u/LeeLiLe3

TLDR: Testing done on Insane Difficulty. Vehicle customization and dodge are the main draw that suggests Sabre is (slowly) listening to feedback. New gamemode is fine but I think players will abandon it pretty quickly due to coordination and it's not endless/horde mode. Everything else are solid small improvements but there are just so many big ones needed if they really want players to continue/come back to the game. Battlepass/trials need big changes.

Retrieval Game Mode

A mini holdout mode that makes Defender even more meta than it already was. I will have a tutorial video/post on that when the update comes out, but it requires planning ahead and coordination. Randoms already struggle with regular maps so I don't think you'll find many people playing it long term. You want to do as many subobjectives first before collecting main objective artifacts. A lot more hornet spawns which emphasize how overly tanky they are. It's also not endless/horde mode so I think many people will be upset with that. While it's fine by itself, it overall doesn't really fill a niche that players wanted and will just divide the already tiny playerbase.

Goblins

Spawn in packs of 3s, much more common in Retrieve. Have a push attack made for moving you out of the Retrieval zone. Need to kill them all within a short time of each other or they come back revived and more powerful. The Thundershot OEP pistol wrecks them (charged attack). I hate their spawning sound, it sounds like a mod. They're also so small and dark you can't really distinguish any features or see their animations to know what they're about to do.

Le Clairon

It has a 3 burst fire if that's your thing. Similar to the xtar, fast fire rate low damage. On Insane those 1000 bullets go very quickly unless you're a weakspot killing god. It felt weak but is ok for anything lower than Insane. Also the attachments are few and weird. You have to change the barrel or else almost none of the attachments are compatible.

Pickman RN9

It's weird, the update buffed shotguns but it's like this one didn't get that buff. It's like a worse Taiga-12. All the other shotguns kill reliably now but this one feels like 1/3 of them live even in close range. You can double fire very quickly but I don't know what use this really has and then it throws off the firing rhythm.

Thunderstick

Probably the new meta melee weapon. It is great at horde clear and stumble. Where the Sludgebane is good at single target the Thunderstick is aoe and that's what I usually use my melee for anyways. Like the sludgebane, it can't be customized which is weird because it's just a metal skin this time like all the other melee weapons.

Flamethrower

It's the flamethrower from the Thunder truck but now portable. Lots of ammo and solid weapon.

Saw Trap

This thing hurts you too. It's big, bulbous, and a little out of place. It does last a while and feels similar to the other traps.

Dodge

Technically not needed because you could dodge everything in the game already but I do appreciate it. Uses 1/4 of your stamina and is a fast and far dodge. You can't run evade Slobs anymore so you have to dodge (sideways seems better than backwards). People should be pretty happy with this.

Vehicle Customization

Amazing. This along with dodge made going back to the regular servers painful. Can carry weapons, gas, ammo (for vehicles) and has a winch. I didn't notice the HP increases, but you definitely notice the improved steering. All vehicles (except ambulance sorta) are great to drive even through mud. It's weird, the Thunder (flamethrower) truck got nitro but the nitro car got nothing extra so it remains the worst vehicle now without a niche.

Bot Improvements

Very noticeable. They definitely heal more reliably (not always right away) and all their skills are improved. Scales with difficulty and the they will even use stims if they have them. I saw the Defender bot have Repulsor so that was very cool. They do switch between 2 main builds so you won't always have the same setup. Medic bot does not have Invigorate which is unfortunate but not unexpected.

Sludge Seed

One seed but everyone gets one so now you don't have to fight over who grabs the seed. In conjunction with improved bots it makes solo a much better experience (you can tell them when to use it). A massive buff to Very Hard and Insane difficulty.

Trials

Seemed fine? Didn't notice too many changes to the requirements. Couple of weird things though. The weekly seasonals are the exact same as the current ones, including the same kill 50 whackers with X. The new battlepass only went up to 96 levels instead of 144 but it required 30875 exp instead of 25000 like the current one. I know for sure as hell I don't want an increase in how much I have to contribute. Also some of the rewards were stacked without saying so. All the new character outfits were hidden under another reward at that same level. The theme for this one seems to be sludge (the current one is space).

HUD Customization

Probably an oversight, but no way to hide Medical and Combat Gear (at least using dynamic). I'd honestly just prefer a keybind to hide HUD instead of switching things off individually. Also some things you hide HUD for need a better indicator. For example if you hide the interact prompt you just have to know where the gas refill is. Since there's no visual gas cap on vehicles and it doesn't highlight itself you just press E wherever you think the gas cap is and hope your character doesn't drop it.

Local Server Hosting

It's there for those who need it. Maybe preparing for if they stop supporting the game you can still play offline?

Shotgun buffs

I didn't think much of this until I tried it. All the shotguns feel significantly more reliable. They didn't always kill even in close range and now you can solidly reach almost mid range with them. The new Pickman feels like it didn't get that buff because it felt like the old Taiga 12 when testing. I still think shotguns need a reloading buff but they feel more viable now (previously the Sniper was a better close range shotgun than the shotguns).

**What needs fixing**

Trials

At the bare minimum, all trials should be the same for every player and count for the group. We want players to play together and having the same maps be designated for tasks will help gather everyone to play a rotating selection. We want players to also help each other out instead of bum rushing for their hyper specific task to do it before anyone else. As it stands, you're far better just farming private games and not even completing them, the tasks are so demanding of time. Certain tasks need to be severly nerfed. 50 whacker kills takes a minimum of 1h 15 minutes to complete because whackers only spawn once every 90 seconds. If it was 50 nukers it'd be fine because tons of those spawn but whackers do not. Others are just very unclear like how do we reliably destroy stalker weakspots with combat gear which are explosives (apparently turrets don't count). It's sheer luck and again you'll be throwing for your team trying to force these tasks. When I saw the battlepass go from 96 to 144 I thought, awesome they reduced it, but that extra 5875 exp needed worries me a lot. I enjoy this game but these trials make it feel like a daily chore.

Stims should not be able to be used unless downed. It's extremely difficult if you want to quick rez a teammate and there is ZERO situation where I want to give myself 20 temp health when I could use it to give back a life, 50 real health, tank damage while downed, lose aggro, and be immune to damage while stimming.

No class balances this patch though they seem to have fixed Defender Rupture doing 2x damage to allies and Striker Sentinel dealing friendly fire damage.

Still need a way to save builds for each skill and an easier way to see what other players are playing as.

Medic Emergency Aid needs a massive rework.

Wizadry needs to be the level 1 skill not the level 15.

Purification needs a buff

Operator Lancer needs a buff.

The vehicle related skills all need buffs too (at least remove the drawbacks).

Defender Pentad needs a nerf or at least bring the other abilities in line with it. It is so far and away the best skill (in the game really) it's actually quite silly.

Lightning Round needs a buff.

Still no option to join friends, only invite them to yours.

Loading screens loading screens loading screens...

Play screen still randomizes after every mission or cancel.

Interaction radius and response is still awkward

Weapon stats, specifically damage are meaningless without numbers. Shotguns and snipers can go beyond the max range but you don't know how much. The Precision Bar sniper is actually twice the maximum damage limit but again you don't know that and can't see how attachments affect it.

This is the probably the first not completely planned ahead update. The last 2 were basically just content already prepared and cut from the game to be released later. Tiny steps in the right direction but meaningless without the bigger changes to re-engage the player base. My main concern is does this mean several more months until the next patch before we might (or might not) see some of these big changes? It's got such a solid core it's a shame it seems we'll have to wait a long time (probably next year at this rate if they continue updates) before it finds its identity.