3.4.1.1 Changelog

This Tuesday update has been applied to the US server. It includes many bug fixes, balance adjustments, and some server adjustments!

BUG FIXES

> Fixed healthpacks still not cleansing bleed

> Fixed the Black Box not healing on hit

> Fixed the Shovel’s healing passive applying to all Soldier melees

> Fixed the Dragon’s Fury having 16.66% more range than intended

> Fixed the Thermal Thruster’s launch time not being reverted to vanilla

> Fixed the Thermal Thruster’s relaunch time not being reverted to vanilla

> Fixed the Steadfast Blast explosions persisting through rounds and class changes

> Fixed the Tide Turner speed boost on damage taken still not being removed

> Fixed the Jaws of Steel movespeed penalty while dry still not being removed

> Fixed the Astral Assassin bounce limit change from last update not applying

> Fixed the Persian Persuader receiving -50% health from all sources while equipped

> Fixed the Jupiter’s clip being increased to 12 when resupplying from a Dispenser

> Fixed the Lancer having less reserve ammo than intended

> Fixed the Hypodermic Injector inheriting one of the Bonesaw’s changes

> Fixed the Half-Zatoichi healing 100% more than intended on kill

General

> Added arena_perks, cp_lava_pit, pd_mannsylvania, pl_spineyard, pl_corruption, and koth_slime from Scream Fortress XV to the map rotation

> Class Limits

> Scouts per team increased from 3 to 4

> Pyros per team increased from 3 to 4

> Demomen per team increased from 3 to 4

> Snipers per team increased from 2 to 3

> Spies per team increased from 2 to 3

> Class limits were originally introduced to solve balance problems typically caused by class stacking. While we’re still not confident in turning up the number of Engineers, Soldiers, Heavies, or Medics, we find that the other classes do not scale up too powerfully with numbers, and the restraints will be loosened.

> Autoscramble

> No longer displays messages in text chat

> Maximum number of players scrambled decreased from 50% to 40%

> Previously, Autoscramble would occasionally scramble so many players that the resulting teams were often almost identical to what they previously were, only switched sides. All this ended up doing was force players to roll on the same side twice in a row.

> AFK Manager

> No longer displays messages in text chat

> Number of players required for AFK Manager to activate increased from 1 to 6

> We would like to declutter the text chat messages sent by server plugins, and additionally find that managing AFK players is unnecessary whenever playercounts are low.

> Some Custom Menus now use new sound effects!

BALANCE CHANGES

> Mann Co. (Vanilla Changes)

> Backscatter

+ Removed “30% slower firing speed”

+ Removed “15% slower reload time”

- Re-added “-34% clipsize”

- Re-added “-20% accuracy”

- Removed “On kill: Decreased weapon attack noise”

- Removed “Shots penetrate all enemies”

> The design of our Backscatter was unnecessarily overcomplicated, and moving it back to vanilla, save for the improvement to the ‘backstab,’ should be enough to land its viability.

> Atomizer

= Reverted all stats to vanilla

+ Added “On hit, slam airborne enemies into the ground”

> The Atomizer often generated confusion and dissatisfaction with players, and is being reverted, aside from the amusing “slam” stat.

> Black Box

= Reverted all stats to vanilla

> Beggar’s Bazooka

= Reverted all stats to vanilla

> There are plans for future changes to this weapon, but for the time being it will stay as vanilla.

> Rocket Jumper

+ Added "Every 90 damage dealt with other weapons reloads 1 ammo for this weapon"

- Removed "On kill with any weapon: All equipped weapons automatically reload"

> The “On kill” stat was not functioning properly, and some of the team already felt that on-kill bonuses are not reliable, and that scaling off of damage output is more consistently valuable.

> Pyro

- Removed “Pyrotechnics: Debuffs wear off 50% faster”

> While beneficial to Pyro, this “passive ability” did little to service Pyro’s playstyle or provide any interesting changes to combat, making it feel ‘pointless’ and out of place despite its tangible value.

> Axtinguisher

+ Re-added “killing blows on burning players grants a speed boost”

> This attribute was originally moved to limit Pyro’s availability of movespeed boosts. We will be taking a different approach to this proliferation in the future.

> Thermal Thruster

+ Decreased locked holster time from 0.35s to 0.3s

> The faster deploy speed of the Degreaser was not fully accounted for at 0.35s.

> Loose Cannon

= Re-added random projectile spinning when fired

+ Re-added “+20% projectile speed”

> We are reverting this weapon back to vanilla, as we find the visual oddity of the bomb not spinning was not worthwhile the slightly lowered randomness of the weapon.

