Update 2.0.0 | Season 2
2024.03.14
CNS PROUDLY PRESENTS…THE FINALS | SEASON 2
Welcome to a whole new season of the game, contestants!
Much has changed in and out of the arena, and you can expect lots more as the Season progresses. If you want the tl;dr version: Click here!
You may encounter some strange things this season now that CNS — a rogue hacking collective — has infiltrated the game show. While the showrunners fight for control over THE FINALS, you’ll fight it out with an array of game-changing gadgets and specializations that will require all contestants to rethink their strategies!
Here’s what to expect:
WELCOME TO SYS$HORIZON
CNS has introduced a new map: HORIZON. It’s a glitchy, colorful cityscape that’s partially loaded with floating geometric shapes. You’ll have plenty to explore and a night-time mode that glows under a neon sun.
POWER SHIFT
Power Shift is our brand new two-team mode. It’s a casual 5v5 where you’ll compete to escort a physical platform through the arena as it rips through anything in its path.
With short respawn times and the ability to switch contestants on respawn, you’ll be able to balance your team on the fly, as you fight to control the platform and be the first to deliver it across the finish line!
LEARN THE ROPES
An all-new tutorial set in the streets of Monaco lets new players learn the ropes, and provides a testing ground to try out gadgets, specializations, and weapons! Your friends who are new to the game can get onboarded quickly, and you can get a refresher if you’ve been away. It’s well worth a visit, even for the most seasoned contestants!
LOCK AND LOAD
We’ve got three new weapons entering the loadout this season!
JOIN CNS
UNLOCK THE BATTLE PASS
The Season 2 Battle Pass has 12 pages and 96 rewards — each page offers a theme that is our love letter to the early days of gaming! With each level, you’ll earn rewards from seasonal sponsors, and even some unsanctioned prizes from CNS.
Please don’t forget to snag the Seasonal bundle first, which provides a rebate on your purchase so you can get the exclusive Season 2 items.
BECOME A PROFESSIONAL
The Battle Pass isn’t the only way to earn rewards — we’re also introducing the new Career Circuit!
Each week, a new set of contracts will unlock in the career menu. These allow contestants cash in contracts and earn free rewards! At the end of each weekly set will be a sponsored prize. You’ll be able to fulfill contracts at your own leisure, but you’ll need to wait for each new circuit to unlock throughout the entire length of the season. The Career Circuit can increase your skill and coax you into trying a variety of new things throughout the season!
Of course, filling in your weekly career page will get you a free gift a week, but it also counts toward your Battle Pass progress so players can grind for completion, even late to the game!
BETTER MATCHES
We’ve given League ranking a major overhaul for Season 2!
The goal is to provide a much better quality experience when playing in the ranked tournament. You’ll get your starting rank based on your first eight rounds and from there, you’ll move up and down based on your performance. Contestants can expect to land between bronze and gold at first, and climb the ranks from there.
As you may know, we need a lot of people and time to test a system like this, so you should expect more tweaks and changes throughout the season, as we see it in action!
PRIVATE MATCHES
We’re also introducing our first version of Private Matches. In this early, barebones version, you’ll be able to organize matches with a minimum of six friends to play Bank It or QuickCash. We plan to expand this tool throughout the season with more features, so stay tuned! As with everything, we’ll rely on your experiences and your feedback. So don’t forget to give it a try!
All of this and more comes in Season 2 – RIGHT NOW!
Check out the details below:
NEW ABILITIES & EQUIPMENT
NEW MAP
Added the standard issue of the new SYS$HORIZON map
NEW GAME SHOW EVENT
Added the Retro Invasion 82 event to every map
NEW SPECIALIZATION
Dematerializer
Enables the user to create temporary holes in the arena construction
NEW GADGETS
Gateway
Throw out two Gateways to create a spatial link between them, enabling quick traversing through the arena
Data Reshaper
A “prop-swap” executable that lets players transform objects and deployed equipment from other contestants into canisters or decor
Reverse Gravity Cube
A throwable Cube that creates a limited-area gravity field where anything not nailed to the ground will elevate toward the sky
NEW WEAPONS
FAMAS - Burst Rifle - Medium
93R - Burst Pistol - Light
KS-23 - Slug Shotgun - Heavy
BALANCE CHANGES
Throwables, Explosives & “Nukes”
Added diminishing returns on damage from ‘nukes’ i.e. throwable objects that carry C4s, Breach Charges, or mines
For each source of explosive damage, including the throwable and starting with the highest, a damage modifier is applied to each instance in the sequence of 60% / 40% / 30% / 20%
Gas Canisters now immediately start to steer off their direct trajectory (aka “wobble”) when they have attachments
When picking up throwable objects with explosive gadgets attached (i.e. ‘nukes’ and ‘snukes’), said explosives will become un-armed
When the player lets go of the carried object, a re-arming timer for the explosives starts
The explosions from C4, Breaching Charges, and all mines that detonate while unprimed now deal 20% of their original damage
Decreased the health value of Propane Gas Tanks from 250 to 120
Fixed a bug with Fuel Barrels where they sometimes wouldn’t ignite when taking damage, for example from explosions or bullets
Dev Comment: Nukes were a hot-button issue in Season 1. The previous tuning made nukes exceed the intended time to kill by a large margin. Since our initial changes weren’t substantial enough to alter this tactic, we’ve added more ways to balance nukes moving forward.
