Update 7.2 - Now on the Test Server

Welcome Back, Survivors!

Update 7.2 is now available on Test Servers and brings with it weapon balance changes, new ways to play with fire, and the long-awaited Ranked Mode. With Ranked Mode, PUBG players can finally test their skills against the best players in the world, rising (and falling) through the ranks for great rewards and of course bragging rights.

This update also brings Bots to PC servers, which we know has been a controversial topic among the Community the last few weeks. Rest assured, we plan on making improvements to how bots currently work and most importantly, bots will NOT be in Ranked Mode games. To learn more about our intentions with Bots, you can check out this link.

Take a look at all of Update 7.2’s changes below!

Test Server Announcement
Ranked Mode matches are available on the test server now. The Survival Mastery level requirement to play Ranked Mode on the test server has been lowered to level 1. We’ll be opening up normal matches with bots on the test server from May 14th 22:00 (PDT).

Ranked Mode

Transition from Survival Title to Ranked

  • Survival Title has been discontinued. The new Ranked system will now replace it.
    • Unlike with Survival Title, only matches played in the new and separate Ranked mode will count towards your rank.
    • A player’s Rank will increase or decrease after each match based on their performance.
    • Legacy Survival Title season data will still be available to view in the Season navigation tab.

Matchmaking

  • A new ‘Ranked’ sub navigation option has been added to the ‘Play’ section of the primary navigation menu.
  • Options for Ranked play include TPP or FPP Squad modes.
    • 1/2/3 man squad options are also available.
  • Matches will feature a maximum of 64 players.
    • Ranked matches will not have Bots.
  • There are additional requirements for starting a match in the Ranked queue. All squad members must meet these requirements in order to begin matchmaking.
    • A squad cannot enter the queue if two players (who have completed placements) are too far apart in rank from each other (10 divisions maximum).
    • Depending on their platform and region, players may need to reach a minimal level of Survival Mastery before they qualify for ranked.
    • Depending on their platform and region, players may need to verify their account using SMS before they qualify for Ranked mode.If an SMS verified account is banned, the device connected to it will also be permanently blocked.
    • Players who have received ranked matchmaking penalties for actions such as repeatedly ‘dodging’ games after loading onto the island will need to wait out a matchmaking penalty timer before they can play ranked again.
  • Players may cancel Ranked matchmaking at any time with no penalty.
    • Players who find a match and load into the pregame lobby will face Ranked penalties if they then choose to abandon the match.

Ranked Mode Ruleset

  • Ranked mode games will be randomly played on Erangel, Miramar, or Sanhok.
  • Ranked mode will operate under its own game settings.
  • Unique Season 7 Ranked settings include:
    • Overall increase in item loot spawns
    • No Crossbow spawns
    • Red zone has been removed
    • Motor glider has been removed
    • The timing and speed of the Blue Zone has been adjusted to increase the pace of play
  • Exact settings are subject to adjustment throughout the season and especially at the start of new seasons.
    • Changes in the ranked mode rule set will be posted via announcements

Tiers and Divisions

  • There are a total of 6 tiers in the Ranked system (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master) with 5 Divisions (V – I) within each tier.
  • A player’s current rank is determined by their Rank Points (RP) in a given queue.
  • At the start of a Ranked season, players will be considered ‘Unranked’ in all queues.
  • The first 5 games they play in each ranked queue will count as placement matches.
  • At the end of the fifth placement match, players will be given an initial rank for the season.

