FEBRUARY 2022 UPDATE

[February 11, 2021] Developer Update:

Hi everyone! Earlier this week we pushed out our February 2022 Update and it has been noted that there are some undocumented changes made that were not stated in our patch notes in threads such as this one. With the number of changes that go in everyday during development, speculative fixes or changes can sometimes get overlooked as we prepare our patch notes.

• At this time, we are able to provide more information on the following changes:
  • Sound of Thunder: now an Ogre spawns on Recruit, and two Ogres on Nightmare.
    • This is intended and should have been included in our patch notes as a balance update.
  • Body Dump: Though stated in notes that T-5 crates will be open, they are not open on Nightmare.
    • Patch notes indicated that “T5 Grenade crates are now open by default” and we will be amending this. Intended behavior is that T5 Grenade crates are now open by default in Recruit & Veteran mode. T5 Grenade crates are still closed in Nightmare mode. 
  • Exploit Fix: you can no longer jump the fence using the minigun on Hell’s Bells.
    • This was included in the patch notes, but admittedly was too specific: “Adjusted the collision of the minigun to be more narrow, preventing issues where the minigun could block doorways.” 
  • Exploit Fix: waiting through the timer when you join a round will no longer give you an extra card (four in Swarm). 
    • Confirming this was a fix and not a bug, but was not included in our patch notes. 
  • General: mutations are spawning more often. 
    • This is not intended and we’re currently investigating.
  • Bug: Antibiotic Ointment is bugged so the temp health only triggers once per level. 
    • We are aware of this bug. You can track the Trello card for it [here].
  • Bug: Silver Bullets now says 7.5% bullet damage on the card vs. the 10% previously.
    • Reports from players experiencing both values are currently being investigated.
  • Burn Card change: only one Hell Can Wait can be picked teamwide during the card picking phase. 
    • This was not an intended change; we are actively discussing how to resolve this issue. 
  • Other: Game stats are accessible again. 
    • Correct. This should have been in the patch notes. The card moved from “in testing” to “released/live” yesterday on our Trello board. Please note that the website https://b4bstats.mazz.lol/ is available for PC players to track ZWAT progress, among other things. From our understanding, this website does not currently support console players. 
  • Ridden are no longer dealing damage to alarmed doors from sensing players on the other side, but they can if there is an active horde.
    • This change is intended, but was not meant to be pushed out for this update. The following statement can be found in our official Discord:
      “We know that alarmed doors are a pain point for players. So we created a card that would have made them easier to deal with. Unfortunately, that card was pushed to the next update and the change that we made remained in the build.”

We’ll be editing this post with updates in regards to other issues if/when we have them. We’d like to thank you for your patience and feedback during this time.

New Features

• Streamer Mode
  • Players now have access to an audio option that disables copyrighted music in the game.
• Stay Together
  • Ungrouped players can vote to "stay together" at the end of a run when they would have otherwise been split up.
• Walker's Ability Reworked
  • Added Incoming! which functions like Marked for Death.
    • Lowers the marked target's damage dealt.  
    • Accuracy on precision kills removed.
• Increased the limit of decks allowed in the Deck Manager to 16 for each mode, previously 8.
• Players now earn Supply Points after failing a mission.
• Added two new tutorial tips in the card draw overlay explaining catch up draws that get granted to players.
• Notable Bug Fixes
  • Fixed an issue that caused weapon fire rates to not always be accurate.
  • Fixed campaign objective items being dropped on use.
  • Fixed an issue where muted players were not being unmuted if the player toggled "Unmute All" before loading into the game.

Campaign Updates

• General
  • Players can now interrupt firing by reloading.
  • T5 Grenade crates are now open by default.
  • Shotgun ammo pickups from crates increased to 60 ammo from 25.
  • Rifle ammo pickups from crates increased to 120 ammo from 100.
  • Players are now able to hit the Breaker's weakspots with melee weapons.
  • Global difficulty damage increases no longer affect Friendly Fire damage.
  • Quickplay no longer queues players into finale maps.
    
