PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is looking to introduce a significant change next week that will encourage more “engagement” and force everyone to keep within the safe zone.
Posting on its Steam Community this week, the developer confirmed that it has decided to act on feedback and will be increasing the damage done by the blue zone over time in order to discourage camping on the boundaries.
“We have decided to adjust the blue zone damage to encourage engagement inside of the play zone,” PUBG Corp. stated. “You will be able to focus more on the immediate, close-ranged skirmishes inside the play zone, instead of dealing with enemies outside of the play zone during the mid to late phases of the game.”
A common annoying tactic followed by many is to stock up on healing items and remain inside the blue zone–just at the edge–and shoot at other players trying to run for safety inside the shrinking circle. The current damage inflicted by the blue zone is mitigated by constant healing from the items. With the buff, players will be unable to keep up the healing and must ultimately get inside the circle as well or else succumb to death.
Elsewhere, the developer confirmed that the test servers for the highly anticipated PC 1.0 release will go online in early November instead of later this month. Players will have the opportunity of trying out the new content and features for a “minimum of three days” before the test servers go offline in preparation for the next round of testing.
November holds great importance for PUBG as it paves the way to its full and official launch on Steam before the end of the year. The Xbox One version is also expected to arrive by then through the Xbox Insider Program.
