Did someone say Melee? The brand new strike assist mechanic is here to make those melee encounters more dynamic, exciting and effective. Enjoy the thrill of blasting into hand-to-hand combat from greater distances with a speed boost and increased damage. Also, we are pleased to announce the availability of consumables. A range of superpowers that you can purchase and activate for those times you need a little bit more domination. You can now find these in the trading terminals. You can choose between Avatar XP Boost, Mech XP Boost, Health Recovery and Shield Regen abilities. [h3]General Gameplay:[/h3] [list] [*] Trading terminals have new stock! [*] XP bars: XP bars will display on the combat HUD when the player completes a mission, bounty or patrol to give an indication of how much progress they have made.[/list][h3]Player Experience and Balancing:[/h3] [list] [*] Overall the HEAT system has been reworked to make HEAT balancing more of a skill for players to hone while making HEAT costs fairer. HEAT costs have been balanced per starfighter class. [/list][list] [list] [*] Boosting heat cost has been increased slightly [*] The cooldown wait time before heat dissipates from the heat bar has been increased from 1 second to 3 seconds [*] Heat dissipation speed has been increased based on the players Power attribute [*] Heat cost on all dodge abilities has been reduced [*] The tick rate for HEAT in the danger zone has been reduced[/list][/list][list] [*] Hold time to activate the Ultimate ability has been reduced [*] Hold time to activate the Empowered Melee strike has been reduced [*] Player run speed and boost speed has been increased in ground missions [*] Ability cooldown rates have been recalculated based on the new base attributes for all mech classes [*] Perks have been rebalanced to avoid dramatic value increases and make gear choices feel more important [/list][h3]Assault[/h3] [list] [*] Heat costs on all abilities have been reduced [*] The base attributes for the assault have been rebalanced [*] The duration on the Assault ultimate ability has been increased from 5 seconds to 15 seconds [*] The damage, duration and tick rate of the Assault corrosion missile has been increased [/list][h3]Buster[/h3] [list] [*] Heat costs on all abilities have been reduced [*] The base attributes for the assault have been rebalanced [*] Buster missiles have had another polish pass to improve their targeting angles and range [/list][h3]Breacher[/h3] [list] [*] Heat costs on all abilities have been reduced [*] The base attributes for the assault have been rebalanced [*] The duration of the Breachers Ultimate shield has been reduced, but the amount of damage it deals on expiry has increased. [*] The breacher missile has undergone an update, which has [/list][list][list] [*] Increased its attraction range [*] Added lazy homing to the missile [*] Allowed for damage on a direct hit of the missile [/list][/list][h3]Lancer[/h3] [list] [*] Heat costs on all abilities have been reduced [*] The base attributes for the assault have been rebalanced [/list][h3]Fixes & Improvements:[/h3] [list] [*] Overall polish across the UI/UX of the game [*] Fixed an issue where the mech would “fidget” while aiming during a ground mission, leading to constant SFX being spammed as the mech attempted to settle. [*] Fixed an issue where players were prevented from logging in to the game if they had too many items in their inventory [*] Fixed an issue with NPC Drones becoming stuck on level assets [/list][h3]Known Issues:[/h3] [list] [*] With the addition of separate Avatar/Mecha XP value displays, there is a specific combination that will show you as getting +0xp for your Mecha. This is just an issue with the HUD display and you are still getting the correct XP values. [/list]