PUBG LABS Report - Motor Glider

Welcome back to PUBG Labs intrepid survivors!

We hope everyone had fun flying the unfriendly skies above the Battlegrounds in our Motor Gliders. We’ve loved seeing your reactions to the winged wonders as you took to the air, and been more than impressed with many of your dog fighting abilities.

Thanks to the monumental amount of support we received for the Motor Glider we will be releasing it to PC Live Servers on January 15th. The majority of the mechanics for the aviary asset will remain largely the same as we described in our PUBG Labs: Motor Glider announcement with a few changes. Console players will be able to take flight with the launch of Season 6.

  • Motor Glider will be available on Erangel and Miramar
  • Motor Glider has two seats; one for pilot and one for passenger who can shoot and use any weapon from the backseat
  • Motor Glider will be spawned around the map
  • To takeoff, you must gain the necessary speed of 65 km/h then pitch up with the S key.
    • You’ll start to take off automatically once you hit 70 km/h.
  • Motor Glider’s fuel consumption rate is tied to the engine speed – the more throttle you apply, the faster you will run out of gas.
  • Motor Glider will be spawned with empty gas. Fuel up before starting the engine.
  • There’s no maximum altitude you can reach, the sky is the limit! But the engine will start losing power the higher the altitude you are at.
  • Controls:
    • Use W/S keys to control the pitch and A/D to control the roll of the aircraft (Xbox One: L-Stick / PS4: L3)
    • Adjust the throttle by holding Left Shift and Left Ctrl keys (Xbox One: LT & RT / PS4: L2 & R2)
    • Hold Spacebar when on the ground to engage handbrake (Xbox One: Y / PS4: Triangle)

We will be adjusting the spawn rate to optimize where and how often the gliders spawn. During LABS, we used to have 10 motor gliders spawned in 10 spawn locations, so 100% spawn rate on each location. We’ll be changing this to 10 gliders randomly spawned in 40 spawn locations, so a 25% spawn rate on each location. As this is a new content, we’d like to test the spawn balance, so the spawn rate is likely to change a few times.

The largest change to the way Motor Gliders operate is that we’re challenging you to give it the gas. All Motor Gliders will start on empty to keep you on the edge of your seat until you’re in the air. Can you get her fueled up before the enemy is on you?

There are many plans in the future for Motor Glider. Our first plan is to add key binding options for each controls. Please look forward to upcoming changes to be made on the flying vehicle.

Breaking It Down

Survivors that dropped into Motor Glider mode played on average 4 times and 55mins per day.

60% of the time the motor glider was destroyed via crashing, so you know – fly better.

The sharpshooters among you were able to bring down gliders 25% of the time with their gunshots. 13% of the time the Glider succumbed to the Redzone.

The fight for the glider led to a lot of players going down early in the match. An average of 30 people per match got their bells rung by enemy punches. 10 people per match were Motor Glider Roadkill.

By spawning the Motor Glider with no fuel players will be forced to loot first and take to the skies a little later.

We’re finding the glider is a great early phase tool, but later in the game, the advantage is limited, so use the glider early and after Phase 2 you may want to keep it grounded.

As always, we’ll be listening to player feedback to balance the features and availability of the Motor Glider.

Thanks,
The PUBG Team