We hope you have finally gotten rid of your dried-up Christmas trees and packed away your winter clothes, as March is upon us! Despite the weather being highly indecisive, for Steel Hunters, this season means one thing—a big spring clean. Previously, we mentioned in our Rewind 2023 video that we're planning another major Milestone playtest sometime during Q2 this year with a much longer session duration and an influx of new players from around the world. Based on the results of the major tests we conducted last year (three, to be exact), we compiled a list of areas in the game that required polishing, reworking, or fixing before we hit the masses yet again. Version 0.32 contains the bulk of aforementioned changes, and big ones at that: improved gunplay, a fully "refurbished" Hunter leveling system, reimagined gear, game mode quality of life additions—you name it! Without further ado, let's get to the meat of this recap. [h2]Less Is More[/h2] When you first boot up the game, you'll definitely notice something missing, or rather someone. Our Hunter roster has shrunk: we're short of Fenris, Trenchwalker, Razor Old Guard, and Fletcher—but this change has a good reason behind it. Similar to the 0.18 update (a gracious fedora tip to our veterans who might remember this moment), we've implemented a new Hunter leveling system that includes Mods and Systems that you know well, but adds a skill tree and new upgrading elements. Right now, Hunter upgrading works as follows: the remaining six Hunters have four Systems, and each has its own skill tree. By leveling your Hunter, you gain System Points that are used to unlock skill tree nodes. There are three different types of nodes to unlock: the Mod effect itself, Stat Upgrades, and New Mod Effect upgrades. All of them cost 1 Skill Point and various sums of Credits (you can find more details about the costs in the Changelog). To match the changes in the unlockable elements, prices and rewards for various activities have been adjusted accordingly. As can easily be derived from its name, by progressing through the skill tree, you can unlock new nodes consecutively, sometimes having to choose which upgrade out of two to unlock first. [previewyoutube=dtgFIBqZx_4;full][/previewyoutube] Developing new trees for each System (24 trees in general with 90 nodes for each Hunter) with careful calculation of additional stat upgrades and unlocking sequences takes a lot of design effort and time, which explains why it's impossible to convert the entire roster all at once. Fret not: we'll be gradually adding back all your favorite buddies as we work on them. The next one to return in the update after this one is Fletcher, as the youngest of all Hunters. The logical changes to the leveling and progression also mean that we're nearing another wipe. While you get to keep all your earned event Skins for the remaining six Hunters, you might notice new tips and improved flow of onboarding. We hope that with your trained eye, you'll be able to give us comprehensive feedback on everything above and beyond. [h2]Run and Gun[/h2] Addressing the existing issues with shooting is also on the list for this update. Gunfighting must feel good, rewarding, and skill-based. Just imagine the frustration when you perfectly line up a shot... and it does not register, damage isn't inflicted, bullets are wasted. Not the best experience in a shooter game. Armed with your feedback, we started working on the new weapon system. You might not see it, as it's a technical thing, but you'll definitely feel it. Like the previous feature, this gunfight improvement will be rolled out gradually, addressing different Hunters with their own respective weapon types, magazine sizes, shooting modes, and zooms one by one. The first ones to benefit from the improvement are Razorside, Heartbreaker, and Weaver, so pay closer attention to those three—we want to hear your feedback! Another visible change lies in the art of movement: we want you to perceive our Hunters as gigantic, up to 8-meter-tall steel war machines. They are big, deadly, and heavy. But effortlessly frolicking through the Maryland Heights fields and turning on the spot in a matter of a second doesn't convey the weight (have you ever seen construction cranes swinging around at the speed of light?). We've changed both the camera positions and the transitions between different movement states. In addition to both of these aspects, we've also added acceleration and deceleration curves to each Hunter to increase the sensation of weight. [previewyoutube=dcHXPwiOJvc;full][/previewyoutube] If you're curious about the subject, then the upcoming Forge articles on [url=https://steelhunters.com/blogs/entry/187-the-forge-hunter-movement/]Hunter Movement[/url] and [url=https://steelhunters.com/blogs/entry/191-the-forge-gunplay/]Gunfighting[/url] will provide more details. [h2]How to Be a Good Sport[/h2] No one likes being left alone in the middle of the match. Previously, abandoning your real Squadmate was not a punishable crime, and if such behavior was annoying in that situation, it could have led to even more unfavorable consequences down the line. Hence the introduction of the Sportsmanship system. Disclaimer: This is just a first iteration with most of the technical stuff done, and the feature will be built upon and tweaked in future updates. So, how does it all work? All of us start with the shiny maximum rating of 100 points, which also grants a boost to XP earned in the match. When someone decides to ditch their partner during a match by becoming AFK, they lose a certain number of points. The same happens upon disconnecting from or closing the game. While one or two misdemeanors will simply lead to the loss of the bonus, repeated violations will inflict an XP penalty at first, leading to more severe punishment the more you sin misbehave. New day—new you? If you want to step on the path of redemption, each day grants you 15 sportsmanship points (but you'll never have more than 100). Note that your rating will be visible to your eyes only. [h2]Gearing Up[/h2] Previously, the Gear system was just a pleasant rudimentary bonus to the Hunter build and didn't receive much attention. But we see it as an important strategic component of the game: apart from the choices about skill tree nodes, you must be able to decide the best Gear customization for the Hunter of your choice and specific battling style. We've reworked and deepened this feature for you to test out this update. First of all, Hunters have four Gear slots with only two available for now: one attack and one defense Gear type (the Skin selection section has been moved to the "Customize" window). Gear types reflect stat bonuses and effects provided by each piece. Along with the bonus quality, each Gear piece has a certain rarity, tier, and level. Whereas rarity and tiers as characteristics are a given, levels can be upgraded to increase stats themselves. Rarity reflects the base value of the stats provided, and the number of bonus effects is regulated by the tier. To make things a bit easier, let me give an example: [previewyoutube=IJC-7KUNRG8;full][/previewyoutube] [h2]Follow-Up on Battle Tasks[/h2] In the last version, we introduced two new types of battle tasks designed to enter the rotation with the Legendary Key quest—Bounty Hunter and Tag Hunt. Both additions were positively received by you with the preference given toward the latter, but the work was far from done. This update will bring more clarity on the interaction of different parties during matches. We recognize that some of the rules in the Bounty Hunter task involve the battling pair, but everyone else is also added into the fray, so their participation is now more regulated. TLDR: You'll get the task to eliminate either the bounty hunter or their victim, but you won't see any marker. Only the timer will be visible to outsiders, but it's still worth trying to find the target, especially when you get a reward upon settling the scores with either side (lesser than the battling pair, but still good). Another piece of advice: don't let the world crush you—in case of your premature demise due to any environmental object (Orbital Drops or Supply Pods), your bounty status will be transferred to your teammate. You don't want your pal to carry your burden, right? Right?! Tag Hunt changes mostly revolve around the small loopholes in Soldier Tag collection with different elimination scenarios, but the biggest difference is the contents of the on-demand Supply Pods for Tags. We've greatly diversified the variants of loot you can get, so each time will feel like a small surprise for you. More detailed information on Tag Hunt changes and drop percentages can be found in our Changelog. [h2]Conclusion[/h2] This Update Recap might seem exceptionally long, but it's not even the full list of everything introduced in Version 0.32. It's very fulfilling to deliver so much news on so many changes, but the task is far from over on both sides. What we want now is your attentive participation in the upcoming sessions, careful assessment of the features in question, and elaborate analytical feedback. This time, it's even more important. So, free up your weekend, roll up your sleeves, and prepare to descend on the Arena with us!