Open World

• Devil’s Tusk which will include a content refresh to match the content model implemented in Coral Forest and Sertao.[/*]
• The level cap has increased to 45.[/*]
• Devil’s Tusk World Event[/*]
• Tensions have escalated in Devil’s Tusk. The Accord has deployed scientists and soldiers around the zone looking for information from this area which housed a pre-Melding weapons research facility. The Chosen and Ophanim are harassing Accord personnel and it’s the ARES Initiative’s job to defend the scientists. This world event works in three phases[/*]
• During the first phase, pilots will find Accord personnel either captured by Chosen or Ophanim (depending whose territory they are found within), or at outposts that need to be defended. These events are scattered throughout the zone. Once a certain amount of events are complete, the second phase will begin.[/*]
• While in the second phase, the Accord will send dropships into the zone in several different specific locations to evacuate the scientists. ARES pilots should defend these sites and evacuate as many scientists as they possibly can before the third phase begins.[/*]
• The U.A.S. Vanguard moves in closer to the Chosen Prison and the Chosen launch an all-out attack on the Accord. There are three sites along the coast of Devil’s Tusk that house Anti-Aircraft guns which ARES Pilots will need to use to take down the Chosen ships attacking the Vanguard. At the same time, a small team of ARES Pilots will need to use dropship transports to infiltrate the Chosen Prison and evacuate the Accord personnel held prisoner there before the Chosen take out the Vanguard. [/*]

Combat

• Note that for 1.7 we have made a change to damage resistances and there will no longer be enemies with damage type resistances. Enemies will still have vulnerabilities to certain damage types. The purpose of this change is to ensure the effect of damage types in combat is a net positive. Players should still be able to maximize their combat effectiveness by selecting the proper weapon damage type against specific enemies, at the same time players are not penalized to use weapons they enjoy.[/*]

Instances

• New instanced mission: Homecoming, including Challenge and Hardcore versions.[/*]
• Serkan has driven us out of Blackwater during the Razor’s Edge mission and is continuing his plans to assault the Accord and steal their arcporting technology. Mason, Kara, Fuller, and 35 pursue Serkan in an opportunity to take down the Razorwind leader.[/*]
• A familiar threat, Baneclaw, has returned and has been tuned for platoons of 10 players. Baneclaw is meant to be a level 45 instanced boss fight.[/*]
• Damocles – Assault Prototype Sticky Launcher[/*]
• Fires a projectile which sticks to surfaces and soft targets. After a short duration, the projectile explodes, dealing Melding damage in an area of effect.[/*]
• Plague Doctor – Biotech Prototype Needler[/*]
• Fires projectiles which poison targets on hit, dealing Melding damage over time. If the target dies while poisoned, they will drop a health pack.[/*]
• Omega Perseid – Dreadnaught Prototype AutoBlaster[/*]
• Fires multiple projectiles in a wide spread. This weapon deals high damage at close range.[/*]
• Shadowlance – Recon Prototype Lancer[/*]
• Fires a bolt which penetrates targets and bounces off surfaces.[/*]
• Distant Memory – Engineer Prototype Remote Mine Layer[/*]
• Fires projectiles that stick to surfaces. The alternate fire detonates the mines, dealing Melding damage in an area of effect, or repairing friendly deployables.[/*]
• Abyssal Reach Grenade - Auxiliary Weapon[/*]
• Throw a grenade that triggers on impact, releasing a mist of Melding energy that drags enemies towards itself. After a short duration, the grenade explodes, dealing Melding damage and knocking enemies back.[/*]
• Hardcore campaign level and loot raised to 45[/*]
• Hardcore Operations level and loot raised to 45[/*]
• Jericho level raised to 45[/*]
• Jericho now rewards Module Credits per round, with increases in Module Credit gains every five rounds.[/*]
• We are continuing to monitor Jericho rewards and may make additional updates to Jericho loot in the future.[/*]
• Defense of Dredge level and loot raised to 45[/*]
• S.O.S.’s lockdown objective now requires that players defend the terminal.[/*]

