It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Q-Clash. Our key focus last week was fighting fires and improving server stability. This is an area we’ve seen huge improvements in, but there are still some persistent issues that we are still working on. This week we’ve shifted gears a bit and started trying to address balance and gameplay concerns with our roster.
In some cases, the changes we have made are quite small, such as tweaking damage and cooldown values. However, we’ve also introduced several new abilities, including a new ultimate, that we think will address some Clashers’ shortcomings.
General
- Adjusted headshot formula to fix cases where Ghost would not take proper headshot damage
- Increased autobalance observation time
- Updated explosion visuals to telegraph splash radius more effectively
- Fixed killcam timer so time remaining until next spawn wave now shows correctly
- Added a secondary ability slot to some Clasher kits
Map: Castle
- Reduced capture rate of Point A (Garden) by 36%
Rascal
- Launch Pad
- Added a new Launch Pad ability, allowing Rascal to place launch pads that can catapult him and his teammates across the map
- Scrap Cannon
- Reduced Rascal’s turret base heal to 16 (was 30)
- Secondary shot base damage reduced to 8
- Scrap Cannon shots no longer start with positive vertical velocity
- Replaced Scrap Cannon’s explosive blast secondary with a shotgun style attack
- Turret
- Can now shoot through ally shields (including Chrome Dome)
- Increased Level 1 Turret base damage from 8.5 to 9
- Decreased Level 1 Turret firing cool down from 0.3 to 0.25 seconds
- Increased Level 2 Turret base damage from 8.5 to 9.5
- Increased Level 2 Turret cool down from 0.2 to 0.22 seconds
- Increased Level 3 Turret base damage from 9 to 10
- Rascal turret now awards damage/assists/kills to owner and shows correctly in leaderboard
- Fixed bug preventing Rascal from upgrading his turret
- Chrome Dome
- Can now take damage from enemy sources
- Added a simple animation and placement delay for Chrome Dome
- Increased base health to 800 hp (was 300 hp)
- Increased radius from 25 studs to 35 studs
- Chrome Dome now protects occupants from Hyper Cannon
Previously Rascal was in a odd limbo state. Originally he was cited as one of the weaker Clashers; his inaccurate projectile hitbox and nontrivial arc was a turnoff for many players in early beta. Once players started to wisen up to Racal’s secondary attack, he quickly became an unrivaled close-quarters powerhouse destroying medium health Clashers in a single shot.
We aimed to reel Rascal back to his original design as a defensive support Clasher.
Although his previous iteration was extremely effective at turtling his turret due to the insanely high health output, we felt that shooting a stationary target was not fun for Rascal players. Sheilas and Ghosts started ignoring level 1 turrets completely due to their low damage output. To counter this, we’ve given his lower level turrets more of an offensive presence.We’ve fixed his Chrome Dome ultimate - it will take damage and will play nicely with his turret. The increased range of the Chrome Dome so it can encourage players to seek shelter inside of the dome. Rascal has become a great mobility supporter and an anti-ultimate Clasher and can be used to shutdown enemy pushes as well as quickly bring his frontline friends to objectives.
Ghost
- Sprint
- Added new Sprint ability
- Reduced Ghost’s base walk speed by 33%
- Frag Grenade
- Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds
- Blast radius decreased from 24 studs to 15 studs
- Base damage increased from 75 studs to 100 studs
- Air Strike
- Ghost is now highlighted with a glow whilst using Air Strike
- Walk speed when using Air Strike increased from 30% to 75%
- Fixed follow up issue covering more Air Strike failures
Other than a new Sprint ability, Ghost in all has not changed. He is still effective in team fights and can deal decent AOE damage from cover. The addition of the Sprint ability gives Ghost a chance to escape hairy situations if the team fight does not go his way.
Sheila
- Parrot Bomb
- Increased the throw range of the Parrot Bomb
- Decreased the wind-up time before the Parrot Bomb explodes from 1.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds
- Dive Roll
- Increased Dive Roll cooldown from 0.5 to 1 seconds
- Increased Dive Roll reload time from 2 to 3 seconds
We feel that Sheila is in a perfect place regarding balance. That being said, we increased her Dive Roll timer to force Sheila to be a bit more stingy in some of her engagements. The increased range of her Parrot Bomb allows her to no longer put herself in risky situations to detonate on top of a group of enemies. This comes at the cost of giving her enemies time to react to the bomb as it travels through the air.
Knight
- Knight’s Charge
- Bound to Shift Ability
We are acutely aware that Knight needs love. He didn’t get the overhaul he deserved this week but we have some great ideas for how to make him a more viable member of the team. We’ll have more news on this soon.
