Steam Public Beta Program

[HBK619]

Hi guys, since the release of Rugby League Live 3 on all platforms we've been taking in your ideas and feedback about the game and have been working hard to apply it to the currently released Steam version ahead of eventually bringing it to consoles.

In order to get some feedback on the changes that we've been making to fundamental aspects of the game, like AI, difficulty, and general game balancing. We're opening up a Public Beta branch for you guys to check out our changes on and give feedback as to whether they're fixed and improved.

There's a few things to note before anyone opts in to this public beta branch however as we do want to warn users of potential outcomes.

First thing is that we highly recommend that you back up your current Rugby League Live 3 folder, located in My Documents>My Games>Rugby League Live 3. Back up the entire folder to somewhere else on your computer to fall back on if anything potentially goes wrong. It might even be worth unticking the Steam Cloud option in your Steam Library>Properties>Updates tab just so that potentially dodgy save files aren't being overwritten or messed with.

Second thing is that this is a public beta branch, things could be unstable, there may be crashes, there may be some issues that occur that won't be in the currently released Steam build. It is worth mentioning anything that does occur in this branch to us, as we'll get back to you and get to the bottom of the issues. If the game remains too unstable for you, then I'd advise opting out of the branch.

Third and lastly is if you're going to play online (as in online multiplayer) we suggest that you ensure you're doing it against someone that you know is on the Public Beta branch. Due to how many gameplay changes we have made, playing someone that is not on the same branch as you the game will likely crash.

If all goes well with this Public Beta version, we'll eventually roll out all these changes for everyone to use. The quicker and more feedback we get the better and more confident we can be when it comes to putting this out for everyone, so definitely let your thoughts be known.

Follow these steps to opt into the 'RLL3 Public Beta' version.

1. Open Steam Client.
2. Go to Library.
3. Right Click on Rugby League Live 3.
4. Click on Properties.
5. Click on the Betas tab.
6. In box marked "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas:" enter code rll3publicbeta.
7. Once code has been accepted, select the dropdown box underneath "Select the beta you would like to opt into:" and select "publicbeta - Public Beta Version".
8. Wait for game to update, when the game has updated correctly it will state "Rugby League Live 3 [publicbeta]".
9. Click "Play".
10. To opt out of beta, follow steps 1-5, then select the dropdown box and the option of NONE - Opt out of all beta programs.

Finally these are the update notes for the Public Beta Version on Steam.

FIXES
Corrected Holden Cup selection issues.
Corrected issue for kicking after intercepts.
Corrected AI teammates going for ball on short kick off.
Corrected teammate AI running ahead of PTB at goal line.
Corrected ball being passed to sky issue.
Corrected one instance of kick off crash.
Improved graphics card detection.*

TUNING
Tuned Pro difficulty evasion chance down for AI, increase chance of evasion for user.
Tuned AI passing chance, increase intelligence of passes.
Tuned AI offloading chance.
Tuned forwards drive in tackle chance in one on one tackles.
Tuned ball strip occurrence chance and defend button press amount.
Tuned held in tackle penalty chance on Veteran and Legend difficulties.
Tuned switch to closest player button to better switch to closest player from ball.
Tuned Full Back positioning and movement in one on one situations.
Tuned stamina drain for big hit tackles.

ADDITIONS
Added ball strip ability to B (still on Y).
Added new loading screen information and tips.

*This improvement will help identify users with an integrated graphics card and a dedicated graphics card and utilise the one best suited for Rugby League Live 3.

Cheers,
HBK619.

[mattw36]

Wow sounds like quite a great deal of what has been feedback here is being addressed in those notes.
Can't wait to try this out, hope the tunings work as well as they sound

[BRAB]

Just piddling about in it now. Recorded a half, tried to initiate as much of the things I could, tried to bring the fullback into play.

Forwards still feel like they're hitting a brick wall to me, we need them to be hitting the line at full tilt but they're much too often flat footed.

[ET1980]

This is a good fix just had game,and Ai not playing like the Warriors lol,Faster loading too great patch Ai play like league players now which is great,also information good at loading screen's

[mattw36]

Ok just played a 30 minute game to test out some first impressions of the beta tuning.
All feedback is based on playing Legend difficulty.
Overall the game already flows much better, feels a lot more like RL simulation with less obscurities happening. A lot of positives so far. Feedback below.

What worked well

• Tuned Pro difficulty evasion chance down for AI, increase chance of evasion for user - Seemed to have be much better from the A.I, even on Legend (not on Pro). Quite often in the past the A.I. would just fend/step from their own half and be unstoppable, this tuning down for AI was noticeable but not over the top.
  
  
  
  
• Tuned AI passing chance, increase intelligence of passes - This tuning is an improvement, but still not there yet. The AI does not hot potato like crazy, and passes reasonably well. However quite often when making a break from far out, the AI will still ignore open players to their left/right, sometimes even 2-3 open Tuned AI offloading chance.
  
  
• Tuned AI offloading chance - Much better here, no longer offloading like its the last minute of the game all game. Like it.
  
  
• Tuned ball strip occurrence chance and defend button press amount - Works well and helps alot with flow of the game. Defending a strip is much easier then before, as is winning a strip. Strips also only happened 2/3 times in 30 minute game, so much less. Like this tuning.
  
