2021.01.27
[Developer Newsletter] Regarding the update in late January
- ■[PST]2021/01/26 07:00
- [CET]2021/01/26 16:00
- Hello, pilots! My name is Kanbe and I am the Development Director.
- This is the 48th issue of our monthly developer newsletter. Additionally, for the 48th time, it will be published at midnight (JST) for the first time! (Please see the end of the newsletter for the reason!)
- ■New MS “Kapool” joins the battle!
- The Neo Zeon War era amphibious MS “Kapool” that appeared in “Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ” and “Mobile Suit Gundam UC” is joining the fight!
MS Kapool is very strong, with a unique silhouette of a long hand extending from a round fuselage, similar to the Hy-Gogg. It is equipped with a well-balanced arsenal of live ammunition, beam, and melee weapons, and it possesses skills that enhance its defensive performance, such as “Explosive Reactive Armor Level 1” and “Maneuver Armor Level 1.” Thus making it an MS that excels in both offense and defense, adept at maintaining a frontline. Best of all, it has underwater capabilities! - This is what some of its weapons look like:
- ・【Weapon】Missile x8
A missile ejected from the torso that can be fired while moving at high speed - ・【Weapon】Laser Beam
Beam attack fired from behind the cockpit hatch on top of the head - ・【Weapon】Sonic Blast
An attack that can emit a beam for a certain period of time, although it requires focusing in a stationary state - Will be released soon!
- ※The video is under development. It may differ from the actual game behavior.
- ■”English” has been added to selectable voice language!
- There are currently a lot of pilots from North America and Europe playing GBO 2. Those who can’t understand Japanese may be at a disadvantage in knowing what’s going on in the battle, due to all voice lines being in Japanese. For those pilots who can understand English, we have made it possible for you to choose an “English voice”! Anyone who plays GBO 2 will be able to select this option, so Japanese pilots are able to experience an English-speaking battlefield as well!
- This is what it looks like when you sortie into battle with an English voice!
- ★Operator: Carrie Ver
- ※The video is under development. It may differ from the actual game behavior.
- ■Stricter penalties for withdrawing from the ongoing match
- In order to reduce the frequency of disruptive behavior, we have implemented a “report function” in the last update. Thanks to everyone’s cooperation, the frequency has been decreasing, but it is still not gone. This time, we’re going to make some changes to the penalty system to make the playing environment more balanced.
- ■About withdrawal behavior when withdrawal status is worsening
- There are four levels of withdrawal status: GOOD ＜ CAUTION ＜ PENALTY Lv1 ＜ PENALTY Lv2.
The more withdrawal actions you take, the worse your status becomes along with heavier penalty.
(Status is gradually restored by successfully completing sorties in rating matches, etc.) - However, even at the worst withdrawal status of 「PENALTY Lv2」, where you can be prevented from going on sorties for 120 hours, you were able to sortie again after 120 hours while having other penalties,
allowing you to keep on withdrawing from ongoing matches, since you wouldn’t get 120 hour sortie ban again (although you would not receive any rewards, including containers). - Even though there were only a very few cases of such kind of wrongdoing, there were some people who wanted to see the penalty strengthened.
From now on, if the withdrawal status worsens again with 「PENALTY Lv2」, the sortie ban will be changed to occur as many times as possible.
This means that players who keep withdrawing from ongoing matches for a long time will not be able to be sortied in rated matches any more. - ■Added penalty for leaving in the middle of the game
- If you leave the game, you will be penalized. However, as this is a game that uses online connections, it is inevitable that you will be disconnected unintentionally due to network problems. Therefore, by making the penalties progressively stricter in stages, we are able to create an environment, where we can follow up on rare cases where abandon happens during normal gameplay due to network connectivity problems. I know it’s hard to accept that a single unintentional disconnection should result in an immediate ban. Therefore, it is necessary to allow a certain amount of disconnections before the penalty becomes severe. With this in mind, we have not directly penalized just one disconnection until now, but we have decided to strengthen some of the penalties in order to further reduce the number of disconnections.