• General Card Updates
  • Developer Note: The following changes make slow and steady combat more viable. 
    • Evasive Action refactored to Defensive Maneuver.
      • Attacks over 15 damage apply 25% damage resistance for 3 seconds.
    • On Your Marks 
      • Instantly gives 15% of max ammo and 10% movement speed while firing.
      • +25% reload and +25% weapon swap for 30 seconds on horde trigger.
      • No longer gives team speed 15% for 30 seconds at saferoom.
    • Amped Up
      • No longer gives temporary health when leaving the saferoom.
      • Now gives team 25 temporary health any time a horde is triggered.
    • Shooting Gloves refactored.
      • +25% swap (unchanged).
      • Added 15% recoil control.
      • Added 15% accuracy.
    • Front Sight Focus refactored.
      • +20% Accuracy (unchanged).
      • Added 10% weakspot damage.
      • Added 15% Aim speed.
  • Mom's revive now fully heals target.
  • Hoffman's ability now includes a 1% chance to find offensive items on any kill and team ammo is increased to 15% from 10%.
  • Admin Reload - No longer has a trade off.
  • Ammo for All - Added stats 1% team damage.
  • Ammo Pouch
    • Added 2.5% bullet damage.
    • Added 25% Ammo Capacity.
  • Ammo Belt
    • Added 15% reload.
    • Added 50% Ammo Capacity.
    • No longer has a trade-off.
  • Grenade Pouch
    • Added 25% Swap Speed.
    • Increases Offensive Slot by 1.
  • Double Grenade Pouch 
    • Increases Offensive Slot by 2.
    • No longer reduces damage by 10%.
    • Now slows movement by 5%.
  • Belt Clip
    • Added 10% Use Speed.
    • Increases Quick Slot by 1.
  • Utility Belt Clip
    • Increases Quick Slot by 2.
    • No longer reduces damage by 10%.
    • Now slows movement by 5.
  • Shoulder Bag
    • Increases Support Slot by 2.*
      • There was a typo. Sorry, for the confusion.
    • No longer reduces damage by 10%.
    • Now slows movement by 5%.
  • Mandatory PT
    • Stamina reduced to 10% from 15%.
    • Stamina regen +10%.
  • Hellfire - Decreased movement speed to 3% from 5%.
  • Stamina - Now gives a flat 10 stamina instead of 10%.
  • Compound Interest
    • Updated to affect the whole team.
    • Reduced to 5% from 10%.
    • Developer Note: Rather than obligating the Cleaner using this card to drop their Copper for the team, we wanted the whole team to benefit from the card.
  • Battle Lust - Now benefits from healing efficiency.
  • Face Your Fears - Trigger range increased to 2.5 meters from 2 meters.
  • Utility Scavenger - Barbed Wire now properly gets highlighted with this card, instead of Offensive Scavenger.
  • Stimulants - Duration increased to 60 seconds from 30 seconds.
  • Optics Enthusiast - No longer reduces stamina efficiency.
  • Trigger Control - Added accuracy on precision kills.
    • Developer Note: We really enjoy Walker's ability and refactored Trigger Control to be similar.
  • Wooden Armor
    • Trauma resistance decreased to 30% from 40%.
    • No longer increases Acid damage by 100%.
    • Developer Note: We made these changes in the spirit of eventually making this card viable.
  • Body Armor
    • Trauma resistance decreased to 20% from 25%.
    • No longer has a trade-off.
  • Overwatch - Distance increased to 15 meters from 10.
    
• Healing Card Updates
  • Antibiotic Ointment
    • Increased Healing Efficiency to 25% from 20%.
    • Now gives an additional 10 temp health to targets any time you heal with an item or ability.
  • EMT Bag
    • Increased Healing Efficiency to 50% from 40%.
    • No longer reduces stamina efficiency.
  • Field Surgeon
    • Targets Heal 3 trauma any time a Medical Accessory is used.
    • No longer gives healing efficiency.
    • No longer has a trade-off.
  • Medical Expert
    • Targets Heal 1 trauma any time a Medical Accessory is used.
    • Added 50% revive speed.
    • Added 15% team healing efficiency.
  • Fanny Pack
    • Added 15% Trauma Resist.
    • Increases Support slot by 1.
  • Fresh Bandage - Returned to full health after trauma heal.
    
• Corruption Card Updates
  • Toxic Spill - Temp health per kill reduced to 3 from 5.
    
