Shadow the Stalkers in Force: Season 9
Hey strangers!
It’s already August and you’ll soon see why we’ve decided to say goodbye to summer in a big way! By the way, do you know what else is in August? That’s how it is, it is our anniversary this week! We’re celebrating our second birthday in style, and we couldn’t be happier to share our excitement and gratitude with the community as we launch a new season packed with loads of cool features. But before we go over what Season 9 has in store for you, let’s take a look at what happened during Season 8, shall we?
Season 8 launched in April when we featured a group of outsiders called Trappers who live in harmony with nature and can be identified by their animal face paintings and inventive backpacks. We brought a new Battle Pass with two new packs: the Hunter Premium Pack for $ 69.99 and the Prey Pack for $ 19.99. We also added a new weapon (the PH M82 sniper rifle) and 2 points of interest (loot events) in each encounter! After all that, update 8.1 in late June saw us introduce Legacy Seasons, starting with Legacy Season 1: Preppers. In addition to the Legacy Seasons, Update 8.1 also offered the “Thank You Benefit Package”. Some annoying bugs were also fixed, such as the gun crosshair bloom bug, the bug where your gun gets stuck after firing the locked container, the rapid fire bug, and the compass issue.
Now, let’s move on to the good stuff!
Season 9: Stalkers
We listen to your feedback and consider your request for a more military season with darker clothing shades. This is why we are proud to present this military / apocalyptic side of the Outlands.
The Stalkers are the children of the apocalypse. They were born to survive in the Outlands and you can recognize them by their gas masks, muzzles, rusted weapons, and hauntingly glorious title. They also come equipped with grenades and the formidable A74-KSU, So be sure to follow them across the land and discover all the improvements they bring!
Speaking of the A74-KSU, it’s a powerful assault rifle, so give it a try in the Outlands (literally) and let us know what you think!
The next big thing has come
The grenades are finally here! We know you have been requesting them for a long time and the wait is finally over. Some players may remember when we had them in the early stages of game development. But we decided to remove them, do a full review, and reintroduce them once they were ready. And that moment is now!
First of all, they are fragmentation grenades or “frag”, which means that if one explodes near you, you can be killed instantly! Since they are a “Special Issue” rarity, You can only bring 2 to an Encounter. They are the perfect tool for expelling other players who might be hiding inside a house or vantage point. They can help in situations where you feel like you might be getting into an ambush because you can throw a pre-emptive grenade. If there’s someone waiting for you, the grenade will definitely get them moving. Now you can go to the Encounters better prepared for these types of stalemate situations. Ultimately, they will bring some versatility to the game and allow players to pursue a faster-paced style of play. So be sure to use them whenever you get the chance.
You can throw a grenade inside a house through an open window or through glass! You can also choose how you want to throw the grenade. If you are going to make a long throw, an arc will appear to show you the trajectory of the grenade. However, be careful of obstacles in the way, as the grenade may bounce off objects. You can also go for a short distance fast pitch. In case you’re wondering if an armor plate can save you from a grenade, the answer is no! But if someone throws a grenade near you, the game will show you a warning sign, giving you precious seconds to escape the blast’s range in one piece.
One of the difficulties with the grenade development process was the fact that we don’t have animators on the Vigor team. As a result, we had to work with the animations that we had. Fortunately, one of our scripters, who is very skilled at animating things, was able to take our existing animations and make them look smoother and more natural.
Performance improvements for next-gen consoles
Here’s another thing our community was asking for that we managed to present in Season 9: Xbox Series S Players | X will be able to enjoy Vigor in 60 fps! And this is just the beginning. What we plan to do next is use the extra power we get from the Xbox Series X to improve image quality. Our team would like to increase the target resolution, improve the quality of shadows, and sharpen the overall image. But we still have to look into it. However, even though we’ve brought 60 fps to the Xbox Series S, it doesn’t give us much room for additional enhancements like the X Series does.
Now is the time to test the delete mode
We decided to give Elimination mode some love with this season, which is why a lot of big changes were made. First of all, we turn off team killing! Hurrah! On top of that, we add more weapon loads before each round. Last but not least, we present a kill box as a reward, similar to the Shootout box!
This is how the delete box works. Each member of the winning team will receive an elimination box, as well as XP rewards based on their score. The only way you will not receive any rewards is if you keep shooting your teammates, which will result in 0 XP and no box. The disposal box has 6 slots, each of which represents a different item that you can receive. Please refer to the table below to better understand how box rewards are distributed.
- Slot 1 Reward: Weapons
- Slot 2 Reward: Consumables
- Slot 3 Reward: Weapons / Materials Plan
- Slot 4 Reward: Means
- Slot 5 Reward: Weapons and consumables
- Slot 6 Reward: Food, Cosmetics, Crowns
The question now is, “What if I’m on the losing team?” Don’t worry, you won’t leave empty-handed! If your score is higher than 1000, you will receive a Common Box, as well as an XP reward to make up for the time you spend in Elimination mode. This applies to all team members except those with a score below 300.
More bug fixes and changes
You will be happy to know that Portable signal detector bug fixed! The PSD will no longer ping a random person in the lobby, but the one closest to your location as intended. Additionally, we’ve also fixed the Legacy Season visual bug where a box icon is displayed instead of the reward icon once you claim it. We’ve also made some fixes to the AK-M and RPK throwbacks, so they should feel a lot smoother now. The latest batch of fixes includes the fix on the H-BAR bi pod trim with sights, and in the crafting menu you can now equip 1-by-1 consumables as default instead of stacks. Last but not least, we have changed the “git gud” text while the leaderboards are loaded with something more appropriate.
Check out our new location
Good news for people who want to play Vigor in Czech. You can finally do it with Season 9 because we’ve added the Czech localization to the game! You might find it funny that a Czech game developer didn’t include the Czech language in the game from the beginning, but better late than never, right?
Stay tuned for more anniversary events
We want to thank you again for staying with us through thick and thin for the past two years! We really appreciate our community because without you and your valuable feedback, we could not endeavor to constantly improve the game and provide you with a better gaming experience.
We have prepared many fun and interesting activities during our anniversary week, so keep your eyes open for more information. And for another year full of vigorous events!
We hope you’re as excited as we are for Season 9 and that you enjoy throwing a grenade or two.
As always, see you in the Outlands!
Vigor
Bohemia Interactive as
Survive the apocalypse, Vigor is a free looter shooter game set in post-war Norway. * Shoot and loot in tense encounters * Build your shelter and vital equipment * Challenge others in various game modes * Play alone or fight together