PvP

• Team Deathmatch is now available in a newly created map for the mode, Refinery. Two teams of five are pit against each other. The first team to the score limit or the team with the most kills after time expires is declared the winner.[/*]
• Greatly increased the amount of experience earned for both participating in and winning a PvP match.[/*]
• Participation in as well as winning in a PvP match awards one key fragment.[/*]
• Winning a PvP match awards three rare items (with a small chance to upgrade to epic).[/*]
• Winning a PvP match awards two rare Armor, Weapon, Ability, or Module caches.[/*]
• Participating in a PvP match awards two rare items (with a small chance to upgrade to epic).[/*]
• Participating in a PvP match awards one rare Armor, Weapon, Ability, or Module cache.[/*]
• We are continuing to monitor feedback on PvP rewards and may make additional changes in the future.[/*]
• Modified the cost of the following PvP store items:[/*]
[list]
• Radioactive Warpaint is now 425 Tokens (Previously 12000)[/*]

• 1-use P.U.C.K. (mobile tinkering station): 30 Tokens[/*]
• Rookie Decal: 80 Tokens[/*]
• Astrek Dual Earcom: 80 Tokens[/*]
• Astrek Stereophones: 125 Tokens[/*]
• Traffic Cone (head gear): 125 Tokens[/*]
• The Trickster (eye gear): 180 Tokens[/*]
• Astrek Smiley Helm: 280 Tokens[/*]
• Blossom Wreath (head gear): 280 Tokens[/*]
• ARES Storm Warpaint: 280 Tokens[/*]
• ARES Trooper Warpaint: 280 Tokens[/*]
• Starry Pinecone Hat: 325 Tokens[/*]
• Accord Officer's Cap: 380 Tokens[/*]
• Emote: Swimdance: 380 Tokens[/*]
• Infinite Helmet: 480 Tokens[/*]
• Space Helmet: 580 Tokens[/*]
• Samurai Fury Mask: 625 Tokens[/*]
• Carnage Mask: 825 Tokens[/*]
• Aura: PvP Celebrity: 1200 Tokens[/*]
• Footprint: Dog Paw: 2500 Tokens[/*]
• Glider: Big Kahuna Glider Pad: 5000 Tokens[/*]

Items

• Salvaging modules now returns Crystite.[/*]

Vendors

• Updated the wares of several point of interest quartermasters:[/*]
• Nutretic
[/*] [list]
• Added level 20 rare base abilities:[/*]
• Adrenaline Rush[/*]
• Charge[/*]
• Overclock[/*]
• Afterburner[/*]
• Teleport Beacon[/*]

• Added level 23 uncommon auxiliary weapons:[/*]
• Tesla Grenade[/*]
• Chemical Grenade[/*]
• Incendiary Grenade[/*]
• Freeze Grenade[/*]
• Fragmentation Grenade[/*]
• Hammer[/*]
• Sword[/*]
• Servos[/*]

• Swapped the Mine Launcher for a Tesla Rifle.[/*]
• Added rare advanced battleframe abilities:[/*]
• Fuel Cloud[/*]
• Pulsar[/*]
• Poison Trail[/*]
• Emergency Response[/*]
• Gravity Pull[/*]
• Penetrating Rounds[/*]
• Deployable Shield[/*]
• Bulwark[/*]
• SIN Beacon[/*]
• Assassinate[/*]

• Added rare secondary weapons.[/*]

• Base HKM abilities offered are now rare quality.[/*]

• Removed remote explosive in favor of Electron ability.[/*]
• Added rare base abilities:[/*]
• Meteor Strike[/*]
• Healing Generator[/*]
• Heavy Turret[/*]
• Charge[/*]

• Added rare advanced frame HKMs:[/*]
• Supercharge[/*]
• Fuel Air Bomb[/*]
• Necrosis[/*]
• Healing Dome[/*]
• Dreadfield[/*]
• Mighty Charge[/*]
• Fortify[/*]
• Electrical Storm[/*]
• Eruption[/*]
• Overload[/*]

• Added missing abilities:[/*]
• Healing Dome[/*]
• Creeping Death[/*]

• Offers level 40 rare secondary weapons at the Friendly tier.[/*]

• Offers uncommon HKM abilities.[/*]
• Offers level 41 rare base battleframe abilities (one per archetype).[/*]
• Crossroads
[/*]
• Offers rare base HKMs at Friendly status.[/*]
• Offers uncommon base weapons and HKMs.[/*]

• Offers uncommon advanced battleframe weapons.[/*]
• Offers uncommon advanced battleframe abilities.[/*]

• Offers base battleframe items (uncommon and rare).[/*]

