A new update went live on PUBG for PC and its mobile version a few days ago alongside the Xbox One version and they’ve brought a lot of changes with it. From adding new features to improving gameplay experiences to fixing already-known bugs, these updates contain a lot of things that’ll surely make the game much more enjoyable for its players.
PUBG has been steadily increasing in popularity ever since its 2017 release, and now it has millions of players around the world. The game’s popularity started blowing up even more when Tencent acquired the rights to distribute the game in China. PUBG is the originator of the “Battle Royale” mode and is the more graphically demanding and competitive brother of Fortnite, however, not as popular as the latter because it’s not free.
What makes PUBG so great is that it has a dedicated team of developers constantly working hard to improve the game as it shows because PC is not the only platform to receive a huge update, the game’s respective mobile, and Xbox One versions also received substantial updates. Moreover, they constantly work hard to ensure a fair experience by keeping a strict check on cheaters. Only a few months ago, they tracked and banned thousands of people cheating, which shows their dedication towards the game. The latest update also gives a glimpse into this, as the update has a lot of stuff that needs to be discussed. Both the updates are now live and here are the changes:
The PC update
PC users received a substantial update which saw a lot of additions, fixes and game balancing. Perhaps the most important aspect of Update #12 for PC users was the balancing part as the weapons system went through a massive overhaul and a lot of balancing was done here and there in order to bring weapons on par with each other.
Since PUBG is very competitive, and it’s a skill-based game, it was very important to implement weapon balancing and even PUBG corporation acknowledges this which is why they kept this update on the test server for as long as they did.
The weapon balancing
The above image illustrates the changes made to several weapons of different types in update #12. A lot of guns have received a buff, whereas some guns, primarily the ARs have been nerfed. It seems that the best type of weapon to have come out of this update is now the shotgun as they have increased range and damage, making them deadly in close encounters.
SMGs have also received a buff as they weren’t doing the job in short range combat. The primary purpose of SMG weapons is to use their high rate of fire in close range combat in order to get kills more easily. The high rate of fire and medium damage compensates for the lack of range and sometimes, damage. The new update makes sure they do exactly that as SMGs are now more effective in short range encounters than they were before.
ARs were considered pretty over-powered in the game and there were one or two of them which were considered “the best” or must-haves. If possessing one gun has a significant advantage over the rest, then it becomes unfair, which is why nerfing ARs was the right choice. However, they haven’t been nerfed too bad that they’re completely useless. Now, instead of having just one Universal gun that you always want to use, you have multiple choices like it’s supposed to be. Each gun offers a distinct advantage over the other, given the situation and the latest weapon balancing ensures that this is the case. Most of the AR changes are to reduce the damage of some, increase recoil in some but most of them also receive buffs to reload time to compensate.
PUBG has also added new animations and hit effects for grenades. Previously, grenade damage inflicted upon an enemy was more dependent on the grenade’s knockback effect instead of the actual explosion, however, that has now been changed to put more emphasis on the grenade explosion alongside new animations. There have been some weight changes too which are as follows:
- Frag Grenade: Previous: 12, now: 18.
- Motolov cocktail: Previous: 18, now: 16.
- Smoke Grenade: Previous: 16, now: 14
- Stun Grenade: Previous: 14, now: 12
Gameplay changes
Balance changes aside, there are a ton of new things that were introduced in this update. Fans will be excited to hear that a new weapon is making its way to PUBG, known as the SLR. The DMR will be available just like any other gun is available, through the loot system of PUBG. The gun uses 7.62mm bullets and will have a 10 bullet magazine, use it wisely! (or just extend it to 20 through an attachment). The SLR is more powerful than some of the other guns but that balances out as the gun has significant recoil. If you’re good with recoil control, then this might become your next favorite weapon.
There’s a new vehicle incoming as well, known as the ‘Mirado’. A classic four-seater muscle car, it’s only limited to Miramar which can be found in downtown areas of the map or main city streets. The Mirado is another versatile addition to the already existing cars in the game. Each car serves a different purpose. For example, the van is extremely resilient, but it’s slow when taken off-road. The pickup is great for off-road travel and the Mirado is just great for speeding through the map. Thus, each car has a different purpose given a different scenario and the Mirado adds to that.
New attachments
A new weapon is being introduced in the game, but so are new attachments alongside updates to existing ones. Here is the full list of new and updated attachments according to the PUBG patch notes:
In the picture, you can see that some of the existing attachments have been modified a bit and that there’s a new attachment for shotguns. The 6x scope could be handy for long-range weapons too. Moreover, attachments can really amplify your gun’s performance, therefore adding more options to choose from makes for more competitive matches and thus, making the game more dependent on skill rather than over-powered weapons.