Toxic Gas
Added a delay to the application of damage. Damage will now start to tick 0.5s after the player enters the gas cloud
Added new functionality that causes damage to ramp up gradually over time, from 30hp/s to 60 hp/s over 2s.
Increased damage tick interval from 0.1s per tick to 0.3s per tick
Dev Comment: We’ve always intended for Toxic Gas to act as an area denial tool. However, because of its immediate high damage and quick dispersal, it has been too potent. We’ve made changes to make Toxic Gas better fit the original intention.
Gadgets
C4
Decreased ammo count from 2 to 1
Decreased cooldown from 45s to 30s
Decreased minimum damage at the edge of the explosion from 93 to 75
Defibrillator
Added functionality that causes revived players to gradually re-materialize into the level over a period of 3s before fully loading back into the arena
Increased charge-up time from 0.6s to 0.8s
Increased starting health from a defibrillator revive from 40% to 50%
Dome Shield
Decreased maximum duration from 20s to 12s
Jump Pad
Increased cooldown from 25s to 30s
Motion Sensor
Moved from the Light archetype to the Heavy
RPG
Fixed an issue that made dispersion almost identical regardless of what state the player was in
Increased projectile dispersion in all non-aiming states
Reduced projectile dispersion when aiming down sights
Increased zoom-in time from 0.2s to 0.4s
Increased equip time from 0.45s to 0.5s
Increased unequip time from 0.35s to 0.4s
Sonar Grenade
Moved from the Medium archetype to the Light
Tracking dart
Moved from the Medium archetype to the Light
Decreased dispersion in most movement states by 50%
Increased accuracy by decreasing dart dispersion while aiming down sights from 30% to 10%
Added force feedback for controllers
Vanishing Bomb
Increased grace period on teammates from 0.75s to 1.25s
Increased total cloaked duration on teammates from 6s to 7.5s
Increased total cloaked duration on the user from 5s to 6s
Specializations
Recon Senses
Removed for assessment
Dev Note: we’ve concluded that Recon Senses have been detrimental to the game at large, and have decided to put it out of play for now. The specialization may return in some new form down the line, but only after a major rework.
Mesh Shield
Increased cooldown on a fully depleted shield from 12s to 15s
Increased starting health after full depletion from 200 to 250
Weapons
AKM
Decreased damage falloff minimum range from 35m to 30m
Decreased damage falloff max range from 40m to 37.5m
Decreased damage falloff modifier at max range from 67% to 55%
FCAR
Decreased damage falloff modifier at max range from 67% to 55%
Lewis Gun
Updated weapon recoil pattern to be slightly less accurate over time during sustained firing
M11
Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion when firing from the hip
M60
Updated weapon recoil pattern to be slightly more accurate over time during sustained firing
Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion while moving when firing from the hip
Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion while moving when firing while aiming down sights
Decreased accuracy slightly by increasing bullet dispersion while standing still when firing while aiming down sights
R .357
Increased damage falloff modifier at max range from 33% to 45%
Throwing Knives
Increased projectile speed from 120m/s to 138m/s
XP-54
Decreased accuracy by increasing bullet dispersion when firing from the hip in most movement states
EQUIPMENT MASTERY
Added new levels with rewards to the following equipment items:
WEAPONS
M11
SR-84
V9S
XP-54
DAGGER
LH1
SH1900
SWORD
93R
AKM
R.357
CL-40
FCAR
MODEL 1887
RIOT SHIELD
FAMAS
FLAMETHROWER
LEWIS GUN
M60
SLEDGEHAMMER
MGL32
SA1216
GADGETS:
FRAG GRENADE
FLASHBANG
GAS GRENADE
GOO GRENADE
PYRO GRENADE
GLITCH GRENADE
SONAR GRENADE
SMOKE GRENADE
VANISHING BOMB
BREACH CHARGE
STUN GUN
TRACKING DART
DEFIBRILLATOR
EXPLOSIVE MINE
PYRO MINE
GAS MINE
GLITCH TRAP
JUMP PAD
APS TURRET
ZIPLINE
BARRICADE
C4
DOME SHIELD
MOTION SENSOR
RPG-7
SPECIALIZATIONS
GOO GUN
HEALING BEAM
GUARDIAN TURRET
GAMEPLAY
Added an option for auto-sprint in the gameplay section in settings
Dev comment: You can turn on auto-sprint in the settings menu and select the time it takes for your contestant to begin sprinting. THE FINALS has a unique “omnidirectional sprinting system,” which means characters can sprint in all directions instead of the more common forward-only sprint. As such, we’d love to get your feedback on auto-sprint, and what additional settings would help you better customize your sprinting experience!