How Climbing Works

  • After a player dies, they will receive an adjustment to their RP based on their performance. The metrics that determine performance are
    • Kills
    • Assists
    • Personal placement
  • When a player exits a Ranked match, they will be presented with a new pop-up modal celebration that shows the player their performance metrics as well as the change to their RP.
  • Players who are at Diamond rank or above will begin to face RP ‘decay’ if they do not play any Ranked games for a week or more in a row

Ranked Rewards

  • At the end of the season, players will receive Ranked rewards based on their Highest Ranked tier that season
    • Ranked rewards are unique and only obtainable by playing Ranked during the season they are awarded
  • All players will receive a nameplate and emblem recognizing their Tier
  • Players who ended the season at Gold or higher will receive a set of Ranked reward skins

Leaderboards

  • The Leaderboards have returned and have been updated to work with with Ranked mode
    • Leaderboards now list the Top 500 players per server, sorted by RP
    • The Leaderboard you see is for the region you’ve played the most Ranked matches in.
    • Once a player enters the leaderboard, their region will be fixed for the rest of the season.
    • Players who end the season on the Top 500 Leaderboards for any queue will receive a small additional reward to recognize the achievement

Bot Opponents

As happens with many games, we’ve seen the general skill level of our players grow significantly over the last 3 years. While PUBG veterans continue to hone their skills and improve, we’re seeing more often that many newer players are being eliminated early with no kills – and oftentimes with no damage dealt. You’ve been telling us for a while that the widening skill gap is creating a more and more challenging environment for some of our players and we’re now ready to talk about our plan to help this.

Bots will only appear in normal games and are designed to appear less as your skill increases, but we’re also aware of their current state and are looking at your feedback. We’ll be adjusting the balance, intelligence, and functionality of bots as time goes on.

  • The Ratio of bots in each match is dynamic.
    • The ratio of bots in each match will change according to player skill and the matchmaking pool in each server.
  • Bots can only join Normal matchmaking games
    • Players will not be placed on a team with bots and bots will not fill in the empty slots in your party.
  • Normal match with bots will start fresh with new MMR
  • Bots actions are limited.
    • Bots can perform basic actions such as walk/run/crouch/prone/shoot and are also capable of doing basic low height parkour, swimming, parachuting and looting.
    • Leaning, jumping, ledge grab, and the use of throwables will be added at a later date.
  • Achievements, trophies, missions, and Mastery can still be earned and completed.
    • Actions against bots are counted towards missions, Survival & Weapon Mastery, as well as platform achievements and trophies.
  • Bot spectate and Death Cam.
    • Death Cams from the perspective of bots will be available, but they may look a little odd until we make our planned improvements.
    • When a player is killed during a match, spectator is prioritized to remaining human players. However, if all players are eliminated, players can spectate bots.

For more information on bots, please read our Dev letter from Console here.

Gameplay

Weapon & Armor Balance

Assault Rifle:

With the introduction of Ranked Mode, we wanted to get in some balance adjustments we’ve been planning. The goal of this balance adjustment is to strengthen the characteristics of each weapon type, so that tactics change depending on the firearms you choose and to help make sure one particular weapon isn’t seen as overpowered.

The M416 has long been the most powerful AR and one of the top guns in the game as a whole, so we’ve adjusted it and buffed some of the other ARs to give players alternative options.

We’ve also adjusted shotguns, which were seen as almost useless unless at extreme close range.

  • Increased reload times for M416, M16A4 and SCAR-L
    • We’ve adjusted the reload time of some of these mid-range weapons to make them less of a go-to for their effectiveness in all situations. This change should especially affect close quarters engagements, as you’ll have a longer window to rush opponents reloading an AR.
  • M416
    • While fully equipped, the M416 was lethal even in far distances with its superior stability.

Kill distribution rate over Distance/Phase

The power of rapid and accurate sprays were even capable of replacing DMR positions in ranges over 30m. We don’t believe one gun should always be the optimal choice in all circumstances, but rather give players choices depending on their needs in the current situation. Of course, we will be watching the data constantly for future adjustments.

