the map.

- Vendor skill duration upgrades are now +25/50/75% instead of +30/60/90%.

- Vendor skill speed upgrades are now +30/60/90% instead of +20/40/60%.

- Added 2 new "random class" options that become available when you hit level 100.

- Random Class: Play a random class, prioritizing daily challenges if available. Your skill build will match the selected build on that class. You earn +15% cash and XP from all sources in-game, and get +15% XP at the end of the match.

- Random Class & Skills: Play a random class, prioritizing daily challenges if available. You'll use a random skill build, but get +1 extra reroll.. You earn +30% cash and XP from all sources in-game, and get +30% XP at the end of the match.

- Vendors are more likely to carry chemicals, especially during round 1 (buffing Scientist).



[CLASS CHANGES]

- Criminal's gang now fires at enemy cops and civs who are attacking and hunting you.



[SKILL NERFS]

- Charged Shot now only gives half as much damage after throwing a grenade

- Shrapnel chance of free nade now ranges from 40% to 160% instead of 100% to 400%

- Mirror Image clone damage is now 12% to 30% instead of 10% to 40%

- Radiate initial impact damage is now 10 to 70hp instead of 20 to 80hp

- Falling Inferno duration is now +2 to +5s instead of +2 to +8s

- Toxic Blood duration is now +4 to + 7s instead of +4 to +10s



[SKILL BUFFS]

- Automatic Armor protection time is now 1.5s instead of 1s

- Blade Mail has more protection, ranging from -14% to -56% instead of -10% to -40%

- Combo Killer now drops more loot per multi kill level, ranging from 40% to 160% instead of 30% to 120%

- Armed Robbery's chance of a free upgrade now ranges from 8% to 32% instead of 6% to 24%

- Firestorm's cooldown now ranges from 16s to 10s instead of 20s to 14s

- Spike Trap's cooldown now ranges from 18s to 12s instead of 20s to 14s

Oops, I fucked up.

I accidentally wiped everyone's DNA while working in the database. This is super embarrassing and I'm really sorry! The backups were also too old to use (though I've now made sure this can never happen again).

Here's the plan to fix this. We're going to RESPEC our builds:

1) First of all, everyone over level 10 gets +1000 free uranium as an apology (equal to $10 USD, usable in the shop next version).

2) Everyone's ACID has been refunded.

3) Everyone's level is back to 0 (but XP is NOT reset). This allows us to very quickly reclaim all the flasks and get back to where we were before.

4) Flasks and shards are reset (as you'll re-earn all of these as you open the flasks again). Magnets earned from DNA are reset for same reason.

Overall, we will all have roughly as much DNA as before. The big downside is that it will be a pain to open all those flasks in a row. To open them faster, hold SHIFT when you click the MIX FLASK button!

The upside is that we'll all be a bit richer than before, as you get to keep the ACID, uranium, new skills, and magnets you previously unlocked from non-DNA sources, as well as the +1000 free uranium. Also, this is an opportunity to reuse your magnets to perfectly craft your builds.

I'm really sorry about this, I screwed up hard! Please send me a message on Steam if you have any problems.

In other news, there are some fun things in this version! Progression is way smoother now, with the ability to infinitely stack flasks. Scoring in PvP is now based entirely on placement, and F2P players can now attempt ALL survival challenges. Let's see who gets the top score!

Enjoy! (and again, sorry for the fuckup.)

----

[GENERAL CHANGES]

- Each class now has 3 builds slots, so you can create multiple skill builds per class.

- Right clicking on skills will wishlist them, which will make them appear more often in the shop. You can do this from leaderboards, the skill tree, or when opening flasks.



[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]

- Scoring in BR is completely reworked! We no longer get score for levels or kills. This removes the need to grind non-stop to keep up. Instead, we receive score based ONLY on our placement each round.

- The scores for placement are awarded to the final 10 players of each round: + 1/2/3/4/5/6/8/10/15/20 score (these values are for round 1. Rounds 2 and 3 are bigger).

