New Battleborn Update Adds Three New Maps, In-Game Reporting, Broadcaster Tools

Gearbox has detailed the latest Battleborn update, which will be available later today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

The biggest highlights are the addition of three new competitive multiplayer maps, in-game reporting, and Broadcaster Tools.

With in-game reporting, you’re able to flag players either for cheating, being frequently idle, or using abusive language/behavior. Here’s how it works:

Reporting in Battleborn is very simple: while in a game, use the Scoreboard to highlight a player’s name and choose the type of behavior you wish to report for that player.

Step-by-step:

1. While in any Campaign or Competitive game with other players, open the Scoreboard.
2. Using the mouse, up and down arrow keys, or the right control stick of a controller, select the player you wish to report. Once selected, a new window will appear.
3. Choose the “Report Player” option.
4. Once you elect to report the player, three offenses can be chosen: Cheating, Frequently Idle, Abusive Behavior/Language​

No confirmation of this report is sent to either the reporter or the reported player. Additionally, players can only be reported once per session, and attempting to do so again will result in the Report Player option unavailable.

For the Broadcaster Tools, Versus Private Matches now allow up to two added players to join a new third team, labeled Spectator. Technical Director Neil Johnson adds:

During the match, these players can spectate the battlefield using a set of third-person camera controls to follow players on either team or to move freely around the battlefield. On the PC, keyboard hotkeys allow for quick-jumping to players and to fixed points of interest. Of course, PS4 and Xbox also support Broadcaster Mode, and we think you’ll find the camera controls just as easy to use on those platforms.

And here’s a look at some of the patch notes for today’s Battleborn update.

New Content

• 5 new taunt customizations
• 3 new Versus maps (Monuments, Outskirts, and Snowblind)

Characters

• The Wound debuff has been modified
• Wound now reduces healing, health regeneration and lifesteal received by 60%
• Wounded targets now have a unique third person visual effect to indicate that they will receive reduced healing
• All characters now have diminishing returns on the push of their quick melee attacks
• Consecutive quick melee attacks push enemies shorter distances. This effect resets after a short amount of time
• All Bots now sprint more frequently

Campaign

• HUD elements no longer overlap when killed immediately after being revived

The Saboteur

• Various changes were made to improve performance on The Saboteur
• Reduced the number of dynamic lights in The Saboteur
• Improved mesh culling at extreme distances in The Saboteur
• Reduced the performance impact of loot containers on The Saboteur
• Reduced the performance impact of all exploding shard barrels in The Saboteur
• Fixed several issues that allowed players to skip objectives in The Saboteur
• Fixed several issues that prevented certain skills from being useable when at certain areas
• Thrall Shift Supervisor Varl now always leaves the Control Room
• Fixed an issue with enemy pathing at the Foundry
• Replaced a trap buildable with a turret buildable at the Reactor Facility
• Fixed an issue with players becoming trapped in certain area of the map
• Fixed a text issue with the “Pulverize” map challenge
• Fixed a typographical error in one of the objective descriptions

Performance

• Reduced the performance impact of the directional damage indicator arrows

Quality Of Life

• Player Alerts should function normally, allowing players to Ping consistently
• Fixed a rare issue that caused players to not receive Legendary gear as challenge rewards. Missing gear will be retroactively rewarded after completing a game as the affected character
• Players no longer receive challenge progress, EC, or XP if they are not connected to the server when a game ends
• “Num Lock” is no longer a rebindable key (PC)
• Fixed an issue that caused players to face the incorrect direction when respawning
• Players will no longer appear to vote for a map multiple times
• Fixed Average Player Score tie-breaker results
• Added an achievement for Alani
• Skins apply correctly in the Command Menu
• Fixed an issue when selling duplicate pieces of gear
• Fixed text displayed when a minion kills an enemy sentry
• Locked characters will no longer appear unlocked in the Command Menu
• Fixed an issue where the incorrect information is displayed in the command menu after unlocking a character
• SHiFT codes will no longer appear to fail on the first try
• Fixed an issue with “My Rewards” not functioning properly after signing in to SHiFT
• Battleborn Support ID has been renamed to Battleborn Profile ID

Match Making

• Fixed an issue where the wrong map experiences appeared on the Map vote screen
• Made a change to reduce queue times for users with exceptionally high or low Elo ratings
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause players to lose the ability to exit matchmaking properly

For a complete list of all the character changes and gear changes, head over here. You can also follow the links for more details on in-game reporting and Broadcaster Tools.

Gearbox has lots of DLC planned for Battleborn, with the paid content expected to run through this winter.

[Source: Battleborn (1), (2), (3), (4)]