 Hey there lads and ladies, it is Petrifying Pumpkins here and today I have for you a brand new firewall zero hour video. This one is exceptionally moist, this one's very big. So let's just jump right into it. So as you all know, the mid-season update for firewall came out yesterday, 10 gigabytes in size by the way, so you might want to clear out some time to get that downloaded if you haven't done so already. It's quite big and we know that patch was going to be coming with the new map Gauntless, which I played already, I played a bunch for the last night and I love the map so far. It's like so big, there's so much to us, it's going to take ages to learn, but it seems like an early favorite kind of already. Now still early days, so things could change, but right now I really love that map. Then we have the new contractor, Dom, the French dude, his skill lets him get up a third time. Now I'm not as convinced about that skill as I am about the map and the new Gaunt and stuff like that, but you certainly will be harder to down. I just need to put some more time in with Dom before I can get a feel for how effective he is. And then of course there is the new weapon, the classic rake case, which is quite powerful, it's doing some damage, it's got some good range. The only thing is I do forget that it has like a limited magazine so I'm there shooting and I'm running out and I'm like uh oh, but you know the pros and cons of every gun so these things are balanced. Then there's also Mako's MP5, which is like the cool skin that she has for that weapon. It looks really good if you're planning on you know completing every single operation this season and then throwing down 250 crypto to unlock that bad boy. It looks like it's worth it if you ask me. But we knew most of that stuff was coming, but what we didn't know was the balance changes that first contact entertainment were going to be making with this update too. So there's three big ones. I'm just going to read out the patch notes so that you can get the official word on what the developers are saying about these changes in the game. But just keep in mind these aren't the complete patch notes. These are just the highlights. The first contact entertainment wanted to let us know. So for example, they've improved the audio assault rifles in the game and that's not in the patch notes. So there could be other stuff there that we don't know about just yet. OK, so patch notes, secondary weapons have been buffed with more damage and better range assault rifle bullet spread has been tuned. Note that we have not changed any damage or range. Finally, revive pistol now has only one dart, but that can be increased to two when using the extra dose skill. Pistol is still showing two darts, but that's a visual glitch that will be fixed in the next patch. So each one of these changes is pretty huge. They may each by themselves have the potential to change how firewall is played fundamentally. But let's start with the last one, the revive pistol. So we all know you used to be able to carry two revive pistols as a standard and now that's been halved. You can just carry one. Unless, of course, you use that extra dose skill that will give you the two that you had before. That is massive. I wasn't expecting that at all. But I'm quite excited by this one because two reasons I can think of. Reason number one, this is a measure taken by first contact entertainment to combat the effectiveness of the Russian tactic. So, you know, you know how it is when you come up against a top squad like it's a squad who plays together a loss and they've got their tactic of rushing down strays. You're there. You're trying to set up your defenses and in less than a minute they're on top of you at their blast. And you're done. You didn't even have a chance to get your jammer placed, you know? And oh, look, Russian is a valid tactic. I don't want to say there shouldn't be any Russian in the game, but it was so effective that it made using other tactics maybe less efficient, less effective. I mean, if you had a team of organized rushers, they might send two guys in while two guys with the revived darts hang back and just fire streams of darts in, keeping their boys coming back and back again and again, making it very difficult for the defenders to deal with them effectively. But now that there's only one dart, this tactic is going to be a lot less effective. The Russia is going to have to be a lot more careful. Well, they might not even rush anymore, which is possibly the idea behind this. But that tactic still is possible if they go and depict that extra dose skill. The problem there is that they have to sacrifice a different skill. So maybe they get rid of heavy doozy. Maybe they get rid of bullet sponge. That makes them a little bit more vulnerable for the defenders, we'll say. So that kind of adds a risk reward type thing, maybe and adds a bit of balance to that decision making. I personally cannot wait to see the ramifications of half in the revived darts. I think people are going to be playing just not even just Russia, just everyone across the board going to be playing a little bit more safe, a little bit more careful, a little bit more tactical, which I think is what the idea behind firewall was in the beginning. It's a tactical shooter. So another reason why I can see that they nerfed the revive pistol coincides with the first patch notes, which is how they've buffed the secondaries. So for the past year, year and a half, whatever it's been since firewall came out, everyone, almost everyone has been picking the revive pistol, even though you got the revolver, you got the Desert Eagle, you got all these other handguns, but nobody's using them because they're just so ineffective. They've always been just so weak and using them, then you have like the stigma of like not being a good teammate because you should be using that revive dart, you know? But now these handguns have been buffed. Now, I'm not sure exactly how buffed they are or if every single one of them is buffed like equally, but the fact that the revive dart has been halved to just one dart and these have been buffed, you can at least say that there's going to be less of a stigma around picking a handgun. Now, you're going to be more understanding of a teammate who doesn't want to pick a revive dart because there's only one dart now. And, you know, he might even miss it if he misses that shot and all of a sudden he's wasted a secondary that could have been a revolver, could have been a Desert Eagle, could have been something like that. So I think we're going to see a lot more handguns in play, which I love because the handguns in the game, they look cool. I like using them. The only problem is that they were so