Outriders Gets a Huge Patch But Still Doesn't Restore Lost Inventories
The Square Enix team just released an Outriders patch fixing a number of crashes and bugs throughout the game. Unfortunately, gamers who were stripped of their inventories will have to wait a bit longer before a full restore. Outriders launched to wicked success, but a glitch wiped all gear from some Outriders players and gamers were livid. The loot-based shooter is exactly that: loot-based. When players lose all that hard-earned gear, the aftermath is not pretty. Square Enix has been hard at work to restore the lost gear from player’s inventories, but the remedy is taking longer than expected.
Outriders wasn’t without flaws at launch. A number of issues popped up throughout the game and fans let Square Enix know. Updates have steadily been rolling out, but one issue has been at the top of gamer’s minds. The inventory wipe has not been fixed yet, but updates continue to resolve other underlying game issues. Outriders player losing progress in-game is extremely frustrating, but Square Enix is reportedly struggling with a solution.
Patch notes were posted on Reddit, detailing the many Outriders issues Square Enix has fixed. According to the update, the development team has been struggling to come up with a fix for the inventory wipe, explaining that a blanket resolution won’t work. The difficulty Square Enix is facing is giving characters the right item levels, as calculating that is based on three factors: character level, highest World Tier, and highest completed Challenge Tier. It is a complex system that is difficult to get right. Restoring higher level gear than characters should have resulted in more corruption.
Despite its inability to resolve the most pressing Outriders’ issue, the patch notes outline a comprehensive list of other fixes and improvements that Square Enix was finally able to release. The patch was originally supposed to drop after the inventory restoration, but that was impossible. The patch addresses a number of crashes throughout the game and bugs associated with multiplayer. It also resolves an issue that locks players on the Sign In screen.
The patch also brings rebalances to certain foes in Outriders. AI snipers will now give players more time to dodge their shots, as previously players needed incredible reaction speed when lasers tracked their bodies. The patch also reduced the amount of knockback from creatures in the Stargrave expedition and there will be a greater delay between spawns. There are also plenty of resolutions to gear, mods, skill, quest, level, and lighting bugs, as well as PC-specific issues that are now fixed.
While patches are important to the continued popularity of a game and the well-being of its community, solving bigger issues may be more important than several smaller ones. The longer the inventory restore is delayed, the more frustrated players will get, an anger that is likely keeping them away from Outriders altogether. It may also result in resentment for the game that won’t be restored along with inventories.
Source: Square Enix/Reddit