Overview
The 1.6.5 PC Patch following our Coral Viper update will be available for Company of Heroes 3 this week. Here's a quick rundown of what's coming. This patch includes notable quality of life improvements as requested by our players, such as Map Preference voting and improvements to input latency. Based on player feedback, our team has also implemented several multiplayer balance adjustments, matchmaking improvements, and refreshed the in-game store with requested cosmetics and bundles, and as always, addressed many pesky bugs. Let’s get to the good stuff!
New Features
Map Preference
Map Preference makes its debut in Company of Heroes 3 with a simple yet effective tool to define a list of maps you would prefer not to play on. This will be present in all Automatch modes (Quick Match and Co-op vs A.I.).
Through a dedicated map selection screen, you will be able to downvote the maps you would prefer not to play on. These votes will be saved until they are changed again, and a recap of all voted on maps will be available in the Automatch Search Screen.
It is important to note that votes are not vetoes, they simply reduce the priority of a map.
- The matchmaking system will first form games and match together players based on several factors related to ELO, wait time, ping, servers, and more. In this phase, Map Preference votes are not considered.
- After groups are formed, the matchmaking system will analyze each player's votes, collecting all the maps with the lowest number of (or zero) votes and then randomly pick a map between them. Therefore, it is still possible to play on downvoted maps, if they are one of the least voted on. This is more likely in larger team games, where the number of players and votes can be high enough for that to happen.
- Map Preference will also work together with the map weighting system introduced in late 2023. After the downvotes are applied and the possible map pool is generated, map weight will be factored to increase the chances of a new map being picked if it is in the generated map pool list.
The number of votes has not changed compared to Company of Heroes 2, equaling 30% of the maps rounded down. However, different from CoH2, the vote pool is per Map Type, meaning that votes are separate across 1vs1, 2vs2, 3vs3 and 4vs4 instead of being all in one big pool.
For parties, all members will copy the votes of the Party Leader.
Unit Responsiveness
Units will be much more responsive in 1.6.5, with input latency for both offline and online matches being reduced by approximately half. Commanding units and issuing move orders should now feel snappier and more fluid. This change may affect visual smoothness, but we will be monitoring the change for future adjustments if need be. You can find a video showcasing the before/after comparisons, along with a technical write up from our team here.
Animation
Several improvements have been made to unit animations so that their gameplay affecting behaviors are less prone to breaking the immersion of our players. This includes things like infantry not aiming at their target properly and fixes for units that have their animations glitch or become stuck. These are only some of the behaviors that we have corrected, and we hope the result is a more immersive experience for all our players. We have additional fixes to known animation issues coming in subsequent patches.
Matchmaking
Now, while looking for a game in Automatch modes, the game will display the percentage of players queuing as Allies versus Axis. This will help you make an informed decision about which faction to choose from, while improving the overall matchmaking experience. For example, in the image below, it would likely be faster to find a match as the Allies.
Another highly requested improvement coming in 1.6.5 will put an end to the days of spawning away from party members. Should a player be in a game mode where their party does not fill all the available slots (for example a party of two in a 4v4 match), they will now always be placed next to one another. This means friends can now play together regardless of their team size, allowing for better strategy and communication.
Finally, we introduced a quality-of-life improvement to automatically save Match Types and A.I. difficulty settings between matches and sessions, effectively requiring you to set them only once.
Cosmetics
The in-game store is being refreshed with new cosmetic sets. Previously, all items in a cosmetic set might not be available at once, or a player would need to acquire multiple bundles to complete the set.
Based on player feedback, we have decided to release all items in a set at once instead of releasing them in smaller bundles over time. Many items can be acquired now individually, along with “Ultimate” bundles that contain everything included with a set. We have also repackaged several previous sets to match this new model.
We are still planning on supporting our rotating offers as well, so stay on the lookout for those!
Multiplayer Balance Changes
The multiplayer balance changes in 1.6.5 are focused on improving some of the infrequently used Battlegroup choices to create a wider variety of effective strategic paths. We previewed many of these changes two weeks ago and have made a few adjustments based on your feedback. Find all the final balance changes in the patch notes on release day.
Community Event
Keep an eye out for our next community event starting next week! Once again, we will be challenging all our players to work towards a common goal to earn new exclusive items for their profiles. Get your friends together and prepare for Drawing the Victory!
The 1.6.5 Patch is releasing in the next couple of days! Be sure to jump into our official forums or Discord to discuss the update, find others to play with, and to leave us your thoughts.
