There was a server pack update this afternoon and I want to run through the changes.
The main purpose was to enable some extra leaderboard features and, in particular, fix the raid-detection issue I flagged in the last announcement. It's a complicated system so there may be more fixes to come, but you should start seeing it working more clearly from here. More on that below — but we also took the chance to make some changes to the Group system equipment list, which I'll start with.
## Group system — helmet comms
These changes are meant to fix the problem of certain items feeling useless next to the M-TEC helmets. The new T65 helmet, for example, is technically the best vanilla helmet now (better protection against zombies), but our group system made the M-TEC better because you can fit the battery and headset for the group function. After today's update the M-TEC is still the best for group comms when fully kitted, but the T65 now behaves as if it has built-in comms — you'll see group members out to 250m, and this stacks on top of tactical goggles etc.
We've given the same built-in comms to the tanker helmet and the flight helmet — they're weaker on protection, so this gives them a reason to exist.
Finally, for the Gorka helmet fans: the visor attachment used to be purely cosmetic, but it now works like tactical and ballistic goggles — you'll see teammates' 3D pins up to 150m with line of sight (and it stacks if you're also wearing the headphones).
As I said last time, the leaderboard is new and we'll be tuning the scoring for a while, so your score may have shifted over the last 24 hours. It'll almost certainly change again, but for now we felt it leaned too hard on PvP, so several survival-related stats are worth a lot more.
One new stat that probably needs explaining is the perfect zombie kill (added for a bit of fun — if anyone's got a better name, let me know). You earn bonus points for a cleanly executed melee kill: a stealth kill, a one-hit kill, or a kill that is exclusively from headshots, provided no damage is taken. Chain enough of them together and you earn more, and there are new Hall of Fame entries for best streak, most per wipe, and percent of knife kills that are perfect. If I can get the stats mod to detect zombie headshots from guns, we may add a gun version later — for now it's melee only. There's a "What's this?" link on your stats card and a full write-up in the leaderboard guide if you want the details.
Also on zombies: running them over in a vehicle now scores less than the base rate — though still more than it did before.
## Raid scoring
The fault that was stopping raids being detected properly should now be fixed. The system will also penalise scores for raids it judges to be soft targets or offline attempts, while boosting scores for attempts on bigger, tougher bases. New this version: it can now assess bases with no territory — working out how complex they are and whether it's an online or offline attempt.
## XDCDayZ.com guides
The guides are all up to date as far as I can tell, with some new sections (note these currently cover Chernarus and Sakhal only — Deer Isle guides will follow):
https://www.xdcdayz.com/guides/group-mod
https://www.xdcdayz.com/guides/leaderboard-guide
https://www.xdcdayz.com/guides/account-guide
If you've got an artistic streak, feel free to grab some screenshots or make an image we could use for the guides. The plan is to rotate images over time, and several currently have only a placeholder, so anything for those would be a big help (just tag me in #channel). And since some guides were trimmed and edited down from our originals, let me know if you spot an error.