XDefiant Patch Fixed Issue that Plagued the Community Since Launch, But is it Too Late?

XDefiant's Shotguns feel better but the game's netcode is still broken.

xdefiant

SUMMARY

  • XDefiant is a title that had a lot of hype before its release.
  • Post-release, the game had a lot of issues, and it finally fixed one of them.
  • However, there are still tonnes of glaring issues with the game that need fixing.
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XDefiant was a title hyped up as a Call of Duty killer. At first glance, the game looked like it wanted to reinvent the formula popularized by popular games in Activision’s franchise.

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After its release, there were some glaring faults in the game. There was flawed net code, and some weapons, like shotguns, felt inconsistent. However, shotguns, in particular, seem much better with the latest update.

The Latest Xdefiant Patch Makes the Game’s Shotguns a Lot More Reliable

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XDefiant has so far omitted a feature that has been a staple in other shooters, including Call of Duty.

After the hype, Ubisoft‘s fast-paced Arena shooter felt incredibly unpolished to players. Despite trying to listen to players’ complaints, the executive producer also came under fire for telling players to ‘move on if the game wasn’t for them.’.

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One of the players’ most prominent complaints about the game was that the weapons did not feel balanced and consistent, especially the shotguns. At one instant, they did massive one-shot damage; at the other, the player was shooting confetti.

However, the game’s latest patch seems to have worked out better, as shotguns feel much more consistent in the video game. A player in the game’s subreddit also mentioned this in a dedicated post:

Don’t sleep on shotguns post-patch (no, they’re not OP, but they’re stronger)
byu/OmnicientWolfGaming inXDefiant

Also, the reason why they appear stronger, as per the post title, was clarified in many of the comments to the post:

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Comment
byu/OmnicientWolfGaming from discussion
inXDefiant

It seems like, among a lot of things, games seem to be getting wrong; it is also getting a couple of things right here and there. However, the game’s fundamentals, per many players, are flawed and need fixing.

The Next Xdefiant Patch Has Its Cut Out for It

An in-game screenshot from XDefiant showing the game's combat.
XDefiant‘s next patch has to be its saving grace. Image Credits: Ubisoft

XDefiant, despite making weapon balancing changes, suffers from a critical problem. There is a lot of class imbalance, and the game’s netcode and hit registration seem incredibly off, especially considering that it comes from a triple-A studio.

While Mark Ruben’s reasoning for the same was that the game is made on top of an engine made for MMOs, players are already abandoning the game. Various posts on the game’s subreddit can be found where the players express their frustration about the game’s netcode.

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After 130 hours, the net code finally broke me
byu/hbcaotri inXDefiant

Complaints about the game’s inconsistent time to kill, even in the training arena, which is free from server tick rate and ping jitter issues, have also surfaced:

TTK testing in XDefiant sucks, the results are very inconsistent for seemingly no reason. Summary in comments.
byu/ralternator inXDefiant

It is unknown if the game will survive the cutthroat industry, especially with the release of Black Ops 6 imminent. But Mark Ruben and the game’s team must fix the game’s fundamentals before anything else.

What do you think of the current state of the game? Does it have a chance of bouncing back? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Written by Sparsh Jaimini

Articles Published: 473

Sparsh Jaimini Sharma is a video games enthusiast and a Games Writer. A true white-blooded Madridsta. He is often seen grinding away at EAFC 24's Ultimate team and learning to code when he is not writing. A Batman fan and Arkham Games connoisseur. He is the quintessential DC aficionado.