Treyarch took to their forums today and detailed a new patch in the works for Call of Duty: Black Ops that will address some concerns voiced by the community.
Among the notable changes in Title Update 4 are improved matchmaking, less party disbanding, and better handling for UPnP-enabled routers. This usually deals with people who have to wrestle with the dreaded NAT type. The patch will also add in-game communication letting you know the status of your NAT.
On the gameplay side, the patch will squash an exploit that let players keep their classes and killstreaks after prestige, improved the Ninja Pro perk so users are silent on more surfaces, and improved spawn points to decrease the likelihood that you will spawn near the enemy.
The patch has entered Microsoft certification today, with it hopefully going live by next week. A full list of patch notes are below.
Issues Addressed:
• Resolved several issues with parties getting disbanded unexpectedly.
• Updated handling for UPnP-enabled routers to improve matchmaking conditions where users had strict or moderate NAT types. Also added in-game communications so that all players are aware of their NAT type in the Player Match party lobby.
• Addressed issue that prevented the "Load MP by Default" option from saving when other specific option combinations were set.
• Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
• Addressed an issue where Flak Jacket Pro would not always protect against ground fires left by Napalm Strikes.
• Prevention of users losing their killstreak reward when switching classes at the start of a new round in round-based game modes.
• Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances.
• Added round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same round start limitations as other explosives.
• Contracts will now reset when the player Prestiges.
• Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
• Prevention of Gunship and Chopper Gunner failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
• Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific circumstances.
• Additional security measures to enhance detection and banning capabilities.
Gameplay Tuning:
• Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
• Added a negative influencer to all spawn points to decrease the chances of spawning near an enemy. This will further improve spawning protection on top of previous updates.
• Additional sound mix tuning for Ninja Pro users – increased ranges and volume of enemy footsteps, and removed player footstep sounds on concrete material types.
• Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
• Subtle increase in sniper rifle accuracy when scoping in.
• Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
• Additional minor reductions in knife lunge.