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Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Update Makes Its Shotgun More Predictable

You can count on the Gnasher.

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Gears of War: Ultimate Edition has received a new patch, doing away with the randomness that the Gnasher (the game's shotgun) previously had.

More specifically, the gun's spread is now consistent, rather than being random. This should help to alleviate some of the frustration that could stem from firing the gun, which couldn't be depended on to do a specific amount of damage each time.

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"We wanted to improve the Gnasher by focusing on producing a consistent shot, so players can better predict and estimate the damage they are doing to opponents," the patch notes explain. "We’ve done this by changing the Gnasher from a randomized pellet spread to the same shape spread. This will help reduce occurrences where you do less or more damage than expected, and also help players calculate their damage expectations during gunfights more accurately and consistently."

Also related to the Gnasher, the multiplayer idle state has now been removed, which could cause your first shot to be off the mark if you went for a certain amount of time without aiming or firing.

Other changes in this update include adjustments to spawn locations in Blitz and King of the Hill matches on four maps (War Machine, Gridlock, Process, and Old Bones) and tweaks to the requirements for a pair of Achievements. The full patch notes, along with explanations from the developers at The Coalition for some of them, follow below.

Ultimate Edition launched in August for $40, and is currently one of the many games you can buy bundled with a new Xbox One. In addition to continued support for it, The Coalition is currently at work on Gears of War 4, which Ultimate Edition buyers will get beta access to next year.

Gears of War 9/23/15 update notes:

  • General improvements to the consistency of the Gnasher.
    • Gnasher pellets now always shoot in a consistent pattern.
    • Removed "Idle State" from MP which could cause shooting trajectory to be more random.
    • Fixed a bug where some Gnasher shots were reporting as headshots incorrectly

The Coalition Commentary: "We wanted to improve the Gnasher by focusing on producing a consistent shot, so players can better predict and estimate the damage they are doing to opponents. We've done this by changing the Gnasher from a randomized pellet spread to the same shape spread. This will help reduce occurrences where you do less or more damage than expected, and also help players calculate their damage expectations during gunfights more accurately and consistently.

Additionally, we've also removed the "Idle State" from Multiplayer, which could result in your first shot landing off center if you hadn't aimed or fired your weapon after a small period of time"

  • THIS! IS! ANNEX! and Nub Pwn3r Achievements can now be earned in any ring based game mode such as King of the Hill, Blitz, and Annex
  • THIS! IS! ANNEX!--Complete 100 matches in ring-based game types on Xbox Live and capture 3 objectives in each match.
  • NUB PWN3R--Win 20 rounds in ring-based game types on Xbox Live by shutting out the opposing team
  • Achievement descriptions have been updated to reflect these new unlock conditions.

The Coalition Commentary: "We heard our fans loud and clear to spread these achievements across all ring game types--and we've also modified the achievement to work in one round scenarios which is how most of our ring types are available in public. For players looking to get some more playing time with others in on Annex, we're currently looking at potential ways to incorporate Annex in future playlists or community events."

  • Improvements to player spawn locations for Blitz and King of the Hill on the following maps:
    • War Machine
    • Old Bones
    • Gridlock
    • Process

The Coalition Commentary: "We've made further improvements to Blitz and King of the Hill spawns based on the feedback from the community as well as our ESL Pre-Season cup series. We've adjusted some of the spawn locations on the four maps listed to provide a more competitive, fair experience--such as removing the front door spawn when the frags are the active hill on Mansion, or the top-side spawn on War Machine."

  • Fixes for invisible collision on some Multiplayer maps including-
    • Mansion: Area around Boomshot
    • Clocktower: Debris at top middle of map

The Coalition Commentary: "The two Mansion changes were made to restore some of the legacy Lancer angles around Boomshot, allowing for more variety in the way teams can challenge and pressure teams for power weapon control. The Clocktower fix also restores some angles in the top side over the debris that were previously available in Gears of War 1".

  • Reduced flinching (camera shake) when taking damage in Multiplayer to be consistent with Gears 1
  • Changed Re-Up system to retain unlocked characters when "re-upping" (Player Level in Multiplayer)
  • Spectator Mode now displays match score in the HUD
  • Audio improvements for footstep and movement sounds behind the player
  • Improvements to server stability
  • Fixed a crash when muting players with a spectator in the game
  • Fixed a bug where dead bodies could sometimes cause players to roll instead of move into cover
  • General bug fixes and improvements

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