The biggest-ever update for LawBreakers, the new game from Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski’s new studio Boss Key, is out now on PS4 and PC. The update adds a number of new things, but perhaps the most notable of which is Boss Leagues. This is a ranked mode, which Boss Key says is something fans have been clamouring for.
While Boss Leagues is now live, the first season is something of a test. Season 0, as it’s called, is a “beta” season, with the goal of gathering feedback to make future seasons better. There are three modes in Season 0: Blitzball, Uplink, and Occupy, and there can be no double-ups on roles. To help players find matches faster, the matchmaking system will look at players from across multiple regions instead of just one.
As with ranked modes in other games, you’ll need to play an allotment of matches (in this case 10) before receiving your rank. From there, your rank will rise or fall depending on the skill level of the other team and if you won or lost. You don’t have to worry so much about your Kill/Death ratio, as ranks are all about winning. You can read more about LawBreakers’ new Boss Leagues mode here in this blog post.
Also new in today’s update, which is called 2.0/All-Star, is a new map for Blitzball. Called Gateway, the map is set above the streets of San Francisco. “Gateway, the Blitzball stadium, is a such a marvel, as it floats effortlessly in the sky thanks to Hadronium’s anti-gravitational properties,” Boss Key says.
Gateway is not the only new map now available in LawBreakers. Today’s update also introduces a “blood moon” version of the Redfalls. In this version, you’ll see a spooky-looking red moon in the sky that makes it look “darker” and more “sinister,” Boss Key said. In terms of gameplay, nothing is changed, however.
Additionally, the new LawBreakers update adds new character and weapon skins themed around Blitzball; in all, there are more than 120 new items that you can get through loot boxes. Finally, today’s update adds a new tutorial mode to help players get up to speed on the game’s various roles, while there are also a number of character-specific balance changes. You’ll also now get a double XP bonus for your first win of the day in any mode.
You can see the full PS4 and PC patch notes below. For lots more on LawBreakers, you can check out GameSpot’s in-depth interview with Bleszinski about the steps his company is taking to save the game.
LawBreakers PS4 2.0 Patch Notes:
ROLE CHANGES:
HEALTH REGEN (ALL ROLES) –
“We’re increasing the out of combat delay so that hopping from engagement to engagement takes more strategy.”
ASSASSIN –
“With the health adjustments in Patch 1.4, Assassins aren’t as squishy and don’t need as much help sustaining while in Frenzy. We’ve cut down on the healing per hit to address this.”
BATTLE MEDIC –
“We’ve added more charges to Firefly so that Battle Medics can command the battlefield a bit better. Having the same amount of ammo on both weapons should help their swap timing and make them more viable in skirmish modes.”
ENFORCER –
“Enforcers health has been brought down since previous patches have increased his survivability.”
GUNSLINGER –
“We’ve added charge multiplier logic to the Omega that increases alongside damage. This should reward high accuracy players and curtail “spam slinger” effectiveness.”
-
*NEW* Gunslinger’s Omega headshot multiplier will now scale up based upon how long your charge your shots.
-
Omega’s min headshot multiplier is now 1.1.
-
Omega’s max charged headshot multiplier is now 1.75.
HARRIER –
“Harrier’s kit inherently makes them extremely survivable, so we’ve knocked 25 points off of their Base Health. The Shoc-Croc has been adjusted to deal more damage if you can train your weapon on an enemy’s head. We’ve also shortened the length of Convergence to make it less oppressive.”
-
Base health reduced from 450 → 425.
-
Shoc-Croc’s headshot multiplier increased from 1.5 → 1.75.
-
Laser Tag cooldown visual now changes from red to blue when able to fire.
-
Convergence beam duration reduced from 6 → 5 seconds.
JUGGERNAUT –
“Juggernaut needed a bit of help when low on ammo, so Instigator has gotten a reload speed bump. We’re working on some bug fixes to reload issues overall in future patches that will help them out.”
TITAN –
“Titan has gotten some quality of life improvements this patch. They can now perform more actions while in Berserk mode, and we’ve added our version of a much requested range indicator for Hammerhead rockets.”
-
*NEW* Detonation indicator will now appear when a target is within a rocket’s explosion radius.
-
Pulverize’s max damage increased from 125 → 175.
-
Titan can now kick and jump while Berserk is active.
VANGUARD –
“Vanguard’s Meteor Shells + Pulsar burst potential has been dialed in a bit and we’ve made the shell’s self damage less punishing.”
-
Pulsar’s damage radius lowered from 200 → 175.
-
Pulsar’s max damage lowered from 120 → 110.
-
Hydra’s time its takes to get to full fire rate has been increased by 7.5%.
-
Updated Hydra’s primary reticle.