The preview arc for grenades now shows where they will detonate in their trajectory
Improved an issue where controller players would unintentionally drop carried objects when trying to interact. Now carried objects won’t be dropped when pressing the “Interact and Equip Weapon” button if the weapon is already equipped.
BUGFIXES
General
Fixed an issue where the scoreboard would not show the potential score for transfers in progress
Fixed an issue with flamethrower kills sometimes being attributed as self-elimination due to the flamethrower user being eliminated
Fixed dome and mesh shield not blocking projectiles and explosions correctly
Fixed broken interactions on the crane
Fixed an issue that allowed players to steal objectives through floors and walls
Fixed an issue where flashbang effects were not shown for a spectating player
Fixed an issue where explosive objects attached to another object would fall off if the primary object was destroyed. The explosive object attached will now also take appropriate damage in this situation
Fixed an issue where melee swings could damage occluded structures, for example: destroying the outside walls from inside an elevator
Fixed an issue on controllers where you would drop your held item if you pressed the primary weapon button while the primary weapon was equipped
Fixed an issue where minor props like chairs and tables sometimes did not get affected by explosives
Fixed a bug where the Mesh Shield regen would fail to start correctly
Fixed bug where radial damage falloff was incorrectly calculated for carriables and props
Fixed a bug where Oil barrels would not start burning from specific damage events
Animation
Fixed an issue where melee animations would look wrong when affected by status effects
Fixed an issue where dagger animations wouldn’t play correctly
Added new frontend idle animation for squad members equipped with LH1
Fixed the T-pose bug when players would use the sword lunge and swap items at the same time
Fixed a bug for the 1887 Dough Wrangler skin where the left hand would pop up on the screen when shooting while crouching
Fixed a bug that caused floating items to appear when riding ziplines
Fixed a bug where melee swings happening at the end of mantling would skip the animation
Fixed a bug where the character's arms would clip each other when wielding throwing knives
Fixed bug where ADS-specific weapon handling would play outside of ADS
Gamemodes
Improved spawn selection around active objectives
Fixed issue where players could push opposing teams to spawn unfavorable by not inserting the Cashbox
Fix for case where two squads spawning at the same frame could use the same spawn point
Levels
New & improved algorithm for map selection to ensure you rarely see the same map multiple times in a row — leaving matches will not affect the outcome of the selection
Improved lighting on nighttime Monaco
Reduced wind movement on vegetation in Las Vegas
Fixed issue where multiple level objects were overlapping each other
Fixed issue with some materials in the End of Round Celebration being drawn behind the team logo
Improved debris handling, letting it settle before being removed.
Improved lighting on Seoul Fog and Storm settings
Art
Fixed bug with Glint Tint skin not looking correct
Audio
Added voice lines for reloading
Improved footstep audio for players using pistols
Fixed a bug where objective pings would not play the correct audio
Fixed bug where match commentary would play in the practice range
Added sounds for squadmate down and the last player standing
UI/UX
Player cards are introduced in THE FINALS, these will be generated from your character customization and your chosen intro animation.
Added THE FINALS spinner to previously black screens when loading
Added new item gadget tutorial videos
Improved camera placement and framing for charms
Fixed so that your squad is centered in the tournament lineup intros and outros
Improved respawn timer feedback on teammate icons
Improved feedback on the “Press Start” respawn mechanic