Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodhunt’s Summer Update Now Live
/Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodhunt , a rather impressive take on the battle royale formula, was just updated with their summer update that adds a ton of new content such as a team deathmatch game mode, a new battle pass, two new weapons, a few changes in the Prague map, balancing and more.
Here’s a rundown of the patch notes for Bloodhunt’s Summer update.
TEAM DEATHMATCH (BETA)
Team Deathmatch (TDM) is an explosive 8 vs 8 mode where teams of duo squads fight for dominance in 5 arenas from the Prague map.
We think that this new mode is a great entry for old and new players wanting to get familiar with the deep gameplay that Bloodhunt offers, as it lets you get right back into the action more quickly. It also allows you to experiment more with weapons and powers compared to the Battle Royale mode, as you’re no longer limited to having one or two lives per match.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
With this update, the number of stutters should decrease even further when playing the game in DX12 mode. However, given that we have added new bodies and additional assets with the new rig, this could impact performance. We will continue to work on improving this in future updates.
BUG FIXES
In the same article linked above, we detailed the challenges that we faced with the Reload and Red Gas bugs that we have now finally solved with this update. Additionally, we have been able to solve several other bugs.
Weapons get reloaded before the reload bar finishes loading completely and can be canceled mid-reload.
Fixed a bug that was causing some powers not to interrupt reloads, while others did. All powers will now interrupt reloading.
Traversal has been smoothened out which means less getting stuck while climbing on corners and overhangs, as well as climbing on steep angles.
Addressed several traversal-related desyncs.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
No update is complete without a few QoL improvements, and this update is no exception. We’re proud to say, it has many sought-after improvements.
We have updated the controller and added a plethora of settings for you to customize how you look, aim and turn. The deadzone has been changed from axial to being radial, and is now fully customizable as well. We implemented changes to our Vampire rig, which not only speeds up our vanity item creation process but also enables us to slightly improve the visual quality of the vampires.
All the Camarilla Caches now require a key to be opened. You will need to find this in Prague, adding a bit of challenge in finding the rarer weapons. This makes matches less predictable and requires a bit more exploration when it comes to finding the best weapons.
Ranked Mode rewards are now immediately unlocked on reaching the next rank. Additionally, we have reduced the required Ranked Points by 1000 points. More on this when Ranked launches again in the future!
The user interface has been updated to make the Archetype perks more prominent and easier to find. We have also added a pop-up in Elysium each time a player has unlocked a new Archetype perk.
The challenges screen has gotten an overhaul for both the daily and weekly challenges with new icons, better category separation, more in-depth progression per individual challenge as well as expiration dates and times.
The quests screen has also gotten an overhaul making it more user friendly.
PS5 now features a VSYNC option which can lead to smoother frame delivery as it reduces the chances of screen tearing.
The Melee hitboxes have been improved which will make it slightly easier to hit targets that are below you on slanted surfaces.
NEW AREAS AND OTHER NOTEWORTHY MAP CHANGES
Elysium
The Nosferatu clan space has expanded further. Enter if you dare!
With the addition of an elevator, the Ventrue area is now open if you feel that you are worthy.
The Elysium also has some new secrets. For example, you may encounter a new interactable character here. Those of you who are detail oriented may find what else is hidden.
Prague
The attic space of the Rudolfinum has been opened, which improves the flow when the match reaches its end in this area.
A train has arrived at the train station.
BALANCE CHANGES
Weapons
The Axe damage has been increased from 70 to 80
The Spiked Bat damage has been increased from 55 to 60
General
The regenerate/revive HP has been increased from 50 to 100.
Diablerie no longer breaks the Masquerade for improved game flow.
Archetypes
As the Enforcer exits Flesh of Marble, the character will play a brief transition animation during which the Enforcer is unable to attack. This transition gives players time to react and shifts Flesh of Marble to more of a defensive ability as originally intended. Additionally, you can now no longer perform any other actions except for reloading or switching weapons while under the effect of Flesh of Marble. This includes things such as committing diablerie and using consumables.
The Sirens’ Blinding Beaty damage has been increased from 20 to 50
The Vandals’ Earthshock damage has been decreased from 20-60 to 10-30
The Sewer Bomb no longer causes the thrower to be slowed down during the throw and the throw velocity has increased by 33%. Additionally, the time stuck in the animation has been decreased from 0.4s to 0.3s.
QUESTS
This update contains multiple new quests for you to complete. Additionally, we also have improved and restructured the UI which now will give you a clearer picture of the current active and completed quests along with expiry dates, progress bars and better challenge descriptors. All this in addition to a new quest indicator badge, progress pips and clearer viewable rewards for completing quests.
NEW MELEE WEAPONS
We added the Knife and the Crowbar to the game. These are two close-combat weapons are now spawned across the map. They provide more weapon variety, and their spawn chances lower the probability of encountering the other melee weapons. This allows us to balance them accordingly, making the blue melee weapons better bridge the gap versus the purple ones.
KNOWN ISSUES
The camera sways when feeding on NPCs
Revive prompt doesn't animate and shows as full
There are still some rare cases where players can respawn in the red gas, particularly when the Windy variant is active
When queuing for Trios and Duos, players might end up in Prague without a full team (the team can be missing the last player)
Teammate map markers may not be present after respawning in Prague
NPCs jitter and rotate when you feed on them (side effect of the Big Rig)
Looping sounds for Camarilla and Entity containers don’t cut off when they’ve been opened
Player may get stuck at “Your Coterie” screen after selecting an archetype and entering Prague
Low vault sometimes pops you up a bit higher than expected, which is a side effect of a fix to low vault desyncs and therefore an overall improvement, but still not ideal
Some character assets may flicker or appear odd (side effect of Big Rig)
NPCs may still clip into walls or the ground in some cases, especially after being fed upon
Still no potato salad, but stay tuned!
TDM (BETA) KNOWN ISSUES
There’s currently no join-in-progress or autobalancing to handle players leaving during a match.
It's a bit difficult to differentiate teammates from enemies.
Respawning still needs some work to improve spawning near teammates and squad mates and away from enemies.
Distant characters can show animation compression artifacts (i.e., look like they are in slow motion), especially with lots of characters in view.
Assists are credited as kills in the main scoreboard. This is by design but will be replaced with a score-based approach in the future.
It’s not yet possible to switch Archetypes between lives.
The current approach to picking up weapons is experimental and may change in the future based on feedback. This was an easy-to-implement solution that has the benefit of encouraging players to try different weapons, but it can feel a bit too luck-based.
Map layouts are preliminary and will be refined based on feedback and telemetry.
The scoreboard is currently bound to the same key as the Map (V or M). This was easier/safer in the short term, but it will eventually replace the inventory screen (Tab).
Healing isn’t super tenable at the moment due to the fast pace of matches. A better solution is being playtested internally and should be released in the not-too-distant future if the feedback is positive.
This update comes with a new battle pass with 100 vanity items for players to earn and will cost 600 tokens.
It’s a hefty list but a lot of good things are coming from this update, especially changes to skills like Flesh of Marble, which have become a problem when used offensively. Team Deathmatch is definitely something to check out and we’ll see if it resonates with the game’s community.
[Source: Bloodhunt.com]