  • Decreased base damage by 1 (41 → 40)
  • Decreased muzzle velocity from 880 m/s to 780 m/s
  • Changed damage curve distances from 60m – 450m to 50m – 350m

Weapon damage per round per pick up

  • M16A4, MK47 Mutant
    • These two weapons do not support full-auto firing mode, which already led to them being picked up less. Add to that stability issues or lower firing rates and it’s easy to see why they weren’t being picked up as often. We’ve made some adjustments to give them more life on the Battlegrounds.
    • Decreased recoil when firing in quick succession in semi-auto and bursts mode.
    • Added tracers (shooter only).
  • Beryl M762
    • Based on the analysis result on the weapon damage per round per pick up, it seemed Beryl M762 had somewhat less performance than expected compared to other assult rifles.
    • Increased muzzle velocity from 680 m/s to 740 m/s.
    • Decreased recoil.

Shotguns:

  • As the gun metas in the game have stabilized, shotguns were quickly left in the dust as they had little use in most late game situations. With this update, we have adjusted the shotgun group so that they can be used more reliably throughout a match. 
  • Body damage multiplier changes
    • Increased limb multiplier from 0.9 to 1.05.
    • Increased head multiplier from 1.25 to 1.5.
  • Increased hip-fire accuracy.
  • Decreased accuracy penalty during movement.
  • Decreased damage drop over distance for all shotguns.
  • Saiga S12K
    • Extended and Ext. Quickdraw magazines now hold 10 rounds.
    • Suppressor adds slight pellet spread reduction (2/3 of choke bonus).
  • S1897
    • Increased the pump-action speed
  • Sawed-off
    • Increased reload speed.

Armor:

  • Vests not only provided armor but also provided additional inventory space. However, it felt pretty bad to immediately lose that space when your vest was destroyed in combat. Your survivability also drastically decreased once your vest was destroyed. leaving you extremely vulnerable until you found a new one. With this change, ‘destroyed’ vests will no longer disappear, and neither will your inventory space.
  • In addition, vests will continue to provide 20% protection and slight aim punch reduction once destroyed. The base protection level of the destroyed vest is the same no matter the type of vest you’re wearing. This should mean more competitive engagements, even if the situation doesn’t allow for the looting of a new vest.

Gas Can Improvements

With the last Gas Can update, we made it so gas cans could explode when being shot. We’re adding more options with this update, which should give players some more innovative ways to set traps and take down opponents.

  • You can equip the Gas Can in a melee weapon slot.
  • Press “attack” to pour gas on the ground. It takes around 7 seconds to empty the can.
  • Spilled fuel can be set on fire with gun shots, molotovs, and grenade explosions. Fire deals the same damage as a molotov, but burns longer (~20 seconds).
  • Spilled fuel evaporates in about 3.5 minutes.
  • You can also throw the Gas Can the same way as melee weapons (aim, then press attack), which causes it to release some fuel upon landing, making it easier to ignite and explode.
  • Gas Cans cannot be picked up or reused after being thrown, but can still explode.

Changes to Gas Can explosions:

  • Deals less initial damage. Max 40 dmg, which scales down with distance from the explosion.
  • Now sets the nearby area on fire like a molotov, dealing damage over time.

UI/UX

Main menu navigation bar update

With the addition of the new ranked mode, the main menu navigation bar has been updated.

  • Changes
    • New ‘Ranked’ option has been added under the ‘Play’ menu
    • ‘Public Match’ has been renamed to ‘Normal’
    • ‘Mastery’ and ‘Replay’ menus have been moved to the ‘Career’ tab

Tire UI Improvements

  • Improved the icon/ color of a vehicle’s tire UI to provide more intuitive information on tire status
    • 100% – Grey
    • When tire is damaged  – White
    • When tire has less than 50% durability – Blinking Orange
    • When tire reaches 0% durability (destroyed)  – RED

Seat UI improvement

  • Improved the color of the vehicle’s seat UI to provide more intuitive information
    • General vehicle”s seat UI color changes
      • Players character: White → Yellow
      • Teammates: Green → White
      • Enemy players: Yellow → Red
      • Empty seats: Grey (Same as before)
    • Starting plane’s seat UI color changes
      • Onboard players: Yellow → White
      • Empty seats: Grey (Same as before)

Preview Scene Improvements

  • Character’s full body, instead of only torso, will be displayed when entering wardrobe, weapon, and equipment sections.
  • In item previews, items no longer return to their previous state when players click-off the mouse button

Game button UI improvement

  • The square and round buttons used in-game are now updated to have more consistency
  • The selectable area for ‘Game mode select button’ has been fully expanded

Kill feed icon and system message for train kills

  • New killfeed icon and system message for train kills has been added.

