July 1, 2021 Update

All PC servers will come down for the following changes on Thursday, July 01, at 6:00am PT (3:00pm CEST). Downtime for this update is expected to last up to 3 hours.

""Alright, but why are they here? We've never had problems on the station before." "With those reports of employees going missing, can't say I blame them for cranking up the security." "It makes me feel uneasy. They seem so... lifeless, and I've never seen them talk to anyone.""

- Recovered from memory chip, recorded conversation between two civilians on Sanctuary.



_Integration
The robotic fourth-faction re-emerges with advanced technology, new equipment, and shifting allegiances. In the _Integration update, we've released two new vehicles, 16 new vehicle weapons, 35 new infantry weapons, and 11 new directive trees for NSO players to pursue. On top of that, the NSO faction has become FREE TO ALL PLAYERS.

Unlocking NSO
Visiting Sanctuary with a BR20+ character will provide you with a mission to learn more about the Nanite Systems Operatives faction. Completing that mission will flag your account with access to the NSO faction, and you'll be able to create NSO characters from there on out.

Pre-existing accounts can log in with any BR20+ characters, or an NSO character of any Battle Rank, and still receive this mission.

Welcome, Freelancers
An NSO character without membership enters the "Freelance" status. A Freelancer will be assigned to the lowest populated faction on the continent to help them turn the tides of battle. Changing continents will reassign you as needed.

Freelancers are unable to create or join Outfits, and will need to select a "Home Faction" to do so.

Choosing a Home Faction
Players with All Access Memberships will be able to select a Home Faction by talking to a new NPC, Emerson, on Sanctuary. Aligning yourself with the Vanu Sovereignty, New Conglomerate, or Terran Republic, will allow you to create, join, and manage an Outfit within that empire.

You can also enter into a Freelance state on Sanctuary at any time, even while in an Outfit, and you won't be kicked. While fighting for an opposing faction, however, you won't have access to War Assets, Outfit communication, or representation. You can disable this state on Sanctuary as well.

If All Access membership lapses, you'll be dropped into the Freelance state mentioned above until membership is reinstated. You won't be kicked from an Outfit you're currently a part of if this occurs.

Lastly, if you ever want to shift faction allegiances, you can leave your current Outfit, assign yourself to a new Home Faction, and join an Outfit there instead.

Existing NSO Outfits
With this update we begin winding down support for "factionless" NSO Outfits. This summer we'll be providing a window for those Outfits to move to a Home Faction of their choice, and keep their members intact. This change requires additional tech to be created, and the timeline for that is still TBD. During this timeframe NSO Outfits will be unable to use War Assets, cannot recruit new members, and will adhere to other Freelance rules. Outfits can always be disbanded and reformed within a Home Faction to bypass the wait.

Arsenal Overhaul
NSO has become more defined as a faction with the introduction of new vehicles, weapons, and equipment.

Dervish Heavy Fighter
The Dervish is a two-seat vehicle that sacrifices agility for durability. The pilot operates nose-mounted forward guns, while the second seat is devoted to a top-gunner with a swiveling turret. This vehicle operates primarily as an air superiority fighter, and has limited ground support capabilities.

Noseguns

 * DV-22 Raycaster - All-rounder machine gun that fires photonically propelled tungsten slugs.
 * DV-21 Lotus - A high rate of fire gatling gun that shreds light aircraft at close range.
 * DV-XE - A charge-based six-round particle projection barrage that can dispatch heavy aircraft.

Top Turrets

 * DV-22T Lightweaver - A machine-gun top turret that functions similarly to the Raycaster, and can deal with any threat.
 * DV-LAT Pixie - An anti-aircraft lock-on turret that launches a stream of homing missiles at tracked targets.
 * DV-XAT - A heavy charge-up cannon that fires a concentrated photon blast for high damage.

You can learn more about the Dervish Heavy Fighter in this article: https://www.planetside2.com/news/dervish-heavy-fighter-teaser

Chimera Main Battle Tank
Filling the MBT lineup is the Chimera, a six-seat vehicle crewed by the pilot/cannoneer, a forward turret gunner, and with space for up to four rumble seat passengers. The independent six-wheel suspension and swiveling forward portion allow for enhanced off-road performance and maneuvering.