- We no longer earn bonus health based on round placement, as we earn score instead. More health kits spawn in the map to compensate.

- If you damage a player but then within the next 10s they die to cops, then you are given the kill.

- The player hitbox is now slightly smaller, and all guns deal 10% less damage.

- The amount of XP you can get from ingame farming is capped at 6000 instead of 8000.

- Winning a BR match now gives much more XP. XP rewards range from 6000 to 2000xp, instead of 2000xp to 100xp.

- In warmups, instead of the circle closing in super tight which looks quite ugly, everyone just dies when the timer hits 0:00.



[FLASK & PROGRESSION CHANGES]

- All flask types can now be stacked up to 999 each per slot.

- Flask inventory size is 24 for all players, F2P and Deluxe.

- Sped up the flask animation 2x. You can hold SHIFT when opening flasks to make it even faster.

- Class flasks once again only give 2 instead of 3 drops for that class.

- Class flasks can now only be sold in batches of 3 at a time. However they give 100 ACID each instead of 50 each (so 300 for a batch of 3).

- The Epic Skill Flask is now called "Epic Class Flask" and gives a random class instead.

- XP flasks now cost 2000 instead of 3000 ACID.

- Chance of unlocking a ring 4 skill is now 10% instead of 5%.



[SURVIVAL CHANGES]

- F2P players can now complete all survival challenges, and not just the first row. This allows all players to compete on the daily leaderboards for top score.

- Removed the bonus XP from win streaks in survival mode. It's better for people to be able to take risks and experiment with harder survival modifers, without fear of losing the streak.

- The bonus XP from difficulty modifiers in survival mode now only apply when you win the run, in the same way the bonus score works.

- The "Adaptation" survival difficulty modifer is changed. It used to only show you 1 skill option instead of 2. Now it gives you 1 less reroll.

- The final round of survival now also has a zombie swarm.



[CLASS CHANGES]

- Criminal's gang members will no longer trigger fission mine.

- Scientist's Alchemic Network no longer restores your health when enemies are nearby. However it gives $1000 instead of $500 per enemy death, and the range is much larger.

- Scientist's Potent Chemicals perk now additionally makes chemicals be on discount from vendors.

- Sniper's bonus range is now +15% instead of +20%.



[SKILL CHANGES]

- Killer Cooldowns now also restores the cooldowns of your chemicals, by 5% to 35% restored per kill.

- Falling Inferno no longer throws another molotov when you toggle off certain skills (like Invis or Bullet Time).

- Critical Rage duration now ranges from +40% to +160% instead of +50% to +200%.

- Invis duration now ranges from 6 to 24s instead of 10 to 40s.

- Clip Magnet's charge time now ranges from 24 to 18s instead of 24 to 12s.

- Cluster Bomb cooldown is now 18 instead of 20s.

- Fire Storm now does 5x instead of 2x damage vs cars.

- Smoke Bomb now fades into invis 50% faster than before.

Spicy changes this version!

1) All classes can now shoot while shifting. Instead of your gun being disabled, it will shoot with worse accuracy instead. This used to be Assault's perk, which now gets +15% bullet speed instead.

2) The skill build system has been restructured a bit. We can now equip Legendary skills into the Epic and Rare slots. This solves a problem where once you got 2 Legendary skills on a class, any new Leges felt kind of useless.

3) The game will now Auto-Level your skills if you join a game mid-match in rounds 2 or 3. This way we can just start playing, and not have to click 10+ times. The auto-leveling takes skills from your build and still gives Leges etc.

There are also a few changes to Flask types, making them more powerful and interesting. Read on below!

----

[GENERAL CHANGES]

- Daily challenges for playing specific classes now work in the Conquest game mode.

- Sped up ranked mode slightly, making it so players don't have to grind as much to reach higher ranks.

