Outriders first week on the market was met with a ton of controversy but the developers have just revealed initial patch notes looking to address the most glaring issues.
While server issues kept players locked out of Outriders for a good chunk of the first week, those that were able to sink their teeth into Square Enix’s new third-person shooter were hit with dozens of critical bugs.
From performance issues to more devastating inventory wipes, there’s been a good amount of backlash online. Just days after release and the developers even announced an ‘Appreciation Package’ to make things up for players enduring early stages of the launch.
One week removed from the global release and the very first patch notes have now arrived too. With plenty of fixes on the way, here’s a rundown on what the Outriders community can expect in the coming weeks.
Outriders stability improvements across the board
The first component to Square’s April 8 developer update outlined new details on the first proper patch. Outriders is set to receive its initial update at some stage next week, they confirmed.
“We are doing our utmost to deliver you a stable patch as soon as possible,” the devs explained. “This is why we are not yet committing to a patch release date. We will let you know as soon as we have a confirmed release schedule.”
The contents of this update focus primarily on performance. A handful of hard-crash fixes are being implemented, along with “many other minor fixes and improvements.”
Once the first patch goes live, matchmaking should feel smoother than ever. Additionally, cross-play will be re-enabled as soon as all systems are on the same patch version.
Every fix expected to ship with the first patch can be seen below.
PC & Console Platforms:
- Once platforms have been updated to the same patch version, cross-play across platforms will become viable again
- Overall stability improvements for the matchmaking service
- Crash Fixes
- Will Fix a multiplayer crash that could result in client players having their inventory wiped
- Will fix the crash when completing the “A Bad Day” side quest.
- Will fix the crash that occurs in No Man’s Land when your language is set to Spanish (Yes, we know. Video game code is a magical thing).
- Will fix crash on launch issues
- Will include many more “random” crash fixes
- We are confident that these fixes will address the majority of crashes reported, as there are only a handful of root causes but the crashes they generate appear in a number of places.
- Will fix the HUD disappearing in certain cases
- Will fix bugs that interfere with players re-spawning in multiplayer Expeditions
- Will fix bugs with players getting stuck on geometry (including when using Gravity Leap) or falling out of the world.
- Will change the default matchmaking setting from “Open” to “Closed”.
- You will still be able to manually change this setting to “Open” through your game settings
- This change will prevent players from joining games where the host didn’t intend to play in multiplayer. It will also cut down on AFK lobbies
- This will also help improve matchmaking times, as the queues will be less likely to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of constant matchmaking requests generated by “open” games.
- Many other minor fixes and improvements
PC Specific:
- Will Fix a performance issue where GPU is not being fully utilized. This should help with stuttering and DX11/12 issues
Outriders Inventory Wipes being fixed soon
When the first patch arrives, players can expect a “one-time” event that aims to restore lost inventories. An exact date isn’t quite locked in just yet, but “the most valuable tiers of items lost” should be recovered through this sweeping update.
Therefore, any Epics or Legendaries you may have lost in the first week could soon be returned to your inventory. Any gear lower than that and it’s “unlikely” you’ll see it back anytime soon. For higher-tier items that might be missed by the restoration, developers will “help on an ad hoc basis.”
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While the devs are aiming for this one-off fix to take place in the near future, they addressed a scenario where it might not occur at all. “We will try our hardest to make things right, but we unfortunately cannot make guarantees,” they said. “We may run into technical difficulties that delay our work.”
So if you’re hoping to have your inventory restored over the coming days, it might not be wise to hold your breath.
Balancing updates in new Outriders patch
Outside of bug fixes, a separate team has been hard at work on balance adjustments. These changes don’t require a proper patch, so expect to see them implemented fairly soon.
For starters, historian, bounty hunt, and monster hunt quests will be different moving forward. Each subsequent completion will no longer reward Legendary items. This tweak aims to prevent “exploit behavior” as players repeated these activities a great deal throughout the first week.
Moreover, specific enemies have also had their rewards adjusted. Tooka Beast, Splittooth, Sandshifter, and Coldclaw will be less “generous” moving forward.
Bullet-based builds are being scaled back immediately in Outriders. These setups have dominated the first few days of play due to their easier paths to the ‘top tier.’
From ability cooldown increases to massive power reductions, bullet abilities will no longer be anywhere near as effective.
General Balance Notes:
- Historian, bounty hunt, and monster hunt quests no longer grant Legendary items for each subsequent completion
- Adjusted loot on specific enemies: Tooka Beast, Splittooth, Sandshifter, and Coldclaw
- Chem Plant – Expedition time for Gold/Silver/Bronze adjusted to 650 / 1150 / 1500 seconds (Previously: 957 / 1303 / 1650)
- Boom Town – Expedition time for Gold/Silver/Bronze adjusted to 390 / 589 / 776 seconds (Previously: 422 / 607 / 792)
- Critical Rating Damage Multiplier on Tactical Assault Rifle reduced to 165% (Previously: 175%)
- Critical Rating Damage Multiplier on Marksman Rifle reduced to 250% (Previously: 300%)
- Duration of the Massacre AP buff has been reduced to 3 seconds
Bullet abilities (Twisted Rounds, Blighted Rounds, and Volcanic Rounds):
- The base cooldown of the Twisted Rounds skill has increased to 25 seconds (Previously: 16 seconds)
- The Trickster’s Hero Tree nodes: – Disruptive Firepower, Scion of Power, Outrider Executioner – have had their power reduced to 35% (Previously: 50%)
- “Vulnerable” status – Power reduced to 15% (Previously: 25%)
- The Technomancer Hero Tree node -“Damage Against Poison” – has had its power reduced to 15% (Previously: 30%)
- The Pyromancer Hero Tree Node – “Trial of Ashes” – has been reduced 15% extra damage (Previously: 30%)
On top of the specific changes outlined above, a series of “upcoming patches should help alleviate crashes and improve stability.”
Expect a much smoother experience in Outriders with each and every update.