Main Cannons

 * CT-135 - A balanced main cannon suited to both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle roles alike.
 * CT-150 Cyclops - A high-velocity anti-vehicle cannon capable of long-range combat.
 * CT-102 Satyr - A mid-range cannon capable of firing five rounds before reloading.

Forward Turrets

 * CT2-20 HCG - A versatile heavy chaingun turret with effectiveness in all combat situations.
 * CT2-8M Siren - Fires smart micro-missiles with anti-aircraft proximity tracking.
 * CT2-XP - A charge-up photon weapon that can demolish heavily armored vehicles.

You can learn more about the Chimera Main Battle Tank in this article: https://www.planetside2.com/news/chimera-main-battle-tank

Infantry Weapons
The NSO faction has received an entirely new batch of infantry weapons, including new defaults. The NSX weapons defaulted to the faction prior are still unlockable as options.

Carbines

 * CB-100 - The standard-issue carbine with balanced reloads and rate of fire.
 * CB-X75 - A CQC carbine with better hipfire and faster aim down sights movement speed.
 * CB-200 - Slow rate of fire, hard hitting carbine with good accuracy.

Assault Rifles

 * AR-100 - The standard-issue assault rifle with balanced accuracy, rate of fire, and reload speed.
 * AR-101 - A harder hitting assault rifle with above average reach and accuracy.
 * AR-N203 - A 3-round auto-burst assault rifle that delivers high damage beyond the range of other assault rifles.

LMGs

 * XMG-100 - Standard issue, high rate of fire, and moderate-high capacity.
 * XMG-155 - Increased per-bullet stopping power and magazine size.
 * XMG-200 - High damage output in exchange for a less robust magazine size.

SMGs

 * PMG-100 - High rate of fire and magazine size at cost to per-bullet damage.
 * PMG-200 - High overall damage output with a low magazine capacity.
 * PMG-3XB - A hard-hitting 3-round auto-burst weapon with better mid-range accuracy than other SMGs.

Shotguns

 * SG-100 - Standard-issue shotgun with large magazine size and excellent pellet spread.
 * SG-A25 - An automatic shotgun meant for better CQC damage output at cost to accuracy.
 * HSG-400 - A "heavy" shotgun that mimics the damage of a pump action, despite being magazine fed.

Scout Rifles

 * BAR-100 - Versatile semi-auto scout rifle with a moderate rate of fire.
 * BAR-A75 - An automatic scout rifle with heavy damage output at mid-range.
 * BAR-200 - Heavy per-bullet damage with a slow rate of fire.

Sniper Rifles

 * SR-100 - The standard-issue semi-auto sniper rifle, adaptable and with easy follow-up shot potential.
 * SR-L75 - A lightweight version of the SR-100, with access to lower range optics and 0.75x ADS movement.
 * SR-150 - A heavier semi-auto sniper rifle with damage output that nears bolt-action potential.

And More...
NSO has also received new Directive Weapons available in all-new weapon directive trees, as well as rocket launcher offerings. Previous NSX-A weaponry will remain as legacy items for pre-existing NSO characters that were able to unlock them, and new non-auraxium NSX versions of these weapons have made their way to the Black Market.

Javelin
The Javelin has received a variety of changes that gives it a more grounded control scheme and adds 4 new weapons to it.

Weapons

 * JVN-30 Salamander - The baseline machinegun weapon that comes standard with all Javelins.
 * JVN-MM N.E.S.T. - Previously an ability option for the vehicle, the N.E.S.T. smart-missile launcher has been converted into a normal anti-armor weapon.
 * JVN-X3 Hydra - A split-shot anti-infantry weapon that fires a fan of pellets.
 * JVN-50 Celeste - Charge-up, high-damage anti-armor photon projection weapon.

Additional Changes

 * This vehicle has received a new Directive line.
 * Rumble Seat passengers now face forward by default, and can swivel 360 degrees.

Defector
The NSO MAX unit, the Defector, has received a visual update, and has received two new weapons.