- After the next update, if a withdrawal occurs during the following processes:
- ・Same penalty as before
- in addition,
- ・Rating value will be reduced by a certain amount on the next sortie
- will also be imposed
- The amount of reduction depends on your rating rank.
-
S-、A+ ：The next time you sortie, your rating value will be -7 A、A- ：The next time you sortie, your rating value will be -6 B+、B、B- ：The next time you sortie, your rating value will be -5 C+、C、C- ：The next time you sortie, your rating value will be -4 D+、D、D- ：The next time you sortie, your rating value will be -3 - If you look at the reduction value listed, you may notice that it is less than the reduction for losing a battle, but this is the follow-up to the unintentional disconnections. The penalty is still the same as before, but the rating value will be reduced even more, so the penalty will be more severe than before.
We hope for your understanding in this matter. Nevertheless, as a further improvement in future updates, we are preparing a measure to increase the rating value that will be reduced in the next sortie depending on the frequency of player disconnections, based on the above values.
※This measure will be implemented in February or later. - ■Follow up with those who are playing normally without disconnecting
- In the past, when one of your teammates left in the middle of a battle, we added a correction to the pilot who fought to the end in a disadvantageous situation, so that their rating would not drop as much even if they lost.
Example: one ally leaving = maximum rating correction +12, two allies leaving = maximum rating correction +16, etc. - However, as the rating rank goes up, the negative amount for defeat also increases, and judging from individual battle results, someone’s departure could cause the rating of the pilot fighting to the end to drop.
- As a follow-up to those who did not disconnect, starting with the next update, if a pilot’s rating is reduced in a battle in which even one ally has disconnected, the pilot who plays until the end will receive a correction equal to the reduction, so that their rating will not be reduced at all.
- ※However, if there are dropouts in both teams, and there is no difference in the number of players between the teams, there will be no correction.
- The purpose of this modification is to make it harder for people to disconnect and easier for people to play normally.
- ■Closing Words
- There’s one more thing I’d like to mention. I apologize for releasing this developer newsletter at this hour on a Wednesday night.
- In order to power up gameplay elements of GBO2, we are releasing PS5™ version of “Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 2”!!
- Although the PS4 version of GBO 2 can already be played on the PS5™ system, the PS5™ version will be released only on PS5™, since some features in the PS5™ version cannot be used in the PS4™ version. Now, let me introduce the differences between the PS5™ and PS4® versions.
- ■About difference of PS5™ and PS4® versions
- ①Realistic experience with DualSense™ wireless controller features
- ★Haptic feedback
The PS5™ version features new vibration data, providing a more subtle and premium vibration experience compared to the PS4® version.
We’ve also added vibration patterns for different weapon categories (machine guns, beam rifles, etc.). - ★Adaptive trigger
When you use the L2 or R2 button, each button generates resistance that “mimics the load of pulling the trigger of a real gun”.
Some weapons also have a knock-back impact, giving you a higher level of realism. - ★Add gunfire sound effects to the controller’s built-in speaker
- ※All of the above can be turned on or off in the options screen.
- ②Improved frame rate
- The PS5™ version improves the overall frame rate (smoothness of movement) of the game.
- ③Reduced loading time
- Speed up the loading time for some gameplay.
Unfortunately, the most important one, loading during sortie, will not be dramatically faster due to the fact that all players have to be synchronized, but you can experience the speed in the single player mode. - Please check out the comparison video!
- ※The video is under development. It may differ from the actual game behavior.
- Of course, you will be able to carry over your existing play data, and you will be able to match with other players regardless of whether you are playing on PS4 or PS5. There are no major differences at this point, but I hope you will enjoy playing the PS5™ version!
- All of the updates I’ve mentioned are scheduled for release on Thursday, January 28 at 14:00 (JST):
- ・Including “New MAP Military Base” from the previous Developer Newsletter
・New MS “Kapool”
・English voice
・Stricter penalties for withdrawal from ongoing matches
・Rating correction in case of facing leavers
・PS5™ version of GBO2 - I hope you enjoy it!
(Development Director, Kanbe)
