December 3, 2020 Update

All PC servers will come down for maintenance on Thursday, Dec. 3 at 6am PST (3pm CET). Estimated downtime is 3 hours to publish the update and perform additional backend maintenance.

Esamir Electrical Storm changes
We've made some pretty significant adjustments to the lightning storm that address the main pain points brought up by the playerbase.
 * Stormbolts that would normally "follow" players and vehicles no longer do so, and instead target the ground nearby.
 * Insulated Suit and Armor descriptions have been updated to remove references to bolts being "attracted" to you.
 * Deployed vehicles now receive only 2500 damage from overloading, instead of being destroyed outright.
 * Increased the radius in which a stormbolt impact does its minimum 50 damage, from 10m to 15m.

Overall, the storm bolts will be much easier to avoid for both players and vehicles, as they're very clearly telegraphed by the effects on the ground. Fights at a base should no longer die off when the storm arrives, as an overload is now much less detrimental for deployed Sunderers.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

 * DeRes effects (visual flashes that scan over your character) caused by Ordnance Dampener, Shield Recharging Field, and other methods, no longer re-appear each time you respawn.
 * Fixed issues where various weapons' attachments would inherit armor camo in third person, but show the correctly applied weapon camo in first person.
 * Daily mission versions of "Enabling Construction," "Continued Preparations," and "Crystal Stalker" now expire after 12 hours as intended.
 * Combat Stimulant (Heavy Assault campaign ability) now heals correctly at all times. Descriptions updated to better relay what the ability does.
 * Regeneration Tier 5 implant's headshot benefit now heals 100 health over 2 seconds, instead of 50 instantly. Dev Note: In the most common combat situations, this is a buff.
 * Mani Lake Outpost's name no longer shows as Mani Lake Satellite on the map screen hover-over.
 * Improved the messaging for the Tempest Shield and abilities granted from the "Biological Warfare" mission to better convey what you're unlocking.
 * Improved the messaging for the Elysium campaign mission to better convey that you need to be near a Refinery to harvest crystals.
 * Blackheart, Heartstring, NS-357P now count as sidearms for the purposes of objectives that require sidearm kills, and implants like Vampire 5 that rely on sidearms to trigger them.
 * Improved the messaging for the "More than Scrap Metal" mission, noting that the player must be in the vehicle to earn credit. Dev Note: Having to sit in the Sunderer to earn credit outside of a squad isn't ideal, but unfortunately a proper fix would have broken the mission for players who currently were on them.
 * Reduced the number of Transport Assists needed for "More than Scrap Metal" from 5 to 3.
 * Fixed an issue where Squad Support ribbons were never being awarded to players piloting a Valkyrie. When 15 squadmates spawn into your Valkyrie, you should now receive a Squad Support ribbon the same as a Galaxy/Sunderer would.
 * Fixed an issue where using the Neuralizer Device on an abandoned vehicle wouldn't attach the particle effects to the correct spot.
 * Removed an errant teleporter in The Traverse spawn room.
 * Fixed an issue where Training Missions were being granted to low-rank A.S.P. characters.
 * Fixed an issue where reload speed ranks 2/3/4 would be faster than intended for all Lightning main cannons.
 * Skyguard turret has been moved to percentage-based reload speed increases like the Lightning's other weapons.

Looking Forward
I don't usually do this segment for the smaller patch notes, but this one is full of changes and fixes for not only for Chapter 2 of the campaign, but some issues that have been around for years as well. Small on their own, but add up in the end, which is one of the themes we'll be bringing into 2021. Lots of refinements and fixes, as well content updates, big and small. Speaking of which, Auraximas is right around the corner. As far as the typical sales calendar goes, most of what we'd tend to have on offer during the holidays has already been available all year (and the daily item showcases didn't create much value for anyone, despite looking great on a calendar.) So this year, we'll be doing something a bit different by offering sales on specific bundles on the weekends, starting this Friday. We'll call out exactly what'll be going on sale when the time comes, so keep an eye on the @planetside2 Twitter account. In a couple of weeks we'll also be releasing a new Auraximas directive that will actually float into January 2021 a bit as well. I'll give another update once we're closer to the Auraximas release, which will contain the snowmen, holiday toys, the new directive, and some other goodies as well. -Wrel, Lead Designer