  
• Tuned held in tackle penalty chance on Veteran and Legend difficulties - Seemed a lot better. AI still give away penalties but not compulsively. This really helps the flow of the game and the back and forth battle. AI still sometimes gives away a penalty that makes me question why, progress has been made though.
  
  
• Tuned switch to closest player button to better switch to closest player from ball - Much better overall here, from 10% of the time choosing the wrong player to pretty much 0%. Like it.
  
  
• Tuned Full Back positioning and movement in one on one situations - This is the most effective tune of the bunch. Fullbacks are much more conservative in defence now and line breaks are no longer guaranteed tries against the A.I. Love it.
  

Juries out

• Tuned stamina drain for big hit tackles. - Never really used these in the past, but I assume this means improved draining of the opposition stamina when performing a big hit? Will have to start using them now to see this.
  

What didn't work so well

• Tuned AI passing chance, increase intelligence of passes - Like I said above, somewhat improved but draw-and-passing is still not right. The AI will ignore his outside men after a break.
  
  
• Tuned forwards drive in tackle chance in one on one tackles. - I noticed no difference here, still no drive tackles. Both me and the AI barely drove any tackles within a whole 30 minute game. I persisted trying for all 5 tackles with my forwards set after set but no success. I thought I may be doing it wrong but the AI weren't driving with their forwards at all either. Is this because its on Legend? Driving should be prevalent on all difficulties. Like others have said, forwards have no impact/incentive to use if they feel like they keep hitting a brick wall. Applies to user and AI players.
  

What else needs tuning

• AI running out of dummy half. - It is far too easy to simply select the first marker whilst in defence and tackle the AI as they run out of dummy half, meaning they go nowhere all set. The issue is that the AI consistently try to run out of dummy half instead of passing, making them sitting ducks for my marker defenders.
  
  
• AI kicks. - AI kicking needs to be improved also. The AI way too often will over kick a long kick, making it go over the dead ball line. It would be more challenging/realistic if it stayed in a bit more often. Quite often the AI will also quick it into the back of one of their players, meaning a penalty, or completely shank the kick. In the end less than 50% of AI kicks are actually "good", if that went up it would help the back-and-forth battle of rugby league.
  
  
• Tackle break animation - The "tackle break animation" is still a rare occurrence. This is partly I believe because it is tuned to rarely happen, and because how to do it is never disclosed in a tutorial/manual. Even though I feel I know how to do it, I wish it would happen more for both the player and AI. It is a good dynamic mechanic as it would mean completing a tackle is never certain until the end.
  
• AI goal line defence - Far too often I will be in a tough battle with the AI to break them down and score, that will lead to them just letting me in. When playing the ball pretty much on the AIs goal line, the AI defensive line will sprint diagonally either left or right. This leaves a huge hole for my hooker to walk it in. This happens far too often and really devalues scoring tries against the AI.

Bugs

• Custom team names - Not a bug as such, just an unfortunate change. I found that old custom teams I had have had their commentary name changed automatically. This is probably because of the changes to those options, however it should be made clear that a lot of commentary names have changed and so may have the old custom teams. Needed to reselect the name (for example was originally "Dragons", changed automatically to "Newcastle Knights", needed to change back to the new option "St George Illawarra Dragons").

All the "corrections" listed in the patch notes seem to be quite good. Was able to intercept without problem, compared to before where I often kicked. No pass to sky issues thus far. Also great to see AI not going too quick for the short kick-offs any more. Nice fix for the confusion over which button strips the ball.
Overall, a great improvement, still some tuning needed but much better.

[Dripik]

The titans are now referred to as the "Auckland Vulcans" In vossy's commentary

[ET1980]

This is a good fix just had game,and Ai not playing like the Warriors lol,Faster loading too great patch Ai play like league players now which is great,also information good at loading screen's.

Had this at loading screen.
The Ball had a injured sign over it as well,when it hit half time he got sub off got a new ball.

Player's standing from hooker passing into players

Also fullback still wandering thinking he's a winger.

---

BigAnt Give Matt a Job

[HBK619]

Thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming!

There were some changes to the commentary today to clean up some of the stuff done yesterday and it has probably caused some ordering issues. Will be fixed up first thing Monday.

[mattw36]

Tuned Full Back positioning and movement in one on one situations

I have some further feedback about the new fullback positioning.
The update has made AI fullbacks much smarter in defence, holding back and waiting a little more as opposed to charging at the player if a break is made. I love this change and think its the right move.

However the holding back logic is somewhat flawed when the user's AI or opposition AI are defending their try line. The defensive AI will still "hold back" and wait if a try is about to be scored. This means that the fullback may on the try-line even if a player is about to put the ball down.

So I think making the AI fullback more patient is a great move, but he needs to regain his active/aggressive defence when close to his own line.

EDIT: The more games I have played the more I have observed how this "issue" is happening. The new defensive patterns of the AI fullback will make him "stick" to his own try-line, never coming off it to defend. So if I my attacker runs through a hole when attacking close to the line, the AI fullback will stay on the try-line until it is too late (that being I have dived in at his feet before he can attempt a tackle or simply run around him as he is on rails).
Once again, the new AI fullback defensive patterns are great, apart from when defending right up against their own try-line, where some tweaking/pro-activeness is needed.

[ET1980]

Had a couple of Online games in Beta online Fullback still hanging back or running up to the line having a look then running after try scorer