Update 2.4 brings map mania to Block N Load. Top of the pile is the Map Editor which puts you in the seat of level designer. The update also brings a set of 4 fantastic new maps for classic mode, as well as a brand new Time Assault map themed around Sir Nigel Purdey-Longshott.
MAP EDITOR
Work hard, play even harder with the Block N Load Map Editor. This brand new feature puts you in the seat of level designer. Create fully playable Block N Load arenas and invite the community to try them.
Experiment with tonnes of block and terrain types.
Build giant structures that can be battled over or admired.
Learn how to make a competitive map by strategically placing objectives like Cubes and Bases.
Set the mood with colour, texture and lighting options.
Share your creation via Steam Workshop and invite people to play it. Who knows, your map could be the next big thing.
Think you can construct a classic? Prove it with the Block N Load Map Editor.
4 NEW CLASSIC MAPS
Shuko Style – this pagoda-filled arena has seen a lot of changes lately. Enjoy new attack routes and flanking opportunities from abundant water and greenery.
Front Lines – engage in trench warfare in this gritty military-inspired map, perfect for your camo-skinned characters.
Up ‘N Over – a beginner-focussed arena with a large central bridge.
Search and Destroy – another beginner-focussed arena with a fast-and-furious middle ground.
NEW TIME ASSAULT MAP – NIGEL
Nigel’s feeling all nostalgic so is revisiting a Tiki-head-filled temple from his glory days. Race as fast you can through this epic, free-roaming Time Assault map to collect all the tokens. The quicker you do it, the more gold you’ll get.
Update 2.3 is out NOW and brings big changes. A brand new single-player challenge mode is now live, called TIME ASSAULT. There are also big changes to the way bases take damage, and we’ve added profile stats data into the game!
SINGLE PLAYER MODE: TIME ASSAULT
Are you quick enough for Time Assault challenge mode? The goal is simple - get your Hero from one side of the map to the other. The faster you go, the better your score and reward. There are no rules - just get there any way you can. We can’t wait to see how you get there – so get recording and streaming and send us the links.
Base Damage Changes
We’ve changed the way the base cubes take damage! The ONLY WAY to damage a base now is with your melee (digging) tool. Weapons, bombs, rockets, grenades – they won’t work anymore. Cubes are now more fragile and a rechargeable shield has been introduced. A few melee hits on the shield will disable it, letting you chip away at the cube’s health.
Free Hero Rotation - Vander Graaf
In a blaze of lightning (and loud disco music) Vander Graaf deposes Tony Turretto to become your latest free-to-try hero. This funky fan of the fuse box is arguably the most complex character introduced to the free rotation to date.
Play him while you can - are you up for the challenge?
Electric Overview
Vander Graaf is an electric warrior of the highest order. When he’s not charging up his Static Gloves with his suspiciously good moonwalking skills, he can usually be found weaving wicked webs of Tesla Coil blocks. He is a Brains character and is best played in a cautious and devious manner. You’ll need a good understanding of enemy attack routes to be able to lay his traps.
5 Bullets for Bossing Vander Graaf
1. Trap your enemies by building a field of unique Tesla Coil blocks. They conduct the lightning fired by Vander’s weapons. This allows you to hit enemies from a concealed location, trapping them in a deadly web of electro doom!
2. The high-voltage hero gets his power from the static generated by his boots. Sprint around the battlefield to create more static and add more ammunition to Vander’s Static Gloves.
3. With Vander, offence is also defence. Utilise the Lightning Cage active skill to surround Vander (and nearby any allies) in a protective field of electricity that also harms opponents. Switch this on for stress-free attacks on the enemy cube.
4. Vander’s class specific load out includes Radar – hide these bad boys from your enemies to light them up on the minimap and stay ahead of the game.
5. Charge up Vander’s secondary weapon – Ball Lightning – for a quick and powerful blast directly in front of you.
Enjoy!
Sign Up for the Block N Load Winter League!
Hello Community,
It may be getting frosty outside but from where we're sitting the action is about to seriously heat up!
Assemble your friends, form a tight team and enter the Block N Load Winter Leagues.
This event will run across several weeks. Win matches, earn points and turn your Home arena into an absolute fortress. There's loads of Platinum up-for-grabs, so what are you waiting for?
Registration is live now and closes on December 1st so for full details and to register your team, head on over to the dedicated page now.
THE WINTER LEAGUE IS COMING...
Free Rotation - Update
Sayonara, Nigel. Konnichiwa, Kira-chan.
Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome to the stage, Kira-Chan. This J-Pop assassin is all about the full frontal assault and you have a backstage pass to try her out for free.
Replacing Nigel in the free hero rotation* would be a tough act to follow for some, but Kira is a pro. Ready yourself for twin, custom SMGs, the Kitty Cannon, and a monstrous skill set that lets her buff the speed of allies reload and shield-up with every enemy she downs, kawaii!
