Upcoming Patch - Tuesday, November 3rd @ 10AM – 1PM PDT
Patch Number:   1.4.32.0
Patch size: ~130MB

Greetings MechWarriors,

With a greater portion of the team focusing on the significant amount of work going into Phase 3 of Community Warfare, our patches leading up to that release will appear on the lighter side in regards to fixes and changes.

The primary aspect of this patch is the release of a new pre-drop voting screen for Map and Game Mode selection, allowing players to vote for their preferred choice between four randomly selected maps and two randomly selected game modes. The introduction of this voting system should lead to a reduction in overall matchmaking wait times for solo and group queue, an improvement to PRS-based matchmaking, and will provide players with more influence over which maps and game modes they will drop into.

This patch also sees the release of a timer-based penalty system for players who have left a match prior to the destruction of their 'Mech.

In terms of fixes and minor changes, rounding out the patch we have some improvements to the new Camo Spec screen, including single-click application of Patterns and Colors and an adjustment to the 'Owned' filter, a fix for multi-monitor display issues when using NVIDIA Surround or AMD EyeFinity, along with a handful of other fixes and changes.

Beyond today's patch, the next iteration of the Re-Balance PTS sessions is also set to go up this week, featuring the introduction of Target profile values which will influence targeting speeds against opponents depending on their size, a few value changes to Skill Tree items, and buffs to the base speed of Clan and IS SRM/SSRM projectiles. Keep an eye out soon for a full post regarding all the changes you'll see in the Public Test session this week!

Finally, as a result of yesterday's server outages, all pilots who had Premium Time running at the time of the outage will be receiving 24 hours of Premium Time with today's patch. This Premium Time will activate automatically upon login.

- The MechWarrior Team

Change Log

Map and Game Mode Voting Screen

All solo and group queue Public matches will now begin with a Map and Game Mode voting screen, during which all 24 players in the match lobby will cast a vote for their desired choices. Players will be able to cast their vote for one of four randomly selected maps, along with a vote for one of two randomly selected game modes. Voting will be open for 15 seconds, after which the map and game mode will be chosen based on the voting results. Player names are not visible inside the voting screen, so all votes are anonymous.
If votes are evenly split, for example with 12 players voting for Map A and 12 players voting for Map B, the map will be selected randomly from those two maps - Map C and Map D would not be considered. Likewise if votes are evenly split between the two available game modes, the game mode will be selected randomly.

With the introduction of this voting system players will no longer be able to de-select a given game mode. As a result, the matchmaker will no longer need to match players based on their specific game mode preferences. While this does mean that players who may have previously chosen to de-select a specific game mode will now sometimes need to play a game mode they would have otherwise never played, the introduction of this voting system will lead to a reduction in matchmaking wait times for solo and group queue, an improvement to PSR-based matchmaking, and will provide players with more influence over which maps and game modes they will drop into.

Disconnect Penalty System

The automated penalty system releasing in this patch is intended to penalize players for intentionally disconnecting from matches in which the player has not yet been destroyed. Once a match has been found and you are placed into the map and game mode voting screen outlined above, all 24 players are considered to be 'in' an active match. If a player disconnects from the match prior to the destruction of their 'Mech, whether they are still within the voting screen or in the match itself, the player will have 3 minutes to reconnect before a disconnect penalty level is applied. If they reconnect to the match before the 3 minute timer expires, no penalty level will be applied. Once a player has been flagged with a penalty level a delay to their next matchmaking search will be enforced (whether solo or group). The duration of the delay is determined by the current penalty level.

For cases where the disconnect was not intentional, the 3 minute timer is intended to provide players with sufficient time to re-join the match in question. If circumstances prevent a successful re-join within that 3 minutes, the first penalty level is a mere 10 second delay toward the next matchmaking search. It is only when a player purposefully disconnects from multiple matches that the real penalties will begin to pile up.

This is a breakdown of the current penalty levels:

• First Disconnect: 10 second delay for next matchmaking search
• Second Disconnect: 2 minute delay for next matchmaking search
• Third Disconnect: 5 minute delay for next matchmaking search
• Fourth Disconnect: 10 minute delay for next matchmaking search
• Fifth Disconnect: 20 minute delay for next matchmaking search

Each subsequent disconnect beyond the Fifth Disconnect will also enforce a 20 minute penalty.

Penalty levels reset every 4 hours.

All of the above values are tune-able, and may be subject to change depending on how the system plays out in the general population.

Camo Spec Screen Fixes and Changes

• Applying a Color or Pattern to a 'Mech now only requires a single click (Colors and Patterns can also still be applied using drag-and-drop).
• Using the Owned filter for Colors will now only show color swatches for Colors that are Owned.
• As a result of the above change, Owned Color swatches will also now group together.
• Fixed an issue where changing the Color dropdown filter would automatically change the 'Mechs currently selected color.
• Fixed an issue where the client would become unresponsive when accessing the Camo Spec screen while inside a Gold 'Mech.

Map Fixes and Changes

• Fixed an issue where wireframes could be visible on lava.

'MechLab Fixes and Changes

• Fixed an issue where removing Missile hardpoints from an OmniMech with the Artemis Upgrade would charge the player for downgrading to Standard.
• Fixed an issue where players with over 2.15 billion C-Bills were not able to edit 'Mechs or purchase new 'Mechs.

Other Fixes and Changes

• Fixed an issue where an orange dot would appear on the HUD near the Zoom Level indicator for Inner Sphere 'Mechs in Conquest Game Mode.
• Fixed an issue where having Cockpit Glass enabled with a triple-monitor setup would cause various graphical issues.
• MechWarrior Academy: Fixed an issue where players could try to enter the Academy using an Invalid 'Mech.