Title Update 3: January 10th 2017
XB1 – ~7GB // Win10 ~ 9GB
Title Update 3 for Gears of War 4 is releasing ~10am PDT on January 10th 2017. Note: There may be disruption from 9am PDT onwards as we transition to this new Title Update. We recommend not starting any extended gameplay sessions near this time.
Series 2 Release and Two Maps
Two new maps and Series 2 of our Gear Pack content arrives with Title Update 3, delivering hundreds of new Cards to collect. We’ll be announcing details on all this and more tomorrow morning (PDT) – stay tuned for all the info.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Series 2 content will be Craftable once you download the Title Update, but will not be available in Gear Packs for a few hours following the update. If you are looking to acquire new Series 2 content, please withhold from buying Gear Packs until we confirm the Cards are available in the pool.
Combatting Quitters – Phase 1
Combatting quitting has been a top priority for us at the studio. We’ve been working hard since launch to introduce new punitive measures in Gears of War 4 that encourage staying to the end of the match and actively participating in Core and Competitive play.
As of TU3, we’re introducing new features as a first phase of updates to combat quitting in Core / Competitive. As of this update, players who quit a Core or Competitive Match will now be suspended from all matchmaking of any kind for a limited time to discourage drop out behavior – with the biggest time punishments going to the first player to quit the match. In addition, the more you quit, the longer the suspension you will receive from playing matchmaking.
If your connection temporarily dropped or your pet tripped the power cable, all is not lost. Players can rejoin the match they left (provided it’s still in progress) for up to 5 minutes from the time they quit through a new ‘Rejoin Match’ option in the main Versus menu. Rejoining and completing the match will result in no penalties.
With these new features, we hope to see a major improvement in player mentality to committing to a match in Core and Competitive. We have further quit penalty and balanced match features in the works – including Core/Competitive pre-game lobbies – coming in future Title Updates to further improve the online experience.
- Players leaving a Core/Competitive game early will now be suspended from matchmaking
- Players can rejoin a Core/Competitive match within 5 minutes of being dropped or quitting from an option in the main Versus menu
- Rejoining and completing a match will remove the matchmaking suspension time
- Added functionality to display matchmaking suspension time (including to your Squad Leader). You will not be able to matchmake if your Squad contains a suspended user until their suspension has completed.
Spectator Mode Improvements
As we enter 2017 to continue the huge season of Gears of War 4 eSports ahead, a small part of our team have been working on improvements to the Spectator Mode experience for viewers and casters.
This latest update brings far more information for viewers to follow the action, while reducing the real estate taken up by Player Cards to make them more viable for use when streaming tournaments. We’re excited to see what fans and casters think of these improvements over the coming months!
- Player Cards have been re-designed to take up less visual space
- Player ammo and reloads are now visible in the Spectator Mode UI
- Crosshairs are now visible to Spectators
- Respawn timers are now displayed on Player Cards
- Weapons holstered onto a player’s back can now be seen in Spectator Mode
- ‘K’ keyboard button now removes spectator inputs UI and/or the black bar altogether
- ‘L’ keyboard button toggles Player Cards to the far edges of the screen or normal positioning
- ‘V’, ‘B’ and ‘N’ keyboard buttons now jump to specific Escalation hill battle cameras
- Fixed an issue with X-Ray vision not rendering as intended
- Made X-Ray a ‘toggle’ rather than ‘Press-And-Hold’
- Fixed the ordering of players in Competitive UI to match the Lobby Order
- Pressing B while holding Jump Cam now cancels a pending Jump Cam
- Added new mapping for specific face buttons for specific camera modes, listed below:
- Gamepad ‘A’, Keyboard ‘Z’ -> Switches to Player or Follow Cam. If already in Player Cam, switch to Follow Cam and vice versa. Last used mode is saved as your preference when switching back to Player/Follow Cam from other modes and when using the Jump Cam
- Gamepad ‘X’, Keyboard ‘X’ -> Switch to Ghost Cam
- Gamepad ‘Y’, Keyboard ‘C’ -> Switch to Battle Cam
Other Fixes
– Skill ranking will now be visible again at the end of match scoreboard
– Added ‘Spawns Swapped’ UI when spawns flip in Versus
– Increased the Energy cost of the Hammer of Dawn Strike in Horde
– Increased Escalation Win and Loss bonuses
– Increased Escalation Win Bounty Rewards
– Tuned criteria and rewards for King of the Hill Bounties
– Fixed an exploit that allowed players to teleport Energy to their position in Horde
– Squad Members can immediately see when they have been removed from a Squad
– The ‘Horde Skills’ UI Notification alerting you to new skills now works correctly
– Horde Skill cards can now be equipped and unequipped in the Horde Skills inventory
– Added UI notification to show new Cards in your collection when opening Gear Packs
– Improved UI on Turret Heat bar
– Improved performance when switching tabs in Card view menus
– Added slider to control how long text chat remains visible after a message
– The Longshot can no longer shoot through walls if positioned through a 90 degree corner
– Added a Duplicates Only filter to the Inventory Menu
– Fixed an issue where audio slowly cut out in Horde
– Fixed an issue allowing grenade effects to continue into the next round in Versus
– Removed an exploit allowing users to break the map boundaries in Horde on Foundation
– Fixed an issue that allowed players to respawn out of the map boundaries in Horde
– Fixed an issue where offline customization would reset if user changed characters
– Miscellaneous fixes and improvements
We’re continuing to work on lobbies for Core and Competitive in addition to more punitive measures for quitting and investigating tuning improvements. We can’t wait to deliver all this and more throughout 2017. Here’s to another year of Gears! We’ll see you online.
