JWA 1.9 Patch Notes - QOL Updates

Explorers!

With update 1.9 right around the corner, and patch notes now live on the Ludia Forums, we’re here to do what we do best – Help you digest what in the world all this means for this game we love. As usual, we’re breaking down our patch notes content into a variety of articles that we’ll be releasing before the patch comes out. 

Patch 1.9 brings with it a bunch of awesome changes, and the biggest meta balancing shift we’ve seen since Thor entered the arena in 1.5. Bold statement? Maybe. But the highlights speak for themselves. We’ve got new terrifying hybrids like Carboceratops and Smilonemys (both sporting an INSANE 50% armor), a brand new meta-breaking move in Mutual Fury which makes BOTH you and your opponent stronger, insane new hybrids Indominus Rex Gen 2 and Indoraptor Gen 2 which use the beloved Raptor Pack DNA (Rip all that used up Blue/Echo DNA), balancing changes to Ceratopsians could be a nerf disguised as a buff, and a brand new Campaign Mode with some serious end-game level grit that’ll make an all 30’s boosted team shake in their boots – there’s just a lot to talk about.

And we can’t wait to dive in. Let’s do this.

While the shiny new dinos, new abilities, and new hybrids are exciting with a new patch, it is often the little thing that make the most difference. Quality of Life (or QOL) updates are the bug fixes and other small changes that make the game more enjoyable and easy to play. This update has some QOL updates, but quite honestly there aren't as many as we would like to see. We'll go over the changes we will see this patch. 

The first big improvement to sanctuaries is the Cenozoic Creatures that can now be added. All of the new creatures in the game are Cenozoic and many of the new hybrids have Cenozoic components so this is an exciting improvement to be able to get more DNA. 

Another sanctuary improvement is the amount of DNA you get from Feeding, Playing, and interacting (or FIP) with creatures in a sanctuary. Right now, trying to get a sanctuary to level 20 is a tough task and to many people it isn't worth it since the DNA isn't that much of a difference. Starting in 1.9 a level 20 Sanctuary will now give double the DNA rewards per FIP compared to a level 1 sanctuary. This is a really big improvement and makes sanctuaries even that much more valuable in the game. Especially for event or incubator exclusive DNA that is so hard to get (Irritator). 

Finally, a small but impactful improvement is the ability to go back to the sanctuary list after visiting a sanctuary. This may seem like a small thing, but having to go back to the map every time you are done with a sanctuary could get very tedious. Especially when you were trying to search for a specific creature. Now, you will go back to the list of shared sanctuaries so it is easier to navigate to the next one. 

According to the patch notes over 375 bugs were fixed in this release. Many of them were probably minor and they did not list all of them but they did highlight the following fixes:

• “Sanctuary Limbo” issue is now fixed:
  • In certain cases, when a Sanctuary would disappear, a player’s creature would be inaccessible until the timer ended. With this fix, if a Sanctuary were to disappear, the player’s creature would be returned to his or her roster without having to wait for the timer to end.
• Using Scent Capsules in Parks to respawn a creature
  • We fixed an exploit that would allow someone to “respawn” or “reroll” a creature attracted by a Scent Capsule in a park, which increased the chances of getting rarer creatures. We are aware that Scent Capsules are not attracting “park creatures” as would be expected and it’s something we want to improve in a future update.
• Fixed an issue where players of different arenas could not be matched together after attempting to matchmake for a long while (even if the matchmaking score difference would theoretically allow them to).

The scent capsule fix could be a good or bad thing depending on what creature you were trying to get out of park. Previously, if 2 park creatures spawned (for example a Tenontosaurus and a Quetzalcoatualus) then you essentially had to "choose" which one you wanted. Because when you darted one and then came back to the map the other creature would have turned into a local dino based on the zone you are in. While this could be beneficial in some instances it could be especially frustrating if 2 park creatures spawned and you wanted both. In 1.9 both of those creatures should stay on the map and not change. 

The matchmaking issue could especially help with wait times. Apparently players who were in 2 different arenas would not be able to match with each other, even if their matchmaking "score" was the same or similar. In the new update, people in different arenas (someone in high Lockwood and someone in Low Aviary for example) could be matched. Now if they would just let us know what that matchmaking score is or how it is determined, that could help with some of the issued and frustrations in the arena as well. 

While there are some good QOL updates in this patch, there are still so many more that the players have asked for. Things like leader tools, multiple team loadouts, and synced reset times are just a few of the things we would love to see in a future update. The QOL updates do mean they listen to us, however, so make sure you give feedback on the forum if you think of something that can be improved. They need our feedback to know what needs to be fixed. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook where we will keep you up to date with information,and join our discussion on discord as we talk about the patch notes and what it means for our teams and the arena!