Ubisoft will release a new update for Watch Dogs 2 in the coming few days, adding in a bunch of new customization items and emotes, as well as a tweak to the game's ending and some new addition to the competitive multiplayer. There is a bit of bad news for players with a slow connection or a data cap (or both): the patch is around 10 GB on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and about 14 GB on PC. This is because of the way some games are compiled, with entire blocks of data needing to be redownloaded and installed in order to work. As always you can go here to read the full patch notes. Alternatively, you can read on to see an overview of the most important additions and changes.
This patch lays the groundwork for the upcoming Human Conditions DLC. The patch post also notes that current and future DLC can be played in guest mode, which means that you'll be able to play through the season pass content if your teammate owns the DLC without needing you to purchase it as well. Now that that's out of the way, let's take a look at what you'll be getting in this free update. The game's ending has also been tweaked a little bit, but what those changes are is up to you to find out!
Patch 1.11 updates and adds "many new locations" to the digital version of San Fransisco. The post does not specify which places are new but encourages you to tweet your findings to the Watch Dogs Twitter account. This patch also adds a few new (clothing-specific) dances like Carlton's dance from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:
In addition to these outfit-exclusive dances, you'll also be able to buy 16 new clothing items and Ubisoft have added 2 new emotes you can use while interacting with other players in the game's seamless multiplayer modes. You will also be able to buy some new outfits with Ubisoft Club points based on For Honor and Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
The aforementioned seamless multiplayer has also been given a few tweaks. Before this patch, getting killed by another player in the game's Bounty Hunter mode would lead to the enemy player automatically winning the match. Starting with this patch, though, it is possible to respawn once after you've been killed.
Ubisoft is also changing the way leaderboards are presented to the player, saying that their original setup led to some confusion with the players as to why their ratings were reset periodically. This is because many players didn't know that each competitive season only lasts 3 weeks, after which your ratings are reset and you can compete again for different rewards. The tweaked multiplayer system now shows you a season debrief the first time you open up the app on your phone, showing you the rank you've managed to achieve over the last season as well as show the rewards you got for your trouble. In addition to this, you'll get a notification when the current season ends and the leaderboards have been reworked slightly to make it more clear to the player.
Watch Dogs 2's multiplayer modes have also been given a few more tweaks to level the playing field a bit. If you're being invaded by another player, you will be able to see the general area the invader is in, making it easier to figure out where they are. Invaders, however, won't be able to quickly run in and out of the invasion zone in order to throw off the defending player. Going out of bounds now gets you a quickly decreasing timer every time you leave the area or fall into the Bay of San Fransisco. Other fixes remove the ability to barricade yourself in a hackerspace, making you as good as unkillable for other players, nerfs to the shotgun weapons and some additional tweaks to how IED and ElectroShock gadgets are communicated to the other player.
In terms of PC-specific tweaks and fixes, Ubisoft has added some additional graphics options to tweak if your game runs suboptimally on your system:
- [Video Options] SMAA T2x – This patch adds new Post-Process Anti-Aliasing mode – SMAA T2x, improved version of SMAA with a temporal component. As SMAA T2x uses temporal techniques, it doesn’t work with Temporal Filtering turned on.
- [Video Options] Dynamic Particles – This patch adds a new video option that allows you to turn off dynamic particles, like leaves and effects of bullet hits.
- [Controls Options] Camera auto-centering – This patch adds two new mouse & keyboard options that allow you to turn off camera auto-centering while driving and sprinting. Some default bindings were changed: [F9] and [F10] are now used for Mock and Laugh emotes. Song Sneak action is now assigned to [Backspace], and Tutorial action is assigned to [Home].