> Sticky Jumper

+ Added "Every 90 damage dealt with other weapons reloads 1 ammo for this weapon"

- Removed "On kill with any weapon: All equipped weapons automatically reload"

> Gloves of Running Urgently

+ Reverted the minimum maxhealth threshold to vanilla (from 25 to 100)

- Re-added “On deploy, instantly drain 20 maxhealth”

> We originally intended to make these changes 2 patches ago but ran into issues with correctly applying the changes.

> Killing Gloves of Boxing

+ Removed “On kill or assist-kill: User is self Marked-for-Death for 2.5 seconds"

- Removed “On assist-kill: Gain 5 seconds of Mini-Crits for all of your weapons"

> Now that Heavy’s passive melee power has been brought much closer back to vanilla, it makes most sense to remove the crippling vulnerability the KGB has. On the other hand, the assist system can be unreliable, and the power mini-crits have on Heavy’s ranged weapons cannot be so cheaply given.

> Widowmaker

- Reverted all stats to vanilla

> Bet nobody even remembers the single stat we had changed.

> Southern Hospitality

+ Increased Dispenser range from +150% to +200%

> When the Dispenser range bonus was initially added to the Southern Hospitality, there was concerns that it would be too much. These concerns seem unfounded given the low userate of this weapon, and so it will be increased further.

> Sydney Sleeper

+ Increased holster speed from +30% to +60%

+ Re-added “Nature’s Call: Scoped headshots always mini-crit and reduce the remaining cooldown of Jarate by 1 second.”

- Removed "On headshot: Double the Jarate duration"

- Removed "On scoped hit: slows targets by 10% with the duration based on charge and doubles the duration on headshot"

> The Sydney Sleeper has been both annoying to fight and weak to use. While we have a very ambitious idea of what we would like to do with this weapon in the future, for the meantime, it will move closer back to vanilla, but the implication of using your other weapons to capitalize on the Jarate effect will be further pronounced.

> Your Eternal Reward

= Reverted all stats to vanilla

+ Removed "Normal disguises require (and consume) a full cloak meter"

> This weapon has become overly complicated, and we find that it likely only needs a simple buff to be valuable. Additionally, it was compounding with certain other weapons in ways we did not anticipate.

> Reserve Shooter

+ Increased accuracy from +20% to +35%

- Reverted deploy speed to vanilla (from +30% to +20%)

- Removed “This weapon holsters 15% faster”

> The Reserve Shooter has considerable power, but it is unfocused. It will now be focused on mid-range and be more succesful at anti-air than it typically is in vanilla.

> Pain Train

= Removed “This weapon has bonus melee range, but deploys and holsters slower”

> Demoman is lacking in access to melee weapons which do not have slower switch speeds, and the switch speed of the Pain Train was generally inhibiting it from performing its intended purpose as a risky utility item.

> Craft Co. (Custom Changes)

> Solid Slugger

+ Added “Every 50 damage dealt with other weapons reloads 1 ammo for this weapon”

- Removed “On kill with any weapon, reload all weapons”

> After implementing the on-kill attribute, it was quickly evident that it no longer functioned correctly, and will be replaced with a similar mechanic.

> Lead Pipe

+ Increased the minimum maxhealth threshold from 25 to 100

- Added “On deploy, instantly drain 20 maxhealth”

> This is an unavoidable change for the time being, as the existing changes to the drain mechanic were global, not on a per-weapon basis.

> Follower

+ Removed “Damage decreases the longer each rocket travels, up to -25% at 1600Hu”

+ Increased Marker placement range from 1200Hu to 6000Hu

- Decreased projectile speed from -10% to -20%

- Increased cooldown for switching modes from 0.25s to 1s

> Upon witnessing the results of our previous buffs to the Follower, it became immediately apparent that the damage penalty compounds too much with the Follower’s existing falloff. Rather than try to remove falloff and rework the distance scale, the scale will simply be removed. As compensation, the projectile speed will be further lowered.

> Geneva Protokill

+ Added blast jumping

> The Geneva Protokill, while effective in its niche, is not very fun to use. Consider this an experiment.

> Victor-Ion

+ Increased ammo regained on hit from 1 to 2

+ Increased ammo regained on building destruction from 1 to 2

+ Increased ammo regained on backstab from 2 to 6

- Decreased maxammo from 12 to 6

> The Victor-Ion is simultaneously too forgiving and not forgiving enough for missing. It has many shots, but once they’re gone, they’re very hard to replenish. To kill both of these birds, the ammo will be halved, but successfully hitting shots will restore ammo, and backstabs will be a full refill.

> Intermission

+ Removed “-40% Sapper damage penalty”

- Added “-40% Sapper health”

> The Intermission’s design contradicts itself. It is only useful when destroying buildings, but does so much slower. Instead, it will now be destroyed in one hit, forcing Spies to fight the Engineer to protect their Sappers, and healing them back up if they succeed.