• Offers advanced battleframe abilities.[/*]

Systems

• A significant system change is an XP curve will be added in earning Elite Ranks. The curve will start out fairly gradual. Because of this systems change we need to retroactively apply this to all existing players with Elite Ranks. This will be done on character login once 1.7 is released. Each player will have their points reset so they can spend them once again. We are also refunding any Red Beans spent on Elite Rank stat rerolls to players.[/*]
• Added the following unlocks for Elite Ranks:[/*]

• Rare Armor Cache[/*]
• Rare Module Cache[/*]
• Rare Weapon Cache[/*]
• Rare Ability Cache[/*]
• 15,000 Crystite[/*]
• 250 Credits[/*]
• Bronze Tinker Tools[/*]
• 10 Key Fragments[/*]
• Silver Tinker Tools[/*]

• Rare Armor Cache[/*]
• Rare Module Cache[/*]
• Rare Weapon Cache[/*]
• Rare Ability Cache[/*]
• Epic Armor Cache[/*]
• Epic Module Cache[/*]
• Epic Weapon Cache[/*]
• Epic Ability Cache[/*]
• Legendary Fragment Cache[/*]
• 1250 Credits[/*]
• 75,000 Crystite[/*]
• 25 Key Fragments[/*]
• 1 Security Key[/*]
• Gold Tinker’s Tools[/*]

Elite Rank Stat Changes:

• No longer scales infinitely[/*]
• Flat bonus over all levels[/*]
• More impactful[/*]
• Finite amount of levels[/*]
• Affects:[/*]
[list]
• Power Rating stat[/*]

• Flat bonus over all levels[/*]
• Bonus remains unchanged[/*]
• More levels to reach max[/*]
• Affects:[/*]
[list]
• Ability Potency Rating[/*]
• Ability Duration Rating[/*]
• Ability Range Rating[/*]
• Ability Area Rating[/*]
• Weapon Handling Rating[/*]
• Weapon Range Rating[/*]
• Weapon Area Rating     [/*]

• Flat bonus over all levels[/*]
• Fewer levels to reach max[/*]
• Higher bonus overall[/*]
• Affects:[/*]
[list]
• Ability Damage[/*]
• Weapon Damage [/*]

Performance

• When walking through Copa or other heavy areas in 1.6, especially on higher settings, frame rates are very inconsistent, especially when you turn around quickly. This should now be improved.[/*]
• Minor hitches when walking around should be fixed.[/*]
• The 5-second-hitches should be completely gone. We've addressed some threading issue that could cause starvation of threads.[/*]
• In 1.6, the appearance of UI like tutorial tips or the inventory can cause major hitches up to a few seconds. This should be fixed in 1.7. Textures are loaded in the background.[/*]
• Textures should stream in much more quickly now. The system has been completely redone. You shouldn't notice tiles streaming anymore if you have a decent internet connection, even if you are using a HDD, not an SSD.[/*]
• The view distance of NPCs in towns should be much higher[/*]
• NPCs shouldn't stream in late anymore; you shouldn't be shot by invisible mobs.[/*]
• Better recovery from device reset (changing window size, going fullscreen). Before, textures went black for a while before the game can reload them. Now it should look less broken.[/*]
• Character levels of detail (LODs) are more stable now. Before, you could get into situations where LODs would switch even if you stand still.[/*]
• Improved static geometry storage and streaming. This reduces install size by about 1.6 GB, memory usage by about 70 MB and improves load time. With this and other fixes, problems with out of memory crashes should be improved, albeit possibly not completely fixed.[/*]

Interface

• Bought back the radar options from 1.3 (terrain gamma, rotation, zoom etc.) except square radar which would have been hard to get back. In addition, there’s a Combat Zoom option now that zooms the radar in when you are engaged in combat. If you are driving a vehicle at a reasonable speed, the radar will not zoom in, so it won’t affect your navigation.[/*]
• Chat may be viewed from replays and spectator mode[/*]
• Players that have 10 or more Elite Points to spend will skip interface animations.[/*]
• Elite Points can now be spent if a player is not at maximum level and has Elite Points to spend.[/*]

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where melding particles would repeatedly spawn and despawn.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where air sprint visual effects were emanating from the incorrect region of the battleframe.[/*]
• Fixed the occasional “still streaming past 100%” console warning.[/*]

