Finally, what was supposed to be the March update is now out. And boy oh boy, it has a lot. My list of changes and bug fixes is more than 60 items long. While I'd love to write about all the changes, I'll try to respect your time and stick to the most important bits.
Quickplay vs custom game
Quickplay, as the name suggests, is the quickest way to set up a game. Simply select the number of players and rounds to start a deathmatch with the most commonly used settings. In Quickplay, special weapons and talents are assigned randomly at the start of each round, making it the ultimate challenge.
Custom games, on the other hand, give you full control over every aspect of the game. Choose the game mode, set the amount of friendly fire, change the time of day and weather, select whether medals should impact the ranks or not, and even more. Just give it a shot.
Overtime added
The latest update reduced the duration of each round to four minutes (by the way, in a custom game, you can set different times). To compensate for this, game modes with an objective can now go into overtime if a player still has an objective.
E-Torp changes
E-Torps were always less popular than nukes among testers. Their faster velocity put many players off, as it was hard to get into the groove with them. Also, they were less powerful than nukes. Two changes were made to address this. First, E-Torps now fly at a speed closer to that of the other rockets. They also now cause system failures on tanks that they pass in close proximity. So, even those shots that you narrowly miss can distract and harm your opponents.
Less, but more impactful talents
Sometimes less is more. Out of 20+ talents, most players gravitated towards fewer than 10 of them. After testing the possibility of having two talents at once (which failed miserably in testing), I decided to go the other way around and reduce the number of talents. There is one new talent “Nemesis” in this update and more to come. But the plan is to keep the number of talents rather low and concentrate on those for which players do not have to adapt the way they play the game.
Different input schemes (for each player)
Now, there are two ways to control your tank and your tank's turret. Give them a try. Also, every player can select their own input scheme (and button layout), making it easier to mix different gamepads.
New UI All Around - Again
Yes, I did it again. To address the changes with Quickplay and custom games, a full overhaul of the menu was overdue.
Changes were also made to the in-game messaging system, as testers sometimes overlooked them.
And More
Usually, this is the place where I list all changes to show off. But not this time. I would have to translate them into English first, and I'd rather continue working on the game.
What's next
I've decided to switch to a bi-monthly release cycle. The primary reason for this is that I'd like to test future updates more thoroughly. I also need to catch up with all the marketing stuff. For instance, the trailer hasn't been updated in more than half a year, so I'm planning to spend more time on it.
As for what to expect from the next update? I don't know. However, I do have a list of 100+ smaller tweaks and features I'm considering. But I'd like to see what comes from testing this version before deciding where to go next.
Become a Tester and Get Exclusive Stuff
If you want to help test the game and provide feedback, you can join the Discord to do so: https://discord.gg/mt7dBDn7un. Testers and Discord members will receive some exclusive content once the game launches.