The new patch for Evolve has recently gone live on all platforms. It brings not only Hunting 2.0 but also a new Hunter and a lot of balance changes.
Jack, the Jackal
As part of Hunting Season 2, Jack enters the game. The new Trapper not only builds his new weapons from the scrap of Shear, but he also has “a screw loose” in other respects. Occasionally, he falls into his second personality, the superhero “Jackal”. This leads to particularly funny dialogues before and during missions.
Apart from the typical dome, Jack possesses the following abilities.
- He has 4 pistols, of which he always wields two at the same time. Once the first pair is emptied, he automatically switches. He is the only Hunter who retains his full movement speed while shooting!
- The Survey Satellite is his tracking mechanism. It emits 3 search lasers in a radius of 100 meters. Upon contact with the laser, the monster, its last prey, or its tracks are marked – it even causes damage.
- The Repulsor is the counterpart to the known harpoons. Instead of holding the monster, the force acts against the enemy. This can stop a charging Goliath or force a Kraken to the ground. Depending on the direction the beam is used, the force acts differently.
Hunting 2.0
The biggest change is probably the introduction of the new hunting mode. From now on, you will no longer be assigned opponents that are at your level, but will be matched with players who have roughly the same strength through a more complex matchmaking system.
Whoever signs up as a monster will now also be guaranteed to play as a monster – the same applies to the Hunters (although in this case, the class is not guaranteed). At the same time, the game ensures that you never join an ongoing game – so you will never have to suffer unjustified defeats because you gained control over a monster with low HP at the last moment!
Personally, what I am pleased about: Deserters finally receive a penalty that hopefully is greater than “You may not join a new game for a minute”. How exactly this penalty looks will remain to be seen.
Balancing Changes: The Monsters are Less Monstrous
This time, the balancing changes affect almost all monsters. While the damage of monsters is increased at Stage 1, it is lowered at Stage 3 as a counterbalance. This also applies to the melee damage that monsters inflict: It will now appear at every stage as if the monster were at Stage 2. So it’s a buff for all young monsters and a massive nerf for all adult ones. As a small consolation, the monsters can now cover a larger distance with their travel ability.
The only exception to the monster nerfs here is the Behemoth, which is strengthened in almost all areas, as it still had a too high loss rate despite the recent changes.
For the Hunters, the situation is mixed. Lennox has to accept higher cooldowns for her abilities, and especially Slim suffers from his changes: The spore cloud lasts only 5 seconds instead of the previous 10.
Markov can now hit enemies even more easily with his lightning gun, as the radius of the homing beam has been increased again. Bucket enjoys a stronger rocket launcher with more ammunition and a higher attack range for his turrets.
The other Hunters have also been adjusted in some areas, but positive and negative aspects balance each other out, and the gameplay feeling should not change.
New Maps, Better Spectator Mode, Bug Fixes …
The list of full patch notes for Patch 5.0 is long. In addition to the already mentioned highlights, there are plenty of bug fixes, such as the strange bug where the Goliath could fly better after a jump than the Kraken. The spectator mode has also been worked on, so guests can now see which perks monsters and hunters have selected. For fans of the arena mode, there are even 5 new locations that take place on a map created specifically for this purpose.
All in all, Patch 5.0 seems to bring back a lot of what players have wished for and continues to shape Evolve into a good game.
