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Next Tuesday, May 3rd, we’re deploying Update 2.2.0.2 to correct a few things that were bugging us. (See what we did there?) It will fix a few chests, quests, and rewards – nothing major. Also included in the bundle will be some changes to help you land a punch a little more squarely on the jaw of your opponent.
Let’s talk about how those changes will make their way from our workbench to your game room.
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The Only Good Bug
[Spoiler: It’s a dead bug]
In a game ruled by magic and exotic weaponry, there is still a seat at the table for a good, old-fashioned, bare-knuckled attack. Isn’t that right, Titans?
Ever thrown a punch – we’re only talking about Destiny here – that seemed to land (you heard it and you felt it) but it didn’t deal any damage? Yeah, us too.
Ever thrown a punch (or a shoulder) that seemed to “whiff” right past your intended target when you were so sure it would land? Yup, the same thing happened to us, so we put one of our top men on it.
The empty threat of a melee is a thing we aim to fix in this next update. Anyone remember Sandbox Engineer Jon Cable? He’s one of the killer elite among bug hunters. If losing Heavy Ammunition upon death in Destiny Year One threw you into a blind rage, Jon was your champion.
We sent him deep, deep into a hellmouth of code to eradicate that bug, and he came back a hero.
Jon: When a melee attack seems like it connects, but it doesn’t do any damage, this is usually a networking problem. Most commonly, it occurs when there is an issue communicating your position to the other machines in the game, or if your would-be victim is having a similar problem. I’ve tweaked some networking logic related to player positions during melee attacks which should help address these issues. This error can still occur, because the internet isn’t perfect, but it should be better.
When a melee attack whiffs, this is usually a sandbox problem. I’ve fixed a bug where we were starting the target search from an incorrect position. Normally, we begin searching for targets from the perspective of the attacker’s head. This bug would result in the target search falling short. If the melee lunge didn’t get you close enough to the target, or if the target was moving away from you, your melee would not connect. The new fix should make Arc Blade and Shoulder Charge much more reliable. There are still situations – especially when the target is moving away from you – where you will not connect.
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These melee fixes will NOT go live when we deploy Update 2.2.0.2.
Changing the Sandbox always runs the risk of wreaking havoc on the fabric of virtual reality. We’re going to roll this out nice and slow.
Here are the steps we’ll take:
- Update 2.2.0.2 deploys Tuesday, May 3rd starting at about 10AM Pacific
- We’ll monitor the base update for stability over the weekend
- New Melee code will be manually activated Tuesday, May 10th at 10AM Pacific
- We’ll monitor performance and gather feedback on the Sandbox