Gears of War 5 - Gears 5

[paul]

Welcome to What’s Up, your weekly update on all the latest news, game updates and more in Gears 5 and beyond.
Here’s What’s Up in Gears this week:

• New Characters Coming Wednesday! TU1.5 Patch Notes
• New Weekly Hive: Venom Run
• New Versus Event: Arms Race Unchained
• Curbstomp Comeback!
• Weekly Supply and Store Refresh
• Quit Penalties
• What We’re Working On

NEW CHARACTERS

New Characters will arrive with Title Update 1.5 on Wednesday!
Keep an eye out for a full announcement tomorrow, where we’ll reveal the entire lineup of Characters coming in the update along with a first-look trailer.

TU1.5 UPDATE NOTES

Title Update 1.5 falls out our usual monthly cadence of Title Updates to add gameplay and functionality to support the new Characters, making it smaller than our usual Title Updates.
FEATURES

• New Characters

CHANGES AND FIXES

• Re-Ups will now also show in Scoreboards, Matchmaking Lobbies, the Social Panel and in the Post Match flow
• Re-Ups no longer show 3 Re-Ups higher than you are in lobbies
• Tour of Duty Medals now show their Stars value again
• Re-Rolled Objectives will no longer award the same objective
• Quitters in Ranked will now have a much reduced impact on Skill Rating calculations for other players in the lobby
• Fixed a bug causing the Gnasher to use PVE tuning values for bullet magnetism range
• Fixed a bug causing the Gnasher to still have bullet magnetism while ADS while Aim Assist is disabled
• Fixed a bug causing bullet magnetism to still occur when using the double zoom on any weapon while Aim Assist is disabled
• Bunker: Jack can now fly more consistently in the underground areas behind the ladders
• Exhibit: Improved KOTH Spawns
• Exhibit: In Escalation, the two center line placement diamonds no longer overlap
• Forge: Incinerator now deals 1 million damage, reliably killing any creature or boss inside
• Forge: The Incinerator no longer destroys any power taps or fortifications inside
• Forge: Updated the location of some Power Taps
• Reclaimed: Updated the location of some Power Taps
• Harbor: AI can now correctly path into spawns
• Bleeding damage will no longer be applied to the Matriarch unless she is shot in her weak point
• Explosive Hijack no longer damages fortifications
• Frag Grenades and Lancer GL Grenades now count towards the Get 15 Explosive Weapon Kills Tour Objective
• Bumper scrolling through Characters in Escape and Horde lobbies will now allow you to tab through Characters regardless of duplicates present.
• Tour of Duty: Power Hoarder Medal and Power Tour Objectives now include Power Tap, Forge and shared pickup gains rather than just your own pickups
• Fixed an issue that could cause only a single placement award to be granted even though a user is tiered in multiple modes
• Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause Quickplay playlists to skip the voting phase after the end of a match
• Fixed an issue causing Character descriptions to display too low down in the Customization screen
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Host to enter first person view in Campaign under certain conditions
• Fixed an issue where clicking Mark followed by Zoom too quickly would cause zoom to not initiate
• Re-Up 20 now shows the correct roman numerals
• Minor bug fixes and improvements

Unfortunately, a last minute issue was discovered with blocking Flashbangs working through cover in the hours prior to submitting this update to certification. Due to this, we were unable to resolve this as planned for Title Update 1.5, and we hope to resolve it in time for our next Title Update.
We have another update on the way in early November to add further improvements and bug fixes. Stay tuned for more information over the coming weeks.

ESCAPE

The next weekly Hive to drop for Escape is known as Venom Run!
In this one act Hive, the focus is on pushing forward fast thanks to an aggressive Venom behind your back.
Tougher Mutators include Ultra Stopping Power to slow down your advance, Even Faster Venom that is barely slower than your roadie run speed and Deadly Close Range that adds additional threat to your close quarters encounters.
The weekly Escape Hive will be playable from our weekly reset at 10am PT on Tuesday, October 15.

VERSUS

Arms Race Unchained is this week’s Versus Special Event playlist!
In Arms Race Unchained, you’ll play a shorter high action version of Arms Race in a first to 2 rounds format. The Arms Race Unchained weapons list focuses on new weapons introduced in Gears 5 with a couple of favorites mixed in – from the Lancer GL and Claw, to the Talon and Breaker.
Arms Race Unchained will be available with the release of Title Update 1.5 on Wednesday, October 16.

