Mad Mercenaries Update

* Update
* Hotfix

*It’s time to cause chaos in the **Mad Mercenaries** update! This war zone comes with a line up of crazed content in the Mad Mercenaries Battle Pass. Additionally, this is a new season reset for ranked and we are introducing new types of contracts so that you, Rogues, can get out there and get paid!*

## Year 2, Season 5: Mad Mercenaries

In this update, our Rogues don a vicious and wild look as Mad Mercenaries, set to cause havoc for a price! In this battle pass, you’ll find awesome content for Runway, Glimpse, Anvil, and Umbra, paired nicely along with the **Bonedust** mythic wrap!

## Ranked Updates

The fifth season of this year begins today, granting last season’s rewards and unlocking new ones to earn!

### Ranked Contracts

From this update forward, we are implementing a new set of contracts meant purely for Ranked. Much like Weekly Contracts, these Ranked Contracts will become active **only on weekends**, so come Friday, get out there and compete!

* Play 15 Ranked Matches: 300
* Win 10 Ranked Matches: 300
* Complete Both Ranked Contracts: 400

### Rewards

The following rewards will be given to those who are marked veterans in ranked and to those who have achieved Rogue tier during the active season:

* Play 30 Ranked Games: Party Animal Avatar
* Achieve Rogue Tier: Bubble Gum Splatter Weapon Wrap Bundle

## Daily Contracts Expansion

In this update, we’ve done a massive pass to our library of Daily Contracts with the goal in mind of giving our players unique and fun objectives to achieve while they are out there saving the day! Want to get rewarded for mowing down rogues with Cannon’s Minigun or wreak havoc with all of Dima’s explosives? Try them out in the new update and let us know what you think!

## UI Improvements

### Performance Indicators

During normal gameplay, you may see some new icons in the UI! These are being added as a way to collect data on network performance and help us improve the overall experience. While you may notice them, please do not be alarmed as their presence does not necessarily indicate worse performance.

## Bug Fixes

### Fixed Issues

* Fixed various camera and collision issues across several maps.
* Addressed some Ranked Progression issues.
* Fixed an issue where Cannon’s Minigun would disappear if somehow dodgerolling off of parts of maps.
* Fixed a MVP pose issue with Saint.
* Fixed an issue where bots would not begin navigating into the map after landing.
* Fixed an issue with the Squad Goals Dima idle animations.
* Fixed some unintended issues with gadgets while they are on cooldown.
* Fixed an issue with Shooting Range where all guns would be locked out.
* Fixed an issue with how Gunsmith and Shredder Rounds interact with your ammo count.
* Fixed various audio issues with the MLC Mixtape Mythic skin.
* Fixed an issue where the in-game shop would be un-interactable if opened while the scoreboard is up.

### Known Issues

* The Ranked Info screen shows incorrect rewards.
* The VFX of emotes, if you perform another emote following it, will sometimes retain the VFX of the previous one.
* Some Wingsuits have the wrong icons.
* Some bots don’t seem to want to purchase primary weapons.
* Some texture issues with the Kid-At-Heart emote.

# Mad Mercenaries Hotfix

## General Information

### Source

Patch Notes

*This hotfix was released 56 days after the update aiming to add balance changes and address some issues.*

### Developer Note

*2023 is the year of gameplay for Rogue Company. This means we intend on rolling out more balance changes, being a combination of handling the pain points of our current balance and to run experiments that drive Rogue Company in a stronger direction. We have a guiding star for this year: more defined and stronger identities across the board. While we will maintain the combat core that we are proud of, we will look to every element around it (Rogues, Weapons, Perks) to find opportunities to refresh and strengthen their identities. Every balance patch will be an incremental experiment to get us there and we look forward to going on this journey together with our players.*

## Season Updates

* This season has been extended for another 20 days.

