Limited Time Mode: Steady Storm

• One Storm that closes in over the course of 15 minutes.
• There are no safe zone circles. Keep an eye on the map to predict where the Storm will close in.
• The Storm does 10 damage per second.
• Profile Stats (K/D & Wins) and Challenges are tracked in this mode.

Limited Time Mode: Playground 

Summary
Playground is a low-pressure environment where friends can let their creativity run wild, build massive structures, practice with weapons and items, and fight against your friends. Have fun!

What's New?

• Fill/No Fill option added to game mode selector.
• Chest & floor loot changed back to one weapon spawn each in order to cut down on clutter.

• Drop into the Battle Royale map with a squad of friends for an hour.
• Play on the same team to build together or switch to different teams to fight.
• Players respawn unless eliminated by the Storm.
• The Storm doesn't start for 55 minutes and takes 5 minutes to close in.
• 10 times the amount of resources are gained from harvesting.
• 100 Llamas will be spawned on the map.
• Chests & ammo boxes spawn 100% of the time and contain extra ammo.

Weapons + Items

•  Double Barrel Shotgun added.
  • Available in Epic and Legendary variants.
  • Can be found from floor loot, chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines.
  • Delivers high burst damage at very close range but damage falls off heavily at distance. 
  • Fires 10 pellets like other Shotguns, has a larger spread, lower critical damage multiplier (1.25x), and a 2 second cooldown time when swapping weapons. 
  • Epic Variant 
    • Up to 143 base damage per shot at extreme close range.    
  • Legendary Variant
    • Up to 150 base damage per shot at extreme close range.
• Vending Machine rebalance.
  • Vending Machines spawn more often, cost less, and have an increased chance to spawn at a higher rarity.
    • Common Vending Machine 
      • Spawn chance reduced from 7.27% to 6.67%.
      • Material cost reduced from 100 to 75.
    • Uncommon Vending Machine
      • Spawn chance increased from 14.55% to 20%.
      • Material cost reduced from 200 to 150.
    • Rare Vending Machine
      • Spawn chance increased from 14.55% to 20%.
      • Material cost reduced from 300 to 225.
    • Epic Vending Machine 
      • Spawn chance increased from  5.45% to 18.67%.
      • Material cost reduced from 400 to 300.
    • Legendary Vending Machine
      • Spawn chance increased from 3.64% to 8%.
      • Material cost reduced from 500 to 375.
    • Chance for no Vending Machine to spawn at a location reduced from 54.67% to 26.66%
• Reduced Remote Explosives drop count and max stack size.
  • Drop count reduced from 4 to 3.
  • Max stack size reduced from 10 to 6.
• Added a higher accuracy penalty to jumping and sprinting for Dual Pistols, Submachine Guns, and Hunting Rifles.

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause the storm in phase 6 to do 1 less damage than intended.
• Fixed replication issues caused by interacting with a Guided Missile.

Gameplay

• The weapon fire position now more closely follows the actual player position when crouching and un-crouching. 
  • Shooting while leaving the crouched stance will no longer fire bullets from full standing height until the animation is complete.
• Crouch does not interrupt emotes anymore and is disabled when emoting.

• Certain player models will no longer obstruct camera angles or block crosshairs on slopes.
• Fixed an issue where a wall would become invisible when destroyed on a client, but would still have some health on the server.
• The camera will no longer instantly transition when attempting to aim certain weapons while in midair.
• Trap selection will no longer unintentionally cycle when switching to available traps.
• Fixed an unintentional camera adjustment when entering and exiting targeting while transitioning in and out of crouch.
• Visual effects will now properly play when a vehicle impacts an environment prop.
• Fixed reliability issues when using a rocket launcher to boost shopping carts or the ATK.
• Fixed an occasional failure of glider deploying after exiting a Rift.
• Switching weapons after an emote will now play the correct weapon switch animation.
• Slurp Juice will no longer continue to heal or provide shields after being knocked down.
• Player placed map markers will no longer appear to jitter on the minimap or in the world.

Performance

• Significant GPU optimization on Switch. Moved to the high-end forward renderer. This increases dynamic resolution by 10% in expensive scenes. 
• Optimized the way explosives modify buildings to lighten the load on dedicated servers.
• Building props have more efficient network usage when taking damage.
• Melee animation trails now use significantly less network traffic.
• Optimized C4 network usage, the impact sound no longer broadcasts to players outside a certain range. It now only plays for players that are close enough to the impact.

Audio

• Added new equip sounds to grenades.
• Add the ability to honk while driving the ATK.
• Lowered the volume of impact sounds when harvesting vehicles.
• Added audio effects for when spectating squadmates leave the match.
• In the Locker menu, glider audio will fade out when it’s unselected.

