Dev Q&A #02 | Sponsor Balance and In-Match Communication Improvements

Hey everyone, BopNSwap back with our second Flashpoint Dev Q&A. Excited to dive into meta updates for sponsors and communications improvements.



Overall, we’re super happy with where Sponsor balance landed for our launch season. All the Sponsors are viable picks and no win rate is too far out of wack. That said, we wanted to bring down the power of our best performers slightly and buff up the underperformers to shake up Season 1’s meta. We’ve particularly focused on adjusting our trap abilities which have significant map control gains for low investment.

Let’s dive into all of the changes!

[h2]Nerfs[/h2]

[h3]Ryker Industries[/h3]

• Hull Mine price increased from $200 to $250
  
• Arc Sentry price increased from $200 to $300
  

Over the last few months, Ryker proved itself as the premiere pick for intel gathering and controlling space. We aren’t taking away its ability to lock down a site with utility, but we are making that a more costly strategy which should put some pressure on Ryker’s weapon and armor power if they want to fully lean into the controller role every round.

—
[h3]Morrgen United[/h3]

• Hidden Grasp price increased from $200 to $300
  

Morrgen has been a popular pick since launch and fills an important role as our only Sponsor with free smokes. For that reason, we’ve opted to nudge down Hidden Grasp and leave Smoke Shift untouched in order to maintain its focus on vision denial and exciting Duality plays.

—
[h3]Pinnacle International[/h3]

• Splinter Grenade max charges reduced from 2 to 1
  
• Splinter Grenade recharge time reduced from 75s to 45s.
  

We want to maintain Pinnacle’s ability to throw several grenades a round, but we specifically wanted to reduce grenade spam and grenade chaos. We hope players will be more intentional about the locations they want to clear, while still feeling like Pinnacle is a strong entry fragger option.

[h2]Buffs[/h2]

[h3]Umbra Reconnaissance[/h3]

• Recon Wing radius increased from 7m to 8.5m
  
• Glare Burst width increased from 4m to 5m
  

Umbra was our weakest launch Sponsor and is considered one of the hardest Sponsors to play due to the complexity of Pulsefinder’s enhanced abilities. We are moving some additional power into the core abilities that don’t rely on a Pulsefinder combo. By increasing the sizes of both Recon Wing and Glare Burst, Umbra should feel more forgiving and exciting to play. Keep in mind that a 1.5m increase to radius is quite a large change to the overall circle :)

—
[h3]Ghostlink Collective[/h3]

• Dupe cost decreased from $250 to $200
  
• Partition duration increased from 8s to 10s
  

Ghostlink’s Dupe is an exciting ability that’s core to the identity of the Sponsor. As players have become more familiar with the game, we’ve seen Dupe’s effectiveness decline, particularly at higher skill levels. We nudged down the price to better align with the current power level of the ability. We’re also giving Partition a longer duration to ensure it is a strong pick for vision-denial and to help Ghostlink better compete with Morrgen for the “smoker” role.

—
[h3]Muu Robotics[/h3]

• Hyperdome health increased from 150 to 300
  
• Dazzler covers more of the screen, but can now be turned away from
  

While Muu remained a fan favorite during Season 0, Hyperdome was underperforming as a defensive tool, especially during full buy rounds. Increasing the health of the bubble shield should give players more opportunities to pull off aggressive fast recalls and keep teammates safe.

We’re also shifting around the power of Dazzler a bit. Previously, enemies that were within line of sight and range of Dazzler would be flashed regardless of where they were looking. The tradeoff was that Dazzler wasn’t a “true” flash and instead distorted the vision for enemies hit. Enemies looking away from Dazzler will now be flashed for a shorter duration, but it will block more vision than it did previously.

—
[h3]Vector Dynamics[/h3]

• Dual Amp fire rate buff increased from 15% to 20%
  
• Vector Wall height increased from 3.5m to 4.5m
  
• Vector Wall width increased from 6m to 7m
  

Vector is generally performing where we want it, so we’re making small adjustments upwards to improve the feel of the kit and help it be a little better across the board.

[h2]No Changes[/h2]

[h3]Bloom Technologies[/h3]

• 🐝 All is well in the hive.
  

Another Flashpoint announcement we shared was that a number of improvements are coming to our in-game communication systems. Similar to the Sponsor updates, there was much speculation on what this would look like in practice. Let’s cover a few different aspects of what we’ve been working on here.

[h2]Gameplay Chatter[/h2]

While the game feels exciting and dynamic in gunfights, it could sometimes feel empty outside of those moments, especially if teams weren’t on voice comms. We’ve added a number of new situational voice lines that you’ll hear outside of combat to liven up the gameplay space.

Characters can now make call-outs automatically when spotting enemies, getting kills, and fully eliminating an enemy. Additionally, automated voice callouts will identify enemy sponsors, so you’ll more easily and more often know what Sponsor you’re up against!

We’ve also added callouts for other key moments in the match such as “last player alive” and ZEUS detonation timing.

These changes should give you a better sense of what’s happening around the map without your teammates having to verbally say what they’re doing at all times. We hope this is particularly useful for teams playing without voice comms enabled. And don’t worry - we’ve put cooldowns in place to ensure players aren’t getting spammed with voice lines from teammates.

[h2]Ping Improvements[/h2]

Building on our desire to add more non-verbal communication options, we’ve expanded pings to be more dynamic and useful:

• Ping an enemy’s Arc Sentry to remind your teammates that they need to avoid getting detected.
  
• Ping your own Patches to encourage your teammates to run over for some healing.
  
• Ping a weapon on the ground to call dibs.
  
• Ping a teammate’s ping to let them know the message was received loud and clear.
  

We’re excited about these changes and will be continuing to look for more opportunities to improve player communication in future seasons.

—

Thanks for reading and make sure to share more of your questions with us for future weeks!

We’ll see you in the new-and-improved Breakwater very soon,

BopNSwap