Patch notes for 23rd June

There are some real entitled 1 v 1 players all up in this thread. While this patch has many positive balancing changes it would appear that no direct effort went into addressing identified/long standing large game mode concerns. I suspect this patch will do nothing to close the gaps of A) Allied vs Axis search ratio and B) W/L ratio between Allied vs Axis. Time will tell.

While it is easy to be a keyboard cowboy and write off this game mode as 'l2p scrubs' lets acknowledge that it is the most played game mode by a large margin. 8 paying customers are in that match at once. Additionally, I suspect there is a high amount of new player churn in the larger game modes. It would be nice if we could get a metric of players who try that large game mode once and never again after. Reduced player base is bad for business.

With whatever energy I have remaining I'll be advocating for change.

....in game clan support wouldn't be a bad thing either.

In lighter news anybody else excited about more modding options? This will make custom games a hoot.

I guess allies will have to only use Jacksons in team games to deal with multiple panthers and KT's


also, Relic hasnt been that great on consistency except for making sure Soviets have no good vet abilities

Why the hell did the 81mm mortar loose precision shot? it was already challenging enough to get kills with it.

I actually think this will shake up axis meta in 2v2 and to a lesser extent in 1v1. I don't think the su76 buff will be enough to make it common. And while I don't like 85 spam I'm not going to fault soviet players for using the most effective tools given to them. Same reason I don't fault CAS players. Skill or no skill winning is more fun than losing

Here’s a quick breakdown of how we are working to achieve these two goals:

Increase the Number of Viable Strategies in the Game
Make core tech tree units more desirable
Increase the viability of light vehicle combat.
Promote and Encourage Combined Arms

• http://community.companyofheroes.com/forum/company-of-heroes-2/company-of-heroes-2-general-discussion/67-coh-2-changelog/page5

• This weapon drop rates were set way higher than other weapons; basically setting the drop rate in line with other weapons. The Guard Troops carry a lot of droppable weapons so they always seem to drop a lot more weapons than any other Infantry squads. We’ve decided to reduce the drop rate to compensate for this.
  Drop rate of PTRS at rifle and DP-28 LMG to from 33% to 10%
  
• T-34/85s untouched

More incentive than ever to use Guard spam into 85s now that Tigers are limited to 1 per player and ptrs/dp-28s are harder to drop.

Where is the real change we have all been waiting months for.

Have you ever played top tier 1v1 and 2v2? In my experience, especially in 2v2, usually we end up with 4-6 85s per opponent. Now dbl that and expect 8-12(considering unit preservation) 85s rushing you with only 4 paks/couple stugs/maybe a tiger. Now watch mark target insta-wreck your tigers and stugs. Then watch as the horde of guards/85s wipe all your at-guns. With a lucky 120mm shell as well. You're gonna be in for one hell of a patch imo. Cpt. Molo will be leading the charge.


Everyone's reaction to watching 85s stream roll into their HQ every game they play:
Show Spoiler

You can lay some mines around you HQ!

You can lay some mines around you HQ!

Sweepers in an m3. RIP Mines.
Dbl sweepers+horde of 85s+horde of guards=Profit.

T34/85 untouched, 120mm still awfully strong.

I didn't play Axis for a month because I waited for that stubbish Guard Motor Meta to change.
Seems like it will be more time.

I dont see what all the fuss is about. This is a good patch imo and will definitely help out from seeing the constant IS-2's and Tigers doctrines picked. It will actually encourage players to build other units in their army.

T-34/85 SPAM IS GOING TO BE EVERYWHERE.

I knew that since the second I saw the leaked patch notes. It's logical. What I don't understand is why they are fixing just heavies instead all call-ins

Nitpicking at its best, no, i swear there couldnt be a patch where it was this bad.

PTRS and DP-28 drop rate to 10% from 33%.

Oh man. So ridiculous. Now Guards are 2000% more viable. Ultra Guards and Guard Motor Buff. Relic plz.

....

Seriously? Shameful. Thats like Jackson having 0.5 faster turret rotation - the smallest change a patch could bring. All other changes irrelevant. Like... No one who wasnt planning to make a million Guards already would be affected by it. The drop rate was merely an annoyance as having 4 weapons to drop 1/3rd of the time a model dies was pretty darn annoying.

But why focus on this? Why do i expect maturity? Why did i even bother writing this...

And Guards Motor isnt any more viable as it is at this very moment - please stop acting as if it something completely new and 9001 times more powerful - at the very least you can expect your opponent to use it 95% of the time. People just like using the easiest way to win. I wont play because of this because playerbase acts as if only one soviet commander is viable to win... And playing the same game over again isnt fun for anyone one all sides. When ISU was properly adjusted, i swear, a million complaints about IS-2's dominating the world wasnt THIS bad... How many times has ISU been seen now it is balanced... Heh. Guards Motor is ass gameplay, i think everyone gets it already...

But seriously, my eyes and ears... Maybe Relic purposely does this to punish the community for being what it is.

Crappy meta is half the reason why i havent played the Live version for over a month, but still... (Still watch all the tournaments, though)

I literally havent used Guards Motor for a pretty long time because Soviets are simply... Not a real faction at the moment... Wish i could still play Alpha patch.

because youll probably be able to beat a soviet player that does the very one sided strat and you execute your strategy properly. you actually are rewarded for playing well in this game.

