Patch Notes - Season 3: Chapter 1

Season 3

Much to

Helio’s

Helio

dismay, a brand new Trust has taken up residence in Atlas. Hyperbotics, a collective that fuses the remnants for Warbotics with the resources of the former Hyperion empire, has arrived.

Season 3 has begun!!

• Check out all-new challenges and missions.
• Earn a “Salty” Overcon just for logging in during the event!

Skins

• New skins are available for
  

  Kaigin

  Kaigin

  
  ,
  

  Phaedra

  Phaedra

  
  ,
  

  Su-Ren

  Su-Ren

  
  ,
  

  Blackburn

  Blackburn

  
  ,
  

  Rask

  Rask

  
  ,
  

  Oz

  Oz

  
  , and
  

  Rampart

  Rampart

  
  . Earn them through special Warforged Loot Matrices.
• New skins will be available for
  

   ISO

  

  ISO

  • A currency earned through

    

     Loot Matrices
  • Used to purchase loot
  after the chapter has ended.
• Here is a preview of some of the new skins:

New Freelancer

Meridian Whispers of the “miracle maker from Hyperion” preceded Meridian’s arrival in Atlas. He is a melee support that wields a giant hammer and is built to defend his allies with the light of Hyperion. His presence inspired immediate loyalty from a number of Freelancers – Brynn Brynn in particular. He’s also been seen frequently at Zuki’s Zuki Flying Junkyard, which has created much gossip over whether or not he’s had any work done. (For the record, when asked, the prideful automaton insists he’s 100% original). NOTE: his Golden Age skin and Master skin are coming soon! They were delayed due to a last minute issue. #blamejames "He's the hero Atlas deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark producer." - Mr11

Extraction!

• The game mode for Chapter 1 is Extraction
• Get the case to your extraction zone and reap the rewards!

Ranked

• Ranked Season 2 has ended. Season 3 Ranked will start on May 23 (and will be off until that date).
• Players will receive Prestige Points and emblems based on their rankings during Season 2.

Stats

• Check out the robust new stats system!
• We now track a wide variety of general stats and 4 Freelancer-specific stats for each Freelancer.
• On the end of match screen, you’ll be able to compare stats from that match to your average and personal best.
• The Player Profile, accessed by clicking on your own banner from the landing page, houses a whole litany of stats to allow you to see how each Freelancer compares to each other.
• NOTE: many stats are not retroactive. You’ll have to start from Season 3!

• The badge system and global stat comparisons will be arriving soon
  ™

  
  . We need data to populate the system before badges and global comparisons will have real value.

Achievements

• Atlas Reactor now has Achievements!
• Check them out in the progression menu (click your banner in the front end).
• Steam users will receive Steam Achievements for each Atlas Reactor achievement.
• Expect to see new achievements in future chapters as we’ll be expanding them over time.
• KNOWN ISSUE:
  

  Oz’s

  Oz

  
  achievement currently does not complete. We are working on a fix.

New Map: Hyperforge

• Wage war in a hi-tech armory where the open battleground and generous camouflage make for tense, wide-ranging skirmishes.
• Hyperforge has the first ever rotating power-up. Each time it is picked up it will spawn as a different power up the next time (on a specific cycle, it is not random).
• All game modes are supported on Hyperforge.

Catalyst Changes

• There are an entirely (mostly) new set of catalysts for Season 3!

Prep	Dash	Blast
Critical Shot One of the perfect ones. It remains as it was.	Shift The 2nd perfect one. It remains as it was.	Probe Gives vision in an area for 2 turns and can see through camouflage.
Brain Juice Has moved to Prep and now reduces cooldowns by 1. Prepare to… take more damage.	Fetter Now does 10 direct damage in addition to  rooting Rooted Removes all movement .	Echo Boost Increases the duration of buffs on you for 1 turn. Rampart tested, Blackburn approved.
Second Wind Has moved to Prep and now heals for 30 over 3 turns.	Fade The final perfect one. It remains as it was.	Adrenaline Gain  unstoppable Unstoppable Immune to knockbacks and movement reduction until the end of the turn. You’re the Juggernaut, dawg.
Regenergy Give  energized Energized Increases energy generation from abilities by 50% for the turn. Particularly interesting in quick ult builds.	Regroup Teleport a long distance to an ally.	Chronosurge  Slow Slow Reduces movement by 50% all nearby enemies and gain  Haste Haste Increases movement by 50% . Gotta go fast!