CURBSTOMPS ARE BACK!

In case you missed the news, every player in Gears 5 will get this Curbstomp free once Title Update 1.5 arrives on Wednesday!
We’ll have more Curbstomp variants to come in the future, including some old favorites we know you want to see make a comeback.

SUPPLY CONTENT DROP

Supply Drops are another way to earn rewards in Gears 5, dropping you content from the Supply Pool every time you fill your Supply meter just by playing the game!
Here’s this week’s drop of Supply content available ~4 hours after the release of Title Update 1.5 on Wednesday, October 16:
Character Skin: Classic Kait
Weapon Skin: Relaxed (Lancer)
Execution: Pummel (Snub)
Expression: Laugh (Global)
Blood Spray: Slip Hazard
Mark: Sword
Banner: Harbor

WEEKLY STORE ITEMS

This week’s Weekly Store Items include a variety of new items including an homage to the spinning Curbstomps of yore and a Gears 1 themed Jack skin!
Weekly Store Rotation

• Gears 1 Jack Character Skin – 800 Iron
• Roundhouse Curbstomp Execution – 500 Iron*
• Arm Cross Expression – 500 Iron
• Animated Rainbow Swirl Snub Weapon Skin – 400 Iron
• Retro Wave Snub Weapon Skin – 250 Iron

*All content shown other than the Roundhouse Curbstomp Execution will appear at the Weekly Reset time of Tuesday at 10am PT. The Roundhouse Curbstomp Execution will appear in the store with the arrival of TU1.5
Don’t forget, next Tuesday will see a brand-new collection of content available in the store while this week’s collection goes away.

QUIT PENALTIES

Combatting quitters is one of our top priorities at the studio, and with our launch settled, step one was to re-enable time suspension penalties for players who quit.
Behind the scenes, we track quits with a value known as RCR (Ranked Completion Rating). Every match you quit adds a significant number of points to this, and finishing matches will reduce your RCR total gradually over time.
For players who have a disconnect or issue that causes you to leave once in a blue moon, you’ll be fine. For players who quit often, you’ll see an increasing time penalty for your actions – from hours, to days to months.
If you enter into Ranked, you are committing to playing your match in full, win or lose. Don’t quit or face the consequences.

SIGNING OFF

The team is continuing to work on a number of improvements and fixes for Gears 5 that you can track on Gears5.com/Status.
We are also continuing to examine your gameplay feedback to determine future changes, and we already have active conversations on a number of hot topics throughout the community such as how we can improve Tour of Duty for Operation 2.
For now, we hope you’re excited to get out there and earn some new Characters as we approach Operation 2 this December! Stay tuned for a juicy trailer just before we go live on Wednesday to give you a taste of these new Characters in action.

See you online,
TC, out.

Gears 5 | What’s Up – October 15th 2019

The first wave of Heroes and Villains characters for Gears 5 are about to arrive this Wednesday with the introduction of the COG Gear, DeeBee, Warden and General RAAM!

WHAT ARE CHARACTERS?

In Gears 5, a character is their identity – for example, Fahz, RAAM or Swarm Sniper are all considered Characters.
A character skin is usually a version of that character that looks different from their base look – for example, Batista is a skin for Marcus.
Unless otherwise listed, COG Team Characters – known as Heroes – come with unique gameplay for PVE with new Ultimates and Skills, along with Arcade Passives and Loadouts.
Swarm Team Characters – known as Villains – come with mirror versions of COG Team Arcade Passives and Loadouts to ensure you can always access the gameplay style you like in Arcade no matter which team you end up on (as long as you’ve unlocked the character)
And of course, outside of the gameplay they bring, all unlocked characters can be used as skins in standard Versus Multiplayer.
Now that you know what characters mean, here’s a look at each of the four characters joining the Gears 5 Roster.

