Gears of War 4 Update Penalizes Quitters, Improves Spectator Mode, and Adds 2 New Maps

2017 has begun and The Coalition is rolling out a brand new update for Gears of War 4 to encourage players to stop quitting matches, watch pro players play, and new maps for fans to enjoy.

The biggest change in the update comes in combating quitters. To encourage players to finish matches players who frequently quit will be suspended from matchmaking for 5 minutes, either from leaving a match early or inactivity.  Here are all the patch notes:

Combatting Quitters – Phase 1

Players leaving a Core/Competitive game early will now be suspended from matchmaking

Players can rejoin a Core/Competitive match within 5 minutes of being dropped or quitting from an option in the main Versus menu

Rejoining and completing a match will remove the matchmaking suspension time

Added functionality to display matchmaking suspension time (including to your Squad Leader). You will not be able to matchmake if your Squad contains a suspended user until their suspension has completed.

Spectator Mode Improvements

Player Cards have been re-designed to take up less visual space

Player ammo and reloads are now visible in the Spectator Mode UI

Crosshairs are now visible to Spectators

Respawn timers are now displayed on Player Cards

Weapons holstered onto a player’s back can now be seen in Spectator Mode

K’ keyboard button now removes spectator inputs UI and/or the black bar altogether

‘L’ keyboard button toggles Player Cards to the far edges of the screen or normal positioning

‘V’, ‘B’ and ‘N’ keyboard buttons now jump to specific Escalation hill battle cameras

Fixed an issue with X-Ray vision not rendering as intended

Made X-Ray a ‘toggle’ rather than ‘Press-And-Hold’

Fixed the ordering of players in Competitive UI to match the Lobby Order

Pressing B while holding Jump Cam now cancels a pending Jump Cam

Added new mapping for specific face buttons for specific camera modes, listed below:
Gamepad ‘A’, Keyboard ‘Z’ -> Switches to Player or Follow Cam. If already in Player Cam, switch to Follow Cam and vice versa. Last used mode is saved as your preference when switching back to Player/Follow Cam from other modes and when using the Jump Cam
Gamepad ‘X’, Keyboard ‘X’ -> Switch to Ghost Cam
Gamepad ‘Y’, Keyboard ‘C’ -> Switch to Battle Cam

Other Fixes

Skill ranking will now be visible again at the end of match scoreboard

Added ‘Spawns Swapped’ UI when spawns flip in Versus

Increased the Energy cost of the Hammer of Dawn Strike in Horde

Increased Escalation Win and Loss bonuses

Increased Escalation Win Bounty Rewards

Tuned criteria and rewards for King of the Hill Bounties

Fixed an exploit that allowed players to teleport Energy to their position in Horde

Squad Members can immediately see when they have been removed from a Squad

The ‘Horde Skills’ UI Notification alerting you to new skills now works correctly

Horde Skill cards can now be equipped and unequipped in the Horde Skills inventory

Added UI notification to show new Cards in your collection when opening Gear Packs

Improved UI on Turret Heat bar

Improved performance when switching tabs in Card view menus

Added slider to control how long text chat remains visible after a message

The Longshot can no longer shoot through walls if positioned through a 90 degree corner

Added a Duplicates Only filter to the Inventory Menu

Fixed an issue where audio slowly cut out in Horde

Fixed an issue allowing grenade effects to continue into the next round in Versus

Removed an exploit allowing users to break the map boundaries in Horde on Foundation

Fixed an issue that allowed players to respawn out of the map boundaries in Horde

Fixed an issue where offline customization would reset if user changed characters

Miscellaneous fixes and improvements

Gears of War 4 is now available on Xbox One and Windows 10.

Source: The Coalition

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
Twitter | YouTube | Facebook