Kira is the star of the show – and she wants everyone to know it so here are the 5 Bullets for Bossing Kira-Chan:
5 BULLETS FOR BOSSING KIRA-CHAN
1. Deploy Speed and Bounce Pads to hurl Kira-Chan into your enemy. The quicker, the better – Kira loves shock tactics
2. Mow foes down with the fully-automatic alt-fire on her standard weapons – the twin SMGs Hidari and Migi.
3. Utilise the two firing modes of her Kitty Cannon to litter the battlefield with deadly rocket and grenade kitties.
4. Build two of her unique Popstar Portals to warp across the map – but beware, the enemy can use them too.
5. Activate her J-Pop Star skill to turn the battlefield into a music video. This gives Kira unlimited ammo for its duration and nearby allies reload faster.
For a more detailed look at Kira-Chan check out her promotional video – fully endorsed by her agent.
*WAIT A SECOND, WHERE’S NIGEL GONE!?!
Fret not, Longshott! Nigel is only taking a nap by the fire.
If you liked the playstyle of this big-game hunter and want to snipe him for yourself, he’s still available to purchase via the in game store.
Balance Changes
Yuri the Yeti
The cooldown for the “Avalanche” Active Ability has been reduced meaning it can be used more frequently.
From 100 to 90 seconds at level 0
From 90 to 60 seconds at levels 1 and 2
From 80 to 50 seconds at levels 3 and 4
From 70 to 40 seconds at levels 7 and 8
From 60 to 30 seconds at levels 9 and 10
O.P. ‘Juan’ Shinobi
The amount of healing granted by use of the “Vanish” Active Ability has been reduced.
From 25% to 20% of O.P.’s standard health at levels 0 to 3.
From 50% to 40% of O.P.’s standard health at levels 4 to 6.
From 75% to 60% of O.P.’s standard health at levels 7 to 9.
From 100% to 80% of O.P.’s standard health at level 10.
The standard number of Ninja Stars that O.P. can carry has been reduced from 48 to 24.
This update brings a new Hero to Block N Load: Roly Poly Fat Fat!
The world’s cutest hamster. The world’s deadliest hamster ball. Roly Poly Fat Fat blasts onto the battlefield with her TankBall Cannons, Boosters, and Toxic Waste. Fully weaponised, she’s ready to roll.
If you want to know more about Roly Poly Fat Fat, her weapons, abilities, and Blocks click here.
Perks
We have just completed a review of all the perks in Block N Load and as a result our perks system has undergone a major re-balancing to make some pretty significant improvements.
The overall goal of the perks was to allow additional options in how Heroes are played through combining perks with Heroes and your personal play styles. We also wanted to make sure that as you progress through tier 1, 2 and 3 of each perk they were clearly improvements in your specialization. To this end we have decided to implement a flat negative for all tiers of a particular perk.
This means it is clearly better to continue down the line of the perk and invest in higher levels, in all instances of use. This has been done for all Offensive, Defensive and Hero Perks.
We have also normalized a lot of the numbers and done a balance pass on some of the perks to now take account of this new flat negative value.
Balancing Changes
A whole host of other balancing changes have been made including:
Cogwheel
HP of Mortar Blocks has been reduced from 1000 HP to 500 HP. The damage Mortars do to themselves when firing has also been adjusted so they can still fire 10 times.
Yury the Yeti
The ammo pool for the Snowball primary weapon has been increased from 1 to 3.
The rate at which the SnowThrower regenerates ammunition when close to Snow, Ice, or an Ammo Crate has been increased.
Dream Genie
The aura from Ifrit’s Grudge alternate attack no longer affects friendly targets. However, the final explosion when the orb hits anything will still damage friend and foe alike.
Doc Eliza
The time between using the Chem Grenade’s alternate fire and it detonating has been decreased from 3 to 1.5 seconds.
O.P ‘Juan’ Shinobi
When using his Katana alternate fire to teleport this now only produces smoke at the point he teleports to instead of creating a smoke bomb block model.
Improvements and Bug Fixes
A number of improvements have been made and bugs have also been squashed in this update. These include additional messaging as you progress through the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Pro Leagues; more information about completing challenges; and improvements to the way players with high latency are displayed moving about the arena.
For the full patch notes please follow the link here.
Patch Notes - Build 2.1.1210 (15/10/2015)
Hey all,
Below are the main highlights for the latest Block N Load update.
Free Rotation
Sarge Stone is being removed from the Free Rotation and replaced with Cogwheel, our stomping heavy metal robot.
Heroes
We saw on the forums that some players thought the “Bloody Bleeding” Hero Perk was a touch on the powerful side. We looked both at the kill rates, and the overall damage that it added, and we have now brought it more in line with the other Hero Perks.
We also noticed that even in newer players hands O.P. ‘Juan’ Shinobi (and to a lesser extent Sweet Science) were getting hit and damage rates higher than other Heroes in similar level of skilled players. Looking at the data we realized that their current swing “arc” was way too generous and players could basically just spam the attack button and even if only an elbow of the enemy was in screen it would “hit”. The reduction of the arc will have absolutely no impact on most players, but the “just attack all the time, don't worry you will hit” aspect is now reduced.