Weapons

 * D7 Hummingbird - A modified grenade printer that fires lock-on drones capable of anti-aircraft duty.
 * D11 Detonator - A long-range anti-armor artillery shell that increases in damage potential the further it travels.

Additional Changes

 * The Defector can now equip implants available to MAX units.
 * Time Bomb now removes weapon heat when active, and has been given an additional upgrade rank.
 * Now has access to the Emergency Repair ability.
 * A later update with better match the Defector's hitbox with its new visuals.

NSOdds and Ends

 * NSO characters can now equip masculine or feminine voice packs.
 * All NSO voices have been redone with faction-specific audio filters to help identify which faction an NSO character belongs to.
 * NSO characters will now hear unique audio for a variety of stingers and music tracks.
 * The Outfit UI screen has been revised to show "Freelance" characters in the Outfit member list.
 * The Outfit Browser now shows NSO characters in the image splash.
 * Help tooltips have been updated in various Outfit screens to convey NSO-related information.
 * Various cosmetic options are available for the Chimera, Dervish, and Javelin.
 * Fixed a large degree of NSO-related bugs, listed toward the end of these patch notes.

Black Market
As mentioned above, all previous NSO weapon directive rewards now have non-Auraxium versions available in the Black Market, and are available to all factions. This includes the following:
 * NSX Kappa - An SMG that fires three, high-damage pellets per shot.
 * NSX Sesshin - A long-range automatic scout rifle with high damage potential.
 * NSX Yawara - An automatic pistol with moderate stopping power.
 * NSX Kuwa - An automatic hybrid rifle with a short windup and high damage.
 * NSX Muramasa - A rocket launcher that fires a barrage of unguided rockets while aiming or from the hip.

NS Viscount G6
New Black Market Shotgun
 * A suppressed variant of the NS Baron G5 is now available in the Black Market for all factions.

NSX Weapon Eval
New Missions
 * The A7 reward will no longer stop appearing if you possess more than the A7 currency soft-cap

New Missions

 * Four new vehicle-based mission options with multiple rarities and difficulties associated with them, and one of these will appear in the mission pool each day.

NSO Infantry Changes

 * NSO characters have access to Nanite Auto-Repair as an optional suit slot certification.

Aircraft Synergy (Engineer Passive)

 * Rank 1 now includes ESF Interceptor variants, and Heavy Fighters.
 * Rank 2 now includes the Valkyrie.

SABR-13 (Terran Republic Assault Rifle)

 * Minimum damage from 125 to 143.

Betelgeuse 54-A (Vanu Sovereignty LMG)

 * Must now be reloaded when overheated.
 * Heat bleedoff rate from 240 per sec. to 200 per sec. (1000 maximum heat.)
 * Loadout UI now properly states 50 rounds magazine (not the 65 it's never been.)

NSX Tengu (Common Pool SMG)

 * Refire rate from 120ms to 117ms.

NSX-A Kappa (NSO/Common Pool SMG)

 * Refire rate while aiming from 75ms to 80ms, now matching its hipfire refire rate.

NSX Daimyo (Common Pool Sniper Rifle)

 * Refire rate from 333ms to 667ms.
 * First shot recoil multiplier from 1 to 2.66.

Extended Magazines

 * Now increases weapon equip and unequip times by either 15% or 20% depending on size increase.
 * Many DBC costs were reduced during this pass to bring them in line with newer attachment pricing.

Lightning Grenade (Campaign Item)
This change will be more for PS4 than PC, as the Campaign has ended.
 * Removed storm restrictions on the Lightning Grenade, and it can now be used on all continents.
 * Overall damage and area of effect were reduced.
 * No longer overloads vehicles.

Rumble Seat Repairs
''Dev Note: We've removed rumble seat repairs to create clearer, more predictable vehicle balance. A lack of rumble-seat repairs should weaken the Harasser's ability to escape to a small degree, and slow down the pacing for this vehicle. The vehicle most impacted by this change will likely be the Valkyrie, as it will need to fly closer to the ground instead of being as brazen in the air. We've compensated to a small degree by allowing the Valkyrie to use the Engineer's Aircraft Synergy passive, but we'll be monitoring to see if additional changes are necessary to keep the Valkyrie relevant and fun.''
 * Repairing from the rumble seat has been removed for all vehicles.

