Snowmen return to PlanetSide 2 in today’s update

Latest update adds auto-turrets and wieldable melee weapons

By
Matt Liebl
-

As promised, snowmen have returned to PlanetSide 2. Today's game update for PC adds Snowmen to Esamir, while Stone Snowmen can be found on Indar, Amerish, and Hossin. Golden Snowmen can be found on all continents. Shooting these new additions not only allows you to unleash your rage towards Frozen, but also rewards you with a little extra XP. In addition to the snowmen, special holiday directives can be found on Auraximas which if completed can reward players in things like a "Snowblower" title, cert points, and more.

Holiday content isn't all that was included in the update today. The new Spitfire auto-turret is now available for engineers, offering players a new way to participate in combat "that doesn't rely exclusively on twitch response." The Spitfire Auto-Turret is located in the ability slot and will automatically engage hostile infantry within 50 meters.

Editor's Note: Before we get to the patch notes though, since some of you were asking, we have reached out to SOE regarding the submission of the PlanetSide 2 PS4 beta build to Sony. We'll update you when we hear back.

Now on to today's patch notes.

Wieldable Knives

  • Knives can now be wielded by holding down the quick knife button or via gear slot 8. In general a wielded knife can swing faster than the quick knife.
  • Knife hit detection has been adjusted to be more precise. Knives can now get head shots and will play impact effects on the surface they hit.
  • A new knife has been added to each empire. They are slower to equip and swing than the default knife, but when wielded, they can be activated by switching fire modes. When activated, these deal increased damage and emit audio and visual effects.

Spitfire Turrets

  • The new Spitfire Auto-Turret is now available for engineers. Located in their ability slot, the engineer can construct a Spitfire Auto-Turret that will automatically engage hostile infantry within 50 meters.

Customizable Profile Banners 

  • Profile banners are now available to customize your Profile and Death Screen.
  • Banners are customizable from the My Profile Menu. Banners can be obtained from the Utilities section of the Depot or from completing Expert and Master level weapons directives.

Key Reminders

  • When entering a vehicle or switching classes, a relevant key reminder will now display for a few seconds.
  • If you don’t want to use this really cool feature that we spent a lot of care and attention on, you can disable it from the Interface Settings page. It’s fine, whatever.

Winter Holiday Event
Directives

  • New Holiday Directive added

Snowmen

  • Snowmen are spawning on Esamir
  • Stone Snowmen are spawning on Indar, Amerish, and Hossin
  • Golden snowmen can be found on all continents
  • Snowman XP will now be shared with all squad members within 300 meters

Store

  • New Holiday Items available for purchase.
  • New NS knife “Icikill”, Your Ice Cold if you get 100 kills with this knife
  • Holiday Hats with 50% XP Boost when worn , TR/VS/NC/NS *seasonal item
  • Holiday Bundle, contains the following:

    • All Holiday Hats (50% XP Boost) *seasonal item
    • “Icikill” knife
    • Deep Freeze Pistol (From last year)
    • 14 day Squad XP boost (50%/5%)
    • “Season’s Greetings” Profile Banner
    • Digital Snowflake Hood Ornament
*Seasonal Items can only be equipped during appropriate holiday events

Additional Tier Added to Implants

  • New Tier 4 Implants, Tier 4 implants have an energy cost of 1.25 per tick
  • Overall Implant rates have been adjusted to accommodate the inclusion of new Tier 4 implants.
  • Hold Breath 4

    • Increases hold breath duration by 4 seconds
  • Clear Vision 4

    • Reduce effects of Flash and Concussion grenades by 90%
  • Emp Shield 4

    • Reduces EMP effects by 90%
  • Sensor Shield 2

    • Allows player to remain hidden from sensors while sprinting, unless they are within 20 meters of the sensor
  • Regeneration 4

    • Regeneration per second 7%
  • Safe Landing 4

    • Fall damage resist 50%
  • EOD Hud 4

    • Detect range 25 meters
  • Battle Hardened 4

    • Flinch Reduction: 80%
    • Camera Shake Reduction: 50%

Additional Implants

  • Battle Hardened 2 (Tier 2)

    • Flinch Reduction: 65%
    • Camera Shake Reduction: 40%
  • Battle Hardened 3 (Tier 3)

    • Flinch Reduction: 70%
    • Camera Shake Reduction: 45%
  • Clear Vision 1 (Tier 1)

    • Reduce effects of Flash and Concussion grenades by 30%
  • Clear Vision 2 (Tier 2)

    • Reduce effects of Flash and Concussion grenades by 40%
  • EMP Shielding 1 (Tier 1)

    • Reduce effects of Flash and Concussion grenades by 30%
  • EMP Shielding 2 (Tier 2)

    • Reduce effects of Flash and Concussion grenades by 45%

Additional Implant Changes

  • Battle Hardened 1(original)

    • Flinch Reduction reduced from 75% to 60%
    • Camera Shake reduction reduced from 50% to 35%
  • Regeneration 3 (Tier 3)

    • Regen percentage per second decreased from 6.6% to 6%
  • Safe Landing 3 (Tier 3)

