Beta 2.5

Better late than never. An update that took a bit too long in development, saw the long-waited release of the Sharpshooter, alongside four new maps, two of which that have been in development hell. While not the most important update in retrospect, its release halped increase the mod's population.

History

Shortly after the release of Beta 2.4 several announcements revealed content that only saw their releases after Beta 2.5. On March 7th 2011 it was revealed that announcers were in the works, showing Lord Jaldaboath's work as the Knight announcer.[1] The announcers would saw their release on Beta 3.0, in October 2014.

On April 1st 2011 CrazyTalk revealed what was coming to Pirates, Vikings and Knights II in the near future; his post reveals a 3D model of the Man-at-Arms' mace, screenshots of the Booty map Sacrilege and low quality voice clips of a voice actor stated to voice the Cleric and redo the Archer and Skirmisher's voices, though the latter part was meant to be an April Fools joke. Apart from that it was announced that the Sharpshooter (then still called Sniper Pirate) and the Man-at-Arms were planned to be released for the next update, alongside Sacrilege, Cara and Tortuga, then recently brought back into development by Niknak. Most of the content shown in the post planned to be released for Beta 2.5 ended up being either delayed or unreleased, except for Tortuga.[2]

After months of no news, a video appeared online showcasing the Sharpshooter, as well the maps that would eventually be released with the update, such as Tortuga, Gravedanger and Town.[3] Three months later a video showing a match in Tortuga was released.[4]

On April 2012 the very first PVKLive streams were released on April 15th and 22nd,[5][6] a move from the dev team to build hype for the release of the Sharpshooter. The streams were a success and more streams were made years later. Both streams were uploaded on Peepeewilson's YouTube channel.

The update was finally released on October 23rd 2012.

Gameplay

For the first time in the mod, headshots were possible, though at the time it was a mechanic only available for Sharpshooter's rifle.

Shields were further updated; they now have a cooldown after shield bashing to prevent spam. Pushing kegs are now much easier.

Other weapons received some tweaks, such as heavier weapons like the two-handed sword and axe taking longer to charge but having faster swings.

Classes

Berserker

The two-handed axe got heavily tweaked, faster at swinging but dealing with less damage and shorter range. His movement speed increases and the special meter fills faster.

Captain

The cutlass deals with more damage and moves slower. The blunderbuss has now a limited range due to its pushback and the special attack now clips through teammates and doesn't explode right when it touches them. His animations were also updated.

Gestir

The Seax's damage got lowered.

Heavy Knight

The two-handed sword got a slight increase in the damage but swings slower now. The armor got increased a bit.

Huscarl

To differenciate from the Berserker's two-handed axe, his' got a slower swing but deals with more damage and has a longer range. His health and armor got slightly increased.

Skirmisher

Like the Captain, his animations were updated.

The Sharpshooter

Main article: Sharpshooter

The Sharpshooter is the third Pirate class released and eighth class overal. Similar to the Archer, it has low health and he's quite slow, but his arsenal provides crucial backup for his respective team. He wears a rifle that deals heavy damage but has longer reloading times than the blunderbuss, a flintlock pistol that reloads faster than Skirmisher's and has better accuracy, and a small dagger that, while not ideal to defend, it causes a fair amount of wounds in other classes.

Maps

Island

Several fixes on the map were made, including an invisible block that made everyone reach the Vikings' spawn area. Several unreachable spots were sealed so that players don't throw chests there; they are now teleported back to the player.

Saints

The map's respawn points were updated.

Tortuga

Main article: Tortuga

Tortuga was introduced in this update after being teased for several years. The Trinket Wars map takes place at a caribbean town during sunset.

Town

Main article: Town

Similar to Tortuga, Town was teased several years prior until its official release. The players fight inside a medieval town during a stormy night. On Sudden Death players must stay inside the buildings to avoid being struck by lightning.

Gravedanger

Main article: Gravedanger

Gravedanger is another Last Team Standing map released in this update, this one taking place at a haunted graveyard in which souls rise up when the bell tolls.

Townsquare

Main article: Townsquare

A brand new Booty map set at an urban location, which layout is more labyrinthine than any map released ever or since.

