Gears 5 is getting ready to head into it’s seventh iteration of its Operations-based content with a new map, new characters, and more on the way
Operation 7
The upcoming Operation 7 is tentatively set for next Tuesday, May 18th with an initial drop of one new map, two new characters, and new game modes.
If you prefer to go straight to the source, check out all the info from TC here.
Cole Train’s daughter Hana is finally joining the cast after her initial introduction during the Hivebuster’s campaign, and she is joined by Gears: Tactics antagonist Ukkon.
These are both welcome, lore-friendly additions to the cast, and look to be visually interesting characters to play as.
Ephyra makes it’s debut during the initial launch of Operation 7 as the new map. This looks great, and it’s always nice to see these important sections of Gears‘ lore make it in as a playable map.
Below are some of the patch notes from the aforementioned TC update info:
PVP
Some of the changes we’re introducing in Operation 7 will automatically refresh existing content. Ranked is also one area where automatic refreshes will extend the experience. For Operation 7, we’re introducing Competitive mode to do just that.
COMPETITIVE
Competitive is our updated ranked system for Gears 5, bringing leaderboards, more modes to compete in and more.
Gear Points have now been removed and we use a total points system for each playlist. The higher your total points, the better you have been performing. Reaching certain milestones in the leaderboards also grants special rewards, so check the section below for information on that.
COMPETITIVE – LEADERBOARDS
As mentioned previously, Competitive will be adding leaderboards across each mode. At the start of Operation 7, we will be adding the following modes to the playlist:
- Control
- Team Deathmatch
- 2v2 Gnashers
- Free for All (8 players)
- Guardian
The flexibility of Competitive will mean we can add more modes over the course of the Operation. In the next two weeks, we’ll be adding Execution 2.0 and Escalation.
With each mode having a leaderboard, we will shift to a placement system for each playlist. This leaderboard is seasonal which means they will reset at the start of each Operation.
Oh… and of course you can filter the leaderboard to compare yourself to your friends to see how you are faring against them!
In addition to all of this, you are also able to view each individual player’s leaderboard stats and filter them by week/seasonal/lifetime!
PVE
One of the most frequently asked questions we get in Gears 5 is about automatic card scrapping in PvE. We are happy to announce that in Operation 7 Drop 1 we will automatically convert your duplicated level 6 cards into Gear Coins!
If you have any acquired duplicated cards before this update, they will be converted into Gear Coins up to a total limit of 100,000 Gear Coins. Any future cards you acquire that are level 6 and duplicate will be scrapped for Gear Coins.
PVE – THREE NEW MAPS
This Operation drop also sees the release of three new maps for Horde – Atrium, Turbine, and Command. These three maps will be playable via a special Horde Frenzy event to kick off Operation 7!
PVE TWEAKS
And finally, we are making additional tweaks across the PvE side of the game, check out the list below:
HORDE
- Added Lambent Drone, Lambent Grenadier, and Lambent Theron to Horde and Horde Frenzy.
- Fixed an issue where Lambent death explosion did not deal damage to players or enemies.
- Fixed an issue where Lambent units would frequently spawn too close to Locust or Swarm units.
- Wardens that spawn in the context of being a mini-boss will now display the boss locator and health bar.
- Reduced base health of Wardens spawning outside of boss wave to 10,000HP from 15,000HP.
- Rebalanced boss combinations in Horde Frenzy to avoid combining bosses that rapidly invalidate low cover positions (Kestrel, Sentinel, Swarmak, Flock, Wakaatu)
- Matchmaking into Horde Frenzy will no longer frequently place players in Daily Challenge lobbies.
- Added the Flashbang Grenade to the Fabricator.
ESCAPE
- Fixed an issue on Forever where occasionally certain enemies would fail to spawn.
- Fixed an issue on The Blight, The Clock, and The Trap where custom door functionality was not working correctly.
TACTICIAN
- Tactician’s ultimate no longer has +50% increased duration in Horde.
DEMOLITIONS
- Fixed an issue where Demolition’s “Gambit” Skill Card was not allowing the correct number of planted grenades.
COMBAT MEDIC
- Intervention will now revive multiple downed players simultaneously.
Tour of Duty Unlocks
The Tour of Duty info is pretty expansive, and you can check all of that out here.
Wrapping Up
If were being honest, it feels a bit rediculous to be commenting on the precieved value of an upcmong skin as new content for Gears 5. It is what it is, at this point. It’s pretty much a dying game, and the devs have gone long past the required amount of produciton time to constantly tweak the experience and deliver new content.
The bottom line is, Gears, as a series, is just not meant to fit into this type of game.
Are you looking forward to this upcoming operation? Let us know in the comments below!
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[…] May 18th, Operation 7 update. For the full rundown of Operation 7 content, check out our article here, or head on over to the Gears 5 news section to check it all out for […]