    • Resist percentage decreased from 46% to 40%
  • Clear Vision 3 (Tier 3)

    • Reduced effectiveness against Flash and Concussion grenades by roughly 30%
  • EMP Shield 3 (Tier 3)

    • Reduced effectiveness against EMP effects by roughly 20%

Balance

  • Red dot Sights added to all NS Pistols
  • Spiker Clip size increased from 14 to 16
  • Banshee changes

    • Max indirect damage decreased from 200 to 150
    • Min indirect damage increased from 1 to 10
    • Inside damage radius decreased from 0.5 to 0.3 meters
    • Outside radius decreased from 2 meters to 1 meter
    • New fire audio
    • Increased size of impact explosions
  • Vulcan changes

    • Prowler

      • Min COF increased from 0.5 to 1.1
      • COF bloom removed
      • Damage falloff max range increased from 130 to 200 meters
      • Clip size increased from 60 to 90
      • FP tracers increased to 1:1
    • Harasser

      • Min COF increased from 0.5 to 1.1
      • COF bloom removed
      • Damage falloff max range increased from 65 to 95 meters
      • Clip size increased from 60 to 90
      • FP tracers increased to 1:1

Ability to Ban Players From Squads/Platoons

  • Squad Leaders can now ban players from joining the squad leader’s squad by clicking the player's name in the squad menu and selecting “Ban From Squad”
  • The banned player will no longer be able to be invited or join the squad
  • To clear the current ban list a squad leader can press the “Clear Ban List” button on the squad menu
  • If the squad is disbanded it will also clear all players from the ban list

Ability to Hide Certain HUD Elements

  • Missions: The mission elements can now be toggled off. Players will still have the active mission (so they will get the bonuses for it when it is completed), but the ui elements related to it will no longer be visible (text above the minimap, minimap icons, 3d icons).
  • Group Login Notifications: Group (squad/platoon) notifications can now be toggled off. Player will no longer be notified when another player joins/leaves his/her squad/platoon.
  • Outfit Login Notifications: Outfit login notifications can now be toggled off. Player will no longer receive notifications when outfit members log in or out.
  • Implant Drop Notifications: Implant drop notifications can now be turned off. Player will no longer see notifications for implant/charger drops. The item will still print to chat, however.

Identify Friend or Foe Improvements

  • Building interior textures and colors changed to assist in picking out players against the walls
  • VS character base texture and tint pattern mask adjustments to assist with visual IFF

Depot Additions 

  • The No-Helmet Helmet is now available in the Depot. Or, the helmet is now not available in the Depot. Whatever your preference.
  • Hard Light helmets are available in the Depot
  • New Profile Banners are available in the Utilities section
  • New Holiday items
  • O Canada, we stand on guard for thee
  • Poland is not yet lost

Misc

  • Zone Queue Notification window has gotten a pass to implement player feedback
  • Added a longer trail the Liberator Zepher and Dalton projectiles, similar to the duster trail
  • Updated icons for Engineer MANA Turrets; they now represent the constructed turret instead of an icon with the ace tool
  • The Flash Wraith now has a visual component
  • The Magburner now has a visual component
  • The Nanite Auto Repair system now has a visual component
  • The Fire Suppression system now has a visual component
  • The Vehicle Stealth system now has a visual component
  • The Ejection system now has a visual component
  • The Flash Turbo now has a visual component
  • The Liberator LF 100 Afterburner now has a visual component
  • Player Studio: Added PS tool materials for a rigid helmet and character to help out our Blender users
  • All country flags should now be equippable as outfit decals (PS-805)
  • VS Heavy Armor had more tintable areas added
  • Made the VS MAX composite shoulders full camo
  • Added small shoulder pads to VS Engineer, Medic, and Light Assault starter look
  • Shooting water at close range should no longer be a performance hit (PS-568)
  • Reduced the collision size of grenades
  • Increased size of 40mm muzzle flash
  • Reverted Serro Listening Post and Vanu Asylum to pre-halloween event names
  • Updated the pose for the TR Max when locked down
  • Voice chat is getting a hardware upgrade
  • [Edit] Some players that received part of the 2nd year anniversary bundle by mistake will no longer see those items in their inventory
  • [Edit] Players that have already completed a directive that rewards a profile banner will receive the profile banner via grant throughout the day

