Round modifiers change the game.

In GSA there are 3 battle royale rounds per match. At the end of each round, all players will now vote on a round modifier. The modifier that wins will become active for the rest of the match, affecting all players equally and changing the rules of the game.

In the screenshot above we see that there were 2 choices after I won the warmup.

Crate Race: After opening 30 crates, you'll get 2 vendor upgrades.
360 No Scopes: Spinning 360 degrees briefly makes your next bullet do +25 damage.

360 No Scopes got more votes because it has more meme potential, and so for the rest of the match everyone was spinning in circles frantically trying to one-shot one another.

Modifers don't just add roguelitey variety. They also adds strategic depth. For example, with 360 No Scopes you might want to pivot to a sniper build, because sniper rifles have a long delay between shots anyway, giving you time to do a quick twirl before your next shot. Sticking with an SMG however won't let you make much use of this modifier, because you'd be better off just aiming at the enemy as you spray.

Once you decide to pivot to a sniper build, you'll then start making other choices in-game, like taking sniper-friendly skills that give you faster bullets. Before you know it, you're running a completely different build to the previous match, all because this wacky modifier won the vote. But had Crate Race won instead, you could go for something totally different (like movement speed skills to loot extra fast).

GSA's gameplay was already quite varied due to the random skill drafting, but with 3 round modifiers in each match and thousands of possible combinations, no two matches will ever be the same.

The cool thing about this feature is that if you win the round, you get far more influence over the vote. You not only get more votes than everyone else, but you get to decide what is even voted upon in the first place! This is determined by your modifier build.

In the screenshot above you can see I created a build for the Assassin class (the 6 modifiers shown on the right). Whenever I win a round while playing as Assassin, this build is used, and 2 of the modifiers are randomly selected for voting. In this case it was Crate Race and 360 No Scopes.

But I would have been happy for ANY of these modifiers to show up, because I specifically equipped modifiers that synergize nicely with the Assassin class. This synergy potential makes round wins really matter. Because no matter what gets voted on, you can be sure that as the round winner, the next modifier that appears will combo nicely with your class and playstyle.

With this version, there are 54 modifiers in the game, with more to be released soon! These modifiers are split into 18 commons, 12 rares, 12 epics, and 12 legendaries. Players start with all the commons unlocked and can start creating builds immediately. But to get the rest, you'll need to spend shards.

Shards are a currency that you mostly get from leveling up your classes.

When you get 100 shards, you can spend them to supercharge your next flask and make it drop a modifier. Doing this gives you a 10% chance to drop a legendary modifier, a 35% chance to get an epic or higher, and a 100% chance to get a rare modifier or higher. In the screenshot above I unlocked the legendary Thug Drops modifier, which changes how gangs work (more on gangs below!). Now I am free to equip Thug Drops to my modifier builds and give it a chance to appear when I win my next match.

It is also possible to get new modifiers without spending shards, but this is extremely unlikely. It's just a 0.2% chance to get a random legendary modifier for free in any flask. This is just for fun, and shards are the main way. Also, if you hit a duplicate modifier in the flask, that's OK. Those 100 shards will get turned into 100 ENRICHED SHARDS instead, which lets you buy legendary modifiers directly from the shop.

The thing I love about this system is that you share these unlocks with others. You don't just unlock Thug Drops for yourself, no. It is a round modifier that affects everyone in the server. This means it's not just veteran players with 100+ hours in the game that get to experience this content. Whenever they win, we all get to try out some of the crazy legendary modifiers that they've unlocked.

It also means that if you're a more casual player, you can still get lucky, unlock a sweet legendary modifier, and be one of the only players in the entire game who has the ability to make this specific modifier appear. There will be many players who don't have that modifier, and haven't even played it before. And then suddenly when you win your next match, there it is. And if you're feeling generous, you can vote for this new legendary modifier just so they can try something new. In this way, unlocking new modifiers doesn't just benefit you, it benefits the whole community.

There are also weekly modifiers. These rotate every week, and they are added to everyone's build. So you have your 6 equipped modifiers, and then the 2 weekly modifiers bring the total up to 8. These are randomly shuffled up and then 2 are chosen for voting each round. This means that we'll see the weekly modifiers more often, and if you want you can strategize around them.

In the screenshot above we see:

Gold Rush: 30s into the round, multiple rare loot crates will land in the safe zone.
Skill Scan: Reveal nearby enemies for 5s after casting a skill.

Gold Rush combos nicely with Scavenger, as they duplicate every bit of loot they pick up. And Skill Scan synergizes with Caster, as they tend to run more active skills due to faster cooldowns. If you're feeling sweaty and want to try grind the leaderboards, it might be worth focussing on one of these 2 classes for a couple of days to get an edge! These change every Friday and Monday morning.


This version takes GSA one step closer to GTA with the addition of Gangsters!

You'll sometimes find a gang of 4 gangsters guarding some loot. If you capture the loot by standing inside the yellow circle for 5 seconds you will gain +$5000. Unless of course the "Thug Drops" modifier mentioned above is in play, in which case a far more valuable supply drop will land instead.