Item description improvement

  • Additional description has been added to item skins which had some unclear target item (Crowbar, Machette)

Sound

Tweak of Window Breaking Sound’s Spread Curve

  • Currently, stereo panning of window breaking sound is too sensitive. We’ve tweaked its sensitivity for more natural stereo panning

Bluezone Humming Sound

  • Bluezone humming sound will be played only when the wall is moving

Survivor Pass : Cold front

The 2nd track of Survivor Pass season missions has been unlocked,
Please note that new missions will be unlocked after the Live server update!

World

Erangel: Hall of Fame Update

  • All-time winners team and players names are engraved in Hall of fame
  • New name plates have been added to the trophy and uniform cases
  • Vikendi: New small house sets added

  • In order to enhance loot in spots outside of major landmarks, some small house sets have been added with improved item spawns.
  • Supplemented item spawn spots in certain buildings in Dinoland that had below average loot.

Skin & Items

NAVAL OFFICER ATTIRE SET (8 items) (6/3 ~ 7/1)

3 New Streamer’s item (5/20 ~ 8/19)

  • GodV’s Mini14
  • TuanTuan’s Shorts
  • TuanTuan’s Tank Top

Replay System

  • The replay system has been updated. Replay files from previous updates are now unavailable for use.

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

  • Fixed the issue where character could slide abnormally when going through specific steps
  • Fixed the issue where character could occasionally prone and slide forward
  • Fixed the issue with Gas Cans sometimes not exploding even after reaching 0 HP
  • Fixed an issue where individual bindings for Aim and ADS didn’t allow for swapping of Hold/Toggle functionality
  • Fixed an issue which caused teammates to be muted mute when changing the voice input mode to ‘disabled’
  • Fixed minor graphical issues with the appearance of sights when attached to the Tommy Gun
  • Fixed the issue with prone characters on trains moving slightly when the train curves
  • Fixed an issue where flares were not correctly displayed when viewed from underwater

World

  • Fixed missing texture in Castle, Vikendi
  • Fixed some floating objects in Goroka, Vikendi
  • Fixed the issue with movement blocked at building entrance in Yasnaya Polyana, Erangel
  • Fixed the issue with being able to see through a specific aircraft object in Sosnovka Military Base, Erangel
  • Fixed the issue with multiple doors stacked on top of each other in certain buildings on Vikendi

UI/UX

  • Fixed an incorrect kill message on Karakin  ‘killed by BZ signal grenade’
  • Fixed an issuing causing the health bar to display incorrectly when using healing items
  • Fixed the Lean Forward Motorcycle Air control setting from displaying as unbound
  • Fixed the server region displaying as KOREA/JAPAN with German language setting
  • Fixed the issue with spectating players status UI in the minimap not instantly changing
  • Fixed a bug where the speed boost icon on the HUD could display greyed out before the boost has expired

Sound

  • Fixed the volume adjustment of teammates not working correctly

Skin & Item

  • Fixed the clipping issue with Jockey Boots
  • Fixed the issue when wearing a coat and holding a Panzerfaust the character’s waist area shakes excessively
  • Fixed a clipping issue when equipping PGI title hand strap and Ogre’s jacket at the same time
  • Fixed the abnormal flashing effect of Level 1 helmets on the ground
  • Fixed the issue with a specific AKM skin not being exchangeable for BP
  • Fixed the texture on the 6x scope lens

Replay

  • Fixed the player list error displaying wrong number of players during replay.
  • Fixed a misalignment issue of spectated players crosshair location in deathcam and replay.