For the specific numbers and information on these changes please see the sections for O.P. and Sweet Science below..
O.P. 'Juan' Shinobi
Effects of the “Bloody Bleeding” Hero Perk have been slightly reduced. The DPS inflicted by the Bleed effect when the Perk is equipped has been changed from 4 at level 1, 4.5 at level 2, and 5 at level 3 to 3.5 at level 1, 4 at level 2, and 4.5 at level 3. The Bleed effect remains at 5 seconds in length.
The description of the “Bloody Bleeding” Hero Perk has been changed to make the effects clearer.
Arc of the Katana has been reduced from 60 degrees to 45 degrees. This means it will no longer hit targets on the edges of the screen.
Sweet Science
Arc of the Blitz Stance attack has been reduced from 60 degrees to 45 degrees. This means it will no longer hit targets on the edges of the screen.
Sarge Stone
The “Just a Scratch” Hero Perk no longer affects the rate at which Sarge's Passive Ability heals him and now only affects the maximum HP that his Passive Ability can heal up to.
Vander Graaf <*> Out of ammunition audio will no longer trigger when switching to Ball Lightning with a partially filled clip and ammo pool.
Astarella
The Sonic Drill tool no longer points sideways when the Hero is moving sideways with it equipped.
General Perks
The description of the “Dig that Health” Defensive Perk has been changed to better explain the effects.
The description of the “Dig that Ammo” Offensive Perk has been changed to better explain the effects.
The “Greedy” Defensive Perk has had the amount of extra bricks earned from 12% at level 2 and 15% at level 3 to 15% at level 2 and 20% at level 3. The longer build times have also been changed from 12% at level 2 and 15% at level 3 to 15% at level 2 and 20% at level 3.
The “Killer Bricks” Defensive Perk has had the extra bricks for killing a Hero changed from 25% at level 2 and 30% at level 3 to 30% at level 2 and 40% at level 3. The longer build times have also been changed from 12% at level 2 and 15% at level 3 to 15% at level 2 and 20% at level 3.
The name of the “Quick Fingers” Offensive Perk is now correctly capitalized.
Menus
Play
A "First Win of the Day" bonus has been added. For the first match you win each day you will receive 100 extra Gold and, if you are in Bronze League or above, double the amount of League Points.
The claxon sound effect when a match is found has been re-added to the pop-up for joining a match through short handed games.
Profile
The last Hero in the "Your Heroes" tab is no longer partially hidden behind the “Buy More Heroes” button.
When viewing a level 0 Hero in the “Your Heroes” tab the XP to reach level 1 is now correctly displayed.
The "Blocks Built" section should now correctly update.
Matches which were joined using the “Join Shorthanded Games” backfilling system should now be displayed as a neutral result in the “Match History” tab.
Shop
Prices for the Featured Hero are now displayed in the correct order.
Hero Perks can now be viewed even if you do not own the Hero for them.
The icon for Gold is now correctly greyed out on items when you do not have enough Gold for.
The next level of a Perk becomes visible automatically when the previous level of it has been purchased.
Clicking on a second weapon or ability in the "About" section of a Hero's information will now correctly de-select the first one that had been selected.
When viewing skins for Heroes the button to purchase the Hero themselves will no longer be present under the preview image. Heroes will only be available to purchase from the “Heroes” tab of the shop.
Custom Game
The menu for joining Custom Games has been rebuilt so that the last game in the list cannot become obscured behind the buttons.
Game names can no longer have their size or colour changed.
The preview of the Custom Game settings such as build time and respawn time now correctly updates for players browsing the list of games.
The arrow buttons to change a map are no longer visible to players browsing the list of matches.
The "Start Game" button no longer becomes hidden behind your player level if you have previously visited the Shop.
An asterisk (*) is displayed after the name of a game which has already been started.
The join game button is replaced with one stating the game has already been started if the match cannot be joined.
Friends List
Opening the Friends list when you have a large number of Block N Load or Steam friends no longer causes a significant pause.
When removing a Block N Load friend from your friends list the confirmation message no longer stays open after confirming you wish to remove the friend.
Friends who are online in Steam but not currently playing Block N Load should now be able to be invited to play again.
Messaging
The correct reward text should now be displayed on the end of game fanfare when you reach Gold League.
The message displayed on the end of match fanfare when a player has completed the match after joining it to fill in for a player that dropped out no longer stretches over the edges of the screen.
Messaging on the end of match fanfare for when a challenge is completed should no longer overlap the edge of the screen in any language.
Results Screen
Players are no longer incorrectly marked as offline when they leave the results screen at the end of a match.
The number of blocks built and destroyed are now displayed on the end of match results screen.
HUD
Your own ping (latency) will now be displayed on the scoreboard if you activate it up during a match.
Icons for your Hero’s current health and ammunition have been updated.
The Hero tips displayed when playing with a low level Hero can now be seen when waiting to respawn as well.
League
Players no longer gain League Points for losing a match whilst in Bronze League.
Players who reach Pro League should now have this correctly displayed on their player card.