• RIP Turtle Tech

  
  , we hardly knew ye.
• Additionally, all shift catas will display their icon on the ground when used, to make it more clear what each player has used.

Reconnecting

• We’ve made some big changes under the hood to reconnecting.
• Disconnects should be less frequent, as we now auto-reconnect you if your connection suffers a small drop in activity.
• Fixed a few general reconnect bugs.

AI Bot Improvements

"Beep...Boop...all your reactors are belong to us."

• 

  Quark

  Quark

  
  will no longer use crit shot on the same turn he ults.
• Ranged freelancers now prefer cover positions.
• They will now prefer to shift into brush.
• Ranged freelancers with high health will needlessly dash less.
• Bots will consider if a square is occupied when shifting.
• Bots will be less likely to dash if already in cover.
• 

  Helio

  Helio

  
  is smarter about using his shield on allies.
• More!

General

• General and All chat is now restricted for new players until they player play 5 matches.
• You can now select your language preference from the Options menu (instead of through Glyph).
• Fixed some issues where the incorrect Fill skin was selected after completing a game.
• Fixed an issue where death VFX and SFX were playing again on the game over screen, making you feel double-bad.
• Changed some text that was previously all caps. SORRY, WE WEREN’T TRYING TO YELL.

UI/Gameplay Improvements

• New! - Alt-clicking an ability icon on your ability bar will now print information to chat, including the ability name, cooldown, and energy status for ults. Use this to let your teammates have more information quickly. Example here

Balance

Frontline

Phaedra We think Putrid Spray is more fun with 2 turns for the base duration. Damage has been reduced to compensate. Mending Swarm now has a cap, which we will be tuning over time. Putrid Spray Duration increased from 1 to 2. Damage reduced from 20 to 15. Hive has been removed Big Bugs Reduced the damage increase from 5 to 3 Mending Swarm Now has a maximum heal of 60 (30 max each turn).

Rask Check out that knockback upgrade! Maul Damage increased by 2. Beastial Damage reduced by 2. Upheaval New! - Move cursor in or out to adjust knockback distance between 1 and 4.

Support

Aurora Ion Cloud now has healing by default to increase mod flexibility. Shock Therapy Damage increased from 18 to 20. Ion Cloud Heals all allies for 4 by default. Invigorating Cloud Increases heal from 4 to 6. Now costs 2 points. Stable Ions Extra turn duration mod cost from 1 to 3

Dr. Finn Finn is getting a slight buff, and a more useful 1 pointer on his ult. Refreshing Spray Can change in size, similar to water spout. Now heals for 24 at the widest (the same template it currently is) and 30 at the narrowest. Electrifying Eels Ignores cover Cover Standing behind cover provides 50% damage reduction from damage coming from the other side of it . Damage reduced from 24 to 20. Maelstrom Cast Off No longer causes  Knockback Knockback Lose movement for the turn . Now causes Finn to be  Unstoppable Unstoppable Immune to knockbacks and movement reduction until end of turn.

Khita Resonance Burst Focused Burst Extra shielding reduced from 10 to 6. Vaulting Shot Survivalist No longer reduces cooldown. Increases damage from 20 to 26.

Quark We like Quark as a high regen character. We’re tuning his max health to increase his fragility Reduced maximum health from 140 to 130. Atomic Bond Sharing is Caring Healing reduced from 3 to 2.

Firepower

Blackburn Blackburn has been consistently performing well, especially after the recent changes that improved the strength of Blitz. A slight damage reduction will put him on more even footing with other firepowers. Proteus Grenade Damage reduced from 28 to 25.

Juno Juno can put out the hurt but her Laser Barrage feels overshadowed by her other abilities. A slight boost should make people think twice about getting in range of her miniguns. Laser Barrage Damage increased by 2.

Zuki The Big One Regenerating Ammo No longer reduces the cooldown. Now grants 6 energy on cast. This mod was meant to be new player friendly but ended up magnifying their inexperience.