• Balance Updates
  • Developer Note: We tuned many of the weapons taking the following into consideration:
    • We felt certain weapon qualities weren't scaling well enough and other weapons were scaling too quickly.  
    • Tuning needed to take into account the bug fix for weapon fire rates.
  • Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • AA12 Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • AK47 changes:
    • Aim down sights spread increased to 0.70 from 0.29.
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 2000/2500/2750 from 1750/2250/2500.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • Barret changes:
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 2250/2750/3000 from 1750/2500/3250.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • Belgian changes:
    • Reload time decreased to 1.6 from 2.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • Desert Eagle Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • M4 changes:
    • Damage increased to 11 from 10.
    • Damage falloff rescale to 1750/2250/2500 from 1500/1750/2500.
    • Magazine size increased to 30 from 25.
  • M16 changes:
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 1750/2250/2500 from 1500/1750/2500.
    • Reduced burst delay to .2  from .25.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • M1A changes:
    • Recoil Pitch reduced to 25 from 35.
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 2000/2500/3000 from 1500/2250/3000.
  • M249 changes:
    • Damage increased to 14 from 13.
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 1750/2250/2500 from 1500/2000/2500.
  • M9 - Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • M9 Burst changes:
    • Reduced burst delay to 0.225 from 0.3.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • MP5 changes:
    • Fire Rate increased to 0.07.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • Phoenix changes:
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 2250/2750/3000 from 1750/2500/3250.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • Ranch Rifle changes:
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 1750/2250/2750 from 1250/2000/2750.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • RPK Damage falloff rescaled to 2000/2500/2750 from 1750/2250/2750.
  • SCAR changes:
    • Aim down sights spread increased to 0.94 from 0.29.
    • Reload speed increased to 1.88 from 1.75.
    • Damage falloff rescaled to 2000/2500/2750 from 1750/2250/2500.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • Super 90 Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • TAC14 Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • Tec9 changes:
    • Developer Note: Tec9 was overtuned to almost be like a primary weapon, so we needed to bring it back in line with other Secondary Weapons.
    • Reload speed increased to 2.47 from 2.25.
    • Minimum hip fire spread increased to 5 from 4.
    • Spread add increased to 4.2 from 3.9.
    • Recoil yaw and pitch increased to 12 from 10.
    • Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
  • UMP 45 Weapon damage scaling per quality decreased to 18.5% from 20%.
  • Uzi Weapon damage scaling per quality increased by 11.5% from 10%.
    
• Spawning Updates
  • Wandering Specials now have a 12 to 18 second exit cooldown. 
    
• Bot Updates
  • Bot positioning has been updated to prioritize player line of sight.
    
• Ridden AI Updates
  • Car alarms are no longer triggered by Charred Ridden.
  • Reeker melee damage reduced to 8 from 15.
    
• Remnants: The Road to Hell
  • The Ogre can no longer spawn in this mission.
    
• Remnants: The Body Dump
  • T5 grenade cases now can spawn in more locations.

Swarm PvP Updates

• General
  • Added new VFX to Ridden.
    
• Balance Updates
  • Cleaners now begin each round with full ammo in Swarm mode.
  • Reduced Tallboy's health to 600 from 625.
  • Reduced Tallboy's overhead damage radius to 140 from 160.
  • Tallboy's stun resistance mutation now limits stun time to 2.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds.
  • Removed the ramp-up time for the vomit ability to reach full velocity for Retch players.
  • Hocker's projectile speed reduced to 2000 from 2500.

Controller Updates

• Player strafe, forward, and backward movement speeds are now more consistent between Keyboard & Mouse and Controller.

Supply Line Updates

• New Sprays are now available in Supply Lines.
• ZWAT emblem is now available in Roving Merchants Supply Lines.

Accessibility Updates

• Text to Speech is now implemented for Tooltips.

UI/UX Updates

• Added tooltips for most options to better explain a given option's functionality.
• Icons for buffs given by a card now display on the card as well as the in-game HUD.
• Added a menu option called "Cinematics Subtitles" to disable subtitles during cutscenes.
• Card tooltips now appear during card selection.
• More detailed messaging displays when a player gets kicked from the server.

Bug Fixes

• Matchmaking
  • Fixed an issue that caused users to disconnect from the server after joining a friend's game from another player's Fort Hope.
    
• Fort Hope
  • General
    • Auto Glock 23 correctly reverts to the default skin.
    • Fixed an issue with "glowing" hair while using certain character skins.
      
• Campaign
  • Cards
    • Fixed an issue where some player cards were being applied twice on level transition.
    • Fixed an issue where late-joining players would retain Combat Knives and other character abilities after taking over a bot and switching to a new character.
    • Doc's passive is now affected by Group Therapy's healing efficiency.
    • All Burn Cards with "Trauma" now display the Trauma tooltip.
    • Karlee's ability no longer highlights police cars that already had their alarm triggered.
    • Players with ammo buff cards active now start their first map with full ammo.
    • Healing values on medical accessory tooltips reflect the correct increase (50%) when the EMT Bag card is active.
    • Fixed an issue where Burn Cards would persist after a team wipe.
    • Fixed an issue where Power Swap activated when the conditions were not met.
    • Fixed an issue with Doc and Mom's abilities not working after a team wipe.
    • Fixed an issue for players taking over a slot that had played a Burn Card potentially being charged for that card.
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Glass Cannon from applying to Weakspots.
  • General
    • Act Achievements / Accomplishments now unlock immediately after completing an Act's finale.
    • Upgrades purchased in the Vendor now persist after level transitions when a player who joined via Quickplay leaves the game.
    • Vendors no longer display duplicates of attachments / weapons.
    • Resolved an issue that caused players to gain trauma damage after a team wipe.
    • Fixed an issue where players could free teammates from Rescue Pods without facing them.
    • Players are now properly positioned when rescuing teammates in Rescue Pods from the side.
    • Fixed an issue where players could use the First Aid Cabinet while not facing the correct direction.
    • Fixed an issue where players could use the First Aid Cabinet while at full health.
    • Fixed pings not going through the doorframe of open Prepper Stash doors.
    • Fixed an issue causing players not being able to reload or fire after being revived.
    • Cleaners will no longer say their boss fleeing lines when the Hag is fleeing with a devoured teammate.
    • Adjusted the collision of the minigun to be more narrow, preventing issues where the minigun could block doorways.
    • Fixed an issue that prevented players from picking up items that were dropped near certain NPCs.
    • Fixed Cleaners saying their mission blocked lines when they were no longer blocked.
    • Fixed an issue causing Horde timers to reset after a Rescue Pod spawns on the map.
    • Fixed an issue on the Failed resolution screen where the map would not reset properly when the host left after a team wipe.
    • Blood and gore effects from melee hits now display properly in third person.
    • Fixed an issue causing the interaction prompt on secret skull trophies to not appear after late joining a match.
  • Weapons
    • Reserve ammo count no longer underflows if the user has -100% ammo capacity.
    • Fixed an issue where the automatic reload animation would not play when using the Phoenix Rifle.
    • Fixed an issue that caused the reload animation to not play with sniper rifles when the last shot is fired using aim-down-sights.
  • Fixed an issue where the "No Ammo" sound effect could play repeatedly while shooting with Full Auto on for all weapons.
  • Fixed an issue where the Combat Knife's second swing hitbox did not match its first swing.

