Premium Pack 18 released

We briefly spoke about the QLPP18 before, but now the real deal has been released for everyone. The major addition to Quake Live is the Race gametype, where players don’t have to shoot anything but the walls to boost themselves towards the finish. The QLPP also has 4 new maps that will remain premium for the first months, and some existing maps have received updates. A new Invite Monitor and a few game changes conclude this update.

The Race gametype is certainly the most interesting part of the premium pack for the most of us. All the arenas have been given a new spin by placing start, checkpoint and finish flags in them. The concept is simple, you start with unlimited ammo in your rocket launcher and plasmagun and you need to get from start to finish in the quickest possible time. Usually CTF arena’s only have a start and finish, while a parcours is set out in the non-CTF maps. A note for the standard players: you can race, but your times will not be recorded and during the race they also won’t be accurately shown. Timings for premium players will be shown up to a thousandth (.001) of a second. For those using custom HUDs, be aware that this new gametype also has new HUD elements (RACE, CG_RACE_STATUS and CG_RACE_TIMES).

4 new maps have been released, of which 2 are for Duel, 1 for FFA and 1 for CTF.

Delirium (duel) is a map made by Russell “bst” Vint. This map is quite large to be used for Duel. A lot of long hallways and open areas make this a very rail-heavy map and allows players to run away easily after dealing some damage. A lot of edges and sloped sides allow you to travel around fast and reach some key items easily. Most walkways in op areas have a gridded floor that you can shoot through, so you can easily surprise an enemy below you, or shoot up through the floor to push away anyone coming from above. Something we noticed is that we were always stacked to our teeth regarding armor, but it was often health that we were looking for: plenty of armor to go around. We found the visual style in this map to be astonishing and beautiful. Little details like a red teleport with direction indicators, a door with a skeleton that reminded us of Doom 3 and overall nice textures make this a visual stunner.

Fuse (duel) is smaller than Delirium but still allows you to make pace in it’s 3 areas and connected corridors. This map by Ferdinand “cityy” List features a teleport below the Mega which allows anyone to quickly travel to the top floor, where he can try and make it across the room towards the Mega. The Red Armor is surrounded by lava on an isolated platform in a corner, definitely not a spot where you want to get caught if your opponent has a Lightning Gun. The connection between 2 areas by means of a pit with a Railgun is a nice addition that reminds me of a Xonotic map, and it also makes the Railgun very accessible. As opposed to Delirium, this map also has some parts where the floor has a see-through grid, but in this map you cannot shoot through it, which is a shame for the sake of consistency. There is also a little clipping problem in a corridor that makes you catch on an edge right before turning into the MH area.

Golgotha Core (FFA) is a new but typical Quake 3 map that oozes the Quake 3 feel. The style and architecture, combined with the 3 powerups will make you feel right at home. There is 1 center area with a health and armor generator on top that connects to 2 areas with the haste and invisibility. These 2 areas then link further to the room with the Quad damage, which in it’s turn has a teleport back to the center area. The map is quite large to run around to, so the teleport in the center area straight to Quad is a welcome addition. Yet to see how often this one will be played.

Pillbox (CTF) is the 4th map in this premium pack and is designed for CTF. There some buttons to be pressed that lower the platform below the flag into lava, and a crusher that is designed to kill any campers in the base. In our opinion the crusher will be useless as it is placed right behind a portal. As soon as you exit the portal it already pushes you too far in most cases, making you fall off the crusher platform. The room that this is in is also not very interesting to “camp”. On the other hand, the platform underneath the flag is quite interesting, effectively preventing the flag carrier from getting the Mega and take another way off the flag platform. The rest of the map is a series of corridors on several levels, easy to get lost on and we are curious to see how the team setup will be to cover the many access and exit routes.

A new change to the website is the Invite Monitor. When you are connected to a game and you are in “browser mode”, you will see the new Invite Monitor above the friendslist. The monitor will allow you to quickly see the status of invites and if necessary give you the chance to revoke an invitation. In the past invites were valid for 15 minutes, but this has been increased to 3 hours.

In the list of game changes our eyes caught the new team overhead icons (which happens to be the first in the list :D). Whenever teammates are taking damage, their overhead icon will turn orange. When they die, the icon will turn red. Quake wouldn’t be Quake if there wasn’t a cvar to control an aspect of this feature: using cg_drawDeadFriendTime you can choose how long a red overhead icon stays after a player has died. Any value between 0 and 5 seconds, entered in milliseconds (0-5000), is valid.

Finally some map changes are released. In Cure the spawns are updated and series of map fixes were applied. Sinister was reworked to feature a new one-way teleporter and the Railgun no longer takes 60 seconds to spawn (there is also no longer a gong sound). You can read the entire changelog for yourself below.

The lengthy changelog:

QUAKE LIVE Premium Pak 18 is now online. This update features the launch of the new Race gametype, along with four new Premium arenas.

New Game Mode: Race

Brand new to QUAKE LIVE is the Race gametype, which puts a non-combat spin on Quake. Players race against the clock and each other to earn the fastest time. Race takes place on both deathmatch and CTF arenas, challenging players to race from checkpoint to checkpoint taking the most efficient route. Players spawn using PQL physics, which allows for enhanced air control, and a wider variety of movement, topped with higher speed potential. A Rocket Launcher and Plasma Gun are also made available to navigate the tricky bends and turns. Matches end when the timelimit is reached, and the player with the shortest run is declared the winner.

