Multiplayer Balance Changes ~ General discussion

Does we have an ETA for the patch coming live?

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet. From their patch notes:

Multiplayer Balance Updates

We’ve introduced a number of balance changes to multiplayer based on feedback from the community.

We increased the threat and effectiveness of some of the heavy hitters in enemy factions. Hydras, Remnant Destroyers, and berserkers are now more likely to target nearby players, increasing the threat for close-quarters characters and reducing the effectiveness of repeated melee attacks. Players also won’t be able to avoid damage from the kett anointed by standing beside them.

We’ve made changes to the Outlaw faction to increase their difficulty. They were less effective at pushing players into cover than other factions, so we increased the damage and fire rate for sharpshooters. The hydra’s sync attack is now lethal.

After investigating complaints about assault rifle and pistol performance, we discovered an issue that reduced the rate of fire for many semiautomatic weapons. This limitation impacted the Mattock in particular. However, after fixing the issue, we found its damage output was overpowering, and scaled it back. To keep the identity of the Mattock as an assault rifle that fires as quickly as you can pull the trigger, we left the rate of fire unchanged and lowered the damage per round. To compensate, we also increased the amount of spare ammo.

To ensure the risk-reward play styles of melee-heavy classes retained appropriate risk, we made changes to reduce the effectiveness of repeated melee attacks on large targets. Enemy attacks can now interrupt a meleeing player, which means you’ll have to bring more than your fists to a gun fight.

We’re continuing to look into issues around weapon balance, particularly at higher difficulties. We’re also looking at melee-focused builds to ensure they pack the right punch.

You can find a full list of changes below.

Player Abilities

Melee

To reduce the effectiveness of repeated melees against tougher enemies, player melee attacks can now be interrupted by enemy attacks.
Challenge Tracking

Biotic, Tech, and Combat Detonation Challenges now update on the Challenges screen.
Lance and Throw will now successfully increment the Biotic Detonation Combo challenge progress.

Weapons

Generally, we’ve found that semiautomatic assault rifles and pistols are underperforming when compared to their automatic counterparts. We’ve increased the damage per round for most of these guns and fixed bugs that limited the rate of fire for semiautomatic weapons.

Assault Rifles

Mattock
Fixed an issue that prevented the Mattock from reaching its designed rate of fire
Lowered damage per round to partially offset increase in rate of fire
Lowered damage per round from 71–89 to 50–63
Increased spare ammo capacity from 112–140 to 160–200

Sandstorm
Increased damage per round from 112–134 to 140–168

Sweeper
Increased damage per round from 60–72 to 64–77

Valkyrie
Increased damage per round from 80–93 to 86–99

Halberd
Increased damage per round from 73–90 to 92–113

Pistols

Predator
The Predator also benefits from the rate of fire adjustment applied to the Mattock assault rifle.

Increased damage per round from 38–51 to 54–72
Increased Rate of Fire from 450 to 475

Carnifex
Increased damage per round from 155–195 to 175–220

Hornet
Increased damage per round from 37–49 to 44–55

Phalanx
Increased damage per round from 106–113 to 133–142

Scorpion
Increased damage per round from 428–512 to 485–580


Shotguns

Hesh
Ammo increased from 40–50 to 60–75

Sniper Rifles

Shadow
Increased damage per round from 27–32 to 38–46

Indra
Increased damage per round from 84–101 to 105–126


General

Weapon Reloads

Fixed some timings of reload actions so they better match their animations


Boosters

Assault Rifle Amp III

The Assault Rifle Amp III booster now properly states that it gives a 30% boost instead of a 35% boost. This was a text error only. The functionality was always 30%.


Enemies

Kett

Kett Anointed
Players can no longer avoid damage by standing up against a firing anointed

Kett Ascendant
Kett Ascendant’s Orb will now give 15 points when killed, instead of points equal to the Ascendant himself

Kett Behemoth (Boss objective)
Behemoths are more likely to target nearby players


Outlaw

The Outlaws have generally been easier to fight than other factions, so we’ve closed the gap. While Remnant Observers and kett anointed are effective at pushing players into cover, sharpshooters needed improvements to get players to hide. Across the rest of the palette, changes to targeting and the hydra’s sync attack help keep the Outlaws competitive.

Outlaw Adhi
Adhi no longer attempt to chain sync attacks

Outlaw Agent
Outlaw agent’s holographic clone will no longer give points

Outlaw Sharpshooter
Sharpshooters now fire more frequently, especially against targets out of cover
Sniper rifle damage increased by 44%
Sharpshooters sprint more often
Aiming time is now shortened at shorter ranges
Aiming and impact audio are now clearer
No longer pursue melee targets over long distances

Outlaw Berserker
Berserkers are more likely to target nearby players

Outlaw Hydra
Sync attack is now lethal
Hydra is more likely to target nearby players
Hydra now lose their target—but no longer cancel firing—when their target cloaks while locking on
Fixed situations where the hydra’s body would reappear after being destroyed

Remnant

We found that the Observer was a little too good at its job, often leaving players feeling totally pinned down. This could be frustrating when another Observer flanked the player or when a Nullifier attacked. At the same time, the Nullifier felt like a nuisance, but one that was easy to counter in many situations.

To address these issues, we reduced the damage Observers inflict and how long they fire for. We’ve reworked the Nullifier to make its main weapon more powerful, but less frequent against players in cover. The Nullifier is also more likely to stand its ground, helping it to control the space. Repeated melee should now be a less dominant strategy against Nullifiers.

Remnant Observer
Observers can now lose their target while firing when the target cloaks
Maximum beam duration decreased from 6s to 5s
Beam damage decreased by 10%

Remnant Nullifier
Rate of fire has been decreased against enemies in cover
Projectile attacks now travel faster and hit harder
Stays still and fires in more situations
No longer flees in protracted melee situations
[Single player only] Fires less frequently on lower difficulties

Remnant Destroyer
Destroyers are more likely to target nearby players
Fixed situations where the Destroyer’s body and turrets would reappear after being destroyed

Thoughtful feedback welcome after having tried out the patch

With the multiplayer and singleplayer being in the state they are, I think I'm just going to give up and check back on it in a couple months. Have fun everybody. Maybe I'll see you then.

I agree. Shotguns are absolute garbage in Andromeda.

Hydra's grab is now instakill. But yeah, overall ketts are annoying as shit.

Players were complaining about weapon damage, and power combo damage, this in turn encouraged players to favour melee builds against the weakest faction, Outlaw.

Patch hardly improves weapon power, ignores combo power damage, nerfs melee and buffs Outlaw.

This is the FU patch.

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet but they're going to address powers, combos, and weapons in the next update.

I'd like to see:

- Shields and health more specific to race, I.e, Krogan having much more health, Salarians having a bit more shield etc... I remember it being quite a big difference in ME3 and I liked that

- Higher melee for krogans

- Further gun buff. Carnifex is still shit! AR's are still mostly shit, shotguns are still shit

- Buff to powers and tech/ biotic explosions

- Jumbo equipment packs or just more normal equipment in packs

- A more open level

- Buff to exp cards

- Huge buff to tech constructs (turrets etc)

- Characters divided by class and level up by class, rather than individually