'H1Z1' 'Big Damn Patch' Comes With A Server Wipe

The zombie survival sandbox game "H1Z1" has had a remarkable run so far. It overcame a long list of launch woes to sell a million copies. That's pretty impressive showing for a game that the President of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) had to apologise for since its launch. Since then, the parent company itself has washed its hands off the SOE, which was later renamed to Daybreak Studios. This was followed by the newly renamed company being forced to let go of some top-tier employees.

It's evident that the "H1Z1" developer hasn't had the smoothest of transitions. That also seems to be the case for gamers who bought the Early Access release of the sandbox title. The latest patch for the game, which has already gone live, mandates a server wide wipe that also nukes all player profiles as well, according to a PC Gamer report. The ramifications of the impending server wipe include a complete removal of anything that is player built within the game. This includes custom-built structures and vehicle placement.

However, this isn't the first time that the "H1Z1" players have lost precious progress to a server wipe. As reported by Cinema Blend, server wipes in the past have returned a limited amount of airdrop tickets to players who had purchased them before the wipe. There hasn’t been any such announcement from the company to this effect as of now. It must be noted that the game is still in the Early Access phase, so such resets are par for the course at least until the game gets a full retail release.

Things aren't entirely bleak, because the server wipe brings a host of improvements to the table. Titled curiously as the "Big Damn Patch," it's named so because it brings a raft of improvements to the dam area of the game. PC GamesN notes that patch has added a new male character model and various bug fixes to enhance the experience.

One of the most palpable changes is the adaptive zombie spawning rate. This ensures that the server's total zombie count now changes according to player population. In other words, maps with lower player count will not be overwhelmed with tonnes of zombies and vice versa. This intelligent spawning algorithm also applies to local spawn points. Areas such as cities with higher player concentration will see more zombies, and conversely hiding out in the forest will be a viable tactic since that will equate to lower concentration of the undead.

Other cosmetic updates include a Team Fortress-inspired nod that allows zombies to wear hats. Consumables see an overhaul with extensive changes made to workbenches, ammo conversion mechanics, the ability to dismantle larger guns into constituent parts and new metal crafting recipes for traps, melee weapons and more.

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H1Z1: The Easy Life (credit: H1Z1 YouTube channel)