-
Meteor Shells self damage reduced from 100% → 50%.
WRAITH –
“Wraith is getting out dueled and damaged at his intended effective range. We’ve adjusted their reload speed to help them exchange fire and increased the minimum damage from Wasp to match a default kick. Chrono Switch has also seen an adjustment so that hitting targets with it should be more reliable.”
-
Spektor’s falloff start distance increased from 600 → 750.
-
Spektor’s reload speed has been sped up by 25%.
-
Wasp’s minimum stab damage increased from 30 → 75.
-
Chrono Switch’s slowing rings travel speed has been increased by 30%.
-
Increased the time between firing Chrono Switch’s slowing rings by 10%.
GENERAL ADDITIONS/IMPROVEMENTS:
-
*NEW* Multi-region Queue has been added to place players with acceptable latency in matches from all around country and/or world.
-
*NEW* First Win of the Day XP Bonus has been added for getting your first win in any mode.
-
*NEW* Progression UI Widget has been added to the bottom right to show current Account / Boss Leagues progression, as well as a current creds total.
-
*NEW* Customizable reticle options in the Settings menu now include a Simple Dot, Simple Circle, and Simple Crosshair plus color options.
-
Increased the amount of XP awarded in all modes for time played. This means quicker account progression for everyone.
-
Added in text for score amount awarded on scoring events.
-
Added in major text announcements for carriers picking up the objective object in Blitzball, Overcharge, and Uplink.
-
Crosshairs now draw on top of all HUD elements.
-
Made it so that text chat does not switch sides during death cam.
-
General Spectator improvements to overall visuals, clarity, and bug fixes.
-
Added in a ton of stat tracking for different weapons, abilities, and scoring events for roles that are displayed on the statistics page of the player profile.
-
Hit Detection Improvements
-
Improved hit registration by speeding up smoothing on replicas to make positions more accurate.
-
Added latency compensation logic to improve Arc Blade grapple hit detection.
-
Titan rocket air detonation has latency compensation (so if you detonate it when you see it near somebody, it should deal damage, even at higher pings)
-
Redesigned the “Play” mode selection screen.
-
Added bonus XP when backfilling into and completing a match that was missing players.
-
Don’t count a match as a loss for a player that joined late and filled in a missing player’s spot.
-
Visual improvements for full screen effects like Distortion Field and Chrono Switch’s slowing effect.
BUG FIXES:
UI –
-
Fixed framerate drop issues in the main menu.
-
Fixed issues related to Blitzball carrier’s status not updating for people who just joined a match in progress.
-
Fixed an issue where a teammate’s name would sometimes appear red when you first see them.
-
Fixed a host of in game scoreboard alignment issues dealing with Twitch status, icons, and text placement.
-
Fixed multiple issues during end of match podium not rendering appropriately on 21:9 aspect ratio monitors.
-
Fixed a bug where being stabbed and killed by TAC knife would cause death cam to break.
-
Fixed overtime text announcement not showing in Blitzball.
-
Fixed multiple match history issues related to missing player names and stats for matches played.
SOUND –
GAMEPLAY –
-
Gunslinger
-
Juggernaut
-
Wraith
-
Turf War
-
Fixed crashes occurring directly after killing an objective carrier with a kick.
-
Fixed an issue where players could potentially cycle to a new match and see a black screen during character select, they would not be able to play without restarting.
-
Fixed an issue where not all assist based scoring events were tracking for achievements.
SETTINGS –
LawBreakers PC 2.0 Patch Notes:
ROLE CHANGES:
HEALTH REGEN (ALL ROLES) –
“We’re increasing the out of combat delay so that hopping from engagement to engagement takes more strategy.”
ASSASSIN –
“With the health adjustments in Patch 1.4, Assassins aren’t as squishy and don’t need as much help sustaining while in Frenzy. We’ve cut down on the healing per hit to address this.”
BATTLE MEDIC –
“We’ve added more charges to Firefly so that Battle Medics can command the battlefield a bit better. Having the same amount of ammo on both weapons should help their swap timing and make them more viable in skirmish modes.”
ENFORCER –
“Enforcers health has been brought down since previous patches have increased his survivability.”
GUNSLINGER –
“We’ve added charge multiplier logic to the Omega that increases alongside damage. This should reward high accuracy players and curtail “spam slinger” effectiveness.”
-
*NEW* Gunslinger’s Omega headshot multiplier will now scale up based upon how long your charge your shots.
-
Omega’s min headshot multiplier is now 1.1.
-
Omega’s max charged headshot multiplier is now 1.75.
HARRIER –
“Harrier’s kit inherently makes them extremely survivable, so we’ve knocked 25 points off of their Base Health. The Shoc-Croc has been adjusted to deal more damage if you can train your weapon on an enemy’s head. We’ve also shortened the length of Convergence to make it less oppressive.”
