Title Update 1.11: Patch Notes
This patch introduces several free content updates, tweaks to online gameplay, improvements, and bug fixes and will be pushed to all platforms soon. It will also prepare the San Francisco Bay Area for the arrival of the Human Conditions DLC.
Because the Bay Area is very large, this patch is pretty hefty. As all of our online activities take place in a seamless world, we need to make sure everyone has the update so that we don’t split the community. The patch will be about 10 GB on both PS4 and XB1, and 14 GB on PC (PC-specific updates in this patch can be found at the bottom of the article).
As a final note, we’d like to add that all present and future online DLC content is available in Guest Mode. If you don’t own the DLC, but your friend does, you can experience that content with them by having them invite you through the multiplayer app.
Now, on to the free updates, gameplay tweaks, improvements, and bug fixes included in this patch:
New Content and Features
• New World Locations - In preparing for the Human Conditions DLC, many new locations have been added or updated in the world map. We’re not going to list them all out here, but once this patch drops you may want to go exploring. Tweet us at
@watchdogsgame to show us what you found.
• New Dances – Marcus loves to get down to his favorite tunes, and we thought it was unfair that he only had one move to express himself. We’ve added new variations to his dance emote that can be triggered by wearing different types of clothing.
• New Emotes – We’ve added two new emotes, Mock and Laughing, to give you more ways to communicate with other players. Just try not to, you know, be too much of a jerk about it.
• New Clothing – Speaking of expressing yourself, we’ve added 12 new clothing items across various shops, and 4 DedSec clothing items. Feel free to turn your swag on accordingly.
• New Ubisoft Club Rewards (For Honor & Ghost Recon: Wildlands)– Two new outfits will be available in the Ubisoft Club, featuring designs celebrating the upcoming For Honor and Ghost Recon: Wildlands games.
• Bounty Hunter Respawn – We want to keep you in the fight a little longer. As a hunter, you’ll now be able to respawn once if killed while in pursuit of a hunter. You’ll respawn a safe distance away to rejoin the chase, should you choose that option.
• Narrative – Without spoiling all of the fun in the patch notes, we’ll just say that if you’ve finished the story you should replay the last mission to watch a little extra something at the end.
Tweaks & Balancing;
Leaderboards
We realized the leaderboard interface and user experience was not optimal, and some players were confused about how it works. For example, some people wonder why their rankings are reset - it’s because there’s a new Season every 3 weeks with new rewards to win. You can
read this blog post explaining the leaderboard system in detail, but here’s what we’ve done to improve the overall experience:
• An end-of-season debrief message will display when you open the app for the first time after the season ends. It will show the rank you’ve achieved and the reward you earned for that Season.
o There will also be a notification in your phone when the Season ends
• We’ve also reworked the overall clarity and legibility of the Leaderboard App. We’d be here all day if we listed every specific tweak, but you should see a noticeable improvement.
Multiplayer
• [Online Invasions] Display Online Invasion download zone before it begins – We want the hacker to be able to visualize the download zone when the attack is initiated. This will give the hacker a tool to be more strategic in their approach, helping to further balance the mode.
• [Online Invasions] No more Online Invasion radius trolling – Previously, hackers could pop in and out of the search radius without penalty to avoid being detected by the victim. This is a frustrating loophole that we’ve closed by adding a decreasing delay to return to the zone each time the hacker exits the radius (or goes into the water).
• [Bounty Hunter] Reduced co-op respawn advantage in Bounty Hunter – We applied the same respawn timer to Bounty Hunter targets that is present in Co-Op Missions. This should make the gameplay more balanced when there are two targets.
• [Bounty Hunter] Removed escape disadvantage for targets in Bounty Hunter – The police AI are no longer given the last known position of the target when a hunter enters their session. Previously, this made it very difficult to escape the police in this mode. Escape time has also been reduced once the target loses line-of-sight from their pursuers.
• We nerfed shotties – We discovered through extensive playtesting and data analysis that automatic shotguns were overpowered in PvP modes. We’ve reduced the effective range to 40m to make it function more like an actual shotgun instead of a medium-range random sniper headshot generator. This adjustment also affects single player gameplay.
• IED/ElectroShock Notifications – You’ll hear a small noise when approaching either of these devices if they were placed by another player. You’ll still probably die if you’re close enough to hear it, but at least you’ll know what happened.
• Hackerspace camping addressed – It was possible for a player to barricade themselves in the shop adjacent to the SF Hackerspace since there’s only one entrance. Objects, a junction box and camera have been added to this area to minimize camping.
Other
• Shooting polish – We’ve made numerous improvements to the feel of shooting in the game, but nothing that impacts gameplay. Improved recoil experience, tweaks to bullet tracers, sound improvements, and more. Let us know what you think.
• Improved Car On Demand – Car on Demand vehicles will now spawn closer and in more convenient locations. Additionally, they’ll no longer spawn in redzones or mission layouts.
Bug Fixes & Performance
Stability / Crashs / Performance
• Improved performance and stability
AI
• When honking behind a car in the road, the car will switch lanes if there’s enough room
• Bug fix for AI sometimes entering wrong state of combat a non-lethal takedown
Game Systems
• Fixed an issue where the Bounty Hunter in the Bounty event would not be rewarded followers if the event was cancelled
• Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck inside the boats if he was hijacked by another player
• Fixed numerous edge-case scenarios where the player could fall under the map
• Fixed an issue where the Auto-Hack bullets would not always work as intended
• Fixed an issue where some of the hacking options became momentarily unavailable after distracting a civilian
• Using the Mass Vehicle Hack as a car passenger will now clear the way in front of the driving player
• Tweaks on controllers trigger ratios for vehicle acceleration
• Fixed minor graphical issues on some vehicles
Missions
• Fixed an issue where the introduction cinematic would not play when replaying operation W4tched
• Fixed a problem that made it possible to order a car on the barge in operation Shanghaied
Localization
• Multiple Localization fixes
Online
• Exploit : Fixed an issue that allowed players to hack vehicles without consuming Botnets
• Exploit : Fixed an issue that allowed coop partners to reveal the location of the hacker in specific conditions
• Multiple Leaderboard Fixes
Side Activities
• Fixed a visual issue with circuit terminal path visual in the Greenhouses Coop mission layout
• Fixed an issue that prevented some users from completing the side operation Zodiac Killer
• Fixed an edge case issue where a prisoner in a specific coop mission couldn’t be freed
World / 3D / Graphics / HUD / Menus
• Fixed an issue where two specific pairs of pants in the Stach & Vine shop (Corsaire - Blanc + Cendre) were not added to the inventory after purchasing
• Fixed collision issues in Alcatraz
• Fixed numerous minor graphic issues in the world
• Fixed multiple HUD and interface related issues
• A ton of world issues fixed. (Out of map, misplaced items, floating, etc.)
PC-Specific Updates
• [Video Options] SMAA T2x – This patch adds new Post-Process Anti-Aliasing mode – SMAA T2x, improved version of SMAA with a temporal component. As SMAA T2x uses temporal techniques, it doesn’t work with Temporal Filtering turned on.
• [Video Options] Dynamic Particles – This patch adds a new video option that allows you to turn off dynamic particles, like leaves and effects of bullet hits.
• [Controls Options] Camera auto-centering – This patch adds two new mouse & keyboard options that allow you to turn off camera auto-centering while driving and sprinting. Some default bindings were changed: [F9] and [F10] are now used for Mock and Laugh emotes. Song Sneak action is Uponow assigned on [Backspace], and Tutorial action is assigned on [Home].
• Fixed various minor issues with flickering, multi-monitor modes, UI, text and gamepad controls.