COG GEAR – HERO

Abilities In: Arcade, Escape, Horde
PVE Style: Support
PVE Ultimate: Team Revive – Instantly revive downed allies
PVE Passive: Enemies that die with your mark reduce the cooldown of your Ultimate
PVE Skills: 13
Arcade Passive: Bullets For Blood – Receive Active Reload Ammo for Kills
Arcade Loadout: Lancer, Talon, Flashbang
Arcade Weapon Tree: Retro Lancer (3), Random (5), Claw (6)
The backbone of the COG Army, the COG Gear is a strong support character that brings teammates back into the fight!
Their Ultimate Ability instantly revives teammates from across the battlefield, saving the day in both Horde and Escape. Their PVE Skills focus on supporting allies, including providing Stim to teammates and tougher damage resistance to keep them in the fight.
The COG Gear also comes with two base skins of the COG Gear – the Male Private Vermelo and the Female Private Casan!

DEEBEE – HERO*

Abilities In: Arcade
Arcade Passive: X-Ray – See nearby enemies through walls
Arcade Loadout: Lancer, Talon, Smoke
Arcade Weapon Tree: Boltok (2), Overkill (4), Breaker Mace (6)
*Note: Due to DeeBee units being present in PVE modes, the DeeBee is one of the only exceptions where a COG Team Character (ie. Hero) will not have gameplay abilities in PVE.

WARDEN – VILLAIN

Abilities In: Arcade
Arcade Passive: X-Ray – See nearby enemies through walls
Arcade Loadout: Lancer, Talon, Smoke
Arcade Weapon Tree: Boltok (2), Overkill (4), Breaker Mace (6)

GENERAL RAAM* – VILLAIN

Abilities In: Arcade
Arcade Passive: Bullets For Blood – Receive Active Reload Ammo for Kills
Arcade Loadout: Lancer, Talon, Flashbang
Arcade Weapon Tree: Retro Lancer (3), Random (5), Claw (6)
*Note: Players who earned Gilded General RAAM through the Road to Gears 5 Challenges in Gears 4 will automatically unlock General RAAM as a Character for Arcade, including the base RAAM Character Skin.

ADDING CHARACTERS TO YOUR COLLECTION

Adding characters to your collection can be done one of two ways – earning them via the new Totems system or purchasing them directly through the Gears 5 Store. We believe each character will take approximately 10 hours to earn – even faster if you’re good!
If you don’t feel up to the grind, each character is also available for purchase for 500 Iron. The choice is yours!

EARNING CHARACTERS

Totems are your new way to unlock Characters in Gears 5, opening up a path of Challenges to complete in order to add the Character to your collection.

CRAFT YOUR TOTEM

Under the new Totems section in the Customization Menu, spend 100 Scrap to craft the Totem of any Hero or Villain character you want to unlock.

COMPLETE CHALLENGES

Equip your Totem to activate tracking for character challenges associated to the Totem. Note: Only ONE Totem can be active at a time and must be equipped to track progress.
Each Character has five objectives to complete in order to unlock. In this Character Drop, all Characters have the same four objectives with one unique objective themed to each character. Note that these do NOT track together – only for the equipped Totem.
Here’s a hint: XP and unique objectives can be earned while you’re completing your other objectives – so double up to get them done faster.

OBJECTIVES

XP: Earn 60,000 XP in Versus, Horde or Escape
Versus: Complete 40 Rounds of Versus
Horde: Survive 50 Waves of Horde (does not need to be in one match) – any difficulty
Escape: Survive 18 Acts of Escape – any difficulty

UNIQUE OBJECTIVES

COG Gear: Get 200 assists as a COG Team character in Versus, Horde or Escape
DeeBee: Get 100 Reject kills in Horde or Escape
Warden: Eliminate 10 Wardens in Horde or Escape
General RAAM: Execute 30 COG characters as a Swarm character
Once you complete all Challenges, your character will unlock!
Characters are also available to purchase for instant access via the Gears 5 Store for 500 Iron, including 3 days of Bonus Boost.

CHARACTER SKINS FOR LOCKED CHARACTERS

In future Tours and the Store, character skins will become available for characters you may have yet to unlock.
While you can purchase or acquire these Skins like any other, you need to have the character unlocked in order to use them. If you do end up in this situation, your character skins will be ready and waiting the second you unlock the character.
Speaking of character skins, we know you’ve been keen to get your hands on the Gears 5 Onyx Guard. In our next Tour of Duty, coming in December with Operation 2, you can earn the Onyx Guard skin for the COG Gear. The wait is almost over Gears fans!

All 4 Characters are available beginning today at 12pm PT! Who will you unlock first?

Gears 5 | Operation 1 Character Drop