• Thermal Scoped Assault Rifle scope-in sounds are no longer hard-panned to the left on Switch.
• Audio for the rocket incoming sound will now properly play during close range fights.
• Ambient audio loops will no longer stack on each other and play at once. This was creating a sound phasing issue that sounded similar to a “fighter jet”.
• Footsteps will no longer sound uneven for players outside your field of view.
• Players will no longer hear ‘ghost footsteps’ after eliminating an enemy.

UI

• Bust a move with an ATK or Shopping Cart. New functionality has been added to the UI that shows what type of stunt you pulled and the points you earned for landing them. Which tricks will you pull off?
• The Challenges menu can now be opened in-game.
  • Additionally, Daily and Suggested Challenges have been added to the in-game map screen.
• Modified the Battle Royale Challenges screen to display the remaining challenge bundle unlock time as a countdown once it is less than 13 hours away.

• Fixed an issue with the buttons at the top of the Outfit style selection screen overlapping with the draggable window title bar area.
• Eliminations at Haunted Hills Challenge will now display as hard.
• Players who have unlocked the ability to select color styles for the Carbide and Omega Outfits will no longer randomly become locked out of that option.
• The ‘Toggle Favorite’ option no longer shows when selecting styles.
• The Build Bar no longer stays active if it was active on the warmup island.
• Quest updates and vehicle key hints no longer overlap on the HUD.
• Punctuation in the Challenge descriptions has been corrected.
• Fixed clipping on the Item Return screen for systems with aggressive Safe Zone settings.
• Changing setting while inside the Battle Bus will no longer bring up the full HUD earlier than intended.
• The HUD will now show the vehicle currently being driven rather than the one that was driven last.

Art + Animation

• Updated the effect of lighting on character models.
• Added equip and holding animations for all grenades.

• The size of the Soccer ball in the juggling emote has been fixed.
• Leaning while on All Terrain Karts no longer cancels emotes.
• Player models will no longer appear twisted while controlling the Guided Missile.

Replay System

• Cameras no longer get stuck in a bad state while following the Battle Bus.
• Rapidly skipping through a replay on non-desktop platforms no longer causes a crash.
• The players remaining counter for the 50v50 LTM now appears properly when viewing replays.
• The damage numbers toggle in replays now works properly.
• Damage numbers now properly appear on the final elimination during replays.
• Player list on the Map screen now works correctly using a gamepad.
• Health and shield bars on map screen player list now display correctly.

Mobile

• Customizable fire mode selection screen added to mix and match fire modes.
• Added FPS (frames per second) mode setting for mobile devices.
• Added another individual quickbar button to the HUD layout tool.
• Added mobile Elimination Feed.
• Separated Quickbar buttons are more visible in the HUD Layout tool.
• Harvest tool will now alternate between itself and the previously selected item when tapped.

• Completed or expired Challenges are now cleared while navigating between Challenges.
• Ramps will no longer be built through other ramps.
• Shooting when interacting with objects no longer occurs.
• Fixed inconsistency with mobile low power mode support.

Missions + Systems

• Introducing Weekly Horde Challenge Missions:
  • Each week during the run of the Road Trip event, there will be a new Weekly Challenge mission in the Challenge the Horde zone.
  • These zones include specially crafted challenges to push player’s skills using a variety of modifiers and wave compositions.
  • Weekly Horde Challenge 1: Minibosses
    • Weekly Horde Challenge 1 Quest rewards include:
      • First completion: Choose 1 of 3 Legendary Flintlock ranged weapons.
      • Repeatable quest: 75 Roadtrip Tickets.
• As a thank you for our sticking with us during our Birthday Llama issues we’re giving away three free Birthday Llamas.
  • Available in the Loot Tab!
• A new side quest chain is now available after completing Plankerton: Storm Shield Defense 5. 
  • Completing these quests earns you two new Survivors.
• Increased the Required Power Ratings on Canny Valley and Twine Peaks missions:

• Added Required Power Ratings to Challenge the Horde missions:

• Destroy the Encampments mission now ends upon all encampments being defeated or the mission timer reaching 0, whichever comes first.
• Players can complete either a Category 2, Category 3, or Category 4 Fight the Storm mission to complete the Put It Through Its Paces Quest.
• Discovering Bunkers in the Desert Biome will now give progress for the quest Canny Underground.
• Mission Control has been added to Fight the Storm, Deliver the Bomb, Repair the Shelter, Evacuate the Shelter, and Launch the Rocket.  
  • Now all difficulty increases and mission start will require votes.  
  • Voting to start the mission is only required until mission ready timer ends, currently set to 10 minutes.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where rejoin was unavailable after crashing out of a session.
• Fixed an issue where SEE-bot could not properly activate in Repair the Shelter missions.
• Twine Peaks Storm Shield missions will now spawn Outlander Fragments during the defense.
• Fixed an issue where some players were unable to complete Founders quests.