ineffective, but it looks like this is going to change. I hope this is what's going to change. I hope they're buffed enough to make them viable. And, you know, we don't have to feel guilty about not picking the revive pistol anymore. So then we have the change to the assault rifles. Now, notice how they said they didn't do anything to the damage of the rifles nor the range they haven't been touched. That's all the same. Now, what has been touched is the bullet spread. OK, we don't know which rifles exactly have been affected by how much, but we do know that the Taylor CQB, which before this update was the go-to weapon for fire. Well, it was good at close quarters, it was good at mid range, it was good at long range. It had everything, everyone used it all the time. That's going to be less effective at long range now. The bullet spread is going to be a little bit more all over the place when you're shooting at a certain distance. It's still going to be good at close range, still going to be good at mid range. But now, all of a sudden, let's say you're playing on docks or long range map like that, it's not going to be a case of, oh, I'll just pick the Taylor CQB. Maybe I want to pick the new Reg case. Maybe that's got better range. You know, maybe I want to take the single shot Reg, you know. So all of a sudden, the King has been taken down a peg, at least in one aspect. And this potentially opens the door for way more variety in what people are going to be putting in their loadouts, which I think is great. There's loads of cool guns in the primary weapons that just don't see the lights of day because the Taylor CQB is so effective. It's like, why would I use, you know, the Hornest, the H5, whatever, you know, as much as I like the look of these guns and how they sound and stuff like that. There was never any point. Now, there might be. I'm hoping there is. Now, I think each one of these changes are pretty huge by themselves. But all three together, I'll be shocked if this doesn't, like, fundamentally shake up how people are playing firewall zero hour. But it's early days. Yes. So I've seen some knee jerk reactions already, like very negative or some of them positive. I don't want to jump either way. Yes. I mean, it sounds positive to me in theory, but it might be another thing in practice. So maybe just waste way to give it a few days, give it a few weeks, see how things are going before we pass judgment on how how good or bad these changes are. Like, it's my hope that the Russian is going to be less prevalent now. It looks like it will be. But again, we'll have to wait and see. Maybe the Russians will just find another tactic, you know, maybe they'll sacrifice that skill and they'll all go for that extra dose and nothing will change practically. They'll be slightly weaker, of course, but that still won't negate that as a valid tactic. And now that the Taylor CQB has taken a nerf, all of a sudden, I'm thinking about my primary slots. I'm, you know, anything that makes you think about what you want in your Lodos. If you ask me, that's a good thing. And it's not just primaries now, it's secondaries. So before those things were locked in, it was always CQB, it was always revived dirt. Now, you know, I've got decisions to make. Anything that makes you make decisions in a game like this is a good thing. It's a tactical game. You want to be making tactical decisions for the situation at hand. You know, it depends on what map you're playing. Maybe it even depends on what enemies you're up against, you know, and their style of play. So one thing you may have noticed about this update is not what's in it, but what's not in it. So before a few weeks ago, we had a blog post on the PS blog from Damon Shab's and he talked about how nerve gas mines were going to be included in the mid-season updates. There is no sign of nerve gas mines. Now it's very possible that the team at first contact entertainment weren't ready with the mine. They just couldn't get it out in time. Maybe we'll see in the next season or maybe they're changing it around a lot because there has been some feedback that maybe it'll be better as a grenade than a mine, so maybe they're changing it that way. But yeah, so for whatever reason, nerve gas mines are not in this update. But I would still expect them in the future updates. And of course, you may also like to know that the lobby is now Christmas themed. You got a Christmas tree in the corner. You got the lights going across. You got candy canes and milk and cookies. The in-game items have been replaced by milk and cookies, and the Intel has been replaced by a good list and an Aussie list, which I love. That was a beautiful touch. Very nice. And of course, I cannot end this video without pointing out that the week five premium mission is called moist, right? And if you go into that mission, your reward is the pumpkin camouflage. Another Easter egg, you know, it's a slick black and orange camouflage. It looks really nice. I have it on everything already. I'm putting it on everything I can. But yeah, the first contact entertainment are watching. This is I love it. You know, thank you so much, surreal. I love all these Easter eggs and nods and winks and stuff like that. It is surreal, you know? So with that, I will end this video, ladies and ladies. But before I do, let me give a huge thank you to my Patreon supporters whose names are on the screen right now. Thanks to the support, I guess on Patreon from these guys, I can work towards making a better channel. And of course, let me give a special shout out to tradition. Chrome, Pete Hawkins and Columbus Thomas, the third. Thanks to these guys for pledging to me on the soaking wet pumpkin tier. I really do appreciate it so, so much. Thank you. So if you'd like to become a Patreon supporter, too, the link will be in the description. But if you don't want to do that, if you want to help me out, just the old fashioned way with likes and shares and all that usual size, I'll appreciate that very much, too. And just a couple more things before I end the video. Petrifying pumpkins has a discord now. The pumpkin patch kids, it's called. There'll be a link for that in the description below if you want to check it out. And if you've been enjoying the music that you may have been hearing in my videos for the last year or whatever, you might want to check out Decepticon.com for his new album that just dropped yesterday. That one is called Screens and Dreams, a very good album. I was listening to it while I was writing this video. You know, it's a nice, relaxing music. So check it out. The link is in the description. You can check it on all the popular streaming services, Spotify, all that good stuff. So that's it from me. Bye for now.