Select a Map feature
This latest feature lets you choose a map of your choice when dropping down to play. They’ve also improved the UI for team mode and perspective selection. As of right now, here is how Map selection works:
- The host is able to select one of the two maps available (Erangel or Miramar). If a map is selected, then you’ll play on that map.
- If both the maps were selected, then you’ll be randomly assigned to a map.
The design of the Map Selection menu can and will most likely change in the future as developers look to add more maps to the game. However, for now, the menu is simple enough to choose from two maps. Other than these features, there are some bug fixes and some improvements here and there. All of the patch notes can be read from here.
The Mobile Update
The mobile update is huge because it addresses a big issue for mobile gamers. PUBG mobile has gained a lot of popularity amongst Android and Ios fans as the mobile version is actually not bad and performs nicely as well. Given how demanding the game is on PC, nobody expected the game to work fine on phones, especially the underpowered ones, however, the developers seem to know what they’re doing and the game has been a massive hit.
One big concern for people was that since the game will be played on a smartphone/tablet, all the controls would be on the touch-screen. Movement, shooting, crouching, every single thing is controlled on the screen. Now each phone has a differently sized screen and some people just can’t seem to get used to the touch controls. Moreover, PUBG is the type of game which has so much stuff going on at the same time that it gets really hard to play well on a mobile screen.
Due to the touch-screen problem, PUBG isn’t fully cross-platform, unlike Fortnite. The latter allows its mobile players to match up with players from console and PC, whereas PUBG only allows players on phone to party up with players on the same platform. However, that’s a good thing because mobile users would be at a large disadvantage since nothing can beat the precision of a mouse and keyboard, or even controller especially if you’re using a touch-screen.
However, PUBG has addressed the issue by coming up with an emulator for PUBG mobile that will run on PC. Many people play PUBG Mobile because they don’t have the PC requirements to play it on PC, or they might not have the Xbox One. The PC emulator will let you play PUBG Mobile on your PC, letting you play it with your keyboard and mouse, thus getting rid of having to play with the touch-screen.
It’s important to note that matchmaking is limited with the emulator currently. However, that may change in the future as the emulator is currently still in its beta-testing phase. The emulator is huge because it finally solves the problem many PUBG on phones had regarding the controls. They don’t even need a high-speed PC in order to play because they’ll be playing the mobile version.
But PUBG makes sure that none of its game goes unfair so even with the inclusion of emulator, the system matches the players of its own kind i.e emulator vs emulator.
PUBG is planning big things for its game as its rolling out huge updates to all of its platforms. The PC version received a significant update, the mobile version did, and there’s a huge update coming on the Xbox One as well. As far as the mobile version is concerned, if you want to download the emulator, you can do so from here.
The Xbox One update
The Xbox One only recently received update #13 but it seems like PUBG isn’t done as the test servers are back up for what appears to be update #14. The test server came online for the weekend and went back offline on 8th May. Although the testing didn’t last long, those who did take part have noted a lot of good changes that were implemented, which are also available in the Patch notes.
Whenever update #14 rolls around, it seems that it’s set to be a significant one. One of the most important aspects of the upcoming update will be the graphical improvements and the implementation of special settings for color blind people. The latter is a great step taken by the game developers, who will also introduce new crosshair settings, new emotes and more customization for your vibration settings.
There are a bunch of other utility options being added such as the ability to check the strength of the controller’s vibration. You can also disable aim acceleration by setting it to 0. The guide for the game controller function has also been updated. The different scopes in the game have also been modified slightly to make them more realistic.
Moreover, they’re also improving the “leave matchmaking” UI by just holding the X button. Transition speeds between menus have also been increased, making the experience much better. Emotes were highly requested by the fans and they are prominent in games like Fortnite. It seems that Emotes are finally getting added to PUBG. According to those who played on the test servers, you can access the Emotes menu by pressing LB+RB at the same time, and you can then assign an emote by using the right analog stick. By pressing the right analog stick down afterward, you can use your selected Emote.
Apart from this, it seems that a lot of known issues and bugs with the game will finally be fixed with update #14. There was this exploit where people could see through walls by laying down (going prone) near houses with stone steps in Miramar, this will be patched in the next update. Another regarding punching while sprinting has been fixed, alongside many other minor bugs and glitches.
Although it seems nothing ground-breaking or massive is coming for Xbox One users for PUBG in update #14, the update still works on a lot of things, improving the overall experience for the player. Introducing Emotes and settings for color blind players is a step in the right direction, and making tiny improvements here and there for the menu and UI helps ensure players have the best experience possible.