Decker
- Revolver
- Reduced bullet spread by 70%
- Cloak
- Small smoke clouds now briefly signal Decker’s move direction when he cloaks
- Cloak cooldown now starts when Decker leaves cloak
- Small smoke particles are emitted when Decker takes damage in cloak
- Cloak now emits a short range sound when in use
- Added 0.25 seconds delay after decloaking before Decker can shoot
- Confiscate
- Decker can no longer use his weapons or abilities during Confiscate
- Increased the duration of Decker’s confiscate animation from 0.5 to 0.65 seconds
- Being arrested now only blocks abilities, and not weapons and ultimates
- Being arrested now unloads the weapons current clip
- Being arrested now reduces walk speed to 30%
Our original intention with Decker’s Confiscate was that it’d be used as part of team effort to secure points. However, it’s sheer effectiveness and the fact it had no counter meant not only was it being used in solo situations, but it was also frustrating to play against.
Rather than blocking all inputs, it now only prevents abilities being used and also unloads its targets weapons and reduces their walking speed. This leaves targets in a very vulnerable, but not impossible position. Our hope is that this will force Deckers to use Confiscate as a part of a greater team push rather than an as an instant fight winner. It’ll also force those defending against it to make difficult decisions about whether to use their ultimates in response – a victory for the Decker if he can convince the enemy team to use their ultimates at an inopportune time.
Decker’s cloak was another problem area. We loved that it encouraged outflanking the enemy and approaching from unpredictable angles. What we didn’t love was that it was too often being used as a get out of jail free card. Now the cloak briefly signals what direction the player is moving. The small delay has been included to have the player think carefully of where they leave cloak, however should not reduce the effectiveness at catching enemies by surprise if used skillfully.
Cyborg
- Rocket Arm
- Moved Rockets to be an ability, with an ammo reservoir of 3 rockets
- Hyper Cannon
- Stopped Cyborg shooting or using abilities whilst using the Hyper Cannon
- Locked the camera throughout using Hyper Cannon
- The Hyper Cannon laser beam is now translucent
- The Hyper Cannon beam warning now gives a clearer indication of the beam’s direction
- Increased Hyper Cannon charge time from 2 to 3 seconds
- Decreased Hyper Cannon effective duration from 6 to 4.5 seconds
- Hyper Cannon no longer damages those inside a Chrome Dome
- No longer charges Ultimate from use
Cyborg’s Hyper Cannon is controversial. When used correctly it can be the turning point in rounds, but it had too many annoying side effects. Friendlies were able to hide inside of his laser and shoot out giving them an unfair advantage. It was also difficult to tell what direction the beam was going to go in leading to confusion. These issues should now be resolved.
Moving his rockets into their own ability is our first step in improving Cyborg. He know has a reservoir of rockets to fire and we plan to do more with our boy in blue soon!
Reaper
- Silver Bullets
- Replaced old Ultimate with new Silver Bullets ultimate. Silver Bullets give Reaper a series of high explosive rounds to fire that stun enemy players.
- Spot
- Added a secondary spotting ability to Reaper, allowing her to mark enemy positions for her team
- Reaper Teleport
- Increased Reaper’s teleport range from 50 to 80 studs
- Reaper is no longer frozen in position whilst teleporting
Whilst powerful in the right hands, it was no surprise that Reaper had some issues. Her abilities and ultimate were lackluster making her a very repetitive class to play. Her previous ultimate, while had intriguing gameplay implications (revealing an enemy who gets blinded and takes bonus damage) was not telegraphed well and didn’t feel effective for the user at long range.
We felt the best way to address this was overhaul her tool set entirely, giving her a new ability and a new ultimate.
We’ve also fixed up her teleport. Now it has a longer range and doesn’t freeze her in place she is able to quickly escape situations by juking her enemies in a direction as she makes her escape.
Reaper’s new ultimate, Silver Bullets, fits her Clasher more. The emphasis is now on disrupting the enemy, making them vulnerable to pushes from her team. Silver Bullets has the potential to deal enormous damage, so placement and timing is key. We have preserved the ability to mark the location of players her old ultimate had through the new Spot ability.
This is the first part of a two part update that seeks to address a range of balance issues with the game. Keep your eye out over the coming weeks for further refinements!
The Q Clash Team
Minor Update 2
- Fixed Decker’s cloak cooldown
- Reduced Ghost’s sprint speed from 150% to 140%
- Fixed explosion effects when turret and jump pad are destroyed
- Decreased arrested walkspeed from 65% to 45%
- Increased arrested duration from 6 to 8 seconds
- Improved headshot detection
Minor Update 3
- Fixed issue where turrets could remain invincible
- Adjusted turret aim formula so it can aim at objects below it easier
Previous update log
10 July 2018 - Q-Clash Minor Update