- Made some UI improvements to the Flask inventory. Also added a new PURCHASED tab, which doesn't do anything yet, but will become a place to store flasks that you buy with Uranium.



[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]

- Changed bot behaviour to no longer priortize attacking the winning player in the server. This is usually a human and felt unfair.

- Jumping on flat ground no longer makes your accuracy worse. Only if you jump really high in the air.

- We can now shoot while shifting on all classes! However your accuracy is worse due to the movement. Machine guns and Rifles have a lot of inaccuracy, while SMGS and pistols have less.

- When players join mid-match, they start with the average number of extra damage and health kits collected so far in the server. This is how XP and cash already worked.

- When players join mid-match, the game will auto level skills for them. This simulates a player just spamming the right-hand side skill draft button (where your build appears).

- The skill build system now allows Legendaries and Epics to show up at lower rarities.

- The skill build is now split into 3 sections, clearly indicated in the menu. There is a new rule that you are guaranteed to see a skill from each of the 3 sections once per match. This helps you create synergies and combos. If you have a combo of 3 skills, put 1 in each section for a chance to play all 3 in a match.

- Added a bounty system (patched live a week ago). When you get 4 kills in a row (OWNAGE!), $2000 appears above your head. Enemies who kill you get this reward. This grows up to $6000 if you get 12 kills in a row.



[FLASK CHANGES]

- Magnetic Flasks now only require 1 magnet to use, but they cost 3000 instead of 1500 ACID.

- XP Flasks now give +50xp instead of +20xp per DNA earned, but they cost 3000 instead of 1000 ACID.

- Catchup flask is improved. Instead of only giving DNA to your least played class, it gives it to all classes except your 2 most played classes. It still only costs 500 ACID to open.

- Created a new flask type called "Legendary Class Flask". This is a legendary flask with a twist! It tells you what class the Legendary will be for. This changes every day at 0:00 UTC, and also whenever you open a flask.

- Mystery flasks no longer give class specific Legendary flasks (as you might get stuck with a class you don't like). Instead they give the new "Legendary Class Flask" which gives more control over what class you get.



[CLASS CHANGES]

- Assault's first perk is now "You will move +10% faster, and your bullets travel +15% faster." It no longer lets you shoot while shifting, as ALL classes get that now.

- Caster's skill cooldowns are now +50% instead of +60% faster.

- When Criminals are undercover they no longer appear to enemies in the minimap. Your gang now does 70% instead of +65% regular cop damage.

- Scientist's bombs will appear more frequently at vendors (50% instead of 33% of the time).

- Assassin's bullets seek slightly faster during the 2s kill window.



[SKILL CHANGES]

- Blade Mail's max bonus damage cap is now 100 instead of 50.

- Shift Attack's bonus damage now lasts for 0.8 instead of 1.0s after shifting.

- Firestorm flies 10% faster through the air.

- Firestorm cooldown is now 20/19/18/17/16/15/14 instead of a flat 20s.

- Radiate's explosion area is reduced by 10%.

- Laser Scope's bullet speed and range is reduced by 20%.

- Cluster Bomb takes 0.2s longer to throw grenades for all levels.

- Stimpacks heals 1 less hitpoint per shift for all levels.

- Mirror Image health now ranges from 20 to 80 instead of 30 to 120.

- Venom Shot seeking is now 40 instead of 50 degrees per second.

- Charged Shot damage now ranges from 16 to 64 instead of 12 to 48.

- Medical Supplies now pulls loot from big supply crates at 50% instead of 35% the distance.

- Phase Drifting speed is now +40 to +160% instead of +50 to +200%.

- Xray Vision has a higher range and reveals more enemies at higher levels. This range now also reveals rare loot crates further in the minimap.

- Rambulance healing linger duration is 6 instead of 5s after you exit a car.

- Backtrack cooldown now ranges from 20 to 14s, but the duration is massviely buffed to 5s to 35s (instead of 4s to 16s).