The Finals' latest patch makes progression faster, stops corpses exploding

The Finals update 1.7.0 released this past week and makes substantial changes to the destructive shooter's progression. It should make it much faster to advance through battle pass levels, if skins and cosmetics are what you're after.

Several of the changes double or even triple the amount of XP you get for certain actions. For example, opening a vault now nets you 200 rather than 100 XP, and stealing a cashout nets you 300 rather than 100 XP. The amount given for your team finishing a round, whether in first, second, third or fourth, has also changed, along with the bumper amounts given for completing weekly contracts.

Here's the full list of XP tweaks:

Contracts

• Increased the amount of XP given for Weekly Contracts from 2000 to 4500 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for Weekly Goals from 4000 to 9000 (+)
• Reduced the number of Weekly Contracts that need to be completed to get the Weekly Goal from 8 to 6 (-)

XP

• Increased the amount of XP given for opening a vault from 100 to 200 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for starting a cashout from 100 to 300 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for completing a cashout from 200 to 400 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for stealing a cashout from 100 to 300 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given per coin delivered in Bank It mode from 50 to 80 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for finishing in 4th place in a round from 100 to 200 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for finishing in 3rd place in a round from 200 to 400 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for finishing in 2nd place in a round from 400 to 600 (+)
• Increased the amount of XP given for finishing in 1st place in a round from 600 to 800 (+)

The update also disables the "Dead Go Boom" game show event. This time-limited modifier would make bodies explode shortly after death during matches, but the developers say they feel it "punishes melee users too much at present." They hope to bring it back after a re-work "at some point in the future."

You can find the full 1.7.0 patch notes over on Steam.

I played The Finals for a happy 40 hours after launch and then, without really thinking about it, stopped. Personally I think that's to the game's credit. I loved it and then moved on, satisfied, and I'm glad I don't feel compelled to play it in perpetuity.

It's probably bad news if you're a free-to-play multiplayer game with server costs and you need people to keep coming back and buying cosmetics in order to survive, however. For that reason, I fear for The Finals' long-term future. It's a great game that deserves to be playable for years to come. This change seems designed to help with that, by advancing players through the battle pass faster and thus making the premium battle pass, I'd guess, more enticing.