• Swarm PvP
  • The leaver penalty now refreshes properly when disconnecting from PvP Swarm Mode.
  • Karlee's "Danger Sense" ability now highlights police cars.
  • Ridden
    • Ridden players can no longer see out of bounds at specific locations on Search and Rescue: A Clean Sweep.
    • Ridden can no longer become stuck inside the gymnasium on Remnants: Making the Grade.
    • Hocker can no longer interrupt her melee with the throw ability.
    • Tallboys and variants can no longer spawn underneath the saferoom and become stuck on The Devil's Return: Resurgence.
    • The Retch's reticle will now properly align with where acid pools are predicted to land.
      
• Supply Lines
  • Checklist emblem was unintentionally unlocked by default. It is now locked by default if the player has not already met the criteria for it.
    
• Controllers
  • PS5 trigger effects now play on the proper trigger.
  • Fixed an issue on PS5 controllers where Adaptive Triggers that were turned off would turn on again after loading into a map.
    
• Accessibility
  • Fixed Text To Speech not playing for some Options dropdowns.
  • Text-to-speech is no longer always enabled in the sign-in menu after changing the console's language.
  • Text-to-Speech now properly reads the practice options for Ridden in Fort Hope.
    
• UI/UX
  • Console players can now change their output speaker configuration.
  • Difficulty descriptions on the Matchmaking screen now update properly when swapping between Campaign and Quickplay.
  • Personalization screens now highlight the items the player has equipped (emblems/sprays/badges).
  • Players can now skip cutscenes that began while the user had the chat box open.
  • Fixed the placement of the "Hold F to Skip" button on widescreen resolutions.
  • Fixed an issue where the player could become temporarily unable to enter the Social menu after opening up and closing Preferences section on the Campaign screen.
  • Friends on the Xbox Friends List will no longer disappear from the list after entering a multiplayer session with another friend.
  • The card selection outline no longer disappears when the player toggles over burn cards in the card selection menu.
  • Fixed various gradient issues on card selection and post-round for nonstandard resolutions.
  • Damage numbers shown by the Knowledge Is Power card no longer appear in cinematics.
  • Shared card effects now display properly for Burn Cards tooltip prompts.
  • Active cards no longer overlap when pressing the O or B buttons while Corruption cards are being drawn.
  • "Player joined game" messaging no longer appears erroneously while transitioning between maps.
  • Weapons will now stop firing while players are in menus.
  • Fixed an issue where the Mission Difficulty could overlap the tutorial video for Campaigns in Fort Hope.
  • Fixed an issue where the button for Swarm PVP could become inactive after accessing the Campaign menu.
  • Fixed an issue where the vibration option tooltip was showing incorrect text.
    
• PlayStation Platforms
  • Fixed an issue causing duplicate Player Profile save data files on PS4 and PS5.
  • Fixed an issue where Ridden could stretch while approaching players on PS4.
  • Fixed bugs related to Offline/Online mode selection and starting a PS5 activity.
    
• PC Platforms
  • Fixed frame rate drop and hitching when the player is pinned by a Hocker for the first time on Epic graphics settings.
    
• Epic Platform
  • Players can proceed past the sign-in screen when launching the title without an internet connection.

To view all patch notes click here (Latest News - Back 4 Blood).

If you find a bug, please report it here (https://bugs.back4blood.com/).