## Rogue Updates

###  Cannon

*Cannon is an interesting character - his identity is that of a battle-loving juggernaut. He has a powerful loadout and a devastating ability when in the hands of a bold player; however, his performance is on the low side. Taking an incremental approach, we are changing up a couple of things to see if we can give him a boost.*

* **C4** replaced with **Grenade**.
* **Helping Hand** replaced with **Blaster**.
* **Bulletproof** replaced with **Tenacity**.
* **Tenacity** replaced with **Bulletproof**.

###  Kestrel

*Kestrel received some improvements to her drones in a previous update. She has always been a performing Rogue and there are some aspects to her ability that could do with some slight adjustments. We’ll continue to observe her and will make adjustments in future releases.*

* **Halo Drones**:
	+ Radius reduced from 8m to 6m.

###  Mack

*From our observations out in the wild and supporting data, Mack is currently the top performing rogue with an extremely high win rate. While his inherent power was meant to compensate for a low-power ability, this gap between him and the other rogues have prompted us to take a look at it. For now, the direct change to Mack is to address the armor gain component of his passive until we can come around to making his identity stronger. This’ll also impact his infamous duo partner: Dahlia!*

* **Standard Issue**:
	+ Amount of armor recovered when downing enemies reduced from 25 to 15.

## Perk Updates

###  Gunsmith

*Gunsmith has a force-multiplier effect that can greatly affect the performance of our weapons. Based on our data, testing and community feedback, we felt that this family of perks’ power contribution and when you could access it was, at the very least, under-costed. For now, we are increasing the price across all rarities and will observe the impact.*

* Cost increased from *$5,000*/*$7,500*/*$10,000* to *$6,000*/*$8,500*/*$12,000*.

###  Life Drain

*The Life Drain family of perks is a very impactful one. We definitely value the effect that it has on a player’s mindset once they have it or whenever they are fighting a Rogue that has one. That being said, the top end of the family might be a bit too generous. We are reducing the amount healed and will observe the long-term effects for now.*

* Healing amount reduced from 40/60 to 35/50.
* Cost reduced from *$8,000*/*$11,000* to *$7,000*/*$10,000*.

###  Shredder Rounds

*Given the interaction complexities of Toughness and Armor, we are increasing the "anti-armor" effectiveness of this perk and adjusting the cost to better reflect it, pushing it as the paramount perk choice when dealing with armor. Additionally, we have reduced the amount of bonus reserve ammo that the this perk family gives as we felt it gave so much to the point of making ammo worries trivial.*

* Bonus ammo reserves reduced by 50% to all rarities.
* Bonus damage increased from 10%/15%/20% to 15%/20%/25%.
* Cost increased from *$5,000*/*$7,000*/*$9,000* to *$5,500*/*$7,500*/*$10,000*.

## Weapon Updates

###  Arbitrator

*Shotguns, much like the snipers, are a core staple in shooters - their identity of being incredibly lethal at danger-close range is something that we want to maintain and dial into. The Arbitrator is a pretty contentious weapon as it seems to operate well at unexpected ranges and the risk isn’t quite high enough to match its lethality (more so in the hands of certain perks and rogues, which we will address later). As such, we are reducing the effective range, fire rate and reload speed to bring in its identity while asking the wielder to adapt and have a bit more risk in their decision-making.*

* Fire rate reduced from 3.33 to 2.5.
* Falloff ranges reduced from 9m/15m to 7m/12m.
* Reload time increased from 2.4s to 2.8s.
* **Rare**: Fire rate bonus reduced from 4.4 to 3.33; no longer reduces reload time.
* **Epic**: Now also reduces reload time to 2s.
* **Legendary**: Falloff range bonus reduced from 11m/17m to 10m/15m.

###  D40-C

*The D40-C has begun to see a ton of play due to its high precision and damage at too optimal of ranges. It is going to receive some adjustments to its core that will be the first step and indication of our direction for SMGs at large, since we want to strongly establish an identity for each of our weapon types and balance within those identities. The identity for the D40-C is that of a closer range brute with a high-capacity magazine that favors well with the bruiser-esque rogues.*

* Body damage increased from 14 to 15.
* Falloff ranges reduced from 12m/25m to 8m/17m.
* Magazine size increased from 40 to 50.
* Fire rate reduced from 13.33 to 12.5.
* ADS accuracy modifier reduced from 0.075 to 0.05.
* Hipfire accuracy reduced from 0.915 to 0.85.
* Bloom and bloom recovery increased.
* Crouching accuracy modifier removed.
* In-Air accuracy penalty reduced from -0.09 to -0.03.
* **Epic** and **Legendary** upgrades swapped.