UI/GUI Improvements

This update saw several improvements regarding the mod's interface. Its main highlight is the brand new main menu screen, which is used to this day. The content is all stored in a big scroll on the left side of the screen, while a player model of the class holding a signature weapon stares at the user's mouse cursor and follows it. A new background image is used, this time being a deserted island similar to the one in Island.

Loading screens were updated with artwork representing their respective maps. To accomodate several monitors, fullscreen and widescreen versions of the loading screens were added. While they don't have the actual resolution of the screens, due to Source Engine's limitations, They're can adjust to 4:3 or 16:9 resolutions with no compression artifacts or loss in quality. Loading screens with the deserted island from the main menu are used for custom maps. Apart from that an overlay surrounding the loading screens were added, with the header showing the map's name and the bottom side showing hints, the loading bar and an animated image of a rolling keg.

New music tracks

Several new musical tracks, provided by Rejenorst and Bergan Mencarini, were added to the main menu screen. These tracks play according to their respective classes and/or teams;

Misc.

Shaders for all classes were updated. Several new particle effects for explosions and impacts were added.

Parrot Colors

A new form of player customization was added; Players can now add dyes to their parrots, which now use a tint mask that makes it possible. Just like player titles, the parrot dyes are unlocked through achievements.

Changelog

New Class

Sharpshooter - Weak and quite slow but carries heavy firepower - Carries a long range rifle, artisan flintlock pistol and a fancy dagger. - As his special attack the Sharpshooter can throw his powder horn like a grenade.

New Maps

bt_townsquare - A small peaceful wealthy town is raided by Pirates, Vikings, and Knights. - Booty mode.

lts_gravedanger - Graveyard where the dead spirits yearn for more blood and battle. - Last Team Standing mode.

lts_town - Night has landed on the streets and merchants come out to sell their apples. - Last team standing mode.

tw_tortuga - The infamous pirate haven has some unusual visitors from times passed. - Trinket Wars mode.

Existing Map Changes

- tw_saints spawns fixed - bt_island * Palm trees are no longer able to be climbed. * Viking spawn is unreachable. * Chests cannot be thrown into unreachable areas anymore.

General Changes

- Updated shaders for players. - New effects for damage and explosions. - Trinket wars particle effect replaced with a new low-cost effect. - Updated animations for Captain and Skirmisher. - Headshots added (SS rifle only). - Jumps are now trackable. - Updated main menu and loading screen. - Several new music themes. - Several new achievements, including 10 for the sharpshooter. - Customizable colours for parrots, gained by unlocking achievements. - Muting now also removes voice commands texts from the chat window. - Updated Steamworks API. - Added minimum and maximum values for rates. - Master server legacy mode is off and heartbeat on by default. - Several other bug and exploit fixes, including: * Chest bonus score exploit fixed. * Decals and dropped weapons are cleaned at round restarts. * Fixed quirky font action on some resolutions. * Scoreboard shows up to 24 players. * Fixed players near their carrier having the wrong trinket effect. * Fixed many errors causing character models to show "T" poses. * Several missing and misplaced voices fixed. * Added missing delays on round cheers. * AFK status is now also checked against button presses and changes in view angle.

Combat and Game-Mode Changes

- Shield bash now has a short cooldown. - Kegs are more easily pushed by shields. - Large weapons are now generally slower to charge up but have faster swings. - Spawning trinket can now be passed to a random teammate by pressing G. - Chests now spawn quickly back into chest zone if just thrown out. - Chest pickup delay removed. - Chest carriers have 10% damage reduction to incoming ranged attacks. - Developers and testers have the Midas touch.

Class Balance Changes

Berserker - Sword/axe combo easier to land strikes with. - Big axe is much faster but deals less damage and has shorter range. - Movement speed increase. - Special bar is easier to fill.

Huscarl - Two handed axe is slower but does more damage and longer range. - Slightly increased health and armor.

Gestir - Seax damage lowered.

Heavy Knight - Claymore is slightly slower but does a bit more damage. - Small increase in armor.

Captain - Cutlass is a bit slower but does more damage. - Blunderbuss has a limited range for its pushback. - Special shot now passes through teammates.