 Combat Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the player falling speed tier would could not be reset without landing.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Photon Lance projectiles are bouncing back to the player.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Rifleman-type NPCs would disappear shortly after spawning and engaging players.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Gravity Pull could be used to move Melding Tornados and their shards.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Bolt Driver would fire faster in alt-fire mode.[/*]
• Bolt Driver damage and accuracy should now be correct when aiming down sights.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Teleport Beacon’s cooldown would begin before the deployable expires.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Teleport Beacon would not bounce off walls and ceilings.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Teleport Beacon would not have a duration timer on the hotbar.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Poison Trail was not dealing the proper amount of damage in PvP (previously 49, now 98).[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the Shock Rail would not deal headshot damage while aiming down sights.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the BioRifle firing audio would loop.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Multi-Turrets could not be spawned on the roads in Jericho.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Smokescreen would not have a duration timer on the hotbar.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Fuel Cloud would not be ignited by Afterburner.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Fuel Cloud would make no sound when ignited.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the player casting Creeping Death would make choking noises.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Pulsar would make no sound when cast.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the weapon Hurricane would fire more than four projectiles despite its tooltip.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where audio would loop for auto-fire weapons.[/*]

Open World Fixes

• Fixed a bug where when spawning a vehicle it could get stuck in the ground.[/*]
• Fixed many prop issues within the open world zones and instances.[/*]
• Fixed an issue where ARES Mission objectives would spawn under a rock in the cave nearby F.O.B. Sagan.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where players could not exit through the smaller door of watchtowers.[/*]
• Mourningstar should no longer disappear from F.O.B. Sagan.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the Northern Shores vehicle terminal has no collision.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where players would need to repeat the Mushroom Rock portion of the new player experience if they skipped interacting with the door controls.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where glider wings during the Bite for the Hand that Feeds You ARES Job would cause the player to fall to the ground while gliding.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Ronin bounties would not trigger completion.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where players could not use Omnidyne-M Fleet Beacons after five were spawned in the lifetime of a shard.[/*]
• ARES Job Poacher of Men – Updated the placement of the Brontodon.[/*]
• ARES Job Our Own Serum – Fixed a bug where Chosen and collection items would not spawn.[/*]
• ARES Job Welcome to Sertao – Fixed a bug where enemies would get stuck in spawning, causing weapon crates to become sparse, resulting in the Job taking an extreme amount of time to complete.[/*]
• ARES Job Dragonslayer – Enemies should now spawn properly during the thermal scanner step.[/*]
• ARES Job Fifth Son – fixed a bug where the job would not progress past first step.[/*]

 Instance Fixes

• Dueling is no longer allowed during a cinematic.[/*]
• Campaign Off the Grid – Fixed a bug where the mission would not progress if enemies get stuck.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where players would get stuck in the S.O.S. mission after fighting Aliyan and Tarantus.[/*]
• Fixed a short flicker when exiting a cinematic.[/*]

PvP Fixes

• Calldowns are now properly restricted in PvP.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Elite Rank upgrades were active on PvP battleframes.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where not all players would display on a PvP scoreboard.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the Jetball encounter would crash if players were killed in the pain zone.[/*]

Interface Fixes

• Player battleframe will now update in LFG when changed.[/*]
• Fixed lingering equipment when loadouts are filtered out.[/*]
• Fixed a bug in the Market where searching with a string and having ‘Show Available’ checked would cause an error.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where bodysuit and armor patterns were not displayed on Login Screen.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Gatecrasher is displayed as a level 30 instance in the dashboard.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where squad members were not showing up on map unless within close proximity.[/*]
• Added a thumbnail image for Defense of Dredge at dropship menu.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where players could not access Head Gear in the New You.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where players creating characters would have to create a name before choosing character gender.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Razor’s Edge Challenge Mode would not display rewards in the interface.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where Unearthed Challenge Mode would not display rewards in the interface.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the Astrek Earwing ornament would not display the proper name in the New You.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where weapon and ability rating upgrades would not display updated stats for players.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where some items would not activate from inventory.[/*]

Items Fixes

• Fixed a bug where vehicles had the wrong warpaint and some wheels did not appear while spawning.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the Top Gun helmet would not have the players warpaint applied.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the Lancer Gold LGV could not be properly combined.[/*]
• Fixed a bug where the Cherub Wing LGV hop visual effects were not visible on medium graphics and below.[/*]