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Hello Agent, and welcome to the Blacklight: Retribution Beginner's Guide. This guide assumes
you have prior experiance playing First Person Shooters, as well as having finished the Training
Mission in-game. If you have not done either, I would highly recommend playing through it
as it will go over some of the control basics as well as Blacklight specific keybinds and
controls. Once you have finished the training mission,
or feel confident enough to jump into the game, pressing the Play Game button will bring
you to the server browser menu. In the server browser, you can filter servers, by changing
between maps, total number of agents, mode, or latency, as well as hiding empty or full
servers. In the server browser listing, it is highly recommended as a new player to look
for the Proving Grounds servers, which limits the number of agents to levels 1 to 10.
An integral part of Blacklight Retribution is the Hyper Reality Visor, also known as
HRV. By default, pressing V will bring up the visor, allowing you to see through walls
and see enemies and allies, depots and objectives. Allies will always be marked blue, while enemies
will always be marked in orange. While HRV is active, you cannot shoot or use gear. In
addition, HRV can only be used when the bar on the bottom right is full. While HRV is
active, the bar will deplete. While HRV is inactive, the bar will replenish. You can
change control schemes for HRV by going to Settings, Control, and turning on or off HRV
Toggle. This will allow you to change between press to turn on and turn off, to simply holding
your HRV button, and let to go turn off HRV. A good strategy for HRV is simply hold HRV
for a short duration, to quickly see around you. This allows you to bring up HRV again,
if needed. Another feature of Blacklight Retribution
are the depots. The Depots are scattered across the map, and look like this on HRV. Depots
allow you to purchase ammo and health refills, as well as heavy weapons, with points you
earn during the match, called Combat Points. Combat Points are shown on the bottom left
of your screen, are are earned by completing mission objectives, or by killing enemy agents.
To activate a depot, simply walk up to it, press E, and scroll through the menu by pressing
the A or D buttons. You can buy items with the Space button, or simply leave the menu
by pressing Escape. Once you buy an item, it will appear in your secondary slot.
Out of all the Depot items, the Hardsuit has the greatest game changing potential. The
Hardsuit is a heavy walking tank, armed with a minigun for infantry, and a railgun, for
anti-armor. To call down a Hardsuit, you must point the designator at an open space. Any
indoor areas, or any areas blocked by an overhang will not work. The Hardsuit controls just
like an Agent on foot. You can move with the WASD buttons, as well as sprint for a short
boost by pressing Shift. This boost can also run over enemies.
If you find a Hardsuit on the enemy team, there are several options for you to eliminate
it. The first and the most reliable option is to buy a Rocket Stinger from the Depot.
The Rocket Stinger will knock out a Hardsuit within two hits.
If you do not have enough CP, you can also use the Flamethrower, which will burn out
the Hardsuit pilot, while leaving the Hardsuit intact.
A third option is to shoot the Hardsuit's weakpoint. Each Hardsuit comes with a randomized
weakpoint that can be identified on HRV by the glowing armor piece, and will also glow
blue when shot. Once you have completed a match, you will
earn EXP and GP based on your performance. EXP will level up your agent, allowing you
access to more equipment, gear components, while GP allows you to buy and rent gear and
weapon components. As you complete specific missions, you will earn Mission Chance Packs,
which are usually automatically redeemed and added to your account. These Mission Chance
Packs will often give you temporary gear and equipment, usually tactical gear. In addition,
you will earn EXP and GP tokens, which you can activate to add to your character. If
for some reason your GP Tokens or your Mission Chance Packs have not been redeemed, you can
check your inventory by pressing/clicking on your name, going to your inventory, and
activating your tokens and mission packs that are inactive. After a few levels, you will
have unlocked new equipment and gear. To change your loadout, go to your customization menu,
and the bulk of your customizations will be under Equipment, and Weapons. Each item under
both categories can be bought with either GP, which is earned in-game, or Zen, which
is Perfect World Entertainment's currency. Each item can be purchased for a short duration,
as a rental, or permanently, for a larger amount.
That's all for the basics of Blacklight Retribution. Now get out there, and frag some Agents!