However, these gangsters are tough, and will kill you fast. You normally need to kill all 4 gangsters before trying to capture their loot. They have 200 health each and high damage. You can't just run in blind or you'll die. You need to actually think about how you take them out, ideally smart and one at a time. You might even want to take some AoE skills like Radiate or use Molotovs to take them out faster.

One of the gangsters will have a red backpack that is emitting smoke. When this gangster is killed he will explode, dealing 100hp damage to nearby enemies. This might be a good way to kill the other gangsters fast, if you can line them up just right.

But it's risky. The risk is that this explosion will also aggro the remaining gangsters permanently. This makes them chase you forever across the map and gain infinite vision of you too. This is a huge risk, because gangsters hurt and the last thing you need in this city is to make more enemies. So if you go for the backpack guy, make sure you take the rest out at the same time! Otherwise, maybe save that guy for last.

- Skill builds now only have 8 slots instead of 12. The middle 4 slots (for Epic and higher) have been removed for simplicity. The old system was too complex, and with round modifiers now ALSO getting their own builds, it was too much.

- The first active skill gives +30 max hp when you claim it. This rewards players who take at least one active skill, which ultimately makes the game more fun and varied for everyone.

- Brought back the mission arrow that shows the nearest mission civ. This helps new players always find something to do. Don't know how to farm? Just follow the arrow, do a mission and repeat. Just like in GTA2.

- Reworked the real-money prices of Uranium, Starter Packs and Legendary Packs. Also changed what's in them. They have the same general value as before, but the Starter pack now gives Epic flasks instead of XP Flasks, and the Legendary Packs cost $10, but gives more uranium than before. The Deluxe DLC is unaffected.

- You can now auto-open flasks to drastically reduce clicks. Right click flasks to queue them up, then click open. The game will go through all the flasks in the queue, spending ACID, shards and magnets as needed. This is useful for players who have stockpiled a lot of ACID and flasks and can't be bothered to click a bunch of times. Now you can queue them up and let it run while you go get a cup of coffee. Any new round modifiers or legendary drops will be indicated for you when it's done.

- Added a feature that lets you spend uranium to entirely swap all the DNA from one class to another. View it in the skills page. This helps players who invested all of their ACID and flasks into a single class (usually Assault as that's the starting one), but then feel trapped. You can now shift all of that data onto another class to try something new.

- Added some sick new menu music!


[MINOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES]

- We only lose half our XP instead of all of it on death.

- We get just +1 score for overtime kills instead of +2 score. The focus is now more on your level.

- Players in general move, shoot and reload very slightly faster.

- Bullets now "attach" to the ground so you can shoot enemies behind slopes.

- Random skills mode now gives +10% instead of +20% cash and XP.

- The requirements for the "earn trophies" daily challenge is doubled. But the 4th daily requirements is halved.

- Vendor upgrade costs now increase by $3000 instead of $2000 per purchase.

- Civs and cops no longer use pistols against you at wanted level 1, even if you shoot them.

- Level ups only give +5 instead of +10 max hp.

- Everyone spawns with 20% shield, which goes up to 60% after 4 kills.

- Improved bot pathfinding and difficulty.

- Added new civilian missions.

- We can now carry up to 5 nades instead of 4 at a time.

- Chemicals restore charges every 40s instead of 60s.


[CLASS CHANGES]

- Heavy's ROF perk now gives 1.0% ROF per level, but +3.5% when below 50% health (instead of a flat 2.5% all the time).

- Caster's active cooldowns restore +50% instead of +40% faster.

- Criminal no longer goes undercover and looks like a cop. That perk is replaced. Criminal's new perk is called "Shifty Civilians" and will cause the nearest civilian to teleport to your location when you shift (25% of the time).

- Scientist's gain +$500 instead of +$1000 for deaths nearby chemicals.


[SKILL CHANGES]

- Backtrack healing now ranges from 20% to 50% instead of 20% to 80%

- Blade Mail protection now ranges from 9 to 27% instead of 10 to 40%, but it begins at 40% health instead of 30%

- Medical Supplies nerfed to have healing and throw go from 6 to 24 instead of 8 to 32

- Mana Shield protection now ranges from 8 to 32% instead of 10 to 40%

- Boots of Travel now kicks in after 0.7 instead of 0.8s

- Shrapnel damage now ranges from 24% to 96% instead of 20% to 80%

- Venom Shot seeking speed is now 70 instead of 50

- Illicit Income gives 2x cash and XP for all levels

- XRay Vision now reveals slightly more players

- Blade Fury now does 2x damage vis civs/cops/gangsters

- Shockwave heals 1 less health per bullet for all levels

- Bullet Time seeking now ranges from 10 to 70 instead of 10 to 40 degrees/s

- Flying Dagger damage is now 85% to 115% instead of 70% to 100%

- Mirror Image gets +10 health


The next major feature will be a monthly battle pass. It will include a bunch of shards, ACID and other goodies in both the free and paid tracks. It will have fun weekly missions, and make it easier to unlock more round modifiers (and there will be a LOT more coming!).

I'm not sure exactly on the design of the battle pass yet, but I am sure that I don't want it to expire. If you buy it, you won't need to rush to complete it. You should be able to progress at your own pace.

Anyway, that will be a while away. And there are a lot more modifiers to create in the meantime.

Cheers and happy new year!
Ben (bencelot).