Echo VR Patch Notes | July 8, 2021
Highlights
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Hello, RAD_igoronchains here!
With this update, we wanted to address something that might seem small, but has a huge effect on the game: Self-Goaling. It’s something we’ve been keeping an eye on for a while. With this patch, we’re aiming for a less grief-able core experience for all players in Public Matches, while using Private Matches to retain that extra layer of skill Self-Goaling requires from players.
Self-Goaling
RAD_igoronchains: When surveying the community with regards to things that negatively affect your experience, we’ve consistently received feedback around poor sportsmanship and griefing (scoring on your own goal). While there are a number of ways we can address this, one of the most effective things we can do is alter how Self-Goaling works. As mentioned above, while Self-Goaling creates complex and interesting play scenarios for pre-made or higher level play, it also is a simple and difficult-to-stop avenue for toxicity: players can just grab the disc and score on their own team, if they want, with impunity.
To combat this tactic, we’re going with a simple approach: we’ve disabled Self-Goaling in Public Matches. Instead, when a player accidentally or purposefully passes the disc through their own goal, no goal will be scored. When a self goal is scored there will be sound effects and special effects now, though these will be different from a normal goal’s effects, but no goal points will be scored.
Players who want the added complexity and risk associated with Self-Goaling can still enable it in Private Matches, of course. In fact, because we believe Private Match players will generally want this setting on, Self-Goaling is enabled by default. To change the setting, simply access the Rules section of the Private Match settings at the podium in either Team Room, and look for the “Self-Goaling” option toggle.
Self-Goaling: Headbutts and Bumper Shots
RAD_igoronchains: Disabling Self-Goaling has a number of side effects, but there’s one we are addressing right away: if a player throws the disc at a defender and it bounces off that defender’s head into the goal, under new Public Match rules, that’s not a goal — it’s a Self-Goal and isn’t counted. This removes a little too much depth and complexity from goal-attack and near-goal offensive and defensive play when in Public Matches. As a result, we’ve made added a new Goal Type — Bumper Shot. A Bumper Shot is defined as follows: if a player on Team A headbutts a disc that’s currently possessed by Team B and it goes into Team A’s goal and scores, then the goal is attributed to the headbutter on Team A. Bumper Shots will count as assists for throwing players, and are attributed to the player whose head the shot bounced off of on the Barrier UI. However, they do not contribute to individual player stats beyond the throwing player’s assist. This is because we want to keep an eye on this change out in the wild before we go making further changes to the scoreboard, personal stats, and scoring.
What does this mean? It means that accidental headbutt-own goals will still occur and be scored, but won’t be counted as Self Goals. Practically, it means that as an attacker you can still get a cheeky score by bouncing it off of the defender’s head. It’s important to note that this rule change is tied to Self-Goaling. It’s important to note that if Private Match players enable Self-Goaling, Bumper Shots are disabled, and the above scenario would go back to being counted as a successful Self-Goal.
As a side note, while we were in there messing with Bumper Shots, we also wanted to more officially call out/highlight Headers when they did occur, so now, a score off a “Headbutt” will be called out uniquely on the Score Barrier post-Goal.
Bumper Shots are a complex and nitty-gritty rules update, so we’ll be keeping an eye on how it affects games and play.
Experimental VOIP Max Loudness Settings
RAD_igoronchains: Another point of community feedback we want to address relates to the loudness and abruptness of VOIP audio that you, as a listener, can receive when playing Echo VR. When using in-game VOIP, it’s possible, regardless of whether in match, lobby, or party, to be the recipient of sudden and/or extremely loud VOIP. No one likes it, so we set out to try and provide options that make this experience generally better for all players. We’ve added 2 new Settings to the Audio portion of the Settings Menu: VOIP Leveling, and VOIP Max Loudness.
When enabled, the feature prevents incoming audio from rising above a specified loudness level. You can activate the feature and set that level with the Voice Max Loudness Settings.
The feature is disabled by default but if you choose to enable it, its “Standard” default setting should work well and provide VOIP audio that is neither too quiet nor loud. If you want, you can explore the other options, but be warned — these will definitely alter the VOIP volume you experience more significantly. Choosing a quieter setting might make it harder to hear quieter players at greater distances, and choosing a louder setting will make VOIP loudness more like how it sounds when the setting is “off” (loud, that is).
There’s a reason these settings are labeled “Experimental” and are disabled by default: we’re still getting them just right! However, we wanted to see how they did out in the wild, and give players access to this tool, even if it defaults to “Off.”
See below for exact Settings Menu details:
- Voice Loudness Enable: Activates or deactivates the feature (defaults to Disabled)
- Voice Max Loudness: Specifies the maximum volume the system will allow to be sent to the listening player. Options:
- Quietest
- Quieter
- Quiet
- Standard (default)
- Loud
If you’d like to try out this experimental feature, this is what it looks like in-game:
Thanks for reading and see you out there!
Goalie Ping Advantage
RAD_DavidN: A new netcode path has been added to give goalies a 150ms window to tell the server they caught the disc. Previously, if the server saw a goal it would count as a goal even if a user saw they caught it on their screen. This should give a slight buff to all goalies who enable this new setting in Private Matches. As a final note, Goalie Ping Advantage works best in Private Matches when Self Goaling is disabled.
Known Issues
- The Voice Loudness page in the game Settings will be missing when opening the game for the first time after downloading it. The current workaround for this is to close and then restart the game.
Bug Fixes
- Fix for barriers not working as intended in Dyson.
- Fix for getting stuck in transitions while Echo VR doesn’t have input focus.
- Various crash fixes.
This page was updated on 7/14/2021.