###  Knight

*Like the D40C and the LMPX, the Knight will also receive the same treatment to bring it in line with the SMG core identity. As for it’s unique identity among SMGs as the “headhunter” SMG with chunky fire rate and recoil, we are pretty happy on strengthening that further.*

* Headshot damage increased from 30 to 32.
* First falloff threshold damage increased from 0.75 to 0.9.
* Falloff ranges reduced from 11m/22m to 8m/19m.
* Ammo reserve increased from 80 to 100.
* Reload time increased from 1.6s to 1.8s.
* ADS accuracy modifier reduced from 0.075 to 0.05.
* Hipfire accuracy reduced from 0.94 to 0.85.
* Crouching accuracy modifier removed.
* In-Air accuracy penalty reduced from -0.09 to -0.06.
* **Rare**: Ammo reserve bonus increased from 120 to 150.
* **Legendary**: Falloff range bonus reduced from 14m/26m to 11m/22m.

###  LMP-X

*The LMP-X has been an overall powerhouse that can contend with, and sometimes beat out, our ARs and DMRs due to its incredible accuracy, control and range. While we value its identity of being the most controllable SMG, we are bringing it more in-line with fitting in the core identity of its weapon type. The identity for the LMP-X is that of a controllable SMG with an integrated suppressor that is handled with finesse by calm and clever rogues alike - essentially the “you really should ADS with this” SMG.*

* Falloff ranges reduced from 14m/26m to 9m/19m.
* Magazine size reduced from 30 to 25.
* Reload time increased from 1.35s to 1.5s.
* ADS accuracy modifier increased from 0.075 to 0.09.
* Hipfire accuracy reduced from 0.915 to 0.83.
* Bloom and bloom recovery increased.
* Crouching accuracy modifier removed.
* In-Air accuracy penalty reduced from -0.09 to -0.065.
* **Rare**: Magazine size bonus reduced from 40 to 30; now also reduces reload time to 1.35s.
* **Legendary**: Now also reduces recoil.

###  S12 Tactical

*Currently, the S12 Tactical is pretty dominant with its tight spread, fast reload speed and incredibly high fire rate. We are going to adjust some of this to put in the proper identity box for shotguns.*

* Falloff damage reduced from 66%/50% to 60%/45%.
* Fire rate reduced from 3 to 2.5.
* Reload time increased from 0.38s to 0.4s.
* **Rare**: Ammo reserve bonus increased from 40 to 50.

###  LW6 Revolver

*We still value the LW6 Revolver’s place as the DMR of pistols; however, we feel that its fire rate and reload speed should be toned down to require the player to have the steady hand and calm mind of a proper gunslinger. We will keep an eye on it and other pistols in the future to bring them up to have stronger identities.*

* Headshot damage reduced from 60 to 55.
* Fire rate reduced from 3.03 to 2.5.
* Reload time increased from 1.6s to 2s.
* **Rare**: Falloff range bonus reduced from 22m/31m to 20m/29m.

## Bug Fixes

### Fixed Issues

* Ranked Rewards are now properly displayed in the UI.
* Seasonal Contract “Down 40 Enemies before they damage you” is now tracking progression.
* Seasonal Contract "Use 50 Deployable abilities or Gadgets" is now tracking all gadgets.
* Fixed an issue where Future Tech Dallas had the wrong icon.
* Fixed an issue where Ronin was unable to shoot and explode her own Ballistic Knife.
* Fixed an issue where Conviction’s Milestone “Down X Enemies after continuously Firing for 1 second” was not tracking progression.