April 29, 2020 Update

PC servers will come down tomorrow, Wednesday April 29, 2020, at 6am PDT (1pm GMT), for the game update below. Downtime is expected to last up to four hours.

Outfit Wars - Alpha Cycle 2
Welcome to Outfit Wars, Alpha Cycle 2. This cycle's schedule is listed below, and some major updates to this cycle's ruleset are listed below that.

The following start times are the same for all servers, and use the server's timezone:
 * Enlistment Phase - May 01, 2020 - 12am
 * Qualify Phase 01 - May 08, 2020 - 2pm
 * Rest Phase 01 - May 08, 2020 - 10pm
 * Qualify Phase 02 - May 09, 2020 - 2pm
 * Rest Phase 02 - May 09, 2020 - 10pm
 * Qualify Phase 03 - May 10, 2020 - 2pm
 * Preparation Phase - May 10, 2020 - 10pm
 * Combat Phase
 * May 16, 2020 - 8pm - Gold Bracket
 * May 16, 2020 - 8:30pm - Silver Bracket
 * May 16, 2020 - 9pm - Bronze Bracket

Outfit Wars - Alpha Cycle 2 Ruleset
We have made major revisions to how Outfit Wars functions both from a ruleset perspective, and a technological standpoint. The Alpha Cycle 2 schedule is listed further down in these notes.

Phasing Revisited
Outfit Wars now uses three separate Qualification Phases that take place over three days and have Rest Periods in between them. The new flow is as follows:
 * Enlistment → Qualifier 1 → Rest 1 → Qualifier 2 → Rest 2 → Qualifier 3 → Preparation Phase → Combat Phase → Off Season

Qualifiers will be available for a limited number of hours on each Qualifier day to emphasize participation during times of high population. These changes are intended to create intense sessions of focused play leading up to the Outfit Wars matchup, while avoiding player burnout in the process.

Offset Match Start Times
Match start times will now be offset by 30 minutes for Alpha Cycle 2, and we'll be starting with Gold → Silver → Bronze. This order and timing may change in the future based on feedback.

Scoring
We've removed the emphasis on base ownership over time, and refocused our scoring on the combat taking place instead. Instead of gaining a static value either by capturing a base, or owning it as its resources tick up, the eligible score of the top-10 players in your Outfit is now combined to reward you with Outfit Wars score on a successful capture or defense.

Capturing

 * Participating in a base capture will award attackers (of all participating outfits) score upon capture.
 * Capturing a base can earn up to 250 Outfit Wars score (this is the equivalent of 25,000 combined score, anything above this is discarded.)

Defending

 * Participating in a base defense will award defenders (of all participating outfits) score upon a successful base defense.
 * Defending a base can earn up to 100 Outfit Wars score (this is equivalent of 10,000 combined score, anything above this is discarded.).

Bastion Fleet Carrier

 * Spawning a Bastion for your Outfit immediately grants you 1000 Outfit Wars score during a Qualify phase.
 * Destroying a Bastion weakpoint now awards all opposing Outfits that have at least one member within 500 meters with 100 Outfit Wars score if done during an active Qualify phase.

Desolation

 * Outfit members who aren't flagged with the "Outfit War Eligible" privilege will no longer be allowed to access Desolation.
 * When the Desolation alert ends, the victorious players currently in the zone receive the "Warrior" title. Dev Note: Victorious players from the 1st cycle of Outfit Wars will be granted this title before cycle 2 begins.
 * Increased the Desolation alert point maximum from 500 to 750.

Misc. Outfit Wars related Fixes

 * Fixed an issue with the Outfit War HUD notification showing prematurely.
 * Fixed an issue where Outfit Wars HUD notification wouldn't appear when the war ended.
 * You will no longer receive a prompt to join the Outfit War after the match has ended.

Outfit Base Capture and Resource Gain

 * The TAB battle scoreboard now only tallies score that contributes to a base capture, and ignores exempt experience types.
 * The minimum score required to award resources when a base is captured reduced from 3000 to 1000.

Misc. Fixes, Changes, and Additions

 * Spitfire and Auxiliary Spitfire Turrets can no longer be stacked on one another, and the minimum placement distance has been increased slightly.
 * Hardlight Canopies should be less likely to be culled during times of high server load.
 * Fixed an issue where Bastions could be damaged without attacking the hardpoints.
 * Flail and Glaive IPC are affected by AI Modules once again.
 * Scrolling on the Outfit Management page no longer applies to both the focus and the pane behind it.