3:50pm EST - The client and server update are out along with the devblog!

2:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

1:00pm EST - Both or EU Main and Medium servers just wiped (more info on bottom of this post). No sign of the update yet...

10:30am EST - It’s update day, and although there isn’t a ton of new stuff making its way to main this week, the team has completed a bunch of progress for the anticipated forced wipe on November 3rd.

Tune in to our update stream starting at 2pm EST and follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let’s get into it...

Update summary video

Here's an update summary video from Puddy!

Component system taking shape

Helk continued his progress on the new component system this week. Due to replace XP on November 3rd, this next iteration of how items unlock makes everything available to craft from the start, provided you have the proper components (which are found in loot around the map).

Coming under scrutiny after a commit which makes early game items require components, this system could really go either way in my opinion. If component drops and crafting recipes aren’t balanced properly, or if groups are able to monopolize certain component spawns, this new way of doing things could turn into an unfulfilling grind quickly.

Given proper balance, however, I think components could provide some real benefits. First, it could extend early gameplay through limiting the crafting of high tier items. Along with that, switching servers no longer requires you to unlock blueprints again - something both BP and XP could not boast.

This is all to say, it’s too early to tell. One thing you can count on, Helk and crew are working their asses off to make the system awesome, and will be quick to add critical balance after its launch.

As it stands, most of the crafting recipes have not been updated yet and there's a good amount of work to be done before this is ready for prime time. Here are some specific changes we’ve seen this week:

Water and double shotgun require pipes
Barrels drop components
Updated early game items to require components (mainly just shotguns and crossbows at the moment)
Added SMG and rifle body
Added components: spring, sewing kit, metal pipe, and metal blade.

Here are a couple screens of the new crafting recipes:

Workshop live on prerelease

Garry has merged his workshop progress into the prerelease branch, along with tweeting a teaser video. This video reveals the new, more straightforward process for creating and editing skins for the game.

This does not, however, mean you'll be painting smiley faces and dongs on all your armor then immediately seeing it and game come November 3rd. There will still likely be an approval process for all skins before they actually show up on the community market. That said, this makes it much easier for creators to make new skins, and should also make it easier to get those skins live in the game. Oh, and as an added bonus, there are 3 new articles of clothing: shorts, collared shirt, and tanktop.

Here are some screens of the workshop process:

Cave improvements

Vince has continued his work on the natural cave system, removing water from the various flooded parts along with adding ore spawns throughout. Like the components and workshop, these caves will not be live on the main branch till November 3rd.

Optimizations and networking fuckery

Andre continued his daunting task of miscellaneous optimizations and fixes. Like the past several weeks, we're seeing various NRE fixes and optimizations on both the main and prerelease branches. Stay tuned to the devblog for all the details.

New muzzle flashes (main)

Every weapon has received a new muzzle flash effect this week. Live on main today, these new muzzle flashes are less obtrusive, making it easier to see who you're shooting at.

New world model drops (main)

You'll be seeing less burlap sacks on the ground after the update today as several new world models were added including: LR300, double barrel shotgun, bota bag, scope, silencer, holosight, muzzlebrake/boost, and building planner. Here are some screens:

Other things

New textures / model for the recycler
New sounds for the MP5 deploy / reload
Fixed some MP5 clipping issues
Ramp music intensity up during loading screen
Voice limiting tweaks + some sound optimization
Progress on dungeon art and industrial props

EU Main / Medium early wipe

We're trying something new today: wiping EU Main and Medium at 5pm GMT (before the update hits). This comes after several requests to do so given the time difference and optimizing gameplay on wipe day. If it is well recieved, we will do this other weeks (unless it's a forced wipe).