Heroes

• Mythic Ragnarok Outlander comes to the Event Store.
  • Available August 8th, at 8PM ET. 
  • Features New Subclass - The Dark Viking.
    • New Ability: Seismic Impact: Punch the ground causing it to rupture knocking back up to medium size enemies and dealing energy damage in a 2 tile line.
    • New Perks:
      • Fault Line: Seismic Impact’s cooldown is lowered by 6 seconds.
      • Sustained Impact: Seismic Impact’s stamina cost is lowered by 15.
      • Return To Sender: Seismic Impact returns to its original impact location.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where War Cry's Mighty Roar perk would not apply to allies who were obstructed by the environment.
• Fixed an issue where equipping Goin' Commando caused the players feet to slide.
• Fixed an issue that caused Rare Centurion Hawk to not increase star level when evolved.
• Maximum overload now shows the correct damage value in the tooltip.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to be stuck when Charged Fist is interrupted.
• Fixed an issue that caused Assassination visual effects to linger after Assassination discharged.
• Fixed tooltip formatting of Fan of Stars perk in the abilities tab.

Weapons + Items

• The Aim Down Sights reticle for the Break shotgun now more closely resembles the hipfire reticle. 
• Changed the following shotguns to have a tighter reticle to more accurately represent their range: 
  • Over-Under Shotgun 
  • Rustler 
  • Bandit 
  • Maverick

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the following weapons to work correctly with the Software Hero Perk:
  • Pipe Down!
  • Scavenger Pipe
  • Socket Slugger
  • Socket Wrench
• Improved the reliability of the Walloper’s Leap Attack dealing damage and playing visuals properly.
• Fixed an issue where the Epic Fishing Hook had stats that were too low.
• Fixed an issue where Helium Shotgun impact effects would appear in the air near Encampments.
• Freedom's Herald (and rarity variants) can no longer roll Magazine Size or Fire Rate perks, as this weapon can not hold more than one round.

Gameplay

• Adjusted all cameras to provide better consistency between Aim Down Sight and hip fire. 
• Players searching for Truck Stops in Route 99 should find them more often.

Bug Fixes

• Terrain will no longer generate next to each other in Desert and Route 99 biomes, this prevents the pit of doom where players can't build out and are stuck.
• Various missions that should not have spawned in the Desert sinkhole now won't spawn there.
• Fixed some animation issues in the Mission Activation panel.
• Fixed an issue where Deliver the Bomb track distance was too short in Route 99.
• Fixed a couple of hard to build out of pits in Desert and Route 99 biomes.
• The fourth player joining a Build a Fort mission no longer spawns underneath the terrain.
• The Super Shielder now correctly takes damage from those who do not have permission to build/do damage during a Storm Shield Defense.
• Fixed an issue where multiple Gunslinger enemies would spawn.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to rejoin after hard closing the game.

UI

• Added ability to rebind “J” as a movement key.
• Added new announcement for when a player is completely out of building materials while they have Auto Material Change enabled.
• Added a context menu to card buttons of the collection screen.

Bug Fixes

• Elemental Storm Zones now show the correct element when the alert window shows.
• Fixed an issue where multiple section items would remain highlighted in the Collection Book.
• Fixed an issue where if you rapidly dismissed and then reopened the chat window using a gamepad it would force you into Build Mode.
• Fixed an issue that caused multiple reward pages to appear in the Collection Book.
• Fixed split second hover of bottom option in Alterations option list when selecting an alteration to change with a controller.
• Fixed an issue where the evolution picker would incorrectly choose an evolution when re-entering evolution confirmation screen. 
• Fixed Credits not running to the end.
• Fixed unexpected sound effects playing in the Mission Activation panel when using a mouse and keyboard.
• Purchasing multiple free Llamas no longer claims you have 0 v-bucks when you actually have some.
• Fixed an issue where the vote notification indicator sometimes showed incorrect information.
• Fixed an issue where the Mission Activation could show an incorrect countdown timer.
• Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor could disappear if a player clicked on certain parts of the Mission Activation Widget.

Performance

• Fixed small world props rendering at extreme distances.

Audio

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause menu music to stop playing.
• Fixed an issue that could cause campfire sound effects to overlap each other.