-
Base health reduced from 450 → 425.
-
Shoc-Croc’s headshot multiplier increased from 1.5 → 1.75.
-
Laser Tag cooldown visual now changes from red to blue when able to fire.
-
Convergence beam duration reduced from 6 → 5 seconds.
JUGGERNAUT –
“Juggernaut needed a bit of help when low on ammo, so Instigator has gotten a reload speed bump. We’re working on some bug fixes to reload issues overall in future patches that will help them out.”
TITAN –
“Titan has gotten some quality of life improvements this patch. They can now perform more actions while in Berserk mode, and we’ve added our version of a much requested range indicator for Hammerhead rockets.”
-
*NEW* Detonation indicator will now appear when a target is within a rocket’s explosion radius.
-
Pulverize’s max damage increased from 125 → 175.
-
Titan can now kick and jump while Berserk is active.
VANGUARD –
“Vanguard’s Meteor Shells + Pulsar burst potential has been dialed in a bit and we’ve made the shell’s self damage less punishing.”
-
Pulsar’s damage radius lowered from 200 → 175.
-
Pulsar’s max damage lowered from 120 → 110.
-
Hydra’s time its takes to get to full fire rate has been increased by 7.5%.
-
Updated Hydra’s primary reticle.
-
Meteor Shells self damage reduced from 100% → 50%.
WRAITH –
“Wraith is getting out dueled and damaged at his intended effective range. We’ve adjusted their reload speed to help them exchange fire and increased the minimum damage from Wasp to match a default kick. Chrono Switch has also seen an adjustment so that hitting targets with it should be more reliable.”
-
Spektor’s falloff start distance increased from 600 → 750.
-
Spektor’s reload speed has been sped up by 25%.
-
Wasp’s minimum stab damage increased from 30 → 75.
-
Chrono Switch’s slowing rings travel speed has been increased by 30%.
-
Increased the time between firing Chrono Switch’s slowing rings by 10%.
GENERAL ADDITIONS/IMPROVEMENTS:
-
*NEW* Multi-region Queue has been added to place players with acceptable latency in matches from all around country and/or world.
-
*NEW* First Win of the Day XP Bonus has been added for getting your first win in any mode.
-
*NEW* Progression UI Widget has been added to the bottom right to show current Account / Boss Leagues progression, as well as a current creds total.
-
*NEW* Customizable reticle options in the Settings menu now include a Simple Dot, Simple Circle, and Simple Crosshair plus color options.
-
Increased the amount of XP awarded in all modes for time played. This means quicker account progression for everyone.
-
Added in text for score amount awarded on scoring events.
-
Added in major text announcements for carriers picking up the objective object in Blitzball, Overcharge, and Uplink.
-
Crosshairs now draw on top of all HUD elements.
-
Made it so that text chat does not switch sides during death cam.
-
General Spectator improvements to overall visuals, clarity, and bug fixes.
-
Added in a ton of stat tracking for different weapons, abilities, and scoring events for roles that are displayed on the statistics page of the player profile.
-
Hit Detection Improvements
-
Improved hit registration by speeding up smoothing on replicas to make positions more accurate.
-
Added latency compensation logic to improve Arc Blade grapple hit detection.
-
Titan rocket air detonation has latency compensation (so if you detonate it when you see it near somebody, it should deal damage, even at higher pings)
-
Redesigned the “Play” mode selection screen.
-
Added bonus XP when backfilling into and completing a match that was missing players.
-
Don’t count a match as a loss for a player that joined late and filled in a missing player’s spot.
-
Visual improvements for full screen effects like Distortion Field and Chrono Switch’s slowing effect.
BUG FIXES:
UI –
-
Fixed issues related to Blitzball carrier’s status not updating for people who just joined a match in progress.
-
Fixed an issue where a teammate’s name would sometimes appear red when you first see them.
-
Fixed a host of in game scoreboard alignment issues dealing with Twitch status, icons, and text placement.
-
Fixed multiple issues during end of match podium not rendering appropriately on 21:9 aspect ratio monitors.
-
Fixed a bug where being stabbed and killed by TAC knife would cause death cam to break.
-
Fixed overtime text announcement not showing in Blitzball.
-
Fixed multiple match history issues related to missing player names and stats for matches played.
SOUND –
GAMEPLAY –
-
Gunslinger
-
Juggernaut
-
Wraith
-
Turf War
-
Fixed crashes occurring directly after killing an objective carrier with a kick.
-
Fixed an issue where players could potentially cycle to a new match and see a black screen during character select, they would not be able to play without restarting.
-
Fixed an issue where not all assist based scoring events were tracking for achievements.
SETTINGS –
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