Killzone 2 Patch 1.27 Detailed

28 May 2009 at 11:21:29 by Tim McDonald

The forthcoming patch 1.27 for Killzone 2 has been detailed by Guerrilla.

In an interview with the US PlayStation Blog, Guerrilla's lead multiplayer designer Eric Boltjes expounded on what we can expect from the new patch.

Finding and playing with friends is set to be easier, with Guerrilla taking a look at how party systems in games tend to work. The Join Friend option now has those using it join the faction and squad of their selected friend, even if faction balancing is switched on. Factions and squads will persist, too, so you can continue to play together following the end of the game.

Skirmish mode has been tweaked "to keep it interesting for players with lower-bandwidth network connections," according to Boltjes. Since the game has been out for awhile and a fair few have already hit General rank, all badges will be unlocked in the patch so that those players with high pings can "experience the full range of weapons and abilities."

There's a new High Precision option added to the settings which makes the analogue sticks "more responsive to small movements." Boltjes is quick to point out that it's "not a radical overhaul," though, and that the weight of the controls will feel the same.

The other thing detailed was the balance, which has had some minor changes. Players can now switch factions manually if servers are imbalanced, but only from the larger side to the smaller side; players who're outnumbered can't go and join their oppressors. All points will be kept when switching, but naturally, you'll lose your squad. There's no temporary invulnerability at spawn points other than the base camp anymore, either, which should give enemy players assaulting those locations a bit more of a sporting chance.

Badge abilities have also been tweaked to try and improve balance, with the Assault Badge now only granting 50 hit points instead of the previous 100. The Sentry Bot from the Tactician Badge's second ability has been made more useful, too, with better accuracy and a little more health - and automated turrets don't target them so well anymore, either, meaning they won't be shot down so quickly.

And, as ever, there are a host of smaller changes that have yet to be touched on. We'll find out about those when the patch launches, which should be later on today, but hopefully the players will be happy - this patch was, it seems, based largely on their feedback.

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