Patch Notes - Season 3: Chapter 1

## Season 3

Much to

 dismay, a brand new Trust has taken up residence in Atlas. Hyperbotics, a collective that fuses the remnants for Warbotics with the resources of the former Hyperion empire, has arrived.

**Season 3 has begun!!**

* Check out all-new challenges and missions.
* Earn a “Salty” Overcon just for logging in during the event!

## Skins

* New skins are available for , , , , , , and . Earn them through special Warforged Loot Matrices.
* New skins will be available for  after the chapter has ended.
* Here is a preview of some of the new skins:

## New Freelancer

* Whispers of the “miracle maker from Hyperion” preceded Meridian’s arrival in Atlas.
* He is a melee support that wields a giant hammer and is built to defend his allies with the light of Hyperion. His presence inspired immediate loyalty from a number of Freelancers –  in particular.
* He’s also been seen frequently at  Flying Junkyard, which has created much gossip over whether or not he’s had any work done. (For the record, when asked, the prideful automaton insists he’s 100% original).

* **NOTE**: his Golden Age skin and Master skin are coming soon! They were delayed due to a last minute issue.

## Extraction!

* The game mode for Chapter 1 is Extraction
* Get the case to your extraction zone and reap the rewards!

## Ranked

* Ranked Season 2 has ended. **Season 3 Ranked will start on May 23** (and will be off until that date).
* Players will receive Prestige Points and emblems based on their rankings during Season 2.

## Stats

* Check out the robust new stats system!
* We now track a wide variety of general stats and 4 Freelancer-specific stats for each Freelancer.
* On the end of match screen, you’ll be able to compare stats from that match to your average and personal best.
* The Player Profile, accessed by clicking on your own banner from the landing page, houses a whole litany of stats to allow you to see how each Freelancer compares to each other.
* **NOTE**: many stats are not retroactive. You’ll have to start from Season 3!

* The badge system and global stat comparisons will be arriving soon. We need data to populate the system before badges and global comparisons will have real value.

## Achievements

* Atlas Reactor now has Achievements!
* Check them out in the progression menu (click your banner in the front end).
* Steam users will receive Steam Achievements for each Atlas Reactor achievement.
* Expect to see new achievements in future chapters as we’ll be expanding them over time.
* **KNOWN ISSUE**:  achievement currently does not complete. We are working on a fix.

## New Map: Hyperforge

* Wage war in a hi-tech armory where the open battleground and generous camouflage make for tense, wide-ranging skirmishes.
* Hyperforge has the first ever rotating power-up. Each time it is picked up it will spawn as a different power up the next time (on a specific cycle, it is not random).
* All game modes are supported on Hyperforge.

## Catalyst Changes

* There are an entirely (mostly) new set of catalysts for Season 3!

 Brain Juice* Has moved to Prep and now reduces cooldowns by 1. Prepare to… take more damage.
 Second Wind* Has moved to Prep and now heals for 30 over 3 turns.
 Regenergy* Give  for the turn. Particularly interesting in quick ult builds.

* , we hardly knew ye.
* Additionally, all shift catas will display their icon on the ground when used, to make it more clear what each player has used.

## Reconnecting

* We’ve made some big changes under the hood to reconnecting.
* Disconnects should be less frequent, as we now auto-reconnect you if your connection suffers a small drop in activity.
* Fixed a few general reconnect bugs.

## AI Bot Improvements

"Beep...Boop...all your reactors are belong to us."
* will no longer use crit shot on the same turn he ults.
* Ranged freelancers now prefer cover positions.
* They will now prefer to shift into brush.
* Ranged freelancers with high health will needlessly dash less.
* Bots will consider if a square is occupied when shifting.
* Bots will be less likely to dash if already in cover.
* is smarter about using his shield on allies.
* More!

## General

* General and All chat is now restricted for new players until they player play 5 matches.
* You can now select your language preference from the Options menu (instead of through Glyph).
* Fixed some issues where the incorrect Fill skin was selected after completing a game.
* Fixed an issue where death VFX and SFX were playing again on the game over screen, making you feel double-bad.
* Changed some text that was previously all caps. SORRY, WE WEREN’T TRYING TO YELL.

## UI/Gameplay Improvements

* **New!** - Alt-clicking an ability icon on your ability bar will now print information to chat, including the ability name, cooldown, and energy status for ults. Use this to let your teammates have more information quickly. Example here

## Balance

### Frontline

We think Putrid Spray is more fun with 2 turns for the base duration. Damage has been reduced to compensate. Mending Swarm now has a cap, which we will be tuning over time.

* Putrid Spray
	+ Duration increased from 1 to 2.
	+ Damage reduced from 20 to 15.
	+ Hive has been removed
	+ Big Bugs
		- Reduced the damage increase from 5 to 3
* Mending Swarm
	+ Now has a maximum heal of 60 (30 max each turn).

Check out that knockback upgrade!

* Maul
	+ Damage increased by 2.
	+ Beastial
		- Damage reduced by 2.
* Upheaval
	+ **New!** - Move cursor in or out to adjust knockback distance between 1 and 4.

### Support

Ion Cloud now has healing by default to increase mod flexibility.

* Shock Therapy
	+ Damage increased from 18 to 20.
* Ion Cloud
	+ Heals all allies for 4 by default.
	+ Invigorating Cloud
		- Increases heal from 4 to 6. Now costs 2 points.
	+ Stable Ions
		- Extra turn duration mod cost from 1 to 3

Finn is getting a slight buff, and a more useful 1 pointer on his ult.

* Refreshing Spray
	+ Can change in size, similar to water spout. Now heals for 24 at the widest (the same template it currently is) and 30 at the narrowest.
* Electrifying Eels
	+ Ignores .
	+ Damage reduced from 24 to 20.
* Maelstrom
	+ Cast Off
		- No longer causes . Now causes Finn to be  until end of turn.

* Resonance Burst
	+ Focused Burst
		- Extra shielding reduced from 10 to 6.
* Vaulting Shot
	+ Survivalist
		- No longer reduces cooldown. Increases damage from 20 to 26.

We like Quark as a high regen character. We’re tuning his max health to increase his fragility

* Reduced maximum health from 140 to 130.
* Atomic Bond
	+ Sharing is Caring
		- Healing reduced from 3 to 2.

### Firepower

Blackburn has been consistently performing well, especially after the recent changes that improved the strength of Blitz. A slight damage reduction will put him on more even footing with other firepowers.

* Proteus Grenade
	+ Damage reduced from 28 to 25.

Juno can put out the hurt but her Laser Barrage feels overshadowed by her other abilities. A slight boost should make people think twice about getting in range of her miniguns.

* Laser Barrage
	+ Damage increased by 2.

* The Big One
	+ Regenerating Ammo
		- No longer reduces the cooldown. Now grants 6 energy on cast. This mod was meant to be new player friendly but ended up magnifying their inexperience.