In addition, we are running Standard Race matches, available to both free and paid QUAKE LIVE players. These matches will be running all 43 arenas currently supported by the Race mode, and can be voted to at will. Standard players joining these matches will be able to try the mode and practice running through the courses, however they will not be able to record times or complete matches. This will not count against the Standard player’s stats, and being invited to a Pro Race match will work as usual. We hope players enjoy Race, and can’t wait to see the videos and tricks everyone discovers!

Premium Arenas Added

• Delirium:

Created by Terminatria author Russell “bst” Vint, Delirium is a Duel arena set in a futuristic facility. The arena consists of three levels, connecting through large, curvacious hallways. Delirium is larger than the typical Duel arena, benefiting players that can navigate through rooms quickly, and cutting off your opponent to prevent them from grabbing Yellow and Red Armors. Best suited for 2 to 6 players, Delirium is also playable in small Clan Arena and FFA matches.

• Fuse:

Fuse, created by Ferdinand “cityy” List is a Duel arena new to QUAKE LIVE. A mixture of outdoor and indoor areas, the action in Fuse takes place primarily in three different rooms, connected on multiple levels. Duelers will find themselves attempting to control a Yellow Armor, Red Armor, and Mega Health. Fuse features a lot of thin ledges, useful for trickjumping or ambushing opponents below. Fuse also plays great in FFA, 2v2 TDM, and Clan Arena modes for matches between 2 and 6 players.

• Golgotha Core:

Golgotha Core is a large Free For All arena, featuring a health and armor generator for players looking for a quick boost. Large rooms built with long lines of sight favors those who love the Railgun. A power-up heavy arena, you’ll want to control either the cycling Haste/Invisibility, and Quad Damage, both located in the bottom of the space. Made for 4 to 12 players, Golgotha Core is also playable in Clan Arena, Freeze Tag, Domination, and Red Rover modes.

• Pillbox:

Pillbox is a brand new Capture the Flag arena with fast captures and fast action. Defenders have a couple of tricks at their disposal, including a pressure plate to activate a crusher to stop camping enemies, and a bridge that drops into the lava that also houses a Mega Health. Attackers can take the rear route into the base, and pop a few grenades down a hatch that routes to the flag. A power-up in the midfield ensures the defense can’t play too far back. Designed for 4v4 play, Pillbox can be played with 2-5 players per team, and also supports One Flag, Harvester, Domination, and Attack & Defend.
Invite Monitor

The new Invite Monitor, accessible from above the friends-list while connected to a match, is a more transparent way to handle invites to Premium and Pro matches. Players can see at a glance which invites are currently active for the match, and are given the ability to revoke invites. Match owners will be able to see who invited everybody, and revoke others’ invites at their own discretion. Standard guests are also shown, allowing players to see who is currently on through an invite. Finally, a manual invite button at the bottom allows players to invite other players by name.

In addition to the new Invite Monitor, we have changed the invite system so that revoking an invite to a Standard player on a Premium match will cause them to be removed from the match after the end of the current match. The length invitations are active has been lengthened from 15 minutes to three hours, after which you will have to re-invite players.

Game Changes

• Team Overhead Icons Updates – The friendly triangles now change from yellow to orange when a teammate takes damage, and from orange to red when a teammate dies. You may control how long the red triangle marker remains at the place of their death with cg_drawDeadFriendTime (0-5000 ms)
• New CA Round Won messages note how many players were on the winning team, or if only one player was left standing, notes how much health they had remaining.
• Round Draw Tie Breaker options for CA: Draws by Health, Draws by Living options in Start a Match under Gametype Settings.
• Fixed the pause or timeout admin commands in round-based gametypes when used during round countdowns.
• Spawn Code Changes to reduce telefrags on match starts, resolving issues on maps with too few spawn points.
• Added CA and FT support to our CTF arenas. While these arenas will not appear in public match arena pools, they are now optional via Start a Match.
• Userinfo flood protection is now enabled again.
• Added align support to CG_PLAYER_SCORE, CG_1STPLACE, and CG_2NDPLACE HUD elements, and fixed their alignment behavior within our HUD files. Adjustments may need to be made to custom HUDs utilizing these ownerdraw elements, see our three official huds for examples.
• Added two new HUD elements added for RACE, CG_RACE_STATUS and CG_RACE_TIMES, see our three official huds for examples.
• Updated all gametype icons (in-game and web), added in-game race icon. Minor tweaks to others. TDM goes back to the classic QL TDM icon.

Arena Changes

• Cure – Updated spawns: 12 spawns, 6 initial. – Fixed a missing clip allowing players to hide at the 50 HP bubble staircase. – Fixed a clipping issue in the low hallway between MH and RA. – Replaced the lightning ammo box above RA with shells. – Clipped hiding spot above the GA near PG.
• Lost World – Fixed exploitative clip above LG.
• Phrantic – Fixed reversed 1×1 ad.
• Repent – Fixed HOM at the Great Hall circle window sill. – Added two ad spots.
• Sinister – Removed low RA spawn. – New one-way teleporter. – Removed 60sec RG spawn + Gong. – Swapped MH – RG. – Added Pillar @ RA. – Replaced GA with another YA (different location).