Bug Fixes

  • Players should jitter much less when viewed at distant through scopes
  • Fixed an issue where some of the heavy bullet impacts (Tank Buster, Vulcan, etc) were not playing the correct impact audio
  • Voice Over sample rate has been doubled to improve overall quality (PS-734)
  • All the NS red dot sights should be the same size as the equivalent NC, TR, and VS versions
  • Fixed some skinning issues on holographic armors
  • Fixed a bug where swamp water appeared black on medium and lower graphics settings
  • Vehicle explosions will now correctly damage players again
  • Deployable placement (specifically Engi turrets) will no longer fail after a successful confirmed placement
  • Instant Action key shortcut will no longer work through Depot or Top Up UI windows
  • Activating cloak will no longer cause the 1p character to completely disappear for second before the cloak effect appears
  • Consistency pass on a subset of weapon tooltip icons
  • Improved 3p animation of Ace Tool deployment
  • Improved 3p animation of crossbow reload
  • Fixed 3p animation issue where weapons could float in the air after a player dies
  • Fixed 3p animation arm clipping issue with engineer turrets when looking left or right
  • Fixed twisted arm in 3p sniper rifle animations
  • Fixed twisted left wrist in 3p primary weapon animations
  • Players will no longer crouch when shot with an underbarrel weapon active (PS-878)
  • Cyclopean helmet should now display properly on male characters in 3p view (PS-872)
  • Animation bug fix for a pop when transitioning from sprinting to aiming down sights
  • Amerish Bio Labs had a wall with LOD issues (would disappear) that has been addressed
  • Resource bar will no longer get stuck on screen if a player switches classes while it is flashing
  • Faction issues with the Death From Above decal have been addressed
  • The Baron G5AE should now correctly award shotgun kills for Directives (PS-804)
  • Harasser: Vehicle kills should now correctly award Driver Assists for Directives
  • Gun Kills credit will no longer be awarded for destroying vehicles in the VR zone (PS-652)
  • Esamir Bio Labs Teleport Room shields have been aligned correctly
  • Waterson’s Redemption vehicle terminal can no longer be hacked through the wall
  • ESF displays should now display consistent max altitudes (PS-162)
  • Players should no longer be able to get into an invisible state by switching seats on the Flash (PS-767)
  • Fixed a bug where helmet effects would play over air vehicles while in3p camera (PS-714)
  • Fixed incorrect tooltips on M20 Basilisk-F ammo capacity certifications
  • Harasser Predator Bumper should no longer inherit camo on one side (PS-715)
  • Harasser Rumble Tire Spikes had a red spot removed and will no longer inherit camo
  • Fixed a weapon clipping issue with the 3p TR heavy breastplate armor
  • Antiquated Crossing: Removed a spot where a player can get stuck between the wall and a support column
  • Added no deploy area to Construction Site Epsilon
  • Ghanan Tech Plant spawn shield should correctly drop with destroyed SCU generator
  • Ixtab Amp Station: Relocated a badly placed gravity lift
  • Added drop pod zones to Kessel's Crossing
  • Removed plants clipping into Hunter’s Blind
  • Fixed stretched rock textures at Hvar Northgate Garrison
  • Removed a hole where players could get stuck at Tawrich Recycling
  • Zurvan Amp Station: Aligned gravity lift shield
  • Cloaked enemies should no longer glow under certain conditions
  • NC Composite Armor had decal stretching fixed (PS-735)
  • NC GD RefleXR sights have comparable camo coverage now (PS-229)
  • Decals now visible on NC MAX Auraxium Infused Plating
  • NC Razor GD-23 ADR icon now correctly represents stock
  • NS Compound Helmet now correctly attaches to the player’s body
  • Fixed a typo in the NS-15M1 description (PS-807)
  • Hot Keys to select class/vehicle and character loadout can now be used on all screens instead of just on terminal screens (PS-189)
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing sorts in both directions on the outfit members list (PS-678)
  • GSD visual FX fade out has been shortened
  • Pump action shotguns should no longer cause a quick ADS between shots
  • Shield Regen Device effect on players should now be more visible on TR
  • The Lightning's Skyguard is not the faction specific color for each faction and if a camo is equipped, the camo is also applied to the turret
  • Cyclopean Helmet will no longer cause stretched textures on the characters in 3p
  • Frostbreaker Helmet had a stretched texture fixed
  • Fixed a rough LOD swap on a Tech Plant art asset
  • Auraxium Infused Plating should now display the appropriate look
  • TR: MH2 (2x) reticule preview icon has been fixed
  • Prowler Deluxe Banded Trim visuals adjusted (PS-588)
  • Prowler Gold Trim should no longer display as black on some settings (PS-526)
  • T4 Amp description fixed when displayed on death screen
  • Spawn locations adjusted to be more effective
  • Generator HP bar should no longer overlap the Generator icon at certain resolutions
  • Mine Guard description updated to match functionality (PS-691)
  • VS Heavy Assault Hard Light Armor on female models should have leg pieces now (PS-893*)
  • VS Infiltrator Hard Light Armor on female models should have shoulder pads now
  • Phaseshift VS-S no longer lists ammunition count
  • VS Sentinel voice pack description corrected
  • VS Zealot voice pack description corrected
  • VS Skorpios no longer had a wrist bend in 3p
  • Shifted VX6-7 red dot optics so they rest on the rail properly (PS-301)
  • Deployed ammo packs will no longer float above stairs in some locations
  • Player collision updated in some areas of the warpgate stairs
  • Fixed offhand arm animation clipping bug with rocket launchers being equipped or unequipped in 3p views
  • Weapon should no longer shake when ADS and walking forward
  • Harasser: Toe Cutter Rims are now attached to the vehicle correctly
  • KSR-35 should now auto-reload correctly when on empty mag while ADS
  • Cloaking immediately after firing a weapon should be more consistent (PS-762)

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