PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has made some changes to its unpopular new Event Pass. PUBG Corp. promised players could unlock a handful of items without paying $10 for the Fortnite-style Event Pass, but neglected to mention how much grinding would be required. One fan did the math, and found you’d have to play 6 to 8 hours every day for the full month-long duration of the pass to get to level 20 and unlock all the free items. That adds up to about 200 to 230 hours. Yeesh.
Needless to say, fans weren't happy, and now PUBG Corp. has tweaked Event Pass progression to make earning free gear less of a grind. The daily XP limit has been increased and the minimum amount of time you have to play to start earning XP has been reduced. Not massive changes, but they should cut down on the grind somewhat.
Here are the full patch notes for PUBG PC 1.0 update #16:
Event Pass: Sanhok
Event Pass system's progression mechanisms have been adjusted:
- Daily XP Limit 80 → 120
- Minimum play time required to count towards mission progress: 5 minutes → 2 minutes
- Minimum play time required to acquire XP: 5 minutes → 2.5 minutes
- Base play time XP payment is now granted in 2.5 minute intervals, instead of 5 minute intervals. Previously, 2 XP was granted every 5 minutes, now 1 XP is granted every 2.5 minutes.
- For Duo or Squad games, mission progress is updated when your team wins the game, or when your whole team is eliminated.
- 'Reach top 3 without killing anyone in Solos' mission requirements have been changed. The mission now requires reaching top 3 with 2 kills or less.
Crates
- Aviator Crate is now included in the Random Crates, and the overall chance of acquiring each crate has been changed as follows: Aviator (20%), Equinox (15%), Triumph (10%), Raider (15%), Fever (2.5%), Militia (15%), Biker Desperado (2.5%), Survivor (10%), Wanderer (10%).
Sound
- The volume of footsteps has been slightly increased.
Performance
- Optimized memory encryption mechanism to decrease lag.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where walking on thatched roofs on houses in Sanhok did not produce footsteps.
- Fixed an issue where even under correct zeroing settings, the ADS aim point and actual bullet trajectory were slightly misaligned.
- This issue was most noticeable with the QBZ and crossbow
It will be interesting to see what PUBG Corp. decides to do once the Sanhok Event Pass is up. Will they forge ahead, or will they shelve the concept, given how negative fan response has been? As with most things, it will probably depend on how much money the pass generates.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds can be played on PC, Xbox One, and mobile platforms, although the Sanhok Event Pass is only available on PC at the moment.