Battle Rifles and Scout Rifles
Dev Note: This change increases weapon diversity for all non-Light Assault classes, and open up some new playstyle options.
 * Both Battle Rifles and Scout Rifles have been combined under the "Scout Rifles" category.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

 * A.N.V.I.L.s hologram markers can now be driven through by vehicles, and shot through by infantry and vehicles. The main reason for this change was to prevent exploitation of A.N.V.I.L. holograms killing vehicles when spawned.
 * Adjusted continent queue code to account for NSO teams properly.
 * NSO characters no longer spawn under the Warpgate floor.
 * NSO characters now communicate with the correct teams in proximity voice.
 * Engineer's repair beam now points to a Defector's chest.
 * NSO's router now colors based on faction.
 * Fixed issues with numerous faction-specific jump pads not accounting for NSO teams.
 * Merit will no longer be cleared when leaving an Outfit.
 * Fixed a memory allocation issue associated with audio events. (This is unlikely to fix the "Audio Bug" caused by longer play sessions.)
 * You should no longer see random weapon attachments listed in the marketplace while using the search function.
 * Added very small cooldown between grief audio indications to prevent stacking when multiple projectiles hit at the same time.
 * NC and NSO Hardlight Barriers can no longer be stacked on top of one another.
 * Fixed a particle issue with medical applications point to point visuals.
 * Boosts can no longer be purchased with Merit.
 * NS-11 "Endeavor" Carbine's 2x optics now correctly uses a 2x zoom range.
 * Added missing Vanguard "Warning" horn.
 * Vehicle dismount locations are now prioritized based on which seat the player occupied before ejecting.
 * Fixed an issue with the "Storm Spotting" mission where placing a buoy wouldn't add progress.
 * Biolabs now use teleporters from satellite bases, instead of spawn rooms within the Biolab.
 * Fixed an issue with maximum voice channels being set improperly and the setting description being incorrect.
 * You no longer auto-join squads in Sanctuary, and auto-join has been disabled by default for new installations.
 * NSX Weapon Eval mission can no longer be completed by shooting NPCs.
 * Nanite boosts no longer give extra cert rewards.
 * Polish on Bastion terminal's "Launch" button disabled state.
 * Added gunner kill experience for passengers on the Flash and Javelin.
 * Fixed missing collision in the Sunderer Tower asset.
 * Flash Basilisk Ammo Capacity upgrade no longer uses incorrect descriptions.
 * Updated various gate shield visuals.

Recent Dev Spotlights
We've started doing Developer Spotlights recently. If you haven't checked them out, you can learn a bit more about some of our teammates here. Learn more about Senior Sound Designer, Homero Sanchez - https://www.planetside2.com/news/dev-spotlight-homerosanchez-2021 Learn more about Senior Artist, Chris Bishop - https://www.planetside2.com/news/dev-spotlight-chrisbishop-2021

Looking Forward
This iiiiiiiiis probably the largest update in the game's history, or a strong rival to it. Feels a little weird to say since it's not nearly as flashy as Escalation, or quite as fundamental as Construction... but the sheer scope of this update is massive for almost every department.The _Integration update will impact all players either directly or indirectly, and makes good on what we set out to do when the faction originally released in 2019.

When we delivered the first progress update, the numbers were a bit lower than where they sit now. Here's what we ended up with (with some categories changed from the original reveal.) Two new vehicles; 11 new directive trees; 16 new vehicle weapons; 35 new infantry weapons; 10+ new UI screen updates, reticles, and HUD overlays; 130+ new sound effects, music, stingers, and vocals; 260+ new particle effects and lighting elements; and a whole bunch of adds and ends along the way.

The next stop for us is rolling into the New Player Experience, as this is the year of revisiting, refining... reforging? The target would be to have something of substance released toward the end of summer, with some smaller updates in between.

Thanks for the continued support folks.

- Wrel, Lead Designer