Except thats not always the case.

You can play and micro your ass off,squads will still disapear to various soviet causes.
. you can be equipped with the most unique well thought out winning strat ever....the callins will still come at 10ish CP and cause high blood pressure, unless you were literally destroying them before then. EVEN THEN,you can be destroying the soviets fucking base,wiping units...but oh look,convenient arrival Callins have arrived to turn the game around.
Ive seen it at least 5 times in past month.

no matter how little effort the soviet put into his "strategy" and micro.
They ALWAYS have a stupidly good chance to win when they simply pick Guard Motor or shock rifle,and dont get destroyed before 8 CP.

Meanwhile as Axis,You will have to fight for your life for however long, while soviet faps to pictures of stalin with one hand, while a-moving your base with 6 85's with the other.

Did you read the part where they are able to get flares?? Meanwhile Ost mortar has counter barrage...
Besides, Soviet mortar is far more accurate than Ost mortar. Squad wipe precision strike was broken honestly. This is just one of many squad wipe options gone for the soviets.

Oh yeah, flares is soooooo useful ability, sov mortar more accuracy than OST? Oh, very funny joke. I can understand why they nerfed ability of 120 mortar, but why 82mm? Precision strike was the only good thing in this unit. And yeah, how sov mortars will counter OST mortar without thier ability, but OST have thier counter strike and sov have only FLARES.

I wouldn't mind the Germans getting more base rape options. All they have now is Walking Stuka and Luchs.

1 tiger, rest panthers will deal with the T34/85s. Unfortunatly there is no reduced tech amounts for ostheer...

One poll shows that in 1v1 Soviets are thought as being the most powerful faction by 70% of players. The problem is pointed out as Guard Motor T34/85 call ins and Guards.

My take on this current patch is that now Wehr and OKW are really screwed, as Soviet players can still spam 85s like always. But, now Wehr is limited to 1 tiger at a time. In essence, Soviets don't have to ever build any buildings and can spam 85s as they are not a heavy tank. Nice fix!

The game was getting boring before but it is fixing to get real stale with this fix. Soviets - why do anything now but Guard Motor as you can spam 4 or more T34/85s at a time. Wehr - WTF do you do? Spam paks? Forget about competing armor wise.

Only masochists will play axis now.

Lol, you can spam panthers, they are not heavies too.

Red almost all thread now and it feels painfull.

I would listen to what pros/top player say. Ciez replies and analyses are making sense. So is what Hans said. I think it's about people that played alpha are disapointed because just few of those changes were implemented.

I think that Relic's way to do things is a little strange though, testing on our nerves. If they thought people playing this game are not ready for such big changes, they could have tested it more and release them after. My opinion is that this is the worst way they could solve things. Patience is not something people have, especialy young people. They wanted a 180 degree change? They should just implement it and game over. This steps approach is the worst. My 2 cents.

You cannot "spam" Panthers Gluhoman, seeing even one in a competitive 1v1 is rare now, and the tech did not get cheaper.

As for patch in its entirety, I'll reserve judgement until I play it, however, the faust/at nade nerf (if I understood it correctly) strikes me as both very momentous and remarkably ill-advised to boot...
This makes harassment from the midgame onwards nothing less than exponentially more risky; ie. your Grens/Cons decapping your opponents natural vp, and inevitably the Sherman/PIV turns up to spoil your party, but now, there is nothing you can do to keep him from running down and wiping your squad, situations that have very high impact indeed in 1v1s.

Except thats not always the case.

You can play and micro your ass off,squads will still disapear to various soviet causes.
. you can be equipped with the most unique well thought out winning strat ever....the callins will still come at 10ish CP and cause high blood pressure, unless you were literally destroying them before then. EVEN THEN,you can be destroying the soviets fucking base,wiping units...but oh look,convenient arrival Callins have arrived to turn the game around.
Ive seen it at least 5 times in past month.

no matter how little effort the soviet put into his "strategy" and micro.
They ALWAYS have a stupidly good chance to win when they simply pick Guard Motor or shock rifle,and dont get destroyed before 8 CP.

Meanwhile as Axis,You will have to fight for your life for however long, while soviet faps to pictures of stalin with one hand, while a-moving your base with 6 85's with the other.

you can watch me and dusty try to do literally what you say, just a-move with guards, 120s, and 85s against alastor and jove in the TAW 2v2 finals (bo5). it really doesnt work when all players are pretty skilled. in fact, soviets had a very poor showing through the series, with soviets winning only once, and it definitely wasnt because of 85s(it was due to su-85s believe it or not)

Lemon, Guard Motor is - way - stronger in 1v1, and the aggravating thing is that it requires very little adaptation and allows you to basically adhere to a set formula and still come out ahead given micro parity.

I understand the disappointment that not all alpha changes were included. I think this is what this thread is all about.

Concerning the patch: I like the direction they are going very much. Lots of good changes. And they keep the habit of explaining the changes. Very good!

Of course they could have told the alpha crew what their conclusions are before releasing it to the crowd.
Well, learned sth again.

Looking forward to next week!!